Previous year paper analysis · TNPSC

TNPSC Group 2 and 2A prelims 2024 paper analysis

By the PrepMatic team · Updated 9 Oct 2026 · 4 min read

The Group 2 and 2A preliminary paper of 14 September 2024 had 200 questions in three hours: 75 General Studies, 25 aptitude and mental ability, and 100 on language. We read the General Studies and aptitude half in TNPSC's tentative-key booklet. Tamil Nadu history and culture was the largest unit with 17 of the 75 General Studies questions, and most questions were direct rather than statement-based.

Paper facts

In the General English booklet we read, questions 1 to 100 were General Studies and aptitude mixed together, and questions 101 to 200 were the language part. Prelims marks are used only to shortlist for the main examination. See the Group 2 exam pattern for the shortlist rules.

General Studies and aptitude, unit by unit

The 2024 notification lists ten General Studies units without indicative counts. Our tally assigns each question to the unit whose syllabus text it fits best.

We did not tally the 100-question language part; the General Tamil and General English booklets differ there.

What stood out

• Tamil Nadu units were 21 of 75 General Studies questions (28%), and Unit VIII alone was 23%. It covered the Non-Brahmin and Self-Respect movements, a chronology of E.V.R.'s career, newspapers and their founders, Purananuru and Nakkirar, a lullaby custom, and four questions on Valluvar.
• Aptitude came in two blocks: fourteen questions after the first thirty-six, and eleven at the end. Topics were simple interest, LCM and HCF, work and profit, the curved surface of a cylinder, depreciation, a dice probability, coding-decoding and letter series.
• Most questions were one-step. Of the roughly 63 General Studies questions we could read in full, only about a third used match, statement, assertion-reason or ordering formats, far fewer than in the 2025 prelims.
• Current events were mixed with science: cloud seeding in Dubai, naming ISRO's human space-flight crew, Shilp awards, the Digital Intelligence Platform, Mera Yuva Bharat and the UN's year for the homeless.
• Science included numericals: electrons through a lamp, force and acceleration, and the colour of a rose under green light, alongside pollutants and scientific method.
• Polity leaned on statutory bodies (the Information Commission), the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State relations, and Article-matching.

Difficulty (our reading)

Easier to attempt than the 2025 prelims because few questions needed combination options, but wide: ten units, many direct facts and a handful of physics and aptitude calculations. Time pressure came from the aptitude blocks and the language part, not from General Studies reading.

What this means for your preparation

1. Expect Tamil Nadu to be the biggest block. Revise Tamil Nadu history, culture and heritage with one-line cards for movements, leaders and journals.
2. Do not drop current events as a unit. The 2024 paper kept a separate current-events unit; the 2025 syllabus folds current affairs into each unit, so build one running notebook organised by unit. See the Group 2 syllabus.
3. Practise both styles. Compare this paper with the 2025 prelims analysis, which was far more statement-heavy, and train on the harder format.
4. Use the key to learn, not just to score. The Group 2 answer key guide explains the objection window, and the Group 4 previous year questions guide gives a method for working through a past paper.

Practising with PrepMatic

A custom mock on PrepMatic lets you choose the subjects, number of questions, duration and difficulty, so you can rehearse a timed 25-question aptitude block or a Tamil Nadu-only round like the ones above. Full-length Group 2 and 2A prelims mocks of 200 questions are also available. Practice questions are AI-generated rather than past papers, so the official booklets below remain the source for real papers. Related pages are in the TNPSC guide.

Official sources

• Group 2 and 2A 2024 prelims booklet with tentative key (General Studies with General Tamil)
• Group 2 and 2A 2024 prelims booklet with tentative key (General Studies with General English)
• Group 2 and 2A 2024 prelims final answer key
• Group 2 and 2A 2024 notification (No. 08/2024)

Unit counts are our reading, not an official classification. Check the current notification on tnpsc.gov.in.

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