UPSC Prelims Previous Year Questions Topic Wise Classification and Analysis

1. Approaching UPSC Prelims Previous Year Questions

We have already discussed the UPSC Prelims syllabus in detail in a recent post. The post discusses CSE-Prelims syllabus based on UPSC Prelims previous year questions’ – topic wise classification and analysis.

Having good knowledge of syllabus helps in deciding which sources to use while studying and what to avoid. After having an idea about the syllabus, an analysis about the weightage of various subjects helps in prioritising the various subjects/topics of study.

What remains afterwards is having a proper perspective while studying. And this is where the actual previous year questions are useful. Thus, we’re presenting here the UPSC Prelims PYQs of all the subjects. We’ve considered the last 10 years’ UPSC prelims previous year questions (2013-2022). This is sufficient to trace out the pattern in UPSC prelims PYQs and give a perspective to our study.

Another important purpose these previous year questions will serve is – diffuse the tension created by various institutions’ UPSC prelims mock tests. It is the experience of many students that, at times, the tests organised by many of the institutions do not ask realistic questions. Thus, even good students who actually passes the prelims exam, keep getting 60-70 marks in these mock tests.

This is highly discouraging, especially when UPSC prelims is close and students are feeling that they’ve completed the syllabus. If one goes through the previous year questions at this time, it will help you gain the confidence on your studies and move ahead.

2. Making Best Use of PYQs

We’ve done the subject wise and topic wise classification of all the questions from UPSC prelims. The subjects are in tune with the official UPSC prelims syllabus. The topics have been decided based on the standard study sources for various subjects. We highly recommend sticking to this classification, this will help you avoid any confusion throughout your prelims preparation. You can also download the detailed UPSC prelims syllabus for future reference.

Download UPSC Prelims Syllabus

The main purpose of UPSC Prelims previous year questions is to understand the nature of questions in the actual exam. So, it is recommended to study the PYQs along with your study of the subject/topic from a textbook. It will help a lot in maintaining focus.

Below is the link for the previous year questions for all the subjects. Once you go to a particular subject, you can see the list of all the topics of that subject.

The work is under progress currently, the entire PYQs will be available by 15th May 2023. Consider joining our telegram group or follow us on social media to receive the latest updates.

All the answers to previous year questions are based on the official answer key released by UPSC. Only the answers to the latest paper (2022) are based on study & research since the answer key is not yet available.