UPSC Prelims 2021 has been conducted on 10th October 2021 and now the candidates are focusing on the UPSC cutoff for Prelims. The expected Prelims cutoff 2021 can be somewhere between 98-101.
UPSC conducts Civil Services Exam every year to shortlist candidates for recruitment in various services including IAS, IPS, IFS and other allied services. Candidates have to qualify in three stages in order to get finally selected. For each stage, the UPSC cutoff is declared. Thereafter, the commission releases the PDF containing the roll numbers of the qualified candidates. Each round is an elimination round. Only those candidates who qualify score above the UPSC cutoff score for Prelims will get a chance to appear for UPSC Mains Exam; subsequently, only those candidates who qualify for the UPSC cutoff score for Mains gets a chance to appear for the Interview.
In this article, we will give you an insight into the previous years’ cutoffs of both the stages viz Prelims and Mains. In addition to helping with the assessment of mock tests, the previous year UPSC cutoff will also help you in strategizing your preparation in tune with the current cutoff trends. We’ve here provided the UPSC cutoff for the last ten years for your better understanding and clarity.
| UPSC Cut Off – IAS Prelims & Mains 2020 | ||
Category |
UPSC Cut Off - Prelims |
UPSC Cutoff- Mains |
General |
92.51 |
736 |
EWS |
77.55 |
687 |
OBC |
89.12 |
698 |
SC |
74.84 |
680 |
ST |
68.71 |
682 |
PwBD-1 |
70.06 |
648 |
PwBD-2 |
63.94 |
699 |
PwBD-3 |
40.82 |
425 |
PwBD-4 |
42.86 |
300 |
Note: The UPSC cutoff score for Prelims is determined by the score of General Studies Paper-1 only as the CSAT paper is qualifying in nature.
| Category | UPSC Prelims Cutoff Marks(out of 200) | UPSC Mains Cutoff Score (Out of 1750 marks) | Final Cutoff After Interview (Out of 2025 marks) |
| General | 98 | 774 | 982 |
| OBC | 96.66 | 732 | 938 |
| SC | 84 | 719 | 912 |
| ST | 83.34 | 719 | 912 |
| PwBD – 1 | 73.34 | 711 | 899 |
| PwBD – 2 | 53.34 | 696 | 908 |
| PwBD – 3 | 40 | 520 | 754 |
| PwBD – 5 | 45.34 | 460 | 718 |
These are the UPSC cutoff scores from 2017-2015 for general category students. The cutoff scores for reserved categories are subsequently lower than these:
| Year | Prelims (Out of 200) | Mains (Out of 1750) | Final (Out of 2025) |
| 2017 | 105.34 | 809 | 1006 |
| 2016 | 116 | 787 | 988 |
| 2015 | 107.34 | 676 | 877 |
| Year | Prelims | Mains | Final |
| 2014 | 205 | 678/1750 | 889/2025 |
| 2013 | 241 | 562/1750 | 775/2025 |
| 2012 | 209 | 700/2000 | 936/2300 |
| 2011 | 198 | 842/2000 | 1090/2300 |
The Commission announces the Civil Services cut off score after the declaration of the final results i.e., interview. It prepares the IAS cut off score based on multiple factors including the number of candidates who had appeared, the number of vacancies announced, reservation prescribed for category students, etc. The cutoff score, therefore, is the marks of the last candidate that got shortlisted by the commission for that particular stage. Those candidates who obtain marks below the cutoff score are not selected by the commission.
Also, only the GS-I paper is taken into consideration while preparing the UPSC cutoff because GS-II is qualifying in nature and not calculated for merit.
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