essay mains paper 2023

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ESSAY QUESTION PAPER : UPSC Civil Services IAS Exam MAINS 2023

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ESSAY QUESTION  PAPER – UPSC Civil Services  IAS Mains – 2023

DOWNLOAD ESSAY QUESTION PAPER : UPSC CSE MAINS 2023 [here]

• Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team.
• Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.
• Not all who wander are lost.
• Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane.
• Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands – two equally harmful disciplines.
• Mathematics is the music of reason.
• A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.
• Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

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Essay Paper UPSC 2023 (Mains) Question Paper and Analysis

Last updated on September 27, 2023 by ClearIAS Team

UPSC conducted the Civil Service Mains exam for essay paper on 15 September 2023.

The CSE mains essay paper comprises two sections. Each section contains 4 essay topics. Out of which 2 topics of choice from each section need to be picked.

Candidates were supposed to answer about 1000-1200 words for each essay.

Table of Contents

UPSC CSE Essay Paper 2023 Instructions

General instructions mentioned on the essay paper, that need to be followed by every aspirant are provided here.

• Total Marks: 250 marks, Time duration: 3 hours.
• The essay must be written in the medium authorized in the admission certificate which must be stated clearly on the cover of this question-cum-answer (QCA) booklet in the space provided.
• No marks will be given for answers written in a medium other than the authorized one.
• Word limit, as specified, should be adhered to.
• Any page or portion of the page left blank, must be struck off clearly.

Essay Question Paper: UPSC Civil Services Main Exam (Written) 2023

The question paper of the UPSC CSE mains essay paper is provided here.

Write  two  essays, choosing  one  topic from each of the following Sections A and B, in about 1000-1200 words each:

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1: Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team.

2: Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.

3: Not all who wander are lost.

4: Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane.

5: Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands- two equally harmful disciplines.

6: Mathematics is the music of reasons.

7: A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.

8: Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

UPSC Mains Essay Paper 2023: Exam Analysis

The essay topics for the UPSC Civil Services Main Exam in 2023 were intellectually demanding and philosophical in nature.

They required candidates to engage in deep critical thinking and present their thoughts logically.

All the questions in this year’s paper aimed at assessing the candidates’ ability to handle abstract concepts and express their ideas effectively in a structured manner.

This year’s essay topics look like that UPSC has taken inspiration from a wide range of sources, including philosophical and literary works.

Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team

This topic seems to revolve around the idea that critical thinking often emerges in response to opposing viewpoints or challenges.

Candidates may have been asked to explore how the clash of ideas leads to innovation and progress.

Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.

This famous saying belongs to Paul O’Brien.

This statement likely prompted candidates to discuss the balance between intuition and rationality in making important decisions.

It encourages a reflection on the role of both factors in effective leadership and problem-solving

Not all who wander are lost

This saying belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien,  The Fellowship of the Ring.

The topic expected from candidates to think about how exploring and being spontaneous in life’s journey can be really good.

It’s a deep topic that can be understood in many different ways.

Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane

This essay topic appears to emphasize the idea that creativity is not limited to rare moments of inspiration but can be found in everyday experiences.

It probably asked people to think about where creativity comes from and how we can express it in our daily lives.

Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands- two equally harmful disciplines

This is the saying of Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir was a prominent French existentialist philosopher and feminist thinker. She made significant contributions to feminist philosophy through her work, including “The Second Sex,” where she discussed the concept of “The Other” and examined the role of societal expectations in shaping women’s lives.

The quote by Simone de Beauvoir presented the idea that both girls and boys or individuals of different genders, often face distinct but equally harmful forms of societal pressures and constraints.

It suggests that expectations placed on girls (referred to as “restrictions”) and boys (referred to as “demands”) can be damaging and limit their potential.

Mathematics is the music of reasons

The complete saying of James Joseph Sylvester is that mathematics is the music of reason. May not music be described as the mathematics of the sense, mathematics as music of the reason? The musician feels mathematics, the mathematician thinks music: music the dream, mathematics the working life.”

This statement suggests a poetic connection between mathematics and music. Candidates likely had to discuss the beauty and logic inherent in mathematics and its role in shaping our understanding of the world.

A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity

This topic seems to touch upon the ideas of social justice and charity, which have been discussed by philosophers like John Rawls and the concept of the “veil of ignorance.”

Candidates may have been asked to explore the relationship between justice, equality, and philanthropy in society.

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school –  Albert Einstein .

This essay topic likely demands from candidates to reflect on the value of education beyond rote memorization.

It may have expect discussion on the practical application of knowledge and lifelong learning.

What Should Aspirants Preparing for UPSC CSE for Next Year do for an essay paper?

Taking the essay paper in the UPSC exam seriously is important. This paper requires you to write 10-12 pages about abstract or philosophical topics, which can be challenging if you’re not well-prepared.

To succeed in this exam and perform well in the essay paper, you should work on improving your comprehension and analytical skills. To get additional guidance you can join the ClearIAS essay writing program as well.

One helpful way to prepare is by reading various types of essays, especially philosophical ones. Pay special attention to the ideas of famous philosophers like Immanuel Kant, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, and others.

Practice writing essays based on famous quotes, as this is a common format in UPSC exams.

Additionally, be ready to write essays on a wide range of topics, including society, politics, the economy, and technology. UPSC asks such types of questions too.

Keep in mind that there isn’t a fixed pattern for UPSC questions. Analyze previous year’s question papers to get valuable insight. So, focus on understanding the way UPSC frames questions rather than expecting a consistent trend.

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UPSC Essay Paper 2023, Download PDF

Upsc mains 2023 essay question paper: the union public service commission (upsc) mains exam started today, september 15, 2023, at 24 centres across the country. check and download the mains essay question paper pdf from this article..

UPSC Essay Paper 2023

Download UPSC IAS Essay Question Paper 2023 PDF

Topics Asked in the IAS Mains Essay Paper 

The UPSC IAS Essay question consists of two sections where questions from 4 topics were asked in each section. Candidates need to write an essay of 1000-1200 words on 1 topic of their choice from the section

• Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team 
• Visionary decision-making at the intersection of intuition and logic
• Not all who wander are lost
• Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane
• Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands - two equally harmful disciplines
• Mathematics is the music of reason
• A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity
• Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school

UPSC IAS Mains Exam Dates

For more details click here

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• How to download the UPSC Essay Question Papers? + Candidates can download the UPSC Essay Question Papers from this article. The exam prep team of Jagran Josh has compiled the released question paper.
• What is the UPSC IAS Mains Question Paper Pattern? + The UPSC IAS Mains question paper consists of nine papers: Essay, GS 1, GS 2, GS 3, GS 4, English, Indian Language Paper and two papers from the optional subject.
• Is there a negative marking on the UPSC Question Papers? + No, as the papers are subjective in nature there will be no negative marking
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UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023

by Vajiram & Ravi

Model Answers GS Paper I PDF

Model Answers GS Paper II PDF

Model Answers GS Paper III PDF

Model Answers GS Paper IV PDF

The UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 will help you understand the exam pattern being followed by UPSC in this year. The exam dates for the UPSC CSE Mains are 15th, 16th, 17th, 23rd and 24th September 2023. The examination was conducted in two shifts: the first shift is from 9.00 a.m. - 12.00 p.m., and the second shift is from 2.00 p.m. -5.00 p.m . The pattern of the UPSC Mains 2023 question paper consists of a comprehensive assessment designed to evaluate the knowledge, analytical abilities, and writing skills of aspirants for various civil services positions in India. There are 9 papers in total, and all are descriptive in nature.

Analysing the UPSC Mains 2023 paper will help you analyse the pattern of questions and fill in the gaps in your preparation for UPSC 2024 . Therefore, this article will focus on providing UPSC Mains Question Papers 2023 for all 9 papers that are taking place from 15th to 24th September 2023.

UPSC Mains 2023 Question Paper PDF

The UPSC Mains Question Paper consists of a set of nine papers, out of which two are qualifying in nature, namely the English Language Paper and an Indian Language Paper (selected by the candidate). The remaining seven papers are counted for merit, covering a wide spectrum of subjects, including General Studies, Essay, and optional subjects selected by the candidates. These papers are designed to evaluate a candidate's in-depth understanding of various subjects, critical thinking ability, analytical skills, and ability to articulate thoughts clearly.

Here, you can download the UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 PDF of GS Paper- I, II, III and IV consisting of the General Studies subjects part of the UPSC Syllabus . Each Paper carries 250 Marks.

• General Studies I (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society)
• General Studies II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice, and International Relations)
• General Studies III (Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management)
• General Studies IV (Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude)

You can download the UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 of General Studies - I, II, III, and IV from the given link below:

• GS Paper I Mains Question Paper 2023
• GS Paper II Mains Question Paper 2023
• GS Paper III Mains Question Paper 2023
• GS Paper IV Mains Question Paper 2023

Model Answers of UPSC Mains 2023 General Studies Questions

Those who have taken the UPSC Mains 2023 exam from 15th to 24th September or those who are planning to appear next year can download the model answers of UPSC Mains question papers of GS I, II, III, and IV from the following links. These answers will help you identify the structure and important points that could be included in the answers.

GS Paper 1:

• Question 1: Explain the role of Geographical Factors towards the development of Ancient India .
• Question 2:  What was the difference between Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore in their approach towards education and nationalism?
• Question 3:  Bring about the Socio-Economic Effects of the Introduction of Railways in Different Countries of the World.
• Question 4:  Discuss the Consequences of Climate Change on the Food Security in Tropical Countries.
• Question 5:  Why is the world today confronted with a crisis of availability of and access to freshwater resources?
• Question 6: How are the fjords formed? Why do they constitute some of the most picturesque areas of the world?
• Question 8:  Do you think marriage as a sacrament is losing its value in modern India?
• Question 9:  Explain why suicide among young women is increasing in Indian society.

GS Paper 2:

• Question 1:  "Constitutionally guaranteed judicial independence is a prerequisite of democracy”. Comment.
• Question 2:  Who are entitled to receive free legal aid? Assess the role of the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) in rendering free legal aid in India.
• Question 3:  “The states in India seem reluctant to empower urban local bodies both functionally as well as financially.” Comment.
• Question 4:  Compare and Contrast the British and Indian approaches to Parliamentary Sovereignty.
• Question 5:  Discuss the role of Presiding Officers of state legislatures in maintaining order and impartiality in conducting legislative work and in facilitating best democratic practices.

