In this article, we explained why upsc prelims is tough. upsc exam is considered to be the toughest level exam in the world. Among them, the UPSC Prelims Exam is deemed to be the most difficult level stage. And we are going to tell you why the upsc prelim exam is difficult. If there is the most difficult stage between prelims and mains, it is UPSC prelims because many students get disqualified for prelims. In 2023, 13 lakh students appeared for the upsc prelims but only 14624 of them qualified for the mains. That means a few thousand students are selected from lakhs of students. Negative marking, complex structured questions, increasing number of students appearing for the exam every year, changing syllabus, and difficult format of question paper make UPSC prelims difficult. The upsc prelims are considered as one of the toughest exams in India.
If you go through the upsc Syllabus, especially for prelims you will find that you have to study not only the current affairs of India but all over world current affairs. The upsc exam overall is not a specialist exam but a generalist exam. General studies include all subjects like history, geography, polity, economics, environment, art and culture, etc. Almost all topics have some reference in current affairs. Before 2014 almost General Studies questions were asked more. But after 2014 almost 80 percent of question papers depend on current affairs. The weightage of current affairs is increasing day by day.
The prelims are like a 100-meter race while the mains is a marathon-style exam. For the prelims, you have to study a lot, revise, and practice test series in a very short period. The upsc prelims general studies paper has a total of 100 questions and it has two hours for the paper. Also for the Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT), there are 80 questions and for that too the duration is 2 hours. For General Study Paper 1, you get only one minute and 2 seconds(1.2). For the CSAT paper, you get 1 minute and 5 seconds(1.5). For that, you have to practice a lot, do a lot of revision, and do a lot of analysis. Overall success in the prelim exam depends on your practice.
Why You need a balanced approach while preparing for upsc exam-
We are going to discuss how to have a balanced approach for upsc prelims. You must have heard that while preparing for UPSC you have to have a balanced approach. A balanced approach is a balanced study. While preparing for upsc prelims you have to give equal time to two papers. You should give equal weight to the General Studies Paper and Civil Services Aptitude Test (csat) paper. Many students fail in the UPSC Pre Exam due to a lack of a balanced approach. So you have to study for both papers. Do not take csat paper lightly.
Every year lakhs of new students appear for the exam and the number of repeaters every year is huge. So the number of competitors is very high and the post vacancies are less so the competition becomes very tough. Before 2016 the cut-off for prelims exam used to go up to 120 but after 2016 the cut-off started coming within 100. The lower the cutoff, the higher the competition and the lower the pass rate.
For the prelims exam, you should use a strategy of reading less and revising more. And after revision, you should practice the mock test. To understand the format of the prelims exam and to know the complete prelims exam information, you first need to study upsc old Papers and you should be able to analyze them well and make short notes regarding them. Also, you should practice a lot of OMR sheets for the prelims examination. Because when you correct the answer you need to keep in mind whether properly is ticked or not. filling in the wrong place makes the question wrong. So while filling out the OMR sheet you have to fill in the goal properly.
How many questions should you solve for the upsc prelims exam?
See it all depends on the prelims paper nature. But every year there are toppers whose strategy is the same which is to solve a minimum 80 to a maximum 95 questions. Should not solve less than 80 questions. Because five to ten questions depend on intuition power and guesswork. UPSC prelims paper is an objective-type question. That is, there is one question and it has four options. You should solve at least 10 sets of question papers and analyze them before appearing for the exam. If any student is not able to afford the test series then they should practice upsc previous years question papers.
The upsc exam is so tough because every year many fresh graduates appear for the exam. Some take exams for fun. Some students take exams for mental satisfaction. There are very few students who take the exam seriously. Also, many students prepare full-time and give repeated prelims, so every year the number of students is high for prelims and the cutoff is high. The UPSC exam is considered to be the most difficult exam not only in India but also in the entire world. UPSC Prelims is considered to be the number one difficult exam in India. In the UPSC pre-examination, questions of static nature and dynamic nature are asked in the subjects of history, geography, civics, economics, science, environment, and politics.
Repeated questions are asked very few in the UPSC Prelims Exam. That is, the number of repeated questions is only one to two. Even if a repeated question is asked in the exam, they can ask any question related to the new related topic. As there are multiple types of questions, sometimes these questions are asked in one sentence, similarly, two questions are combined into one question or multiple choice questions.
UPSC Prelims 2024 Question Paper Analysis –
In the UPSC prelims exam if more questions are asked on science and technology then the paper of that year is considered difficult. similarly, if more questions are asked on the environment than this question paper of that year is considered difficult. Polity is the most asked subject and the easiest subject in the UPSC Prelims Exam. Polity questions were a total 18 in the prelims exam 2024. Every year at least more than 12 questions are asked on the subject of Politics in the Prelims Exam. So in the prelims examination of 2024, there were about 15 questions of Economics, most of which were applied base. Almost 80 percent of the questions asked in Economics are based on current affairs. Very few questions are asked in textbooks. So you need to have a balanced approach. Only subjects like Polity and Economics need to be given a little more preference.
UPSC Prelims 2024 subject-wise analysis –
1. Polity questions -18
2. Economics -15
3. History -9
4. Science and Technology -9
5. Geography -19
6. Environment -10
7. Current Affairs -20.
There is less mental stress on you while giving the main exam paper. But the most pressure is on you while giving the prelims exam paper. In the preliminary examination, there is a general study paper first and after that, there is a cast paper. UPSC preliminary stage is considered to be the most stressful. It is seen that many times even the students preparing for upsc in English do not understand that question in English so they have to read and understand its questions in Hindi. If you don’t understand the question in English then you have to understand the question in Hindi analyze it and give the right answer so you have less time than you have in UPSC prelims.
In a way, UPSC Prelims is an unpredictable stage. You also have to count how many questions you have solved in the pre-examination. Guess work has to be done properly. Some questions in the pre-examination make you less confident and make you tense while answering the next question. So if you don’t get the answer to a question then you need to temporarily skip that question and try to answer the next question. The most worrying thing in upsc prelims is that there is a negative marking in UPSC prelims.
Reasoning topics should be the most focus while preparing for CSAT. While starting the UPSC CSAT paper first you need to solve reasoning questions because reasoning questions are easy and take very little time to solve. Reasoning questions have higher accuracy. After that, you need to focus a little on the English passage. Solving English passage questions may take you some time but with practice you will be able to answer more in less time. But if your maths is good then first of all you should solve maths questions. But the most important thing is that you should not skip maths. Students who are afraid of maths or weak in maths should focus on Reasoning and English. Students who have English weak should focus on maths and reasoning.
Many students read a lot of books for UPSC Prelims. But you need to read some books, read certain books, and revise the books you have read frequently. Thinking and meditation are necessary for pre-examination. If you go through the book list of any upsc topper, you will realize one thing almost all the toppers are preparing according to the syllabus and not by books. Before starting upsc preparation or reading books you should read syllabus first.