UPSC insights from 1,100 tagged PYQs
Evidence-based analysis computed from the PYQLabs dataset — every UPSC Prelims question from 2015 to 2025, tagged by subject, topic, trap type, and difficulty. Every number on these pages comes from the dataset itself.
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- Subject Weightage, 2015–2025→datastrategyHow UPSC splits ~100 questions each year across seven subjects. Polity and Economics dominate; Geography is the most volatile.
- Most-repeated topics→datastrategyThe top 50 topics by actual frequency across 11 years. Just 10 topics supply 43% of the paper — Modern India alone is 91 Qs.
- Is UPSC Prelims getting harder?→dataEasy share dipped from 41% (2015) to 35% (2022), then rebounded to 42%. What actually shifted is the moderate tier — trap density, not fact obscurity.
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- Trap pattern catalogmethodologytrapsThe 10–12 recurring trap types UPSC uses to separate 100-mark candidates from 120-mark ones.
- Current-affairs source distributioncurrent affairsdataPIB vs Economic Survey vs Budget — where UPSC's CA questions actually originate.
- Repeat prediction: Prelims 2026datapredictionsWhich topics from 2023–2025 are most likely to reappear in 2026, based on the 10-year repetition cycle.
How this data was built
All numbers come from 1,100 UPSC Prelims questions, 2015–2025, each tagged by subject, sub-topic, trap pattern, and difficulty. Tagging is reviewed by UPSC aspirants and the PYQLabs community, then audited. Pages rebuild daily; corpus rarely changes, but new years roll in after each Prelims.
Want to actually drill these PYQs? Browse by year or practice by subject. Every question shows its trap analysis after you answer — free.