The UPSC CSE is conducted in three stages i.e, the preliminary examination, the mains examination and the personality test examination. The Preliminary exam serves as a screening test to filter out few thousand aspirants from lakhs of candidates for the mains examination. The prelims exam consists of two papers.
**Paper 2 is of qualifying nature and the aspirants need to get a minimum of 33% marks in order to qualify for the evaluation of the GS Paper 1. The prelims merit list is then prepared on the basis of the marks obtained in Paper 1.
Paper I |
Paper II |
Current events |
Comprehension |
Indian history |
Interpersonal skills and English language comprehension |
Geography |
Logical reasoning and analytical ability |
Indian polity and governance |
Decision making and problem solving |
Economic and social development |
Mental ability |
Environment |
Basic numeracy |
General science |
Data interpretation |
Every serious and sincere aspirant to see his or her name in the Prelims merit list has the worry of avoiding negative marking to increase the chances of crossing the cut off mark.
The prelims papers are of two hours duration each.
Paper |
No. of Questions |
Total Marks |
Marks for each right answer |
Marks for each wrong answer |
Paper-I |
100 |
200 |
2 |
-0.66 |
Paper-II |
80 |
200 |
2.5 |
-0.83 |
The strategy during the exam should be to minimize the negative marking. However, it must be noted that educated guessing plays a very important role in the prelims paper and one should try to go for it rather than abstaining from the same. Further, wild guessing should be avoided to minimum.
One should always remember that the basic mantra to success in any stage of the UPSC CSE is to prepare diligently, smartly with the best resources. For prelims, to maximize your score and to adapt to the above strategies, try to give as much mock tests as possible and try to simulate yourself in real type environments.
HARD WORK ALWAYS PAYS. HAPPY LEARNING.