Attempting CSAT paper

Attempting CSAT paper

My approach was to find easy and doable questions from the quant and reasoning section. I would dedicate approximately 1 hr 15 minutes to this section. Marking the bubbles would be in the same manner as the GS 1 paper.

The leftover 40-45 minutes would be for the comprehension part. There are around 24-25 questions from the comprehension part. So, allocating 2 minutes per question would give you some breathing space and to read the passage carefully and think about the overall crux of the passage rather than just looking for the correct answer in a hurry.

Going from 1-80

The most important part about attempting the CSAT paper is that we must go through all the questions at least once looking for doable questions. If we get stuck in the beginning itself trying to solve those questions which are very difficult, we might lose out on some really easy questions. Read the question carefully, you will get the idea whether it's doable or not. If you think it's difficult, move forward, read the next question. In this manner, pick and choose the right question which will give you output rather than waste your time.

Note: don't let any question hurt your ego. For example, if a question from percentage topic is there and if you are not able to solve it then and there, please leave it and move forward. Don't waste 7-8 minutes on that question to satisfy your ego, it could cost you a whole year.

Also, don't just completely rely on comprehension or on quant & reasoning section. Try to strike a balance between the two sections because you never know how UPSC might surprise us in the examination hall.

Lastly, this is not the only way in which you can attempt the paper. You might have your own methods. If you don't have any, you can try this one.

All the best 👍