How to prepare for UPSC CSAT? PDF Download

EduRev's team has mentored thousands of students in the last 3-years, including Anudeep Durishetty AIR 1 UPSC CSE 2017, and one thing that was common that a lot of time of an aspirant is wasted in compiling the sources from different sources and studying them efficiently.

Our team has spent the last 2-years interacting with toppers, teachers who have mentored these toppers, understanding their strategies, sources that they referred to during the preparation. We have compiled these sources & made them available to you at a single click in the EduRev App, saving hundreds of hours wasted in setting the base for the preparation.

This document will briefly help you understand how you can prepare well for CSAT exam and how you can leverage EduRev smartly to crack the UPSC exam. 

How to prepare for CSAT effectively?

1. Understand the Syllabus, Exam Pattern & Marking Scheme of UPSC CSAT well.

UPSC CSAT is a qualifying paper in prelims and it is important to score 66+ marks out of 200 to ensure selection in Prelims. Having a thorough understanding of the syllabus and exam pattern is important for UPSC CSAT preparation so that you can study smartly and can effectively study what matters through them.

1.1 UPSC CSAT Syllabus

The CSAT (Civil Services Aptitude Test) syllabus for UPSC 2021 shall comprise the following broad categories:

• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision-making and problem-solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc. – Class X level)

1.2 UPSC CSAT Exam Pattern & marking scheme

The UPSC CSAT paper consists of 80 questions and the time allotted for the paper is 2 hours.

• Each question carries 2.5 marks in the CSAT paper making a total of 200 marks.
• There is a penalty for incorrect answers. For every incorrect answer, the candidate is penalized 1/3rd of the total marks allotted to that question, i.e., 0.83 marks will be cut. 
• However, if a question is left unattempted/unanswered, no marks will be deducted.

2. Previous year trend analysis and PYQs to assess your level.

Analyzing previous year trends and attempting previous year questions initially without any preparation will give you a complete understanding of this section.

2.1 CSAT Previous Year Trend Analysis

EduRev Experts have categorised the questions as per the topics in the UPSC syllabus for CSAT in the table below. Going through this previous year trend analysis will help you to figure out how much weightage to give to which section.

Additionally, 05 questions from data sufficiency were also asked in UPSC CSAT 2020. It can be clearly seen from this table that throughout the years, reading comprehension is extremely important for CSAT. Maths & basic numeracy is another important topic from which a lot of questions are asked. Hence, even if you get questions from just these two topics right, you’ll be able to qualify the CSAT paper very easily.

2.2 Previous year questions to help you asses your level of preparation

CSAT section can be a little tough and challenging for non science students. You should solve previous year questions of this section initially without any preparation and should check at what level you are currently. You can solve previous year questions of CSAT from this link: UPSC Previous Year Question Papers

• More than 80 marks: If you are scoring greater than 80 marks then there’s no need to devote much time  for CSAT preparation as you are already having a strong base. 
• Less than 80 marks: If you are scoring less than 80 marks then you need to practice CSAT questions and need to devote extra time to perform well in this section. 

3. Focus on Section Wise Preparation: Mathematics & English

3.1 Maths and Logical Reasoning for CSAT
Most aspirants face extreme difficulty while preparing Maths for CSAT prelims and find it time-consuming to prepare all the topics. However, you do not need to prepare all the topics. Here’s the strategy you can follow to cover maths and logical reasoning for CSAT.

• Previous Year Question Papers: Glance through the previous year papers to understand the depth you need to cover for each topic. Use the Previous Year Question Papers for assessing the difficulty level of the questions.
• Develop Basic Understanding: Start with developing the basic understanding of each topic. You can check the courses 
  - UPSC Prelims Paper 2 CSAT - Quant, Verbal & Decision Making 
  - UPSC CSAT Preparation 
  and can develop a strong base through videos and documents explaining the topics well. Thereafter, you can practice consistently through topic wise tests available in the course.
• Selectively prepare & master the topics: Strategize your Prelims preparation by using the table curated by EduRev Experts  below and prioritize the high-priority topics in order to prepare this section. 
• Additional Sources & books to master Maths and Logical Reasoning for CSAT:
  The books recommended by IAS toppers for acing the UPSC Prelims – CSAT (GS Paper II) are given below:
  - CSAT Manual by Tata Mc Graw Hill
  - Analytical Reasoning – M. K. Pandey
  - Cracking the CSAT Paper-2 – Arihant Publications

3.2 English and Decision Making for CSAT

• Previous Year Question Papers: Glance through the previous year papers to understand the depth you need to cover for each topic. Use the Previous Year Question Papers for assessing the difficulty level of the questions.
• Develop Basic Understanding: Start with developing the basic understanding of each topic. You can go through the course UPSC Prelims Paper 2 CSAT - Quant, Verbal & Decision Making and can develop a strong base through videos and documents explaining the topics well. Thereafter, you can practice consistently through topic wise tests available in the course.

Tips to crack English & Decision Making for CSAT

• Reading Comprehension: Accuracy holds the key in Reading Comprehension as well as Verbal Ability as a whole. So, try and finish the easy passages first instead of wasting time on tough passages. Solve passages having direct questions first. It will be better if the passage is on a subject which you know about, hence selection becomes important.
• Passages: Usually the passages for CSAT are picked from leading Indian editorials and magazines like The Hindu, Kurukshetra, Yojana so it is advised to read them to increase your language skills and reading speed.

Additional Sources & books to master English and Decision Making  

• Basic concepts of Grammar (Wren & Martin): Read English Grammar and Composition by Wren n Martin or Objective General English by SP Bakshi to revise the basic concepts of Grammar. 
  
• Hindu Editorials for RC passages: Read Hindu Editorials regularly to ensure you’ve a good reading and comprehension skills for RC passages.
  
• Flash Cards to help you improve vocabulary: Improve your vocabulary either by extensive reading or through Flashcards/Vocabularly modules. 
  
• English Novels to enhance reading skills: If you have time, you can also read simple English novels to enhance your reading and comprehension skills as well as vocabulary. 

4. Attempt Mock Tests & make your own strategy to crack this section in UPSC exam.

Solving CSAT mock tests is compulsory, it will help you in the efficient revision of topics in a limited time. This is the most important part of the overall CSAT strategy for UPSC Prelims as practice is the key! And the best way to practice is to solve mock tests.

• You can solve full-length mock tests as well as section-wise mock tests through EduRev’s course: UPSC CSE Prelims Mock Test Series Keep solving mock tests every Sunday to enhance your speed and accuracy!
• While solving mock papers, identify which type of questions you are repeatedly attempting wrong and correctly analyze your performance in the mock papers.

Wish you All the Best and a happy learning experience with EduRev!