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A free scholarship test in two parts. Twenty questions against the clock, and two Mains answers of your own choosing. Both are read together, and your scholarship follows from how you do across the two.
A rank tells us what you know. An answer tells us how you think. A scholarship needs both.
Built and run by Neil Sir, HCS 2021, Rank 93 — founder of UnlockIAS.
The Prelims paper is a timed test of what you know. The Mains answers show how you think. The UnlockIAS team looks at both before deciding anything.
Judged on both, together.
Your combined showing decides the scholarship
Submit the Prelims alone and you will still be considered. The Mains answers are simply what let us see how you think, and there is no way to show that with a rank.
Where you stand against everyone who has played the same paper, ranked All India. Your rank appears as soon as you submit, and sharpens as more students play the paper.
A plain-language verdict on each option, and the fact worth keeping — the Sherlocking note that cracks the question, revealed the moment you submit.
Personal mentorship with the UnlockIAS team.
For the Sherlocking Scholars League, sent to you directly once the team has reviewed your Prelims marks and your Mains answers.
Your scholarship coupon is for the Sherlocking Scholars League, the UnlockIAS UPSC Prelims Test Series.
Sign in with your Google account and begin. Nothing to buy at any stage.
Twenty-four minutes for part one, timed from the moment you begin. One attempt, on a live clock.
Your score, your All India rank and a verdict on every option arrive the moment you submit — no waiting.
Part two is two answers you have probably already written. Photograph them and upload — questions of your own choosing.
The UnlockIAS team reads your Prelims marks and your Mains answers together, case by case, then shares your scholarship coupon with you directly.
The AISST marking scheme mirrors the real UPSC Prelims exam pattern, so a strong AISST attempt is also useful practice for the actual paper. In UPSC Prelims 2026, 33 of the 100 GS questions traced back to the UnlockIAS Test Series. If you want to drill more before you play, the UPSC Prelims PYQ bank is free and open.
We are not testing whether you can put up forty out of forty. We are testing how you think, and a borrowed score tells us nothing about that.
The All India Sherlocking Scholarship Test (AISST) is a free scholarship test from UnlockIAS, run in two parts. Part one is a 20-question UPSC Prelims paper worth 40 marks, to be completed in 24 minutes and marked +2 and −2/3 like the real exam. Part two is two handwritten GS Mains answers, on questions of your own choosing, that you photograph and upload. The UnlockIAS team reads both together to decide your scholarship. Your marks, your All India rank and a worked solution for every question appear the moment you submit the Prelims paper.
Yes. Taking the AISST costs nothing — no payment and no card. Sign in with your Google account and start the test whenever you are ready. There is nothing to buy at any stage, including the Mains upload.
The AISST Prelims paper has 20 questions in 24 minutes, for 40 marks in total. You get +2 for every correct answer and −2/3 for every wrong answer — the same negative-marking ratio as the actual UPSC Prelims, so the paper is scored the way the real paper scores.
Your combined showing across both parts decides the scholarship. The UnlockIAS team reviews your Prelims marks alongside your Mains answers, case by case. A rank tells the team what you know; an answer tells them how you think, and a scholarship needs both. Your coupon is sent to you directly once that review is done.
No. Submit the Prelims alone and you will still be considered. The Mains answers are simply what let the team see how you think, and there is no way to show that with a rank alone.
After the Prelims test, you upload photographs of two handwritten GS answers of your own choosing. There is nothing to format and nothing to buy — the UnlockIAS team reads them by hand alongside your Prelims marks as part of deciding your scholarship.
No. AISST allows one attempt per student, and that attempt is final — there is no retake once you have submitted. Every attempt is logged and reviewed for malpractice, and a second attempt made through another account voids the scholarship.
The scholarship coupon is for the Sherlocking Scholars League — the UnlockIAS UPSC Prelims Test Series for 2027, run as 100 twenty-question matches and 10 full-length Simulators. It is sent to you directly once the UnlockIAS team has finished reviewing your Prelims marks and your Mains answers.
The AISST is built and run by Neil Sir, HCS 2021 Rank 93, founder of UnlockIAS. The UnlockIAS team reads every Mains answer by hand and decides each scholarship case by case.
Sign up free, play the 20-question AISST in 24 minutes, and get your marks and All India rank instantly. Upload two Mains answers and the team reads both together.
Test format, marking scheme and scholarship terms on this page are taken from the official UnlockIAS AISST brochure (2027/28). Last updated: August 2026.