| out of 400 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
|---|
| GEN | 198 | 209 | 241 |
| OBC | 175 | 190 | 222 |
| SC | 165 | 185 | 207 |
| ST | 161 | 181 | 200 |
| PH1- Ortho | 135 | 160 | 199 |
| PH2-Visual | 124 | 164 | 184 |
| PH3-Hearing | 96 | 111 | 163 |
The Cutoff in UPSC Prelims depends on a lot of factors , such as the number of quality students appearing , the level of paper etc which are arbitrary things hard to measure in a scale .
Let us analyse the cutoff of previous years .
Last year [2015] there was a pattern change , no one knew what could be the ideal score , as no data was available for previous year which could indicate what cutoff to expect . This lack of data due to sudden pattern change triggered a response in the students , they attempted more and also paper was balanced and on the easier side . After the paper there was panic that cutoff could even reach 140 as paper was easy and general attempt was more . Even though of this inflated attempts by the students Cutoff was 107.34 , many who were scared and attempted more couldn't even touch 54 effective Correct Questions . The year of inflation [2015] settles one argument that cutoff remains around 50-60% [ 2015 - 107.34 , 2014 - 205 , 2013- 241 , 2012-209 , 2011-198 . ]
Anyone who took All these papers will tell you that ,
2011 was tough so cutoff was 198 , again
2012 was tough so cutoff 209 ,
But 2013 was easy and the cutoff shot to 241 , aspirants thought cutoff next year will be 250+ , Next year again paper was tough and
cutoff dropped to 205[ many who went for the 250 were snowballed , couldn't even score 205 . Next year was 2015 , pattern change , again the panic of
not knowing what could be the cutoff acted as a fuel to the fire of moderate to easy questions ,
cutoff soared 107.34 .
The aspirants appearing in 2016 prelims knew that last years paper was easy then also the
cutoff touched only 107.34 and not 120s and 130s predicted by many . Again some sense of settlement and a parameter was set .
What happened in prelims 2015 ?
Paper was unbalanced , skewed towards current affair . The real serious aspirants spends a large chunk of their preparation time on History , Geography , Economy and Polity[ Which will help in Their mains answer writing no doubt ] . This year these core subjects alone could not help the aspirant to sail though . So obviously cutoff will be less , whenever the question is a bit tough cutoff drops ,
look at 2013 and 2014 cutoff dropped 36 marks
. This year also cutoff will drop , may even be in 90s .
The comment section is open to your analysis . Let the world know what do you think will be the cutoff and why ?
Appearing in UPSC 2017 Without Coaching following article may help
