Countering Failure in Csat | Crack Civil Services in First Attempt by Divey Sethi, IRS - UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


Countering Failure in Csat
From a genuine media source, I found that;
More than 4.5 lakh candidates appeared at the preliminary 2014 
examination. A total of 9,44,926 candidates had applied for the 
examination, but only 6,80,455 downloaded the admit cards. Out of 
almost 7 lakh candidates, 4.5 lakh came for the test held at 2,137 centers 
in 59 cities. In the year 2013, the UPSC Civil services preliminary saw 
3,24,101 candidates.
In the year 2015, the figure of appeared candidates is expected to 
be about 4.7 lacs. However, as there is no official declaration, there 
might be a possibility that even more candidates sat the exam, as the 
candidates who appeared in 2011 (2.5 lacs) had been given another 
chance in the year 2015.
Thus, let us consider an average of 5 lakh students who compete for 
around the first 15,000 ranks. The rest are not eligible to write the 
mains exams. This section is dedicated to all those aspirants who could 
not make it to the mains. I have tried to delineate the reasons for failure, 
the immediate strategy after the result, and the corrections which shall 
benefit the aspirant in the long run.
? Unpredictable CSAT
CSAT, 2014, again reinforced our belief in the unpredictability of 
UPSC question-setting trends! It was notified through the Gazette 
that the marks of those comprehensions for which there was no Hindi 
translation were not to be considered in merit for the purpose of 
selection in CSAT. But surprises were far from being over.
The CSAT paper II again tricked many. It remains to be the prime cause 
of woes for several aspirants. The twist in this paper was the deletion 
Page 2


Countering Failure in Csat
From a genuine media source, I found that;
More than 4.5 lakh candidates appeared at the preliminary 2014 
examination. A total of 9,44,926 candidates had applied for the 
examination, but only 6,80,455 downloaded the admit cards. Out of 
almost 7 lakh candidates, 4.5 lakh came for the test held at 2,137 centers 
in 59 cities. In the year 2013, the UPSC Civil services preliminary saw 
3,24,101 candidates.
In the year 2015, the figure of appeared candidates is expected to 
be about 4.7 lacs. However, as there is no official declaration, there 
might be a possibility that even more candidates sat the exam, as the 
candidates who appeared in 2011 (2.5 lacs) had been given another 
chance in the year 2015.
Thus, let us consider an average of 5 lakh students who compete for 
around the first 15,000 ranks. The rest are not eligible to write the 
mains exams. This section is dedicated to all those aspirants who could 
not make it to the mains. I have tried to delineate the reasons for failure, 
the immediate strategy after the result, and the corrections which shall 
benefit the aspirant in the long run.
? Unpredictable CSAT
CSAT, 2014, again reinforced our belief in the unpredictability of 
UPSC question-setting trends! It was notified through the Gazette 
that the marks of those comprehensions for which there was no Hindi 
translation were not to be considered in merit for the purpose of 
selection in CSAT. But surprises were far from being over.
The CSAT paper II again tricked many. It remains to be the prime cause 
of woes for several aspirants. The twist in this paper was the deletion 
of decision-making questions. But that was not realized by many 
aspirants until they searched for the decision-making questions and 
were terrified not to find them in the question booklet. Why worried 
if there was no decision-making? Because that is a section which can 
be traversed in a matter of a few minutes, and also, there is no negative 
marking. Thus, it is that section which boosts the score by 10-15 marks. 
Now it was not there.
In CSAT 2015, this paper 2 was made qualifying. People cheered, 
especially those who had been agitating for the scrapping of this paper 
entirely. A sort of compromise was reached, and there has been no 
protest since then. But even after that, 3 of my acquaintances, who 
had good know-how of GS, couldn’t secure more than 33% in paper 2. 
Maybe because they became so complacent after the notification that 
no effort was put into this paper at all.
? Missing the instructions.
