Analysis -Civil Services Aptitude Test -2012 (Paper II)

Click here for Civil Services Aptitude Test -2012 (Paper II) key

Paper II was as expected, with no change, with respect to previous year, in terms
of the number of questions or in terms of the marking scheme. However, this time
questions in test area -Basic Numeracy or Maths were just 3 in number. The
majority of the questions were from Comprehension and Reasoning. Clearly, this
time the students were tested more on English usage skills and Logic skills. This
paper had a total of 80 questions, with a total of 200 marks, to be attempted in
120 minutes. Each question carried equal marks. The paper had NO SECTIONS.
These 80 questions were from seven test areas viz. Comprehension, Decision
Making & Problem Solving, Analytical Ability & Logical Reasoning, Interpersonal
Skills including Communication Skills, General Mental Ability, Basic Numeracy &
English Language Comprehension Skills. The questions from any of these test
areas were not placed in any specific sequence. There were 73 questions for which
0.833 marks was deducted for any wrong answer marked. The remaining 7
questions (on Decision Making & Problem Solving) did not carry any negative
marking. Out of these 80 questions, there were 40 questions, which were based
on passages Comprehension (32 Qs) and English Language Comprehension
Skills (8 Qs). An avid reader would not have faced much difficulty in answering
most of these questions. However, there were some of the questions which were
quite tricky and the options were very close to each other. In order to crack the
remaining 40 questions, any candidate good in conceptual and reasoning skills
would have found the paper to be manageable. Overall, the difficulty level of the
paper was moderate. UPSC has not specified minimum marks for Paper I and II.
There is no cutoff declared. UPSC, most likely, will consider the grand total of the
two papers- Paper I & Paper II for the cutoff. All those students who were
adequately prepared and have been appearing for All India MOCK CSATs by T.I.M.E
would have found the paper doable and would have comfortably got a net score of
at least 100 (out of 200) from Paper II alone. Out of 80 questions, there were 48
easy, 13 medium while 19 difficult. Even if one does a total of 55 questions, with
an overall accuracy of 80%, one can get to a net score of 100 marks,considered
as a good score. The questions can be classified area-wise. The table below gives
the broad overview of the questions which were there related to each of the test
areas. The last but one column in the table gives an illustration of how at least
100 marks could have been obtained in this paper.

TEST AREA

NUMBER
OF
QUESTIO
NS

MAXIM
UM
MARKS

GOO
D
NET
SCOR
E

DIFFICUL
TY LEVEL

Comprehens
ion

32

80

36

MODERAT
EDIFFICUL
T

Basic
Numeracy

7.5

7.5

EASY

Decision
Making &
Problem
Solving

17.5

12.5

MODERAT
E

Analytical
Ability &
Logical
Reasoning

14

35

34

MODERAT
EDIFFICUL
T

General
Mental
Ability

16

40

Interperson
al Skills
including
Communicat
ion Skills

English
Language
Comprehens
ion Skills

20

10

MODERAT
E

TOTAL

80

200

100

MODERAT
E

The table below gives the question numbers, with respect to different test series,
and with respect to each of the seven test areas.
QUESTION NUMBERS
Test Area
Test
Series A

Test
Test
Test
Series- Series SeriesB
-C
D

Comprehension

Q1-Q15,
Q28-Q38,
Q51-Q56

Q13Q18,
Q28Q53

Q1-Q6,
Q16Q41

Q1Q11,
Q36Q41,
Q51Q65

Basic Numeracy

Q24, 46,
62

Q9, 24,
61

Q12,
49, 62

Q19,
32,47

Q74Q80

Q74Q80

Q74Q80

Decision Making Q74-Q80

Analytical
Q16-23,
Ability & Logical
Q25Reasoning
Q27,Q39Q45,
Q47-Q50,
Q57-Q61,
General Mental Q63-Q65
Ability

Interpersonal
Skills including
Communication
Skills

Q1-12, Q7-11, Q12-18,

English
Language
Comprehension
Skills

Q66-Q73

Q66Q73

Q66Q73

Q66Q73

Total

80

80

80

80

The table below gives the number of questions (difficulty level wise) with respect
to each test area.
Number of Questions (Level of
Difficulty wise)
Test Area
Easy Medium Difficult

