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                      Sectional Trend Analysis of UPSC CSE Prelims 
                
               UPSC CSE Prelims Subject-wise Trend Analysis (2016-2020)  
                
                                       Year                                 2020  2019 2018  2017  2016 
          History, Art & Culture                                              19      18     20      13      16 
          Static GK and Current Affairs                                        5       5     12      13      20 
          India and World Geography                                            7       7      7       9       7 
          Economic & Social Development (Including Current 
          Development)                                                        19      22     24      18      23 
          Environment & Ecology (Including Current Development)               18      15     14      13      16 
          General Science and S&T (Including Current Development)             14      14     11       9      13 
          Indian Polity and Governance                                        18      19     12      25      5 
                
                
                      Year-wise Trend Analysis of UPSC CSE Prelims 
                
               UPSC CSE 2020 
                
                   •  The paper was moderate-difficult. 
                   •  There was more emphasis on concepts and less on factual and memory based 
                      current affairs. 
                   •  It continued its trend in Ecology with more questions from National Parks, 
                      Sanctuaries,  Types  of  birds  and  animals  and  their  status,  Environment 
                      friendly technology, and related initiatives and laws. Emphasis on Agricultural 
                      science. 
                   •  Emphasis  on  Ancient  India,  Art  &  Culture  and  deviated  from  traditional 
                      preparation  -  Major  kingdoms  and  major  aspects;  continued  the  trend  of 
                      chronology kind of questions. 
                   •  Polity questions were mostly basic and direct. 
                   •  Economy questions: conceptual, terminology, current affairs based. 
                   •  General Science and S&T: Biology & Botony, Biotechnology, and other latest 
                      developments in S&T (i.e., Blockchain Technology). 
                   •  Geography questions include conceptual and map pointing. 
                
               UPSC CSE 2019 
                 
                   •  The difficulty level was moderate to tough and there was a little change in the 
                      sectional weightage from 2018 paper trends.  
                   •  Current affair was little less than the previous year. There was more emphasis 
                      on Current affair, Polity, and History. 
                
               UPSC CSE 2018 
                   •  The 2018 paper maintained the trend of ‘inconsistency’.  
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                        •    The share of facts and trivia in the unconventional topics and in current affairs 
                             surprisingly increased even as UPSC was expected to ask more conceptual 
                             questions.  
                     
                    UPSC CSE 2017 
                        •    For the first time, UPSC gave a clear indication that it is not interested in the 
                             straightforward  conventional  portion  anymore,  perhaps  because  aspirants 
                             have trained themselves for all the possible questions.  
                        •    There were nearly 33 questions from current affairs alone in the paper 
                             and in a lot of questions, one needed to dig quite deep into the facts. 
                     
                    UPSC CSE 2016 
                        •    In 2016, current affairs and economy together comprised nearly half of the 
                             paper.  
                        •    Very few questions were asked from conventional portions, unlike the trend 
                             earlier.  
                        •    The paper was a lot more factual, even compared to 2015.  
                     
                                                                                 
                                     Subject wise trend Analysis of UPSC Prelims 
                     
                    History 
                        •    It  is  clear  from the subject-wise trend of prelims that history is one of the 
                             major favourites of UPSC and a lot of questions are asked from this subject.  
                        •    Questions from heritage, art & culture are also a part of ancient history that is 
                             asked in UPSC prelims.  
                        •    NCERTs and other basic books like Art & Culture by Nitin Singhania can be 
                             helpful for the preparation of history.  
                        •    Focus Areas   
                                   Important viceroys and their period with important decisions 
                                   Main congress sessions with the year 
                                   President and important resolutions 
                                   GOI Acts of 1909, 1919, 1935 and charter acts 
                                   Buddhism and Jainism 
                                   Hindu philosophy 
                                   Mauryan and Gupta Period 
                                   Art and architecture during that period 
                                   Scientific development during that period 
                                   Important kings, such as Sher Shah, Akbar, Aurangzeb, etc. 
                                   Delhi Sultanate 
                     
                    Geography 
                        •    Questions from the physical geography of India and the world are asked in the 
                             Prelims examination and the number of questions varies considerably.  
                        •    NCERTs  from  Class  VIII  to  XII  are  a  must-read  for  the  preparation  of 
                             Geography.  
                        •    In addition to that, aspirants can also refer to Certificate Physical and Human 
                             Geography by GC Leong.  
                        •    Focus Areas   
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                                   Latitudes and longitudes 
                                   Layers of the atmosphere 
                                   Global atmospheric wind, cyclones 
                                   Pressure belts 
                                   Revolution, rotation, and seasons 
                                   Monsoons 
                                   Types of rainfall 
                                   Koeppen classification 
                                   Jet streams, ocean currents 
                                   El Nino, La Nina 
                                   India’s physical geography (NCERT) 
                                   Rivers, hills, soil (India) 
                                   Mineral resources (India), Geological history of India 
                                   Basics of agriculture (NCERT) 
                                   Maps Work 
                     
                    Polity: 
                        •    Indian  constitution  is  at  the  heart  of  Indian  polity  and  is  an  extremely 
                             important subject for the preparation of UPSC CSE.  
                        •    From the last three years, on an average, 17 questions are asked from polity 
                             segment.  
                        •    For the UPSC CSE exam, a thorough reading of Indian Polity by M. Laxmikath 
                             would suffice.  
                        •    Aspirant  can  use  NCERTs  and  IGNOU  materials  to  strengthen  aspirant’s 
                             fundamentals before reading the book authored by M. Laxmikanth. 
                        •    Focus Areas   
                                   Focus on current events such as any changes in the constitution, new 
                                       acts or amendments, and schemes 
                                   Fundamental Rights 
                                   Fundamental Duties 
                                   Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP) 
                                   Parliament and parliamentary proceedings 
                                   Judiciary 
                                   Constitutional bodies 
                     
                    Economy: 
                        •    Questions  from  topics  like  national  income,  inflation-deflation,  fiscal  and 
                             monetary policies, fiscal deficit, taxes, etc., are asked every year. 
                        •    Aspirants do not need to delve deep into economics preparation for UPSC CS 
                             Prelims.  
                        •    A thorough reading of NCERTs, along with basic books, would suffice for the 
                             preparation of economics for UPSC CS (Prelims). 
                        •    Focus Areas   
                                   Focus on current events  
                                   Important committees and their recommendation 
                                   Growth and development 
                                   Poverty 
                                   Unemployment 
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