GS Paper 3:

• Question 1:  Faster economic growth requires increased share of the manufacturing sector in GDP, particularly of MSMEs. Comment on the present policies of the Government in this regard.
• Question 2:  What is the status of digitalization in the Indian economy? Examine the problems faced in this regard and suggest improvements.
• Question 3:  How does e-Technology help farmers in production and marketing of agricultural produce? Explain it.
• Question 4:  State the objectives and measures of land reforms in India. Discuss how land ceiling policy on landholding can be considered as an effective reform under economic criteria.
• Question 5:  Introduce the concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI). How does AI help clinical diagnosis? Do you perceive any threat to privacy of the individual in the use of AI in the healthcare?
• Question 6:  Discuss several ways in which microorganisms can help in meeting the current fuel shortage.

GS Paper 4:

• Differentiate ‘moral intuition’ from ‘moral reasoning with suitable examples.
• What were the major teachings of Guru Nanak? Explain their relevance in the contemporary world.
• Explain the term social capital. How does it enhance good governance?

UPSC Mains Essay Paper 2023

The UPSC Mains Essay paper 2023 consists of two sections, Section A and Section B. Each section has four essay topics. Aspirants must choose one topic from each section for a total of two essays. Each essay must be between 1,000 and 1,200 words long and is worth 125 marks. The Essay paper is not just for qualifying purposes but also counts towards the final merit ranking. Candidates are expected to stay on topic, organise their thoughts logically, and write concisely.

The UPSC Mains Essay Paper 2023  can be downloaded here.

UPSC CSE Mains 2023 Essay Question Paper PDF

UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 Language Papers

The UPSC Mains exam has nine papers, of which Paper A is the mandatory Indian Language Paper. Candidates must select an Indian language from a list given by the UPSC in the official notification.

Paper B is the required English Language Paper. It is a qualifying paper, meaning that candidates must score at least 25% marks in order to be considered for the final merit list.

The UPSC Mains question papers for Indian language and English language can be downloaded from the following links:

• Paper A: Indian Language Mains Question Paper 2023 (Hindi)
• Paper B: English Language Question Paper 2023

UPSC Mains Optional Question Papers

The UPSC Mains Exam has a list of 48 optional subjects from which aspirants must choose one. Each optional subject is divided into two papers, each of which carries 250 marks. The choice of an optional subject is an important factor in determining the candidate's rank in the final merit list, so it should be made carefully. The UPSC Mains 2023 question paper of optional subjects can be downloaded from the following links:

Pattern of UPSC Mains 2023 Paper

To know about the exam pattern and the release dates of UPSC Mains 2023 question papers, refer to the following table:

Is UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 released?

The UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 has not been released on the Official UPSC Website yet. However, you can download the Mains Question Paper 2023 from our given page after the paper has been successfully concluded on the given day.

How many papers are there in UPSC Mains?

There are a total of 9 papers for UPSC Mains 2023. Each paper is descriptive in nature.

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© 2024 Vajiram & Ravi. All rights reserved

[Download] UPSC Mains 2023 – Essay Paper PDF – Hindi | English

Current Affairs Classes Pre cum Mains 2025, Batch Starts: 11th September 2024 Click Here for more information

UPSC Mains 2023 Essay Paper has been conducted on the first day of the Civil Services mains Examination. The question paper of the same is out. You can download the question paper from the link given below:

Download UPSC Mains Essay Paper 2023

UPSC Mains 2023 Essay Paper

Write two essays, choosing one topic from each of the following Sections A and B, in about 1000-1200 words each:

1. Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team. चिंतन एक तरह का खेल है, यह तब तक प्रारम्भ नहीं होता, जब तक एक विरोधी पक्ष न हो ।

2. Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic. दूरदर्शी निर्णय तभी लिए जाते हैं जब अंतर्ज्ञान और तर्क का परस्पर मेल होता है।

3. Not all who wander are lost. सभी भटकने वाले गुम नहीं होते हैं ।

4. Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane. रचनात्मकता की प्रेरणा लौकिकता में चमत्कार ढूँढने के प्रयास से उपजती हैं।

Section – B

5. Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands two equally harmful disciplines. लड़कियाँ बंदिशों के तथा लड़के अपेक्षा के बोझ तले दबे हुए होते हैं दोनों ही समान रूप से हानिकारक व्यवस्थाएँ हैं।

6. Mathematics is the music of reason. गणित ज्ञान का संगीत है ।

7. A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity. जिस समाज में अधिक न्याय होता है, उस समाज को दान की कम आवश्यकता होती है।

8. Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school. शिक्षा वह है जो विद्यालय में सीखी गई बातों को भूल जाने के बाद भी शेष रह जाती है।

The Essay Paper is a crucial part of the UPSC Mains Examination. It carries 250 marks and is divided into two sections: Section A and Section B. Each section has four essay topics, and you must pick one topic from each section to write on. The time allotted is 3 hours.

UPSC CSE Main exam 2023 schedule

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UPSC Mains Question Paper Pdf 2023 for Essay Paper and GS Paper I,II,III,IV

Download Subject wise question Paper. UPSC Mains 2023 question papers are helpful to evaluate your Performance in UPSC Exam. Check UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 for all subject.

Table of Contents

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is currently conducting the UPSC Mains Examination on September 15th, 16th, 17th 23rd, and on 24th. On September 15, the commission conducted the Essay Writing paper, and today, on September 17, GS Paper 3 was conducted in the morning shift. For your convenience, you can access the subject-wise PDF UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 in this article.

UPSC Mains Exam 2023 Time Table

The UPSC mains exam consists of nine papers, including an English language paper, one paper in an Indian language, two optional papers, an essay paper, and four general studies papers (GS-1, 2, 3, and 4). Below is the schedule for the UPSC Mains 2023 examination.

UPSC Mains Question Papers PDF

The UPSC Mains Exam 2023 is to be held on 15th September this year. We have provided you the PDF Link here for the UPSC Mains Question Papers 2023 . The link given below will be active after the exam is conducted successfully, till then stay connected to our website for more updates @adda247. Check out the table below:

UPSC Mains Essay Writing Question Paper 2023 PDF

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducted the UPSC Mains Essay Writing Paper on September 15th, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, as part of this year’s UPSC Mains examination. UPSC Mains Essay Paper is important for Aspirants preparing for the UPSC examination for year 2023 onwards, can access and download the UPSC Essay Writing Paper PDF 2023 provided below. This question paper will serve as a valuable resource for future UPSC exam preparations.

UPSC Mains Essay Question Paper 2023 PDF Also check UPSC Mains Essay Topic with solution provide by the expert team of adda247 Detailed UPSC Mains Essay Topic 2023 and Solutions

UPSC Mains 2023 General Studies Paper I

The UPSC Civil Services Examination places significant importance on Mains General Studies Paper 1. This paper covers vital subjects, including History, Art and Culture, Post-Independence History, Geography, and Society. On September 16th, UPSC conducted GS Paper 1 in the morning shift. You can access the PDF download of Mains General Studies Paper 1 below.

Detailed Analysis of  UPSC Mains 2023 General Studies Paper 1

UPSC Mains 2023 General Studies Paper II

The UPSC Mains GS Paper 2 for the year 2023 is now available for candidates to download in PDF format. This examination was conducted on September 16, 2023, from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM and holds a total weightage of 250 marks. The paper comprises 20 questions, and candidates were allotted a duration of 3 hours to complete it. The PDF link for UPSC Mains GS Paper 2 2023 can be located below for your convenience.

Detailed Analysis of UPSC Mains 2023 General Studies Paper 2

UPSC Mains 2023 General Studies Paper III

The UPSC Mains GS Paper 3 for 2023 is now accessible to candidates in PDF format. The exam took place on September 17, 2023, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM and carries a total of 250 marks. There are 20 questions in this paper, and candidates have 3 hours to complete it. You can find the PDF link for UPSC Mains GS Paper 3 2023 below.

Detailed Analysis of  UPSC General Studies Paper III

Also check the sequence wise question answer asked in the UPSC mains GS paper 3, with proper understanding and analysation of question by the expert team of adda 247

UPSC Mains 2023 General Studies Paper IV

The UPSC Mains GS Paper 4 for the year 2023 has been made available to candidates in a downloadable PDF format. This examination occurred on September 17, 2023, with a time duration from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM and a total weighting of 250 marks. The paper comprises 20 questions, and candidates were allotted a 3-hour window to complete it. The PDF link for UPSC Mains GS Paper 4 2023 can be found below for reference.

Detailed Analysis of UPSC Mains 2023 GS Paper IV 

Download UPSC Mains 2023 GS Paper 4 pdf

UPSC Main Paper Analysis 2023

The Paper Analysis of the UPSC Mains Exam is conducted by examining past question papers and gathering insights from candidates who have taken the UPSC mains exam. Over time, the allocation of marks for various subjects fluctuates, and it’s impossible to forecast the precise question pattern. However, the UPSC Mains Previous Question Papers Analysis offers valuable insights into the types of questions, patterns, and levels of difficulty, which can assist candidates in formulating effective preparation strategies.

UPSC Mains 2023 Exam Paper Subject-Wise

According to the analysis of the UPSC Mains Exam, candidates are required to take nine papers in the UPSC mains examination. The language papers are considered qualifying papers and are outlined below. Also, we have provided the table check out below for clear knowledge:

UPSC Mains 2023 Language Question Papers PDF

In this section, candidates can conveniently access and download the Indian Language Question Papers and English Language Question Papers for UPSC Mains 2023 in PDF format. These question papers are essential components of the examination and are crucial for candidates’ comprehensive preparation. You can easily access and utilize these PDFs to enhance your readiness for the UPSC Mains 2023 language papers.

Last Five year UPSC Mains Previous year Question Papers PDF

We will provide you with the PDF link to the last 5 year’s UPSC Mains Question Papers PDF once they become available. Please stay connected to our website for the latest updates @adda247. Here are the exam dates for your reference:

Watch UPSC Mains Question Paper Analysis:

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How to Analyse UPSC mains question paper?

