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Free PDFs covering all 87 questions from the UPSC Civil Services Mains 2026 examination. Each question is reproduced word for word and set against the past UPSC questions it echoes. Compiled 23 August 2026. Every word in these PDFs is also readable on this site — start with the full question paper.
These numbers are rough estimates, not measurements. For each question we asked one thing: a student who studied past- year questions, read the basic sources, and practised with DAW and the Simulators, how much of a full answer could that student build? The rest is execution: turning what you know into a written answer, within time, in the exam hall. That too is a skill, and practice builds it. We have kept every number conservative, and none goes above 80 percent, because even a familiar question still has to be written well in the exam hall. For essay topics, the number means how much of the theme and its material was familiar ground. The essay itself is always written fresh in the hall.
8 questions · read it on this page
| Q | Topic | Within reach |
|---|---|---|
| QA1 | Oxymorons and life's ironies | about 75% |
| QA2 | A grateful mind | about 75% |
| QA3 | A thorn is a changed bud | about 60% |
| QA4 | Two elephants and the grass | about 65% |
| QB5 | Nature as the spirit's symbol | about 60% |
| QB6 | More questions than answers | about 80% |
| QB7 | Shelving hard decisions | about 80% |
| QB8 | The leader who follows | about 65% |
20 questions · read it on this page
| Q | Topic | Within reach |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Ashokan inscriptions as a source | about 70% |
| Q2 | Macaulay's Minute | about 75% |
| Q3 | Gandhian mass movements | about 80% |
| Q4 | Fujiwhara effect and cyclones | about 60% |
| Q5 | Tundra regions | about 70% |
| Q6 | Aeolian processes and desertification | about 75% |
| Q7 | Water in South Asia | about 80% |
| Q8 | Unity in diversity | about 80% |
| Q9 | Disability and inclusive policy | about 70% |
| Q10 | Digital technology and empowerment | about 75% |
| Q11 | Vijayanagara architecture | about 75% |
| Q12 | Linguistic reorganisation | about 80% |
| Q13 | Planned economy and regional balance | about 75% |
| Q14 | Loo, Chinook and Foehn winds | about 65% |
| Q15 | Satellites and farming | about 60% |
| Q16 | Trade shift to the Indo-Pacific | about 75% |
| Q17 | Land-use change | about 80% |
| Q18 | Caste in urban India | about 80% |
| Q19 | Demographic transition | about 80% |
| Q20 | Globalisation and the youth | about 80% |
20 questions · read it on this page
| Q | Topic | Within reach |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Privacy and the transgender law | about 70% |
| Q2 | Women's reservation | about 80% |
| Q3 | The Speaker and anti-defection | about 80% |
| Q4 | Right to vote and voter rolls | about 80% |
| Q5 | NCSC and NCST powers | about 75% |
| Q6 | Tribal development policy | about 75% |
| Q7 | Malnutrition beyond health | about 80% |
| Q8 | Generalist civil services | about 75% |
| Q9 | IPMDA, SAGAR and the Quad | about 65% |
| Q10 | BRICS and the Global South | about 75% |
| Q11 | The Governor and assent | about 80% |
| Q12 | Judicial legislation and the living will | about 75% |
| Q13 | Asymmetric federalism | about 80% |
| Q14 | India and the US model | about 75% |
| Q15 | Pressure groups and corporate power | about 75% |
| Q16 | Transparency and trust | about 80% |
| Q17 | Rights-based welfare | about 80% |
| Q18 | Education: welfare or investment | about 80% |
| Q19 | The diaspora as a living bridge | about 75% |
| Q20 | China's BRI in South Asia | about 75% |
20 questions · read it on this page
| Q | Topic | Within reach |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Digital Rupee and CBDC | about 65% |
| Q2 | Financial inclusion and the RBI index | about 80% |
| Q3 | Technology Missions in agriculture | about 70% |
| Q4 | Agri marketing and e-commerce | about 80% |
| Q5 | Biotechnology for perishable crops | about 65% |
| Q6 | Fast Breeder Reactor and criticality | about 75% |
| Q7 | Infrastructure versus disaster risk | about 80% |
| Q8 | Kunming-Montreal biodiversity framework | about 65% |
| Q9 | Fake news and the IT Rules 2021 | about 70% |
| Q10 | Ladakh, BADP and Sixth Schedule | about 70% |
| Q11 | Energy security | about 80% |
| Q12 | Startups | about 70% |
| Q13 | Food scarcity to surplus, and diversification | about 80% |
| Q14 | Farm subsidies and the WTO | about 75% |
| Q15 | Mission Drishti satellite | about 35% |
| Q16 | Agentic AI | about 65% |
| Q17 | Solid waste, Delhi and Indore | about 75% |
| Q18 | Community participation in disasters | about 80% |
| Q19 | J&K mainstreaming and Article 370 | about 70% |
| Q20 | Terror funding and FATF | about 80% |
19 questions · read it on this page
| Q | Topic | Within reach |
|---|---|---|
| Q1(A) | AI, accountability and integrity | about 70% |
| Q1(B) | Displacing a forest community | about 80% |
| Q2(A) | Untested remedy on a tribe | about 65% |
| Q2(B) | Security versus human rights | about 70% |
| Q3(A) | Ambedkar and civil disobedience | about 80% |
| Q3(B) | Gandhi's trusteeship | about 75% |
| Q3(C) | Shakespeare: arms and intent | about 80% |
| Q4(A) | Paternalism and beneficence | about 75% |
| Q4(B) | Efficiency versus effectiveness | about 70% |
| Q5(A) | School rules versus children's rights | about 80% |
| Q5(B) | Ethics in international relations | about 80% |
| Q6(A) | Empathy versus rules, and the PA | about 75% |
| Q6(B) | Duty versus charity | about 65% |
| Q7 | The consent case (Dr. Mansi) | about 70% |
| Q8 | AI predictive policing (Ravi) | about 75% |
| Q9 | The tout network (Seema) | about 80% |
| Q10 | Biometric gatekeeping (Vikas) | about 80% |
| Q11 | The divided district (Rajan) | about 70% |
| Q12 | The arms sale (Ajit) | about 70% |