IAS Prelims 2017 was held on June 18, 2017. UPSC will release the official answer key after the final announcement of selection. It has been observed that in past few years, UPSC has been moving towards factual instead of conceptual questions.
Also, we can see that there are now more current affairs than the static portion in the IAS Prelims. Although this trend is expected to stay, but unlike the previous year, there were no more disproportionately large number of current affairs and factual questions this year.
- The Preliminary Examination included two objective type papers with a maximum of 400 marks and 2 hours long.
- IAS was significantly more difficult than the last year, it is going to affect the cut off too.
- UPSC focused on conceptual and applied questions this year.
- The questions were asked with the purpose of mainly testing one’s knowledge in different dimensions.
- Candidates who qualify for this stage will be eligible for the second stage i.e. IAS Mains.
- The candidates willing to appear for the examination can apply on or before April 1, 2017.
Subject Wise Analysis of Prelims General Studies GS Paper 1
Environment: There were 15 questions in total that focused on the environment. Most of the questions were based on current affairs and were those which have potential public health and impact on the environment. So, for the aspirants, environmental news becomes an important source of reference.
History & Art & Culture: There were 6 questions from Modern History and 6 from Ancient History & Art & Culture. The history portion consisted of both ancient and modern history and was largely factual and less conceptual. The ancient history portion was not very difficult in general, as compared to modern. The questions in ancient history portion were mostly factual, however, art and culture were largely covered. Also, UPSC has an inclination towards picking anything from anywhere in this section, which makes it difficult to prepare. The best way is to read NCERTs well and understanding art and culture with an eye for facts.
Geography: In Geography, around 70 percent of the questions were about maps. Hence, it was not difficult at all for somebody who was well-prepared with the knowledge of the world and the map of India. However, some of the questions in this section were tricky and could fool aspirants if not thought out properly. Very little of physical geography was asked this time.
Economy: In this section, questions were not easy. There were mostly factual questions which were related to current affairs. There were around 7-8 questions in total and the weightage did not change from the last year. Unlike previous year’s questions, this year’s questions were not only conceptual but factual as well. As most of us were expecting, UPSC asked current affairs of 2012-2016 in economics.
Science & Technology: This subject consisted of only 4 questions which were application based. Questions on the subject of technology overlapped with Environment & Biodiversity as they were mostly current affairs based. It can be said that this section has overall lost its favor from SSC and there is no need to prepare for it separately anymore. For Technology, thorough grip on current affairs would be enough.
Polity: This was the most scoring subject as there were 22 questions from Polity and most of them were direct. There were some questions which were conceptual and were not so difficult for the ones who understand the basics of Polity well. It becomes important to understand basic philosophy of the Indian Polity and Constitutional structure from the NCERTs. This was the section to bank upon, for anyone to have a decent chance of clearing this IAS Prelims 2017.
Current Affairs: Government schemes, laws and policies consisted of at least 14 questions to become a section in itself. This number goes up to 27 if you combine CA questions to it. But as compared to last year’s paper, this year’s paper was a lot more balanced as CA questions did not dominate the whole paper. As the focus was on government schemes, PIB becomes an important source of preparation. A question on National Nutrition Mission was lifted straight from a press release of PIB.
A Rough Analysis of UPSC Prelims 2017 GS Paper I:
| Subject | No. of Questions |
|---|---|
| Polity | 23 |
| History | 14 |
| Geography | 9 |
| Economy | 14 |
| Environment and Ecology | 11 |
| International Relations | 7 |
| Science | 7 |
| Current Affairs | 15 |
We wish all the aspirants good luck and encourage them to build lots of positive thoughts and also to proceed with their UPSC Mains Exam Preparation. The schedule and module of UPSC Mains Exam 2017 will be announced shortly.
Source: http://collegedunia.com/
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