What UPSC itself sets
Each General Studies paper carries 250 marks in three hours: ten questions of 10 marks with a 150-word limit and ten of 15 marks with a 250-word limit. The question paper states the directive (discuss, examine, analyse) and the parts to cover. That is the whole of the public rubric. There is no published list of points per question and no model answer from UPSC.
What the copies show
The writeupsc bank holds 5,901 answers by 129 toppers, 2018 to 2025, from booklets published after the results. Measured across the GS answers:
| Marks | Answers | Avg words | Avg pages | With a diagram |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 marks (limit 150) | 1,874 | 175 | 2.0 | 30% |
| 15 marks (limit 250) | 1,040 | 251 | 3.0 | 29% |
The most asked directives across 3,732 GS questions: discuss (35%), what / how / why (direct question) (21%), other (8%), examine (7%). 30% of GS answers carry a diagram, flowchart, map or table.
The seven things a scoring answer has
- The directive is answered. "Critically examine" gets a case for, a case against and a judgement. "Discuss" gets more than one side and a view.
- Every part of the question is covered. Two-part questions get two labelled parts. A missed part is the most common way to lose marks, and the easiest to fix.
- Headings that come from the question. Toppers reuse the question's own words as headings so the examiner finds each part at a glance.
- Named examples, data and committees. A scheme by name, a number with a year, a report with its author. Toppers average two to four per answer.
- A diagram when the question has a structure. A flowchart for a process, a map for a region, a stakeholder wheel for governance. Never a decoration.
- A forward-looking conclusion. Most topper answers close with a way forward, a balanced line or a constitutional value, not with the last challenge.
- The word limit kept. The limit is a signal about depth. Over-length answers steal time from the next question.
What costs marks
- Answering the topic instead of the question: everything about the subject, nothing about the directive.
- One long paragraph with no headings or points.
- General claims with no example, or examples without a name or a number.
- Ending on problems. The examiner's last impression is a challenge, not a resolution.
- Illegible or crowded pages. Presentation is a small share of marks, but it decides whether the rest gets read.
writeupsc marks these seven, each out of 5, and shows beside each one what the toppers who answered the closest questions did. See an example.
Questions
Does UPSC publish a marking scheme for Mains?
No. UPSC publishes the question paper, the marks per question and the word limits. What a scoring answer looks like is known from topper copies, which is why writeupsc measures them instead of guessing.
How many marks does a good 10-mark answer get?
Marks per question are not published either. Toppers' own accounts and the copies suggest a 10-mark answer that covers every part with named examples lands in the upper half. Consistency across all twenty questions matters more than one perfect answer.
Do examiners reward length?
No. The limit is 150 words for 10 marks and 250 for 15. Toppers in the bank average 175 and 251 words. The marks are in the coverage and the examples, not the length.
See how your own answer compares.
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