Chemistry Optional UPSC CSE

Topic wise distribution updated till 2022. Accessible from this link. Link is updated in pinned message also. Many have messaged me for topic wise compilation of PYQ. I have not provided it because already you can find which question is from which topic from this excel sheet and you can take print outs for your personal use.

Paper I and II Heat Map 2013 - 2022

Source wise Analysis —————————— 🔘 GOC : Higher percentage of Any standard book questions is a good sign that the focus was more on concepts rather than books - still my personal choice for GOC is Bruice/Klein + Clayden 🔘 Biomolecules + Polymers (Biopolymers) : any standard book - personal choice : Bruice 🔘Pericyclic + Photochemistry : Jagdamba Singh gives returns 🔘Spectroscopy : Jagmohan still giving returns for tough questions + book specific questions. Basics can be done from any good source like Klein/ Y R Sharma/Pavia 🔘Reagents : Not found as single chapter in most books, its usually scattered. V K Ahluwalia is a good option in addition to DIAS Notes 🔘 Name reactions : Sanyal is still good choice as a book in addition to DIAS notes Which ever topic not mentioned, DIAS notes will be good choice considering cost-benefit ratio

Choice wise analysis —————————— The presence of only 15 marks of difficult questions in compulsory section is a improvement [2021 : 30 Marks] Choice making seems easier this time with 3,4 and 8 being the ones to avoid and making 2,6,7 the choice questions So final choice can be 1,5,2,6,7 That translates to a potential raw score of 220 attemptable and 150-155 as scorable marks. This is a higher score compared to previous year [2021: 200 attemptable and 140 scorable] and higher than 2020 [2020: 175 attemptable and 110-115 scorable]. So 2022 Paper I is easier than 2021 and in turn more easier than 2020 Disclaimer 1 : Categorisation into difficult, easy and medium is HIGHLY subjective. If you wish to make any changes, the mappings are already shared, you can make your own modifications and do self-analysis Disclaimer 2: 70% marking for correct answer is a personal conversion ratio which I use for comparison between different year papers. They DO NOT reflect UPSC marking/moderation in any way since the process is highly opaque and not available in public domain

Chapter wise analysis ——————————— 🔘 GOC mentioned in syllabus as 2 [iii + iv + v] has the second highest weightage with 85 Marks [2021: 105 Marks] 🔘 Spectroscopy has the highest weightage chapter with 90 Marks [2021: 85 Marks] For past few years, these two chapters form a high weightage, so enough time shall be allocated to master these two topics if the pattern holds 🔘 The rise in reagents is due to higher number of conversion questions asked this year

UPSC CSE 2022 Paper 2 Analysis 👇🏼👇🏼

Source Analysis ———————— Standard book can be PSP/KL Kapoor/DIAS Notes ▪️This yeas also a significant number of numericals are directly from Gurdeep Raj. So if you wish to work out numericals in physical, first choice is still Gurdeep Raj ▪️Direct questions for inorganic from Huheey/J D Lee seems to be on decline, but the mapping to Ajai Kumar books - OMC, Bio-inorganic and Coordination seems likely. If you analyse more by yourself, you may recognize some patterns hidden in the sources more over the years, not sharing as an observation since the cost-benefit ratio seems dicey, so figure it out and try it by yourself if interested

Choice wise Analysis —————————— A significant observation is the inclusion of 5 sub-questions in almost all choice questions too which can cause time management issues for some Compulsory 1 and 5 had difficult level questions which cannot be left but marks came down to 20 from 30 Question 2 and 6 each having 20 marks in difficult level can be left Question 4 with no difficult question is a definite choice in the Choice questions Question 3,7,8 each have 10 marks in difficult level and any 2 can be chosen as per individual preference/strength So finally the choices made can be 1,5,4,7,8 That translates to a potential raw score of 210 attemptable and 145-150 as scorable marks. This is a higher score compared to previous year [2021: 160 attemptable and 110-115 scorable] but lower than 2020 [2020: 240 attemptable and 165-170 scorable]. So 2022 Paper I is easier than 2021 but not as much as 2020 Disclaimer 1 : Categorisation into difficult, easy and medium is HIGHLY subjective. If you wish to make any changes, the mappings are already shared, you can make your own modifications and do self-analysis Disclaimer 2: 70% marking for correct answer is a personal conversion ratio which I use for comparison between different year papers. They DO NOT reflect UPSC marking/moderation in any way since the process is highly opaque and not available in public domain.

Chapter wise analysis ——————————— The major chapters remain almost same with the exception of Solid State joining in the league of Coordination, Electrochemistry, Bonding, Kinetics, Thermodynamics. As expected Atomic Structure makes a comeback along with f-block