UPSC Exam 2024 Updates: CSE Prelims rated moderate on difficulty level; check analysis

- Economy: Moderate to Difficult
- Polity: Easy to Moderate
- History: Moderate to Difficult
- Geography: Easy to Moderate
- Environment: Difficult
- S&T: Moderate
- IR: Moderate

(Inputs by Unacademy)

There were a total of 14 questions of environment and ecology. Majority of questions were moderate in difficulty. Barring two questions, the rest of the questions are either inspired from current affairs or are from class notes and compass. Overall, the question paper seems easier than last year, mostly because of appreciable changes brought in our study material and pedagogy.

(With inputs from Akshay Vrat, Faculty- Environment, Rau’s IAS Study Circle)

The UPSC Civil Services Prelims examination is an objective type paper where each question is accompanied by four options and the appearing candidate has to find the right answer from the four options. 

In the preliminary examination, most of the options are very close to the correct answer and hence the aspirants use the elimination method to get to the right answer. This technique involves systematically eliminating the options that are clearly incorrect, thereby increasing the chances of selecting the correct answer.

The use of the elimination method, the enhanced difficulty of CSAT, and the introduction of topics like sports were new last year. However, what troubled aspirants most was the tricky questions that could not be answered through the popular elimination method.

Over the years, the number of students taking exams in Hindi and other regional languages has been declining sharply. (As per data available in the UPSC’s annual reports).

Read more details here

"Upon reviewing the question paper, I observed that the Polity section comprised 15 questions. Of these, 10 were easy, 2 were of medium difficulty, and 3 were tough. Notably, 10-12 questions were drawn from the last two years.  Impressively, 13 out of the 15 questions were directly covered in my classes. Although the tough questions were more challenging than last year’s, the remaining 12 followed a predictable pattern,” shares Anubhav Sharma, Faculty of Polity, Rau’s IAS Study Circle.

On the first look of the UPSC Civil Services Prelims exam, it looks like there were approximately 15 questions of Polity, 18 from Economy, 11 from History, Art and Culture, 21 from Geography+Mapping, 15 from Science, 18 from Environment and Ecology, and 2 miscellaneous.

Check more detailed analysis from The Indian Express' UPSC expert, Manas Srivastava, at this link

In Prelims 2024, there are 18 questions from the Indian Economy. Out of 18 questions, 7 Questions are from Banking and Finance, 3 Questions related to Government schemes and rest of the questions are from other themes such as Taxation, Infrastructure etc. Out of 18 questions, around 12 questions can be considered as Easy to moderadte.
 
Overall, the Economy section was along the expected lines in terms of overall weightage to Economy (18 Questions) and in terms of weightage to Themes ( Majority of the questions are from Banking and Finance). Most of the questions have been asked from the Static/Core part and only few questions have been asked from Current Affairs. 

Under the Theme of Banking and Finance, Focus has shifted from chapter of Monetary Policy to Capital Market/Money Market. UPSC has also continued with its previous pattern of asking questions related to Schemes (Digital India, PM-SYM, Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan), Core Concepts ( sectors of Economy, Types of Physical Capital), Important Economic Developments in other countries (Venezuela Crisis, US Debt Crisis).  

Most of the Questions from the Economy section required the students to identify as to "which statements are correct?" rather than identifying "How many statements are correct?". Hence, an average well-read student could easily answer around 10-12 questions out of 18 questions through elimination method.

(Inputs by Basava Uppin, Faculty- Economy, Rau’s IAS Study Circle)

“This is my third attempt for the UPSC examination and compared to last year’s prelims exam, I found this paper moderate because I was taking regular mock tests. Many of the questions were tough but I managed to tackle 92 out of 100 questions even as I considered that there would be some negative marking for a wrong answer," says Siddharth Sharma, UPSC candidate.

Candidates cna find the Civil Services Prelims exam question paper here

"The factual questions were on the lines of state PCS were high. Questions on armed forces, environment were tough. These were generally not from topics that aspirants study. However, polity, economics and geography were easy," an expert from Civilsdaily said.

"The exam was simpler than last year. The Geography section was mainly application based. One should know the articles and Constitutional provisions for Polity. There were less questions of 'pair type', and more of 'match the columns' type questions," says Deepanshu Singh, who is an educator and a mentor for UPSC aspirants.

The UPSC Civil Services Prelims CSAT exam is about to begin at 2:30 pm now.

Candidates should note that any omission/mistake/discrepancy in filling in details in the OMR answer sheet, especially concerning roll number and test booklet series code, will render the answer sheet liable for rejection.

