Do not lose marks in UPSC PRELIMS 2026
5 tips to avoid common mistakes that could cause loss of 5-10 marks in Prelims 2026
Mark in OMR after every 5 questions. This helps maintain focus and prevents lapse of concentration. Also 1 page of UPSC CSE prelims generally has 5 questions. It also ensures no errors in bubbling.
Read twice questions where you felt was too easy. Generally students make silly mistake here by misinterpreting or misunderstanding or overlooking some aspect of statement. This leads to silly mistake where you not only lose 2 marks and also get negative marks.
Avoid Double Guessing - generally it is outcome of your mind panicking and make you doubt yourself due to lack of conviction what you studied.
Use common sense - normally in exam one starts over relying on recalling what they have studied or applying tricks like extreme statement are wrong and do not use common sense for elimination. You should use knowledge, common sense and then guess techniques to solve question.
Resist temptation to take blind guesses at end - This is generally due to fear of attempting less.
Lastly have conviction in what you studied , lot would depend on your mindset on Prelims day.