The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is India’s central agency responsible for conducting civil services exams. Established under the Constitution, it recruits candidates for various civil services, including IAS, IPS, and IFS. The rigorous exam process involves three stages: Preliminary, Mains, and Interview, testing candidates’ knowledge, aptitude, and personality. UPSC ensures a transparent and merit-based selection, playing a crucial role in shaping India’s administrative framework. The commission’s objective is to ensure efficient public administration by selecting competent and dedicated individuals for civil services.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is a central agency in India responsible for conducting examinations and appointments for various civil services and posts. Established under Article 315 of the Indian Constitution, the UPSC plays a crucial role in ensuring a fair and transparent recruitment process for the nation’s civil services.
As always said, “practice makes a man perfect,” so the candidates preparing for Civil services must answer questions from UPSC’s previous year’s paper. Practicing the previous year question paper helps the aspirants to familiarize themselves with the exam structure and the nature of the questions asked in the examination. Solving UPSC’s previous year question papers also helps the candidates to identify important topics and provide an opportunity for candidates to assess their conceptual clarity on the subjects.
The UPSC Prelims exam consists of 2 papers (General Studies-1 and CSAT). It has objective-based question, in other words the questions asked in the prelims round are of the MCQ( Multiple Choice Questions) type. In total, both papers are of 400 marks, divided into 200 each. The UPSC IAS Prelims Previous Year Question Papers will help aspirants score well in the preliminary round and will allow them to move ahead in the UPSC IAS selection process.
| UPSC Question Paper | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2024 GS Paper- I | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2024 GS Paper- II (CSAT) | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2023 GS Paper- I | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2023 GS Paper- II | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2022 GS Paper- I | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2022 GS Paper- II | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2021 GS Paper- I | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2021 GS Paper- II | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 GS Paper- I | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 GS Paper- II | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2019 GS Paper- I | Download PDF |
| Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2019 GS Paper- II | Download PDF |
As important as it is to solve UPSC prelims previous year question papers, in a similar manner solving UPSC mains previous year question papers is also important. The previous year’s question papers are extremely important to gain insight into the type of questions asked in the exam.
The UPSC Mains examination consists of 9 papers and is descriptive. Out of 9 papers, 2 papers are qualifying in nature while the marks scored in the remaining 7 papers are considered for merit. In total, the UPSC exam carries an overall weightage of 1750 marks. The 2 qualifying papers are the Language papers- English and a compulsory Indian Language. The remaining 7 papers are- General Studies I, II, III, IV, V, Optional Paper I & II, and an Essay. The duration of all these papers is 3 hours each.
| Year | General Studies-1 | General Studies-2 | General Studies-3 | General Studies-4 |
| 2023 | UPSC GS Paper- 1 | UPSC GS Paper-2 | UPSC GS Paper-3 | UPSC GS Paper-4 |
| 2022 | UPSC GS Paper- 1 | UPSC GS Paper-2 | UPSC GS Paper-3 | UPSC GS Paper-4 |
| 2021 | UPSC GS Paper- 1 | UPSC GS Paper-2 | UPSC GS Paper-3 | UPSC GS Paper-4 |
| 2020 | UPSC GS Paper- 1 | UPSC GS Paper-2 | UPSC GS Paper-3 | UPSC GS Paper-4 |
| 2019 | UPSC GS Paper- 1 | UPSC GS Paper-2 | UPSC GS Paper-3 | UPSC GS Paper-4 |
| UPSC Mains Previous Year Question Paper- Essay | Download PDF |
| UPSC IAS Mains (Essay) Paper- 2023 | Download PDF |
| UPSC IAS Mains (Essay) Paper- 2022 | Download PDF |
| UPSC IAS Mains (Essay) Paper- 2021 | Download PDF |
| UPSC IAS Mains (Essay) Paper- 2020 | Download PDF |
| UPSC IAS Mains (Essay) Paper- 2019 | Download PDF |
Candidates can select two optional subjects for the UPSC IAS Mains Exam. Available options include Agriculture, Civil Engineering, Geology, Management, Political Science and International Relations, Zoology, Sociology, History, Economy, among others. Choose the subject that aligns with your interests and begin practicing previous years’ UPSC Mains optional question papers.
| Optional Subject | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
| Agriculture | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Animal Husbandry | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Anthropology | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Botany | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Chemistry | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Civil Engineering | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Commerece & Accountancy | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Economics | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Electrical Engineering | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Geography | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Geology | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| History | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Law | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Managemnet | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Maths | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Mechanical Engineering | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Medical Science | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Philosophy | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Physics | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Political Science | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Psychology | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Sociology | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
| Statistics | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 | Download Paper 1&Paper 2 |
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