The most detailed UPSC Prelims 2026 GS-1 analysis on the internet
Subject-wise distribution, question-type breakdown, expected cutoff, Smartify AI hit rate and live scores from —+ aspirants — all in one place.Want your personalized score against the official-style key with cohort percentile and per-question explanations? Hit the button below.
Takes ~10 minutes to mark all 100 answers · You'll need your mobile, email and admit-card number to unlock your personal score.
Smartify AI called 87 of 100 questions before the paper
From our 12-year PYQ Intel, current-affairs DB and high-yield zones — here's what landed.
Live · Aspirant score distribution
Real scores from every aspirant who has checked their UPSC Prelims 2026 GS-1 score on Smartify AI. See exactly how the country is scoring.
Subject-wise question distribution
Question-type breakdown
Difficulty profile of the paper
Difficulty estimated from question + option length and framing complexity. ~45/100questions cross the 500-character mark — significantly higher reading load than 2023-24 papers.
Which subjects were the killers?
| Subject | Easy | Med | Hard | Avg len | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Economy | 10 | 6 | 2 | 403c | |
| Science & Tech | 13 | 3 | 0 | 362c | |
| International Relations | 6 | 9 | 0 | 427c | |
| History | 5 | 7 | 0 | 396c | |
| Polity | 0 | 10 | 2 | 765c | |
| Environment | 5 | 5 | 0 | 479c | |
| Geography | 8 | 1 | 0 | 342c | |
| Art & Culture | 8 | 0 | 0 | 221c |
Polity and Economy carried the toughest framing this year — long multi-statement constructs with overlapping governance/finance terminology. Geography, Art & Culture and Science & Tech stayed mostly factual & short.
Attempt strategy — net marks math
With +2/-0.66 marking, here's how many questions you needed to attempt to safely cross the expected 90-mark cutoff at different accuracy levels.
| Your accuracy | Net per attempt | Qs to attempt for 90 | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50% | 0.67 | 100 | Tight — leaves no margin |
| 60% | 0.94 | 97 | Tight — leaves no margin |
| 70% | 1.20 | 75 | Comfortable zone |
| 80% | 1.47 | 62 | Comfortable zone |
Sweet spot: ~70% accuracy on 75 attempts gets you 90 net. Going below 60% accuracy makes the cutoff mathematically unreachable in 100 questions.
Reading load & time budget
120 minutes for 100 Qs = 72 seconds per question. With 56 multi-statement questions averaging 430 characters in just the stem, an aspirant reading at 250 wpm spent ~40s reading and only ~30s deciding. This is why elimination skills, not knowledge depth, decided this paper.
Ready for your personal score?
Mark your answers across all 100 questions — takes ~10 minutes. You'll get your exact score, percentile against the live cohort above, subject-wise accuracy, and per-question explanations.
Disclaimer: Answer key prepared by Smartify AI from official sources. Scores may vary across coaching keys due to disputed questions. Refer to UPSC's official key for the final confirmation.