What Past Questions Show
Selected dated Paper I and Paper II questions, paraphrased, and what they reveal about the depth required.
Selected dated questions from Paper I (2018, 2023–2026) and Paper II (2022, 2026), paraphrased, with what each one reveals about the depth the syllabus phrase demands. It is a qualitative comparison, not a complete question census and not a weightage table.
Method: What the trend evidence can actually establish
Historical analysis is useful when it changes how you prepare. It becomes misleading when a cross-cutting question is assigned to one chapter and the resulting percentage is treated as an official UPSC weightage. This guide uses dated examples, not unsupported forecasts.
| Observed question pattern | Preparation implication |
|---|---|
| A familiar concept appears as an arguable proposition. | Prepare assumptions, causal explanation and counterarguments, not only definitions. |
| The same administrative problem appears across different units. | Tag questions to a primary unit and record secondary links separately. |
| Theory is applied to changing organisational conditions. | Retain original meaning, then test where a modern application fits and where it breaks. |
| Indian institutions are tested through performance and implementation. | Explain incentives, authority, resources, coordination and review. |
| Older institutional language remains in the syllabus. | Study the historical arrangement and its contemporary successor or transformation. |
Why no predictive percentage table
The selected historical sample is not a census. Several online analyses use different unit boundaries, incomplete question counts or unexplained denominators. A full optional paper offers 400 printed marks across eight questions, while candidates attempt 250. A share of printed marks is not a share of the candidate’s attempted paper.
Count each sub-question once; retain year, paper, question number, marks and paraphrase; choose one primary unit with a written coding rule; add secondary tags without adding marks twice; reconcile every paper to 400 printed marks. Only then compute frequencies or mark shares.
Interpretation: integration and analytical depth are recurring demands in the examples examined. The sample cannot establish that analytical questions began in a particular year, that one unit is safe to omit, or that a recent topic will recur.
Paper I: A recurring demand: explain, compare and test
| Year / question | Paraphrased demand | What it reveals |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 Paper I Question 1(a) | Does an expanding administrative role make the discipline limitless? | Separate the scope of state activity from the analytical boundaries of a discipline. |
| 2018 Paper I Question 2(a) | Assess Waldo’s grounding of administrative theory in political theory. | Efficiency claims contain value choices; conceptual critique was already central. |
| 2023 Paper I Question 1(b) | Explain inducements and organisational equilibrium. | Recognise Barnard’s specialised meaning of efficiency. |
| 2023 Paper I Question 2(a) | Explain Follett’s interdependence and collaborative conflict resolution. | Move beyond a thinker’s name to the mechanism of integration. |
| 2024 Paper I Question 1(a) | Assess the continuing politics-administration debate. | Evaluate the persistence of an issue, not a rigid historical dichotomy. |
| 2024 Paper I Question 4(c) | Compare New Public Governance with NPM. | The syllabus’s present-status language supports later approaches. |
| 2024 Paper I Question 5(c), 7(b) | Discuss CPM; distinguish appraisal from performance management. | Technical and personnel topics still need precise preparation. |
| 2025 Paper I Question 1(d), 2(a) | Assess Simon’s criticism of principles; examine movement from NPM to governance. | Expect argument about theories, not isolated biographies. |
| 2026 Paper I Question 1(b), 3(a) | Apply Taylor to gig work; explain durable bureaucratic features. | New organisational forms do not automatically erase older mechanisms. |
| 2026 Paper I Question 6(b), 8(c) | Compare Heady and Riggs; evaluate PERT under uncertainty. | Comparative and technical units require depth alongside the familiar thinkers. |
All entries above are paraphrases. They are illustrative, not the complete contents of those papers.
Prepare each core idea as a claim with conditions: what it explains, why it works, what it neglects, and how it behaves in a different administrative setting. Do not turn these examples into a “most expected questions” list.
Paper II: The institution is only the starting point
| Year / question | Paraphrased demand | Required administrative lens |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 Paper II Question 1(a), 1(b) | Assess Mughal centralisation and the Collector’s survival. | Distinguish the formal design from negotiated practice and institutional adaptation. |
| 2022 Paper II Question 1(c), 1(e) | Explain Cabinet Secretariat coordination and the Chief Secretary’s linking role. | Work processes and communication matter as much as formal position. |
| 2022 Paper II Question 2(c), 3(c) | Explain indicative planning and weak district planning committees. | Connect the planning model to actual local authority and capacity. |
| 2026 Paper II Question 1(d), 4(b) | Evaluate district-local links and the relationship between development and order. | Trace competing accountabilities and overlapping responsibilities. |
| 2026 Paper II Question 2(b) | Explain political culture’s effect on bureaucratic conduct. | Personnel behaviour must be understood in its political environment. |
| 2026 Paper II Question 3(a), 3(b) | Compare planning institutions; assess defence-production corporatisation. | Historical change requires institutional distinctions, not a simple public-private binary. |
| 2026 Paper II Question 5(a), 6(a) | Assess lateral entry and the limits of capacity-building reform. | Recruitment or training alone cannot remove every implementation constraint. |
| 2026 Paper II Question 6(b), 7(a) | Analyse State debt constraints and police reform implementation. | Use fiscal and organisational mechanisms, not a generic list of problems. |
| 2026 Paper II Question 8(a), 8(c) | Analyse megacity management and women’s agency in panchayats. | Local governance includes power, representation, finance and coordination. |
Paraphrased illustrations. The 2026 paper is a current reference point, not proof that these subjects have acquired permanently higher weightage.
The supplied syllabus still names the Planning Commission and NDC. Learn their historical functions, then compare the planning transformation and NITI Aayog. Replacing the old heading with current affairs alone leaves a gap in the actual syllabus.
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