The UPSC Civil Services Examination is one of the most prestigious and toughest examinations in India. Every year, when the results of UPSC CSE come out, aspirants eagerly search for marks obtained by toppers and other qualifiers, to get an idea how to prepare a strategy to get a better rank or simply crack the exam. This year’s results (UPSC CSE-2021) show again that the mains examinations marks are instrumental in obtaining a better rank or topping the list.

UPSC CSE-2021, which saw a dominance of women in the top with girls bagging the top three places, shows that first rank holder Shruti Sharma scored less in interview round, but still she emerged at the top. While Gamini Singla scored highest marks amongst toppers in interview, she still ended up in the 3^rd position. Even more surprising, Ashutosh Kumar topped UPSE CSE-2021 in interview round, but his name was not among the top 50, he secured the 77^th rank. So, it is extremely necessary to know how mains and interview marks work in cracking UPSC CSE and why should one focus more on the written exam to score better.

Another interesting fact is that no UPSC topper has touched the 60 percent mark in the last 5 years. They have been able to reach till 55 percent marks in total. Also, there have been instances where candidates have passed the examination after scoring only 23 per cent marks in total.

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TOPPERS’ MARKS

Shruti Sharma, who missed by a whisker in her first attempt, became the topper in her second attempt. Shruti got 1105 i.e. 54.56 percent marks out of total 2025 in both written exam (Mains) and interview. She got 932 marks out of 1750 in the written test and 173 out of 275 in the interview round. Mains exam has a major role to play in Shruti topping the exam, as there are many UPSC qualifiers with more marks than her in the interview round. On the other hand, second rank holder Ankita Agrawal got 1050 marks (51.85 per cent), out of which 871 in written exam and 179 marks in interview round. Ankita’s interview marks are more than Shruti’s. Third rank holder Gamini Singla scored total 1045 marks (51.60 per cent) out of which 858 in written exam and 187 in interview. Gamini’s marks are higher than both the toppers in the interview, but her rank is third because of the written exam.

At the same time, Aishwarya Verma, who finished fourth, has a total of 1039 marks, of which 860 is in written exam and 179 marks in interview. The fifth topper Utkarsh Dwivedi has a total of 1036 marks,of which 871 in the written exam and 165 marks in the interview.

HIGHEST IN INTERVIEW ROUND

Ashutosh Kumar and Kiran P B got highest marks in UPSC CSE-2021, both scoring 206 out of 275. But Ashutosh’s overall rank is 77th as he obtained less marks in mains examination, 785 marks out of 1750. While Kiran P B’ all India rank is 100 as mains marks is 779 out of 1750.

The second highest scorer in interview was OBC candidate S Sivanandham. He secured 205 marks in interview round. But his over all rank is 87 as his mains examinations marks are 783. Third highest in interview round is OBC candidate Anshu Priya and her rank is better in comparison to other toppers of interview round as she got 818 marks in her mains examination. He interview round marks are 204 out of 275. Pranjal Srivastava is 4th topper in interview round with 204 marks, but interestingly his rank is lower, 299, due to written examinations marks, as he got only 751 in mains. The 5th topper of interview round is OBC candidate Preetam Kumar and he is also the best ranker amongst interview toppers, thanks to his mains marks. He got 201 in interview and 829 in mains. His all India rank is 9th.

LAST QUALIFIER

The last selected candidate this year, Radhey Mohan Pandey, with rank 685, got 689 (34%) marks. He has 557 marks in written exam and 132 marks in interview. Last year, Vishwajeet was the last qualifier in the final list of UPSC CSE-2020. He got 300 marks in mains and 165 in Interview round, total 465 (23 per cent) out of 2025 marks.

LAST 5 YEARS

If we look at the last 5 years, from 2017 to 2022, the maximum marks obtained in the interview round is 215. Apala Mishra got 215 marks in UPSC CSE-2020, although her overall rank was 9. Because that year’s topper Shubham Kumar from Bihar topped the mains exam scoring 878 marks. Before that, Zainab Sayeed got 220 marks in UPSC CSE-2014, although her all India rank was 107. Hailing from Kolkata, she topped the UPSC civil services examination interview round, by scoring the highest marks, but got less marks in written examination. That is why, her rank slipped even below 100.

WOMEN POWER IN 21^ST CENTURY

The results show that in the last 24 CS examinations of UPSC, 12 times women have got the top position, while only 12 times male candidates have been on top. Although, the results of 40 UPSC exams have been released since 1972, only 12 examinations have been such in which women have been successful in getting rank one. From 1972 to 1997, 16 UPSC examinations were held, but there was only one time that women topped the list. Between 2010 and 2021, girls have been UPSC toppers 7 times. This year, for the second year in a row, there were 19 girls in the top50.