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Best Pen for UPSC Mains: Choose the Right Pen for Success & Popular Choices

Last Updated on Jun 17, 2025
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Selecting the best pen for UPSC mains is essential for a serious UPSC Aspirant. The duration of the examination is long, and candidates have to concentrate on writing answers for long hours. Choosing the right pen helps a candidate improve speed, attention, grip, and clarity. Sometimes, UPSC aspirants skip this significant point of selecting the right pen, but it matters a lot.

Choose a reliable, smooth writing pen with a comfortable grip for UPSC mains. Pens like Pilot V5 and V7, Writometer, Butterflow, Reynolds, Cello, and Luxor are popular choices. Select the pen that suits your writing style and comfort preferences for long exam sessions.

Many toppers cover this critical topic. They agree that writing UPSC's main answer with the right pen improves focus and relieves stress. The best pen for UPSC mains should be smooth, fast-drying, and comfortable. A pen that a UPSC aspirant chooses must not blot or smudge. It must last during long hours of writing. This article will help you select the best pen for UPSC mains by analyzing essential factors and options.

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Why Does Choosing the Best Pen for UPSC Mains Matter?

Neat, fast, and precise handwriting can bring success to a UPSC aspirant. A best-selected pen can improve aspirants' performance and achieve success by saving seconds in every answer. The importance of the best pen for UPSC mains Pen in UPSC answer writing impacts candidates' speed, neatness, and focus. An aspirant has to write for 3 hours non-stop in UPSC mains, and a pen for UPSC mains answer writing should be reliable.

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Key reasons why the Best Pen for UPSC Mains pen matters:

  • A smooth pen gives better speed and saves time for UPSC main answer writing.
  • The comfortable grip of a right pen reduces fatigue during extended hours.
  • The best Ink quality of the best pen ensures clean and sharp writing.
  • The best and Fastest-drying ink prevents blotting and smudges.
  • Pen type affects your handwriting quality.

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Pilot V 5 Pen For UPSC Mains - Topper's Most Preferred Pen

The Pilot V5 pen is the best ball pen for UPSC mains and popular among UPSC aspirants for the main exam. Known for its fine precision and smooth writing experience, the Pilot V5 pen is the best pen for UPSC answer writing offers a consistent flow of ink and precise lines, making it ideal for writing detailed answers. Its ergonomic design and lightweight and comfortable grip ensure ease of use during long answer writing sessions. Many candidates prefer the Pilot V5 pen for its reliability and the professional look it lends to their answers. Although it is not waterproof, Pilot V5 is the best pen for OMR sheet UPSC and considered as one of the most used pens by UPSC toppers because of its smoothness and lightweight.

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Popular Choices to Choose the Best Pen for UPSC Mains

Candidates prefer pens that provide smooth answer writing for the UPSC mains exam. They also look for a pen with consistent ink flow and a comfortable grip for extended hours. Here is a list of some popular choices, along with their advantages:

There are many pens available in the market that you can choose to buy for the UPSC mains exam. Below, we have provided a list of the 7 Best Pens for the UPSC Mains exam used by the toppers. 

The top three best pens to write UPSC mains, recommended by toppers are: 

  1. Pilot Pen (V5 and V7)
  2. Butterflow
  3. Writometer

Some other best pens preferred by UPSC toppers for upsc mains answer writing are:

  1. Uniball eye rollerball pen
  2. Cello Pinpoint Pen
  3. Cello techno tip pen
  4. Flair Writo Meter Pen
  5. Reynolds 045 Fine Carbure Blue Ballpen
  6. Pilot V 7 Hi-tech Pen with the cartridge system

Factors To Consider When Choosing a Pen For UPSC Mains

As thousands of pens are available in the market, not every pen is great! You need to consider some facts before choosing the right pen for UPSC Mains. Check below for the key factors.

  1. Comfort: Comfort is crucial since you'll be writing for long durations. Choose a pen with a comfortable grip that won't cause hand fatigue.
  2. Smoothness of Writing: Opt for a pen that writes smoothly and consistently. You don't want a pen that skips or requires excessive writing pressure.
  3. Ink Quality: Ensure the ink quality is good and doesn't smudge easily. Also, check if the ink dries quickly to prevent smudging.
  4. Point Size: Choose a point size that suits your handwriting style. A medium point (0.7mm) is usually safe as it balances delicate and bold writing.
  5. Reliability: Select a pen from a reputed brand known for its reliability. You don't want your pen to malfunction during the exam.
  6. Waterproof Ink: It's advisable to use pens with waterproof ink to prevent your answers from getting smudged, especially if there's a chance of spills or moisture during the exam.
  7. Ink Colour: UPSC allows a ball pen or gel pen of either black or blue to be used to write the answers during the UPSC Mains Exam.

After reading this article, we hope all your doubts about the "best pen for UPSC mains exam" have been addressed. The textbook provides comprehensive notes on civil services and various other competitive examinations. It has always ensured the quality of its products, such as content pages, live tests, GK and current affairs, mocks, and so on. Ace your UPSC preparation with the Testbook. Download the Testbook App now!

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Best Pen For UPSC - FAQs

Most of the UPSC Toppers prefer using Pilot V5 Pen as it provides better smoothness, grip and is also a lightweight pen which allows to write for longer duration.

You can use any pen for UPSC. It depends on your preference, the right pen for UPSC mains should provide you comfort, good grip and allow you write with good speed for longer duration. So, you can use Pilot pen, or any other pen as per your liking.

No, it is not a waterproof pen. But it should not matter much as the examination answer sheets are handled carefully by the UPSC.

As per UPSC notice, you must use a Black color pen for signing and scanning it. Using black pen provides better visibility.

No, UPSC does not provide any specific recommendation for pens to be used in the mains exam. Candidates are free to use any pen of their choice as long as it meets the basic requirement of legible and neat presentable writing.

Yes, It is advisable to carry multiple pens as a backup during the UPSC mains exam. In case one pen stops working or runs out of ink, you can quickly switch to another pen without any interruption. Having extra pens ensures that you can continue writing smoothly without any inconvenience and stress.

The Pilot V 5 Pen has a 0.5 tip, which is provides better smoothness than the Pilot V 7 Pen.

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