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The Civil Service Aptitude test or CSAT is a common test for all the candidates who apply for the UPSC Examination.
The preliminary examination consists of 2 objective based papers of 200 marks each. It consists of a number of MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) where the candidate has to select the correct answer.
The question papers of CSAT will be set in Hindi and English but questions related to testing of English Comprehension Skills of the candidate will be provided only in English.
These papers will be conducted for a period of 2 hours each.
Hence, the total marks for the CSAT or the Preliminary Examination are 400 and the total time provided to the candidate to complete these papers is 4 hours.
A minimum of 33 percent is required to qualify for the CSET - 2 Paper and the second paper is merit based.
The candidates to have qualified for the Preliminary Examination will be able to give the main examination.
The following table will help you understand the main exam better.
| Paper | Subject | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| A | One Indian Language Selected by the Candidate From the languages included in the 8th Schedule (will not be counted for merit/ranking) | 300 |
| B | English (will not be counted for merit/ranking) | 300 |
| 1 | Essay | 250 |
| 2 | General Studies- 1 | 250 |
| 3 | General Studies- 2 | 250 |
| 4 | General Studies- 3 | 250 |
| 5 | General Studies- 4 | 250 |
| 6 | Optional Subject Paper- 1 | 250 |
| 7 | Optional Subject Paper- 2 | 250 |
General Studies- 1 includes History and Geography of the World and Society and Indian Heritage and Culture
General Studies- 2 includes Polity, Governance, Social Justice and International Relations and Governance
General Studies- 3 includes Bio- Diversity, Technology, Security and Disaster Management, Economic Development and Environment
General Studies- 4 includes - Integrity and Aptitude and Ethics
Optional Subject Papers 1 and 2 include and two subjects from - Agriculture, Anthropology, Chemistry, Commerce and Accountancy, Electrical Engineering, Geology, Law, Mathematics, Medical Science, Physics, Psychology, Sociology, Zoology, Literature of one of the following languages(Assamese, Bodo, Gujarati, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Telugu, English, Bengali, Dogri, Hindi, Kashmiri, Maithili, Manipuri, Nepali, Punjabi, Santhali, Tamil and Urdu), Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Botany, Civil Engineering, Economics, Geography, History, Management, Mechanical Engineering, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, Public Administration and Statistics.
Hence, the total marks of the written test will be 1750 marks (excluding the papers which are not counted for merit.
Once a candidate passes in the main exam, he will be called for an interview which will be out of 275 marks.
A minimum of 75 marks for the qualifying papers is essential. Based on the 2 non ranking papers, a candidate will be allowed to give the merit based papers.
