UPSC Question Paper Analysis 2024; See Here Sectional Breakup, Expected Cutoff and Video
Indian Administrative Services 2025 ( IAS )
The Union Public Service Commission conducted the UPSC Prelims exam on June 16, 2024. The UPSC Question Paper Analysis 2024 is available here. The candidates can see here the section-wise breakdown of the UPSC exam 2024 and the expected cutoff for IAS prelims.
UPSC Exam Analysis 2024
UPSC Exam Analysis 2024: The Union Public Service Commission conducted the UPSC Civil Service Exam 2024 General Studies Paper in the first session. The Civil Service Exam prelims exam is conducted to recruit candidates for all three All India Services and the Central Civil Services. The UPSC prelims exam is qualifying only and the marks secured in the IAS prelims exam will not be counted for the final UPSC result. The UPSC exam is conducted once in a year. If the candidates do not perform well or in case they do not appear in the paper, they will have to wait for next year.
Also Read: UPSC Answer Key 2024 Live Updates
- UPSC 2024 Exam Timing
- Structure of the UPSC Prelims Exam
- UPSC 2024 General Studies Paper Analysis
- UPSC 2024 Expected Cutoff
- UPSC Prelims Question Paper Analysis 2023
- UPSC Prelims Cutoff 2023
- UPSC 2024 Result Expected Date
UPSC 2024 Exam Timing
The candidates should note that there are two papers in the UPSC prelims exam. The duration of each paper is two hours. The Commission mentioned the exam timing in the UPSC IAS admit card. The candidates can see below the UPSC exam timing:
Yes, the UPSC asked conceptual and analytical questions in the IAS prelims exam in 2023. The CSAT paper tested analytical skills, reasoning ability, and aptitude. The questions included permutations and combinations and analytical reasoning.
The difficulty level of the exam was moderate. The paper was lengthy because it included statement-based questions. The questions were a mix of static and current affairs. The majority of the questions were from Environment and Geography.
The CSAT was more difficult than previous years. Students with Science and IIT backgrounds found the exam tough.
| Session | Paper Timing | Paper Name |
|---|---|---|
| Morning Session | 9.30 AM to 11.30 AM | General Studies Paper 1 |
| Noon Session | 2.30 PM to 4.30 PM | General Studies Paper 2 (CSAT) |
The candidates can see here more details about the UPSC Exam Timing.
Structure of the UPSC Prelims Exam
The Union Public Service Commission mentions the structure of the UPSC Civil Service Exam (IAS) exam in the official notification. The candidates can see the details of the papers:
Upcoming Sarkari Exam Dates
19 Nov '25
17 Nov '25 - 21 Nov '25
21 Nov '25
16 Nov '25 - 23 Nov '25
IBPS Clerk
3 Dec '25 - 6 Dec '25
18 Dec '25
31 Dec '25 - 7 Jan '26
15 Nov '25 - 22 Nov '25
30 Nov '25
- General Studies Paper 1
- General Studies Paper 2 (Aptitude Paper)
The marks secured in the General Studies Paper 1 will be considered for the UPSC Prelims Cutoff purposes. The General Studies Paper 2 (CSAT) paper is qualifying only. The candidates are required to score 33 per cent marks on the CSAT paper.
Also Read : UPSC IAS Exam Pattern
UPSC 2024 General Studies Paper Analysis
The Union Public Service Commission will conduct the UPSC prelims General Studies Paper 1 in the morning session. The UPSC General Studies paper will be over at 11.30. The candidates will get here the UPSC 2024 General Studies Paper 1 after the exam. The candidates will get here the sectional breakup of the UPSC Prelims question paper.
As the name suggest, the IAS main exam has 9 descriptive papers. The details of these papers are given below:
| Paper | Description | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| A | One of the Indian language to be selected by the candidate from the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the constitution (Qualifying only) | 300 |
| B | English (Qualifying Only) | 300 |
| 1 | Essay | 250 |
| 2 | General Studies-I (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society) | 250 |
| 3 | General Studies –II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations) | 250 |
| 4 | General Studies –III (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management) | 250 |
| 5 | General Studies –IV (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude) | 250 |
| 6 | Optional Subject - Paper 1 | 250 |
| 7 | Optional Subject - Paper 2 | 250 |
The Union Public Service Commission releases the IAS question papers for prelims and main exam. The Commission releases the question papers on its official website - upsc.gov.in. The candidates can download the IAS prelims and Mains question paper from the official website.