1.Start by organizing all the previous year question papers in chronological order. 2. Identify the recurring patterns and topics from the questions. 3. Focus on understanding the type of questions that are frequently asked and the format in which they are presented

Is UPSC mains very tough?

The success rate of the UPSC exam is enough to tell you why is UPSC tough. Every year lakhs of candidates apply for Prelims, and among them, only 25% clear it and move on to the next stage, i.e., IAS Mains. Therefore, according to some, UPSC is one of the toughest exams in the world.

Is Shift 1 Essay Paper Completed?

Yes, Shift 1 Essay Paper is Complete successfully.

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Essay Question Paper (Analysis & Solutions) – UPSC Civil Services Mains 2023

Write two essays, choosing one topic from each of the following Sections A and B, in about 1000 – 1200 words each: (125×2=250 marks)

(Click the links to read the solutions)

• Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team.
• Visionary deci sion-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.
• Not all who wander are lost.
• Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane .
• Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands – two equally harmful disciplines.
• Mathematics is the music of reason.
• A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.
• Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

Express Learning Programme (ELP)

• Optional Notes
• Study Hacks
• Prelims Sureshots (Repeated Topic Compilations)
• Current Affairs (Newsbits, Editorials & In-depths)
• Ancient Indian History
• Medieval Indian History
• Modern Indian History
• Post-Independence Indian History
• World History
• Art & Culture
• Geography (World & Indian)
• Indian Society & Social Justice
• Indian Polity
• International Relations
• Indian Economy
• Environment 
• Agriculture
• Internal Security
• Disasters & its Management
• General Science – Biology
• General Studies (GS) 4 – Ethics
• Syllabus-wise learning
• Political Science
• Anthropology
• Public Administration

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Analysis & Approach

Each question in the essay paper reflects a different dimension of thinking, and the aspirant is expected to demonstrate their analytical skills, coherence in arguments, and proficiency in language while addressing these questions.

• Analysis: This topic seems to delve into the dialectical nature of thought. It could be interpreted that for any idea or thought to be truly explored or expanded upon, there must be an opposing or challenging force. This could relate to the Hegelian dialectic (thesis-antithesis-synthesis) or even the fundamental nature of debates.
• Approach: A candidate can start by illustrating the importance of opposition in any form of critical thinking or decision-making. Real-world examples like scientific debates, democratic procedures, and the role of a loyal opposition in a parliament can be cited.
• Analysis: Visionary decisions are those that shape the future, and they strike a balance between intuition (which is often based on subconscious processing) and logic (structured reasoning).
• Approach: Candidates can discuss examples of visionary leaders and their decisions. For instance, Steve Jobs’ intuition in product design combined with logical market analysis, or Mahatma Gandhi ’s intuition about non-violence and its logical implications in the Indian freedom struggle.
• Analysis: This statement, borrowed from J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, implies that not all who seem directionless are without purpose; sometimes, wandering can be a form of discovery.
• Approach: This can be addressed by discussing the importance of exploration, serendipity in scientific discoveries, or even the self-exploratory journey that many individuals undertake in life.
• Analysis: This implies that true creativity often arises from observing and interpreting everyday life in unique ways.
• Approach: Real-life examples of artists, writers, and scientists who drew inspiration from everyday occurrences can be highlighted. Picasso’s simplistic drawings or Archimedes’ Eureka moment in his bathtub, for instance.
• Analysis: This topic brings out the gender disparities and societal norms and expectations imposed upon individuals based on their gender.
• Approach: It’s crucial to address both sides of the coin, discussing how gender norms restrict the potential and well-being of both girls and boys. Comparisons of societal expectations, real-life anecdotes, and data-driven evidence on gender disparities can be effective.
• Analysis: The quote explores the harmony, structure, and beauty in mathematics similar to the rhythm and patterns in music.
• Approach: Discussing the inherent order and logic in mathematics, and drawing parallels with musical structures can be a starting point. Mentioning mathematicians who were also musicians or vice versa might add value.
• Analysis: This touches upon the idea that if a society is just, equitable, and provides opportunities for all, then the need for charity diminishes as fewer people would be in a position of deprivation.
• Approach: Highlighting the correlation between justice and social welfare, discussing models of developed nations, and contrasting them with societies where charity becomes a band-aid solution for deeper systemic issues can be effective.
• Analysis: This topic delves into the difference between rote learning and true education – the values, critical thinking skills, and character that endure beyond mere facts.
• Approach: Drawing a distinction between learning for exams and learning for life, discussing the role of education in character building, and bringing in philosophical views on education would be insightful.

For all the essays, it’s essential to remember to structure the arguments coherently, provide relevant examples, and ensure a holistic view is presented. Best of luck to all the aspirants!

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UPSC Mains 2023 Question Paper & Solution PDFs [Download]

Welcome to our dedicated resource page for UPSC aspirants seeking the UPSC Mains 2023 Question Paper in PDF format. As part of our commitment to supporting your journey to becoming a civil servant, we understand the pivotal role that accessing the right materials plays in your preparation.

These UPSC Mains 2023 question papers are an invaluable resource for understanding the exam's complexity, question trends, and the depth of knowledge required.

Download UPSC Mains Question Paper PDF 2023

To access the UPSC Mains 2023 Question Paper PDFs, simply click the provided links on this page.

Download UPSC Main 2023 Solutions

Model Answers:

Importance of Civil Services Main Exam papers

Assessment of Preparedness: Previous year question papers provide a tangible benchmark for aspirants to evaluate their level of preparedness. By attempting these papers, candidates can gauge their strengths and weaknesses in different subjects.

Understanding Exam Pattern and Trends: Analyzing past question papers helps aspirants discern recurring patterns in the types of questions asked, the weightage of different topics, and the overall format of the examination. This understanding aids in tailoring a more focused and effective preparation strategy.

Improving Answer Writing Skills: The Mains exam requires candidates to express their knowledge effectively through written responses. Practicing with previous year question papers hones candidates' answer writing skills, helping them articulate their thoughts concisely and coherently.

Solved Mains Papers:

• Download - 10 years Mains Paper PDFs

UPSC Mains 2023 Paper Video Discussion : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7Nkpcu_k2VInFmzObT26qvDyhBl5HlVl

Read Solution by Rau's IAS for UPSC Mains Papers:

Learn from the experts. Rau's IAS solutions are written by experienced faculty members who have a deep understanding of the UPSC Mains syllabus. By reading the solutions, you can learn from their expertise and insights.

The UPSC Mains 2023 Question Papers are an indispensable resource for every serious UPSC aspirant. They serve as compasses, guiding candidates through the intricate terrain of the examination.

Update: UPSC 2023 Final Result

Where can I find and download UPSC Mains Question Paper PDFs?

You can find and download UPSC Mains Question Paper PDFs on the Compass website. This website is a comprehensive resource hub catering to the needs of UPSC aspirants. It offers free access to the past 10 years' question papers, providing valuable material for your preparation.

When will the UPSC Mains 2023 Question Paper PDFs be available for download?

Mains 2023 Question Paper PDFs will be available for download starting from September 15, 2023.

Is there a limit to how many times I can download UPSC Mains Question Paper PDFs?

No, there is no limit! Feel free to access and download the resources as many times as you find necessary for your preparation.

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Essay Question Paper – UPSC Mains 2023

The first paper of UPSC Mains 2023, that is the Essay paper, was conducted today. Following are the takeaways from it:

This year also we see the dominance of Philosophical essays. Each and every topic can be said to be a Quote. However, one thing which makes this essay paper easier than the one last year is the fact that these quotations are from different and common subjects or issues. The topics which they cater to are common to any serious UPSC Aspirant .

These topics include:

• Social Issues

Generally speaking, Section A can be said to be tougher than section B. However, it’s a comparative paper, so for any serious UPSC Aspirant, the difficulty level should not make that much of a difference.

The most important thing every aspirant should take away from this is, they should practice as many essays as possible in the test series which are out of their comfort area. This practice shall help a lot in tackling any and every kind of essay topic in UPSC Mains.

The UPSC Mains 2023, a highly anticipated and rigorous examination, marks a pivotal moment for aspiring civil servants in India. This prestigious examination, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) , is the second stage of the Civil Services Examination and serves as a crucial stepping stone for candidates who aim to join the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) , Indian Police Service (IPS) , or other elite civil services. The UPSC Mains 2023 will test candidates on a wide range of subjects, including essay writing, general studies, and optional subjects chosen by the candidates. Let’s check out more information on the  UPSC Pathshala website.

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UPSC Mains Question Paper and Answer Solution 2023 with Analysis, Download PDF

Candidate preparing for UPSC and interested aspirants can download UPSC Mains question paper 2023 for all 9 sections which is going to be held from September 15, 2023 to 24th September.

Table of Contents

UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023

UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 has been released after the exam. Candidates can download the Question Paper PDF with the Answers for the Essay Paper, Paper-II General Studies-I, Paper-III General Studies-II, Paper-IV General Studies-III, Paper-V General Studies-IV, Paper-A Indian Language, Paper-B English, Paper-VI Optional Subject-Paper-1 and Paper-VII Optional Subject-Paper-2.

UPSC Mains Exams Started on September 15, 2023 (Friday) with an Essay Paper and it will end with Paper-VII Optional Subject-Paper-2 on 24th September, 2023 (Sunday). The UPSC Mains Question Paper is a comprehensive examination that tests candidates’ knowledge, understanding, and analytical skills across a wide range of subjects. The paper is divided into nine different papers, each of which covers a different subject area.

• Paper 1: Essay
• Paper 2: General Studies I
• Paper 3: General Studies II
• Paper 4: General Studies III
• Paper 5: General Studies IV
• Paper 6: Optional Subject I
• Paper 7: Optional Subject II
• Paper 8: Language I (English)
• Paper 9: Language II (Indian Language)

If you are preparing for the UPSC IAS Exam and are interested in UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 and Looking for a UPSC Mains 2023 Question Paper, then this will be the right place to get all the information in one click.

• Download UPSC Mains 2023 Essay Paper with Analysis
• Download UPSC Mains 2023 GS Paper I with Analysis
• Download UPSC Mains 2023 GS Paper II with Analysis
• Download UPSC Mains 2023 GS Paper III with Analysis
• Download UPSC Mains 2023 GS Paper IV with Analysis

UPSC Mains Exam 2023 Time Table

The English language paper, one paper in the Indian language, two optional papers, the essay paper, and four general studies papers (GS-1, 2, 3, and 4) make up the nine papers that make up the UPSC mains exam. The schedule for the UPSC Mains 2023 exam is provided in the table below.

