CSAT (Civil Services Aptitude Test) has two papers:
- General Studies
- General Ability Test
CSAT was first time conducted in 2011. There is no sectional cutoff. Marks for both paper I and paper II are combined to select candidates for the Mains exam.
CSAT General Studies Paper 1 Syllabus
CSAT Paper I: 200 Marks; Duration: Two Hours; Number of Questions: 100
- Current Affairs: Events of national and international importance
- History of India and Indian National Movement
- Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic geography of India and the World.
- Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
- Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
- General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change (no subject specialization required)
- General Science
CSAT Paper I Analysis
| Topic | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| History and Culture | 13 | 20 | 15 |
| Economy | 18 | 12 | 18 |
| Polity | 17 | 25 | 18 |
| Geography | 11 | 11 | 14 |
| Environment & Bio-diversity | 22 | 23 | 22 |
| Science & Technology | 19 | 9 | 13 |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 100 |
CSAT General Ability Test Paper 2 Syllabus
CSAT Paper II: 200 Marks; Duration: Two Hours; Number of Questions: 80
- 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)
- English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).
- Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level. (will be tested through passages from English language only without providing Hindi translation)
Marking Scheme: Total 80 questions have 200 marks, thus each question is of 2.5 marks. There is a negative marking of 33% or 0.83 marks. Decision making section doesn't have any negative marking. There was no question on decision making in CSAT 2014 , but it may again appear in 2015 no one can predict UPSC
CSAT Paper II Analysis
| Topic | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 |
| Basic Numeracy | 13 | 3 | 19 |
| General Mental Ability | 15 | 16 | 12 |
| Decision Making & Problem Solving | 6 | 7 | 6 |
| Analytical Ability & Logical Reasoning | 10 | 14 | 12 |
| Comprehension (Both English & Hindi) | 27 | 32 | 23 |
| English Language Comprehension Skills | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| Total | 80 | 80 | 80 |
