UPSC Previous Year Question Papers, Prelims, Mains, Optional Subjects

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers

UPSC is a highly competitive exam, with lakhs of students appearing for it each year. As we all know that the UPSC Syllabus is very vast. Each of its sub-topics is a graduation subject in itself. Does this mean that UPSC wants aspirants to fathom it all. The answer is clearly no. UPSC wants aspirants to be smart enough to be able to cover the entire syllabus as per the requirements of the exam.

This is where the role of the UPSC Previous Year Question Papers comes in. They act as a guiding light in an aspirant’s preparation journey. Going through them carefully, one can understand the nature of questions asked by UPSC and the probable areas. This will make preparation more exam-oriented. 

Here we are providing year-wise question papers from 2014 to 2022 for both UPSC Prelims (both general studies and CSAT) and UPSC Mains (from general studies perspective).

UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper : On May 28th, 2023, the Union Public Service Commission conducted the UPSC Prelims Exam 2023 for a total of 1105 vacancies. The UPCS Prelims consist of two papers, General Studies Paper 1 and General Studies Paper 2 (CSAT), both of which were held on the same day.

Read More: UPSC Syllabus for Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers Prelims (2014-2023)

Here we are providing year-wise UPSC Previous Year Prelims Papers from 2014 to 2022 for both General Studies and CSAT:

Read More: UPSC Mains Syllabus

Download UPSC Question Paper Prelims 2023

The Civil Services (Preliminary) exam, 2023 was held on 28 May 2023. The UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Papers for GS 1 and the GS 2 (CSAT) can be downloaded from the linked page. The question papers will be made available once the exam is conducted.

Candidates who have appeared in the exam can go through the UPSC Prelims 2023 Answer Keys and calculate their marks.

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers Mains (2014-2022)

Here we are providing year-wise UPSC Previous Year Mains Papers from 2014 to 2022 from general studies perspective:

Read More: UPSC Syllabus in Hindi

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers Geography Optional

Here we are providing year-wise UPSC Previous Year Geography Optional Papers from 2018 to 2022 in the table:

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers History Optional

Here we are providing year-wise UPSC Previous Year History Optional Papers from 2018 to 2022 in the table:

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers Sociology Optional

Here we are providing year-wise UPSC Previous Year Sociology Optional Papers from 2018 to 2022 in the table:

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers Public Administration Optional

Here we are providing year-wise UPSC Previous Year Public Administration Optional Papers from 2018 to 2022 in the table:

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers Political Science & International Relations Optional

Here we are providing year-wise UPSC Previous Year Political Science & International Relations Optional Papers from 2018 to 2022 in the table:

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers Anthropology Optional

Here we are providing year-wise UPSC Previous Year Anthropology Optional Papers from 2018 to 2022 in the table:

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers Philosophy Optional

Here we are providing year-wise UPSC Previous Year Philosophy Optional Papers from 2018 to 2022 in the table:

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers Mathematics Optional

Here we are providing year-wise UPSC Previous Year Mathematics Optional Papers from 2018 to 2022 in the table:

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers in Hindi

All the above question paper links are attached to official previous year papers published by the UPSC. These papers are both in English and Hindi language.

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers Importance

• To understand the demand of the UPSC. 
• It helps us in understanding the exam pattern of UPSC.
• Practicing Previous Year Questions helps understanding UPSC pattern of asking questions.
• It also helps us in time management while solving questions.
• To effectively cover the UPSC Syllabus. 
• To gauge the depth of understanding needed in each topic. 
• To predict probable areas from which questions can be asked. 
• Practice with good-quality questions, that check your conceptual clarity.

Why Should Aspirants Solve The UPSC Previous Year Question Papers?

The UPSC preparation process heavily relies on UPSC previous year exam questions. Here are a few reasons why you shouldn’t avoid looking at the UPSC previous year’s test questions.

Recognize the questions that are being asked.

The applicants will be able to assess the type of questions that are asked by quickly reading through the UPSC previous year test questions at the start of their UPSC preparation. This will assist you in determining whether a news story or other piece of information is pertinent solely from the standpoint of the exam. The pool of information can be divided according to its importance. It will also assist you in sifting through a big amount of information to find the pertinent pieces where the query might be raised.

Recognise the significance of a certain subject

The importance of particular areas is also hinted at in some detail by UPSC previous year questions. The syllabus covers a wide range of subjects. But certain subjects are more crucial than others. As a result, when our specialists discuss significant themes with you in class, they always refer to papers from the previous year as their source of information. Therefore, it is crucial that you carefully read the exams from the previous year to obtain that notion if you are preparing on your own without any professional supervision or coaching. It will assist you in removing the curriculum.

Determine the priority of the subjects

Now, what we said about the topics also applies to the subjects. For instance, the curriculum lists all the fundamental courses for the General Studies-I question on the UPSC preliminary test. But does that imply that they will all be given equal weight? NO! All of the subjects are not given equal weight. On the aforementioned links, you may view the Prelims analysis for the years 2017 and 2018. You’ll see that from the perspective of the Prelims, some subjects are more crucial than others. An examination of UPSC previous year question papers will reveal these crucial insights that will significantly improve your preparation since it may differ for the Mains tests.

Understand how to answer the questions in Mains

Examining the copies of responses written by test-takers is one of the best approaches to start composing replies. You will also need to check the top scorers’ responses to the UPSC previous year exam questions. The only way to perform this examination of what to include in your responses is to thoroughly complete previous year’s papers.

Our experts at StudyIQ UPSC programmes strongly advise solving UPSC previous year’s question papers for effective exam preparation. Therefore, each aspirant ought to review the PYQs at the start of their preparation process. To help you improve your preparation for the UPSC exam, StudyIQ offers aspirants specialised online courses.

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