CSAT – 2011 Paper II Analysis
Finally, the much awaited CSAT 2011 is over !!. Paper II was broadly inline with the sample questions released by UPSC-No surprise element. If at all it was, it was a pleasent surprise. Paper II had 80 question . The paper had NO ‘SECTIONS’. The questions from any of the seven test areas, as mentioned by UPSC in its syllabus , were not placed in any specific sequence. Each of the 80 questions carried equal marks of 2.5. There were 72 questions for which 0.833 marks was deducted for any wrong answer marked. The remaining 8 questions (on Decision Making & Problem Solving) did not carry any negative marking. Out of these 80 questions, there were 36 questions , which were based on passage-Comprehension (27 Qs from 8 passage) and English Langauge Comprehension Skills (9 Qs from 3 passages). Students , with non-vernacular background, found that the difficulty level of the paper was manageable. Student who read and understand English will be able to answer most of the questions.
The remaining 44 questions were from different topics like Data Interpretation (Pie Charts) , Numbers , Equations, Percentages, Time & Distance , Geometry & Mensuration , Counting Techniques , Counting Triangles, Number Series, Blood relations , Venn Diagram , Sitution Analysis etc. In order to answer these questions, good conceptual , mathematical and reasoning skills are required . Overall, the difficulty level of the paper was average. Most of the well prepared students did not have any problem in solving the paper. The difficulty level of the paper was much lower when compared with other aptitide exams like CAT. UPSC has not specified minimum marks for Paper I and II . There is no cutoff declared. UPSC may consider the grand total of the two papers of the cutoff. It is estimated that 75-80 marks in this paper will be a good score (By attempting around 45 questions -(30 easy +15 medium ), with 80% accuracy, a net score of 75-80 marks is obtainable).
The table below gives the categorization of the question difficulty level wise.
| Level of Difficulty | Number of Questions |
| Easy | 30 |
| Medium | 36 |
| Difficult | 14 |
| Total | 80 |
| Test Area | Number of Question | Maximum Possible Marks |
| COMPREHENSION | 27 | 67.5 |
| DECISION MAKING & PROBLEM SOLVING | 16 | 40 |
| ANALYTICAL ABILITY & LOGICAL REASONING | ||
| GENERAL MENTAL ABILITY | 28 | 70 |
| BASIC NUMERACY | ||
| ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION SKILLS | 9 | 22.5 |
| INTERPERSONAL SKILLS INCLUDING COMMUNICATION SKILLS |
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