The suspicion should have been aroused in the minds of the aspirants 
upon reading the instructions at the first hand. Nowhere was it 
mentioned that there shall be some questions with no negative 
marking – both in the year 2014 as well as 2015. That should have been 
enough to attract attention of the aspirants directly to the decision-
making questions. He/she should have known within 2 minutes 
after receiving the question paper that there are no decision-making 
questions. The consequential thought then must have been, “The 
paper is going to be lengthier.” With this thought in mind, an aspirant 
should have proceeded with the paper. However, many candidates 
approached me after the paper with the grievance that they realized 
only after one hour into the exam that there was no decision-making 
section.
? Two reasons for failure in CSAT:
There can only be 2 reasons for a negative result in CSAT: a) Lack of 
subject knowledge and b) Lack of exam time temperament. The former 
Page 3


Countering Failure in Csat
From a genuine media source, I found that;
More than 4.5 lakh candidates appeared at the preliminary 2014 
examination. A total of 9,44,926 candidates had applied for the 
examination, but only 6,80,455 downloaded the admit cards. Out of 
almost 7 lakh candidates, 4.5 lakh came for the test held at 2,137 centers 
in 59 cities. In the year 2013, the UPSC Civil services preliminary saw 
3,24,101 candidates.
In the year 2015, the figure of appeared candidates is expected to 
be about 4.7 lacs. However, as there is no official declaration, there 
might be a possibility that even more candidates sat the exam, as the 
candidates who appeared in 2011 (2.5 lacs) had been given another 
chance in the year 2015.
Thus, let us consider an average of 5 lakh students who compete for 
around the first 15,000 ranks. The rest are not eligible to write the 
mains exams. This section is dedicated to all those aspirants who could 
not make it to the mains. I have tried to delineate the reasons for failure, 
the immediate strategy after the result, and the corrections which shall 
benefit the aspirant in the long run.
? Unpredictable CSAT
CSAT, 2014, again reinforced our belief in the unpredictability of 
UPSC question-setting trends! It was notified through the Gazette 
that the marks of those comprehensions for which there was no Hindi 
translation were not to be considered in merit for the purpose of 
selection in CSAT. But surprises were far from being over.
The CSAT paper II again tricked many. It remains to be the prime cause 
of woes for several aspirants. The twist in this paper was the deletion 
of decision-making questions. But that was not realized by many 
aspirants until they searched for the decision-making questions and 
were terrified not to find them in the question booklet. Why worried 
if there was no decision-making? Because that is a section which can 
be traversed in a matter of a few minutes, and also, there is no negative 
marking. Thus, it is that section which boosts the score by 10-15 marks. 
Now it was not there.
In CSAT 2015, this paper 2 was made qualifying. People cheered, 
especially those who had been agitating for the scrapping of this paper 
entirely. A sort of compromise was reached, and there has been no 
protest since then. But even after that, 3 of my acquaintances, who 
had good know-how of GS, couldn’t secure more than 33% in paper 2. 
Maybe because they became so complacent after the notification that 
no effort was put into this paper at all.
? Missing the instructions.
The suspicion should have been aroused in the minds of the aspirants 
upon reading the instructions at the first hand. Nowhere was it 
mentioned that there shall be some questions with no negative 
marking – both in the year 2014 as well as 2015. That should have been 
enough to attract attention of the aspirants directly to the decision-
making questions. He/she should have known within 2 minutes 
after receiving the question paper that there are no decision-making 
questions. The consequential thought then must have been, “The 
paper is going to be lengthier.” With this thought in mind, an aspirant 
should have proceeded with the paper. However, many candidates 
approached me after the paper with the grievance that they realized 
only after one hour into the exam that there was no decision-making 
section.
? Two reasons for failure in CSAT:
There can only be 2 reasons for a negative result in CSAT: a) Lack of 
subject knowledge and b) Lack of exam time temperament. The former 
Countering Failure in Csat
can be managed by taking a deeper plunge into the studies, while the 
latter is indeed a cause for worry.
