UPSC Prelims 2025 Analysis Highlights: Here’s how aspirants, mentors rate CSE Pre?

As in previous years, UPSC continued its focus on the Reserve Bank of India. This time, questions covered the RBI’s income sources and its regulatory role, requiring a strong grasp of financial basics...read detailed report

This year, Polity had fewer questions—around 12 compared to 15 in 2024. Still, the section stuck to core textbook topics, making it manageable for well-prepared candidates despite some confusing options...

The Economy section included around 17 questions, testing both conceptual clarity and numerical understanding. Candidates faced questions on RBI functions, fiscal policy, and some surprising formula-based problems. Read detailed analysis here

The Polity section included around 12 questions on standard topics like the President, Governor, Panchayati Raj, and Centre-State relations. While the content seemed familiar, the questions were framed in tricky ways...read more

This year’s UPSC Prelims featured 16 questions from History and Art & Culture, with Modern Indian History taking the lead. Topics like the Freedom Struggle and Gandhi’s movements made this section relatively easy for most candidates. Read complete paper analysis here

UPSC aspirant appearing for the test this year, Roshni Yadav, told the Indian Express that a new format of math questions were there. She said, "The paper was lengthy, and the maths questions were tough; new format of questions appeared in maths".

This year's CSAT paper was one of the most difficult papers ever. The paper which UPSC says to be qualifying in nature is actually eliminating in nature says UPSC mentor Mudit Gupta.

In this year's UPSC prelims, the Economy section featured around 17 questions and maintained its usual conceptual nature. A notable surprise was the inclusion of two numerical questions on budget-related terms such as fiscal deficit and revenue deficit. There was a strong focus on energy and minerals critical to the green economy, such as lithium and other strategic resources, including their geographical locations. Daily-life economic topics were also covered, with questions on RTGS, NEFT, and the international acceptance of UPI. Investment-related concepts appeared prominently, including stock market performance, the difference between bonds and stocks, and Alternative Investment Funds. The recurring issue of agricultural income and taxation, especially the exemption enjoyed by wealthy farmers and its connection to recent farmers' movements, was also touched upon. The RBI remained a favorite, with two questions centered on its sources of income and regulatory functions. The theme of energy and the green economy was clearly visible across multiple questions, reflecting its growing relevance in the global and national context.

--Banke Bihari, UPSC Mentor and faculty of Economy

Some questions were very easy and could be answered using basic books. However, when it came to statement-based questions, UPSC made at least one statement in each question complex, making the entire question challenging for aspirants. Some questions remain ambiguous, and their final answers will depend on UPSC’s interpretation in the official answer key to be published next year.

--Mudit Gupta, UPSC faculty and mentor

Rajshree, a UPSC candidate, claims that Paper one was very lengthy with statement-based questions, making 20-25 in number that consumed a lot of time.

Overall we will say 1 level easier than last year. Polity is from conventional topics - governor, schedule, constitutional bodies, LSG History known topics. Arguably the easiest in the last 5 years. Modern History is back! Geo, Environment - On the tougher side. Questions on rotation, continental drift are on the tougher side. Science tougher than last year. In geo, the options are tough. Maps are also tough.

--Shikhar Sachan of CivilsDaily

"This year's UPSC prelims paper featured complex, time-consuming 'statement-type' questions."

The exam for paper one is started

Answers other than those marked by a black ball point pen will not be evaluated.

With the clock ticking, revising Current Affairs is crucial for every aspirant. Here are some of the International Organisations and programmes aspirants should know about:

-- World Economic Forum

-- International Criminal Court

-- Quad

-- BRICS

-- Rural Community Immigrantion Class

-- H-1B visa

-- Non-permanent members of UNSC

-- African Union

Read more here

– Any bag, baggage, luggage

– Any valuables/ costly items

– Any mobile phones (even in switch off mode), smart/ digital watches, other IT gadgets

– Watch fitted with any special accessory

– Books etc.

Printout of e-admit card

Photo ID Card

Photograph

Here are some of the tips Mudit Gupta, a UPSC mentor, provided in the run up to CSAT.

1 LEAVE BIASES OUT OF THE EXAM HALL

There is a widespread misconception that CSAT is all about tough mathematics questions, and students from a humanities background cannot solve them.

2 DON’T SEARCH FOR QUESTIONS FROM A SPECIFIC TOPIC

Each one of us has certain strong and weak areas in a subject. However, to clear the exam, we cannot just attempt the questions only from our strong areas. The weightage of every chapter is limited, and to be able to clear the cut-off comfortably, we need to attempt the questions from across the spectrum.

3 SKIPPING > NEGATIVE MARKING

Whenever you encounter a question that you think is partially solvable or you’re not very confident about its answer, it is always better to skip that question.

4. TIME FOR EACH QUESTION

Ideally, to attempt 80 questions in 120 minutes, you need 1.5 minutes per question. However, the requirement of CSAT is such that we don’t need to attempt all 80 questions to be on the other side of the cut-off.

The entry to the exam centre will close 30 minutes prior to the start of the exam. UPSC aspirants will have to carry the hard copies of the CSE prelims admit cards and a black ballpoint pen.

The UPSC CSE prelims exam will be held in two shifts — first from 9.30 am and the next from 2.30 pm.

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on May 25 will conduct the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2025. The UPSC CSE prelims exam will be held in two shifts — first from 9.30 am and the next from 2.30 pm.

"The golden rule for attempting questions in the Prelims is simple: attempt every question where you have confidently eliminated at least one option. Once you eliminate even a single choice, your odds improve significantly — with three options left, you now have a 1 in 3 chance, which statistically leads to a net-positive outcome," Rohit Pande, a mentor of UPSC aspirants, told The Indian Express.

"If your logical reasoning and elimination skills are sharp, you can take calculated risks and attempt more questions. But if you are not confident in your techniques, it is smarter to play it safe. In that case, keeping your total attempts between 88 and 92 is often a sweet spot," he added.

"Ideally, attempt at least 85–90 questions. Often, even in the 10–15 you initially skip, you’ll find you can eliminate at least one option on review. This pushes your attempt count higher," an expert told The Indian Express