Answer Key
UPSC Prelims 2022, GS Paper 1: Answer Key and Subject-Wise Analysis
99 questions, cross-verified against the official UPSC answer key. Conducted 5 June 2022 (Set C, booklet series VGYH-U-FGT).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Environment | 20 | 20% |
| Economy | 17 | 17% |
| Science & Technology | 14 | 14% |
| Current Affairs | 13 | 13% |
| Polity | 13 | 13% |
| History | 12 | 12% |
| Geography | 9 | 9% |
| Art & Culture | 1 | 1% |
Difficulty breakdown
Easy
11
Medium
70
Hard
18
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.
Q48 · History
Sayyid Dynasty, Medieval Court Terminology
Medieval court terminology at its most obscure: 'Kulah-Daran', literally cap-wearers, referred specifically to the Sayyids, the dynasty that ruled Delhi in the 15th century, not to Sufi mystics, revenue officials, or Rajput chieftains, each identified by entirely different period terminology.
Practise this question →Q45 · Art & Culture
Jaina Canonical and Para-Canonical Literature
Four texts, two traditions. Parishishtaparvan and Trishashtilakshana Mahapurana are genuinely Jaina, while Nettipakarana and Avadanashataka are Buddhist Pali and Sanskrit works, a question built entirely on aspirants conflating adjacent but distinct canonical literatures.
Practise this question →Q73 · Geography
African lakes and desertification
Most aspirants' mental shorthand for a shrinking West African lake is Lake Chad, which has genuinely shrunk. This question specifically wants Lake Faguibine in Mali, which has dried up even more completely, a real trap for anyone answering from the first name that comes to mind.
Practise this question →Q55 · Environment
Gucchi (morel mushroom)
A forest-produce fact tested through what it is not, rather than what it is. Gucchi (the morel mushroom) really is Himalayan, but the claims that it is western-Himalaya-only and now commercially cultivated in the north-east are both overreach, and its scarcity as a wild-only crop is exactly why it commands a high price.
Practise this question →Q96 · Economy
FDI policy in e-commerce
A regulatory question where both statements sound like they could be true and neither is. India's e-commerce FDI rules still bar a marketplace entity from selling its own or group-company inventory, and the 25 per cent single-vendor sales cap was never withdrawn, contrary to what the stem implies.
Practise this question →Q70 · Science & Technology
Solar storms and space weather effects
A seven-item combination question where the wrong answers are the memorable ones: tsunamis and planet-wide forest fires sound like plausible solar-storm effects but have no real mechanism behind them, while the five genuine effects (GPS disruption, grid damage, aurorae, satellite-orbit drift, polar radio blackouts) are less dramatic and easier to forget.
Practise this question →Key takeaways
Environment was the single heaviest subject at 20 questions, the highest count for any subject across all four years analysed so far. This was also the year Polity fell to its lowest count in the same span, just 13, level with Current Affairs. Subject weight can swing hard in a single year, prepare broadly rather than betting on the previous year's pattern repeating.
The medium block reached 70.7 per cent of the paper, the highest share across all four years analysed so far, edging out even 2023. Across every year analysed to date, the paper has rewarded steady, correct elimination over recall or guessing on the hardest questions, and 2022 was the most extreme example of that pattern yet.
Several standout questions this year worked by naming the obvious wrong answer first, Lake Chad instead of Lake Faguibine, tsunamis and forest fires instead of the real solar-storm effects. When a question offers a famous-sounding option, treat that familiarity as a reason to check twice, not a reason to trust it.
Art and Culture bottomed out at just 1 question, tying 2025 for the lightest Art and Culture showing of the four years analysed so far. It remains worth a little prep time regardless, a single well-prepared fact is still a full mark when the subject shows up this thin.
What to read next
Concepts from this paper that already have a study note behind them.