Candidates preparing for the UPSC Civil Services Examination should always glance through the UPSC previous year question papers. It is crucial to know about the type of questions that are asked in the UPSC exam. It is only when you know WHAT is asked in the exam can you prepare for the exam effectively. For this, the UPSC Previous Year Question Papers are the best source!

In this article, we have listed the UPSC previous year question papers of the last 10 years (2011-2020) of both UPSC Prelims and UPSC Mains. You just need to click on the mentioned link to download the paper. We have also discussed the importance of UPSC previous year question papers in the Civil Services preparation below.

List of UPSC Previous Year Question Papers For Prelims & Mains
Click on the link to download the UPSC previous year question papers of the concerned year from the list mentioned below:

2020

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2020 - Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2020 - Mains

2019

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2019 - Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2019 - Mains

2018

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2018 - Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2018 - Mains

2017

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2017- Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2017- Mains

2016

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2016- Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2016- Mains

2015

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2015- Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2015 - Mains

2014

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2014- Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2014- Mains

2013

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2013- Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2013- Mains

2012

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2012- Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2012- Mains

2011

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2011- Prelims

UPSC Previous Year Question Paper 2011- Mains

Why Should You Solve The UPSC Previous Year Question Papers?
UPSC previous year question papers hold extreme importance in the UPSC Preparation. Here are some of the reasons that you should not miss glancing through the UPSC Previous year question papers:

Understand the type of questions asked
Glancing through the UPSC previous year question papers right at the beginning of UPSC preparation will allow the candidates to assess the type of questions that are asked. This will help you in gauging the relevance of any news piece or information strictly from the exam point of view. You'll be able to segregate the pool of information on the basis of its relevance. It will also help you in scanning through large information and filter out the relevant one from where the question may be asked.  

 

Understand the importance of a specific topic
UPSC Previous year questions also tell a bit about the importance of specific topics. There are many topics in the syllabus. However, some topics are more important than others. So, in the classroom programs when our experts tell you about the important topics, their source of information is always the previous year's papers. Hence, if you're preparing without any expert guidance or coaching, it is important that you read the previous year's papers thoroughly to get that idea. It will help you filter out the syllabus.  

 

Determine the priority of the subjects
Now, what we mentioned about the topics stands true for the subjects as well. For example, in the General Studies-I paper of UPSC prelims, the syllabus mentions all the basic subjects. But does that mean all of them will have equal weightage? NO! The weightage of all the subjects is not equal. Now, you'll notice that certain subjects are more important than others from the Prelims point of view. It can be different for the Mains papers, hence, an insight into UPSC previous year question papers will uncover these important insights that will effectively boost your preparation.  

 

Understand how to answer the questions in Mains
One of the most effective ways to start practicing answer-writing is to glance through toppers' copies of answers. This will further require you to check the UPSC previous year question papers and the answers provided by the toppers. Such analysis as to what to include your answers can only be done via solving previous year papers thoroughly.