Learning from Previous Year's Prelims Question Paper

The UPSC Exam is normally conducted in three stages- Prelims, Mains, and interview. The exam encompasses the entire general subject in the Prelims examination. It is easy to crack the IAS exam but have but it’s not going to be an easy pathway. Lakhs of aspirants are applying and seats are limited. Before prelims examination, it is essential to ponder over the last year Civil Services Exam question paper.

Union Public Service Commission wants to recognize hopefuls with positive skills and aptitude obligatory to perform as an efficient administrator. They do not unambiguously label these skills so most of the times aspirants conclude them from UPSC Syllabus, Previous year Question Paper and response from successful aspirants and experts.

Analyzing previous Years Quesions Papers

Answering and analyzing the previous year UPSC question paper will help the aspirants to know the trend, nature, and pattern of questions asked by UPSC. The  UPSC Prelims Paper depicted a departure from the trend of last 4 years. Although in 2015 the number of questions from current affairs has augmented.

UPSC has radically shifted their emphasis on Current Affairs which blended with traditional areas. The  IAS 2016 Prelims Paper was more factual compared to previous year. In the current affairs segment, instead of linking the current affairs questions to concepts it was more on factual side. The quantity of unapproachable questions has augmented than the previous year.

General studies Paper I

• In History, nearly 6 questions were asked form freedom struggle.
• The nature of Polity question has moved towards traditional concepts compared to last year pattern. The type of questions asked is mostly related to governance and public administration. For instance: Chief Secretary, Gram Nyayalayas.

With reference to the ‘Gram Nyayalaya Act’, which of the following statements is/are correct?

1. As per the Act, Gram Nyayalayas can hear only civil cases and not criminal cases.
2. The Act allows local social activists as mediators/reconciliatory.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

• A good number of questions from culture and medieval history was asked in UPSC 2016 IAS Prelims exam.

With reference to the religious history of India, consider the following statements:

1. The concept of Bodhisattva is central to Hinayana sect of Buddhism.
2. Bodhisattva is a compassionate one on his way to enlightenment.
3. Bodhisattva delays achieving his own salvation to help all sentiment beings on their path to it.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

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

• Economy questions were largely drawn from Current Affairs eg-. Ease of Doing Business, Amber Box, Blue Box Subsidies, MCLR, etc.

In the context of which of the following do you sometimes find the terms ‘amber box, blue box and green box’ in the news?

1. WTO affairs
2. SAARC affairs
3. UNFCCC affairs
4. India-EU negotiations on FTA

•  The misleading presentation is a common method to segregate the candidate with deep knowledge, superficial knowledge or guess. This technique was used in many questions. Some questions could be solved through removing one statement e.g. GIAHS,

The FAO accords the status of ‘Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS)’ to traditional agricultural systems. What is the overall goal of this initiative?

1. To provide modern technology, training in modern farming methods and financial support to local communities of identified GIAHS so as to greatly enhance their agricultural productivity.
2. To identify and safeguard eco-friendly traditional farm practices and their associated landscapes, agricultural biodiversity and knowledge systems of the local communities
3. The provide Geographical Indication status to all the varieties of agricultural produce in such identifies GIAHS

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

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

• There were some questions were too easy. For instance: Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, UDAY, etc.

Which one of the following is a purpose of ‘UDAY’, a scheme of the Government?

1. Providing technical and financial assistance to start-up entrepreneurs in the field of renewable sources of energy
2. Providing electricity to every household in the countries by 2018
3. Replacing the coal-based power plants with natural gas, nuclear, solar, wind and tidal power plants over a period of time
4. Providing for financial turnaround and revival of power distribution companies

• There were some questions like Atal Pension Yojana required complete knowledge of the topic.

Regarding ‘Atal Pension Yojana’, which of the following statements is/are correct?

1. It is a minimum guaranteed pension scheme mainly targeted at unorganized sector workers.
2. Only one member of a family can join the scheme.
3. Same amount of pension is guaranteed for the spouse for life after subscriber’s death.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

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

Tips to Crack UPSC IAS Exam Prelims

• Read Basic books like NCERT to concrete the concepts and basics
• Read good News Paper like The Hindu, and one regional newspaper for acquiring states news. After reading newspaper always clarify key terms from internet or books or teachers
• Aspirants should use the internet broadly to gather the information.
• Aspirants should have intense awareness about things going around them.
• Read one best reference book on each conventional subject for prelims, mains and interview i.e. all stages of examination. This will also help the candidates to solve the unapproachable question.
• Almost 60% of the questions were can be answered by reading NCERT, newspaper and reference books.

The strategy of aspirant should be to evade the negative marking and maximize the score by first finding the easy ones and finishing them.

For more related articles and information about the UPSC Exams and other articles, visit the links given in the table below:

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