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 pleasant surprise. Paper II had 80 questions(one of the MOCK CSAT Tests -MT2151105 by T.I.M.E had 80 Qs) . 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 passages) 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. Students 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 Diagrams, Situation 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 aptitude 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 for 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). All those students, who had taken coaching from T.I.M.E and had written MOCK CSAT tests would have found this paper a real cake walk.

The table below gives the categorization of the questions difficulty level wise.

The table below gives the broad distribution of the number of questions area-wise.