The irony is that most of the students had sufficient subject knowledge 
required for this year’s CSAT, but it was the temperament in the exam 
and time management that mattered the most in this preliminary exam, 
which was not cultivated by many aspirants. Hence, the dismal results 
for them. The important thing is to realize that this temperament of 
handling pressure is not innate; it has to be nurtured, learned, and 
practiced.
One aspirant who was rendered hopeless after CSAT paper II vomited 
bluntly, “I just don’t have the talent to crack CSAT. It’s just not inside 
me.” He burst into tears. At that time, I didn’t find it appropriate to 
convince him of the gross error he had made while labeling the paper-
solving talents as something innate in a human being. Nevertheless, 
through this book, I must convey to all the aspirants that question-
solving techniques, time management tricks, and the related qualities 
can be learned and have to be cultivated if we are to succeed in CSAT 
in the present times.
? Immediate course of action after failure
After writing the CSAT paper, a reasonable step would be to check 
your answers with those of coaching institutes. You will definitely get 
an idea of your score. Insecurity arises for those aspirants who are 
on the borderline of the expected cut-offs. They would usually check 
their answers with that of various coaching institutes in the hopes of 
getting one or 2 more questions correct. Planning the study for mains 
is a difficult course of action for such aspirants due to the insecurity of 
selection in the preliminary.
Once the result is out, we have only 2 cases: those who are through 
and those who have failed. The unsuccessful aspirants are bound to 
undergo a little torture in myriad forms. They would be anguished by 
the advice of different sections of society. Their friends who passed 
Page 4


Countering Failure in Csat
From a genuine media source, I found that;
More than 4.5 lakh candidates appeared at the preliminary 2014 
examination. A total of 9,44,926 candidates had applied for the 
examination, but only 6,80,455 downloaded the admit cards. Out of 
almost 7 lakh candidates, 4.5 lakh came for the test held at 2,137 centers 
in 59 cities. In the year 2013, the UPSC Civil services preliminary saw 
3,24,101 candidates.
In the year 2015, the figure of appeared candidates is expected to 
be about 4.7 lacs. However, as there is no official declaration, there 
might be a possibility that even more candidates sat the exam, as the 
candidates who appeared in 2011 (2.5 lacs) had been given another 
chance in the year 2015.
Thus, let us consider an average of 5 lakh students who compete for 
around the first 15,000 ranks. The rest are not eligible to write the 
mains exams. This section is dedicated to all those aspirants who could 
not make it to the mains. I have tried to delineate the reasons for failure, 
the immediate strategy after the result, and the corrections which shall 
benefit the aspirant in the long run.
? Unpredictable CSAT
CSAT, 2014, again reinforced our belief in the unpredictability of 
UPSC question-setting trends! It was notified through the Gazette 
that the marks of those comprehensions for which there was no Hindi 
translation were not to be considered in merit for the purpose of 
selection in CSAT. But surprises were far from being over.
The CSAT paper II again tricked many. It remains to be the prime cause 
of woes for several aspirants. The twist in this paper was the deletion 
of decision-making questions. But that was not realized by many 
aspirants until they searched for the decision-making questions and 
were terrified not to find them in the question booklet. Why worried 
if there was no decision-making? Because that is a section which can 
be traversed in a matter of a few minutes, and also, there is no negative 
marking. Thus, it is that section which boosts the score by 10-15 marks. 
Now it was not there.
In CSAT 2015, this paper 2 was made qualifying. People cheered, 
especially those who had been agitating for the scrapping of this paper 
entirely. A sort of compromise was reached, and there has been no 
protest since then. But even after that, 3 of my acquaintances, who 
had good know-how of GS, couldn’t secure more than 33% in paper 2. 
Maybe because they became so complacent after the notification that 
no effort was put into this paper at all.
? Missing the instructions.
