I think IL was already targeted based on the setting of the question paper. 4 out of 7 questions were on UN, and the rest of the questions apart from no.1 were unconventional questions. Rather the entire paper was unconventional. The trend of repeating questions from UNCLOS, Vienna Convention on Treaty, defining IL, asking a case law, etc. was done away in this paper.

W.r.t. to Gender Studies and US History I don't have any idea. But current scenario was mixed in US History paper. And, surprisingly, in IR-I, the examiner finally decided to give a question on IL.

It seems that there is now no longer any need to 'study' the past papers as it was previously advised. One can merely have a look at them for reference and understanding how broadly and diversely the questions are asked.