UPSC Topper 2025: Top 10 List with Marks & Their Strategy

Anuj Agnihotri is the UPSC Topper 2025, securing All India Rank 1 with 1,071 marks out of 2,025. Rajeshwari Suve M secured AIR 2 with 1,067 marks, followed by Akansh Dhull at AIR 3 with 1,057 marks. But if you’re preparing for UPSC 2027, the names and ranks are only the beginning of the story.

What matters more is understanding how these candidates performed across Mains and the Personality Test, why their optional subjects differed, and which lessons you can realistically apply to your own preparation. At UnderStand UPSC, we’ve also seen aspirants from our learning ecosystem secure remarkable ranks, including AIR 4, AIR 14 and AIR 19. Let’s look beyond the congratulations and understand what these results can actually teach you.

Who Is the UPSC Topper 2025?

Anuj Agnihotri secured AIR 1 in UPSC CSE 2025 with 867 marks in Mains and 204 marks in the Personality Test. Anuj comes from Rajasthan and studied medicine at AIIMS Jodhpur. He chose Medical Science as his optional subject. His academic background is particularly relevant because it shows that aspirants from specialised professional disciplines can succeed in an examination requiring a broad understanding of governance, society, economics and ethics.

His final score was:

One important point often gets overlooked: UPSC’s final ranking is based on Mains written marks and interview marks. Prelims is a qualifying screening stage and its marks are not added to the final merit score. For aspirants, this means Prelims preparation must be strong enough to clear the first stage, but Mains deserves serious attention from the beginning.

UPSC Toppers 2025 List: Top 10 Rankers With Official Marks

UPSC has published the written, Personality Test and final marks of recommended candidates, allowing aspirants to compare actual performance rather than rely on estimates.

Official source: UPSC CSE 2025 Marks of Recommended Candidates (PDF)

What Do the Top 10 Marks Actually Reveal?

The marks tell a more interesting story than the ranks alone.

• First, small differences can change your rank significantly. AIR 1 scored just four marks more than AIR 2. At this level, every additional mark matters.
• Second, Mains and interview performance complement each other. Consider AIR 5, Ishan Bhatnagar. His written score was 823, compared with Ujjwal Priyank’s 846 at AIR 10. Yet Ishan secured 215 in the interview, compared with Ujjwal’s 187. That difference in Personality Test performance helped Ishan finish higher despite scoring fewer written marks.
• Third, a strong written score remains the foundation. Surabhi Yadav, AIR 14, scored 862 in Mains and 165 in the Personality Test, achieving a final total of 1,027. Nisar Dishant Amrutlal, AIR 19, scored 815 in Mains and 209 in the interview, reaching 1,024. These are two very different scoring profiles, separated by just three final marks.

The lesson is not that you can compensate for weak preparation through the interview. It is that candidates reach competitive final scores through different combinations of strengths.

For your preparation, focus on building the strongest possible performance in every stage rather than chasing a single magical score.

UPSC CSE 2025 Cut-Off: Prelims, Mains and Final

The cut-off tells you the minimum qualifying benchmark for each stage, not the score you should aim to achieve.

What should an aspirant understand from these numbers?

The General category final cut-off was 963, while AIR 1 scored 1,071. That’s a difference of 108 marks. However, preparing with the sole objective of crossing last year’s cut-off is risky. Paper difficulty, competition and vacancies change from year to year.

Prelims cut-offs also refer to GS Paper I, with CSAT requiring separate qualification. Your target should be consistent accuracy, adequate revision and the ability to handle unfamiliar questions.

Female UPSC Topper 2025: Who Secured the Highest Rank?

Rajeshwari Suve M was the highest-ranked woman in UPSC CSE 2025, securing AIR 2 with 1,067 marks.

Her score included 865 marks in the written examination and 202 in the Personality Test. With an engineering background and Sociology as her optional subject, her achievement demonstrates that an aspirant’s graduation discipline does not have to determine their optional choice.

Other women among the top 10 included Zinnia Aurora at AIR 6 and Astha Jain at AIR 9. For female aspirants searching for the UPSC 2025 women’s topper, Rajeshwari’s achievement is an important reference point.

UPSC Topper 2025 Optional Subjects: What Did the Top Rankers Choose?

The top five rankers came from different academic backgrounds and chose different optional subjects.

Notice something interesting. The top five include medicine, sociology, commerce and economics. There isn’t one subject that dominates every position.

Aspirants often ask, “Which optional subject gives the highest marks?”

A better question is, “Which optional subject can I understand deeply, revise repeatedly and write confidently in the examination?”

