The UPSC CSE Mains Essay paper was conducted on 8 January, 2021. As per the views of aspirants regarding Essay paper, it is the toughest paper as most of the questions asked were of philosophical or abstract in nature.
The Essay paper consists of two sections and aspirant has to attempt one out of four topics from each section. Essay carries 125 marks.
It is said that most of the topics in Essay Section A required ethical thinking and some topics asked like ‘life is a long journey’, ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’ required ethical thinking and in Section B topics were abstract in nature. The topics were based on patriarchy, social justice.
According to some aspirants, this year’s essay paper was quite different from that of previous years. As, last year questions from Section A of the Essay paper were tough but Section B questions were based on current topics like ‘media-based’, rise of artificial intelligence, etc.
As per our team Experts, the essay paper as compared to recent years this time is the toughest paper asked in the exam. A good score can be 120+ marks in the essay paper this time.
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UPSC CSE Mains Essay Question Paper 2020
Section A
1. Life is long journey between human being and being humane
2. Mindful manifesto is the catalyst to a tranquil self
3. Ships do not sink because of water around them , ships sink because of water that gets into them
4. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
 Section B
1. Culture is what we are, civilization is what we have
2. There can be no social justice without economic prosperity but economic prosperity without social justice is meaningless
3. Patriarchy is the least noticed yet the most significant structure of social inequality
4. Technology as the silent factor in international relations
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As per the Experts analysis of Adda team, questions asked in Section A of Essay paper were philosophical in nature and required ethical thinking. Therefore, to explain and write on these types of topics is itself a challenge as per the paucity of the content with an aspirant. An aspirant should have to mention the original thoughts and should have the ability of critical and analytical thinking. For these types of topics, factual knowledge is not required.
Questions asked in Section B of Essay Paper like 5, 6 and 7 were more focused on society and related topics. Also, question 5 was a bit abstract in nature. To write these types of topics require a deeper knowledge of abstract concepts and ideas. The last question of Section B is a bit easier as it is the combination of international relations with science and technology. The UPSC CSE Exam will be concluded on 17 January, 2021.
A Comparative Analysis of UPSC CSE Mains Essay Paper 2020 with previous years
1. In 2019 asked that Values are not what humanity is, but what humanity ought to be and in 2020 also another essay on humanity asked.
2. Also since 2017 Essay topic on women empowerment has not been asked but in 2020 appearance in relation to patriarchy is seen.
3. In 2019, Artificial intelligence asked in the context of job skill and in 2020, Artificial intelligence and technology asked in the context of international relations.
4. In 2018, 2019, the majority of the papers focused on philosophy, ethics abstract quotation type of titles and in 2020, the same pattern continues. But the main challenge faced by the aspirant is the entire Section A which is based on topics like philosophy, ethics, quotation essays, etc. and an aspirant has to answer one of them.
In Section B in 2020 conventional areas like culture, women, technology, economy-social justice, etc. are asked. So if an aspirant is good or comfortable with two topics but he or she has to answer only 1.
UPSC CSE Mains 2020: GS Essay Paper Previous Year Question Papers (2010 to 2019)
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