Trends
NDA Polity 2026 isn't reliably harder than NDA Polity 2017 — but recent papers favour Govt Structure
The most important pattern in NDA Polity trends is the ABSENCE of monotonic hardening — UNLIKE Physics, Polity bounces 0% to 50% HARD across the 10-year window with no trajectory. 2026 NDA-1 was peak HARD (50% — but only 10 q sample); 2020+2021 were 0% HARD (small + easy years); recent average ~26%. The smallest GAT section means single-paper %HARD swings are inherently noisy. Secondary headline: 2026 NDA-1 was MOST Govt-Structure-heavy (7 of 10 q); 2021 was the FR/DPSP outlier (7 of 14 q). Drill all 10 years equally.
- years analysed
- 10
- papers
- 18
- questions tagged
- 90
- chapters tracked
- 4
The headline: %HARD by year (no monotonic trend)
Each year’s HARD share, with the paper-set size for context. 2020 had only NDA-1 (COVID), 2026 has only NDA-1 so far. Notice the oscillation — 2026 NDA-1 had 5 HARDs in 10 q (50% — bank peak); 2020 + 2021 had ZERO HARDs (small or easy years); 2017 also high at 44%. The small per-paper sample (avg 5 q/paper) means a single HARD multi-statement question can swing a year’s %HARD by 20+ percentage points. No monotonic trajectory.
| Year | Questions | HARD count | % HARD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 9 | 4 | 44% |
| 2018 | 13 | 2 | 15% |
| 2019 | 6 | 1 | 17% |
| 2020 | 3 | 0 | 0% |
| 2021 | 14 | 0 | 0% |
| 2022 | 11 | 1 | 9% |
| 2023 | 5 | 1 | 20% |
| 2024 | 10 | 2 | 20% |
| 2025 | 9 | 1 | 11% |
| 2026 | 10 | 5 | 50% |
Per-question, the 2026 paper isn’t reliably harder than the 2017 paper — both are outlier-highs in a noisy distribution. Translation: don’t over-weight recent papers for difficulty calibration. Drill 2017 papers as seriously as 2024 papers — the difficulty floor is stable, only the year-to-year variance is high (made noisier by the small per-paper sample). The CHAPTER MIX HAS shifted recently (Govt Structure dominating 2026, FR/DPSP fading) — see the callouts below.
The 4 biggest shifts
%HARD is wavy but the chapter mix has shifted in concrete ways. These four shifts come on top of the noisy difficulty — drill the called-out cohorts.
- The headline: paper has NOT consistently hardened — drill all 10 years equally
%HARD bounces 0% (2020 + 2021 small samples) → 9% (2022) → 50% (2026 NDA-1 outlier high) → 44% (2017 outlier high). No monotonic trajectory. The bank is genuinely wavy year-to-year — partly because per-paper sample size is small (avg 5 q/paper, range 2–10), so a single HARD multi-statement question can swing a year's %HARD by 20+ percentage points. Translation: drill 2017 papers as seriously as 2024 papers. Contrast NDA Physics (2% → 44% over the same window, monotonic hardening) — Polity doesn't behave that way. The difficulty FLOOR is stable; the variance is high.
- 2026 NDA-1 was the HARDEST paper AND most Govt-Structure-heavy — 7 of 10 q from one chapter
April 2026 NDA-1 had 5 HARDs in 10 Polity q (50% HARD — bank's highest single-paper %HARD), AND 7 of 10 q were from Government Structure (single-chapter-in-one-paper bank record — usually it's 2–4 q from one chapter). The HARDs concentrated in Parliament (sine-die adjournment + prorogation; Speaker vs President distinction) and Judiciary (HC territorial jurisdictions match-list). Recent shift: 2024–2026 papers show Govt Structure + Constitution dominating with FR/DPSP fading (1 / 3 / 0 q across these years). Don't lock in the 2026 pattern as a trend (N=1), but DO drill 2024–2026 Govt Structure cold — that's where the recent HARDs landed.
- 2021 was the FR/DPSP outlier — 7 q of 14 (50% of paper from one chapter)
2021 papers carried 7 FR/DPSP questions (50% of that year's 14 Polity q — the only year where FR/DPSP dominated the paper). Pre-2021 the chapter averaged 2 q/yr; post-2021 it's settled to 1–3 q/yr. The 2021 paper was also the EASIEST (0% HARD) — many basic FR identification + DPSP attribution questions. Don't over-prep FR/DPSP relative to recent papers, but do drill the 2021 cohort to anchor on the basic FR + DPSP article-number reference (Article 19 freedoms, FRs available to citizens only vs all persons, Article 51A FD insertion via 42nd 1976).
- World Polity was ABSENT 2018+2019+2020 — but recent 2022+ shows steady 1–3 q/yr
Through 2017–2020 World Polity contributed 1 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 1 q across 4 years (only 2017 had any). Starting 2021 it's been steady: 1 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 2 q/yr (2021–2026). Recent papers consistently include 1–3 World Polity questions — usually a UN body composition / UN peacekeeping pairs / Panchsheel / universal-franchise chronology question. The chapter is small (12 q total) but the highest %HARD (42%) — don't drop it because of the small bank share. Drill the UN + democracy + Panchsheel clusters cold for the 2 marks per recent paper.
Year-by-year drift
Counts per year (NDA-1 + NDA-2 combined; 2020 NDA-2 COVID-cancelled, 2026 NDA-2 not yet held — so those columns hold ~half a normal year). Cells are tinted by row magnitude.
| Chapter | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government Structure — Parliament, Judiciary and Constitutional Bodies | 5 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| Fundamental Rights, DPSP and Local Governance | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Indian Constitution — Making, Foundation and Amendments | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| World Polity, Democracy and International Relations | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Recommendation: drill across ALL 10 years
UNLIKE Physics, NDA Polity doesn’t reward a ‘recent-only’ drill plan. Old papers test the same constitutional-content recall + multi-statement material at similar difficulty (noisy year-to-year but no trajectory). The exceptions: Govt Structure spiked in 2026 NDA-1 (7 of 10 q — but that’s N=1, don’t lock in as trend); FR/DPSP dominated 2021 papers (7 of 14 q — also N=1 year); World Polity was absent 2018–2020 then steady 1–3 q/yr 2022+ — don’t drop it.