2024 · Question 5 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
Social media is triggering 'Fear of Missing Out' amongst the youth, precipitating depression and loneliness.
- Truth, trust and information in a digital age.
Essay
Two essays from two sections, about 1,000 to 1,200 words each. Filter by topic or year.
48 questions
2024 · Question 6 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but to test the character, give him power.
- Character, courage and moral leadership.
2024 · Question 7 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
All ideas having large consequences are always simple.
- Education, curiosity and doubt.
2024 · Question 8 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.
- Character, courage and moral leadership.
2023 · Question 1 · Section A · 125 marks · 1200 words
Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team.
- Education, curiosity and doubt.
2023 · Question 2 · Section A · 125 marks · 1200 words
Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.
- Technology and human judgement — tools versus wisdom.
- Character, courage and moral leadership.
2023 · Question 3 · Section A · 125 marks · 1200 words
Not all who wander are lost.
- Change, adversity and resilience.
2023 · Question 4 · Section A · 125 marks · 1200 words
Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane.
- Education, curiosity and doubt.
2023 · Question 5 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands — two equally harmful disciplines.
- Freedom and responsibility.
- The individual and the community.
2023 · Question 6 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
Mathematics is the music of reason.
- Education, curiosity and doubt.
2023 · Question 7 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.
- The individual and the community.
2023 · Question 8 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
- Education, curiosity and doubt.
2022 · Question 1 · Section A · 125 marks · 1200 words
Forests are the best case studies for economic excellence
- Nature, sustainability and restraint.
2022 · Question 2 · Section A · 125 marks · 1200 words
Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world
Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Main) 2022, Essay (opens in a new tab)2022 · Question 3 · Section A · 125 marks · 1200 words
History is a series of victories won by the scientific man over the romantic man
- Technology and human judgement — tools versus wisdom.
2022 · Question 4 · Section A · 125 marks · 1200 words
A ship in harbour is safe, but that is not what ship is for
- Character, courage and moral leadership.
2022 · Question 5 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining
- Change, adversity and resilience.
2022 · Question 6 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
You cannot step twice in the same river
- Change, adversity and resilience.
2022 · Question 7 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
A smile is the chosen vehicle for all ambiguities
Source: UPSC, Civil Services (Main) 2022, Essay (opens in a new tab)2022 · Question 8 · Section B · 125 marks · 1200 words
Just because you have a choice, it does not mean that any of them has to be right
- Freedom and responsibility.