UPSC CSE vs IIT JEE: Which exam is more difficult to crack?

UPSC and IIT JEE are two of the most difficult exams in India and around the world. Both exams are considered extremely competitive and take a lot of dedication and hard work to crack. Recently released film ‘12th Fail’ has caught the attention of Business tycoon Anand Mahindra. He tweeted on X about his interaction with an IIT graduate who has also appeared for UPSC about the relative difficulty of our entrance exams. The students' response has created a duel about the exam difficulty ranking. He said emphatically that UPSC is much tougher than the IIT JEE.

On that note, let’s have a look at the overall difficulty status of both entrance exams. UPSC is an entrance exam for the people who want to work in civil services of the Indian government whereas IIT JEE is an exam for the students for the undergraduate engineering program in IITs, one of the prestigious colleges in India. One needs to prepare for years to crack either of the examinations. UPSC candidates start preparing from the first year of college and JEE candidates start preparing in high school or even before that.

The syllabus for UPSC and IIT JEE is vast and comprehensive. UPSC students do not have fixed chapters to prepare. They need to cover subjects like History, Economics, Geography, Polity, Current Affairs and even some topics related to Science. IIT JEE students have to study Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. But it is not that easy to study just three subjects. They need to have a deep understanding of the subject and study even beyond the class 12 level.

A large number of applicants appear for both exams every year. Approximately 9 to 10 lakh students apply for UPSC over a success rate of 0.2%. On the other hand, around 8 to 12 lakh students register for IIT JEE every year. The success rate for JEE is only 7- 12 % which means only a few thousand students pass the exam out of over 10 lakh students.

Both the exams have multiple levels. UPSC has its preliminary exam and then the UPSC Mains exam. After clearing both exams, the selected students have to clear the interview round to get the final selection. Similarly, IIT JEE also has two levels, JEE Main and JEE Advanced. Appearing students have to pass both the exams to sit in the counselling.

The tweet shared by Anand Mahindra also shows a list of the top 10 most difficult exams around the world. According to that, the Gaokao exam from China tops the list. IIT JEE ranks second and UPSC ranks third in the world ranking.