In this article, you can see expected UPSC cut off 2020 and previous year cut off for Prelims and Mains Examination.
The Union Public Service Commission commonly abbreviated as UPSC is India’s premier central recruiting agency. Every year, the UPSC (Union Public Services Commission) conducts the Civil Services Examination (CSE) to shortlist candidates for various services including All India Services (AIS), namely Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Forest Service (IFoS) and Indian Police Service (IPS).
The UPSC cut off marks indicate the marks of the last candidate who was selected based on the number of vacancies in a particular category.
The UPSC releases the cut off marks for both Prelims and Mains only after the final result of the Civil Services Exam for that particular year is declared.
In this article, you can find the expected cutoff of UPSC Prelims 2020 and also IAS cut-off marks for IAS Prelims as well as the Mains exam for previous years.
First of all, I would like to tell you that what are factors responsible for UPSC IAS cut off for the Prelims and Mains exam.
- Total Number of Vacancies
- Level of Difficulty of Questions
- Total Number of Candidates Participating in Each Stage
- Reservation Norms
- Last Year cut off Trends
- Marking Scheme
Candidates have to appear in the three stages of the selection process to take up the service. The selection of the candidates will start with Civil Services Preliminary Examination. After taking the Preliminary examination, most of the candidates will be very eager regarding the probable cut off marks.
One who secures the UPSC Cut off score in the Preliminary is only eligible for the Main Examination which will be held in September. UPSC aspirants are a bit confused about whether to start the preparation for Main Examination or not before the release of the Preliminary result.
Hence, we bring you the expected IAS cut off marks for General Studies (Paper-I), which is only considered for merit.
UPSC Cut off 2020 for Prelims (Expected)
| Category | Expected Cut off Marks |
| General | 97 ± 2 |
| OBC | 95 ± 2 |
| SC | 85 ± 2 |
| ST | 83 ± 2 |
Now Let’s look at some previous year cut of UPSC IAS exam.
UPSC Cut off 2019 Prelims
UPSC has conducted the exam of Prelims 2019 on June 2, 2019. The cut-off marks for UPSC Prelims exam 2019 is-
| Expected UPSC Cut-Off Prelims 2019 | |
| Category | Cut-Off GS Paper-I |
| General | 98 |
| EWS | 90 |
| OBC | 95.34 |
| SC | 82 |
| ST | 77.34 |
| Previous Minimum Qualifying Marks for UPSC Prelims GS Paper –II (CSAT) 2019 | |
| Minimum Percentage of Marks | 33% |
UPSC IAS Cut off 2018 Prelims
UPSC has conducted the exam of Prelims 2018 on June 3, 2018. The cutoff marks for the UPSC Prelims exam 2018 is 98 for the general category.
| Category | UPSC Prelims Cut off Marks 2018 (out of 200) |
| General | 98 |
| OBC | 96.66 |
| SC | 84 |
| ST | 83.34 |
| PwBD – 1 | 73.34 |
| PwBD – 2 | 53.34 |
| PwBD – 3 | 40 |
| PwBD – 5 | 45.34 |
A general candidate needed only 98 out of 200 marks in GS paper-1 to clear the 2018 UPSC IAS prelims. If you analyze, this is lower than the cut-off marks of both the 2017 and 2016 UPSC Prelims exams. While it was 105.34 in 2017, it was 116 in 2016.
UPSC IAS Cut off 2018 Mains Exam
The cut-off marks for the UPSC mains (written) exam 2018 is 774 for the general category candidates and 732 for OBC candidates. Take a look at the next table, it gives the mains (written) exam cut off marks in the various categories.
| Category | UPSC Mains Cut off Marks (out of 1750) |
| General | 774 |
| OBC | 732 |
| SC | 719 |
| ST | 719 |
| PwBD – 1 | 711 |
| PwBD – 2 | 696 |
| PwBD – 3 | 520 |
| PwBD – 5 | 460 |
Candidates who scored a minimum of 774 marks (which 49%) in the UPSC mains written exam would have cleared it. The candidates would also have had to qualify the language papers (English and Indian language) with at least 25% of the marks.
