Considering the vast of UPSC syllabus and the limited time aspirants have to prepare for the exams, it becomes extremely important to analyze different trends of marks distribution related to subjects, type of questions and current events.
It helps aspirants to make strategies for different papers and subjects. In this article, we have charted out trend analysis from the year 2013 to 2018 (after the pattern change).
Latest subject-wise trend of UPSC Prelims:
Paper 1: General studies
| History | Geography | Economy | Sci-Tech | Polity | Environment | Current Affairs & GK | |
| 2018 | 21 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 23 |
| 2017 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 21 | 6 | 28 |
| 2016 | 15 | 7 | 18 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 27 |
| 2015 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 29 |
| 2014 | 16 | 14 | 11 | 15 | 10 | 12 | 22 |
We can conclude following things from the above table:
- In the past 5 years, maximum number of questions have been asked on Current affairs & General Knowledge.
- History is the 2nd most important subject, in which maximum questions are from Modern India, followed by Ancient India & then Medieval India. 3-4 questions are asked on Art & Culture too.
- Other Subjects have got more or less equal distribution of questions throughout the years.
Paper 2: CSAT
| BasicNumeracy | LogicalReasoning | Comprehension | Decisionmaking | DataInterpretation | |
| 2018 | 28 | 22 | 30 | ||
| 2017 | 31 | 21 | 28 | ||
| 2016 | 30 | 18 | 30 | 02 | |
| 2015 | 20 | 23 | 31 | 06 | |
| 2014 | 11 | 21 | 33 | 06 | 09 |
We can conclude following things from the above table:
- The highest number of questions have been asked on basic numeracy, logical reasoning and comprehension.
- Comprehension being the easiest are the real mark fetchers and hold almost 40 % of the marks in the exam
- Decision making questions have been asked since last 2 years but carry no negative penalty for wrong answer.
UPSC Mains subject-wise trend analysis:
GS I:
The table shows chapter-wise distribution of marks in the paper over past 6 years:
| Category | GS-Mains Paper-1 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| History | Culture | 20 | 40 | 25 | 25 | 10 | 35 |
| History | Freedom struggle | 30 | 30 | 25 | 37.5 | 65 | 10 |
| History | World History | 40 | 30 | 25 | 12.5 | 10 | 15 |
| History | Post-Independence | 50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Society | Religion, Region, empowerment | 10 | 10 | 37.5 | 37.5 | 50 | 35 |
| Society | Poverty, Population, Development | 0 | 10 | 25 | 12.5 | 0 | 40 |
| Society | Globalization Impact | 10 | 0 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 0 | 15 |
| Society | Women | 10 | 30 | 12.5 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Geography | Climate | 10 | 20 | 37.5 | 12.5 | 60 | 10 |
| Geography | Disaster | 10 | 10 | 0 | 12.5 | 15 | 0 |
| Geography | Urbanization | 10 | 0 | 25 | 25 | 15 | 15 |
| Geography | Physical | 20 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Geography | Resources | 20 | 20 | 25 | 62.5 | 0 | 10 |
| Geography | Industrial Location | 10 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 30 |
| Total | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 |
GS II:
The table shows chapter-wise distribution of marks in the paper over past 6 years:
| Category | GSM2 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
| Polity | Basic Str. | 10 | 12.5 | 37.5 | 12.5 | 15 | 10 |
| Polity | Comparing | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Polity | Executive | 10 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Polity | Legislature & Elections | 10 | 12.5 | 0 | 12.5 | 40 | 20 |
| Polity | Power Sep. | 10 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 10 | 15 |
| Polity | Fed-Local | 30 | 12.5 | 25 | 37.5 | 10 | 30 |
| Polity | Bodies | 20 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 15 | 25 |
| Welfare | Welfare & Protection | 20 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| Welfare | Poverty & Hunger | 10 | 0 | 12.5 | 0 | 25 | 30 |
| Welfare | Edu,Health,HDI | 20 | 25 | 25 | 37.5 | 10 | 10 |
| Welfare | Eco.Reform | 0 | 12.5 | 0 | 12.5 | 15 | 10 |
| Governance | Accountability & E-Gov | 20 | 0 | 25 | 25 | 10 | 25 |
| Governance | NGO,Pressure,IAS | 20 | 25 | 37.5 | 25 | 40 | 0 |
| IR | Neighbours | 50 | 12.5 | 25 | 12.5 | 10 | 0 |
| IR | Non-Neighbours & Diaspora | 10 | 0 | 12.5 | 12.5 | 30 | 25 |
| IR | Inst., Group, Agreements | 10 | 50 | 12.5 | 25 | 10 | 25 |
| Total | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 |
Next article will include trend analysis of UPSC Mains GS3 & GS4 papers.
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