UPSC Prelims Cut Off 2022: UPSC Prelims Expected Cut-off

UPSC Prelims 2022 Exam Analysis: Expert breaks down the paper, shared important insights

Sarmad Mehraj on behalf of BYJU’s shared that the paper, the question paper can be considered relatively easier than last year, although some questions were in the range of moderate to difficult level. He has pegged the cut off to be over 90 this year as well. Expected cut off range as shared by different experts is given below. As for question paper,

1. Environment and Science & Technology related questions dominated the question paper (31 Questions). The focus was on IT and Communication as many questions were framed from these areas
2. Interestingly, scope of using elimination techniques was removed due to a new pattern of options. E.g. previously, the candidates had the chance of arriving at an answer by eliminating one or two options
3. This year, for at least 8 questions, instead of asking if 1 or 2 is correct or incorrect the UPSC options were: only one pair is correctly matched, only 2 pairs are correctly matched etc. This would impact the cut off
4. History was another focus area where the focus was on Buddhism, Jainism, Temples, literature and Texts, Mongols, Early British Expansion, constitutional history, Revolutionaries, Sangam Literature, Mauryan Dynasty. Some of the questions can be termed difficult to answer
5. The questions on Indian Polity and Economy were relatively easier than previous years. Current Affairs continued to be the focus of these subjects as the UPSC asked questions on Deputy Speaker, Attorney General for India, banking etc
6. From Indian Polity 11 questions were asked. 16 questions were asked from Economics. The 10 questions asked from Geography were a departure from previous years. The questions were less conceptual, and a mix of factual and location-based questions were asked; and
7. A jump was witnessed in the International Relations portion of the CSE syllabus (A total of 14 questions were asked). Questions on Afghanistan, Central Asia, East Europe & Africa were asked

UPSC Prelims 2022 Question Paper Review, Expected cut off by Experts

UPSC Prelims 2022 question paper review and expected cut off would be shared by experts soon. The initial reaction from experts, after discussing with candidates, suggests that the expected cut off is likely to increase but hover less than 100 this year as well. Check previous year’s cut offs here. Experts have also now shared expected cut off for this year. As per the inputs received, experts believe that this year's cut off would rangle between 95 - 105.

Category	2022*	2021	2020	2019
General	94 - 105	87.54	92.51	98.00
EWS	80 -92	80.14	77.55	90.00
OBC	85 - 90	84.85	89.12	95.34
SC	75 - 80	75.41	74.84	82.00
ST	65 - 70	70.71	68.71	77.34
PwBD-1	-	68.02	70.06	53.34
PwBD-2	-	67.33	63.94	44.66
PwBD-3	-	43.09	40.82	40.66
PwBD-5	-	45.80	42.86	61.34

Candidates may note that the expected cut off is suggested by various experts based on the inputs received by candidates who have appeared for the exam. These are prepared after understanding how many questions candidates have done right, on an average. This year, given the difficulty level, experts are of the opinion that about 45 questions were easy and could have been attempted by more. The cut off has been prepared basis that.

UPSC Prelims 2022: Candidate reactions

The first reactions are here now. Rajendra who has appeared for the exam called the paper moderately difficult. “I was not expecting an easy paper and it wasn’t. It was expected and there were many questions that were very confusing. Overall, it was an ok attempt. Would have to wait for the cut off to see if I would qualify or not!” he shared.

Kalki, another UPSC aspirant shares that she was most stumped by the Geography and questions from economy. The rest, she said, was expected. Other candidates have said that the paper was easy to moderate with many questions from history and current affairs expectantly so.

Interestingly, most of the candidate responses received have been individual. The reason could be that UPSC Prelims has one of the widest range of subjects and the candidates also come from different background. The responses are being gathered and complete review would be shared by experts soon.