Prelims – Past Questions Analysis – History & Culture
When it comes to the ‘History and Culture’ section of the UPSC Prelims Question paper, you are not probably going to spend a lot of time through these questions. You either know them or do not know them. There is little work for the analytical part of the brain to come into play here. But every year, approximately fifteen questions in the Civil Services Prelims come from this section and in no way, you are going to miss them. They can both make and break your progression into the next round.
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How to read through the tabulation?
- A gist of the question is given preceded by the question number in set ‘A’ of the Question Papers. This can be found in the UPSC website.
- The sub-topic is a broad classification which can help you zoom in on the probable areas.
- The difficulty level is denoted using five stars, with one star corresponding to ‘very easy’ and five to ‘very difficult’. (Obviously, this has some subjectivity)
- The ‘Remarks’ column might refer to the source of the question or the nature of the question or even both. Again, this can be subjected to little variance with the perception of the aspirant.
Let us see how this section comes out on paper mathematically. Out of 68 questions in this part over the last four years, around 21% are rated one-star and 44% are rated two-stars. The questions rated three, four and five stars are 13%, 15% and 7% respectively. Out of the 15 questions rated in the last two categories, only one question is from Modern India. This surely indicates Freedom Struggle is the area where you have to score.
The factual nature of the questions have increased over the last year and still, the Prelims cut-off has only risen. That is also because the number of questions rated one-star are the maximum in the same year which means you surely cannot miss answering them rightly. Stick on to the basics, take minimum risks on those which seem to have fallen into the question paper out of nowhere, and you will be smoothly sailing into UPSC Main 2017 on June 18.
This analysis has been contributed by
Mr. Akshy Sridhar IAS (UPSC CSE 2016 – AIR 45).
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