The UPSC takes nearly 14-15 months to complete the Civil Services recruitment cycle process. The exam is divided into three stages — prelims, main and personality test and an appearing candidate failing at any of the stages need to reappear for the stage 1 — preliminary exam next year. 

Criticising the long recruitment period, a Parliamentary Committee has recently suggested the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) to reduce the UPSC CSE cycle.

“The Committee is of the opinion that the duration of any recruitment examination should not ordinarily exceed six months as long and protracted recruitment cycles waste prime years of a candidates’ life besides taking a toll on their physical and mental health. The Committee, accordingly, recommends that UPSC should take steps to reduce the duration of the recruitment cycle significantly without compromising the quality,” the report said.

Read more here

"The paper was very balanced. UPSC again followed last year's pattern. This time, more contemporary issues are covered. The Indian Express' 'UPSC Essentials' was very helpful in this context. Overall, it was a good experience," Prakash Sankar, an Indian Express reader said after the Civil Services Prelims exam.

Candidates who appeared for the first shift of the exam found the Civil services Prelims exam to be "balanced, and easier than last year".

The afternoon shift for GS paper 2 (CSAT) will start at 2:30 pm.

Take a look at the question paper of the morning shift of the UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2024. The exam is being held in two shifts — morning and afternoon. While the morning shift for the GS paper 1 start at 9:30 am, the afternoon shift for GS paper 2 (CSAT) will start at 2:30 pm.

Check the complete question paper here

Overall paper was moderate, as per candidates who appeared for the UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2024 exam. The Polity section also had a major portion. Overall, the difficulty level is moderate," Khushboo, a UPSC candidate from Delhi told The Indian Express.

Check the question paper of UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2024 here

"I have to appear for my exam in Noida. Metro services started at 6 AM today. It is a good initiative by the govt as we will be able to reach the exam centres on time," a UPSC candidate told ANI.

Violation of any of the instructions shall entail cancellation of the candidature of the candidate in addition to any other appropriate action that might be taken by the Commission against the candidate/scribe. Both the candidate and the scribe shall be subject to the Rules of the Examination and action will be taken against them for violation of the same as per Rules of the Examination.

This year, the commission has notified a total of 1,056 vacancies for CSE and 150 for IFoS, which is lower than last year's 1,105 posts, while in 2021, it was 712 and 796 in 2020.

The UPSC Civil Services 2021 topper, a JNU alumnus, credited the university for her success in the exam.. “I gained insights about this exam while I was pursuing my master’s at JNU. That was when my preparation for UPSC actually began. The university provides you with the right study environment and infrastructure as well as the supportive faculty to begin your UPSC preparation,” Shruti Sharma said.

The numbers available from 1975 to 2014 show that students who graduated from Delhi University performed better than other universities students.

The gap with DU is surprising since JNU is commonly perceived to have produced more civil servants.

Going by figures available with the UPSC from 1974 to 2014, JNU — after Delhi University — had the largest number of students successfully qualifying the exam. During those 40 years, a total of 7,890 students from JNU appeared for the civil services exam out of which 1,236 made it to the merit list, marking a success rate of 16.95 per cent.

While the morning shift for the GS paper 1 will be held from 9:30 am to 11:30 am, the afternoon shift for GS paper 2 (CSAT) will be conducted between 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm.

Yes, there will be a penalty (negative marking) for wrong answers marked by a candidate in both the question papers of the examination.

This year, UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2024 was earlier scheduled for May 26, but was then rescheduled to June 16. The decision to revise the exam timetable was taken after the Election Commission announced the schedule of election to the 18th Lok Sabha in April – June 2024.

This year, the commission has notified a total of 1,056 vacancies for CSE and 150 for IFoS, which is lower than last year's 1,105 posts, while in 2021, it was 712 and 796 in 2020.

Please note that entry into the examination venue shall be closed 30 minutes before the scheduled commencement of the examination. No candidate shall be allowed to entre the examination venue after the closure of the entry.

Bring the e-admit card (printout) along with the (original) photo identity card, whose number is mentioned in the e-admit card, in each session to secure admission to the examination hall.

The exam is held in three stages — prelims, mains, and the personality test to select officers for Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Indian Police Service (IPS), and other Grade A and B posts in the central government and its departments.

There will be penalty for wrong answers marked by a candidate in both the question papers of the examination. One-fourth of the marks will be cut for wrong answers marked in UPSC CSE prelims.

If you have changed your name by following the legal process, please carry (in each session of the CSP, 2024) a Government issued photo Identity Card and/or original Gazette notification of the changed name. Further, you would also be required to submit an undertaking at the time of the examination.

