How the CAPF test series is built, how to attempt each mock, and the scoring and triage method, all authored practice and not verbatim PYQs
This module is the practice-under-exam-conditions layer of the wiki. The knowledge modules (Index, Index and the rest) teach the content; this module measures whether you can deliver it inside a clock with negative marking. Everything here is authored for this wiki to mirror the CAPF level and the recurring formats. None of it is a verbatim previous-year question (PYQ). Treat the mocks as calibration, not as a leak.
Authored practice, not a verbatim PYQ. Re-verify any year-sensitive fact (rates, ranks, vacancies, current standards) against the live source before relying on it.
| File | What it is |
|---|---|
00-index.md (this file) |
The plan, the attempt protocol, the scoring and triage method |
| strategy and negative marking | Timing, when to skip, the negative-marking maths, accuracy targets |
| full mock 01 | Full Paper I mock, about 100 authored MCQs across all six sub-areas, with key |
| full mock 02 | Second full Paper I mock, same design, fresh questions |
The Paper I mocks deliberately use about 100 questions rather than the live 125 so that each mock is a tight, high-density practice block. Scale your scores to the 125-question, 250-mark live paper using the conversion in the scoring section below. Paper II (descriptive) is practised separately through the essay and comprehension drills in practice essay prompts and 02 paper 2 pattern and analysis; this test series is Paper I only.
Each full mock spreads its roughly 100 questions across the six official Paper I sub-areas in realistic proportion. The durable working weights (see 01 paper 1 pattern and analysis) drive the split:
| Sub-area | Questions per mock (approx) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| General Mental Ability (reasoning and quantitative) | 22 | 22 percent |
| Indian Polity and Economy | 18 | 18 percent |
| History of India | 16 | 16 percent |
| Indian and World Geography | 16 | 16 percent |
| General Science | 16 | 16 percent |
| Current Events (durable layer) | 12 | 12 percent |
The current-events block is intentionally the "durable layer" only: institutional facts, mandates, the static spine of schemes, organisations and indices, the kind of current-affairs question that stays true for years. It does not test last-week headlines, because a static wiki cannot keep those fresh and the honesty rule forbids inventing dated headlines. Track live affairs through Index and how to prepare current affairs for capf.
Each mock is laid out as: section-wise question blocks, then a single consolidated answer key with the correct option and a one-line explanation for every question. Attempt the questions before you scroll to the key.
Run every mock as if it were the real OMR paper. The discipline is the point.
Score on the live mark scheme so your numbers mean something against the real cut-off.
Worked example. You attempt 88 questions on a 100-question mock, get 70 right and 18 wrong, leave 12 blank.
The CAPF Paper I cut-off is not fixed; it moves with the year, the vacancies, and the difficulty, and the written stage is judged on the combined Paper I plus Paper II total, not Paper I alone. So read your scaled score as a trend line across mocks, not as a pass mark. Verify the latest cut-offs and vacancy position from the UPSC notification and result sheets rather than assuming a stale number.
After grading, do not just record the score. Triage every wrong and every blank into one of four buckets, because the fix is different for each.
| Bucket | What it means | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge gap | You did not know the fact or method | Go to the linked note, learn it, log it for revision |
| Silly error | You knew it but misread the stem or mis-bubbled | Slow the first read; underline "NOT", "only", "incorrect" |
| Elimination miss | You could have ruled out options but guessed loose | Drill the elimination habit from strategy and negative marking |
| Time-out | You ran out of clock and could not reach it | Fix pacing; the leak is usually the reasoning block |
A practical target: by the third or fourth mock, knowledge gaps should be shrinking, silly errors should be near zero, and any remaining losses should be honest hard-question misses. If silly errors stay high, the problem is reading discipline, not content.
Every explanation in the mocks links to the wiki note that owns the underlying fact. When you miss a question, follow that link, fix the gap at the source, and add it to your spaced-revision list in Index.
The mocks aim to feel like the live paper: a large majority of direct or two-statement items that a well-prepared aspirant clears, plus a minority of fine-distinction items (exact Article numbers, exact dates, precise institutional facts) that separate the top scorers. Reasoning items are school-level but time-pressured. If a mock feels much harder or much easier than the live paper described in 01 paper 1 pattern and analysis, trust the official pattern over the mock and tell us so the calibration can be tuned.