UPSC Prelims Syllabus: GS Paper 1 and CSAT Explained

Prelims pattern and UPSC prelims marking scheme

• The penalty is one third of the marks for that question. Leaving a question blank costs nothing.
• If you mark more than one option, it counts as a wrong answer even if one of them is correct.
• CSAT has been qualifying since 2015. You need 33% (66 marks) in it, and your merit for Mains is then decided only on Paper 1.
• You answer both on OMR sheets, and the booklet carries every question in two languages, Hindi and English.

GS Paper 1: the official topic list explained

The notification lists seven broad areas for Paper 1. Each line is short, so here is what each one covers in practice.

• Current events (national and international): government schemes, reports, summits, science news, places in the news, roughly the past 12 to 18 months.
• History, including the national movement: ancient and medieval India, art and culture, and the freedom struggle from the 1857 revolt to independence.
• Geography of India and the world: landforms, people and economic activity, including climate, soils, rivers, agriculture and mapping.
• Indian polity and governance: constitutional provisions, how Parliament, the executive and courts work, local self-government, public policy and questions of rights.
• Economic and social development: growth that lasts, poverty and inclusion, population trends and welfare programmes, plus budget, banking and inflation basics.
• Environment: general issues of ecology, biodiversity and climate change that do not need a specialist degree.
• General science: school-level science applied to daily life, with a strong tilt towards science and technology in the news.

GS Paper 2 (CSAT) syllabus

• Reading comprehension passages
• Interpersonal and communication skills
• Logic and analysis questions
• Choosing a course of action and solving problems
• Mental ability puzzles and series
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude) at Class 10 level
• Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency) at Class 10 level

Comprehension usually carries a large share of CSAT, with the rest split between maths and reasoning. Candidates from a humanities background often underestimate the maths part; recent papers have been tough enough that strong GS candidates have failed to reach 66. Our UPSC CSAT syllabus page goes deeper.

UPSC prelims syllabus subject wise: where to put your hours

UPSC does not publish any weightage, and the mix shifts from year to year. Reading recent papers side by side, a few things hold steady.

• Polity and environment are reliable, high-return areas because the source material is limited and questions can be answered with precise reading.
• Economy and current affairs overlap heavily; study economic news through the concepts behind it.
• History splits between modern India and art and culture; ancient and medieval questions are fewer but appear every year.
• Geography rewards map work: rivers, passes, straits, national parks and places in the news.
• Science and technology is mostly applied: space missions, biotechnology, health and defence technology.

A ten-month study plan for prelims

1. Months 1 to 3: work through NCERT books (Classes 6 to 12) one subject at a time, starting with polity and geography. Make one page of notes per chapter.
2. Months 4 to 6: one standard reference book each for polity, modern history and economy; start daily newspaper reading with monthly compilations of your own.
3. Months 7 and 8: environment, art and culture, and science and technology; begin CSAT practice twice a week.
4. Months 9 and 10: full-length Paper 1 tests every few days, with careful analysis of every wrong answer, plus at least four full CSAT papers.

How prelims links to Mains

Most prelims topics reappear in Mains, so integrated study saves time: polity feeds GS Paper 2, history and geography feed GS Paper 1, and economy and environment feed GS Paper 3 of the UPSC Mains syllabus. In the final four months before prelims, though, switch to objective practice only. Age limits and attempt counts are set out under UPSC eligibility; confirm you have attempts left before committing a year.

UPSC prelims syllabus in Hindi

यूपीएससी प्रारंभिक परीक्षा में दो प्रश्नपत्र होते हैं, दोनों 200-200 अंकों के और दो-दो घंटे के। सामान्य अध्ययन प्रश्नपत्र 1 में 100 प्रश्न होते हैं: समसामयिक घटनाएँ, भारत का इतिहास और राष्ट्रीय आंदोलन, भारत और विश्व का भूगोल, भारतीय राजव्यवस्था और शासन, आर्थिक और सामाजिक विकास, पर्यावरण और सामान्य विज्ञान। प्रश्नपत्र 2 यानी सीसैट में 80 प्रश्न होते हैं, जिसमें बोधगम्यता, तर्कशक्ति, निर्णय क्षमता और दसवीं स्तर का गणित आता है। सीसैट में केवल 33 प्रतिशत अंक लाने हैं। नकारात्मक अंकन एक तिहाई का है, इसलिए अंदाज़े से उत्तर सोच समझकर दें।