Dear UPSC Aspirants,
The UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2025 was held on 25th May 2025. Lakhs of students across India appeared for the exam to take their first step toward becoming an IAS, IPS, or IFS officer.
Was the Paper Easy or Hard?
The big question that echoes across every discussion forum, Telegram group, and coaching institute corridor right now is:
How was the UPSC Prelims 2025?
Let’s not sugarcoat it—this year’s paper, especially the CSAT, has left many stunned. But in the General Studies (GS) Paper I, there were some surprises, a few familiar friends, and a lot of UPSC’s classic unpredictability.
Overall, this time, the questions were easy to moderate. That means they weren’t too tough, but not too simple either. So, we expect that the cut-off marks (minimum marks to qualify) will be a bit higher than last year. For general category students, it may be around 95 ± 5 marks.
| Category | 2025 (Expected) | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 |
| General | 95 ± 5 | 87.98 | 75.41 | 88.22 | 87.54 | 92.51 | 98 |
| OBC | 93 ± 5 | 87.28 | 74.75 | 87.54 | 89.12 | 89.12 | 95.34 |
| SC | 85 ± 5 | 79.03 | 59.25 | 74.08 | 75.41 | 74.84 | 82 |
| ST | 80 ± 5 | 74.23 | 47.82 | 69.35 | 70.71 | 68.71 | 77.34 |
| EWS | 92 ± 5 | 85.92 | 68.02 | 82.83 | 80.14 | 77.55 | 90 |
| PWD 1 | 78 ± 5 | 69.42 | 40.4 | 49.84 | 68.02 | 70.06 | 53.34 |
| PWD 2 | 75 ± 5 | 65.30 | 47.13 | 58.59 | 67.33 | 63.94 | 44.66 |
| PWD 3 | 60 ± 5 | 40.56 | 40.4 | 40.4 | 43.09 | 40.82 | 61.34 |
| PWD 5 | 60 ± 5 | 40.56 | 33.68 | 41.76 | 45.8 | 42.86 | 61.34 |
These are approximate expected values based on the paper’s easy-to-moderate level and candidate feedback.
How Were the Questions Divided?
Let’s look at how many questions came from each subject in General Studies (GS) Paper 1:
| SL No | Subject | Number of Questions |
| 1 | History | 15 |
| 2 | Indian Polity (Constitution) | 16 |
| 3 | Geography | 12 |
| 4 | Economy | 14 |
| 5 | Environment | 9 |
| 6 | Science & Technology | 16 |
| 7 | Miscellaneous (Others) | 18 |
Type of Questions Asked
The pattern for the UPSC Prelims 2025 as described includes various types of questions with specified quantities for each type.
Overall Difficulty Analysis
How were the Questions Like?
History and Art & Culture:
With 15 questions, this was one of the friendliest History sections in recent memory.
Most questions came from Modern Indian History especially Gandhian movements like the Non-Cooperation Movement. UPSC also flirted with creative diversity asking about Portuguese fruits, Fa-Hein and even the Dancing Girl of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Polity:
Despite a standard-looking question paper Polity proved to be a minefield of tricky statements. Questions on the President, Governor, Parliament and Centre-State relations looked easy until you read the options.
 Economy:
With 14 questions the Economy section required not just knowledge but numerical reasoning and conceptual clarity. Themes included RBI’s powers and sources of income, Green economy and critical minerals like lithium, RTGS, NEFT, UPI in global context, Agricultural taxation debates, Bonds vs. stocks and AIFs.
Environment:
A sharp drop from 15 to 9 questions meant more pressure to get each right. While topics remained familiar—pollution, biodiversity and climate change—some options were statement-based and layered.
Geography:
12 questions—leaning more towards static geography. Mapping, rivers and physical geography concepts were common. The dynamic and disaster management themes seen last year were almost absent.
Science & Technology:
Expect the unexpected—16 questions covered trending terms like EVs, GAGAN, UAVs, Majorana and deep learning but also static science concepts like coal gasification, viruses and battery cathodes.
If you weren’t following daily current affairs and lacked conceptual clarity this was a tough nut to crack.
Miscellaneous:
International Relations
Only 5 questions but all of them were current and high-frequency topics: BIMSTEC, BRICS, INSTC, NATO, EU Nature Restoration Law (the curveball).
Culture, Schemes, Logic
This year’s 13 miscellaneous questions covered national schemes, quirky facts and logic-based reasoning. Some questions bordered on lateral thinking.
Current Affairs
UPSC seems to have moved away from direct current affairs to embedding news topics into conceptual questions. So even if you knew the news you had to understand the underlying concept to answer correctly.
What About CSAT (Paper 2)?
The CSAT Paper was tough! Though it’s supposed to be just qualifying, this time it felt like a challenge.
Here’s how the 80 questions were divided:
- Reading Comprehension: 29
- Maths (Quantitative Aptitude): 36
- Logical Reasoning: 15
Students found it time-consuming and tricky. Simple Class 10 level preparation was not enough this time.
What Can You Learn From This Year?
If you’re preparing for UPSC next year, here’s what you should do:
- Treat CSAT seriously!
- Keep reading daily current affairsfrom newspapers or monthly magazines
- Revise NCERTs thoroughlyfor maps, history, geography and science
- Take mock tests
- Focus on conceptual clarity– don’t just memorize, understand topics deeply
Final Words
UPSC is like a rollercoaster. It can surprise you any time. But with smart preparation, strong basics and a calm mind, you can succeed.
The UPSC Prelims 2025 paper was a blend of predictability in subjects and complexity in framing. It was fair but only to those who prepared not just smartly but deeply.
And remember in this exam it’s not about who knows more but who survives better under pressure.
“UPSC doesn’t ask for perfection. It wants preparation, patience, and performance.”
All the best for your journey ahead!
- CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE ANSWER KEY FOR ALL SETS OF UPSC CSE PRELIMS PAPER I ALONG WITH EXPLANATION
- CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE ANSWER KEY FOR ALL SETS OF UPSC CSE PRELIMS PAPER II ALONG WITH EXPLANATION