The candidates are not required to login with their credentials to download the IAS question papers. The Commission release the question papers in PDF.
| Subject | Question | Difficulty Level |
|---|---|---|
| Ancient & Medieval History | 5 | Difficult |
| Indian National Movement | 0 | NA |
| Art, Culture & Ancient Literature | 3 | Difficult |
| Geography | 24 | Moderate to Difficult |
| Indian Polity | 19 | Moderate |
| Indian Economy | 12 | Moderate to Difficult |
| World Economy | 1 | Difficult |
| General Science | 4 | Moderate to Difficult |
| Environment, Wildlife & Biodiversity | 10 | Difficult |
| Technology | 5 | Moderate to Difficult |
| Current Affairs | 10 | Moderate |
| Government Scheme | 4 | Moderate (factual) |
| Defence Force Ranks | 1 | Moderate (factual) |
| Books | 1 | Moderate (factual) |
| Total | 100 | Moderate to Difficulte |
The candidates will also get the UPSC question paper here.
UPSC 2024 Expected Cutoff
The candidates should note that the UPSC Prelims Cutoff depends on the marks of the General Studies paper 1 (GS Marks) only. The candidates will get here the details of UPSC's expected cutoff 2024 after the exam is over.
| Category |
IAS Prelims Cut off 2024 |
|---|---|
| General |
TBA |
| EWS |
TBA |
| OBC |
TBA |
| SC |
TBA |
| ST |
TBA |
| PwBD1 |
TBA |
| PwBD2 |
TBA |
| PwBD3 |
TBA |
| PwBD5 |
TBA |
UPSC Prelims Question Paper Analysis 2023
The candidates can see the UPSC Prelims Exam Analysis of the previous year to anticipate the difficulty level of the UPSC Prelims General Studies Paper.
UPSC Prelims Cutoff 2023
The Union Public Service Commission released the UPSC 2023 prelims cutoff after the declaration of the result. The candidates can see below the UPSC 2023 cutoff for all the categories:
| Category |
IAS Prelims Cut off 2023 |
|---|---|
| General |
75.41 |
| EWS |
68.02 |
| OBC |
74.75 |
| SC |
59.25 |
| ST |
47.82 |
| PwBD1 |
40.40 |
| PwBD2 |
47.13 |
| PwBD3 |
40.40 |
| PwBD5 |
33.68 |
The candidate should expect a similar cutoff trend this year also.
UPSC 2024 Result Expected Date
The Commission is expected to release the UPSC prelims 2024 result online by June 28, 2024.
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 6 days ago
The Union Public Service Commission released the Civil Service (IAS) Main result 2025 on its portal - upsc.gov.in. The Commission selected 2,736 candidates for the interview stage. The Commission will start conducting the interviews in December 2025.
Contributor-Level 9
Answered a month ago
The Union Public Service Commission conduct the Civil Service Exam every year to recruit the candidates for the All India Services and Central Civil Services. There are around 25 Central Civil Services whose exam is combinedly conducted as Civil Service Exam.
R
Beginner-Level 5
Answered a month ago
The Union Public Service Commission will conduct the UPSC Civil Service (prelims) exam on May 24, 2026. The exam will be conducted in two sessions and the General Studies Paper 2 will be qualifying only.
M
Beginner-Level 5
Answered a month ago
The Union Public Service Commission will release the UPSC IAS 2026 notification on January 14 on its official website - upsc.gov.in. The Commission will also activate the UPSC CSE (IAS) 2026 online application link on its website. The last date for the UPSC IAS application form is February 3, 2026.
Contributor-Level 9
Answered a month ago
The candidates should analyse the UPSC CSE previous year question papers to know the trend of the most asked topics. The Commission releases the UPSC question paper on its official website - upsc.gov.in. The candidates can get the UPSC question paper of previous year here. The candidates can downloa
N
Beginner-Level 5
Answered 2 months ago
The Union Public Service Commission will release the UPSC Civil Service (IAS) notification on January 14, 2026. With the release of official notification, the UPSC IAS Application form 2026 will also be activated for the candidates. The last date to apply online for the UPSC CSE (IAS) exam 2026 wil
M
Beginner-Level 5
Answered 2 months ago
The Union Public Service Commission released the UPSC CSE notification 2025 on January 22, 2025. In the official notification, the Commission notified 979 vacancies for the UPSC CSE 2025 exam. But this is a tentative number and the final number of vacancies will be mentioned in the final Result of
N
Beginner-Level 5
The IAS prelims exam is an objective type exam. The IAS prelims is conducted offline and the candidates need to mark their answers on the answer sheet (OMR). There are two papers in the IAS prelims exam. The details of IAS prelims exam is given below:
The Aptitude paper is qualifying only and the passing marks in the aptitude paper is 67.5 marks out of 200.