UPSC Cut Off 2021: Detailed Analysis

UPSC Cut Off 2021: Know UPSC Prelims Cut Off, UPSC Mains Cut Off, and UPSC Final Cut Off. You might be surprised to know that a candidate just needed 47% marks to clear IAS/IPS exam last year!

UPSC Cut-off Marks 2021 for Civil Services Examination is now available in the public domain.

The minimum qualifying marks for Prelims dropped significantly despite the low vacancies.

The Mains and Final selection cut-off marks saw an increase.

However, a candidate needed only 47% marks to find a place in the final merit rank list.

Those candidates who belong to reservation categories needed further fewer marks.

UPSC Cut Off 2021 (General Merit)

• Prelims – 87.54 out of 200 (43.77%)
• Mains – 745 out of 1750 (42.57%)
• Interview – 953 out of 2025 (47.06%)

The official cut-off of UPSC CSE Prelims 2021 was just 87.54 marks out of 200 for General Merit Category.

You can compare the same with last year’s cut-off (from the below table).

Comparison: UPSC Cut Off 2020 (General Merit)

• Prelims – 92.51 out of 200 (46.25%)
• Mains – 736 out of 1750 (42.05%)
• Interview – 944 out of 2025 (46.61%)

In comparison to the cut off of 87.54 in Prelims 2021, the cut-off was higher (92.51) in Prelims 2020.

However, in Mains and Interview, the trends reversed. Cut-offs were higher in 2021 for Mains and Interview in comparison to 2020.

UPSC Cut Off 2021: Category-wise Minimum Qualifying Marks

Exam	General	EWS	OBC	SC	ST	PwBD-1	PwBD-2	PwBD-3	PwBD-5
CS (Prelim)	87.54	80.14	84.85	75.41	70.71	68.02	67.33	43.09	45.80
CS (Main)	745	713	707	700	700	668	712	388	560
CS (Final)	953	916	910	886	883	892	932	689	701

Comparison: UPSC Cut Off 2020: Category-wise Minimum Qualifying Marks

Exam	General	EWS	OBC	SC	ST	PwBD-1	PwBD-2	PwBD-3	PwBD-5
CS (Prelim)	92.51	77.55	89.12	74.84	68.71	70.06	63.94	40.82	42.86
CS (Main)	736	687	698	680	682	648	699	425	300
CS (Final)	944	894	907	875	876	867	910	675	465

As you can see the final marks needed to get selection into the prestigious rank-list of civil services under general merit in 2021 was 953/2025.

This was 944/2025 in 2020.

Now, let’s turn our attention again to the Prelims cut-off.

Why the UPSC Prelims Cut Off Marks was so low in 2021?

The Cut-off score of UPSC CSE Prelims 2021 came as a big surprise to all. It was only 87.54 (43.77%).

UPSC had deleted one question in the official answer key of prelims 2021.

In comparison, the last year’s cut-off was 92.51 out of 200 (46.25 %).

The General Cut off for Prelims was 92.5 in 2020, 98 in 2019, 98 in 2018, 105.34 in 2017, 116.00 in 2016 and 107.34 in 2015.

PS: To check the previous year’s cut-off mark trends, check the UPSC Cut Off Trend Analysis

We infer the drop in cut-off due to the following reasons:

• Difficulty Level of Questions in Paper 1
• Difficulty Level of Questions in Paper 2 (CSAT)
• Deletion of 1 Question in Paper 1
• The difference in the official key answers in comparison to the answers expected by candidates or coaching institutes.

You just need 47% marks to secure a place in the final rank list under general merit!

It is interesting to note to be selected into the prestigious Civil Services, in 2021 a general category candidate had to score just 953 marks out of 2025.

In percentage terms, this would be 47.06%.

Of course, this is not easy considering the strict valuation standards of UPSC, but we just wanted aspirants to know that UPSC is always a low scoring game!

Cut-off score variation across categories

The cut-off scores also give crucial insights into other categories.

The EWS category cut-off marks were 37 makes less than the general merit cut off for final selection.

The OBC category cut-off score was 43 marks less than the general category cut-off (for final selection).

The SC and ST category cut-off was less by 67 and 70 marks, respectively, when compared to the general category cut off (open merit cut-off).

Tie-breaker: How will UPSC calculate ranks if two candidates secure the same marks?

Wherever two or more candidates have secured equal aggregate marks in Civil Services Examination, 2021, the tie(s) have been resolved in accordance with the principles approved by the Commission, viz.

1. Candidate securing more marks in the Compulsory Papers# and the Personality Test put together is to be ranked higher; and
2. In a case where the marks mentioned at (i) above are equal, the candidate senior in age is to be ranked higher.

Note: #Compulsory papers include Essay, General Studies-I, General Studies-II, General Studies-III and General Studies-IV.

Know more about UPSC Tie-Breaker here.

How close were you to the Minimum Qualifying Marks, last year?

Looking at the cut-off score, many of you who missed it by a narrow margin can now realise how close were you.

A few marks could have changed your career, life, and destiny.

3 Ingredients to Success

I always believe that there are 3 ingredients to success:

1. Potential of the candidate
2. Right guidance/training
3. Consistent Hard Work + Smark Work by the candidate.

What should you do now to improve your performance from now on?

The ideal thing to do now is not to repeat past mistakes.

If you do the same thing again and again, and if you expect different results you won’t get them.

Now ClearIAS Team has started direct guidance to selected students through our online classroom programs like ClearIAS Prelims cum Mains Online Course and  ClearIAS Prelims Marks Booster Online Course – which have been getting great feedback from aspirants.

These are not traditional programs. Our programs intend the bridge the gap faced by aspirants with respect to UPSC requirements and popular trends.

Even if you spend a few hours on our demo classes – we are really hopeful that you will get a lot of value from it.

Keep Practising

Along with ClearIAS Prelims Online Mock Test Series,  do practise previous year’s UPSC CSE Re-Take Exams of Paper 1 and Paper 2 in a timed environment.

This is another efficient method to get aligned with the requirements of UPSC CSE faster.

Trust us, the real competition in UPSC CSE is only with those who prepare it the right way

UPSC Civil Services Exam (CSE) is widely considered one of the toughest exams to crack, considering the fact that the vacancies are only less than 1000, while the number of applicants is around 10,00,000.

However, ‘real competition is much less.

If you prepare focused under the right guidance, Prelims, Mains, and interviews are not difficult.

Also, UPSC CSE is a low-scoring game.

The cut-off marks for the UPSC Civil Services Exam depend on many factors like the number of candidates in the competition, the number of vacancies, exam difficulty, and valuation standards.

It surely is also depended on what answers UPSC think as correct as per the official answer key.

Any serious aspirant who prepares strategically, combining knowledge with the right techniques, can easily clear the UPSC Civil Services Exam.

Testimonials of ClearIAS online students prove this.

All the best to all of you!