⚡ 15 Years of UPSC PYQs

UPSC PYQ Boost

Master every PYQ. Own the exam.
"Ancient Wisdom. Modern Mastery."

Master every UPSC Previous Year Question.
15 years · 11 subjects · 1,500 questions.
The smartest way to own Prelims.

1,500 Questions· 🔥 11 Subjects· 📅 2011–2025

Tap a subject to show it in the chart below.

0Questions in Bank
0Subjects Covered
0Years of PYQs · 2011–2025
0Difficulty Levels
Current Affairs Arena

Today's news, mapped to the syllabus.

Daily current affairs briefs, each tied to a GS paper and to the previous-year questions it echoes.

Latest briefs
Browse all articles →
Paper Intelligence

Read the paper before the paper reads you.

Fifteen years of UPSC Prelims, dissected. Drag the year handles, toggle subjects, switch difficulty — every chart re-renders to the slice you care about.

📉
Difficulty Drift
Track how Hard, Medium and Easy question share has shifted across 16 Prelims cycles.
Subject Pressure
Identify which subjects dominate each paper and which are quietly losing ground.
🎯
Topic Signals
Surface the highest-frequency topics proven to recur across 16 Prelims papers.
🌊
Volatility Watch
Flag which subjects spike unpredictably — and which stay locked for safe bets.
Year range
20112025
Subjects
Difficulty
PYQ MISSION CONTROL · LIVE

Subject Trend Lines · 2011–2025

Real-time question allocation across 15 Prelims cycles · 11 subjects tracked
CH-01· SIGNAL NOMINAL· T+ 0000
HOVER A LINE
Subject Weightage
% share of questions across 11 subjects · click a slice to filter topic chart
💡Environment & Ecology, Indian Economy and Polity lead the current question bank — front-load these three.
Difficulty Drift · 2011–2025
Easy, Medium and Hard question share across tagged UPSC Prelims years.
Easy Medium Hard
Difficulty percentages are calculated over questions that carry a difficulty tag; any untagged questions are excluded. The coverage note above the charts shows the current split.
💡Compare the full difficulty balance across tagged years.
Top Topics · All subjects
Most-asked topics, colour-coded by subject — click a donut slice to drill in
💡Indian Geography (54 q), Parliament (45 q), and Biodiversity (40 q) are the three highest-frequency topics across the entire 16-year bank.
Difficulty Split
Question mix across Easy · Medium · Hard
21%
Easy
186 questions
50%
Medium
445 questions
30%
Hard
268 questions
💡Medium-difficulty is the largest pool — and that's where most aspirants leak marks. Practice these to maximum mastery first.
Paper Pulse Index · 2011–2025
A weighted difficulty score showing whether each paper leaned Easy, Moderate, or Hard.
Paper Pulse Index is calculated from labelled questions:
Easy = 1  ·  Medium = 2  ·  Hard = 3

For each year, we calculate the weighted average:
(Easy×1 + Medium×2 + Hard×3) ÷ total tagged questions A score near 1 means easier, near 2 means moderate, and near 3 means harder.
1.00–1.60 · Easy-leaning 1.61–2.30 · Moderate 2.31–3.00 · Hard-leaning
Difficulty percentages are calculated over questions that carry a difficulty tag; any untagged questions are excluded. The coverage note above the charts shows the current split.
💡The index compresses Easy, Medium and Hard labels into one yearly score, making it easier to see whether the overall paper moved toward an easier, moderate, or harder pattern.
Cut-off vs Paper Difficulty
How UPSC General cut-off moved against paper difficulty from 2015–2025
General Cut-off (left axis · out of 200)
Paper Pulse Index (right axis · 1 = Easy, 3 = Hard)
PPI data available from 2019 only — 2015–2018 shows cut-off without a PPI comparison.
💡Cut-off has generally moved downward from the 2015–17 high range, but it remains volatile. Difficulty explains part of the movement, but vacancies, candidate performance, and paper ambiguity also affect the final cut-off.
Subject Dominance Ladder
Which subjects repeatedly dominated UPSC Prelims across 2011–2025 — ranked by consistency, not one-year spikes
This is not just total question count. A subject scores higher only when it repeatedly appears near the top in multiple years. So the ladder shows consistency of dominance, not one-year spikes.
💡Environment & Ecology and Indian Economy are not only high-volume subjects; they repeatedly occupy top yearly ranks, making them structurally dominant areas in Prelims preparation.
How it works

Three habits, one ritual.