Choose based on genuine interest, syllabus size, available resources, your academic background and your ability to practise answers. 

UnderStand UPSC CSE 2025 Rankers: What Their Results Reveal

Some of the most valuable insights come from looking closely at candidates associated with the UnderStand UPSC ecosystem.

Rather than attributing unverified quotations or study routines to them, let’s begin with what their official marks establish.

Raghav Jhunjhunwala – AIR 4

Raghav secured AIR 4 with Economics as his reported optional subject.

His result offers a useful reminder that final selection is built through performance across multiple components.

What aspirants can learn: Don’t prepare your optional in isolation. Build strong General Studies and Essay preparation alongside it.

Surabhi Yadav – AIR 14

Surabhi’s written score of 862 was just five marks below AIR 1 Anuj Agnihotri’s written score. That is a particularly important insight. A candidate’s final rank does not always tell you how strongly they performed in Mains. For aspirants struggling with answer writing, her result is a valuable reason to study the written-examination component independently of final rank.

Nisar Dishant Amrutlal – AIR 19

Nisar’s Personality Test score of 209 contributed significantly to his final total. Compare his marks with Surabhi’s: their written scores differed by 47 marks, but their interview scores differed by 44 marks in the opposite direction..Their final totals were separated by only three marks.

What aspirants can learn: A strong interview can meaningfully influence the final result, but only after clearing Mains and reaching the Personality Test stage.

Five Practical Lessons for UPSC Prelims 2027 Aspirants

If you’re preparing for Prelims 2027, here’s how to translate these results into your own weekly routine.

1. Begin with PYQs. Solve topic-wise previous year questions before expanding your resources. Learn what UPSC asks and how it frames options.

2. Keep a limited booklist. Complete and revise your core sources instead of continuously switching between notes and coaching materials.

3. Take tests with a purpose. After every mock, spend time identifying the concepts you need to revisit. Your mistakes should influence your next week’s study plan.

4. Maintain Mains continuity. Even during Prelims-focused months, preserve some time for answer-writing practice and revision of important GS themes.

5. Measure progress monthly. Track syllabus completion, revision cycles, mock-test accuracy and recurring weaknesses. Avoid judging your preparation solely by hours studied.

For structured practice, explore UnderStand UPSC’s UPSC Prelims Test Series 2027. For Mains preparation, consider our Conquer Mains Programme.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q1. Who is the UPSC Topper 2025?

Ans. Anuj Agnihotri secured AIR 1 in UPSC CSE 2025. The final result was declared on 6 March 2026.

Q2. How many marks did UPSC Topper 2025 score?

Ans. Anuj Agnihotri scored 867 in Mains and 204 in the Personality Test, for a total of 1,071 out of 2,025.

Q3. Who was the female topper of UPSC 2025?

Ans. Rajeshwari Suve M secured AIR 2 with 1,067 marks, making her the highest-ranked woman in CSE 2025.

Q4. What was the UPSC CSE 2025 final cut-off?

Ans. The General category final cut-off was 963 marks. The Mains cut-off was 739 and the Prelims GS Paper I cut-off was 92.66.

Q5. Which optional subject did most UPSC toppers choose in 2025?

Ans. A verified top-50 optional-subject count is not available from the official rank-and-marks PDF alone. Among the top five, Sociology was chosen by two candidates, while Medical Science, Commerce & Accountancy and Economics were each chosen by one.

Q6. How many candidates were recommended in UPSC CSE 2025?

Ans. UPSC recommended 958 candidates in the final result announced on 6 March 2026.

Q7. Where can I download the UPSC Topper 2025 marks list?

Ans. Download the official UPSC marks of recommended candidates PDF.

Learn From the Results, Not Just the Ranks

When you look at the UPSC 2025 topper list, it’s easy to focus on AIR 1 and imagine how different life must feel after achieving that rank. But for an aspirant still preparing, the more useful question is much simpler: What can I change in my preparation tomorrow?

Maybe you need to start answer writing. Maybe your mock-test analysis needs more attention. Maybe you’ve been collecting resources instead of revising them.

The results of Anuj Agnihotri, Rajeshwari Suve M, Raghav Jhunjhunwala, Surabhi Yadav and Nisar Dishant Amrutlal show that strong candidates can reach the merit list with different academic backgrounds and different combinations of written and interview marks.

There is no single timetable or optional subject that guarantees success. At UnderStand UPSC, our goal is to help you develop a preparation system that works for your strengths, weaknesses and circumstances. Respect the toppers’ journeys. Learn from their results. But build a strategy that is genuinely your own.