Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) declared the CSE-2023 Prelims exam result on Monday. Out of 13 lakhs aspirants that filled the form for the exam this year, only 14624 candidates qualified – which stands at less than 1%. On the other hand, 13090 candidates had qualified for Mains in 2022, out of 11.52 lakh candidates (1.14%). Clearly the Prelims success rate is around 1 percent only, which makes it the most difficult round in UPSC CS, the entry point to the most coveted IAS, IPS, IRS, etc.
But, this year, Prelims, which has two papers of GS and CSAT (which requires only qualifying marks), was tougher than the last few years. An increased level of difficulty in the CSAT exams this year has lowered the success rate more. This year, if we go by the experts’ opinion, then the cut off will be around 75 to 85 for general.
Indian Masterminds interacted with few candidates, to know about this year’s papers in detail, and also the impact on Prelims preparation from hereon.
CSAT TOUGHER, GS SHIFTED ON FACTS
Aditya Srivastava from Lucknow has cracked UPSC CSE-2022 with AIR 236 and will get IPS. But in the hope of a better rank and getting into IAS, he gave UPSC CSE Prelims-2023 and cracked it too. Speaking with Indian Masterminds, he said that he could get marks between 93 and 96 in GS paper as he matched the paper through answers provided by various centres.
Last year, he got 111 in GS and 165 in CSAT. He attempted 76 questions in CSAT last year, while he attempted only 52 this year. He rebuffed the statement that the difficulty level of the CSAT paper this year was like that of IIT and CAT. But he agreed that it was certainly a lot more difficult this time.
He said, “CSAT was really difficult this time because of Math’s questions. There were lots of questions from permutation and combination, which seemed more difficult for those who did not study Mathematics in Intermediate. It is being called general counting, but it is not.”
Secondly, he pointed out that comprehension was comparatively easy. Those that attempted comprehension, the probability is more for them to get answers right. Aditya said, “I feel that UPSC tried to strike a balance with Maths being tougher and Comprehension being easy.”
As for the GS paper, he supports the views that this year’s paper options setting was such that the elimination trick did not work. He said, “If someone does not have in-depth knowledge of the topic, then he could not answer the questions. If a question has three options, then you have to know about all three.”
He also feels that there were questions from all subjects and the paper was balanced, but what differed was the kind of questions asked. He said, “Like Economics was doable earlier, because it asked conceptual questions. But this time, there were more factual questions and you have to know the exact answers.”
He also mentioned that this time it was difficult to say exactly how many questions were asked from which subject. They were so tricky.
CSAT WENT AGAINST POPULAR THOUGHT
Aishwarya Dubey from Agra passed UPSC CSE-2022 with 300th rank in her 2nd attempt and will get IPS or IRS for sure. But in the hope of IAS, she attempted UPSC CSE-2023 and passed the Prelims too. She had also got 9th rank in UPPCS-2022 exam.
She also agreed that the papers were really tough this year, but at the same time, she said that if one has practiced a lot, then the papers were doable for them.
She said, “CSAT paper demanded practice. It could not be cracked with day-before-the-exam study. The level was high. Permutation and combination was tough, and candidates had to leave it. It is generally thought that there will be fewer questions from it, but against the popular thought, there were more questions from it this year.”
On GS paper, she feels that UPSC changed the strategy this time. She said, “Earlier, strategy of elimination worked, even if you not aware of one or two options. But this time it did not. Now you should know all.”
Rest of the paper was balanced and it covered all the topics. There were history’s questions in the start which she attempted first.
UPSC GAVE LESSONS TO EVERYONE
At 23, Abhinendra Singh became SDM. He cleared UPPCS-2022 with 32nd rank, and cracked UPSC-2023 Prelims, also. He feels that UPSC has given lessons to everyone this time, because, usually, aspirants study GS the whole year, but leave the CSAT for the last.
He said, “I was also on the borderline in CSAT and I accept that I did not practice it much. But due to comprehension and reasoning, I succeeded. So from now on, CSAT also needs to be practised the whole year. I know many of my friends who practised CSAT that way and scored very well, from 80 to 100 marks.”
On GS, he feels that UPSC is very clear that the elimination trick will be eliminated. He said, “In Prelims, UPSC is focussing now on choosing candidates who are good at basics and have in-depth knowledge.”
COULDN’T CRACK THIS YEAR
Ram Bhajan Kumar, Delhi Police Head Constable, who has cleared UPSC CSE 2022 with AIR 667, but gave Prelims 2023 in the hope of a better rank that would get him IPS, failed to crack it this year.
Speaking with Indian Masterminds, he said, “I could not pass because of the CSAT paper. It was so tough. They had combined mathematics with reasoning. I couldn’t answer these questions correctly.”
HAPPY FOR NOT ATTEMPTING THIS TIME
Model-turned-civil servant Taskeen Khan, who secured AIR 736 in CSE 2022, said she is very glad she didn’t give Prelims this year as the CSAT paper was very hard, and mostly candidates of IIT-like background could do well.
