Are there any favourite areas for the UPSC? What were the UPSC Prelims 2019 question topics?
UPSC Civil Services Examination (popularly known as IAS exam) is widely considered as the toughest exam in India.
Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is entrusted with the job of preparing questions for the Civil Services Exam (CSE).
From which areas did UPSC frame questions for this year IAS exam?
What does UPSC try to find out in the ‘right candidate’ – for the jobs like IAS, IPS, or IFS?
Are there clues left by UPSC for aspirants preparing for UPSC 2020?
Here are the question areas from which UPSC asked the 100 questions in Prelims 2019.
UPSC Prelims 2019 Question Topics – 100 Areas
- Jagirdar and Zamindar – Mughal Rule – Medieval India.
- Land reforms in independent India – India Since Independence.
- Global Competitiveness Report – Current Affairs/General Awareness.
- Charter Act of 1813 – Modern India.
- Swadeshi Movement – Freedom Struggle – Modern India.
- Movement/Organization Leader – Freedom Struggle – Modern India.
- Harappan site – Ancient India.
- Ashoka Sculpture inscriptions – Ancient India.
- Mahayana Buddhism – Ancient India/Culture.
- Gupta period forced labour (Vishti) – Ancient India.
- Kalyaana Mandapas – Medieval India/Culture.
- Delhi Sultanate – Medieval India.
- Saints and Contemperories – Medieval India/Culture.
- Mahatma Gandhi and British Colonial Rule – Freedom Struggle – Modern India.
- Person: Position – Freedom Struggle – Modern India.
- Mian Tansen – Medieval India/Culture.
- Mughal Emperors Portrait – Medieval India/Culture.
- National Park in the temperate alpine zone – Geography.
- Atal Innovation Mission – Current Affairs/Schemes.
- 21st June – Summer Solstice – Geography.
- ‘New World’ vs ‘Old World’ Plants – History.
- Animals Found in India – Biodiversity.
- Famous place River – Geography.
- Poverty lines – Geography.
- Cirrus cloud thinning technique and the injection of sulphate aerosol into the stratosphere – Global Warming – Climate Change.
- Pyrolysis and plasma gasification – Waste to Energy – Science and Technology/General Awareness.
- Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve – Geography/Environment.
- Species/Herbivores/Viviparous – Biodiversity.
- Wildlife Naturally found – Biodiversity.
- Microbeads – Environment/General Awareness.
- Importance of Himalayan nettle (Girardinia diversifolia) – Biodiversity/General Awareness.
- Satellite images/remote sensing data – Science and Technology.
- Percentage of forest cover to the total area of State – Geography.
- Deposits of ‘methane hydrate’ – Climate change/General Awareness.
- Burning of crop/biomass residue – Environment.
- Sea Bordering country – Maps – Geography
- The largest exporter of rice in the world – Geography
- Glacier River – Geography
- Methyl parathion, phorate and triazophos – Current Affairs/General Awareness
- Ramsar Convention – Wetlands – Environment
- Gases released into the environment – Environment
- Places known as Aliyar, Isa pur and Kangsabati – Geography
- Hydrogen-enriched CNG (H-CNG) – Current Affairs/General Awareness
- Dewdrops – cloudy night – Geography
- Constitutional Amendments/Judgments – Indian Polity
- Impeachment of a Judge of the Supreme Court of India – Indian Polity
- Ninth Schedule – Indian Polity
- CoaI sector – Economy/General Awareness
- Office of Profit – Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Act, 1959 – Indian Polity
- Tribal land – Schedule of the Constitution of India – Indian Indian Polity.
- Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India – Indian Indian Polity/General Awareness.
- Constitutional powers under Article 142 – Indian Indian Polity
- Legislative Assembly of a State in India – Indian Indian Polity
- United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) -Current Affairs/General Awareness
- Minor Forest Produce – Indian Forest Act, 1927 and Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest
Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 – Environment/Current Affairs - Article of the Constitution of India – Right to marry – Indian Indian Polity
- Indian Patents Act – Patenting process in India – Science and Technology/Current Affairs
- The Environment Protection Act, 1986 – Environment.
- Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 – Current Affairs/General Awareness
- Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Central (Amendment) Rules, 2018 – Current Affairs/General Awareness
- Services Area Approach – Indian Economy
- Minor minerals in India – Indian Economy
- India’s external debt – Indian Economy
- Assets of a commercial bank in India – Indian Economy
- The risk of a currency crisis – Indian Economy/Current Affairs
- Governor – Sarkaria Commission – Indian Indian Polity
- Foreign portfolio investors – Participatory Note – Indian Economy/Current Affairs
- Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016 – Environment/General Awareness
- Review of independent regulators – Indian Indian Polity
- India’s Five-Year Plans – Indian Economy
- Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) – Current Affairs
- Inter-Creditor Agreement signed by Indian banks – Indian Economy
- Chairmen of public sector banks – Bank Boards Bureau – Indian Economy
- Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) – Indian Economy
- Differences between LTE (Long-Term Evolution) and VoLTE (Voice over Long-Term Evolution) – Science and Technology/General Awareness
- Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 – Current Affairs
- World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business Index” – Current Affairs/General Awareness
- ‘Extended producer responsibility’ – E-Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 – Current Affairs
- The economic cost of food grains to the Food Corporation of India – Indian Economy
- Social capital – Indian Polity/General Awareness
- Constitution of India – Amendment – High court – Indian Polity
- Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) – Economics.
- Cultivation of Kharif crop in India – Geography
- The highest imports in terms of value – Economics/Geography
- Definition of liberty – Indian Polity/General Awareness
- The slide of the Indian rupee – Economics/Current Affairs
- Storage of Payment System Data or data diktat – Current Affairs
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – Current Affairs
- Action Plan for Prioritization and Implementation of Cooperation Areas in the Nuclear Field – Current Affairs
- Money Multiplier Economics
- Digital technologies for entertainment – Augmented Reality vs Virtual Reality – Science and Technology
- Denisovan – Science and Technology
- Recent developments in science – chromosome/DNA – Science and Technology
- Digital signature – Science and Technology
- Wearable technology – Science and Technology
- ‘RNA interference (RNAi)’ technology – Science and Technology
- The Merger of giant ‘blackholes’ – gravitational waves – Science and Technology
- Multi-drug resistance in microbial pathogens – Science and Technology
- Cas9 protein – Science and Technology
- Hepatitis B vs HIV – Science and Technology
These are just question areas; not actual questions!
The above mentioned are the question topics or areas. If you need to go through the actual questions, refer the link – UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2019 Question Paper.
22 Marks worth questions were from the topic ‘Important Acts’
11 Questions (worth 22 marks) were directly connected with Acts enacted by the Indian Parliament. There is no surprise in this because UPSC expects future Civil Servants to be knowledgeable about the important Acts/Bills/Rules etc.
However, we are not sure if aspirants or coaching institutes noticed this.
Unconventional Questions
The 2019 UPSC Prelims General Studies Paper 1 Question Paper was unconventional. Many found most of the questions in this paper difficult to answer. The same was the case with 2018 paper – even though there were differences in question areas and priorities.
If you ask us our opinion about UPSC CSE Prelims 2019, we would say – we loved this paper.
Of course, some questions can be improved or avoided. However, there are a lot of questions which are of interest to a well-educated youth.
And, many of the questions areas were already covered in ClearIAS Prelims Test Series, benefitting enrolled users of ClearIAS Prelims 2019 Program.
Are the above question areas totally unfamiliar to you?
If you are a casual visitor on this website, or if you are totally new to UPSC Test Preparation, probably 90% of the questions asked by UPSC in Civil Services Exam (Prelims) 2019 may look alien to you.
That’s Okay!
Everyone cannot know everything. Particularly, if you are not a UPSC aspirant.
However, if you are a UPSC aspirant, you are supposed to know more.
What does UPSC expect from aspirants? Know everything under the Sun?
NO!
That’s not the expectation of UPSC.
The expectation and requirements of UPSC are different.
ClearIAS clearly know what UPSC expect from a candidate. However, as this post is already lengthy, we are not adding insights about UPSC requirements here. We will be creating a new post with more analysis of the UPSC Prelims paper in the coming days.
Re-think: Is your preparation in the right direction?
Despite spending lakhs of rupees at coaching institutes, if you are unable to clear Prelims time and again, it’s time to re-think.
