• Paper II of the Preliminary Examination: 200 marks, two hours, objective (multiple choice).
• Qualifying only: you need 33% — 66 marks. It isn't added to your Prelims score, but failing it ends the attempt.
• 80 questions in recent papers, so each carries 2.5 marks.
• Every wrong answer costs one-third of that question's marks (UPSC's instructions on the test booklet).
• Syllabus (verbatim): Comprehension Interpersonal skills including communication skills Logical reasoning and analytical ability Decision making and problem solving General mental ability Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. — Class X level)

Source: UPSC Exam Notice No. 05/2026-CSP, Appendix I, Sections II–III; instruction 10 on the CSAT test booklet.

Share of the 880 CSAT questions in the Vault, by our tagging of UPSC's papers.

1 · Aim for 80, not 66
A small buffer absorbs one bad passage or a slow puzzle. Plan your two hours to score about 80.
2 · Two passes
First pass: every comprehension item and every numeracy item you can finish in under two minutes. Second pass: the rest.
3 · The passage-only rule
Answer from what the passage says, not what you know. Options that are true in real life but not in the text are the usual traps.
4 · Work backwards from the options
In numeracy, substituting the four options is often faster than solving from scratch — and it checks your answer.
5 · Know the maths of guessing
With four options, a blind guess wins 2.5 marks a quarter of the time and loses 0.83 the rest: on average it is worth nothing. Rule out even one option and a guess starts to pay. Never guess blind; guess when you have eliminated.

Start with the most-asked skill: reading comprehension → or take a full paper as a timed test: CSAT 2026 →