The Union Public Service Commission conducted the UPSC CSE Paper 1 and Paper 2 today, May 28, 2023. The written exam was held in two shifts – General Studies from 9:30 am to 11:30 am and Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm. This year, around 10 lakh candidates registered for UPSC Civil Services Exam 2023.
As per the initial feedback received from IAS coaching center experts and UPSC candidates, the paper was rated moderately difficult this year.
Candidates who took the exam reported that the UPSC Prelims 2023 was more tough than expected, with a greater emphasis on the Environment subject this year. "I was not expecting an easy paper," remarked Raakshita Rawat, a candidate from Rajasthan. It was predicted, and there were many confusing questions."
Similar to previous years, this year's paper was more tough; it appears that the trend towards "more difficult" was maintained. According to Dr. A.R. Khan, the founder of Khan Study Group, the UPSC exam pattern changes all the time, but what was unusual was the unexpected type of questions.
“Both the content and form of questions changed significantly. This pattern began last year and appears to be continuing. Aspirants can stand out in this qualifying paper if they have been creative, logical, and innovative as only memorizing content and techniques would not have helped for this year’s UPSC paper,” remarked Khan.
Smriti Kumar, who is taking the UPSC preliminary examinations for the second time, claimed that this year's paper was more difficult compared to last year.
“The elimination method was not a savior and the General Studies question paper was lengthy. One who is strong at Current Affairs can score well in paper 1. Although, the previous year’s UPSC Civil Services question papers helped me to understand the subject-wise weightage and perform well this time,” said Smriti.
Another student, Salim Rizwana, who took the UPSC prelims for the first time, stated, "The UPSC CSAT question paper was dominated by the comprehension and reasoning section."
Salim stated that, "It took a long time to grasp the core idea in Comprehension. As for the GS 1 paper, there was a slight change in the exam pattern from last year’s question paper. According to him, the reading comprehension section was lengthy but not difficult.”
