This year’s UPSC Mains GS 1 has been moderate in difficulty given the fact that many questions were straightforward and directly related to the syllabus. The geography section had maximum weightage with eight questions — Q. 4,-7, and 14-17 worth 100 marks. This was followed by the ‘society’ section of GS 1 with six questions – 8-10, and 18-20 worth 75 marks.
Surprisingly, the weightage given to the ‘art and culture’ section has significantly increased with four questions — 1, 2,11,12 worth 50 marks from the section being asked in the exam. The weightage of modern history has decreased with only two questions — 3 and 13 worth 25 marks. Further, there was no question from the world history or post-independence history of India.
In geography, section questions were conventional and straightforward in nature with some repeated questions from the previous year’s theme, including those on interlinking of rivers or flooding of cities. Most of the questions required contemporary examples.
In the society section, the questions were from moderate to difficult which required a deeper understanding of Indian society and its prevailing issues, including questions on COVID 19 and the caste system. There were some opinion-based and open-ended questions that tested the critical thinking of the aspirants.
In the art and culture section, the questions were difficult given their factual as well as analytical nature. The modern History section had straightforward questions, which could be easily answered from conventional sources. Overall, it could be said that a good score in this paper would be 100 + as the paper was of moderate difficulty and was not lengthy.