Is it your fault or the fault of the method adopted by your institution?
Are the methods of teaching adopted by most coaching institutes (and some popular websites) still relevant for UPSC?
Are the teachers adapting themselves to the new trends set by UPSC?
Do they have a clear understanding of the new (and constantly changing) priorities of the UPSC?
See how ClearIAS adapted and delivered!
We don’t want to comment on others at this point, we just want our performance to do the talk.
Here are a few comments of our happy users after UPSC Prelims 2019.
100+ Marks worth UPSC Prelims 2019 questions could have been easily answered from ClearIAS Resources!
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Open in new tab Download as PDF – ClearIAS 2019 Questions vs UPSC 2019 Questions
More than 100+ marks worth questions could have been easily answered (enough to clear the cut-off score in UPSC Prelims 2019), had any aspirants seriously prepared just from the below (three) sources.
- ClearIAS Prelims Test Series (40 exams = 4000 questions)
- ClearIAS Current Affairs Capsules (Monthly MCQs = 1000 questions)
- ClearIAS Most Probable Questions (Daily MCQs =500 questions)
Learning/practising these questions wouldn’t have taken much time of yours.
In the UPSC exam hall, you are supposed to attempt 100 questions in 2 hours.
In that sense, to cover 1000 questions, all you need is 20 hours.
To cover 5000 questions, you just need 100 hours (less than a week; a week is 7*24 hours = 168 hours).
Just allotting 8 hours per day for UPSC prep, you can finish all the above sources in less than 2 weeks!
Yes, you need to revise the sources again to remember. We always advise that as well. Still, UPSC Test Prep is not as hard as you imagine – if you have ClearIAS along your side!
Conclusion
My intention of creating this long post is not to mention that the entire UPSC Test Preparation can be done is less than 2 weeks time. I was just pointing our that practising 5000+ questions will not take much time of yours.
You need to practise more and more questions to be well versed with multiple question areas. You should integrate your learning with test-taking. That’s the best and most-effective strategy to score high marks.
As clear from the above 100 question areas, IAS preparation now requires extensive knowledge, wide reading, good practise, and a positive frame of mind.
Only if your preparation is based on the right resources, you can now succeed in the UPSC exams.
Knowledge is important; however equally important is your analytical thinking.
Master ClearIAS Intelligent Elimination Techniques and develop your analytical thinking.
Seek the right advice.
Gain insights from mentors who keenly observe the changing priorities and pattern of UPSC.
Yes, in the UPSC Test Prep, one brand you can trust is ClearIAS. Clear IAS!
Would you provide us the key for CSAT paper 2??? Especially for passages??
@Hari – Yes, we will.
Do you provide test series for CSAT ALSO?
@ Ajay – Yes, we do. Here is the link.
When will the answer key be released of GS 1 on your platform??
@ Ashwani – Though we were initially thinking of release answer key by the exam evening, we felt soon-after-exam answer key may not be accurate. As we are adding an explanation for each answer in the platform, it takes time and research. However, the key will be uploaded soon, hopefully by today evening.
Hatt’s off to your dedication clearias team…..at first I thought it was only for advertising where I suffered falling victim to many online test series in 2018 where I couldn’t even answer a simple questions inspite of studying much,took a break for 2019 to understand what went wrong gearing up for 2020….hope you will guide us
@Nithya – Thank you for the comments. Great to know that you realised the false claims of many institutes/websites.
UPSC 2020 preparation needs a whole new approach.
The key essence would be to improve your analytical skills by mastering ClearIAS Intelligent Elimination Techniques and practising ClearIAS Prelims Test Series 2020.
Also, along with traditional areas of preparation, new areas which UPSC gave stress this year should be prepared thoroughly. Read extensively. Re-focus on any area which generates curiosity in a well-educated youth.
How to prepare for CSE 2020
Which strategy should be used? on which topics gives much focus?
@Rushikesh – Good question. There are many clues in Prelims 2019 on the direction in which UPSC may ask questions in UPSC Prelims 2020.
UPSC 2020 preparation needs a whole new approach.
The key essence would be to improve your analytical skills by mastering ClearIAS Intelligent Elimination Techniques and practising ClearIAS Prelims Test Series 2020.