The suspicion should have been aroused in the minds of the aspirants 
upon reading the instructions at the first hand. Nowhere was it 
mentioned that there shall be some questions with no negative 
marking – both in the year 2014 as well as 2015. That should have been 
enough to attract attention of the aspirants directly to the decision-
making questions. He/she should have known within 2 minutes 
after receiving the question paper that there are no decision-making 
questions. The consequential thought then must have been, “The 
paper is going to be lengthier.” With this thought in mind, an aspirant 
should have proceeded with the paper. However, many candidates 
approached me after the paper with the grievance that they realized 
only after one hour into the exam that there was no decision-making 
section.
? Two reasons for failure in CSAT:
There can only be 2 reasons for a negative result in CSAT: a) Lack of 
subject knowledge and b) Lack of exam time temperament. The former 
Countering Failure in Csat
can be managed by taking a deeper plunge into the studies, while the 
latter is indeed a cause for worry.
The irony is that most of the students had sufficient subject knowledge 
required for this year’s CSAT, but it was the temperament in the exam 
and time management that mattered the most in this preliminary exam, 
which was not cultivated by many aspirants. Hence, the dismal results 
for them. The important thing is to realize that this temperament of 
handling pressure is not innate; it has to be nurtured, learned, and 
practiced.
One aspirant who was rendered hopeless after CSAT paper II vomited 
bluntly, “I just don’t have the talent to crack CSAT. It’s just not inside 
me.” He burst into tears. At that time, I didn’t find it appropriate to 
convince him of the gross error he had made while labeling the paper-
solving talents as something innate in a human being. Nevertheless, 
through this book, I must convey to all the aspirants that question-
solving techniques, time management tricks, and the related qualities 
can be learned and have to be cultivated if we are to succeed in CSAT 
in the present times.
? Immediate course of action after failure
After writing the CSAT paper, a reasonable step would be to check 
your answers with those of coaching institutes. You will definitely get 
an idea of your score. Insecurity arises for those aspirants who are 
on the borderline of the expected cut-offs. They would usually check 
their answers with that of various coaching institutes in the hopes of 
getting one or 2 more questions correct. Planning the study for mains 
is a difficult course of action for such aspirants due to the insecurity of 
selection in the preliminary.
Once the result is out, we have only 2 cases: those who are through 
and those who have failed. The unsuccessful aspirants are bound to 
undergo a little torture in myriad forms. They would be anguished by 
the advice of different sections of society. Their friends who passed 
the preliminary would try to point out the mistakes they had made and 
share their experience. This might prove to be a good exercise, provided 
that the guiding friend does not pursue such advice with a humiliating 
intent. Another flawed methodology adopted is the formation of a 
consequential group of unsuccessful aspirants that gets created to share 
the burdens of defeat.
Parents and other family members may turn a little skeptical and start 
doubting the aspirant’s capabilities. They won’t say it directly but 
through words directed in such regard. That indeed is painful. One of 
my good friends who missed the preliminary by less than 10 marks 
was bestowed with suggestions of meditation by her father. “My father 
said meditation and yoga can take me out of grief in times of failure. He 
also advised me to read motivational books.” My dear friends, the failure 
in CSAT is not to be projected as a ‘grief’ in our lives! Life is too long, 
dynamic, and versatile that an unsuccessful examination result can’t 
and should not be labeled as an invincible grief in our lives. Taking the 
above view into account, I present below a broad strategy to counter 
the failure in CSAT;
1. Take a break – There may develop immense pressure, both from 
internal expectations and external comments, that an aspirant 
may take to study on the day he/she witnesses the negative 
result in CSAT. This pressure to study is not going to help. What 
is required at that moment is profound introspection into what 
went wrong. Delineating the cause of failure is a must for each 
and every aspirant. “Take a break” means to give a breather from 
studies. It does not necessarily mean that you have to go to the 
Himalayas for a vacation. What it implies is that you may speak 
less and introspect more.