UPSC Mains Questions Paper 2023 PDF

Candidates who are preparing for UPSC already know that  UPSC Mains  consists of Nine Papers: Essay Paper, GS Paper 1, GS Paper 2, GS Paper 3 , GS Paper 4, Optional Subject-Paper-1, Optional Subject-Paper-2, Paper-B English, and Paper-A Indian Language. You can download the PDFs for each exam from the below table.

While the remaining exams of the UPSC Mains Exam are counted for merit ranking and will determine your result, the English and other language papers are of a qualifying character.

All candidates must take an exam in the Indian language, with the exception of those from Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim, Manipur, Mizoram, and Meghalaya. Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali are among the languages that can be used to write the UPSC Mains Language Paper.

Download UPSC Mains 2023 GS Question and Answer Paper PDFs

Candidates can access the UPSC Mains Exam 2023 general studies exam papers in this part of the website by selecting them from the table below. (Links will be provided once the papers are out).

Check Out :- UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023

UPSC Mains Language Question and Answer Papers 2023

Even though the language exams are for qualification purposes, they are significant because the candidate must pass them with the required minimum score in order to advance to the IAS mains exam. There is a list of languages from which applicants can select for the required Indian language exam.

The English language paper is referred to as Paper B, while the Indian language paper is referred to as Paper A. From the table below, candidates can download the language test questions. Upon release of the papers, links will be provided.

UPSC Mains 2023 Language Question and Answer Papers PDF

From this section, candidates can download Indian Language Question Papers and English Language Question Papers in PDF format.

Check Out :- UPSC Mains Optional Question Paper 2023

UPSC Mains Optional Paper 2023

UPSC  Mains optional paper for 2023, candidates were presented with a diverse range of subjects to choose from, including but not limited to subjects like History, Geography, Sociology, Political Science, and Economics, among others.

This year’s optional paper aimed to test candidates’ in-depth knowledge and expertise in their chosen subjects, providing them with an opportunity to showcase their specialization and understanding in their respective fields.

Candidates can check out the UPSC Mains Optional Paper 2023 with the detail explanations with pdf

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UPSC Mains Question Papers 2023 FAQs

What are the 9 papers in upsc mains.

The UPSC Mains round, which is the second stage of the exam has nine papers. These nine papers are Compulsory Indian Language, English, Essay, General Studies-1, General Studies-2, General Studies-3, General Studies-4, Optional Paper-1, and Optional Paper-2.

What is paper 1 and paper 2 in UPSC mains?

Optional paper 1 and 2 in the UPSC Mains examination are two papers of a single optional subject like geography paper 1 and Paper 2, mechanical engineering paper 1 and Paper 2.

How much marks required for IAS 2023?

UPSC Prelims 2023 took place on May 28, 2023. The expected UPSC Cut Off 2023 For Prelims this year is 82-85 marks. The UPSC Prelims 2023 cut off will be out for all candidates once the exam results are published.

Will the questions be repeated in the UPSC examination?

The answer is Yes. Any times questions have been repeated in UPSC CSE. That is why it is recommended to go theough all the previous years (at least past 10 years).

Was UPSC Prelims 2023 tough?

The General Studies Paper of the UPSC Prelims 2023 exam was difficult in nature compared to the previous year. Candidates can expect the cut-off to go down to 82 to 85, as compared to 88 in the UPSC 2022 Prelims cut-off.

Is UPSC 2023 paper hard or easy?

The UPSC Prelims Paper 1 has been conducted by the Union Public Service Commission at various centers across the country. As per the student's feedback and our subject matter experts, the exam was of a moderate level of difficulty.

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• UPSC CSE 2023 Mains Essay Paper Model Answers

The UPSC Civil Services Main Examination 2023 began with an Essay paper. There were eight essay topics separated into two groups, and aspirants were supposed to write on two of them in three hours, one from each. Candidates were asked to write 1000-1200 words for each essay.

Initial Thoughts

• This year's essay paper followed the predicted pattern, with five of the eight themes being philosophical in nature. Furthermore, the general tone of the paper was thoughtful and philosophical.
• Although the topics were simple to understand, it was challenging to select the right topic and then come up with enough content to complete 1000–1200 words.
• The paper was manageable for aspirants who adhered to the fundamentals of UPSC preparation, such as having a firm understanding of the static syllabus, broad knowledge of current events, and adequate writing practice.

Now, let us discuss each topic separately.

Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team

• This topic appears to be centered on the notion that critical thinking frequently occurs in the interaction to competing ideas or challenges.
• Candidates may have been asked to investigate how clashes of ideas result in innovation and advancement.

Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic

• Paul O'Brien is the author of this well-known proverb.
• This comment most likely encouraged candidates to explore the importance of balancing intuition and logic when making crucial decisions.
• It promotes thinking on the roles of both aspects in good leadership and problem-solving.

Not all who wander are lost

• This saying belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring.
• The topic expected from candidates to think about how exploring and being spontaneous in life’s journey can be excellent. It’s a deep topic that can be understood in many different ways.

Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane

• This essay topic appears to promote the notion that creativity is not restricted to rare moments of inspiration, but can also be found in ordinary events. It most likely prompted individuals to consider where creativity comes from and how we may exhibit it in our daily lives.

Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands- two equally harmful disciplines

• This is the saying of Simone de Beauvoir. Simone de Beauvoir was a prominent French existentialist philosopher and feminist thinker. She made significant contributions to feminist philosophy through her work, including “The Second Sex,” where she discussed the concept of “The Other” and examined the role of societal expectations in shaping women’s lives.
• The quote by Simone de Beauvoir presented the idea that both girls and boys or individuals of different genders, often face distinct but equally harmful forms of societal pressures and constraints.

Mathematics is the music of reasons

• Mathematics is the music of reason, according to James Joseph Sylvester. Isn't music the mathematics of the senses, and mathematics the music of the reason? The musician feels mathematics, while the mathematician thinks music: music is a dream, and mathematics is a job.”
• This remark implies a poetic link between mathematics and music. Candidates would almost certainly be required to address the beauty and rationality inherent in mathematics, as well as its role in molding our understanding of the world.

A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity

• This topic appears to touch on the concepts of social justice and charity, which have been studied by philosophers such as John Rawls, as well as the “veil of ignorance.”
• Candidates may have been asked to investigate the relationship in society amongst justice, equality, and generosity.

Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school

• Albert Einstein once said, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
• This essay topic will most likely require candidates to consider the value of education beyond rote memorization. It could have been expected to have a discussion about the practical application of knowledge and lifelong learning.

Conclusion:

• It makes no difference whether aspirants know where the quotes came from. The only thing that matters is how the given quote is elaborated and supplemented by examples and case studies. All of this is dependent on the critical topic selection. All of this depends on the proper selection of the topic.

Takeaways for 2024

• As previously stated, the paper was manageable for those who strictly followed the fundamentals of UPSC preparation.
• The main takeaway from this year's paper is that sufficient writing practise is necessary now.

More about the Art of Essay Writing can be found in Samajho's Corner:

• Samajho UPSC Essay Series | Part 1 | How to Write an Effective Essay?
• Samajho UPSC Essay Series | Part 2 | Quotes For Writing an Effective Essay
• Samajho UPSC Essay Series | Part 3 | Anecdotes For Writing an Effective Essay
• Samajho UPSC Essay Series | Part 4 | Theme-wise Previous Years Essay Papers
• Samajho UPSC Essay Series | Part 5 | How to Tackle Philosophical Essays?

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UPSC Mains Paper 2023, Download UPSC Essay Paper 2023 PDF

Download UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 Subject-wise Question paper for the Practice as per the UPSC Syllabus. We have provide the PDF link for the Download Check this out

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UPSC Mains Question Papers 2023

Union Public Service Commission is set to conduct the UPSC Mains Exam 2023, as it is scheduled to start on 15th September 2023 with the Essay Writing Paper conducted between 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM. General  Studies paper will be conduct between 16th September to 17th September, where as Language paper will conduct on 23rd September and The optional papers will conclude IAS Mains 2023 on September 24th, 2023. The schedule of the UPSC Mains Exam 2023 have been provided below along with the UPSC Mains Question Papers 2023 PDF.

UPSC Mains Papers 2023 Schedule

The UPSC Mains Examination is conducted in nine papers which are, the Essay Writing Paper, four General Studies papers (GS-1, 2, 3 & 4), two papers of optional, one Indian language paper and one English language paper. UPSC Mains 2023 Question Paper will be released here after the exam. The UPSC Mains Papers 2023 Schedule has been mentioned in the table below:

UPSC Essay Paper 2023 PDF Download Link

The Essay Paper of UPSC Mains 2023 is available in PDF format. The exam was successfully administered by UPSC at Forenoon on September 15, 2023. 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, session. The UPSC Essay Paper is 250 Marks. Candidates can check the UPSC Essay Paper 2023 PDF Link below

UPSC Mains Exam 2023 GS Paper PDF

Candidates from the table provided below can download the UPSC Mains Exam 2023 GS Paper PDF for GS Paper I, GS Paper II, GS Paper III , and GS Paper IV.

UPSC IAS Mains 2023 Language Paper A

There are two language papers in the UPSC Mains Exam, one in English Language paper and the other is an Indian Language Paper (which can be one of the languages as mentioned in Schedule 8 of our constitution)

UPSC IAS Mains 2023 Language Paper B

UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper

UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper: On May 28th, 2023, the Union Public Service Commission conducted the UPSC Prelims Exam 2023 for a total of 1105 vacancies. The UPCS Prelims consist of two papers, General Studies Paper 1 and General Studies Paper 2 ( CSAT ), both of which were held on the same day. UPSC Prelims GS Paper I has been completed and the link is provided below. Candidates can download UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper PDFs from the link below.

UPSC Prelims Answer Key 2023

UPSC Prelims Question Paper 2023 PDF

UPSC Prelims Exam is essential to be selected for the Mains Exam. The UPSC Prelims Paper 2023 is a qualifying test, and the candidate’s scores will not be included in the final merit list. In General Studies Paper-1 there are 100 MCQs, while in General Studies Paper-2 (CSAT) there are 80 MCQs. Download UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper PDF, as provided in the article below.

