Cutoffs & Marks

Prelims (GS Paper-I only) General cutoff has ranged from 241/400 in 2013 (when both papers counted) to a low of 75.41 in 2023 and 87.98 in 2024. Since 2015, only GS Paper-I marks decide Prelims selection — CSAT is qualifying at 33%.

Mains cutoff (written, out of 1750) for General has ranged from 564 in 2013 to a peak of 809 in 2017, settling near 729-748 in recent years. Higher Mains cutoff usually means the Prelims was easier and a stronger cohort reached Mains.

Final cutoff (Mains + Interview, out of 2025) for General has moved from 775 in 2013 to a peak of 1006 in 2017, stabilising near 947-960 in 2022-2024. A General-category aspirant today needs roughly 53-55% of total marks for selection.

Prelims cutoff swings because three independent variables move every year — paper difficulty, the screening ratio (vacancies × multiplier), and CSAT trap intensity. The 2023 drop to 75.41 happened because all three turned unfavourable for candidates simultaneously.

The gap is widest at Prelims, compresses through Mains, and is narrowest at Final. In CSE 2022, the General-to-ST Prelims gap was ~19 marks; at Final it shrank to ~60 marks out of 2025 — proportionally just 3% of total. Reserved-category toppers who beat the General cutoff routinely claim unreserved seats.

For a General-category aspirant in 2024, IAS required a rank under ~78 (~1010+ total marks), IFS under ~107, IPS under ~252, and IRS-IT/C&CE within ~300. Top 1000 typically secures a Group A service; below 1000, allocations taper into Group B.

UPSC officially uses statistical moderation by linear transformation, NOT subject-vs-subject scaling. The head examiner reviews sample scripts to standardise strictness across examiners within a paper — there is no public formula adjusting tough vs easy optionals against each other.

No re-evaluation on merit is allowed. UPSC only permits a photocopy request (within 30 days of final result) and correction of clerical errors (un-totalled pages, un-evaluated answers). There is no provision to challenge the marks given on content. The Supreme Court in UPSC v. Angesh Kumar (2018) upheld this position.

UPSC's revised tie-breaker (notified 28 August 2019, formalised 26 February 2020) uses two filters: (1) higher marks in Compulsory Papers + Personality Test combined, then (2) older candidate ranked higher. The pre-2019 three-filter rule has been simplified to this two-step cascade.

These three are distinct. Cutoff is the minimum qualifying mark per stage/category. Scaling is subject-wise mathematical adjustment — UPSC does NOT use it. Moderation is examiner-wise standardisation — UPSC DOES use it. Conflating them is the single biggest source of cutoff myths.