Also, along with traditional areas of preparation, new areas which UPSC gave stress this year should be prepared thoroughly. Read extensively. Re-focus on any area which generates curiosity in a well-educated youth.
We are not disclosing the entire approach here. ClearIAS Prelims 2020 questions will take care of the new requirements.
We will also be coming up with a lot of guidance articles in the coming days. Stay tuned.
Please also provide ‘100 areas from which UPSC framed questions’ in the last 5 years.
@ Sumit – We shall pass the feedback to our content team.
Yes….I know that most of the questions are directly asked from clearias current affairs…… But we need day by day or weekly guidance of you…… I enrolled in 2020 test series ….. Please stay in touch with us ……
@ Vivek – Congrats for enrolling in ClearIAS 2020 Test Series. Happy to know that you observed that may questions are directly asked from ClearIAS Current Affairs.
It is the policy of ClearIAS not to over-burden aspirants with too much study materials. That’s the reason why you don’t see too many daily updates on ClearIAS.
Our focus is to provide what is most essential. Once aspirants are guided in the right direction, they will understand what to study and what not.
Read extensively. Re-focus on any area which generates curiosity in a well-educated youth.
We hope we can continue the quality of work we have been doing for the last several years.
Should NCERT be read???
@ Nithya – Yes, you should read NCERTs. Also, you should take ClearIAS NCERT-based subject-specific mock exams to ensure that you haven’t missed the most probable question areas.
Will you provide test series only for prelims….
Or else both Prelims and mains.???
@Shashi – We have programs for Prelims, Mains, and Interview. We release mock questions for UPSC Mains (FREE), however, at the moment of writing this comment, we don’t provide a paid Mains Test Series. Details of our programs can be accessed from this link.
Pls upload answerkey eagarly waiting .
What is the expected cut off??
Clear ias is most scientific in its way of cut off . Pls release it as early as possible
My take on cut off https://www.quora.com/profile/Mayur-Barbole
Sir waiting for your answer keys. Please upload it. Its been almost 5 days now.
Are clearias prelims test series is available in hindi medium
@ Vivek91 – As of now, CLearIAS Prelims Test Series is available only in English Medium. But, many Hindi medium aspirants like you have already registered for Prelims Test Series, and are taking our mock tests comfortably.
We suggest you try our free mock tests first, and if that’s fine for you, you may enroll for our full-length test series.
sir can you provide notes for english optional , there is very less help available for english literature as optional . i would be very glad if you could help with this .
Clear ias team. I’m doing self study from my home and here resources are very very less.
I failed pre 2 times in 2018 and 2019 due to my fault and also due to some very famous pre test series which cost me these 2 years
and i don’t want to fail next year for sure.
So now i’m subscribing your preliminary test series..
So sir please please help me to clear prelims, its my humble request .
I promise you to make you proud and will achieve top rank.
Thank u sir.
@ Rohit – Follow our timetable and guidance. Believe that you can do it. You will. All the best!
sir i just passed 12th . sir, to be an IAS officer is my dream since long time . i already decided everything long ago . that i have to choose zoology as my mains subject but . some people are saying that zoology is not good for IAS exam . because there is no score.
and they said that the post recruited to an IAS officer after qualifying exam is on the basis of subject chosen and not on the basis of rank . sir will you please tell me that is this true . sir i have to decide my graduation stream now. so it will be great if you inform me about this now as soon as possible.
sir can you provide notes for Geography optional
How much does ur prelims test series cost ? N also mention the strategy for 2020 pre n mains thank u
Clear ias please provide us monthly current affairs capsule.. It’s already being months since you last told that it’s ready and only needs to upload.. So could you please upload it at the earliest? Not forgetting the fact that it’s already end of September..
will you provide 100 topics of all last few years from 2013-2018 please. this 2019 hundred topic have helped a lot for data analysis.
Which books i have to read for preparing upsc ias exam could you please suggest the all book list for upsc hindi medium
Hi Sir ,who will be guiding as mentor in this clearias program ?
Sir I want to know whether sarkaria commission is right answer for that question. Because in punchhi commission such recommendation was given
Excellent guidance!
Dear sir! How i prepare for ias exam with my b.sc continuing…?