100+Marks in UPSC Prelims 2016 From ClearIAS Prelims Test Series

“What is the best strategy to clear IAS Preliminary exam?” If you ask us this question, we would say – join ClearIAS prelims mock test series.

Many toppers had repeatedly acknowledged the role of ClearIAS Prelims Test Series in their success. The story was no different in Prelims 2016.

More than 100 marks worth questions were asked in Prelims 2016 – directly or indirectly – which had asked in ClearIAS Prelims Test Series 2016 before. This had helped a lot of our students who enrolled for ClearIAS Prelims Test Series 2016 to clear UPSC Prelims 2016 with ease.

Bang on Target: Questions from ClearIAS Online Test Series 2016 which appeared in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

Every mark scored was crucial: Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has conducted the Civil Services (Preliminary) examination on August 7, 2016. A record number (11.37 lakh) of aspirants had applied for this year exam, and with less number of seats, it was fierce competition. Every mark scored was crucial. Scroll down to see the list of questions covered by ClearIAS which appeared in Prelims 2016.

Doing more with less: More than 50000 aspirants had registered in ClearIAS mock test platform and had been practising mock questions daily making it one of the most popular platforms for IAS exam preparation. Out of around 1600 questions we provided, questions worth around 100 marks were asked in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016. Many of our selections and intuitions turned right. This is what we mean by the right guidance and focused approach.

High conversion ratio and return on investment: 14 questions came in UPSC Prelims 2016 from a single mock test of ClearIAS (304P – Current Affairs). This means that – had aspirants gone through just these 100 questions in 2 hours, they could have scored at least 28 marks!

List of questions from ClearIAS which appeared in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016: We have made a quick recap of the questions in ClearIAS mock tests or study materials which appeared in UPSC Prelims 2016. The full details are also available in the solution part of  UPSC Prelims 2016 Re-take test as well.

Questions from ClearIAS Current Affairs Test (304P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. SWAYAM Platform
2. Masala Bonds
3. International Solar Alliance
4. Paris Summit
5. Intended Nationally Determined Contribution
6. SDGs
7. Indo-African Summit
8. SDR-IMF-Renminbi
9. MUDRA
10. Ease of doing business
11. Digilocker
12. Fasal Bima Yojana (also provided as free online study material)
13. One Belt One Road (mentioned in the Learning Zone)
14. Payment Banks (mentioned in the Learning zone)

Questions from ClearIAS All Topic Test (111P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. International Solar Alliance
2. Mission Indradanush
3. COP21 (Paris Summit)
4. Financial Stability and Development Council

Questions from ClearIAS Culture Test (301P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. Ajanta and Mahabalipuram
2. Ghatikas

Questions from ClearIAS Environment Test (302P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. Air Quality Index and eight pollutants
2. SDG (not direct)
3. REDD and REDD+ (not direct)
4. Kyoto
5. Clean Development Mechanism, Certified Emission, Annex I countries, Kyoto Protocol

Questions from ClearIAS All Topic Test (110P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. Eri (Tank)
2. Montagu Declaration (not direct)
3. SDR-IMF- Renminbi
4. UDAY scheme

Questions from ClearIAS Polity Test (305P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. Age of Panchayat members
2. Majority needed in RS – State List
3. Prorogation and lapse of bills

Questions from ClearIAS All Topic Test (109P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. New Development Bank
2. UDAY scheme
3. Ease of doing business
4. Fasal Bima Yojana
5. Subsidy Boxes (not direct, as WTO is not explicitly mentioned)

Questions from ClearIAS All Topic Test (108P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. MUDRA

Questions from ClearIAS All Topic Test (107P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. When will a bill lapse?

Questions from ClearIAS All Topic Test (104P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. Capital Account classification

Questions from ClearIAS All Topic Test (101P): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. REDD+
2. Prorogation and lapse of bills
3. Payment banks
4. Rohingyas

Questions from ClearIAS All Topic Test (001F): Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. Cripps Mission

Questions from ClearIAS Free Mock Questions Emailed to our Users: Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. Lifi
2. Eurozone (not direct)
3. Project Loon

Questions from ClearIAS Free Study Materials: Repeated in UPSC CSE Prelims 2016

1. Bitcoin.
2. Lapsing of bills (special article).
3. Pradan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.
4. Types of Majorities (Rajya Sabha Question)
5. Gadgil Report and Kasturirangan Report on the Western Ghats

Our philosophy is to reduce the workload of IAS aspirants, not to increase it!

• The hollow claim of many institutes/websites: Many players copy paste almost everything from ‘The Hindu’, PIB, India Year Book, Economic Survey, Yojana, Kurukshetra etc and claim that many questions came from their study materials or tests. Intelligent aspirants can easily realize how hollow this claim is. This claim is similar to creating a 50,000-page book and claiming that questions from 5 pages of it are asked in UPSC exam.
• Many institutes/websites increase the workload of aspirants: As you know, it is not an easy task to cover every minute details in these voluminous resources from an exam point of view. Coaching should make things easy, not difficult. If volume/quantity of materials is the case, then ‘PIB’, ‘The Hindu’ newspaper or ‘Wikipedia’ can claim the maximum number of questions for Prelims and Mains as they are exhaustive. But aspirants should think how practical it is to revise huge resources within the limited time.
• What is needed is the focused and smart approach: It’s the philosophy of ClearIAS team, not to overburden our students and readers with too many materials. We believe in focused and smart approach.
• 28 marks from a single mock test! Last year (2016), 14 questions in actual UPSC CSE Prelims could have been answered from a single current affairs mock test of ClearIAS (304P – Current Affairs)! This means that – had aspirants gone through just these 100 questions in 2 hours, they could have scored at least 28 marks in UPSC Prelims!
• Every mark counts! Aspirants who are near the cut-off score know what difference even 2 marks can actually make. Last year many candidates missed cut-off by decimal marks.
• The volume of materials is not always proportional to your marks! It’s common sense that the more materials one institute provide, the probability of more questions to come from them increase – though not always proportional. Very often, aspirants read thousands of pages of study materials without getting a single question from it.
• Time is limited! It’s not practical to go through all materials as the volume increases. One needs to be super-sharp to remain focused.

We are bang on target!

• Most probable questions: ClearIAS had provided only 11 full-topic mock tests and only 5 subject-specific mock tests for Prelims 2016. This means just 1600 questions. If we add our re-take option on UPSC Previous Year mock questions and CSAT, the total would come only around 2200 questions. But the returns on investment on these 2200 questions was really great!
• Work smart: Ideally, coaching gurus should help aspirants to ‘separate the wheat from the chaff’. But the opposite is seen happening. Smart aspirants realize the value of ClearIAS.com service in simplifying IAS exam preparation – doing more with less! This is what the last year toppers too have appreciated.
• Thank you emails: Since exam day, we have been receiving many emails thanking us for providing the most probable questions via ClearIAS Prelims Test Series, emails and ClearIAS free online study materials for UPSC Prelims 2016. We feel happy that our special approach for prelims giving rich dividends to our users/readers.