UPSC CSE 2021 prelims was conducted on October 10, 2021 in 77 cities all over India. An estimated 10 lakhs candidates from across the country appeared for the exam. Result of the Preliminary examination shall be declared on October 29 tentatively. The list of shortlisted candidates with their roll numbers can be seen on UPSC’s official website upsc.gov.in
This year, the exam was held in two shifts. From 9:30 am, it was Paper 1 (General Awareness) and Paper 2 (CSAT) from 2:30 pm. The cutoff is based on the performance in paper 1, while CSAT is just of qualifying nature where one needs to get just 33% marks. This year, less questions were seen from current affairs and surprisingly more were from sports that caused trouble for many aspirants. Although the CSAT was of moderate nature, many found it difficult while attempting the language comprehension section.
The exam was conducted in Leh, for the first time. According to experts, the expected cutoffs can be quite higher this time than last year as the exam was conducted for just 712 posts this year. The shortlisted candidates will be eligible for the mains exam that is scheduled to be held on January 7, 8, 9, 15 and ,16 2022.
Here is the category wise expected cutoff;
| Category | Expected Cutoff2021 (prelims) | Prelims Cutoff 2020 |
| General | 95 -105 | 92.51 |
| EWS | 85 – 95 | 77.55 |
| OBC | 93 – 103 | 89.12 |
| Sc | 79 – 89 | 74.84 |
| St | 78 – 88 | 68.71 |
| PwBD-1 | 66 – 76 | 70.86 |
| PwBD-2 | 48 – 58 | 63.94 |
| PwBD-3 | 35 – 45 | 40.82 |
| PdBD-4 | 48 – 58 | 42.86 |