Is it the lack of drive within you that resulted in fewer efforts, 
which resulted in failure? If yes, then you may search for your 
reasons for doing civil services preparations, which will help you 
find that vigor in your studies. Or is it the exam time pressure 
Page 5


Countering Failure in Csat
From a genuine media source, I found that;
More than 4.5 lakh candidates appeared at the preliminary 2014 
examination. A total of 9,44,926 candidates had applied for the 
examination, but only 6,80,455 downloaded the admit cards. Out of 
almost 7 lakh candidates, 4.5 lakh came for the test held at 2,137 centers 
in 59 cities. In the year 2013, the UPSC Civil services preliminary saw 
3,24,101 candidates.
In the year 2015, the figure of appeared candidates is expected to 
be about 4.7 lacs. However, as there is no official declaration, there 
might be a possibility that even more candidates sat the exam, as the 
candidates who appeared in 2011 (2.5 lacs) had been given another 
chance in the year 2015.
Thus, let us consider an average of 5 lakh students who compete for 
around the first 15,000 ranks. The rest are not eligible to write the 
mains exams. This section is dedicated to all those aspirants who could 
not make it to the mains. I have tried to delineate the reasons for failure, 
the immediate strategy after the result, and the corrections which shall 
benefit the aspirant in the long run.
? Unpredictable CSAT
CSAT, 2014, again reinforced our belief in the unpredictability of 
UPSC question-setting trends! It was notified through the Gazette 
that the marks of those comprehensions for which there was no Hindi 
translation were not to be considered in merit for the purpose of 
selection in CSAT. But surprises were far from being over.
The CSAT paper II again tricked many. It remains to be the prime cause 
of woes for several aspirants. The twist in this paper was the deletion 
of decision-making questions. But that was not realized by many 
aspirants until they searched for the decision-making questions and 
were terrified not to find them in the question booklet. Why worried 
if there was no decision-making? Because that is a section which can 
be traversed in a matter of a few minutes, and also, there is no negative 
marking. Thus, it is that section which boosts the score by 10-15 marks. 
Now it was not there.
In CSAT 2015, this paper 2 was made qualifying. People cheered, 
especially those who had been agitating for the scrapping of this paper 
entirely. A sort of compromise was reached, and there has been no 
protest since then. But even after that, 3 of my acquaintances, who 
had good know-how of GS, couldn’t secure more than 33% in paper 2. 
Maybe because they became so complacent after the notification that 
no effort was put into this paper at all.
? Missing the instructions.
The suspicion should have been aroused in the minds of the aspirants 
upon reading the instructions at the first hand. Nowhere was it 
mentioned that there shall be some questions with no negative 
marking – both in the year 2014 as well as 2015. That should have been 
enough to attract attention of the aspirants directly to the decision-
making questions. He/she should have known within 2 minutes 
after receiving the question paper that there are no decision-making 
questions. The consequential thought then must have been, “The 
paper is going to be lengthier.” With this thought in mind, an aspirant 
should have proceeded with the paper. However, many candidates 
approached me after the paper with the grievance that they realized 
only after one hour into the exam that there was no decision-making 
section.
? Two reasons for failure in CSAT:
There can only be 2 reasons for a negative result in CSAT: a) Lack of 
subject knowledge and b) Lack of exam time temperament. The former 
Countering Failure in Csat
can be managed by taking a deeper plunge into the studies, while the 
latter is indeed a cause for worry.
The irony is that most of the students had sufficient subject knowledge 
required for this year’s CSAT, but it was the temperament in the exam 
and time management that mattered the most in this preliminary exam, 
which was not cultivated by many aspirants. Hence, the dismal results 
for them. The important thing is to realize that this temperament of 
handling pressure is not innate; it has to be nurtured, learned, and 
practiced.
One aspirant who was rendered hopeless after CSAT paper II vomited 
bluntly, “I just don’t have the talent to crack CSAT. It’s just not inside 
me.” He burst into tears. At that time, I didn’t find it appropriate to 
convince him of the gross error he had made while labeling the paper-
solving talents as something innate in a human being. Nevertheless, 
through this book, I must convey to all the aspirants that question-
solving techniques, time management tricks, and the related qualities 
can be learned and have to be cultivated if we are to succeed in CSAT 
in the present times.