UPSC Result 2023

UPSC Prelims Exam Analysis 2023

UPSC Prelims Expected Cut Off 2023

UPSC Prelims Question Paper 2022

The UPSC Prelims Paper is a qualifying test, and the candidates’ marks will not be counted in the final merit list; however, good marks in the UPSC Prelims Exam are required to be shortlisted for the Mains Exam. The UPSC Question Paper for prelims consists of two sections: General Studies-1 and General Studies-2 (CSAT). There are 100 MCQs in Paper-1 and 80 MCQs in Paper-2. The questions asked in UPSC 2022 can be found in the UPSC Question Paper of Prelims, which is linked in the article.

UPSC Question Paper 2023

UPSC Question Papers 2014 to 2021

Candidates who are preparing for the upcoming UPSC Exam can download the UPSC Previous Year Question Papers from 2014 to 2021 for understanding the pattern of the UPSC exam as well as to learn about the level of the UPSC Prelims Exam 2023 and get a head start on their preparation.

UPSC Previous Year Question Papers

Benefits of Solving UPSC Prelims Question Papers

There are multiple benefits of solving the UPSC Prelims Question Papers as these papers are directly prepared by the commission itself. Some of the benefits are mentioned below:

• To understand the demand of the UPSC. 
• It helps us in understanding the exam pattern of UPSC.
• Practising Previous Year’s Questions helps to understand UPSC’s pattern of asking questions.
• It also helps us in time management while solving questions.
• To effectively cover the UPSC Syllabus. 
• To gauge the depth of understanding needed in each topic. 
• To predict probable areas from which questions can be asked. 
• Practice with good-quality questions, that check your conceptual clarity.

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UPSC Mains Question Paper 2023 FAQs

How to crack mains 2023.

Five tips to successfully crack the exam in one attempt - 1. Understanding of syllabus and exam pattern 2. Stay updated with Current affairs. 3. Attempt mock tests 4. Practice PYQs 5. Revision multiple times

Can I clear prelims in 1 month?

To tell you the truth, passing the UPSC prelims exam in a month is incredibly hard.

How many hours study for UPSC?

It depends on the candidates, on an average 6 to 9 hours of consistent study is sufficient.

Is clearing prelims easy?

The 'Prelims Hurdle' is more difficult to cross than Mains.

What is the minimum marks for prelims?

The expected UPSC Prelims Cut Off is 95-105 marks for the general category.

Where can it find UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper PDF?

The download link for UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper has been provided above in this article.

Was UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper tough?

One can not say that the UPSC Prelims 2023 Question Paper was tough entirely it had both easy, moderate and difficult questions.

When will the UPSC GS Paper 1 exam 2023 will be conducted?

UPSC GS Paper 1 exam 2023 will be conducted on 16th September 2023

How many questions are asked in UPSC GS Paper 1 exam 2023?

There was 20 questions in the UPSC GS Paper 1 exam 2023.

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CSE Toppers' Answer Booklets

ADITYA SRIVASTAVA

All india rank: 1 (2023).

• ESSAY TEST 1
• ESSAY TEST 2
• ESSAY TEST 3
• CSE 2022 - ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - 1
• CSE 2022 - ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - 2
• CSE 2022 - ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - 3
• CSE 2022 - ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - 4
• CSE 2022 - ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - 5
• CSE 2022 - ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - 6

All India Rank: 5 (2023)

• GS I - TEST 1
• Analytics Test - 1
• GS II - TEST 2
• Analytics Test - 2
• GS III - TEST 3
• Analytics Test - 3
• GS IV - TEST 4
• Analytics Test - 4
• ESSAY TEST 4
• CSE 2022 - ECONOMICS - TEST 1
• CSE 2022 - ECONOMICS - TEST 2
• CSE 2022 - ECONOMICS - TEST 3
• CSE 2022 - ECONOMICS - TEST 4
• CSE 2022 - ECONOMICS - TEST 5
• CSE 2022 - ECONOMICS - TEST 7

All India Rank: 9 (2023)

• GS I - TEST 5
• Analytics Test- 5
• GS II - TEST 6
• Analytics Test - 6
• GS III - TEST 7
• Analytics Test - 7
• GS IV - TEST 8
• Analytics Test - 8

KUSH MOTWANI

All india rank: 11 (2023).

• Analytics Test - 5

MEDHA ANAND

All india rank: 13 (2023).

All India Rank: 16 (2023)

• CSE-2022 MATHEMATICS TEST 05
• CSE-2022 MATHEMATICS TEST 06

SHIVAM KUMAR

All india rank: 19 (2023).

ANSHUL BHAT

All india rank: 22 (2023).

PRAJNANANDAN GIRI

All india rank: 24 (2023).

VISHNU SASIKUMAR

All india rank: 31 (2023).

• ESSAY TEST - 1
• ESSAY TEST - 2
• ESSAY TEST - 3

AYUSHI PRADHAN

All india rank: 36 (2023).

THAKUR ANJALI AJAY

All india rank: 43 (2023).

ANSHUL HINDAL

All india rank: 48 (2023).

K N CHANDANA JAHNAVI

All india rank: 50 (2023).

• ESSAY TEST - 4

All India Rank: 53 (2023)

SURABHI SRIVASTAVA

All india rank: 56 (2023).

• Analytics Test- 01
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• Analytics Test- 08

ABHIMANYU MALIK

All india rank: 60 (2023).

• Analytics Test- 02

KHUSHHALI SOLANKI

All india rank: 61 (2023).

• Analytics Test- 07

All India Rank: 69 (2023)

SHOHAM TEBERIWAL

All india rank: 77 (2023).

• Analytics Test- 05
• Analytics Test- 06
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ESHANI ANAND

All india rank: 79 (2023).

All India Rank: 81 (2023)

• ESSAY TEST - 5

All India Rank: 88 (2023)

NIDHI GOYAL

All india rank: 91 (2023).

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BISA’s half century

As BISA marks 50 years since its inauguration in 1975, we reflect on the Association’s stewardship of British International Studies over the past half century. BISA’s founding purpose was to serve the needs and reflect the interests of those engaged in research and teaching of international studies at advanced levels, and to provide an interface for policymakers and civil servants to engage with IR in the academy. With almost 30 working groups, two thriving house journals and a book series, active Postgraduate Network, and record attendance at last year’s annual conference, there are strong signs that BISA is fulfilling its stated purpose. Yet what of its limitations and challenges, too? Fifty years on, what are our needs and collective interests today, and how might those best be served?

And of British International Studies scholarship over the past 50 years – much of which supported by BISA – we ask what have been the core achievements and also failures? What do we want and need from International Studies over the next 50 years? Amidst perpetual political crisis and uncertainty, and growing calls to reshape, ‘undiscipline’ and even abolish the discipline of IR, we ask whether we are equipped for the challenges of the future. And if we are not, what should we do about that? 

Whatever challenges we face, we do so together. The BISA conference is renowned for being inclusive, diverse and friendly. We bring together a worldwide community of specialists to discuss, promote and develop international studies.

Submissions are welcomed which take up the challenges expressed in the questions above, and of any other topic relevant to the advancement of international studies broadly defined. The format for submissions will include individual papers, panels, and roundtables. We encourage submissions which demonstrate multiple perspectives, diverse panels, and a range of innovative formats. Panels and roundtables should be diverse including (but not limited to) gender, ethnicity, career stage, methodological approach, institution, and geographical location. The online system for all submission types will open on 8 October 2024.

01 An in-person conference

Our 2025 conference will take place in person in Belfast. There won't be a virtual or hybrid option. Our annual virtual conference takes place in January 2025. We also offer many virtual opportunities for participation in events throughout the year. You can find out more on our events page. We continue to be the only International Studies Association to offer coffee breaks, lunches and a networking reception as part of the conference fee, as well as conference fee and childcare bursaries. #BISA2025 will be no exception. We will also continue to invest in a comprehensive programme of virtual events throughout the year.

02 What we’re looking for

Hear from BISA Conference Programme Chair, Dr Nick Caddick, on what makes a good submission in this short three-minute video.

03 How it works

For BISA 2025 we will accept three submission types:

• Individual paper submissions
• Panel submissions
• Roundtable submissions

We accept scholarly research papers and policy analysis on any topic related to International Studies in its broadest definition.

Panel  - A panel is an opportunity for a group of experts working in a specific area to share papers or papers in progress. Panel submissions should ideally include four papers, a discussant and a chair, however you may also submit panels with no discussant and either four or five papers with a chair.

Roundtable  - A roundtable is an opportunity for a group of experts to discuss a particular issue in depth without the constraints of having to speak to a paper. Roundtable submissions should include a minimum of four participants and a chair, up to a maximum of six participants and a chair.

Across panels and roundtables, you must give due consideration to diversity of participants including (but not limited to) gender, ethnicity, career stage, methodological approach, institution, and geographical location.

Each submission (whether a paper, panel, or roundtable) may only be made to one working group. On the proposal submission form this is called a 'track'.

The review process

Once the online submission process is closed, individual paper/panel/roundtable submissions are peer reviewed by the conference programme committee.

Initial peer review is done by BISA working group conveners who are assigned submissions based on the working group, or 'track', identified in the proposal.

Working group conveners can accept, decline or refer submissions during this process. They can also build panels composed of individual papers submitted to their working group.

Where there are individual papers with scholarly merit but for which there is no good panel fit within a working group track, the conference chairs will attempt to construct interdisciplinary panels.

Three key points to note are:

• Selection is first and foremost based on academic quality
• There is no limit as to the number of times an individual can appear, but we would like to give as many people as possible an opportunity to participate and will bear this in mind when making selections
• Where there are two papers of equal academic quality and one is not a BISA member, the BISA member will be given preference.