Total

Comprehension

18

32

Basic Numeracy

Decision Making
& Problem
Solving

Analytical Ability
& Logical
Reasoning

18

30

General Mental
Ability

Interpersonal
Skills including

Communication
Skills

English Language
Comprehension
Skills

Total

48

14

18

80

Let us analyze the different types of questions from each of the test area, number
of doable questions in each of the test area, and a good net score.
COMPREHENSION
No. of Questions: 32
The paper had 32 questions from a total of eight passages. This test area had
some of the questions, for which the answers cannot simply be obtained by just
scanning through the passage. One has to read through the passage, get the
essence of it and then look for applying those points in arriving at the answer for
the questions. These questions demanded good application of logic, and inference
and hence clearly were more analytical. However, there were many other
questions which were easy in nature. One of the key highlights, here, was that out
of 32 questions, there were 18 questions, where each of these questions was
followed by two to four statements. In such questions, you have to identify the
correct/incorrect statement(s)/assumptions/inferences. This format is exactly in
line with the question types as given by UPSC in CSAT2011 -Paper II. All those
who have been regularly appearing for All India MOCK CSATs by T.I.M.E would
have found this format very familiar and would have come across with the answers
at the earliest. In 45 mins, a good candidate can attempt at least 21 questions
with at least 80% accuracy. Thus, a good score in this test area, alone, will be 36+
marks.

S
n
o

Passage

Source

Q
s

Num
ber
of
doab
le Qs

Rethinking
Agricultura
l

www.iegindia.org/wor

Production
Collectiviti
es

kpap/wp305.pdf

Politicizati
on and
democrati
zation in
Indian
Context

Source

Good
Education:
What it is
and Why
we need
it.

Problems
with
Chemical
pesticides
and their
Virtues

Growth:
Changing
carbon
footprints
and
vulnerabili
ties

The role of
introduced
species in
the
degradatio
n of
ecosystem

Democrac

faculty.ksu.edu.sa/AlRowaily/Documents/c
h12.pdf

Source

Click here for source

y and
Developm
ent

Competitio
n law and
Policy for
Sustainabl
e growth

www.iodonline.com/..
./...

Total 8
passages

3
2

21

BASIC NUMERACY
No. of Questions: 3
One of the surprise elements in this paper was almost negligible number of
questions in Maths in comparison to the number of questions in English or in
Reasoning. The number of questions pertaining to Basic Numeracy was restricted
to only 3. This would have come as a big relief for many of the candidates,
especially those who are from Non-Maths background. There were no questions
pertaining to Data Interpretation, or other mathematical topics. It is important to
note that these 3 questions were easy. A good student should in a position to
answer all of these three questions with ease in less than 7 minutes.
DECISION MAKING & PROBLEM SOLVING
No. of Questions: 7
This test area comprises questions from Situation Analysis. Answering these
questions will not take much of time, as these types of questions do not demand
much of your calculation skills, as what is required in case of Basic
Numeracy/General Mental Ability. However, in order to answer these questions, an
active critical reading is required. For each of these seven questions, there was NO
negative marking. At least five of these questions were doable. A good time
allocation strategy would have to attempt all of these questions within 10 minutes.
ANALYTICAL ABILITY & LOGICAL REASONING, GENERAL MENTAL ABILITY
No. of Questions:30
This test area comprises questions from topics like Sequencing, Distribution,
Deductions (Syllogisms), Venn Diagrams, Cubes, Blood Relations
etc The questions pertaining to Syllogisms & Logical Connectives were moderate in
difficulty level. However, there were many other questions which were very easy in

nature and the students would not have faced any difficulty in marking the right
answers for those questions. For e.g., the set of 5 questions on sequencing
(scheduling of guest lectures on five subjects) was very easy. Similarly, the
individual questions on distribution, blood relations, comparison were also easy.
There were 19 easy and doable questions (out of 30). By doing these questions
with at least 80% accuracy, one can score 34+ marks. A good time allocation
strategy will be 30 minutes for these questions.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION SKILLS
No. of Questions: 8
The passages are small, as compared to the passages pertaining to
Comprehension. A total of three passages were there. A candidate, who has a
basic command over English language, can score well in this area. A good time
allocation strategy will be 16 minutes. In this time, one can score 10 marks, which
would be a good net score.