Mains Language PapersEnglish — Paper B (Qualifying)High-yield

Short Essay Writing

लघु निबंध लेखन

Short Essay Writing is part of the UPSC Mains Language Papers syllabus, under English — Paper B (Qualifying). It appeared in Mains Language Papers question papers in 9 of the 10 years from 2016 to 2025 (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024). It is marked high-yield: a topic worth revising more than once.

How often is Short Essay Writing asked in UPSC Mains?

Asked in 9 of 10 years, including 4 of the last 5. Highlighted years below are the ones it appeared in.

  1. 2016: asked
  2. 2017: asked
  3. 2018: asked
  4. 2019: asked
  5. 2020: asked
  6. 2021: asked
  7. 2022: asked
  8. 2023: asked
  9. 2024: asked
  10. 2025: not asked

About the Mains Language Papers paper

The two language papers — Paper A (an Indian language) and Paper B (English) — carry 300 marks each. They are qualifying: you need 25% in each, and the marks are not added to your rank. See all 12 Mains Language Papers topics.

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