UPSC Prelims Subject Wise Weightage
By BYJU'S Exam Prep
Updated on: November 14th, 2023
UPSC Prelims Subject Wise Weightage: With the completion of the first stage of UPSC Prelims 2023 on 28th May 2023, candidates now have the opportunity to review the subject-wise weightage for the exam. By checking this comprehensive analysis, candidates can gain a better understanding of how marks are distributed among different subjects. This valuable information can provide candidates with insights into the weightage assigned to each subject and help them understand the relative importance of different subjects in the exam.
UPSC Prelims exam has an extensive syllabus, which includes subjects like History, Geography, Politics, Economics, Science and Technology, Environment, and Current Affairs. Knowing the Subject Wise Weightage of the UPSC Prelims allows applicants to deliberately focus on subjects that hold more weight in terms of marks. Candidates can check UPSC Prelims Subject Wise Weightage in detail below.
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UPSC Prelims Subject Wise Weightage
Candidates who appeared in the UPSC Prelims exam on 28th May 2023 can now check the weightage assigned to different subjects. It is crucial for candidates to be aware of the subject-wise weightage as it helps them utilize their time and resources more effectively. By checking weightage, candidates will get to know how marks are distributed across subjects, and can determine the importance as well as question asked from of each subject and the specific topics within them.
UPSC Prelims has two papers, General Studies Paper 1 and CSAT. The weightage allocated to each subject might change from year to year. Knowing the UPSC Prelims Subject Wise Weightage allows candidates to arrange their preparation more efficiently, focusing on areas that have higher weightage and obtaining a thorough understanding of the complete syllabus. Candidates can check the Subject wise weightage of UPSC Prelims in detail below.
| Paper | Total Questions | Total Marks | Duration |
| GS Paper 1 | 100 | 200 | 2 hours |
| GS Paper 2 (CSAT) | 80 | 200 | 2 hours |
Subject Wise Weightage for UPSC Prelims 2023
The subject-wise weightage for General Studies Paper 1 of UPSC Prelims 2023 has been made available after its completion. In terms of the number of questions, History had fewer questions compared to Geography, Environment, and Ecology, which had a higher weightage. This year, International Relations had significant importance and more weightage, while Science and Technology had low weightage. In the exam, there were more conceptual questions asked in the Polity section compared to Economics, which had a significantly lower number of questions. Candidates can check the detailed subject-wise weightage in the table below.
| Subject | Weightage in UPSC Prelims 2023 |
| Geography | 17% |
| Environment and Ecology | 17% |
| Polity | 16% |
| Economy | 15% |
| History | 13% |
| International Relations | 10% |
| Science and Technology | 8% |
| Others | 4% |
UPSC Prelims Subject Wise Weightage for GS Paper 1
Understanding the subject-wise weightage for General Studies Paper 1 in UPSC Prelims is crucial for candidates preparing for the examination. Studying the trends of the previous year’s question papers of GS 1 of the UPSC Exam can give us useful information about which topics are more important and how many questions were asked from which subject in detail. Understanding this will help candidates to concentrate on their preparation in the right areas. Candidates can check the table for UPSC Prelims Subject-Wise Weightage for General Studies Paper 1 below.
| Subject | Year-Wise Weightage | ||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| Polity | 14 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 22 |
| History | 20 | 20 | 17 | 22 | 14 |
| Economy | 10 | 15 | 14 | 18 | 16 |
| Geography | 10 | 10 | 14 | 10 | 9 |
| Environment | 11 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 15 |
| Current Affairs | 27 | 18 | 22 | 14 | 15 |
| Science and Technology | 08 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 9 |
UPSC Prelims Subject Wise Weightage for CSAT
The analysis of the previous year’s trends of CSAT paper shows that particular subjects have constantly gained importance, while others were given considerably less weightage. To acquire high marks, it is important to understand the UPSC Prelims Subject Wise Weightage of questions asked in CSAT Paper. Candidates can check the number of questions asked for each subject in different years in the table below. Candidates can use this information to examine how many questions were allocated to each subject over time.
| Subject | UPSC Prelims Weightage Year-Wise | ||||
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | |
| Data Interpretation | 2 | 6 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| Maths & Basic Numeracy | 33 | 39 | 22 | 18 | 28 |
| Reading Comprehension | 27 | 25 | 30 | 26 | 30 |
| Logical & Analytical Reasoning | 18 | 10 | 18 | 22 | 22 |
UPSC Mains Subject-Wise Weightage
UPSC Mains Subject Wise Weightage explains how marks in the UPSC Mains exam are divided among subjects. It consists of nine papers, including Essay, General Studies Paper 1, 2, 3, and 4, and Optional Paper 1 and 2. Understanding the weightage allows candidates to prioritize subjects, properly allocate preparation time, and increase their chances of success in the exam. Candidates can check the subject wise weightage for UPSC Mains in the table below.
| Paper | Subject | Time Duration | Total Marks |
| Paper A | Indian Language | 3 hours | 300 (Qualifying) |
| Paper B | English | 3 hours | 300 (Qualifying) |
| Paper 1 | Essay | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 2 | General Studies 1 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 3 | General Studies 2 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 4 | General Studies 3 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 5 | General Studies 4 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 6 | Optional Paper 1 | 3 hours | 250 |
| Paper 7 | Optional Paper 2 | 3 hours | 250 |
