Common beliefs about the UPSC interview, checked against real interviews: what is true, what is partly true and what is busted.
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20 common beliefs about the interview, checked against what candidates recorded after their interviews: what boards asked and did, never the marks.
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Confirmed
Confirmed
9
Partly true
Partly true
9
Busted
Busted
Boards and membersPartly true
Does the chair's background shape the questions?
Partly. For 5 of the 13 chairs we can test, questions in their own field come up far more often than with other chairs. For 2 chairs it is the opposite: Manoj Soni, an IR scholar, seldom asks about IR.
Strong match (Raj Shukla, Suman Sharma, Dinesh Dasa, Anuradha Prasad, R N Choubey)5
Partial match (Sujata Chaturvedi, Smita Nagaraj, Preeti Sudan)3
Weak match (Sheel Vardhan Singh, M Sathiyavathy, B B Vyas)3
Opposite (Sanjay Verma, Manoj Soni)2
B B Swain and T C A Anant leave topic questions to their advisers, and Ajay Kumar has too few interviews to judge.
What to do. Read your chair's card on the Boards page. Prepare the chair's field closely when the card shows a strong match.
Do boards repeat the same questions across candidates?
No. Only 2.2% of topic questions are a near-copy of one the same board asked another candidate. Pairs of boards picked at random match 1.9% of the time, so the repeats are close to chance.
The same board2.2%
Boards picked at random1.9%
Topic questions only: general studies, current affairs, situational and ethics. A near-copy shares at least 60% of its key words.
What to do. Lists of what a board asked yesterday help little. Prepare the board's favourite themes, shown on its card.
Partly. Push-back is real but uncommon: 6 in 100 interviews have five or more push-back questions, and 38 in 100 have none. It depends on the board. Raj Shukla's board does it in about 1 in 7 interviews; B B Vyas never did.
Raj Shukla14%
Smita Nagaraj12%
Sanjay Verma8.5%
T C A Anant7.0%
Manoj Soni6.2%
All boards6.0%
Preeti Sudan2.5%
B B Vyas0.0%
Push-back means a member questions or challenges your answer. Boards with 40 or more interviews; the top five and bottom two are shown.
What to do. A push-back tests how you hold a view. Stay calm, accept a fair point and explain your position politely.
No. The chair asks about 1 in 4 questions (24%), a little more than each adviser (19%). The chair asks more than any single adviser in 45% of interviews, and opens almost every one.
The chair24%
Each adviser, on average19%
Interviews where the notes name the member for nine in ten questions or more (2,391 interviews).
What to do. Three in four questions come from the advisers. Give every member the same attention, and face whoever is asking.
Boards and membersPartly true
Does each member stick to one subject?
Partly. Each member has a main area, which takes 63% of their topic questions. They also share ground: in 99% of interviews two members asked in the same area.
A member's main area, share of their questions63%
Areas asked by two or more members43%
Interviews where members overlap99%
Members with four or more topic questions; personal questions left out.
What to do. Expect any member to ask anything, and expect follow-ups from a different member.
Timing and slotBusted
Do boards ask more DAF questions in the first few weeks?
No, slightly the reverse. DAF questions are 40.7% of the questions in the first three weeks of the season and 43.7% after that. The early weeks were lower in all five years.
First three weeks40.7%
Rest of the season43.7%
Season start is the first interview date of each year. 2,283 interviews have a date.
What to do. Your DAF matters just as much whatever your date. Prepare every line of it.
Timing and slotBusted
Are afternoon boards tougher than morning boards?
No. Push-back is 5.3% of questions in both sessions. Your slot in the day makes no difference either: 4.7% for the first candidate, 4.9% for the last.
Forenoon5.3%
Afternoon5.3%
First to go4.7%
Last to go4.9%
What to do. Your session and slot are luck of the draw. Prepare the same way for either.
Timing and slotPartly true
Do boards get tougher later in the season?
Slightly. Push-back goes from 4.7% of questions in the first month to 5.6% by the third, and interviews grow by about two questions. In two of four years it stayed flat.
