UPSC CSAT Syllabus: Topics, Qualifying Marks and What the Paper Asks

What Is CSAT in UPSC? Paper II of the Prelims

CSAT at a Glance: 80 Questions, 200 Marks, 33 Per Cent to Qualify

CSAT is General Studies Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination, the aptitude paper that sits beside General Studies Paper I. It tests comprehension, reasoning and basic maths, and it is qualifying only. You must score 33 per cent, but its marks are never added to your Prelims score. This page gives the full UPSC CSAT syllabus and shows what the paper has actually asked.

• Questions and marks: Eighty multiple-choice questions for 200 marks, so 2.5 marks a question; the 2026 paper had eighty.
• Time allowed: Two hours, about ninety seconds a question including the reading.
• Qualifying marks: 33 per cent, which is 66 marks out of 200.
• Negative marking: One-third of a question's marks, 0.83, is deducted for each wrong answer.
• Language: The paper is set in both Hindi and English.

The Official UPSC CSAT Syllabus in Full

The Six Topics of the CSAT Syllabus

The whole CSAT syllabus is six topics in Examination Notice 05/2026, reproduced below in its own words. There is no separate CSAT syllabus PDF; the notice itself is the PDF, and the same six topics have appeared in it for years.

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)

Three of the topics are maths and reasoning (basic numeracy with data interpretation, logical reasoning, and general mental ability), one is reading (comprehension), and two are about judgement (decision making, and interpersonal and communication skills). The maths is fixed at Class X level.

The other Prelims paper is set out in the Prelims General Studies syllabus, and the whole scheme of Prelims and Mains together in the complete UPSC syllabus.

CSAT Syllabus Weightage: What Past Papers Show

Questions by Syllabus Topic, 2011 to 2026

All 1,277 CSAT questions from 2011 to 2026 are sorted here by the syllabus topic each one tests. Two topics carry the paper. Comprehension has 466 questions and basic numeracy with data interpretation 425, together 70 per cent. The third column compares the average a year in 2011 to 2015 with 2022 to 2026, and the last gives the 2026 paper.

The count covers sixteen papers, between 77 and 81 questions a year against an eighty-question paper, so it is close to complete. Placing each question under a syllabus topic is Digitally Learn's reading of it, with arithmetic, geometry and probability counted under basic numeracy, where the notice's bracket points.

The chart below shows how many questions each topic received in any span of years, or in a single paper. Single papers swing more than the averages suggest. Comprehension has ranged from 23 questions in 2026 to 40 in 2012, and logical reasoning from 2 in 2024 to 29 in 2013.

Numeracy Has More Than Doubled Since 2015

Basic numeracy and data interpretation rose from 13.8 questions a year in 2011 to 2015 to 34.0 in 2022 to 2026. Over the same years logical reasoning fell from 24.2 to 11.6, and comprehension from 33.4 to 26.6. The turning point was 2018, when numeracy jumped to 38 questions and reasoning fell to six. Before 2018 numeracy never passed 22 in a paper; since then it has never dropped below 30.

Interpersonal Skills and Decision Making: The Two Smallest Topics

The interpersonal skills topic set four questions in 2011 and 2012 and then none for thirteen papers, until the 2026 paper set five. They asked which kind of communication suits a working relationship, what tools such as a memorandum, a flyer or minutes are for, how barriers to communication are classed, what a circular letter is, and how to resolve conflict in a culturally diverse office. Decision making has set 24 questions, 21 of them in 2011 to 2013, and one each in 2018, 2025 and 2026.

CSAT Syllabus Section by Section

CSAT Maths Syllabus: Basic Numeracy and Data Interpretation

The CSAT maths syllabus is basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude) and data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables and data sufficiency), both at Class X level. The content is school arithmetic; the difficulty is doing it in about ninety seconds a question. It now makes up about 42 per cent of the paper.

• Number basics: Divisibility, remainders, number properties and orders of magnitude.
• Arithmetic: Percentages, ratios, averages, profit and loss, and interest.
• Time, distance and work: Speed and relative motion, pipes and work rates.
• Data interpretation: Reading tables and charts, and data sufficiency.

Data sufficiency questions deserve a method of their own, because they ask whether the data is enough, not for the answer itself. Work through them in a fixed order:

1. Read the question alone first: Decide exactly what would settle it, such as a single value or a yes or no.
2. Test each statement on its own: Ignore the other statement completely while you test one.
3. Only then combine them: Try the two together only if neither is enough alone.
4. Stop when it is settled: You rarely need to finish the calculation, only to know that it can be finished.

Reading Comprehension in CSAT

The comprehension topic is still among the two largest in the paper, at 26.6 questions a year recently. The passages are not hard in vocabulary; they are dense, often in the register of a policy note, and the questions turn on a qualifier rather than the main claim.

• Stay inside the passage: The commonest trap is an option that is true in the world but not stated in the passage.
• Watch the qualifiers: Words such as only, most, may and always usually decide the answer.
• Find the author's claim: Many questions ask for the central idea or a valid inference, not a detail.

