UPSC Mains subject wise weightage
The General Studies Paper 3 comprises of topics like economics, agriculture, environment, science and technology, etc. Before 2013, there were 2 GS papers and 4 optional papers in the UPSC civil services mains exam. After the pattern change, there are four GS papers and 2 optional papers. In this article, you will read about the trend of questions asked in the IAS mains GS paper III over the years from 2013 through 2016. We have categorised the questions under some broad categories and also given the total marks asked from them.
The following table gives the broad classification of topics in GS paper 3:
| Topic | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
| Economy | 70 | 87.5 | 62.5 | 75 |
| Agriculture/Food industry | 40 | 25 | 50 | 50 |
| Science/Tech/Environment/Disaster | 85 | 75 | 75 | 75 |
| Security | 55 | 62.5 | 62.5 | 50 |
| Total | 250 | 250 | 250 | 250 |
As you can see from the above table, economy and science and tech have been the topics from which maximum marks have been asked. Next, we have taken each category and analysed them further by dividing them into subtopics.
ECONOMY
The economy can be classified into growth, budget, liberalisation and infrastructure/investment. The following graph gives the total marks for which questions have been asked in these topics from 2013 to 2016.
AGRICULTURE
In the next graph, the subtopics under agriculture and the food industry are given.
It is evident from the graph that there has been no definitive pattern followed by the UPSC in this category. The questions asked have been varied. 2015 saw maximum questions from the topic ‘food processing’ but in 2016 there was no question on that topic. Last year, ‘cropping’ saw the most number of questions. Moreover, this was the first time there were questions on that topic ever since the pattern change in 2013!
SCIENCE/TECH/ENVIRONMENT
In this segment, questions have been categorised as science & tech, science & tech (Indian), environment and disaster. Check out the graph given below:
The share of disaster-based questions has progressively increased in this paper. There is almost even distribution of marks among the topics although last year there were no questions on developments in science and technology not involving India/Indians.
SECURITY
This final graph gives the breakup of the questions under the security category.
Ever since 2013, there have been no questions on money laundering. Questions on the border have been consistently asked for a bulk of the marks.
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