Botany Optional PYQs – Topic-wise (1995–2026)

Botany Optional PYQs Topic-wise for UPSC Mains (1995–2026) are listed below unit by unit, in the order of the official syllabus – 1683 questions in all. Click any unit to open all its previous year questions, arranged topic-wise with the latest first.

Want full papers instead? Open the Botany Optional year-wise question papers for Paper I and Paper II.

Paper I

Unit	Topic (click to open PYQs)	Sub-topics	Questions	Link
1	Microbiology and Plant Pathology	5	160	Click here →
2	Cryptogams	5	212	Click here →
3	Phanerogams	8	326	Click here →
4	Plant Resource Development	3	102	Click here →
5	Morphogenesis	3	96	Click here →

Trend: Phanerogams is the largest unit of Paper I, with about a third of the marks both since 2013 and in the last five years, followed by Cryptogams (about 20%), Microbiology and Plant Pathology (16–19%), Morphogenesis (13–16%) and Plant Resource Development (12–15%). Within the units, crop diseases (topic 1.4), algae, fungi and pteridophytes (2.1, 2.2, 2.4), angiosperm families (3.5), embryology (3.7) and gymnosperms (3.1), economic botany (4.2) and plant tissue culture (5.2) have been asked most often since 2013. In 2022–2026 Plant Resource Development and Morphogenesis have gained share, and pteridophytes (2.4), gymnosperms (3.1) and plant anatomy (3.6) have come up more often.

Paper II

Unit	Topic (click to open PYQs)	Sub-topics	Questions	Link
1	Cell Biology	7	122	Click here →
2	Genetics, Molecular Biology and Evolution	9	152	Click here →
3	Plant Breeding, Biotechnology and Biostatistics	5	135	Click here →
4	Physiology and Biochemistry	10	206	Click here →
5	Ecology and Plant Geography	8	172	Click here →

Trend: Physiology and Biochemistry is the largest unit of Paper II (about 25–26%), followed by Ecology and Plant Geography (21–23%), Plant Breeding, Biotechnology and Biostatistics (17–19%), Cell Biology (about 18%) and Genetics, Molecular Biology and Evolution (16–17%). The most-asked topics since 2013 are chromosome variation (1.7) and cell organelles (1.3), evolution (2.9), genetic engineering and transgenic crops (3.3) and molecular markers (3.4), photosynthesis (4.2) and lipid and nitrogen metabolism (4.5), and biodiversity and conservation (5.5) and pollution (5.3). In 2022–2026 Plant Breeding and Biotechnology has gained share, and cell organelles (1.3), sex determination (2.4) and photoperiodism and photoreceptors (4.7) have come up more often.

How this collection is organised

Considering the changing exam pattern over the years, we felt it necessary to declare some practices we’ve adopted in this collection.

1. Units follow the official syllabus – Paper 1: 1 Microbiology and Plant Pathology, 2 Cryptogams, 3 Phanerogams, 4 Plant Resource Development, 5 Morphogenesis; Paper 2: 1 Cell Biology, 2 Genetics, Molecular Biology and Evolution, 3 Plant Breeding, Biotechnology and Biostatistics, 4 Physiology and Biochemistry, 5 Ecology and Plant Geography. The official syllabus has been divided into numbered topics (e.g. Paper 1 – 3.5 Angiosperm families) to arrange the questions.

2. Questions on areas the syllabus does not name separately are placed under the nearest topic: for example, plant morphology (placentation, inflorescences) under angiosperm families (Paper 1 – 3.5); bacterial recombination under bacteria (1.2); in Paper 2, transposons under mutations (2.5); self-incompatibility under Mendelian genetics (2.1); and renewable energy under sustainable development (5.7).

3. Until 2008 the two papers followed an older syllabus, and many subjects (for example economic botany, tissue culture, plant physiology and ecology) appeared in the other paper. Such questions of 1995–2007 are placed under the topic of the present syllabus, even when that topic is now in the other paper; Part III shows each paper as set. From 2009 every question is kept in its own paper.

4. Some questions cover more than one topic. We’ve kept such questions in each topic of relevance.

5. Every diagram printed with a question is given as a complete description in square brackets – [Figure: …] – with every numbered pointer and label shown, so that the question can be solved from the description. Standard tables attached to a paper are not reproduced.

6. Graphs at the start of each paper show the weightage of every unit in that paper, and graphs for each unit show the weightage of its topics. Weightage is the share of marks asked from a unit or topic, compared for 2013–2026 (white bars) and the last five years, 2022–2026 (black bars). A question placed under two topics has its marks split equally between them.

7. Each of the topicwise question is suffixed by a question code like this [2024/20m/2a]. This code indicates a) year in which the question was asked, b) maximum marks the question carried, c) prescribed word limit (where UPSC set one, e.g. 200w) and, d) the question number in actual paper, in given order.

8. Until 2012, each paper carried 300 marks (60 per question); since 2013 each paper carries 250 marks (50 per question). Where a compulsory question offered more parts than were to be answered (“any three” of four), every part is included with its own marks. Where a retyped copy of an older paper prints no marks for a part, the code carries the marks implied by the question. Split marks such as 15+5=20 are kept as printed.

9. The 2026 papers are transcribed from the official UPSC question papers, 2009–2025 from scans of the printed papers, and 1995–2007 from typed copies (for most of these years two copies were found, but they go back to one typing). The 1995–2000 copies print no marks; for these years the code carries the marks implied by the question pattern. No copy of the 2008 papers could be found.

10. The wording, figures and data of the questions are as printed, including the papers’ own grammar and apparent misprints such as wrong units.

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Last updated: 31 October 2026