strategy for CSAT paper 2-1

The syllabus for paper two is




(Paper II) (200 marks) – Duration : Two hrs



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)

7.English language comprehension skills (Class X level)




in this fist post of the series on strategy,lets deal with-point numbers 1,5,6 and 7.


now those that are used to defense exams like CDSE and NDA/NA would realize that these parts form syllabi's of the said exams and would figure prominently in all papers.those not familiar would do very well to walk up to the nearest store (or Google) to find some previous years papers of these two exams and have a look at the said portion.

1.Comprehension: guys note a fact,this is simple comprehension.Means the ability to folllow and infer from given information on any subject.You may be given a table from the Economic survey and asked to answer questions involving interpretation of given data.Alternately the data may be a sociology field study or geographical tables and so on.The normal comprehension most of us have been exposed to comes under point 7 ie English language comprehension skills (Class X level).

this difference is important so do not expect all the comprehension to be from story like english passages.

5.General mental ability :this was already part of GS paper in prelimns and one would do well to check up previous years papers. RS Sharma and RS Agrawal are two veery common books used by the community of students to improve this part of the paper.not only this,R S Agrawal is often useful for point number 6 ie 

6.Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc. (Class X level).

we used it in NDA exams and found the book sufficient to answer all questions that came.

as for second half of point number 6 ie Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. –Class X level)

this has been traditionally asked in Bank PO exams conducted the year round.A magazine called Mahindra caters solely to Bank PO exams,and has some stray information on this segment though its a waste to buy it solely for this,whats useful is the various previous and current papers of various banks,which give a clear idea of how questions will turn out to be.
 there are a large number of small books teaching how to interpret tables and stuff,but i will not recommend them blindly,having never used any.so pick and chose according to your preference.
lastly,
7.English language comprehension skills (Class X level):is a tricky thing.not always will you find straightforward here.So practice with defense entrance exams question papers.and generally improve your hold of english-after all both mains and interview demand it after all.


on the whole i would say do not panic if all this is new to you.try getting used to this.Upsc has announced that prelimns will be delayed by a month.so you have time,and you know whats coming,just get yourself to accept and then face the situation.
attitude determines your altitude in life,so dont let yourselves down guys!!!
all the best!