UPSC Prelims 2020 Question Paper & Analysis
Get the UPSC Prelims Previous Year Question (PYQ) Paper with subject-wise trends, difficulty analysis, and detailed model answers — including diagrams, flowcharts, and structured writing for GS.
Subject-wise MCQ Distribution
Difficulty Analysis
Type of questions
Key Insights
- Economy, Environment & Ecology, Indian Polity carried the highest weightage, together accounting for 55% of the paper.
- The paper strongly favoured statement-based questions — multi-statement and assertion-reasoning questions together made up 63% of the paper, making careful reading and elimination especially important.
- The paper was largely easy to moderate in difficulty, with 73% of questions falling in the easy or medium range and only 27% classified as hard.
- Questions were spread across 13 subject areas, making broad syllabus coverage important rather than relying on a few traditionally dominant subjects.
- The question format demanded more than direct recall, with only 37% of questions being direct, while most required evaluating multiple statements or reasoning through assertions.
PYQs with Detailed Answers
- View Answer for: With reference to the history of India, consider the following pairs:Famous Place - Present State Bhilsa - Madhya Pradesh Dwarasamudra - Maharashtra Girinagar - Gujarat Sthanesvara - Uttar PradeshWhich of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
With reference to the history of India, consider the following pairs:
Famous Place - Present State
- Bhilsa - Madhya Pradesh
- Dwarasamudra - Maharashtra
- Girinagar - Gujarat
- Sthanesvara - Uttar Pradesh
Which of the pairs given above are correctly matched?
- View Answer for: With reference to the period of Gupta dynasty in ancient India, the towns Ghantasala, Kadura and Chaul were well known as
With reference to the period of Gupta dynasty in ancient India, the towns Ghantasala, Kadura and Chaul were well known as
- View Answer for: With reference to the history of India, the terms “kulyavapa” and “dronavapa” denote
With reference to the history of India, the terms “kulyavapa” and “dronavapa” denote
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