The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts the Civil Services Examination (CSE) every year to select candidates for various civil services such as the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), The CSE consists of three stages: the Preliminary Examination (also known as the UPSC Prelims), the Main Examination, and the Interview. In this article, we will focus on the UPSC Prelims examination, including the expected cut off and the answer sheets.
The UPSC Prelims examination is the first stage of the CSE and is considered a screening test. It is a two-paper examination, with Paper 1 (General Studies 1) covering Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society Current Affairs and Paper 2 (General Studies 2) covering Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations. The questions are of objective type, with multiple choice questions (MCQs) and each paper is of 200 marks.
The UPSC releases the cut-off for the Preliminary Examination every year, which is the minimum marks that a candidate must score in order to qualify for the Main Examination. The cut-off is determined by the number of vacancies and the difficulty level of the exam. In the year 2021, the cut-off for General category was 96.66, for OBC was 93.33, for SC it was 82.00 and for ST it was 79.33.
The answer sheets for the UPSC Prelims examination are usually made available on the official website a few weeks after the examination. Candidates can download their UPSC Answer Sheets and check their answers to see how they performed in the examination. The answer sheets also have the correct answers marked, which can be used for future reference and for identifying areas where improvement is needed.
It is important to note that the UPSC does not provide any negative marking in the Preliminary examination. This means that candidates will not lose any marks for incorrect answers, so it is advisable for the candidates to make an attempt for all the questions.
In conclusion, the UPSC Prelims examination is the first stage of the Civil Services Examination and is a screening test for the output UPSC Main Examination Results. The UPSC Prelims Expected Cut-off for the examination is determined by the number of vacancies and the difficulty level of the exam. The answer sheets for the examination are made available on the official IAS Parliament website a few weeks after the examination, and can be used for future reference and for identifying areas where improvement is needed. It is important for the candidates to keep in mind that there is No Negative Marking in the preliminary examination and it is advisable to make an attempt for all the questions.
