CSAT - the game changer

After a study on the GS Paper for the Civil Services Prelims(CSP), let us now dwell deeper into the Paper II, which is popularly known as the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT).

Before going into the details, let me start with an important fact related to the CSP. In the Prelims examinations of yesteryears, a general candidate who gets 50% marks would easily qualify for the Mains. But, this trend has changed since the year 2012. The cut-off marks for 2012 and 2013, as published by UPSC is 209 and 241 respectively out of a total of 400 (For the year 2014, it would come around 220).

Now what is the reason for such a jump in the cut-off marks? Here comes the significance of the CSAT paper. People who are not so good in GS, rather perform extremely well (above 150) in CSAT thus raising their total far above 200. Consequently, the range of marks among candidates is comparatively narrow for GS, while  in the case of CSAT it is very wide with some candidates scoring even above 180 marks. This makes the CSAT Paper, the decisive one for the CSP, even though it is of not of much use in the higher levels of the Civil Services Exam.

 Let us now study the syllabus for the CSAT, as notified by the UPSC. As in the case of Paper I, this paper also has a 7 point syllabus which is as follows:

1. Comprehension.
2. Interpersonal skills including communication skills.
3. Logical reasoning and analytical ability.
4. Decision-making and problem-solving.
5. General mental ability.
6. Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc. - Class X level), Data - interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. - Class X level)
7.  English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level). 

Now, this contains a few topics that are overlapping and in turn confusing, at least for those who are not familiar with such a Paper. Hence let me simplify the syllabus initially, like what was done for the GS Paper of the CSP. I am reducing it to a 5 point syllabus so that you get a clearer picture.

1. Reading comprehension.
2. Decision-making.
3. Logical and analytical reasoning.
4. Basic numeracy.
5. Data interpretation.

To make things simpler, I am giving a brief description of each section below:

• Under Reading Comprehension, the candidates are required to read a given passage and answer the following questions based on it. The candidates can opt for either English or Hindi as the language, except for the compulsory English Comprehension part.
• Under Decision Making, a situation is provided and you would be asked to choose the most appropriate action from the given options.  The UPSC syllabus describes about Interpersonal Skills, but is not asked separately. Rather, it is used for solving Decision Making questions. One important fact is that this section does not have negative marking and credit is given to the best alternative.
• Logical Reasoning involves questions that can be solved using basic logic. They can be classified into two:
• Verbal reasoning - includes problems based on Statements & Conclusions, Logical Connectives, Syllogism etc
• Non Verbal reasoning - includes problems based on figures like pattern detection, dice problems etc.
• Analytical Reasoning problems are more complex compared to the Logical Reasoning ones and require the candidates to draw rough diagrams to find exact solutions. This includes problems on arrangement and ordering, blood-relations, direction sense etc.
• Basic numeracy involves problems based on Xth class Mathematics like percentage, ratio & proportion, time & distance etc.
• Data Interpretation problems involves data represented in the form of graphs, charts or tables and followed by questions based on them. It tests the ability of the candidate to analyse the given data. It is a part of the Statistics subject that you might have already studied in School. 

With this information at hand, it is the right time to analyse the CSAT Questions papers for the years 2013 and 2014.

Section	2013	2014
Comprehension	32	32
Decision making	6	0
Reasoning	22	23
Basic Numeracy	14	19
Data Interpretation	6	6
Total	80	80

Some important observations:

• The number of questions under Comprehension has remained the same in 2013 and 2014. With 32 questions in all ,this remains the largest section in the CSAT paper. But in 2014, six questions from the Compulsory English section were not considered for evaluation thus bringing down the number to 26.
• While there were six questions on Decision-Making in 2013, the whole section was absent in 2014. The most probable reason would be the introduction of the Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude Paper (or GS Paper IV) in the Mains examination. But this doesn't imply that such questions won't be asked in the next Prelims.
• Questions on Reasoning have got almost equal consideration in 2013 and 2014. Among them, more questions (two-third) were from the Analytical Reasoning part.
• Basic Numeracy is a section which saw a sharp increase in the number of questions in 2014 compared to the previous year as is evident from the table. In short, the Decision Making section was effectively replaced by questions from Basic Numeracy.
• The number of questions from Data Interpretation has remained the same in 2013 and 2014.

Important take-aways :

• The pattern of questions from different sections has remained more or less the same across the years. Atleast a few questions from the Reasoning and Numeracy sections were seen to be repeated. Hence the starting point for you would a thorough analysis of the previous years question papers. 

• There is a misunderstanding among the aspirants that the CSAT is complete Maths. This need to be done away with initially. Among the five major sections, only Basic Numeracy and Data Interpretation test your arithmetic skills. As is evident from the above table, the number of questions asked from these two sections together is 20 and 25 respectively in 2013 and 2014. Moreover, the UPSC has specifically mentioned that questions from these section will be of the Xth class level. Hence we need to understand that CSAT is not Maths.  

• Decision-making and Comprehension are qualities that are inherent in a person. Hence, we need to hone up those skills by practising more questions. While people with wide-reading and good English language skills can easily answer the questions under Comprehension,  Decision Making demands for practical wisdom among the candidates.

• The most important element of the CSAT is the time-management. 80 questions in two hours implies 1.5 minutes per question. But there can be wide variation in the complexity of questions. While a few can be solved within 30 seconds, some other questions would take above 2 minutes, especially if you are stuck up while solving those. Generally, Comprehension and Reasoning consumes more time and this has to be balanced with the Maths (Basic Numeracy and Data Interpretation) and Decision-Making sections.

The exam strategy:

The two hours for the CSAT is a golden time-period and your output depends upon how you manage it. The total time can be divided among different questions; like 80 Q in two hours implies 40 Q in one hour or 20 Q in half an hour. Further, different sections may be mixed up so that there is a balance; like Basic Numeracy can be done in between Reading Comprehension. Ultimately, you should not end up in leaving those questions which you actually know, just because you don't have the time. 

Please be mindful of the fact that "watching the clock is not the same as watching the sun rise".  You have been given a two hour time, not for dreaming, but to accomplish a mission; something which you have been cherishing for long. Hence pick your battles wisely...