UPSC Prelims 2024 - Exam Pattern, Syllabus, Notes, Strategy

As per the UPSC 2024 calendar, the IAS prelims is scheduled to take place on May 26, 2024. The UPSC Notification 2024 will be released on Feb 14, 2024. The UPSC 2023 Personality Test (IAS Interview) is being held in January – February 2024. Marks, cut-off marks and answer keys of the Prelims exam will be uploaded on upsc.gov.in after the entire process of the exam is over (declaration of the final result). The IAS Mains exams will be held in September 2024.

Aspirants can check roll number-wise results on the UPSC Prelims Results 2023.

Candidates who plan to take the UPSC CSE 2024 should start their preparation at the earliest.

The UPSC Prelims 2023 was successfully conducted on May 28 2023 and the UPSC Prelims Result 2023 was declared on June 12, 2023. The UPSC Mains exam concluded on September 24, 2023. Aspirants can download the UPSC Mains Question Papers 2023 from the linked page.

After the UPSC Prelims 2023, our faculty dissected and analysed the questions that were asked in the paper. Candidates can view the UPSC Prelims 2023 Answer Key and read the question paper analysis in the link below.

UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper Analysis

Candidates who are preparing for other UPSC exams can refer to the UPSC Calendar 2024.

For details on IAS Exam, refer to the linked article.

UPSC Prelims 2024 – Exam Pattern

The UPSC Civil Service Prelims exam pattern as per the UPSC 2023 notification is given below. Any changes made in the forthcoming UPSC CSE Prelims exam pattern will be updated here after the release of the CSE 2024 notification. The UPSC CSE 2024 notification will be released on February 14, 2024.

The UPSC CSE Prelims comprises two objective-type papers (General Studies I and General Studies II or CSAT) for a total of 400 marks. Both papers are usually held on the same day in two sessions via offline mode (pen-paper).

The Prelims Admit Card will be released on the official website of UPSC 2-3 weeks before the date of the exam.

The official cut-off for the Prelims 2024 will be released once the exam is conducted. For UPSC Cut Off, check the linked article.

Candidates should refer to the linked page on UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question Papers before starting their preparation.

Visit the linked page to download UPSC Prelims Answer Keys from 2016 through 2023.

UPSC Prelims 2024 – Syllabus

The detailed UPSC Preliminary syllabus for the 2024 exam is given below:

General Studies Paper-1 Syllabus:

• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change- that do not require subject specialization.
• General Science.

General Studies Paper-2 (CSAT) Syllabus:

• Comprehension.
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability.
• Decision-making and problem-solving.
• General mental ability.
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level)
• Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc. – Class X level).
• English language comprehension skills – Class X level.

You can find the in-depth syllabus for UPSC Prelims here.

Preparation Strategy for UPSC Prelims

The following strategy will help candidates to score well in the IAS prelims exam.

• Current Affairs are an important part of UPSC Prelims. Ideally, candidates should prepare 12 to 15 months’ worth of current affairs.

• Important sources for current affairs preparation for the UPSC exam 2023 are:
  1. Yojana Magazine
  2. Newspapers (The Hindu/The Indian Express)
  3. Press Information Bureau (PIB)
  4. Economic and Political Weekly (EPW)

• However, if you are pressed for time, BYJU’S free IAS preparation provides:
  1. The gist of Yojana
  2. The gist of EPW
  3. Daily video analysis of The Hindu
  4. Economy This Week for UPSC Preparation

• Candidates should prepare for UPSC Prelims and UPSC Mains simultaneously as there is a syllabus overlap. Check the complete IAS Syllabus 2023.

• For more previous years’ UPSC question papers, you can refer to the link.

• For CSAT or General Studies Paper-II in UPSC Prelims, go through the previous years’ question papers to gauge your level. The UPSC Prelims solved question papers will be useful. As such, there is not much preparation needed for CSAT, however, only you can take that call. For complete information on CSAT including books, strategy and trend analysis, refer to the link.

