How to Tackle Factual and Conceptual Questions in UPSC Prelims

UPSC wants to recognize and handpick the aspirants with certain skills and aptitude which is essential to perform as a good administrator in an effective and efficient manner. It does not explicitly elaborate these skills, so aspirants conclude them from UPSC Syllabus, UPSC Previous year Question Paper, and response from successful candidates.  The Civil Services IAS Prelims 2017 exam is not so far. The Exam is conducted in three phases- Prelims, Mains and Interview. The UPSC has declared the dates for Prelims as well as Mains Exam in its calendar.

The UPSC Civil services IAS Prelims question paper depicted a shift from the trend of last 4 years. In spite of the fact that, in 2015 the number of questions from current affairs enlarged but in 2016, it has radically shifted their focus on Current Affairs. Polity questions have moved to traditional concepts compared to last year trend and are moving towards governance. Economy questions were mostly drawn from Current Affairs segment can also have factual elements.

In the current affairs segment, instead of connecting the current affairs questions to concepts it was more on factual side. The quantity of unapproachable question has increased than the previous year.

Here we are discussing how to tackle the factual and conceptual questions in UPSC Civil Services Prelims Examination.

Factual questions are asking sensibly simple, straightforward answers based on obvious facts or awareness. These are generally at the lowest level of cognitive thinking processes and answers are frequently either right or wrong. The conceptual questions are the application level questions based on the concepts. The other category of question is combination type where the UPSC asks questions blended of factual and conceptual patterns.

How to tackle the factual and conceptual questions?

 The UPSC aspirants should have a clear cut idea of the UPSC syllabus, exam pattern etc. They should have a good study plan to succeed this examination. Let’s see some UPS Prelims question which is factual:

1. In the context of the history of India, consider the following pairs: 

1. Eripatti: land, revenue from which was set apart for the maintenance of the village tank.
2. Taniyurs: Villages donated to a single Brahmin or a group of Brahmins
3. Ghatikas: colleges generally attached to the temples.

Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?

1. 1 and 2
2. 3 only
3. 2 and 3
4. 1 and 3

2. Recently, for the first time in our country, which of the following States has declared a particular butterfly as ‘State Butterfly’?

1. Arunachal Pradesh
2. Himachal Pradesh
3. Karnataka
4. Maharashtra

These are the some of the factual questions asked by UPSC in 2016. For answering the factual aspirants have to develop good memory power and reading habits. Most of the factual questions are asked from:

• NCERT Textbooks
• Economic Survey
• Newspaper
• India yearbook
• Major reports like forest reports

While reading the above-mentioned sources aspirants should jot down the words and meaning, facts and figures for Preliminary examination. This is the best way to tackle the factual type question. Apart from that aspirant can use mnemonics tricks also for the retaining the facts and figures.

Let’s see some conceptual questions:

1. The Parliament of India acquires the power to legislate on any item in the State List in the national interest if a resolution to that effect is passed by the

1. Lok Sabha by a simple majority of its total membership
2. Lok Sabha by a majority of not less than two-thirds of its total membership
3. Rajya Sabha by a Simple majority of its total membership
4. Rajya Sabha by a majority of not less than two-thirds of its member present and voting

2. There has been a persistent deficit budget year after year. Which action/actions of the following can be taken by the government to reduce the deficit?

1. Reducing Revenue Expenditure
2. Introducing new welfare scheme
3. Rationalizing subsidies
4. Reducing import duties

Select the correct answer using the code below

1. 1 only
2. 2 and 3 only
3. 1 and 3 only
4. 1,2,3 and 4

The above-mentioned questions are conceptual ones. Consider the first question. Without having a clear cut idea about the parliamentary proceeding and legislations one cannot answer that question. Consider the second question, where it asks about the steps can be taken by the government to reduce the deficit. For that, the aspirant should know that what is a deficit, how it is affecting Indian economy, how it can be tackled etc.

The Polity, Economics, science and geography comprises of several concepts and theories compared to history. Aspirants can use basic reading books such as NCERT textbooks to concrete their basic conceptual ideas. While reading they can make notes regarding each concept.

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