04 Timeline

• 8 October 2024: Submissions open
• 14 November 2024: Deadline for all submissions - papers, roundtables and panels
• w/e 24 January 2025: Provisional programme published and notification emails sent out
• w/e 24 January 2025: Bursary applications open – deadline 28 February 2025
• 14 March 2025: Presenter/Speaker, Chair, and Discussant registration closes
• 14 March 2025: Last day for changes to the programme (please check name/affiliation are correct)
• 17 May 2025: Final programme published
• 1 June 2025: Registration for non-presenting delegates closes
• 18 June 2025: Conference begins

05 Costs and bursaries

As always, BISA members will receive a big discount on the fees paid by non-members. We will also be offering bursaries. More details will follow when submissions open.

06 Our conference management system

We currently use a conference and event management system called Indico. When you click to submit your proposal you will be taken to the conference management system where you will be prompted to create an account. Once you are logged in you can submit abstracts (single paper), panels or roundtables.

We will be on hand to help with any system queries. Please contact [email protected] should you experience any difficulties.

07 Ready to submit your paper, panel or roundtable?

We encourage all scholars with an interest in International Studies to make a submission. Submissions will open on 8 October 2024.

Note you will be taken to our conference management system.

We are grateful for funding from the Belfast and Northern Ireland Conference Subvention Scheme to help put on #BISA2025.

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This is what admissions officers really want to read in college essays

The important thing is not to overthink it.

by Allie Volpe

One of the most memorable essays college admissions counselor Alexis White worked on with a student wasn’t about a harrowing personal challenge or a rewarding volunteering experience. “It started with the sentence ‘My hair arrives in a room before I do,’” says White, the founder and director of the consultancy firm Alexis College Expert. “It just was the best. And everybody who reads it loves it.”

College application essays have an infamous reputation for being one of the most difficult aspects of the application process. But it remains a crucial way to share details about your life and interests — a way to distinguish yourself beyond your grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities, even in the era of ChatGPT (more on that later).

Vox’s guide to college application season

You got into college. How will you pay for it?

Applying to college? Seven current students on how to stand out and stay sane.

Admissions officers are looking to be entertained when reading application essays, White says. Of course, students should use their essay to showcase their curiosities, character, and point of view, but contrary to popular belief, these personal statements don’t need to recount devastating moments of painful growth. “You can be fun,” White says. “You don’t have to have trauma.”

There are a number of essays students will need to write as a part of their college application. Over 1 million students apply to college through the Common App , a streamlined platform that allows students to apply to multiple schools at once. There, students write a personal statement, usually between 500 and 650 words , centered on a student’s identity, beliefs, accomplishments, and interests, and can choose from among seven prompts for the 2024–25 application season. One prompt even allows the applicant to write about a topic of their choice. “Write the essay that your heart wants to write,” says college essay coach Cassandra Hsiao .

Individual colleges also ask for additional shorter pieces ( around 250 words ), also known as supplemental essays, which may ask applicants to explain why they’re applying to this specific school, and about their academic interests and extracurricular activities.

With so much to write, students need to dedicate serious time and effort — White suggests at least eight weeks — into crafting compelling and effective essays. Here’s what college essay pros want applicants to know.

Make sure your essays are unique to you

Students often put pressure on themselves to have a one-of-a-kind essay topic, White says. There are very few unique concepts, she continues, but what will set you apart is your way into the essay. Start strong with an attention-grabbing first sentence, experts say, that immediately hooks the reader.

Can’t decide what to write? Try these exercises.

Look around your house or room and pick 10 items that spark a memory — like a soccer trophy or a painting you made — and write them down. Or recount a typical day in your life in detail, from the music you listen to in the shower to the snack you grab before bed.

The point, Brook says, is to home in on things that you may think of as humdrum, but that you can use to tell a story about yourself.

Don’t discount minor details when thinking about extracurriculars and accomplishments. “When my kids are stuck, it’s a lot of chatting about things that they think don’t matter and then we typically come to something really great,” says Tyler.

Another tactic is picking five adjectives would you use to describe yourself, suggests White. Expand on each with an experience or memory.

Focus on developing a unique lens through which to see an event in your life, with an original point of view. These can be small moments, says Stacey Brook, the founder and chief adviser at College Essay Advisors . For example, one student she worked with wrote an essay about bonding with her mother during drives to gymnastics practice. After the student got her license and no longer had these moments with her mother, she wrote, she felt a sense of loss. “She was reflecting on what those drives meant to her and what it means to grow up and to gain things and lose them at the same time,” Brook says. “That’s the tiniest moment, the smallest slice of life out of which you can make an incredible essay.”

Even if you’re writing about a common topic, like school sports or lessons learned from an adult in your life, one way to differentiate your essay is to add dialogue, Hsiao says. “It’s in the specificity that only you can write because you went through that,” she says.

Avoid regurgitating your resume, Hsaio continues. Instead, lead the reader through a narrative arc showing your growth. You don’t need to explicitly state what you learned from the experience. Instead, use descriptive, scene-setting language — about how tense you were during that big game or your excitement when you stepped onto the stage — that shows how you’re different on the other side.

Again, you don’t need to share the worst thing that’s ever happened to you — or try to dramatize your life to make it seem more challenging than it is — but help the reader understand the effort you put in to get a new club off the ground, for example. “What you went through objectively might be really small on a global scale,” Hsiao says, “but because it felt big to you and I care about you as the writer, it will feel big to me.”

Don’t even think about copying from ChatGPT (or other generative AI)

While Brook understands the appeal of ChatGPT, experts say don’t use it to write your essay. College application reviewers will be able to tell.

The purpose of these pieces is to display your personality and writing ability and bots will never produce a unique, personalized essay. These chatbots use a style and tone that is immediately identifiable to readers, one that is rife with cliches and an awkward cadence, experts say.

Appropriate uses of generative AI include spell and grammar check or as a thesaurus. “Once you start pulling full paragraphs, you’re cheating,” White says. “It’s not your work.”

Tailor supplemental essays to each school

Depending on the school, you may be asked to write one or two shorter supplemental essays . These prompts may have similar themes, about your academic interests or how you relate to the people around you . For these essays, experts say you can reuse answers for multiple schools — but make sure you revise your answers to be specific to each school.

To ensure you’re tackling supplemental essays efficiently, Brook says to collect all of the prompts for the schools you’re applying to and see where they overlap. Hsiao suggests brainstorming three or four activities, obsessions or aspects of your life you know you want to showcase and try to match these topics to essay prompts. This can be anything from an extracurricular to your favorite TV show. “We are prioritizing what is important in our lives and then showcasing that by mixing and matching per school for the supplemental essay questions,” she says. For example, if you plan on writing about your future major for one college, adapt that essay to each school. However, make sure you’re researching each university and adding details about their specific program to your piece, Brook says.

For essays asking why you want to attend that specific college, ensure your answers are unmistakably catered to that school. “‘I love Delaware because I can’t wait to go to football games and pledge a sorority, and I’m excited about the business school.’ That is not going [cut it] because you could say that about Rutgers,” says Kyra Tyler , a senior director and college admissions consultant at Bright Horizons College Coach. Instead, pepper your answer with details about school traditions, an honors program you hope to join, interesting research opportunities or what you observed when you went on a tour (whether in person or virtual), Tyler says.

Tell a vivid story — and showcase your writing ability

Not only do your essays need to be of substance, but they should showcase style, too.

Tyler suggests students avoid metaphor: Don’t talk about caring for your younger sibling in the context of a Bluey episode — be straightforward. (“Kids can’t get away from [metaphors],” Tyler says, “and what happens is they get stuck under them, and they can’t write.”) You’ll want to write vividly using concrete examples instead of plainly spelling everything out, White says. For instance, if you were a camp counselor who helped a nervous child come out of their shell, write a scene showing the camper interacting with other kids rather than simply saying the camper was less reserved.

Write as if you were talking to your best friend, Tyler says. Avoid slang terms, but let your personality come through your writing. Try reading your essay aloud to see if it sounds like you.

Don’t forget about the basics, like good grammar, proper spelling, and word choice (make sure you’re not repeating similar words and phrases). You don’t need to focus on the five-paragraph structure, Hsiao says. Just make sure you’re telling a compelling story. Have a trusted adult, like a teacher or parent, read your essay to help point out style and structural issues you may have missed.

After you’ve completed a draft, set it aside for a few days, come back to it with fresh eyes for revisions, Tyler says.

College application essays are your chance to share who you were, who you are, and how this university will shape who you hope to be, Hsaio says. Focus on topics you want admissions officers to know and let your voice and passion carry the essay.

Correction, September 19, 11 am ET: A previous version of this story conflated the number of applicants with the number of applications sent through the Common App. Over 1 million students apply using the Common App.

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In 2 papers, researchers describe potential new neurodegenerative disease treatment approach

William McEwan, Ph.D., spent years unraveling how an antiviral protein, tripartite motif-containing 21 (TRIM21), protects our cells from infection. Working in the lab of Leo James, Ph.D., McEwan and collaborators realized that TRIM21 marks viruses to be destroyed by the cell’s waste disposal system —but only activates when enough of the proteins cluster together.

McEwan and James have now taken advantage of TRIM21’s cluster activation by turning it against another protein with a penchant for aggregation: the misfolded tau protein that causes Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. In two new papers, they demonstrate how two TRIM21-based techniques can remove tau tangles inside of mouse neurons while leaving healthy tau alone and improve mobility in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease.

“These two articles by the groups of William McEwan and Leo James are very interesting,” Einar Sigurdsson, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote in a forthcoming commentary that Sigurdsson shared in advance with Fierce Biotech. “Both of these potential therapies are successful in clearing pathological tau.”

Our cells normally use TRIM21 as a last line of defense against viruses that manage to breach the cell membrane. Once McEwan, now at the UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, understood how TRIM21 is activated by bunching together, he saw its potential to go after tau aggregates right away.

“It's only when it's forced to cluster on the surface of a virus that it becomes activated,” McEwan told Fierce in an interview. “We asked whether this could therefore allow us to encode specificity for aggregates.” In a 2017 study, he found that TRIM21, combined with antibodies that target tau, could effectively destroy tangles of misfolded tau protein in human cells.

To turn TRIM21 into a treatment, McEwan and James, of the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, needed to make the molecule smaller and simpler. They first isolated the part of the protein that does the antiviral dirty work, called the RING domain, and then linked it to two different tau-targeting molecules: a miniature antibody (nanobody) called F8-2 and tau protein itself.

