UPSC topic wise previous years question papers come in book formats which are a must for UPSC preparation. Any smart student must have topic wise previous year question papers with him/her always. This has extremely important advantages:
- Before reading any chapter, if the previous years UPSC questions from that chapter are known, the student becomes aware about what to study and what to ignore.
- The vast syllabus becomes limited and within reach.
- The UPSC aspirant understands the demands of the UPSC and is oriented towards the questions asked.
- Many questions are repeated and one can understand which are important topics.
- It is extremely important for smart preparation.
Following are the links to purchase books which have previous years upsc questions for Prelims, Mains and Optional Subjects.
Previous Year Prelims Question Papers
25 Years IAS Topic-wise solved UPSC Prelims Paper 1 and Paper 2
This book has solved and explained Prelims question papers from previous 25 years.
Previous Years Mains Question Papers
7 Years UPSC Mains General Studies Papers 1-4 Solved
This book above has 7 years question papers which is sufficient. There are other books available which have previous years question papers from 25 years. You should not buy those books as the pattern has changed drastically.
Previous Years Question Papers Optional Subjects
Below is the list of topic-wise previous years question papers for major UPSC Optional subjects. These books are must have for any serious aspirant as many of the questions are repeated and one also gets the idea of the important topics.
I have linked only the unsolved previous years question papers of UPSC optionals because they are better than the solved ones. The solutions are not standard and you should not follow them. Additionally, the unsolved papers are much cheaper and thinner books so they are easy to handle. You must buy these books to aid your smart UPSC preparation strategy.