? Immediate course of action after failure
After writing the CSAT paper, a reasonable step would be to check 
your answers with those of coaching institutes. You will definitely get 
an idea of your score. Insecurity arises for those aspirants who are 
on the borderline of the expected cut-offs. They would usually check 
their answers with that of various coaching institutes in the hopes of 
getting one or 2 more questions correct. Planning the study for mains 
is a difficult course of action for such aspirants due to the insecurity of 
selection in the preliminary.
Once the result is out, we have only 2 cases: those who are through 
and those who have failed. The unsuccessful aspirants are bound to 
undergo a little torture in myriad forms. They would be anguished by 
the advice of different sections of society. Their friends who passed 
the preliminary would try to point out the mistakes they had made and 
share their experience. This might prove to be a good exercise, provided 
that the guiding friend does not pursue such advice with a humiliating 
intent. Another flawed methodology adopted is the formation of a 
consequential group of unsuccessful aspirants that gets created to share 
the burdens of defeat.
Parents and other family members may turn a little skeptical and start 
doubting the aspirant’s capabilities. They won’t say it directly but 
through words directed in such regard. That indeed is painful. One of 
my good friends who missed the preliminary by less than 10 marks 
was bestowed with suggestions of meditation by her father. “My father 
said meditation and yoga can take me out of grief in times of failure. He 
also advised me to read motivational books.” My dear friends, the failure 
in CSAT is not to be projected as a ‘grief’ in our lives! Life is too long, 
dynamic, and versatile that an unsuccessful examination result can’t 
and should not be labeled as an invincible grief in our lives. Taking the 
above view into account, I present below a broad strategy to counter 
the failure in CSAT;
1. Take a break – There may develop immense pressure, both from 
internal expectations and external comments, that an aspirant 
may take to study on the day he/she witnesses the negative 
result in CSAT. This pressure to study is not going to help. What 
is required at that moment is profound introspection into what 
went wrong. Delineating the cause of failure is a must for each 
and every aspirant. “Take a break” means to give a breather from 
studies. It does not necessarily mean that you have to go to the 
Himalayas for a vacation. What it implies is that you may speak 
less and introspect more.
Is it the lack of drive within you that resulted in fewer efforts, 
which resulted in failure? If yes, then you may search for your 
reasons for doing civil services preparations, which will help you 
find that vigor in your studies. Or is it the exam time pressure 
Countering Failure in Csat
that you could not handle while writing the paper? These 
questions and more need to be answered before you proceed 
to studies again. It may take you 15 or 20 days to rejuvenate 
your energies and have more clarity in your mind regarding the 
reasons for preparations and your weaknesses in CSAT. But this 
is a must – do not think that these 20 days were wasted. In fact, 
introspection after a failure leads to more profound planning to 
attain the target. This indeed will take time but would go a long 
way!
2. Isolate negativities – Try to discern the intent of the friends 
around you while you are engulfed by the failure in CSAT. There 
will be those who would approach you with a smile on their face, 
humbleness, and calmness in their voice. They may criticize you 
to correct you. However, they will not mock at you and amplify 
your pain of failure.
While others, far greater in number generally, would be those who 
try to humiliate you by their comments. It is far more beneficial 
to leave the company of such creatures for the moment, rather 
than losing your precious energies to counter their arguments. 
They would never give up their reasons and contentions as it is 
just not their purpose to come to a conclusive talk. Distinguish 
and isolate these mundane creatures!
3. How to mitigate 2 or more consecutive failures – UPSC 
Civil services preparations is a bloody vicious circle. There 
is an easy entry into this circle but exit is quite difficult to 
create. Just recall the working of a stock trader or a mutual 
fund. There are 2 well-known instruments – hedging the risk 
and stop loss function. Use both these instruments in your 
civil services preparations so as to minimize the losses, if any. 
Hedge the risk, that is, play safe. Keep on filling the forms of 
such examinations that are closely related to the civil services 
course content.