Candidates, who have opted for their own scribe, may note that their own scribe will be allowed for the Examination only with a separate e-Admit Card for such scribe. The e-Admit Cards for the own scribes will be issued separately.

A candidate, whose photograph on his/her e-Admit Card is not clear or the photograph is without his/her name and date of photograph, will have to bring a photo identity card alongwith two passport size photographs (with his/her name and date of photograph), one for each session for appearing in the Examination with an undertaking.

Candidates are advised not to bring any valuables/ costly items and bags to the Examination Venue, as safe keeping of the same cannot be assured. The Commission will not be responsible for any loss in this regard.

There will be penalty (Negative Marking) for wrong answers marked by a candidate in both the question papers of the Examination.

Use of normal or simple wrist watches by candidates is allowed inside the Examination Rooms/ Halls. However, use of watches fitted with any special accessory that might be used as communication device or smart watches is strictly prohibited and candidates are not allowed to take such watches into the Examination Rooms/ Halls.

Candidate should not be in possession of or using any mobile phone (even in switched off mode), pager or any electronic equipment or programmable device or storage media like pen drive, smart watches, etc., or camera or Bluetooth devices or any other equipment or related accessories either in working or switched off mode capable of being used as a communication device during the examination. Any infringement of these instructions shall entail disciplinary action including ban from future Examinations.

Please note that entry into the Examination Venue shall be closed 30 minutes before the schedule commencement of the Examination i.e. 09:00 AM for the Forenoon Session and 02:00 PM for the Afternoon Session. No candidate shall be allowed the entry into the Examination Venue after closure of the entry.

Candidates should note that any omission/ mistake/ discrepancy in encoding / filling in details in the OMR answer sheet, especially with regard to Roll Number and Test Booklet Series Code, will render the answer sheet liable for rejection.

Bring the e-Admit Card (print out) along with the (original) Photo Identity Card, whose number is mentioned in the e-Admit Card, in each session to secure admission to Examination Hall. E-Admit Card must be preserved till the declaration of the final results of the Civil Services Examination, 2024.

UPSC CSE Preliminary Exam 2024 will be conducted on June 16. For aspirants, revision of Current Affairs is one of the most important tasks in the coming days. Here are some of the topics which students should not miss. 

There will be penalty for wrong answers marked by a candidate in both the question papers of the examination. One-fourth of the marks will be cut for wrong answers marked in UPSC CSE prelims.

Use of normal or simple wrist watches by candidates is allowed inside the UPSC CSE examination rooms. However, use of watches fitted with any special accessory that might be used as communication device or smart watches is strictly prohibited and candidates are not allowed to take such watches into the UPSC prelims exam hall.

Candidates, who have opted for their own scribe, may note that their own scribe will be allowed for the examination only with a separate e-Admit Card for such scribe. The e-Admit Cards for the own scribes are issued separately, UPSC said.

A candidate, whose photograph on his/her UPSC CSE admit card is not clear or the photograph is without his/her name and date of photograph, will have to bring a photo identity card alongwith two passport size photographs (with his/her name and date of photograph), one for each session for appearing in the examination with an undertaking.

Candidates must be careful while filling the OMR sheet. Any omission, mistake or discrepancy in filling in details in the UPSC CSE prelims OMR answer sheet, especially concerning roll number and test booklet series code, will render the answer sheet liable for rejection, the Commission said.

Candidate should not be in possession of or using any mobile phone even in switched off mode, pager or any electronic equipment or programmable device or storage media like pen drive, smart watches, etc., or camera or bluetooth devices or any other equipment or related accessories either in working or switched off mode capable of being used as a communication device during the examination. Any infringement of these instructions shall entail disciplinary action including ban from future examinations.

The UPSC CSE 2024 prelims reporting time is 30 minutes before the start of the exam. The UPSC CSE prelims reporting time for June 16 exam is 9 am for the forenoon session and 2 pm for the afternoon session. No candidate will be allowed entry into the UPSC CSE exam centre after the closure of entry.

Multiple Delhi metro lines which usually start their services at 8 am on Sundays, will start at 6 am tomorrow to facilitate the candidates appearing for the UPSC CSE prelims exam tomorrow.

- e-Admit Card (print out)

- Original photo identity card whose number is mentioned in the e-admit card

- Black ball point pen

The UPSC CSE prelims 2024 exam will be held on June 16. While the morning shift for the GS paper 1 will start at 9:30 am, the afternoon shift for GS paper 2 (CSAT) will start at 2:30 pm. The reporting time is 9 am and 2 pm respectively.