First, watch this video by IRS Officer Dr. Shivin Chaudhary (AIR 297 – UPSC CSE 2022): https://youtu.be/9M597RK6M5M?feature=shared
CSAT is only difficult in your head because others are telling you that it is.
After watching this video by Shivin sir, you’ll realize how easy it is to learn the skills, avoid the mistakes that most people are making, and clear CSAT easily.
Please DON’T let the fear that other people are spreading about CSAT affect you and force you to buy random courses.
Start as early as possible (preferably today).
Just pick from the options below (you don’t have to do all of them, use them selectively) and learn how to solve particular types of questions (watch the lectures on 1.25x, 1.5x, or more speed if needed):
– Overall (for RC, QA, and LR & solving the 2023 CSAT paper):
1. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt8XsQCfY7X6JSrea-thwiJJ8oabCUJWP&feature=shared
2. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4SLcuOFdkO8k-0CrxxW9i_WUY2TKAITY&feature=shared
– For Reading Comprehension (RC):
1. https://youtu.be/Pe141Na2v_k?feature=shared
2. (The RC videos in the playlists linked under the “Overall” section above)
– For Quantitative Aptitude (QA) & Logical Reasoning (LR) (pick one from below, see which lecture you understand better, and then stick to it):
1. UnderStand UPSC CSAT Simplified Series (both QA & LR lectures): https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt8XsQCfY7X7n53PUhMOlzbNE7BAHwgMU&feature=shared
OR
2. EdSarrthi Playlist:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-V1k_KSbCsG4xF3rrL_i2OzfvAJSD4Q5&feature=shared
No matter how difficult the CSAT paper is, each correct question (easy, medium, or difficult) will give you equal marks (+2.5 for a correct answer).
You only need to get 33%, i.e., 27 out of 80 questions correct to pass CSAT.
Why are you letting the difficult questions scare you then? No one is forcing you to solve them. They are a trap to waste your time in the exam hall – just leave them.
Ask yourself – out of all the 80 (RC + QA + LR) questions in the paper, can you not solve 27-35 questions correctly in 2 hours (120 minutes)?
Trust your intelligence and stay calm. You are all graduates with at least a Bachelor’s Degree. You can read and comprehend basic English or Hindi (RC passages are given in both languages), and you have brains that can do addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.
If you understand how to solve a particular type of question and practice them from CSAT PYQs, you will be able to solve any similar question.
Remember, the ones who complain about how difficult the exam is and blame their failures on external factors and luck NEVER make it.
The ones who actually clear the UPSC CSE don’t cry for the exam to match their level.
They raise their own level to match the exam.
They assess the situation/level of questions by looking at the PYQs, aren’t overconfident, sit down and learn how to solve most types of PYQs, and do enough practice to reach at least the required minimum level (33% in case of CSAT and 45-60% in case of Prelims GS-1).
It is up to you which type of person you want to be.
*VERY IMPORTANT:
Solve the PYQs from the PDF in this folder (it contains all CSAT PYQs from 2015-2022 organized topic-wise, along with the official UPSC Answer Keys for them at the end of PDF). This folder also contains my short notes & formula summaries for both QA & LR topics.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/150PrafdUhIQ4tDqjM71HwoJAbgqIkRNs?usp=sharing
Note: I have personally solved all the CSAT PYQs from 2015-2023 multiple times, and I can assure you, there is no need to go before 2019. The questions before 2019 are very easy and those types and level of questions do not come in the CSAT paper nowadays, especially in the past few years. So, only solve the PYQs from 2019-2024 or 2020-2024 multiple times. Focus especially on the ones from 2021-2024, since that level & type of questions will be the closest to what you will get in CSAT 2025.
Only refer to the official UPSC CSAT Answer Keys, either from the PDF I uploaded in the folder above, or from the official UPSC website if you don’t trust that. Do NOT use any other answer keys, or you will end up learning the wrong things and stupidly think that you’re doing it correctly. Your answer for any CSAT question must be right according to what UPSC says is correct, not according to a random coaching institute or book.
Just copy-paste the question into Google Search – after you see the solution from a few websites (testbook.com is the most reliable and has good solutions for 95%+ of the CSAT PYQs), you will understand how to solve it. You can then practice solving it on your own.
After you finish solving the 2019 or 2020-2024 PYQs topic-wise, make sure you solve the official UPSC CSE CSAT previous year papers from 2021-2024 as full-length mock tests, after giving a GS-1 Prelims mock test in the morning slot from 9:30 am to 11:30 am (to simulate mental fatigue and get as close to the exam-day conditions as possible). It does not matter that you have solved the PYQs before. You will not remember all hundreds of them. Solve them again in this full-length test format. This step is very important to practice your time management and choosing which questions to solve, leave for later, or skip.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments section at the bottom of this post.
Good job! Sumant 👏🏽👏🏽