The UPSC has also released the total marks secured by the last person in every category. The table gives you those numbers-
| Category | Marks secured by the last recommended candidate (out of 2025) |
| General | 982 |
| OBC | 938 |
| SC | 912 |
| ST | 912 |
| PwBD – 1 | 899 |
| PwBD – 2 | 908 |
| PwBD – 3 | 754 |
| PwBD – 5 | 718 |
UPSC prelims cut off 2017
UPSC has conducted the exam of Prelims 2017 on June 18, 2017. The cutoff marks for the UPSC Prelims exam 2017 is 105.34 for the general category.
| Category | UPSC Prelims Cut off 2017 Marks (out of 200) |
| General | 105.34 |
| OBC | 102.66 |
| SC | 88.66 |
| ST | 88.66 |
| PH (Various categories) | 40 to 85.34 |
UPSC prelims cut off 2016
UPSC has conducted the exam of Prelims 2016 on August 7, 2016. The cutoff marks for the UPSC Prelims exam 2016 is 116 for the general category.
| Category | UPSC Prelims Cut off Marks (out of 200) |
| General | 116 |
| OBC | 110.66 |
| SC | 99.34 |
| ST | 96 |
| PH (Various categories) | 40 to 75.34 |
UPSC prelims cut off 2015
UPSC has conducted the exam of Prelims 2015 on August 23, 2015. The cutoff marks for the UPSC Prelims exam 2015 is 107.34 for the general category.
| Category | Prelims Cut off Marks (out of 200) |
| General | 107.34 |
| OBC | 106 |
| SC | 94 |
| ST | 91.34 |
| PH (Various categories) | 40 to 90.66 |
UPSC prelims cut off 2014
UPSC has conducted the exam of Prelims on August 24, 2014. The cutoff marks for the UPSC Prelims exam 2014 is 205 (out of 400) for the general category.
| Category | Prelims Cut off Marks (out of 400*) |
| General | 205 |
| OBC | 204 |
| SC | 182 |
| ST | 174 |
| PH (Various categories) | 113 to 167 |
*from 2011 to 2014, even Prelims Paper-II (Aptitude)’s marks were counted while shortlisting candidates to Mains exam. Hence cutoffs look Higher than in 2015 and 2016.
UPSC Prelims Cut-off Marks: Over the Years
| Year | Cut-off Marks | Percentage |
| 2005 | 284/450 | 63.11 |
| 2006 | 282/450 | 62.66 |
| 2007 | 256/450 | 56.88 |
| 2008 | 244/450 | 54.22 |
| 2009 | 250/450 | 55.55 |
| 2010 | 248/450 | 55.11 |
| 2011 | 198/400 | 49.5 |
| 2012 | 209/400 | 52.25 |
| 2013 | 241/400 | 60.25 |
| 2014 | 205/400 | 51.25 |
| 2015 | 107.34/200 | 53.67 |
| 2016 | 116.00/200 | 58.00 |
| 2017 | 105.34/200 | 52.67 |
| 2018 | 98/200 | 49.00 |
UPSC Mains Cut-off Marks: Over the Years
| Year | Mains Marks (out of 2000) of the last candidate (General Category) | Mains+ Interview (out of 2300) marks of the last candidate (General Category) |
| 2005 | 986 | 1203 |
| 2006 | 975 | 1179 |
| 2007 | 1005 | 1210 |
| 2008 | 954 | 1161 |
| 2009 | 899 | 1127 |
| 2010 | 904 | 1134 |
| 2011 | 842 | 1090 |
| 2012 | 700 | 936 |
| 2013 | 562 [out of 1750] | 775 [out of 2025] |
| 2014 | 678 [out of 1750] | 889 [out of 2025] |
| 2015 | 676 [out of 1750] | 877 [out of 2025] |
| 2016 | 787 [out of 1750] | 988 [out of 2025] |
| 2017 | 809 [out of 1750] | 1006 [out of 2025] |
| 2018 | 774 [out of 1750] | 982 [out of 2025] |
