Analysis of Civil Services Prelims Exam 2011
General Studies Paper II
Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2011 pattern was based on the changed pattern. This was quite evident in General Studies Paper I and obviously in General Studies Paper II (also known as CSAT - Civil Services Aptitude Test).
General Assessment
Previously, Civil Services Prelims carried a total of 450 marks and the total number of questions that were asked used to be 270. These included:
• 150 questions based on General Knowledge, each carrying one mark, and
• 120 questions based on the Optional Subject chosen by the candidate, each carrying 2.5 marks.
Now, in the changed pattern, CSAT 2011 or Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2011 only carried 400 marks. Only 180 questions were asked this year. Out of these:
• 100 questions based on General Knowledge were asked, each carrying two marks, and
• 80 questions based on Aptitude Test were asked, each carrying 2.5 marks.
Negative Marking: Except for Question Nos. 73 to 80 in the General Studies Paper II, all the questions had negative marking. For each wrong answer, 1/3 mark were deducted from the total scores of the candidate.
Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2011 : General Studies Paper II
The paper is new and has been introduced from this year.
Analysis based on syllabus : The syllabus of General Studies Paper II is divided into following seven parts.
1. Comprehension
2. Interpersonal skills including communication skills
3. Logical reasoning and analytical ability
4. Decision making and problem solving
5. General mental ability
6. Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc. – Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level)
7. English language comprehension skills (Class X level)
Questions asked from different sections of the paper are as given below:
| Comprehension | 28 |
| Mental Ability | 10 |
| Verbal reasoning | 17 |
| Datainterpretation | 8 |
| English | 9 |
| Decision Making | 8 |
| Total | 80 |
Tags: UPSC, Union Public Service Commission, Civil Services Preliminary Exam, CSAT 2012, Civil Services Examination 2012, Civil Services Aptitude Test 2012