With about ninety seconds a question, a passage with three questions allows roughly four and a half minutes in all. A steady routine keeps comprehension inside that time:

1. Read the questions first: A quick look tells you what to watch for in the passage.
2. Read the passage once, fully: Mark the main claim and any contrast words such as however or but.
3. Answer from the text: Go back to the exact line for each question rather than to memory.
4. Move on: If two options remain after the passage, choose the narrower one that the text supports.

CSAT Reasoning Syllabus: Logical Reasoning and Mental Ability

The CSAT reasoning syllabus covers logical reasoning and analytical ability, and general mental ability. Logical reasoning is down to 11.6 questions a year, and general mental ability has risen slightly to 6.4; in practice the second is often arithmetic reasoning with numbers and counting.

• Arrangements: Seating, ordering and ranking puzzles with several conditions.
• Series and patterns: Number and letter sequences.
• Relations and directions: Blood relations and direction sense.
• Syllogisms and statements: Conclusions that must follow from given statements.

Reasoning questions reward a quick diagram, such as a line or circle for seating, a family tree for relations, a compass rose for directions, and circles for syllogisms. Drawing the conditions first turns a puzzle of several constraints into a picture you can read, and it prevents the commonest error of losing a condition halfway through.

CSAT Qualifying Marks: How Many Correct Answers You Need

Correct Answers Needed to Reach 66 Marks

The CSAT qualifying marks are 66 out of 200. Each correct answer earns 2.5 marks and each wrong answer loses 0.83, so the number of correct answers you need depends on how many questions you attempt.

Enter the correct and wrong answers from any CSAT mock test or past paper to see the score and whether it clears 66 marks.

Attempt all eighty and 40 correct answers reach 66 marks, half of them. Attempt thirty and 28 of them must be right, 93 per cent. Every question left blank raises the accuracy the rest must carry.

Aim Well Above 66, Not at It

A single hard passage can cost several marks at once, so a plan built to score exactly 66 has no margin for a difficult paper. Aim for a comfortable margin, and treat speed as the main lever. The more questions you can read and answer in two hours, the lower the accuracy the paper demands.

How to Prepare for CSAT

A Preparation Order That Follows the Paper

Order your CSAT preparation by what the paper now contains, not by the order the syllabus lists.

1. Maths under time: Percentages, ratios, averages, time and work, then data interpretation.
2. Comprehension against the clock: Full passages with their question sets, timed.
3. Reasoning: Arrangements, series, relations and syllogisms, at their smaller weight.
4. Full papers: Past papers from 2018 onwards, sat in two hours, to judge your margin above 66.

A six-week plan, alongside General Studies preparation, is a reasonable way to build a margin:

• Weeks 1 and 2: Arithmetic basics, twenty timed questions a day, and one passage set a day.
• Weeks 3 and 4: Data interpretation, data sufficiency and reasoning, with a full past paper at the end of each week.
• Weeks 5 and 6: Two full papers a week in two hours, with time spent only on the questions you got wrong.

Our Prelims test series includes CSAT papers built to the current mix of questions, and the UPSC exam pattern page explains how CSAT sits beside the General Studies paper in the Prelims result.

Common Questions About the UPSC CSAT Syllabus

What is CSAT in UPSC?

CSAT is General Studies Paper II of the UPSC Prelims, with eighty questions on comprehension, reasoning and basic maths for 200 marks in two hours. It is qualifying only, at 33 per cent.

What are the CSAT qualifying marks?

33 per cent, which is 66 marks out of 200. CSAT marks are not added to the Prelims score; only the General Studies Paper I score decides the Prelims cut-off.

Is there negative marking in CSAT?

Yes. One-third of the marks for a question, 0.83 of its 2.5 marks, is deducted for each wrong answer, the same rule as in General Studies Paper I.

What level is the CSAT maths syllabus?

Class X level, as the notice states. It covers basic numeracy and data interpretation; the challenge is speed rather than the difficulty of the maths.

How many questions should I attempt in CSAT?

As many as you can do better than chance on. Attempting all eighty needs 40 correct answers to reach 66 marks; attempting fifty needs 33; attempting thirty needs 28. A guess that rules out even one option has a small positive value.

Is there a CSAT syllabus PDF?

Not as a separate file. The CSAT syllabus is part of the Commission's examination notice, which is published as a PDF each year; the 2026 notice is linked in the sources below.

Official Sources

• Union Public Service Commission: Examination Notice No. 05/2026-CSE, Civil Services Examination 2026
• Union Public Service Commission: Previous years' question papers
• National Council of Educational Research and Training: School textbooks, the Class X level the notice refers to
• Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice: The Constitution of India
• Union Public Service Commission: Civil Services Examination 2025, minimum qualifying marks
• Union Public Service Commission: Programme of Examinations and Recruitment Tests 2027
• Union Public Service Commission: Online registration and application portal
• Department of Personnel and Training: Gazette notifications (the Civil Services Examination Rules are notified here each year)
• Wikipedia: Civil Services Examination