The seven lines below are UPSC's own words, reproduced from the Civil Services Examination notification. They tell you what the Commission may ask. What they cannot tell you is what it does ask — so under each line we have counted what it actually produced across 13 papers, 2014 to 2026: 1,300 questions, every one tagged to a topic and linked.
The short version: Economy runs at about 23.2 questions a year and Current Events at about 7.1. Both are one line of syllabus each.
Average questions a year, from the 13 complete papers.
Current events of national and international importance.
UPSC's wording
92 questions in 13 papers — about 7.1 a year, ranging from 2 to 16.
What it breaks into
Our read: The smallest line on the page and the hardest to bound, because UPSC blends current affairs into every other head rather than asking it separately. The count below is only for questions that are current affairs and nothing else — the true footprint is larger.
History of India and Indian National Movement.
UPSC's wording
220 questions in 13 papers — about 16.9 a year, ranging from 10 to 22.
What it breaks into
Our read: Consistently one of the three largest blocks. Art and culture is not named in the syllabus line at all, and yet it appears every year — the topic breakdown below shows how much.
Indian and World Geography — Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
UPSC's wording
125 questions in 13 papers — about 9.6 a year, ranging from 5 to 18.
What it breaks into
Our read: The most over-prepared subject relative to what it returns. It has never been the largest block in thirteen years, and in three of them it produced five or six questions.
Indian Polity and Governance — Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
UPSC's wording
188 questions in 13 papers — about 14.5 a year, ranging from 6 to 22.
What it breaks into
Our read: Steady, and the most rewarding per hour: the Constitution is finite, free, and the questions come back to the same articles.
Economic and Social Development — Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
UPSC's wording
302 questions in 13 papers — about 23.2 a year, ranging from 15 to 33.
What it breaks into
Our read: The largest single block across thirteen years, and the one aspirants most often under-weight. It has been the biggest subject in the paper in seven of the last thirteen years.
General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change — that do not require subject specialisation.
UPSC's wording
219 questions in 13 papers — about 16.8 a year, ranging from 9 to 23.
What it breaks into
Our read: Note the qualifier UPSC put in its own line: "that do not require subject specialisation". The questions stay at the level of a well-read generalist, which is why a specialist textbook is usually the wrong tool here.
General Science.
UPSC's wording
154 questions in 13 papers — about 11.8 a year, ranging from 8 to 16.
What it breaks into
Our read: Four words in the notification, and no syllabus at all beyond them. In practice it resolves into space and defence, IT and emerging technology, biology and health, and everyday physics and chemistry — see the split below.
100 questions carrying 200 marks, to be answered in two hours. Each question is worth two marks, and one-third of a mark is deducted for every wrong answer.
Yes. One-third of the marks assigned to a question is deducted for each wrong answer in both papers. The only exception is the decision-making questions in CSAT Paper II, which carry no negative marking. Questions left blank are not penalised.
Economic and Social Development, on the evidence of the last thirteen papers. It has been the largest block in seven of the thirteen years from 2014 to 2026, running at roughly 23 questions a year against about 10 for Geography.
No. The seven lines of the GS Paper I syllabus have been unchanged for years, and UPSC reproduces them in each annual notification. What changes is the emphasis inside them, which is why the year-by-year counts on this page are more useful than the syllabus text alone.
Nothing. Prelims is a screening test — the marks do not carry forward. Only the Mains written papers and the interview count towards the final merit list.
Syllabus text: Union Public Service Commission. Counts and commentary: UPSC Answer Check, from 1,300 tagged questions. Read the papers themselves → · CSAT syllabus →
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