Years 2022 Prelims Paper
- This year the paper appeared to be on moderately tougher side. Many questions though framed on a single topic demanded in-depth knowledge from the students.
- The different trend followed by UPSC this year was in the framing of the options of pair type questions, which limited the students to solve questions by elimination techniques.
- Also, this time like previous years, UPSC linked the fundamental subjects with Current Affairs and important issues which were in the news. This made the paper more relevant and current affairs dominated.
- Static portions like Environment, Economics, S&T etc. were given due weightage. However, few portions like Modern History saw a dip and other static portions like Geography and International Relations saw a rise in the number of questions being asked as compared to the previous years.
- Questions in almost all the subjects ranged from easy to medium to difficult level.
- This year International Relations section questions gives us insight on how important it is to regularly read newspapers and follow Current Affairs magazines. The questions were mainly directed towards basic understanding of conflicts & crisis in African and middle eastern countries. Students were also tested on understanding of various UN mechanisms which frequently appeared in news.
- Polity questions were a mix of both fundamental topics and current affairs. This time conceptual questions were not asked and mostly questions were solvable by studying standard sources. Unlike previous years, Governance aspect was given more weightage eg. Tea Board, Coal Controller's Organization, etc.
- In the History section, question from Ancient and Medieval India were given more weightage and their difficulty level was also high. Art & Culture questions were linked with current affairs directly e.g. Ramanujacharya and Somnath Temple. However, as a departure from the usual trend, UPSC gave less weightage to Modern Indian History but questions though were easier as compared to last year.
- Geography this year was dominated by map-based questions, both national and international. Also, economic geography continues to remain an essential topic owing to the government’s emphasis on infrastructure (e.g. Solar park question) and mineral resources development (e.g. question on monazite). However, basic fundamental questions also were seen like summer solstice and clouds.
- This year questions related to Environment and Climate Change were a good mix of international initiatives (EP100, Polar Code, Climate Action Tracker), species in news (Golden Mahseer, Ant-Fungi mutualism) and pollution related topics (Acid rain, WHO Air Quality Guidelines, Polythylene Terephthalate). Terms frequently seen in the news (Greenwashing, Miyawaki) remain a favorite with the paper setters. Agriculture, an often underrated subject, continues to maintain a stronghold (System of rice intensification, Crop source of methane, nitrogen-fixing plants). Some unconventional questions testing the fundamental understanding have also been covered (Wetlands as kidneys, Indian laws on wildlife protection).
- In Economics, continuing with the previous year trend, questions have been emphasized to test the fundamental understanding of candidates related to concepts like Inflation, Bonds, Monetary Policy Instruments, NEER, etc. with a focus on their applicational aspect. Few questions from current affairs themes like Indirect transfers and foreign e-commerce firms have also been explored. But unlike the trends followed in the previous years by UPSC, Indian economy, agriculture and schemes questions were not seen!
- With regard to Science & Technology (including Basic Science) questions, they were by and large of moderate difficulty level. Among the easy-toanswer questions were the ones on 'qubit', 'vaccines', and 'T cells'. In terms of coverage, questions featured from almost every expected section e.g. space technology, computer science and information technology (as many as three questions), cosmology, biology, and biotechnology.