UPSC Prelims 2024 Exam Analysis: Difficulty level was easy to moderate, say aspirants, faculty 

UPSC Prelims 2024

The Union Public Service Commission conducted the UPSC Prelims 2024 exam today, June 16, 2024. This comes after a postponement from the original date of May 26 to avoid clashing with the 18th Lok Sabha Elections.

The exam was held in two sessions: General Studies in the morning from 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM, and the CSAT paper in the afternoon from 2:30 PM to 4:30 PM.

Siddharth Sharma, who appeared for the UPSC examination for the third time this year, found the paper moderate compared to last year’s prelims, possibly because he claimed to be taking regular mock tests.

“Many of the questions were tough but I have managed to tackle 92 out of 100 questions even as I considered that there would be some negative marking for a wrong answer," said Sharma.

Another UPSC aspirant, Riya Sen, said the static questions were manageable, but the dynamic ones required extensive reading of newspapers and current affairs magazines.

“It was a true test of how well-rounded our preparation was,” she added.

However, in his first attempt at the UPSC prelims, Aman Khan found the exam challenging. “The questions posed were quite demanding, but it's all part of the learning process," he said.

Subject-wise analysis

Faculties at Rau’s IAS Study Circle have analysed the UPSC 2024 prelims paper. According to Indrajeet Bariar, Faculty of Geography, this year’s UPSC exam was easier than last year’s. The questions have largely remained concept-based. There were 14 geography questions and 11 of them were directly from class notes.

“Majority of the questions could be answered through a basic understanding of the subject,” he said.

According to Arun Bharadwaj, Faculty of Science & Technology, the questions were mostly easy to moderate. About 11 questions have been asked, which is consistent with the trends of the past few years. “Students with a basic preparation of important areas should be able to answer the questions accurately,” he said.

Gajanan Dwivedi, Faculty of History, Rau’s IAS Study Circle, said, the history questions are moderate compared to last year, with some repetition of themes.

“The weightage of art and culture is higher than modern history, similar to the previous year. Elements of current affairs are evident in the culture section, such as the question on UNESCO intangible cultural heritage,” Dwivedi said.

Basava Uppin, Faculty of Economy, said in prelims 2024, there were 18 questions from the Indian economy. Out of the 18 questions, seven were from banking and finance, three related to government schemes and the rest from other themes such as taxation, infrastructure, etc. “Out of 18 questions, around 12 questions can be considered as Easy to moderate,” he said.

According to Anubhav Sharma, Faculty of Polity, the Polity section in this examination consisted of 15 questions. Out of these, he said three were tough, two were of medium difficulty, and 10 were easy.

“A significant portion of the questions, about 10-12, were from the last two years. Most of the questions were sourced from Laxmikant, although they required a strong analytical and logical understanding. Impressively, 13 out of the 15 questions were directly from my classes. While the tough questions this year were more challenging than last year, the remaining 12 followed a predictable pattern and lines," Sharma added.