(Crack UPSC) How to Study for CSAT Paper in 60 days for IAS (Pre)

(Crack IAS) How to Study for CSAT in 60 days for IAS (Pre)

Civil Services Prelims Examination is just few days away. All IAS aspirants should dedicate themselves fully for the upcoming challenge. However, very often it happens that, the close proximity of the exam raises the stress level among the candidates, and they are not able to focus on their studies.

The main problem that the candidates face is to cover the wide syllabus for the civil services exam. No doubt that the syllabus of the IAS exam is too wide. But, it can be effectively handled by making a highly selective study of the syllabus, putting maximum effort on the relevant portions. But, this task might take a substantial amount of time of the candidates. Also, not everyone is able to narrow down the syllabus, to make a selective study plan.

Many candidates feel that the CSAT is an impediment in their progress towards civil services. However, what people often dont understand is that, one needs a rational and pre-planned strategy to cover the topics of CSAT. the nature of the exam is such that it is not difficult to cover the whole syllabus in the remaining 2 months. If you plan ahead and balance your efforts for GS and CSAT, you will be able to score very well in the CSAT. All you need is to understand that- CSAT requires an understanding and practice of the various topics.

The CSAT paper is divided into a number of sections, which could be tackled with according the comfort level of the candidate. some of the major sections of the paper and the strategy to deal with them are given below:

Comprehension and Interpersonal Skills

The Comprehension has become a constitutive element of every recruitment examination today. the difficulty level of the question in the comprehension section is not too high. Given an adequate amount of practice and understanding you shall be able to tackle with this section easily.

However, all you need to do is practice on your basic English, from any standard book. the main thing that matters is your practice for the questions from comprehension section.

Also, a helpful strategy for the exam is to attempt the passage that are more familiar, and lie in the comfort level.

The 2013 CSAT paper of IAS (Pre) exam contained 8 questions from the Comprehension part. Thus, it is an important part of the CSAT paper, and must not be left.

Logical reasoning

The level of difficulty of the reasoning section in the CSAT paper is not high. Generally, a candidate can solve the questions if one is acquainted with the types of questions in the reasoning section.

To cover the reasoning section in 60 days, you can start with practice at least 50 questions everyday. this way you will be able to attempt most of the questions effectively.

You should remember that you only need to read about the concepts and topics that are important from the exam point of view. Merely reading the questions and their answers, without practicing them, might not be helpful.

Also, do not waste your time now, searching for the ‘SPECIAL’ books that come up in the market. Rather, you must practice with the material that you possess.

If you observe the below pie chart, you will find that logical reasoning has a substantial proportion in the CSAT paper. thus, one cannot neglect the Logical reasoning section.

Decision-Making

Decision making section constitute a golden opportunity for the aspirants, as there is no negative marking in this section. Moreover, the questions are not technical in nature. Rather, they are very generic and situation based, which needs to be answered as per your thinking.

Now, it is important in this section that you learn about the different principles on that basis of which the administrative decisions are taken.

thus, you need only a little effort to learn about the principle through which the administrative decisions are made. Thereafter, the only thing left is practicing a few questions, and the task is done.

If you observe the below pie chart, there were only 8 questions in the 2013 CSAT paper. the biggest positive point in this section is that there is no negative marking. Thus, one should attempt all the questions in this section at any cost.

Basic Numeracy & Data Interpretation

The questions on Basic numeracy in the CSAT paper are of the matriculation level, and can be attempted effectively, with practice and understanding of the basic concepts. Like in case of Logical reasoning, one must practice more in this section as well.

Doing around 40-50 questions from the section would serve your purpose.

For Data interpretation, you need to learn and understand the principles and concepts of statistics. However, the good thing for the CSAT paper is that the level of data interpretation is not too high. generally questions are asked from data table or bar graphs. A candidate can easily attempt these questions if he/she has a basic understanding of the concepts. However, you need to practice such questions in order to get comfortable with the mathematical part of this section.

Conclusion

Thus, you must understand that it is easy to score well in the CSAt paper. A little, but consistent, practice can help you in getting high marks in the CSAT paper. Do not get bogged down by the huge syllabus or the time constraint.

In fact, the introduction of CSAT paper has led to the upward revision in the cutoff of the IAS (Pre) in the recent years. this is only due the fact that people are able to attempt the CSAT paper easily.

Thus, we recommend the candidates to start preparing for the Prelims examination with full dedication.

To help the candidates in their studies, UPSCPORTAL has started a special course to prepare a study plan, along with the study material and test series for the CSAT paper in 60 days.

Thus, UPSCPORTAL has come up with a 60-days short term course for the IAS (Pre.) examination . The course has been made, keeping in mind, all the intricacies and nature of the exam, and the time left. Our goal is to aid the candidates in their preparations for the upcoming exams. Given the short time, left for the exam, we have narrowed down the topics which are most crucial from the IAS exam point of view.

The 60-days programme will help you do a selective study, and help you fetch maximum possible marks, with the minimal effort required. The major highlights of the programme are:

Comprehensive coverage of the CSAT Paper-II.
Highly selective material, to keep you focused on the right track.
Expert support for IAS Exam, in 'Ask your Queries' section.
Daily classes on different topics. The Management of course will be done for you, thus reducing your burden.
Completion of the course within the stipulated time period, giving you time to revise and make final preparations for the IAS Pre. Exam.