A Complete Guide to UPSC Prelims Exam | Prepare for UPSC Prelims with CareerDisha

The Civil Services exam conducted by the UPSC is like a mother of competitive exams held in the country. It is considered as the toughest exams with millions of aspirants appearing every year for approximately a thousand posts. The various services that one can get through after clearing the civils exam include IAS, IPS, IRS, etc.

A rigorous examination process is followed by UPSC to ensure that only the best talent is selected. The selection process is divided into three phases:

Preliminary examination

Mains examination

Interview

In this post, we’ll share complete details of the Prelims exam including exam pattern, syllabus, strategy, and preparation tips.

Exam Pattern

Prelims exams include two papers – Paper I and Paper II.

The first paper is a General Studies one that tests applicants on aspects related to general awareness, current affairs, society, polity, history, and sciences, etc. (find details in the section below).  Paper II, the Civil Services Aptitude Test commonly referred to as CSAT, is only of qualifying nature which aims at assessing a candidate’s grasp over logical reasoning, comprehension and data interpretation, etc.

Note: Since Paper II is only of qualifying nature, therefore, the marks scored in Paper II are not included while preparing the overall merit of the Preliminary Examination.

Paper I (General Studies)

100 questions carrying 200 marks in total. The exam duration is two hours.

Note: The marks scored are counted in the final cutoff. The paper includes negative marking (there is a penalty of 0.66 marks for every wrong answer).

Paper II (Aptitude)

80 questions carrying 200 marks in total. The exam duration is two hours.

CSAT qualifying marks – 66 marks (33% qualifying criteria). Negative marking is applicable with a penalty of 1/3rd of the maximum marks for every question for every wrong answer.

Syllabus

Paper I (GS)

Current Affairs: Events of national and international importance

Indian History

Indian and World Geography

Indian Polity and Governance

Economic and Social Development – policies, initiatives, campaigns, demographics, etc.

Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity, and Climate Change

General Science

Paper II (CSAT)

Comprehension (English language, and overall skills)

Interpersonal skills (communication skills)

Logical reasoning and analytical ability

Decision making and problem-solving

General mental ability

Basic numeracy (Up to Class X)

Data Interpretation (Up to Class X)

Tips to prepare

Get the strategy right: A full-fledged preparation strategy needs to be in place. This will not only help in channelizing yourself in the right direction but will also lead to saving of your time which is the most important resource for any UPSC aspirant.

The preparation timeline focusing on the various aspects of Prelims is a must to successfully crack the exam.

Current Affairs form the most important part of the UPSC Prelims GS paper. Therefore, an applicant needs to be thorough with this. Making newspapers especially The Hindu, magazines (Economic and Political Weekly, Pratiyogita Nirdeshika), everyday news bulletin on TV channels/digital media platforms, a part of your everyday routine is a must. 

The ideal practice is to keep a track of Current Affairs of at least 12-15 months before the exam. You can refer to the CareerDisha Knowledge Bank to learn about the latest Current Affairs.

Yet another important practice is to resort to the previous year question papers to learn about the exam pattern and division of questions as per different themes/subjects.

For CSAT or GS-II, it is really significant to be thorough with the previous year question papers as you’ll learn about the pattern of question asked, making it easier for you to prepare. It will help you in saving time.

Making notes is mandatory for Civil Service aspirants. Whenever you read, listen or study anything important, it is always good to take note of it so that you can refer as and when you want.

Mock tests will make it easier for you to prepare. It will also help in assessing the knowledge and skills and to know about your strengths and weaknesses.

Getting the right study material is of utmost importance for UPSC aspirants. NCERT textbooks are a great source of reference for different subjects as the concept is explained in an easy to learn format.

Revise at least 2-3 thrice before appearing for the exams so that none of your preparation go in vain.

Prepare for UPSC Prelims with the best module “CareerDisha”  and get free study material including notes, mock tests, blogs/articles, quizzes, video lectures, etc.

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