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UPSC CSE-25 Marksheets Analysis

I collected CSE-24 and CSE-25 Selected Candidates’ Marksheets and based on the same, following is my analysis of scoring patterns and comparison for the 2 years: Highlights: Essay scores have gone up marginally in CSE-25 in comparison to CSE-24. Most of the selected candidates…

Decode Civils · 1 min read
UPSC CSE-25 Marksheets Analysis

I collected CSE-24 and CSE-25 Selected Candidates’ Marksheets and based on the same, following is my analysis of scoring patterns and comparison for the 2 years:

Highlights:

  • Essay scores have gone up marginally in CSE-25 in comparison to CSE-24. Most of the selected candidates found themselves in score bracket of 101-110. Highest score in CSE-25, AFAIK, is 150. Many have scored less than 100 as well. Thus, Essay Paper has become the difference!
  • GS-1 scores went up just like it happened last year. Last year, the simple was scaling or normalization. Basically, in CSE-23, UPSC was adamant and didn’t give marks in GS-1 with many scoring in range of 81-90 marks whereas in CSE-24, many have scored above 100 and also above 110. Similarly, in CSE-25, many scored above 100.
  • GS-2 scores’ average remained the same as last year. In fact, they have been approximately the same since CSE-25 i.e. around 110.5.
  • GS-3 remains “Achilles Heel” for the Aspirants. Aspirants are unable to fulfil expectations of UPSC/Examiner. It’s been 3-4 years now and this cannot be put down to normalization anymore. The average among selected candidates hovers below 90 marks and scoring in higher brackets remains tough. For Mains 2026, helping Aspirants score more in GS-3 shall be my prime focus through Mains 2026 Current Affairs Course and Mains 2026 Answer Writing Course.
  • GS-4 scores went down and saw fewer candidates in higher brackets. This is despite the fact that paper was tough this year and generally UPSC doles out marks when that happens. There are two distinct ranges here i.e. of those who have scored between 121-130 and others who scored between 101-110.

Do read the complete analysis from the PDF and focus on the color codes, averages and score brackets/ranges.

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