Are old question papers useful?

Referring old questions are important key to solving future papers. The upsc question papers should be analysed to understand the following areas-

Style of questions

Areas/coverage

Depth of subject

The above three areas will help analyse each question paper. In the recent years the questions aren’t asked directly. The application of things learned is expected from candidate. The coverage of syllabus is another thing to keep in mind. In earlier years there was an expected line of asking questions in civil service exams. Certain areas were always asked, while certain areas weren’t. In previous years GS papers the tennis cup winners were one of the most frequently asked question. Now the upsc wants to remove the predictability from the exam. So you can always expect new patterns and style. The aspirant should also note the depth of knowledge being expected. This is especially true with regard to the optional. If you see last years psychology paper or pub ad(geeks who wrote the paper say the question paper was greek!) , you will easily understand that.

There are few points aspirants that can be handy in exam:

1.       Dont panic seeing questions. Always expect some twist and turns. The twist and turns you see is experienced by all the students who take exam. Chillax and handle the questions well.

2.       There is no ideal answer. Many students waste time searching for a complete perfect answer for previous years question papers. The questions usually focus on some areas and not on any particular matter specifically. 

3.       Form an opinion. There are many areas where your opinion matters. Eg: Nuclear power or energy production etc. Here you should have an opinion of which are good and bad. And what stand you will take when asked. Here too there isn’t an ideal answer.

I feel that aspirants should review questions of last few years. There are students who refer question from times of forefathers and exclaim “OMG....UPSC asked thissss??”. That is pretty useless job.UPSC may have asked since that topic was relevant at that time. Lot of water has flown through the Ganges since then. The pattern, areas, and importance of a subject have changed. Looking papers which are very old doesn’t serve much purpose.  The new trends and ways are to be understood.