Answer Key
UPSC Prelims 2017, GS Paper 1: Answer Key and Subject-Wise Analysis
100 questions, cross-verified against the official UPSC answer key. Conducted 18 June 2017 (Series A, booklet code AMC-U-BKLP).
Subject distribution
Counted directly from the question bank, not estimated, so these numbers match exactly what you will see if you filter the practice list yourself.
| Subject | Questions | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Economy | 23 | 23% |
| Polity | 22 | 22% |
| Environment | 14 | 14% |
| Current Affairs | 12 | 12% |
| History | 10 | 10% |
| Science & Technology | 8 | 8% |
| Geography | 7 | 7% |
| Art & Culture | 4 | 4% |
Difficulty breakdown
Easy
24
Medium
58
Hard
18
Free
12
free to answer
Member
88
answer gated behind sign-in
Standout questions
These made aspirants pause, either because they were unusually difficult, unusually novel, or because they signal a shift in how UPSC is framing questions.
Q2 · History
Rigvedic Aryans versus the Harappan Civilisation
Comparing the Rigvedic Aryans against the Harappan Civilisation head to head, rather than asking about either in isolation, rewards knowing both cultures well enough to spot exactly where they genuinely differ, not just recognising each on its own.
Practise this question →Q19 · Geography
Chandipur, Tidal Recession Phenomenon
Chandipur's tidal recession, the sea retreating far enough to walk on the seabed, is a genuinely unusual physical geography fact that rewards specific place-based knowledge over general coastal geography.
Practise this question →Q41 · Current Affairs
APMCHUD, UN-Habitat
The trickiest question in this year's paper by the master-mapping's own account. A plausible-sounding paraphrase of an international conference's actual theme sits right next to the real wording, rewarding precise recall over a general sense of what the conference was about.
Practise this question →Q44 · Science & Technology
Astrophysics: Black Holes and Particle Physics
Black holes and particle physics show up rarely in Prelims, and when they do, the paper tests real conceptual understanding rather than a memorised one-liner, a useful reminder that science questions can go well beyond current-affairs biotech.
Practise this question →Q78 · Science & Technology
Biotechnology: Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer
Somatic cell nuclear transfer, the technique behind Dolly the sheep, is foundational biotechnology that keeps resurfacing across different years' papers in different guises, worth knowing at the level of how it actually works, not just as a historical footnote.
Practise this question →Key takeaways
Economy was the heaviest subject at 23 of 100 questions, with Polity close behind at 22, together nearly half the paper. Depth in these two areas consistently pays off, a pattern that holds across almost every year analysed so far.
Current Affairs carried 12 questions, the second highest share of any year analysed after 2018's 10, several of them scheme and international-conference questions with no fixed textbook home (Smart India Hackathon, the Global Gender Gap Index, the Digital Single Market Strategy). Staying current with that year's own schemes and summits matters as much as static syllabus revision.
Environment reached 14 questions, its highest count of any year analysed so far, spanning wildlife corridors, protected-species law and carbon capture, a reminder this subject rewards genuine breadth, not just the usual protected-area facts.
This is the second consecutive year sourced directly from upsc.gov.in via the Wayback Machine, and the second consecutive year the archived filename's series letter didn't match the actual booklet content on the cover, worth checking the cover page every time rather than trusting a filename.
What to read next
Concepts from this paper that already have a study note behind them.