21 October 2026
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Insights from UPSC CSE-2023: From Lowest to Record-Breaking Marks, Surprising Cut-offs, & Topper Trends Unveiled!

UPSC CSE 2023 results were declared on 16th April, now the marksheets of candidates and the cut off is also out The cut off for prelims dropped drastically compared to last 5 years AIR-1 Aditya Srivastava secured highest Interview marks in last 10 years among toppers
Indian Masterminds Stories

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) released the prestigious Civil Services Examination (CSE) – 2023 results on April 16, 2024. A total of 1016 candidates, 664 men and 352 women, have been selected for the service this year, which is bigger in comparison to last year’s results which saw a total of 933 selected candidates.

A day after releasing the result of CSE exam, the Commission has also released the Marks of Civil Services Final Examination and cut off list for prelims, mains and final list. Analysing the data of marks and cut off, some interesting facts are coming to the fore. 

Indian Masterminds presents some interesting facts of the toppers’ marksheets and cut off list.

UPSC MARKS: COMPARISION OF LAST 10 YEARS

This time, 70 candidates have scored 1000 marks or more. Among them, 12 are from the OBC category, 3 from the SC category, 2 from the EWS category, and 1 from the ST category. Comparatively, in the previous examination, there were 79 candidates who scored above 1000 marks.

Toppers: The topper Lucknow’s Aditya Srivastava who got AIR-1 in CSE-2023 has secured a total of 1099 marks, including 899 in the mains written exam and 200 in the interview. The difference between AIR-1 & 2 is 32 marks as Animesh Pradhan from Odisha scored 892 in the written test and 175 in the personality test (1067 total marks).

Aditya has obtained highest total marks in last 5 years. Only IAS Kanishak Kataria who topped CSE-2018, has got more marks (1121) than him.

But he has the lowest marks in mains exam in the last 8 years, among toppers. Only IAS Tina Diba who topped the CSE-2015, has got only less marks (868) than him in mains.

While in the interview, Aditya secured the highest marks in the last 10 years. He is followed by IAS Tina Dabi, who has scored 195 marks.

Last 10 Year’s Toppers Marks

200 Marks: In Interviews, out of the 1016 successful candidates, 112 achieved scores exceeding 200 marks. Among them, three candidates attained the highest score of 215 marks each. Aniket Shandilya, ranked 12th, belongs to the General category, while Yogesh Dilhor (ranked 55th) and Kshetrimayum Deepi Chanu (ranked 508th) belong to the SC category.

Hindi Medium: Mohan Lal (OBC), who clinched the highest rank in Hindi medium, is the only candidate in Hindi Medium, to cross the 1000 marks mark with 816 marks in written and 190 marks in interview.

In Hindi Medium, Vinod Kumar Meena who secured the 135th rank and hailing from the ST category, achieved the highest score of 834 marks in the written exam. Additionally, Ishwarlal Gurjar, an OBC candidate who secured the 555th rank, obtained highest 195 marks in the interview.

Lowest: The candidate with the lowest rank in the SC category, Ms Nivedita Chandra scored 890 marks, while the last-ranked candidate in the ST category, Anup Nayak achieved 891 marks. In the OBC category, the candidate with the lowest rank, Gaurav Singh obtained 919 marks.

It is noteworthy that the main examination consists of a written paper worth 1750 marks, while the interview carries a weightage of 275 marks. The overall merit is determined by combining the marks obtained in both the written examination and the interview.

CSE-2023 Top 10 Candidate’s Marks

THE CUT OFF

For the first time in nearly 12 years, the cutoffs for the UPSC Preliminary Examination have reached unusually low levels.

CSE-2023 Prelims Cut off

Prelims: In the CSE-2023 prelims, the general category cut-off this time is 75.41, lower than 88.22 in 2022, 87.54 in 2021, 92.51 in 2020 and 98 in 2029. In the last 5 years, the highest general category cut-off was in 2019.

The cutoff for the OBC category was significantly higher than that for the EWS category.

For the EWS category, it is 68.02, OBC (74.75), SC (59.25), ST (47.82), PwBD-1 (40.40), PwBD-2 (47.13), PwBD-3 (40.40), and PwBD-5 (33.68).

CSE Prelims cut off for last 5 years

The UPSC CSE 2023 Prelims Cut-Off Marks are based solely on GS Paper-I. Paper-II (CSAT) is of a qualifying nature, requiring a minimum of 33% marks as per Rule-15 of the Civil Services Examination, 2023.

Mains: For the UPSC Mains exam, the general category cut-off is 741, lower than last year’s 748 in 2022 and 745 in 2021. While in 2020, it was 736 and 751 in 2019.

For the EWS category, it is 706, OBC (712), SC (694), ST (692), PwBD-1 (673), PwBD-2 (718), PwBD-3 (396), and PwBD-5 (445).

CSE Mains cut off for last 5 years

UPSC Mains consists of nine papers, out of which seven papers are considered for merit ranking. The remaining two papers, namely the English Language Paper and the Indian Language Paper, are of qualifying nature. Candidates must secure a minimum qualifying marks in these language papers as prescribed by the UPSC.

Final: This year, in the final selection, the cutoff for the ST category was higher than that for the SC category. The General category cutoff is 953, EWS is 923, OBC is 919, SC is 890, and ST is 891.

While last year, the final cut off was higher for each category, except disable PWD 2 & 5 category.

CSE final marks cut off for last 5 years

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