Prelims Strategy
Prelims exam is the first hurdle that you need to clear to achieve your dream of becoming a civil servant. It serves as the screening test for the Mains stage of the Civil Services Exam. UPSC Civil Services Examination is one of the most coveted exams in India. Its elaborate and comprehensive syllabus makes it even more challenging for most aspirants to crack it in the first attempt itself. But with the right approach and strategy, even the freshers could ace this exam with ease.
UPSC Civil Services Examination is conducted in three phases namely:
-
Preliminary Examination
-
Mains Examinations
-
Interview
Exam pattern for UPSC Prelims:
| Name of the Paper |
No of Questions |
Marks Allotted |
Time Allotted |
Nature of Exam |
| Paper I: General Studies(Objective-type) |
100 |
200 |
2 hours |
The score will be considered for Cut-off |
| Paper-II: General Studies-II (CSAT)(Objective-Type) |
80 |
200 |
2 hours |
Qualifying Nature- Candidates will have to score 33% to qualify CSAT. |
Prelims Exam Analysis 2022 (Subject-wise):
| Topic |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
| POLITY |
13 |
05 |
21 |
11 |
13 |
18 |
18 |
13 |
| HISTORY& CULTURE |
14 |
17 |
13 |
22 |
16 |
17 |
21 |
8 |
| GEOGRAPHY |
14 |
06 |
10 |
11 |
13 |
09 |
11 |
12 |
| ECONOMY |
13 |
12 |
11 |
11 |
12 |
10 |
15 |
17 |
| SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY |
10 |
15 |
11 |
09 |
07 |
08 |
13 |
14 |
| ENVIRONMENT |
07 |
11 |
08 |
09 |
07 |
08 |
13 |
17 |
| CURRENT EVENTS |
29 |
34 |
26 |
27 |
27 |
23 |
07 |
20 |
| TOTAL |
100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
Strategy & Approach for Prelims
-
UPSC Prelims Syllabus: Read the UPSC syllabus carefully and make a study plan to ensure you cover each and every part of the syllabus.
-
NCERTs: To make your foundation strong and get the basic concepts of General Studies, read NCERTs of relevant subjects (History, Polity, Economy, Geography, Art& Culture).
-
Standard Books: Read the complete booklist which we have provided (check it out under UPSC Resource Tab).
-
Current Affairs: For current affairs, read our daily current affairs analysis and monthly magazine analysis to keep yourself updated on the latest developments. You can follow our Telegram channels to download the current affairs material for free.
Our Telegram Channels: @coachupIASFactology, @CoachUpIASLko, @Coachupcurrentanalysis
- Aspirants must focus on building a strong foundation for covering the UPSC syllabus. For that start with the NCERTs. Read the NCERTs of the core subjects from Class VI to XII to build your foundation.
- After covering the NCERTs thoroughly, it’s time to step-up your preparation game and read the standard books for all the subjects. Make sure you follow only one book per subject wherever possible and revise it repeatedly to cement the concepts in your mind. You can check out the booklist provided by us under UPSC Resource Tab.
- Revision and repeated revision are indeed the key to crack Prelims. Make sure you keep your weekends free for revision. During the weekends, revise all that you’ve studied in the week to retain the concepts for a long time.
- When it’s about 60 days left for the Prelims, adopt a mock-test based learning approach. Sit for the mock test daily, analyze your score. And revise all the concepts repeatedly for the questions that you miss in the mock test.n
