UPSC GS Paper 4: ethics and case studies
- Time
- Three hours
- Marks
- 250
Ethics, integrity and aptitude. The paper has theory questions and case studies, and is laid out differently from GS Papers 1 to 3.
The paper
| Time | 3 hours |
| Marks | 250 |
| Section A: theory | 13 questions, 150 words, 10 marks each (130 marks) |
| Section B: case studies | 6 cases, 250 words, 20 marks each (120 marks) |
This was the layout in every year from 2020 to 2026. The case study word limit was 300 in 2022.
How to prepare
Practise case studies on their own.
Case studies carry 120 of the 250 marks, almost half the paper. They are a different task from any other Mains question. Each one describes a situation in about 240 words, then asks what you would do.
Set aside separate time for them. Use the six-part shape below on every case until you do it without thinking.
Example questions
| Type | Example |
|---|---|
| Theory, 10 marks | What does impartiality require of an officer whose own community is affected by a decision? |
| Theory, 10 marks | Distinguish between an attitude and a value, using one administrative example. |
| Case study, 20 marks | You are the district collector. Tests show that a large sweet-shop chain, which employs four hundred people and sponsors the district's main festival, has been selling adulterated ghee. The festival is in three days. Local leaders ask you to wait until it is over and settle the matter quietly. What are the issues, what are your options, and what would you do? |
The shape of a case study answer
| Part | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| 1. The situation | Two or three lines in your own words. Show what is actually at stake |
| 2. The stakeholders | Everyone affected, including whoever is absent from the description |
| 3. The ethical issues | Which duty pulls against which. Not "there is a dilemma" |
| 4. The options | Two or three, each with what it costs and who pays |
| 5. Your decision | One of them, chosen |
| 6. Your reason | The justification you would be willing to give in public |
Choose one option. An answer that lays out three options and declines to choose has failed, because the question asked what you would do.
Justify the choice on principle. Two candidates can choose opposite options and both score well, if both justify it by something other than convenience.
The same response, written twice
Case. The sweet-shop chain above.
| What an average answer says | What a strong answer says |
|---|---|
| This case involves an ethical dilemma between various stakeholders. | Two duties conflict: protecting the people eating the product now, and treating fairly an employer the district depends on. |
| Stakeholders include the shop owner, the administration, local leaders and the public. | The families buying sweets for the festival are not in the room, and nobody in the case speaks for them. |
| Option 1 is to take action. Option 2 is to wait. | Act now: have the food safety officer stop sale of the affected products and publish the test results. Cost: a disrupted festival and angry leaders. |
| Both options have merits and demerits. | Wait three days, then act. Cost: thousands eat food known to be unsafe, and a sponsor learns it can buy time. |
| A balanced approach upholding integrity is needed. | I would act now, under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, on the affected products only, so the 400 jobs are not lost over one line. Then trace the ghee supplier and inquire into why inspections missed it. |
Mistakes that cost most
| What candidates write | Why it costs | What to write instead |
|---|---|---|
| A definition and nothing else | The question asked you to apply it | A situation where it cost something |
| "There is an ethical dilemma here" | Naming a dilemma is not analysing one | Which two duties cannot both be met |
| Stakeholders copied from the case | The person not mentioned often matters most | Who bears the cost and is not mentioned |
| Three options and no choice | The question asked what you would do | One option, chosen, with the reason |
| A thinker's quote in place of reasoning | A quote does not justify a decision | Your own reasoning. Quote a thinker only to support it |
Where to start
- Read the case study shape above and use it on the example
- Conclusions, because a case study ends on a decision
- Today's question, and write one
How to answer it
A General Studies paper sets twenty compulsory questions in three hours.