More than 3.6 lakh candidates failed to appear for this year’s Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission Preliminary Examination (UPPSC Prelims 2025), leaving just 2,65,364 of the 6,26,387 registered aspirants to sit for the exam.

This amounts to an absenteeism rate of approximately 57.5 per cent, marking the second consecutive year in which attendance has dipped below 45 per cent. In previous years, attendance figures usually exceeded 60 per cent, making this drop even more concerning.

The drop in turnout is being linked to the tightened exam security measures introduced by UPPSC, such as biometric verification, iris scanning, CCTV surveillance, and AI-based monitoring.

Even though these measures were intended to prevent exam malpractice, some aspirants saw them as hindering their exam performance.

As for candidates who appeared for the exam, their reactions to the question paper are mixed. They told Times of India that while the current affairs section was easier this year in comparison to previous years’ exams, questions from history and mathematics segments were tricky.

Other portions, like science, general knowledge, and general studies, were moderately difficult.

The UPPSC Prelims 2025 exam was conducted yesterday, Sunday, October 12, in two shifts — with the first shift from 9:30 am to 11:30 am (General Studies), and the second from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm (CSAT).