Trend Analysis of GS Mains Paper 1 from 2013 to 2016

The General Studies Paper 1 comprises of the subjects history, geography, society and art and culture. Since the UPSC pattern change in 2013, there are four GS papers instead of two. In this article, we bring you a trend analysis of the GS 1 papers from 2013 through 2016. This will be helpful in understanding the most-asked topics in this paper from the UPSC syllabus. In this article, you will also find the detailed break-up of the questions from each broad category which will help you further fine-tune your IAS mains preparation.

Broad classification of questions in GS 1 from 2013 to 2016:

The following table gives the total marks asked in each broad category in GS 1 in the four years from 2013 to 2016.

As you can see from the above table, there was a dominance of history and geography in the years 2013 and 2014. But in the past two years, there is an almost equitable distribution of topics with geography leading the pack in 2016.

Now, we analyse the questions from each broad category and further divide it into subtopics.

HISTORY

Take a look at the following graph. It indicates the total marks worth of questions asked from each subtopic in the four years from 2013 to 2016:

After 2013, there have been no questions asked from the post-independence area.

SOCIETY

We bring you a similar graph for the society section in the GS paper 1:

From 2015 onwards, the whole section of society has gained in prominence and more questions are being asked from the topics in this category.

GEOGRAPHY

Let us take a look at the corresponding graph for geography:

Resource distribution is a topic that is becoming increasingly important in geography for GS 1, if you analyse the graph given above.

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