UPSC Prelims Syllabus

 

UPSC Prelims Syllabus

Starting off with the UPSC Prelims syllabus, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you if I say that the syllabus is pretty vast in its own right.

However, the UPSC Prelims examination is basically conducted for the purpose of screening only. Thus if you clear the Prelims exam, you will be eligible for the Mains exam.

Also, your Prelims marks will not be considered in your final order of merit, provided you manage to make it through to the interview round.

The UPSC prelims examination comprises 2 papers, namely the General studies paper and the CSAT paper or the Civil Services Aptitude Test.

If you want to know about the UPSC Prelims exam pattern in further detail, you can check out my article on the same. 

We will start with the syllabus for Paper 1 i.e., General Studies (GS) paper.

Prelims Syllabus Highlights

UPSC Prelims Syllabus for Paper 1: General Studies (GS)

This GS paper or paper 1 is designed to test your overall knowledge about your surroundings and the world, and also to test how observant you are as a person, by asking questions related to current affairs.

The UPSC prelims syllabus for the GS paper consists of topics from a wide range of subjects making it extremely difficult to pinpoint the kind of questions that might be asked in the upcoming paper.

Getting back, I have written down the list of major topics from the UPSC Prelims syllabus that you’d need to broadly cover for GS Paper (Paper 1) below:

• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India and Indian National Movement
• Indian & World Geography – Social, Physical, Economic Geography of the World and India.
• Governance and Polity in India –Rights Issues, Constitution, Public Policy, Political System, Panchayati Raj, etc.
• Social & Economic Development –Social Sector initiatives, Demographics, Sustainable Development, Inclusion, Poverty, etc.
• General issues on Biodiversity, Environmental Ecology, & Climate Change – these topics do not require subject specialization.
• General Science

Now, if you are wondering where to cover all these topics from, read the blog that I have written on the best books for IAS/IPS exam.

Also, you can read my blog on how to best prepare for the IAS exam.

UPSC Prelims Syllabus for Paper 2: Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)

The CSAT or Paper 2 is conducted with the intention to test your reasoning, comprehension, and analytical abilities.

This is because, as a Civil Servant it is of paramount importance that you are able to perceive the world and the problems therein with utmost precision and rationality.

The CSAT paper includes questions from the subjects of Reasoning & Analysis and Reading Comprehension. It also occasionally tests your decision-making skills by asking you questions pertaining to the same.

Given below is the list of major topics of the syllabus from which questions are asked in the UPSC CSAT Paper:

• Comprehension
• Communication and Interpersonal Skills
• Analytical ability and Logical Thinking
• Problem Solving and Decision Making
• General Mental ability
• Basic Numeracy, i.e. orders of magnitudes, numbers & their relations, etc (class 10 level)
• Interpretation of Data (charts, tables, graphs, data sufficiency, etc. – Also, class 10 level )

That pretty much sums up the IPS/IAS syllabus for the Prelims exam. Now it’s time to get down to the big daddy of all exam syllabi, The UPSC Mains syllabus.

Also check: IAS Exam

Source by: https://www.anujjindal.in/upsc-syllabus-for-ias-exam/