How to Reduce Negative Marking in UPSC IAS Prelims 2020

UPSC introduced the negative marking in Prelims Paper in 2007; therefore, attempting the Prelims paper is entirely different from the UPSC Mains examination. The negative marking was introduced to negate the habit of guesswork by the aspirants. The only way you shall qualify this paper is by relying on the knowledge accumulated and implementing it wisely.

As you must be aware that GS Paper 1 of UPSC IAS Prelims exam consists of 100 questions of 2 marks each. Every wrong answer is penalised with ⅓ marks, i.e. for every 3 wrong answers, you lose marks for one correct one. It is crucial to limit your negatives as UPSC IAS Prelims is an examination of elimination. The more mistakes you make, the faster you are eliminated from the race.

To help you limit your mistakes and reduce your negatives, we have provided some valuable inputs for both before the exam and during the UPSC IAS Prelims Examination 2020.

Before the UPSC Prelims Exam (During your preparation)

● The fundamental logic to minimise the negatives is to have a higher accuracy while attempting the paper. The way to improve your accuracy is regular and numerous revision of your syllabus, which increases your retention and precision while answering questions.

● Practice a considerable amount of mock tests which teaches you how to handle stress during the exam and avoid making silly mistakes. The UPSC Prelims test series also equips you with the practice of attempting the paper.

● Two main reasons of high negatives are haste in attempting the question and improper reading; thus, practising test series helps you avoid them. You may also download the Gradeup UPSC Preparation App to get access to numerous expert quality mock tests.

● After every mock test, analyse your mistakes separately and categorise them under the knowledge gap, haven’t studied and silly mistakes. Silly mistakes should not be repeated regardless. For errors under the knowledge gap category, note down the topic and ensure that you cover the topic properly again. For the third category, ‘haven’t studied’ you must determine yourself as per the time and capability if you wish to finish it or leave it. Subsequently, try to achieve a better score and fewer negatives with each test.

● Learn to skip questions, there shall be certain questions which you have no idea about. Do not try to guess the answers just to increase the number of questions attempted. Skip them altogether and save yourself from another negative. Practice the same while practising the mock tests.

It is truly said that ‘what you sow is what you reap’ if you have followed the above-stated points in your preparation and practised well the next phase - The examination shall become easier. The next part of the article mentions a few points that you must remember while attempting the UPSC IAS Prelims 2020 exam to further reduce mistakes and negative marking

During the UPSC IAS Prelims Exam 2020 :-

● Use a highlighter/pencil/blue pen to underline the question and focus keywords. This trick helps you to comprehend the question better, and prevent mistakes due to inaccurate understanding. It also keeps you from wandering from the topic and you can mark the right answer.

● Highlight and focus on words like “only” and “not correct”. They might be overlooked if not read with attention and patience. Avoid making mistakes due to this error and reduce the negative marks.

● Don’t aim to solve the entire question paper as it’s highly unlikely that you know answers to all the questions. Keep a target to solve approx. 80 questions keeping a leeway for mistakes and yet achieving the cutoff. This way you will avoid making guesses and only attempt questions that you have studied.

● Solve the question paper in two rounds - in the first round solve all the questions that you are 100% sure of and mark the ones that you have no idea of. Ignore questions which you haven’t studied about because you can skip questions and easily avoid the negative marks. Also, mark the questions in which you can eliminate two wrong options. In the second round, re-read such questions and take a calculated risk to answer it.

● Marking the OMR sheet is the most crucial part of the UPSC Prelims examination, as that is the sole document submitted after the exam and it records all your answers. Firstly, read all instructions regarding filling up the OMR sheet very properly. Secondly, do not fill the OMR sheet in haste. You can either choose to fill the sheet as you solve the questions or at the end of the exam, but keep ample time to fill it as one mistake can cost you your cutoff marks.

We have mentioned all the possible efforts that can be taken to reduce your negatives. Follow the stated strategy and be consistent in your hard work and efforts, you surely will qualify UPSC Prelims 2020.