Ancient, medieval, modern Indian and world history. Strong GS-I overlap.
Five deep-dives: syllabus, booklist, paper analysis, strategy, PYQ trends (2021–2025).
Five long-form articles. Read in order or jump to what you need.
The official History syllabus decoded topic by topic — what each line really means, how UPSC asks it, and where to draw the boundaries of your preparation.
The exact reading order topppers follow for History — NCERT base, core standard books, supplementary reference, notes strategy and what to skip.
A paper-pattern analysis of History — question structure, sectional weightage, marks distribution, difficulty trends and recurring themes over the last 5 years.
A realistic month-wise preparation strategy for History — reading, notes, answer writing, revision and mock tests, with time allocations by topic.
Year-by-year analysis of History Mains PYQs from 2021-2025 — topic distribution, repeated themes, difficulty shift and what it signals for the next cycle.
96 questions across 6 years, taken from the official papers. Every one has its own page with the directive word, marks, word limit and evaluation rubric.
Ancient Indian historical sites identification · Archaeological sites identification on map · 19th century nationalism, American Revolution, new imperialism · Akbar's Ibadat Khana, Maratha warfare, Asaf Jahi dynasty · Ala-ud-din Khilji, Mansabdari system, Chola maritime expansion · American Revolution, Soviet disintegration, decolonization in Southeast Asia · Ancient Indian history - Neolithic, Indus-Saraswati, Aryan problem · Ancient Indian history - Sangam, Mauryan imperialism, Gupta women status
discuss (26) · critically examine (16) · comment (9) · analyse (8) · elucidate (7) — see the directive words guide for how each one changes the answer you should write.
96 questions at 50 marks
Browse all 96 History previous year questions →Write an answer, upload it, and our evaluator scores it on content, structure, examples and directive-word fidelity — trained on UPSC-style marking.
Try it on your own answer
Paste or photograph a Mains answer and get marks, gaps and a model answer. 5 free a month.
Already have an account? Log in