• Making Notes for the UPSC Prelims and Mains is a must. Having notes in your own handwriting is preferred by some candidates, however, considering the time constraint, we have given links for important notes from NCERTs and BYJU’S classroom notes for IAS Prelims.
  1. NCERT notes – Ancient Indian History for UPSC Prelims
  2. NCERT notes – Medieval History of India for UPSC Prelims
  3. NCERT notes – Modern Indian History and Indian National Movement for UPSC Prelims
  4. NCERT notes – Art, culture, and architecture for UPSC Prelims
  5. NCERT notes – Geography (Physical) notes for UPSC Prelims
  6. BYJU’s classroom notes on Indian Economy for UPSC Prelims
  7. BYJU’s classroom notes on Environment for UPSC Prelims
  8. BYJU’s classroom notes on Indian Polity for UPSC Prelims
  9. BYJU’s classroom notes on S&T for UPSC Prelims
  10. BYJU’s classroom notes on Ancient Indian History for UPSC Prelims
  11. BYJU’s classroom notes on Medieval Indian History for UPSC Prelims
  12. BYJU’s classroom notes on Modern Indian History for UPSC Prelims

• As the questions in UPSC Prelims are all objective-type, it is essential to practice solving MCQs during the preparation. Here, we have given a list of MCQs for different subjects for UPSC Prelims 2023.
  1. MCQs on Polity for UPSC Prelims
  2. MCQs on Indian Economy for UPSC Prelims
  3. MCQs on General Knowledge for UPSC Prelims
  4. MCQs on Science and Technology for UPSC Prelims
  5. MCQs on Environment and Ecology for UPSC Prelims
  6. BYJU’s Weekly Current Affairs quiz for UPSC Prelims 2023

• For UPSC Prelims preparation, there are a few topics that candidates just can’t afford to miss. At BYJU’S free IAS preparation, we have compiled them into easy-to-read articles tailor-made for Prelims revision.
  1. Indian Constitution – Borrowed Features
  2. Important Terms from Ancient Indian History
  3. List of Hydroelectric Power Plants in India
  4. List of important cities and rivers in India
  5. List of important monuments in India
  6. List of Elephant Reserves in India
  7. Important terms from Medieval History of India
  8. List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India
  9. Timelines for quick revision – Medieval History of India
  10. List of Thermal Power Plants in India
  11. Geography preparation through Maps
  12. List of National Waterways in India
  13. List of diseases and causing agents
  14. List of Mahajanapadas (Ancient Indian History)
  15. List of Important Days and Dates
  16. List of National Highways in India
  17. List of important Straits
  18. List of Environment Conventions and Protocols
  19. List of Indian Army Exercises 
  20. Government Schemes 
  21. List of Ramsar Sites in India

• Focus Areas for different subjects in UPSC Prelims:
  1. Indian Independence Movement:
     • Main congress sessions with the year, president and important resolutions
     • Significant viceroys and their period with important decisions
     • The Government of India Acts 1909, 1919, 1935 and charter acts
  2. Ancient history:
     • Hindu philosophy, Buddhism and Jainism
     • Mauryan and Gupta Period
     • Art, architecture and scientific development during that period
  3. Medieval history:
     • Important kings such as Sher Shah, Akbar, etc.
     • Delhi Sultanate
  4. Polity:
     • Here, importance should be given to 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)
     • Committee system, parliament, and parliamentary proceedings
     • Judiciary
     • Constitutional bodies
  5. S&T:
     • For basic science concepts, refer to NCERT books selectively as in-depth knowledge is not needed
     • Focus on the current affairs part
  6. Environment and Ecology
     • Important declarations, conventions
     • IUCN’s Red List
     • Biosphere Reserves, Tiger Reserves etc.
     • International bodies
  7. Geography:
     • Solar system
     • 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
  8. Economy:
     • Importance should be given to current events like new bills and important committees
     • focus on basic and fundamental concepts like:
       • Growth and development, poverty, unemployment, inflation
       • State of the national and global economy
       • Major committees and bills
       • Latest budget and economic survey

UPSC Civil Services Prelims – Trend Analysis

UPSC has established itself to be predictably unpredictable. So, candidates should only see the trends as a reference and not draw too much inference.

In the table given below, we have broken down the UPSC Prelims 2019, UPSC Prelims 2020, UPSC Prelims 2021, UPSC Prelims 2022, and UPSC Prelims 2023 GS 1 papers:

The commission released the UPSC Prelims Result 2020 on 23rd October.

For a similar analysis and comparison of subject-wise weightage in UPSC Prelims, check the link.

UPSC Prelims – Study Material for IAS Preparation

A big part of UPSC preparation is selecting the right study material. Studying from the best Civil services Prelims Books will be both efficient and effective. For both, UPSC Prelims and Mains, NCERTs are a must because of their credibility and easy-to-understand language.

From the links given below, IAS aspirants can download/view the NCERT books needed for UPSC Prelims preparation.

Check the list of UPSC Books here.

Candidates who clear the UPSC IAS Prelims have to fill out the Detailed Application Form (DAF) before they can take the Mains Exam.

For 2024, the UPSC Mains exams are scheduled to take place on September 20, 2024. Aspirants can check the linked article for more details on UPSC Mains.

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