GENERAL TREND - CUT-OFF MARKS & USEFUL STATISTICAL DATA

The following statistical data gives an insight about the cut-off marks as well the topper's scores in both the Preliminary and the Main examinations for different subjects. This also mentally prepares budding aspirants and make them aware as to what is the score that they have to aim for in the qualifiers and Main examination in order to get a good ranking and also secure their position in the top segment.

Note that the cut-off marks, topper's scores and the corresponding ranking of the candidates varies every year depending on the number of vacancies and the complexity of the examination during that particular year.

You may visit the http://upsc.gov.in to get the final ranks of candidates and the services allotted to them.

Cut-Off Marks for the Preliminary Examination (with negative marking) in 2010 & 2011

Note: Since the UPSC has changed its Preliminary Examination pattern of Indian Forest Services by introducing a component of Screening Mechanism through Civil Services Preliminary Examination, the Preliminary exam will be common for both Civil Services Aspirants and as well as for Indian Forest Services Aspirants. Hence we assume that the Cut Off Marks will be around 220+ out of 400 for General Category, keeping in mind that the Preliminary Examination 2013 is easier because of the integration of Civil Services and Indian Forest Services.

Category	Minimum Cut-off marks for preliminary exam - 2010
General	248
OBC	240
SC	231
ST	225
PH 1	227
PH 2	211
PH 3	182

Category	Minimum Cut-off marks for preliminary exam - 2011
General	198
OBC	175
SC	165
ST	161
PH 1	135
PH 2	124
PH 3	96

General Trend of Scores for Preliminary Examination (with negative marking), Main Examination and Interview

The Indian Civil Services examinations conducted before the year 2011 had no negative marking. With the introduction of the system of negative marking for the IAS exams from the year 2011, the cut-off marks has gone down further. The basic trick to score well in the IAS examinations is to not risk answering those questions which you are not completely sure of. Instead of guessing the answer and losing marks, it is better to gain the maximum score by only answering the questions for which you are sure about the correct answer.

Going by the trend during the recent years, a score of more than 1050 is recommended to ensure a decent place in the final listing of selected candidates. The range of scores for the Main examination is between 50% - 55%. The key here is to choose an optional subject of your interest and score well to be the top segment of those subjects that you have chosen. The qualifying scores vary between optionals and the number of students finally selected from each optional subject is proportionate to the number of students appearing for a particular optional subject.

General Trend for Preliminary Exam - Qualifying Scores - With Negative Marking
Category	Marks
General	195+
OBC	180+
SC	165+
ST	150+

General Trend for Main examination - Cut-off Scores for Interview Call
Category	Marks
General	980+
OBC	960+
SC	950+
ST	920+

In the case of personality test (interview), a decent score ranges between 150 to 180. The final interview plays a vital role in your final ranking and also in the placement process for a particular civil service. The interview scores generally vary between 50 to 240.

General Trend - Final Scores - Cut-off Marks for Final Selection
Category	Marks
General	1200+
OBC	1175+
SC	1150+
ST	1120+

General Trend - Final Scores - Based on Ranking
Category	Marks
Top 20 ranks	1300+
Top 50 ranks	1280+
Top 100 ranks	1250+
Top 200 ranks	1225+

Cut-Off Marks for the Preliminary Examination (with negative marking)

Optional subject	Minimum number of questions that need to be correct for Paper I	Minimum number of questions that need to be correct for Paper II
General	65+	130+
OBC	60+	120+
SC	55+	110+
ST	50+	100+

Toppers' Marks - Civil Service Mains Examination 2003

Subject	Maximum Marks	1^st Rank¹	3^rd Rank²	6^th Rank³	7^th Rank⁴
Essay	200	125	132	119	108
General Studies - Paper I	300	192	197	179	154
General Studies - Paper II	300	147	164	180	127
Optional I - Paper I	300	173	173	165	174
Optional I - Paper II	300	180	171	180	183
Optional II - Paper I	300	190	166	181	205
Optional II - Paper II	300	157	191	200	185
Interview	300	230	180	174	201
Total marks	2300	1394	1374	1338	1337

Percentage of marks obtained by Toppers

Subject	Maximum Marks	1^st Rank¹	3^rd Rank²	6^th Rank³	7^th Rank⁴
Essay	100	62.50	66.00	59.50	54.00
General Studies - Paper I	100	64.00	65.67	59.67	51.33
General Studies - Paper II	100	49.00	54.67	60.00	42.33
Optional I - Paper I	100	57.67	57.67	55.00	58.00
Optional I - Paper II	100	60.00	57.00	60.00	61.00
Optional II - Paper I	100	63.33	55.33	60.33	68.33
Optional II - Paper II	100	52.33	63.67	66.67	61.67
Interview	100	76.67	60.00	58.00	67.00
Total marks	100	60.61	59.74	58.17	58.13

Statistical Trend - Vacancies (vs) Selection

The following table highlights the number of candidates who applied for the preliminary examination (vs) the number of candidates who actually appeared for the examination from 1995 - 2002.

Year of Preliminary Exam	No. of Candidates
Year of Preliminary Exam	Applied	Appeared
1997	2,65,761	1,30,198
1998	2,71,517	1,22,363
1999	3,09,501	1,35,086
2000	2,25,555	1,19,398
2001	2,56,673	1,38,240
2002	3,01,585	1,57,486

The following table highlights the number of vacancies for various posts against the number of candidates recommended for various civil services from 1995 - 2002.

Year Of Exam	Vacancies					Candidates Recommended during Final Selection
Year Of Exam	SC	ST	OBC	GEN	TOTAL	SC	ST	OBC	GEN	TOTAL
1995	98	49	165	333	645	101	49	192	303	645
1996	125	57	174	383	739	138	59	212	330	739
1997	89	43	166	323	621	94	46	215	266	621
1998	53	28	114	275	470	60	30	142	238	470
1999	53	27	97	234	411	63	30	127	191	411
2000	54	29	100	244	427	58	34	128	207	427
2001	47	39	97	234	417	52	42	131	192	417
2002	38	22	88	162	310	38	22	88	138	286

spaidalar IAS (Indian All Services)

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Analysys