Cut-Off Marks for UPSC Civil Services Exam: Trend Analysis

What are the cut-off marks for UPSC?

Marks needed to qualify UPSC Civil Services Prelims and Mains has always been a topic of hot discussion and speculation.

There are always different rumours around and many candidates are unclear about how UPSC fix the bottom cut-off. That’s why in this post, we have decided to give insights about the Cut-Off Marks for UPSC Civil Services Exam.

In this post, we share some important statistics collected from the official UPSC website over the previous years.

UPSC Prelims Cut-off Marks – Over the Years

Year	Cut-off Marks	Percentage
2005	284/450	63.11
2006	282/450	62.66
2007	256/450	56.88
2008	244/450	54.22
2009	250/450	55.55
2010	248/450	55.11
2011	198/400	49.5
2012	209/400	52.25
2013	241/400	60.25
2014	205/400	51.25
2015	107.34/200	53.67
2016	116.00/200	58.00
2017	105.34/200	52.67
2018	98/200	49.00
2019	98/200	49.00
2020	92.5 /200	46.61

Mains and ‘Mains+Interview Marks’ (Total Marks) of Last Recommended Candidate in UPSC Civil Services Examination

Year	Mains Marks of the last candidate (General Category)	Mains Percentage of the last candidate (%)(General Category)	Mains+Interview marks of the last candidate (General Category)	Mains+Interview Percentage of the last candidate (%) (General Category)
2005	986/2000	49.3	1203/2300	52.3
2006	975/2000	48.75	1179/2300	51.26
2007	1005/2000	50.25	1210/2300	52.6
2008	954/2000	47.7	1161/2300	50.47
2009	899/2000	44.95	1127/2300	49
2010	904/2000	45.2	1134/2300	49.3
2011	842/2000	42.1	1090/2300	47.39
2012	700/2000	35	936/2300	40.69
2013	562/1750	32.1	775/2025	38.27
2014	678/1750	38.74	889/2025	43.90
2015	676/1750	38.62	877/2025	43.30
2016	787/1750	44.97	988/2025	48.79
2017	809/1750]	46.22	1006/2025	49.67
2018	774/1750	44.22	982/2025	48.49
2019	751/1750	42.91	961/2025	47.45
2020	736/1750	42.05	944/2025	46.61

Trend Analysis of UPSC Interview Marks

Interview marks until 2012, usually ranged from 90 to 245 out of the maximum possible score of 300. That meant the interview marks varied from 30 per cent to 80 per cent, which is a very big range. The median of the interview marks was in the 55-60 percent range.

However, from 2013, the total possible marks for interview is reduced to 275. Currently, marks are awarded in the range of 45% to 75%. Marks below 45% is not uncommon, however, it’s very rare that UPSC award marks above 75 per cent in the personality test.

Still, there is a big variation between the top interview marks and bottom interview marks awarded. If there is a 50 per cent difference between the top and bottom marks in the interview, that will account to about 140 marks, which is by now means a meagre thing to neglect! That difference is enough to shatter hopes of many and enough to give wings to the hopes of others!

What is the cut-off score to make it to the final rank list in UPSC Civil Services Exam?

It all depends on the vacancies in the category or community you are from. UPSC prepares a separate rank list for those under General Category, OBC, SC, ST etc and you have to make sure that you rank well within the number of vacancies listed in each category to be in the final rank list.

Also, be clear that the ‘General Vacancies’ are always filled on merit, and that means that all other categories can get into the Vacancies mentioned under General Vacancies, and not just general category candidates.

There is no reservation for general category candidates. However, the vacancies reserved for separate categories are only open to those respective candidates, and since they are reserved, there is no competition based on open-merit in these vacancies.

Ok. Back to the topic. Do you have any idea what was the minimum percentage of marks (General Category) required to make it into any of the 24 services for which UPSC conducts Civil Services Examination, during the last few years?

No, it’s not in the eighties or nineties.

You might be surprised, in 2015 the total percentage of marks of the last recommended candidate from the General Category was around 43 per cent! Five years after, in 2018, it is 49%.

The ‘cut-off’ percentage of marks of other categories like OBC, SC and ST were 1-3 % lower than the general category.

It should also be specially noted that the percentage of marks for All India Topper was 53% in 2019!

Also read: Till Which Rank Can An Aspirant Get Into IAS, IPS or IFS?

Minimum Qualifying Marks in Prelims and Mains

Quoting from Civil Services Exam Rules:

Candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the Preliminary Examination as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion shall be admitted to the Main Examination; and candidates who obtain such minimum qualifying marks in the Main Examination (Written) as may be fixed by the Commission at their discretion shall be summoned by them for an interview for personality test : Provided that candidates belonging to the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward Classes may be summoned for an interview for a personality test by the Commission by applying relaxed standards in the Preliminary Examination as well as Main Examination (Written) if the Commission is of the opinion that sufficient number of candidates from these communities are not likely to be summoned for interview for a personality test on the basis of the general standard in order to fill up vacancies reserved for them.

UPSC uses the term ‘minimum qualifying mark’ instead of cut-off.

This minimum qualifying mark is the mark of the last candidate (in the descending order of marks) who made it to the list, be it Mains list, Interview list or Final Rank list.

As per our understanding, the figure just depends on the number of vacancies each year and nothing else. So if there are 313 vacancies under the OBC category this year, the mark of the last rank candidate in the OBC category becomes the cut-off mark under the OBC category. Hope the point is now clear!

How will UPSC determine the numbers, ie. Calls for Mains and Interview?

It should be noted that UPSC normally calls for Civil Services Mains Exam, 12-13 times the number of actual vacancies reported for the corresponding year.

For example, if the number of vacancies reported is 1200, UPSC will call 1000*12.5=approx.12,500 candidates for the mains exam from the lakhs of candidates who write the Prelims.

Again, for the interview, UPSC will call about twice the number of candidates than the reported vacancies. In the above example, UPSC called about 2500 candidates for interviews, which was 2.5 times the number of vacancies. UPSC selects only about 1000 candidates among the top 2500 in the final list.

Toppers’ Percentage range between 40 per cent and 55 per cent

Percentage of All India Topper in UPSC Civil Services Exam was around 60 per cent some five-six years back – when there were 2 optional subjects.

But it began to fall down later, obviously due to tougher questions, tougher evaluations, reduction in optional subject marks, and obviously due to lack of right resources to study General studies!

In 2013, the Topper’s percentage (AIR 1) was around 48% and the last recommended candidate in the general category scored 38%. In 2018, the toppers percentage is 55% while that of the last recommended general category candidate is 49%.

If we observe the trend from 2013 to 2019, one can see an overall increase in mains marks and a tighter competition. Also, now, there is more cluttering per mark.

Will there be an increase in cut-off marks in the coming years?

If questions are easy, and evaluation is liberal, the cut-offs may increase.

However, if UPSC follows the same valuation standards, Civil Services Exam may still remain low scoring – with minor fluctuations.

As students in the online age of WhatsApp, telegram, and test-prep websites are now fully equipped with a lot of resources, they are better prepared to deal with the requirements of IAS exam.