Reviewed by Dalvoy
UPSC Civil Services preparation
UPSC Prelims 2016 solved paper
Every question from the official paper with the correct answer and a full explanation. Click any row to open the detailed solution.
General Studies — Paper 1
100 / 100
CSAT — Paper 2 (qualifying)
80 / 80
Official cutoff — 2016
The cutoff UPSC announced for that year.
Official UPSC Prelims 2016 GS Paper 1 cutoff (out of 200). CSAT qualifying threshold remained 66/200.
- General
- 116.00
- EWS
- —
- OBC
- —
- SC
- —
- ST
- —
Subject-wise weightage
How GS Paper 1 distributed marks across History, Polity, Geography, Economy, Science & Tech, Environment and Current Affairs.
100
Questions
- economy27 (27%)
- polity-and-governance24 (24%)
- geography21 (21%)
- history14 (14%)
- science-and-technology10 (10%)
- art-and-culture4 (4%)
Frequently asked questions
Where can I download the UPSC Prelims 2016 question paper?
Every question from the official UPSC Prelims 2016 GS Paper 1 and CSAT paper is reproduced above with the correct answer and a detailed explanation. UPSC also hosts scanned PDFs of all four sets on upsc.gov.in under the "Examinations" section.
What was the official cutoff for UPSC Prelims 2016?
The General category cutoff for UPSC Prelims 2016 was 116.00 marks out of 200 (GS Paper 1 only). The official cutoff strip above lists every category — EWS, OBC, SC, ST and PwBD subcategories.
How is the UPSC Prelims 2016 paper scored?
GS Paper 1 had 100 questions worth 2 marks each (200 total) with 0.66 negative marking. CSAT had 80 questions worth 2.5 marks each (200 total) with 0.83 negative marking. Only GS Paper 1 marks count towards the cutoff; CSAT had to be cleared at 33%.
Are Set A, B, C and D papers different?
No. UPSC distributes four shuffled versions with identical content but different question orders. Our archive shows the canonical order — the questions are the same regardless of which set you wrote.
Can I use the UPSC Prelims 2016 paper for current practice?
Yes. PYQ revision is one of the highest-yield activities for current aspirants. UPSC reuses themes and concepts every few years, so working through 2016 questions sharpens both content recall and the elimination strategy that UPSC's MCQ format rewards.
Were any answers in the UPSC official key for that year challenged?
UPSC accepts written objections to its provisional answer key during a fixed window each year. A small number of questions across most years are dropped or have answers changed in the final key — the version shown above reflects UPSC's final accepted answers.
Is CSAT counted in the Prelims cutoff?
No. CSAT (Paper 2) is qualifying only — you must score 33% (66 of 200 marks) to qualify, but the merit cutoff is decided entirely by GS Paper 1 marks.
How do I practice UPSC Prelims 2016 questions in test mode?
Click any row in the answer key to open the full-solution page. Each question carries subject and topic tags so you can build subject-wise revision sets, and the test generator (linked from the header) can compose a timed mock from any year or subject.