Month 14.7%
Month 25.0%
Month 35.6%
Month 45.6%
What to do. Your date changes little. Prepare the same way whenever your interview falls.
Your DAFConfirmed
Is your home state always asked?
Yes, nearly always. 88% of candidates got a question on their home state or town, usually about four.
Home state or town88%
Home state itself69%
“As DM of your district, what would you do?”7.5%
1,552 candidates with the home state recorded.
What to do. Know your state's economy, history, culture and recent news, and your district's main problems.
Your DAFPartly true
Is your optional subject always asked?
About half the time (53%). It depends on the subject: History 78%, PSIR 31%.
History78%
Hindi literature74%
Anthropology64%
Mathematics62%
Geography57%
Sociology57%
Public administration44%
PSIR31%
All optionals53%
Counts questions that name or build on the optional. PSIR overlaps with polity and IR, so many PSIR-style questions count as general questions here.
What to do. Revise the basics of your optional, why you chose it and how it helps in your service.
Your DAFPartly true
Are hobbies asked in every interview?
Mostly. 7 in 10 interviews (72%) have a hobby question, and 3 in 10 have five or more.
At least one72%
Five or more30%
What to do. List only hobbies you can discuss in depth for five minutes, including the facts and news around them.
Your DAFPartly true
Do working professionals get grilled on their job?
Asked, yes. Grilled, no. 91% get questions on their job, about four each. Push-back on job questions (5.9%) is close to push-back on all questions (5.2%).
Asked about the job91%
Push-back on job questions5.9%
Push-back on all questions5.2%
1,134 candidates with work experience.
What to do. Expect questions on what you did and what you learned. Be ready to discuss the problems in your sector frankly.
Your DAFConfirmed
With no work experience, do you get more questions on your graduation?
Yes. Candidates with no job get 2.9 questions on their studies, against 2.3 for those with a job, and this held in 4 of 5 years. They also get more hobby questions (3.7 against 3.0).
Studies, no job2.9
Studies, with a job2.3
Hobbies, no job3.7
Hobbies, with a job3.0
No work experience here means no job in the notes and no job questions asked.
What to do. With no job, your degree and hobbies carry the DAF. Prepare your graduation subject well, with its current issues.
Your DAFBusted
Do boards always ask the meaning of your name?
No. 4% were asked what their name means, and 12% got any question on their name or family.
Any name or family question12%
The meaning of your name4.0%
What to do. Know the story of your name for an easy opener, and spend little time on it.
How the interview runsBusted
Does every interview open with “Tell us about yourself”?
No. Only 8% open that way. The chair asks the first question in 99% of interviews and usually picks something from your DAF.
A hobby16%
Your job13%
Your studies13%
Small talk13%
A GS or news question12%
Your home state or town9.5%
Why civil services8.1%
“Tell us about yourself”8.0%
Your name or family5.5%
Some notes skip the greetings, so small talk may be undercounted.
What to do. Prepare a crisp answer for every DAF line, since any of them can open the interview.
How the interview runsBusted
Is “Why civil services?” asked of everyone?
No. 16% of interviews include it. Service preference comes up in 7%.
Why civil services17%
Your service preference6.9%
What to do. Keep a sincere two-line answer ready. It may well be skipped.
How the interview runsBusted
Is the interview mostly current affairs?
No. 1 in 6 questions (16%) rest on recent news, and the share is steady across all five years. Only 1% of interviews were half current affairs.
Share of all questions16%
Interviews with no news question8.6%
Interviews half or more on news1.2%
What to do. Read the news well, and give the same time to your DAF and static issues. Together they make up five in six questions.
How the interview runsPartly true
Do boards ask about news from the last few days?
Partly. The news is recent, measured in months: 62% of news questions are on events from the last two months, and 82% from the last six.
0 to 2 months62%
3 to 5 months17%
6 to 11 months12%
A year or more5.9%
Still to happen4.0%
News tags record events by month, so the data cannot show days. 3,247 tagged news questions.
What to do. Cover the last six months closely, and read the paper on the morning of your interview.