Practice modes built around how UPSC aspirants actually study — short bursts during the week, full simulations on weekends, with analytics that compound.

Choose Your Mode

Quick Play. 90-second timer per question, instant feedback, and a full explanation the moment you answer.

Full Test. 2-hour UPSC simulation — no feedback until you submit, exactly like the real exam.

90sPer question
2hFull mock
🏆

Earn Points and Level Up

Correct answers earn +2 marks · +10 XP · +5 🪙. Wrong answers cost −0.66. Chain 3+ correct in a row for combo and 2× XP.

Level from Scholar to Master as your XP compounds.

+10 XPPer correct
×2Combo bonus
📊

Track Everything

Daily challenges, streak tracking with freeze protection, weekly leaderboard, subject-wise performance and a full session history.

Find your weak topics in 30 seconds.

7-dayStreak goal
10Subjects tracked
Game mechanics

Designed to make studying addictive.

Negative marking mirrors the real exam — but the XP, coins and streaks turn one more attempt into a habit.

ActionMarksXPCoinsNotes
✅ Correct+2.00+10+5 🪙Full reward
❌ Wrong−0.66−50UPSC negative marking
⊘ Skip000Skip without penalty
🔥 Combo ×3same×2same3+ correct in a row
🎓

Scholar

0 — 499 XP
⚔️

Expert

500 — 1,499 XP
👑

Master

1,500+ XP

🔥 Streak & Freeze

7-day window · ❄️ freeze covers one missed day, weekly
🔥 7-day
🌟 30-day
💎 180-day
👑 365-day
PYQ Arena

Climb the PYQ Arena.

Compete with aspirants. Track your weekly score. Rise through the ranks.

"Every correct answer, every streak, every test pushes you higher."
Live Weekly Ranking

🏆 PYQ Arena · Week —

PYQ Arena
1
Arjun Polity · 14-day 🔥 · Master
8,420XP
🥇
2
Meera Environment · 9-day 🔥 · Expert
7,910XP
🥈
3
Kabir Modern History · 7-day 🔥 · Expert
7,350XP
🥉
4
Aisha Geography · 12-day 🔥 · Expert
6,890XP
5
Rohan Economy · 6-day 🔥 · Expert
6,420XP
6
Ishaan Science & Tech · 5-day 🔥 · Scholar
5,980XP
7
Sanya IR & Current Affairs · 4-day 🔥 · Scholar
5,640XP
8
Dev Polity · 3-day 🔥 · Scholar
5,210XP
9
Tara Economy · 2-day 🔥 · Scholar
4,970XP
10
Nikhil Geography · 2-day 🔥 · Scholar
4,730XP
Your spot is open. Start solving PYQs to claim your rank.
Enter Arena →
The Project

Where we started. Where we are. Where we're heading.

UPSC PYQ Boost started with one simple frustration — PYQs are powerful, but most aspirants practise them without structure, feedback, or momentum. This is a builder's note on what we're shaping.

01
Where we started

A simple idea.

Make UPSC PYQs sharper, easier and more engaging. PYQ practice shouldn't feel scattered or boring — it should be the most honest mirror an aspirant has.

PYQ-first Aspirant-led No fluff
02
Where we are

Building now.

Paper Intelligence, subject-wise practice, performance tracking and an app-based learning loop. Today we are moving toward alpha — core practice, insights, leaderboard, streaks and performance systems are live.

Alpha testing Paper Intelligence Leaderboard live Streaks
Open Alpha · Closed Cohort

Be among the first aspirants to enter the PYQ Arena.

Get early access to UPSC PYQ Boost. Compete on the live leaderboard, shape the product, and lock in your spot before the public launch.

320/ 500 alpha seats claimed
⚡ Request Alpha Access → No payment · Android · Invite sent by email or email us directly at dbstudios26@gmail.com

Ready to Own the Exam?

Join thousands of UPSC aspirants mastering PYQs daily. Free, offline, and built for serious aspirants.

📱 Coming soon on Google Play
In closed testing
Free to Download Offline Questions

The charts above are a preview of what the app analyses. Daily quizzes, streaks, XP and the live Arena leaderboard all live inside the Android app.