UPSC Prelims 2025 Syllabus, Exam Pattern, & Previous Year Question Papers

Current Events of National and International Significance

Indian History - Ancient, Medieval, and Modern

Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, and Economic 

Indian Politics - Constitution, Political System, Governance & Public Policies, Fundamental Rights Issues, etc. 

Indian Economics & Social Developments - Micro & Macro Economics, Poverty Index, Demographics, Inclusion, Initiatives in The Social Sector, etc.

General Issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change 

General Science 

English Comprehension 

Questions Related to Interpersonal Skills (including Communications)

Questions on Logical Reasoning & Analytical Ability 

Questions on Decision Making & Problem Solving 

Basic Numeracy - Numbers & Their Relations, Orders of Magnitude, Basic Algebra, Set Theory & Operations, Time & Distance, Profit & Loss, Coordinate Geometry, Sequences & Series, etc. (Class 10 Level)

Questions on General Mental Ability 

Interpretations of Data - Charts, Tables, Graphs, Data Sufficiency, Comparison, etc.

(Class 10 Level)

Number of Papers 

2 (GS and CSAT)

Language of Papers 

English and Hindi 

Types of Questions

MCQ-Based

Exam Duration 

Two Hours for Each Paper (Total 4 Hours)

Number of Questions 

100 Questions in Paper 1 and 80 in Paper 2

Total Marks 

200 Each Paper (Total 400)

Negative Marking

Yes. There is! It’s ⅓ of the maximum question marks for every wrong answer, i.e., 0.66 for Paper 1 questions & 0.83 for Paper 2 questions.

Mandatory Qualifying Marks 

33% in Paper 2 (for Paper 1, the cut-off varies every year as per counted merit ranking)

UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Paper (2024) 

UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Paper (2023) 

UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Paper (2022) 

UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Paper (2021) 

UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Paper (2020)