Sakshi Education
By,
Vinnakota Srikanth,
Director,
Analog IAS Institute, Hyderabad
CSAT-2012 Paper II was on expected lines, with respect to the previous year paper in terms of the number of questions and in terms of the marks. However, there was one notable change, the number of questions from Basic Numeracy came down to 3 and the majority of the questions were from Comprehension and Reasoning. (How many questions were there from section last year?)
2012 Paper tested more on English usage and Logic skills
Clearly, this time the students were tested more on English usage and Logic skills. This paper had a total of 80 questions, with a total of 200 marks and each question carried equal marks. The paper had no sections and had to be attempted in 120 minutes.
These 80 questions were from seven test areas viz. Comprehension, Decision Making and Problem Solving, Analytical Ability and Logical Reasoning, Interpersonal Skills including Communication Skills, General Mental Ability, Basic Numeracy and English Language Comprehension Skills. The questions were asked in a jumbled manner without having any specific sequence of test areas.
Good reading skills for Comprehension
There were 73 questions for which 0.833 marks was deducted for any wrong answer. The remaining 7 questions were on Decision Making and Problem Solving did not carry any negative marking.
Out of the 80 questions, there were 40 questions, which were based on passages - Comprehension (32 questions) and English Language Comprehension Skills (8 questions). A candidate with good reading skills would not have faced much difficulty in answering most of these questions.
CSAT 2012- a moderate difficulty level paper
However, there were some of the questions which were quite tricky and the options were very close to each other. In order to crack the remaining 40 questions, any candidate good in conceptual and reasoning skills would have found the paper to be manageable. Overall, the difficulty level of the paper was moderate.
Overall - 48 easy, 13 medium and 19 difficult
UPSC has not specified minimum marks for Paper I and II. There was no separate cutoff declared. UPSC, most likely, will consider the grand total of the two papers- Paper I and Paper II for the cutoff. Out of 80 questions, there were 48 easy, 13 medium while 19 difficult.
The questions can be classified area-wise. The following table gives the break-up of the questions that were asked from the test areas.
The table below gives the number of questions (difficulty level wise) with respect to each test area.
Let us analyse different types of questions from each of the test area, the number of doable questions and a good net score.
Comprehension
No. of Questions: 32
The paper had 32 questions from a total of eight passages. This test area had some of the questions, for which the answers cannot simply be obtained by just scanning through the passage. One has to go through the passage, get the important points of it and then try to apply those points to answer the questions. These questions were quite analytical and demanded a very good application of logic and inference. However, there were several other questions which were comparatively easy.
One of the highlights, here, was - out of 32 questions, 18 questions were followed by two to four statements. In such questions, you have to identify the correct/incorrect statement(s)/assumptions/inferences. This format is exactly in line with the question types as given by UPSC in CSAT2011 -Paper II. In 50 minutes, a good candidate can attempt at least 24 questions with about 80% accuracy. Thus, a good score in this test area, alone, will be 38+ marks.
Basic Numeracy
No. of Questions: 3
One of the surprise elements in this paper was almost negligible number of questions in Basic Numeracy in comparison to the number of questions in English or in Reasoning. The number of questions pertaining to Basic Numeracy was brought down to 3. This would have come as a big relief for many candidates, especially those who are from Non-Maths background.
There were no questions pertaining to Data Interpretation, or other mathematical topics. It is important to note that these 3 questions were easy. A good student should be in a position to answer all of these three questions with ease in less than 7 minutes.
Decision Making and Problem Solving
No. of Questions: 7
This test area comprises questions from Situation Analysis. Answering these questions will not take much of time, as these types of questions do not demand much of your calculation skills, as in the case of Basic Numeracy/General Mental Ability.
However, in order to answer these questions, an active and critical reading is required. These seven questions had NO negative marking. At least five of these questions were doable. A good time allocation strategy would be to attempt all of these questions within 10 minutes.
Analytical Ability and Logical Reasoning, General Mental Ability
No. of Questions: 30
This test area comprises questions from topics like Sequencing, Distribution, Deductions (Syllogisms), Venn Diagrams, Cubes, Blood Relations etc. The questions pertaining to Syllogisms & Logical Connectives were moderate in difficulty level. And, there were several other questions which were very easy and the students would not have faced much difficulty in marking the right answers for those questions.
For e.g., the 5-questions set on sequencing was very easy. Similarly, the individual questions on distribution, blood relations, comparison were also easy. There were 19 easy and doable questions (out of 30). By doing these questions with at least 80% accuracy, one can score 34+ marks. A good time allocation strategy will be 30 minutes for these questions.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION SKILLS
No. of Questions: 8
The passages are small, as compared to the passages pertaining to Comprehension. A total of three passages were given. A candidate, who has a basic command over English language, can score well in this area. A good time allocation strategy will be 16 minutes. In this time, one can score 10 marks, which would be a good net score.
For CSAT 2013 Paper II Analysis Click Here
For CSAT 2011 Paper II Analysis Click Here
Vinnakota Srikanth,
Director,
Analog IAS Institute, Hyderabad
CSAT-2012 Paper II was on expected lines, with respect to the previous year paper in terms of the number of questions and in terms of the marks. However, there was one notable change, the number of questions from Basic Numeracy came down to 3 and the majority of the questions were from Comprehension and Reasoning. (How many questions were there from section last year?)
2012 Paper tested more on English usage and Logic skills
Clearly, this time the students were tested more on English usage and Logic skills. This paper had a total of 80 questions, with a total of 200 marks and each question carried equal marks. The paper had no sections and had to be attempted in 120 minutes.
