Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) is the Aptitude and analytical ability test introduced by the UPSC for its Civil services exam in 2011 as a part of reform in the CS examination. It was changed to give a level playing to all candidates from all background.
It included logical reasoning, comprehension, General mental ability, Decision making etc which gave UPSC to judge the dynamic and suitable candidates for the top Indian government posts.
CSAT Syllabus:
CSAT exam is syllabus has been divided into seven sections namely:
- Comprehension
- General Mental Ability
- Basic Numeracy
- Interpersonal Skills
- Decision making and problem solving
- Logical Reasoning
- Data Interpretation.
The csat question paper consists of 80 question of 2.5 marks each. It also has negative marking of 1/3rd. The test paper is of qualifying nature and aspirants need 66% marks.
Trends:
Over the years UPSC has always kept elements of surprise by putting the question paper a competitive one. We can observe it by going through last 7-8 years question papers. In 2011 it included questions from all topics however from last 2 years decision making and data interpretation fetched no questions at all.
| Year | Comprehension | Logical Reasoning | GMA | Data Interpretation | Decision Making |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 33 | 21 | 11 | 9 | 6 |
| 2014 | 31 | 23 | 20 | 6 | 0 |
| 2015 | 30 | 18 | 30 | 2 | 0 |
| 2016 | 28 | 21 | 31 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 30 | 22 | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 26 | 22 | 18 | 14 | 0 |
| 2019 | 30 | 18 | 32 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 26 | 12 | 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 27 | 15 | 35 | 1 | 2 |
| 2022 | 27 | 22 | 31 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 27 | 14 | 39 | 0 | 0 |
The above data clearly shows the weightage given by UPSC to each section.
The trend of questions shows how Comprehension is an important section where candidates needs to be understand the given passage as author suggests and needs to answer accordingly. This gives the insight about the candidates comprehending power.
General Mental ability and Basic Numeracy is another section which calculates the candidates’ ability to solve understand given information and process to reach a logical output. UPSC has given proper weightage to this section and over the years have given 30+ questions on an average.
Logical reasoning is another important section where UPSC tests problem solving ability of candidates and over the years around 18- 20 questions have been asked.
Data interpretation and decision making question checks the decision making power of aspirant based of the given data which needs focus and over the years small amounts of questions has been asked.
Inferring the last year question papers gives us insight that UPSC leaves no stones unturned to choose the right candidate at any stage.
See also: UPSC Prelims 10 years Question Paper
Conquering CSAT
Candidates should be prepared to face any kind of the question from any mentioned sections. This can be only achieved through meticulous planning and sincere practice of different question all through the preparations.
The Civil Services exam is attempted by Aspirants from all corners First of all by student should analyse their weak sections as per syllabus and the plan to master it. They should first learn the techniques to solve the questions first. Then practice similar questions which will instil confidence to attempt harder questions. They should practice exercises from different topics regularly.
This will help you to raise your bar from time to time. Once you are master the topic start solving mixed exercises from all topics.
The more you practice the more aspirants come close to qualifying the exam.
At first candidates should not be feel pressured for taking long time to solving the questions. They should focus on grabbing the techniques to solve various types of questions.
In the course of preparation with regular dedicated time for CSAT question solving will make the way easy.
One should always remember that it should be a focused and planned preparation towards the exam. Prefer quite places to solve and for learning, fully concentrate on learning different ways to solve questions.
Way Forward
Since now the Prelims exams are round the corner, Aspirants should entirely focus on practicing various types of exercises to boost their confidence.
- If they get stuck at any questions, they should carry on with solving other exercises and at the end of the day revisit the question and try to find out the method to solve.
- One best way would be peer to peer solving where at the end of the day few aspirants can gather together either online/offline and discuss questions among themselves.
- Another way is to connect with a mentor who will be able to identify the missing link and solve and explain to aspirant.
- Referring Test books and notes will also solve the problem immediately. Thus the doubt should be solved on the very same day to minimize the wastage of time and energy.
Muhammad Ali, the great Boxer, was once asked once that how many sit-ups you do, he replied, “I don’t count my sit-ups, and I only start counting when it starts hurting, when I feel pain.” UPSC CSAT paper is all about students’ concentration power and practice they did while preparing, so they should always face this challenge with confidence with hours and hours of practice and excel in this exam.