The team engineered genes to code for the RING constructs and delivered them to mice using an adenovirus vector, commonly used in gene therapy. Injecting the RING-nanobody gene into mice with pathogenic tau, either directly into their brains or in their tails (depending on the vector), successfully cleared the aggregated proteins from their brains while not decreasing overall tau levels. The results were published in Science on Aug. 29.

In the other study, the team used tau protein itself as bait, because the misfolded tau seen in Alzheimer’s stick together and turn healthy tau pathological. This RING-Bait gene therapy also cleared tau tangles in mouse brains, and treated mice were able to walk more quickly and with more coordination. These results appeared in Cell on Sept. 13.

“It would have been interesting to see how [the two techniques] compare under identical conditions,” Sigurdsson and colleagues said in their commentary. “The antibody approach would seem to be safer because of better specificity and the RING-domain could possibly be cleaved to some extent from the mutant tau, which could then become pathological.”

“It's a hypothetical possibility” that the tau bait could separate from RING, McEwan said. “We didn't see evidence of that in our study, but it's definitely something you would want to keep an eye out for.”

Recent years have seen a boom in therapies that go after tau, which is a tougher target than the other main neurodegenerative protein—amyloid beta—because it mostly sits inside of brain cells rather than outside of them. Sigurdsson recently published a paper on a gene therapy that produces tau-targeting antibodies , and, in July, AC Immune presented preclinical data on a new class of antibody-drug conjugates that the biotech thinks has “landmark” potential.

McEwan said he’s looking to set up a company to develop other TRIM21-based degrader molecules. He also plans to continue using the new RING techniques to study the basic biology of tau in neurodegenerative disease.

“What really pays is the molecular understanding of the pathogenesis of the disease and the molecular pathways that could be applied to treat it,” McEwan said. “The investment that charities and governmental bodies have put into basic research is beginning to come to fruition.”

UPSC Mains Question Paper PDFs 2023

The UPSC Mains 2023 commenced on 15th September 2023 with the Essay Paper. The IAS Mains 2023 will conclude on 24th September 2023 with the optional papers. The UPSC Mains is the second step in the entire civil services exam process. Candidates who clear the mains exam will be called for the final leg of the exam, that is, the UPSC Personality Test or interview which will be held in January – March 2024.

Download the UPSC Mains Essay Paper from this link .

UPSC Mains Question Papers 2023

The UPSC mains exam consists of nine papers namely, the Essay Paper, four General Studies papers (GS-1, 2, 3 & 4), two optional papers, the English language paper and one Indian language paper. In the below table, we give you the schedule of the UPSC Mains 2023 exam.

The English and the language papers are of a qualifying nature while the remaining papers are counted for merit ranking.

Candidates will be provided with the UPSC Mains Question paper PDFs of both the qualifying papers and the merit ranking papers in the article.

Note – The exams are yet to take place. The PDFs will be available shortly.

If you are looking for the UPSC syllabus for Prelims, Mains and Interview and information on the Civil Services Exam as a whole, refer to the link above.

Download UPSC Mains 2023 GS Question Paper PDFs

In this section, candidates can download the general studies papers of the UPSC Mains 2023 exam from the table below. (Links will be provided as and when the papers are out).

UPSC Mains Language Question Papers 2023

Though the language papers are of a qualifying nature, they are important because the candidate has to clear these papers with the minimum marks if they want to clear the IAS mains exam. There is a list of languages the candidates can choose from for the compulsory Indian language paper .

The Indian language paper is called Paper A while the English language paper is called Paper B. Candidates can download the language papers from the table below. (Links will be provided once the papers are out).

UPSC Mains 2023 Compulsory Indian Language Question Papers

For tips to crack the English language paper, click here .

Download UPSC Mains Essay Question Paper PDF

• The UPSC Essay paper segment consists of two sections A and B.
• Both sections have about four questions each.
• The candidates have to choose one topic from each section, thus having to answer 2 essay questions in total.
• The word limit for each question is to be within the range of 1000-1200 words.
• The marks for each question is 125, thus the total allotted marks are 250.
• The paper will be included for merit ranking and is not just for qualifying purposes.

The candidates are expected to keep close to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in an orderly fashion and to write concisely.

UPSC Mains Question Paper PDF For Optional Papers

For the UPSC CSE Mains exam, applicants have to choose one optional subject from a list of 48. The optional subjects are divided into Paper 1 and Paper 2. Both papers carry 250 marks each. Candidates should choose optional subjects carefully as it is one of the most important factors that determines the rank of the candidate in the final merit list.

You can download the 2023 UPSC mains optional question papers from the table below:

You can download the literature of languages optional papers from the table below:

For more information about the best optional subject for UPSC , click the link.

Why Should You Go Through UPSC Mains Question Papers

In an exam as tough as the UPSC, it is important to be well-prepared and equipped with all the resources at hand. Apart from covering the UPSC syllabus, candidates should also practice mains answer writing and solve previous years’ UPSC question papers. It is not what you know but what you write on the answer sheet that will fetch you marks. Hence, it is important that you practice answer writing so that you will be able to write the correct answers within the stipulated time and word limit.

For any further assistance, the latest exam updates, study material or preparation tips, turn to BYJU’S for expert assistance.

IAS 2024 - Your dream can come true!

Download the ultimate guide to upsc cse preparation, register with byju's & download free pdfs, register with byju's & watch live videos.

Announcing the NeurIPS 2023 Paper Awards 

Communications Chairs 2023 2023 Conference awards , neurips2023

By Amir Globerson, Kate Saenko, Moritz Hardt, Sergey Levine and Comms Chair, Sahra Ghalebikesabi 

We are honored to announce the award-winning papers for NeurIPS 2023! This year’s prestigious awards consist of the Test of Time Award plus two Outstanding Paper Awards in each of these three categories: 

• Two Outstanding Main Track Papers 
• Two Outstanding Main Track Runner-Ups 
• Two Outstanding Datasets and Benchmark Track Papers  

This year’s organizers received a record number of paper submissions. Of the 13,300 submitted papers that were reviewed by 968 Area Chairs, 98 senior area chairs, and 396 Ethics reviewers 3,540  were accepted after 502 papers were flagged for ethics reviews . 

We thank the awards committee for the main track: Yoav Artzi, Chelsea Finn, Ludwig Schmidt, Ricardo Silva, Isabel Valera, and Mengdi Wang. For the Datasets and Benchmarks track, we thank Sergio Escalera, Isabelle Guyon, Neil Lawrence, Dina Machuve, Olga Russakovsky, Hugo Jair Escalante, Deepti Ghadiyaram, and Serena Yeung. Conflicts of interest were taken into account in the decision process.

Congratulations to all the authors! See Posters Sessions Tue-Thur in Great Hall & B1-B2 (level 1).

Outstanding Main Track Papers

Privacy Auditing with One (1) Training Run Authors: Thomas Steinke · Milad Nasr · Matthew Jagielski

Poster session 2: Tue 12 Dec 5:15 p.m. — 7:15 p.m. CST, #1523

Oral: Tue 12 Dec 3:40 p.m. — 4:40 p.m. CST, Room R06-R09 (level 2)

Abstract: We propose a scheme for auditing differentially private machine learning systems with a single training run. This exploits the parallelism of being able to add or remove multiple training examples independently. We analyze this using the connection between differential privacy and statistical generalization, which avoids the cost of group privacy. Our auditing scheme requires minimal assumptions about the algorithm and can be applied in the black-box or white-box setting. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework by applying it to DP-SGD, where we can achieve meaningful empirical privacy lower bounds by training only one model. In contrast, standard methods would require training hundreds of models.

Are Emergent Abilities of Large Language Models a Mirage? Authors: Rylan Schaeffer · Brando Miranda · Sanmi Koyejo

Poster session 6: Thu 14 Dec 5:00 p.m. — 7:00 p.m. CST, #1108

Oral: Thu 14 Dec 3:20 p.m. — 3:35 p.m. CST, Hall C2 (level 1) 

Abstract: Recent work claims that large language models display emergent abilities, abilities not present in smaller-scale models that are present in larger-scale models. What makes emergent abilities intriguing is two-fold: their sharpness, transitioning seemingly instantaneously from not present to present, and their unpredictability , appearing at seemingly unforeseeable model scales. Here, we present an alternative explanation for emergent abilities: that for a particular task and model family, when analyzing fixed model outputs, emergent abilities appear due to the researcher’s choice of metric rather than due to fundamental changes in model behavior with scale. Specifically, nonlinear or discontinuous metrics produce apparent emergent abilities, whereas linear or continuous metrics produce smooth, continuous, predictable changes in model performance. We present our alternative explanation in a simple mathematical model, then test it in three complementary ways: we (1) make, test and confirm three predictions on the effect of metric choice using the InstructGPT/GPT-3 family on tasks with claimed emergent abilities, (2) make, test and confirm two predictions about metric choices in a meta-analysis of emergent abilities on BIG-Bench; and (3) show how to choose metrics to produce never-before-seen seemingly emergent abilities in multiple vision tasks across diverse deep networks. Via all three analyses, we provide evidence that alleged emergent abilities evaporate with different metrics or with better statistics, and may not be a fundamental property of scaling AI models.

Outstanding Main Track Runner-Ups

Scaling Data-Constrained Language Models Authors : Niklas Muennighoff · Alexander Rush · Boaz Barak · Teven Le Scao · Nouamane Tazi · Aleksandra Piktus · Sampo Pyysalo · Thomas Wolf · Colin Raffel

Poster session 2: Tue 12 Dec 5:15 p.m. — 7:15 p.m. CST, #813

Oral: Tue 12 Dec 3:40 p.m. — 4:40 p.m. CST, Hall C2 (level 1)  

Abstract : The current trend of scaling language models involves increasing both parameter count and training dataset size. Extrapolating this trend suggests that training dataset size may soon be limited by the amount of text data available on the internet. Motivated by this limit, we investigate scaling language models in data-constrained regimes. Specifically, we run a large set of experiments varying the extent of data repetition and compute budget, ranging up to 900 billion training tokens and 9 billion parameter models. We find that with constrained data for a fixed compute budget, training with up to 4 epochs of repeated data yields negligible changes to loss compared to having unique data. However, with more repetition, the value of adding compute eventually decays to zero. We propose and empirically validate a scaling law for compute optimality that accounts for the decreasing value of repeated tokens and excess parameters. Finally, we experiment with approaches mitigating data scarcity, including augmenting the training dataset with code data or removing commonly used filters. Models and datasets from our 400 training runs are freely available at https://github.com/huggingface/datablations .