These 80 questions were from seven test areas viz. Comprehension, Decision Making and Problem Solving, Analytical Ability and Logical Reasoning, Interpersonal Skills including Communication Skills, General Mental Ability, Basic Numeracy and English Language Comprehension Skills. The questions were asked in a jumbled manner without having any specific sequence of test areas.
Good reading skills for Comprehension
There were 73 questions for which 0.833 marks was deducted for any wrong answer. The remaining 7 questions were on Decision Making and Problem Solving did not carry any negative marking.
Out of the 80 questions, there were 40 questions, which were based on passages - Comprehension (32 questions) and English Language Comprehension Skills (8 questions). A candidate with good reading skills would not have faced much difficulty in answering most of these questions.
CSAT 2012- a moderate difficulty level paper
However, there were some of the questions which were quite tricky and the options were very close to each other. In order to crack the remaining 40 questions, any candidate good in conceptual and reasoning skills would have found the paper to be manageable. Overall, the difficulty level of the paper was moderate.
Overall - 48 easy, 13 medium and 19 difficult
UPSC has not specified minimum marks for Paper I and II. There was no separate cutoff declared. UPSC, most likely, will consider the grand total of the two papers- Paper I and Paper II for the cutoff. Out of 80 questions, there were 48 easy, 13 medium while 19 difficult.
The questions can be classified area-wise. The following table gives the break-up of the questions that were asked from the test areas.
|
| NUMBER OF QUESTIONS | MAXIMUM | DIFFICULTY LEVEL |
| Comprehension | 32 | 80 | MODERATE-DIFFICULT |
| Basic Numeracy | 3 | 7.5 | EASY |
| Decision Making & Problem Solving | 7 | 17.5 | MODERATE |
| Analytical Ability & Logical Reasoning | 14 | 35 | MODERATE-DIFFICULT |
| General Mental Ability | 16 | 40 | |
| Interpersonal Skills including Communication Skills | - | - | - |
| English Language Comprehension Skills | 8 | 20 | MODERATE |
| TOTAL | 80 | 200 | MODERATE |
The table below gives the number of questions (difficulty level wise) with respect to each test area.
|
Test Area | Number of Questions (Level of Difficulty wise) | |||
| Easy | Medium | Difficult | Total | |
| Comprehension | 18 | 6 | 8 | 32 |
| Basic Numeracy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Decision Making & Problem Solving | 5 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Analytical Ability & Logical Reasoning | 18 | 5 | 7 | 30 |
| Interpersonal Skills including Communication Skills | - | - | - | - |
| English Language Comprehension Skills | 4 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| Total | 48 | 14 | 18 | 80 |
Let us analyse different types of questions from each of the test area, the number of doable questions and a good net score.
Comprehension
No. of Questions: 32
The paper had 32 questions from a total of eight passages. This test area had some of the questions, for which the answers cannot simply be obtained by just scanning through the passage. One has to go through the passage, get the important points of it and then try to apply those points to answer the questions. These questions were quite analytical and demanded a very good application of logic and inference. However, there were several other questions which were comparatively easy.
One of the highlights, here, was - out of 32 questions, 18 questions were followed by two to four statements. In such questions, you have to identify the correct/incorrect statement(s)/assumptions/inferences. This format is exactly in line with the question types as given by UPSC in CSAT2011 -Paper II. In 50 minutes, a good candidate can attempt at least 24 questions with about 80% accuracy. Thus, a good score in this test area, alone, will be 38+ marks.
Basic Numeracy
No. of Questions: 3
One of the surprise elements in this paper was almost negligible number of questions in Basic Numeracy in comparison to the number of questions in English or in Reasoning. The number of questions pertaining to Basic Numeracy was brought down to 3. This would have come as a big relief for many candidates, especially those who are from Non-Maths background.
There were no questions pertaining to Data Interpretation, or other mathematical topics. It is important to note that these 3 questions were easy. A good student should be in a position to answer all of these three questions with ease in less than 7 minutes.
Decision Making and Problem Solving
No. of Questions: 7
This test area comprises questions from Situation Analysis. Answering these questions will not take much of time, as these types of questions do not demand much of your calculation skills, as in the case of Basic Numeracy/General Mental Ability.
However, in order to answer these questions, an active and critical reading is required. These seven questions had NO negative marking. At least five of these questions were doable. A good time allocation strategy would be to attempt all of these questions within 10 minutes.
Analytical Ability and Logical Reasoning, General Mental Ability
No. of Questions: 30
This test area comprises questions from topics like Sequencing, Distribution, Deductions (Syllogisms), Venn Diagrams, Cubes, Blood Relations etc. The questions pertaining to Syllogisms & Logical Connectives were moderate in difficulty level. And, there were several other questions which were very easy and the students would not have faced much difficulty in marking the right answers for those questions.
For e.g., the 5-questions set on sequencing was very easy. Similarly, the individual questions on distribution, blood relations, comparison were also easy. There were 19 easy and doable questions (out of 30). By doing these questions with at least 80% accuracy, one can score 34+ marks. A good time allocation strategy will be 30 minutes for these questions.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION SKILLS
No. of Questions: 8
The passages are small, as compared to the passages pertaining to Comprehension. A total of three passages were given. A candidate, who has a basic command over English language, can score well in this area. A good time allocation strategy will be 16 minutes. In this time, one can score 10 marks, which would be a good net score.
For CSAT 2013 Paper II Analysis Click Here
For CSAT 2011 Paper II Analysis Click Here
Published date : 26 Jun 2014 12:01PM
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