What is the year-wise UPSC Final cutoff trend from 2013 to 2024?

Final cutoff (Mains + Interview, out of 2025) for General has moved from 775 in 2013 to a peak of 1006 in 2017, stabilising near 947-960 in 2022-2024. A General-category aspirant today needs roughly 53-55% of total marks for selection.

Final Cutoff — All Categories (out of 2025)

Year	General	EWS	OBC	SC	ST	PwBD-1	PwBD-2	PwBD-3	PwBD-5	General %
2013	775	—	742	719	719	691	—	643	—	38.3%
2014	889	—	855	833	831	778	—	538	—	43.9%
2015	877	—	834	810	801	802	—	533	—	43.3%
2016	988	—	951	929	924	924	933	728	621	48.8%
2017	1006	—	968	944	939	924	953	760	738	49.7%
2018	982	—	938	912	912	899	908	754	553	48.5%
2019	961	909	925	898	893	861	890	653	802	47.5%
2020	944	894	907	875	876	832	925	691	549	46.6%
2021	953	916	910	886	883	902	910	715	678	47.1%
2022	960	926	923	893	900	879	913	632	590	47.4%
2023	953	923	919	890	891	894	930	756	589	47.1%
2024	947	—	—	890	891	—	—	—	—	46.8%

Reading the Trend

The Interview adds ~190-200 marks for an average performer (mean interview marks hover around 175-180 out of 275; AIR-1 2024 scored 200, a perfect band). So if your Mains-written is around 750+, you are statistically very close to making it.

The Final cutoff has been remarkably stable since 2019 — within a 16-mark band (944 to 961). This is the clearest signal that UPSC's evaluation pipeline is now well-calibrated. Plan around 950, not last year's exact number.

Top-Bracket Marks Bands (CSE 2024, General)

Bracket	Total Marks (/2025)	Insight
AIR 1 (Shakti Dubey)	1043 (843 Mains + 200 Interview)	5th attempt, PSIR optional
Top 10	1010-1043	All in 1010+
Top 100	~970-1010	Interview > 190 likely
Top 500	~960-990
Last General selection	947

Worked Scenario — Service Probability

General candidate, Mains-written 770, Interview 185 → Total 955.

Total 955 vs 2024 General Final cutoff 947 → You're in, with 8-mark buffer.
Rank prediction: somewhere in the 600-800 range — Group A allied services (IRTS, IRAS, IDAS); IPS unlikely.
To target IAS (last General rank ~78 in 2024), you'd need ~1010+ total — a delta of 55 marks, almost entirely earnable in Interview (+15) and Essay/GS-IV (+25) and a stronger optional (+15).

Mentor Note — Category Gap Reality

The gap between General and reserved-category Final cutoffs is narrower than people assume:

EWS: 25-35 marks below General
OBC: 30-40 marks below General
SC: 55-65 marks below General
ST: 50-65 marks below General

By Final stage, category cushions shrink to 3-4% of total marks — meaning reserved-category top-rankers routinely cross the General cutoff and claim unreserved seats. AIR-1 and AIR-2 in many recent years (e.g., Tina Dabi 2015, Ishita Kishore 2022) were from reserved categories competing on the General list.