Direct Preference Optimization: Your Language Model is Secretly a Reward Model Authors: Rafael Rafailov · Archit Sharma · Eric Mitchell · Christopher D Manning · Stefano Ermon · Chelsea Finn

Poster session 6: Thu 14 Dec 5:00 p.m. — 7:00 p.m. CST, #625

Oral: Thu 14 Dec 3:50 p.m. — 4:05 p.m. CST, Ballroom A-C (level 2)  

Abstract: While large-scale unsupervised language models (LMs) learn broad world knowledge and some reasoning skills, achieving precise control of their behavior is difficult due to the completely unsupervised nature of their training. Existing methods for gaining such steerability collect human labels of the relative quality of model generations and fine-tune the unsupervised LM to align with these preferences, often with reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF). However, RLHF is a complex and often unstable procedure, first fitting a reward model that reflects the human preferences, and then fine-tuning the large unsupervised LM using reinforcement learning to maximize this estimated reward without drifting too far from the original model. In this paper, we leverage a mapping between reward functions and optimal policies to show that this constrained reward maximization problem can be optimized exactly with a single stage of policy training, essentially solving a classification problem on the human preference data. The resulting algorithm, which we call Direct Preference Optimization (DPO), is stable, performant, and computationally lightweight, eliminating the need for fitting a reward model, sampling from the LM during fine-tuning, or performing significant hyperparameter tuning. Our experiments show that DPO can fine-tune LMs to align with human preferences as well as or better than existing methods. Notably, fine-tuning with DPO exceeds RLHF’s ability to control sentiment of generations and improves response quality in summarization and single-turn dialogue while being substantially simpler to implement and train.

Outstanding Datasets and Benchmarks Papers

In the dataset category : 

ClimSim: A large multi-scale dataset for hybrid physics-ML climate emulation

Authors:  Sungduk Yu · Walter Hannah · Liran Peng · Jerry Lin · Mohamed Aziz Bhouri · Ritwik Gupta · Björn Lütjens · Justus C. Will · Gunnar Behrens · Julius Busecke · Nora Loose · Charles Stern · Tom Beucler · Bryce Harrop · Benjamin Hillman · Andrea Jenney · Savannah L. Ferretti · Nana Liu · Animashree Anandkumar · Noah Brenowitz · Veronika Eyring · Nicholas Geneva · Pierre Gentine · Stephan Mandt · Jaideep Pathak · Akshay Subramaniam · Carl Vondrick · Rose Yu · Laure Zanna · Tian Zheng · Ryan Abernathey · Fiaz Ahmed · David Bader · Pierre Baldi · Elizabeth Barnes · Christopher Bretherton · Peter Caldwell · Wayne Chuang · Yilun Han · YU HUANG · Fernando Iglesias-Suarez · Sanket Jantre · Karthik Kashinath · Marat Khairoutdinov · Thorsten Kurth · Nicholas Lutsko · Po-Lun Ma · Griffin Mooers · J. David Neelin · David Randall · Sara Shamekh · Mark Taylor · Nathan Urban · Janni Yuval · Guang Zhang · Mike Pritchard

Poster session 4: Wed 13 Dec 5:00 p.m. — 7:00 p.m. CST, #105 

Oral: Wed 13 Dec 3:45 p.m. — 4:00 p.m. CST, Ballroom A-C (level 2)

Abstract: Modern climate projections lack adequate spatial and temporal resolution due to computational constraints. A consequence is inaccurate and imprecise predictions of critical processes such as storms. Hybrid methods that combine physics with machine learning (ML) have introduced a new generation of higher fidelity climate simulators that can sidestep Moore’s Law by outsourcing compute-hungry, short, high-resolution simulations to ML emulators. However, this hybrid ML-physics simulation approach requires domain-specific treatment and has been inaccessible to ML experts because of lack of training data and relevant, easy-to-use workflows. We present ClimSim, the largest-ever dataset designed for hybrid ML-physics research. It comprises multi-scale climate simulations, developed by a consortium of climate scientists and ML researchers. It consists of 5.7 billion pairs of multivariate input and output vectors that isolate the influence of locally-nested, high-resolution, high-fidelity physics on a host climate simulator’s macro-scale physical state. The dataset is global in coverage, spans multiple years at high sampling frequency, and is designed such that resulting emulators are compatible with downstream coupling into operational climate simulators. We implement a range of deterministic and stochastic regression baselines to highlight the ML challenges and their scoring. The data (https://huggingface.co/datasets/LEAP/ClimSim_high-res) and code (https://leap-stc.github.io/ClimSim) are released openly to support the development of hybrid ML-physics and high-fidelity climate simulations for the benefit of science and society.   

In the benchmark category :

DecodingTrust: A Comprehensive Assessment of Trustworthiness in GPT Models

Authors: Boxin Wang · Weixin Chen · Hengzhi Pei · Chulin Xie · Mintong Kang · Chenhui Zhang · Chejian Xu · Zidi Xiong · Ritik Dutta · Rylan Schaeffer · Sang Truong · Simran Arora · Mantas Mazeika · Dan Hendrycks · Zinan Lin · Yu Cheng · Sanmi Koyejo · Dawn Song · Bo Li

Poster session 1: Tue 12 Dec 10:45 a.m. — 12:45 p.m. CST, #1618  

Oral: Tue 12 Dec 10:30 a.m. — 10:45 a.m. CST, Ballroom A-C (Level 2)

Abstract: Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) models have exhibited exciting progress in capabilities, capturing the interest of practitioners and the public alike. Yet, while the literature on the trustworthiness of GPT models remains limited, practitioners have proposed employing capable GPT models for sensitive applications to healthcare and finance – where mistakes can be costly. To this end, this work proposes a comprehensive trustworthiness evaluation for large language models with a focus on GPT-4 and GPT-3.5, considering diverse perspectives – including toxicity, stereotype bias, adversarial robustness, out-of-distribution robustness, robustness on adversarial demonstrations, privacy, machine ethics, and fairness. Based on our evaluations, we discover previously unpublished vulnerabilities to trustworthiness threats. For instance, we find that GPT models can be easily misled to generate toxic and biased outputs and leak private information in both training data and conversation history. We also find that although GPT-4 is usually more trustworthy than GPT-3.5 on standard benchmarks, GPT-4 is more vulnerable given jailbreaking system or user prompts, potentially due to the reason that GPT-4 follows the (misleading) instructions more precisely. Our work illustrates a comprehensive trustworthiness evaluation of GPT models and sheds light on the trustworthiness gaps. Our benchmark is publicly available at https://decodingtrust.github.io/.

Test of Time

This year, following the usual practice, we chose a NeurIPS paper from 10 years ago to receive the Test of Time Award, and “ Distributed Representations of Words and Phrases and their Compositionality ” by Tomas Mikolov, Ilya Sutskever, Kai Chen, Greg Corrado, and Jeffrey Dean, won. 

Published at NeurIPS 2013 and cited over 40,000 times, the work introduced the seminal word embedding technique word2vec. Demonstrating the power of learning from large amounts of unstructured text, the work catalyzed progress that marked the beginning of a new era in natural language processing.

Greg Corrado and Jeffrey Dean will be giving a talk about this work and related research on Tuesday, 12 Dec at 3:05 – 3:25 pm CST in Hall F.  

Related Posts

2023 Conference

Announcing NeurIPS 2023 Invited Talks

Reflections on the neurips 2023 ethics review process, neurips newsletter – november 2023.

The Impact of Early Childhood Parenting Interventions on Child Learning: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Parenting is widely considered to be among the most important influences on early childhood (EC) development. But to what extent and under what circumstances can EC parenting programs improve child learning outcomes? While substantial progress has been made toward addressing these questions in recent years, there have been few attempts to systematically synthesize the evidence thus far with a view toward scaling and policy implications. This paper works toward filling this gap through a systematic review including both a quantitative meta-analysis and a detailed narrative analysis of randomized evaluations that test the impacts of EC parenting programs on learning outcomes. We find that these programs generate substantial effects across a wide range of contexts, and that the largest impacts are associated with programs that are conducted in low- or middle-income countries and that use curricula focusing on cognitive stimulation. Group parenting programs tend to yield effect sizes that are, on average, comparable to home visiting programs, typically at substantially lower costs. Qualitative analysis of evaluations of scaled interventions reveals that administrative implementation barriers rather than program ineffectiveness likely represent the primary impediment to stronger impact. We conclude by reflecting on implications for theory, policy, and priorities for future research.

We are greatful to Lisa Turley Smith and Victoria Moura for research assistance, as well as funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Jameel Poverty Action Lab North America. We also thank seminar participants at University College Dublin, the University of Toronto, and the London School of Economics. Any errors or omissions are our own responsibility. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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Make Your Note

• 15 Sep 2023

Q1.  Thinking is like a game, it does not begin unless there is an opposite team.

Q2.  Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.

Q3.  Not all who wander are lost.

Q4.  Inspiration for creativity springs from the effort to look for the magical in the mundane.

Q1.  Girls are weighed down by restrictions, boys with demands – two equally harmful disciplines.

Q2.  Mathematics is the music of reason

Q3.  A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity.

Q4.  Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.

Consultation Paper on proposed new Regulated Investment Exchange Operator Rules

The Guernsey Financial Services Commission has today issued a Consultation Paper seeking comments from interested parties on the creation of a new set of rules and associated guidance to be made under the Protection of Investors (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020 (“the POI Law”) – The Regulated Investment Exchange Operator Rules and Guidance (“the RIEO Rules”).

The RIEO Rules are intended to replace the current Investment Exchange (Notification) Rules 1998 (“the IEN Rules”) and will apply to any firm licensed under the POI Law to operate an investment exchange.  They will provide one consolidated and transparent point of reference for an operator of an investment exchange, incorporating relevant elements of the IEN Rules and other applicable rules made under the POI Law.

Respondents are encouraged to submit any comments online using the Commission’s Consultation Hub at the following link, where a copy of the Consultation Paper and draft RIEO Rules may also be found :  https://consultationhub.gfsc.gg/

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