The Civil Services Exam conducted every year by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is your ticket to a profession in the prestigious civil services. This exam is conducted in three stages – Prelims, Mains, and Interview (Personality Test). Each stage eliminates candidates who fail to clear it. Starting with a few lakh candidates, ultimately only about 1000 people make the final cut. In this article, you can read all about the UPSC Prelims marks distribution.

UPSC Marking Scheme 2025 Overview 

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts one of the most challenging examinations in India. To ace this examination, candidates must understand the marking scheme thoroughly, especially for the Mains stage. Here, we break down the marking scheme for the UPSC Mains exam, highlight some critical notes, and discuss whether negative marking applies.

The two constituent papers carry negative marking in UPSC Prelims. Each paper is for 200 marks which means, the total UPSC prelims marks are 400 marks. But it is to be noted that there is negative marking in IAS Prelims.

UPSC Marking Scheme for Prelims Paper 1 2025

The UPSC Prelims Paper 1 is officially called the General Studies I Paper and is known commonly as the General Awareness paper.

Prelims General Studies(GS) Paper I Syllabus:

• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India and Indian National Movement
• Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World
• Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialisation
• General Science

Also Read: UPSC Syllabus 2025

In this paper, there would be 100 questions, and you would have 2 hours to finish it. Each question will have four choices out of which you should pick the correct answer. Each incorrect answer would cost you 1/3rd of the marks allotted to that question.

In this paper, you should score the cut-off mark (minimum required mark) as prescribed by the commission to clear it. (This mark would be revealed only after the final UPSC results are out after the whole process is done with.) The UPSC will only reveal whether you qualified or not when the IAS Prelims results are declared. 

UPSC Marking Scheme for CSAT Exam 2025

The second paper is called General Studies Paper-II. It is also known as the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).

Prelims GS Paper II Syllabus:

• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision-making and problem-solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level)

In this paper, there are 80 questions, and you would have 2 hours to complete them. Here again, there would be four choices given, and you have to select the correct option. An incorrect answer will invite a penalty of 1/3rd of the total marks allocated to that question. In GS paper II, you have to score at least 33% or 66 marks in the exam.

UPSC Prelims Marks Overview

It is generally the marking scheme for the prelims paper that confuses candidates. One must always remember that this phase is only qualifying in nature. The final merit list does not include the UPSC prelims marks.

The CSAT is a qualifying paper in the IAS exam, and you are required to score at least the minimum required of 33% marks for the marks secured in General Awareness to be counted towards acceptance for the Mains exam.

To qualify for the UPSC Mains, you must score:

1. 33% in the CSAT paper, AND
2. The cut-off marks prescribed by the UPSC or more.

The following table sums up the pattern and marking scheme of the UPSC prelims:

The UPSC Prelims total marks add up to 400. Aspirants should practice from UPSC previous year question papers to gain an idea of the IAS exam pattern and also check their knowledge of the Civil Services syllabus.

Negative Marking in UPSC Prelims

The UPSC exam has three stages: Preliminary Examination, Main Examination, and Personality Test. The Preliminary Examination is a screening test, and the marks scored in this stage are not counted in the final result. However, this round is challenging due to negative marking. In the UPSC Preliminary Examination, for every incorrect answer, 1/3rd of the total marks allocated to that question is deducted. The Preliminary Examination consists of two papers: General Studies-1 and General Studies-2 (CSAT). Let’s look at the negative marking in the Preliminary Examination for both papers.

Negative Marking in UPSC Prelims GS Paper 1

General Studies-1 is a 200-mark paper with 100 questions, each worth 2 marks. The duration of the paper is two hours. As mentioned above, for every incorrect answer in the UPSC Preliminary Examination, 1/3rd of the total marks allocated to that question is deducted. Therefore, for each incorrect answer in General Studies-1, 0.66 marks are deducted.

Suppose a candidate answered 70 questions correctly and 30 incorrectly out of 100 questions in General Studies-1. To calculate their score, we do the following:

• For each correct answer, the candidate receives 2 marks: 70 x 2 = 140 marks.
• However, the candidate also answered 30 questions incorrectly. For each incorrect answer, 0.33 marks are deducted: 30 x 0.66 = 19.8 marks.
• Therefore, 16.5 marks are deducted from the candidate’s score for correctly answered questions, leaving them with a final score of 140-19.8 = 120.2 marks for Paper I.

UPSC Mains Marks 2025

The UPSC Mains examination is the second stage of the Civil Services Examination, following the Preliminary exam. Unlike the objective nature of the Preliminary exam, the Mains is subjective and tests an aspirant’s ability to present their knowledge cohesively.

The Mains examination comprises nine papers:

1. Paper A (Compulsory Indian Language): 300 marks (qualifying)
2. Paper B (English): 300 marks (qualifying)
3. Essay: 250 marks
4. General Studies I: 250 marks
5. General Studies II: 250 marks
6. General Studies III: 250 marks
7. General Studies IV (Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude): 250 marks
8. Optional Subject Paper I: 250 marks
9. Optional Subject Paper II: 250 marks

Total Marks for Merit Ranking: 1750 marks (Essay, General Studies, and Optional papers). The qualifying papers (Paper A and B) are not included in the final merit ranking but must be cleared to proceed.

Each paper is designed to test various aspects of an aspirant’s capabilities. For instance:

• Essay: Assesses articulation, coherence, and critical thinking.
• General Studies: Gauges knowledge across diverse subjects such as history, geography, politics, governance, technology, and ethics.
• Optional Subjects: Tests specialized knowledge in a chosen subject, reflecting a candidate’s depth in that field.

UPSC Mains Marks – IMPORTANT NOTE

1. Qualifying Papers:
   • The minimum qualifying marks for Paper A (Indian Language) and Paper B (English) are usually 25% of the total marks (i.e., 75 out of 300).
   • Failure to clear these papers results in disqualification, irrespective of performance in other papers.
2. Merit Determination:
   • The remaining seven papers contribute to the merit list. An aspirant must focus on excelling in these papers as they decide the overall rank.
3. Presentation Matters:
   • Marks are awarded based on clarity, structure, and relevance. Adherence to word limits and logical flow significantly enhance scoring potential.
4. Language Selection:
   • Aspirants can choose to write the Mains in any language listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. This choice applies to all papers except the compulsory English paper.
5. Consistency:
   • Examiners value consistency across answers. A balanced approach that combines factual accuracy with analytical depth is often rewarded.

UPSC Interview Marks

The UPSC Interview, also known as the Personality Test, carries a total of 275 marks and is the final stage of the Civil Services Examination. It evaluates candidates on traits such as mental alertness, judgment, social cohesion, and intellectual integrity. 

What are Penalty Marks in UPSC Mains Exam?

Penalty marks in the UPSC Mains exam are imposed for violations of examination rules, potentially impacting a candidate’s score and ranking. Reasons for penalty marks include writing irrelevant content, disclosing personal identity, exceeding word limits, using mixed languages, or making appeals to the examiner. Candidates must also avoid using ink and pencil together or providing illegible handwriting. To avoid penalties, it’s crucial to follow the instructions closely, maintain anonymity, adhere to word limits, and write legible answers in the chosen language without including any irrelevant material or personal requests. 

UPSC Marking Scheme 2025 FAQS