Analysis CSAT Paper I General Studies 2012

8/13/2019 Analysis CSAT Paper I General Studies 2012

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[Analysis] CSAT Paper I (General Studies)2012

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1. Overall Breakup

2. History

3. Polity

4. Environment & Biodiversity (enb)

5. Geography

6. Economy

7. Science & Technology (S&T)

8. Yearbook stuf f

9. Current Affairs vs Static

10. 4TF type of quest ion

11. Authent ic Answerkeys! (lolz)

12. Make your own answerkey

13. Why Cut-offs talk is useless

14. Start preparing fo r mains

15. Was theCSAT-paper Tough?

16. Conclusion

Overall Breakup

In order to see the big picture, We must compare this data with the GS-papers of last two

years. See how the topicwise-breakup has evolved.

Markwise Breakup (From 2010 to 2012)

Note1: column will not add to 100, because Ive not counted the international aff airs

etc. questions from 2011s exam. However the total questions were 100.

Note2: in 2010, GS paper had 150 questions, including Apt itude. Therefore column will

not add to 100. Secondly, in 2010 they did not have separate EnB section.

This Situation calls for % table.
http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#980http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#963http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#915http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#892http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#669http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#586http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#236http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#1http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#995http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#980http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#963http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#936http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#926http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#915http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#892http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#879http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#809http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#740http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#669http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#586http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#413http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#292http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#236http://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html#1https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B1RXD8fh0_LgdjNfeENQbUZ6UVEhttp://mrunal.org/2012/05/analysis-csat-paper-i-general-studies.html


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%wise Breakup (From 2010 to 2012)

For 2011 and 2012, the data will remain same (Because to tal 100 Questions) but for 2010, Im

converting marks into approximate percentages using 150 as tot al.

Charts and graphs


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Data interpretation

History has doubled in its importance from 2010 to 2012. Any sort of predictability

helps the coaching classes and senior players, and UPSC hates both of them. Most of us

would have thought : history will decrease and S&T will remain steady. So, UPSC does the

reverse. Besides, it is my personal opinion, this year History + Polity given heavy emphasis

to reverse the Science and Engineer graduates-f riendly trends of last two years.

Polity increased by more than double. 8% in 2011 and 18% in 2012. And curiously, as

the number of questions increased, the dif f iculty level of each quest ion decreased!

Geography remained steady 11% of the paper for last two years.

Economy declined.

Science and technology declined: almost halved: From 18% in 2011 to 9% in 2012! To

make room for the increased number of History and Polity Quest ions

Just like Geography, the Yearbook stuf f also remained: Steady 9% of the paper, fo r last

two years.

You can do more data interpretat ion on your own.

Remaining chart

Now t ime to take a look

at individual subjects

under General Studies

paper.


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1.History

A.Ancient and Medieval

1. Dhrupad, one of the major tradit ions of India that has been kept alive fo r centuries

2. Dist inguish between Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam dances

3. hand gesture called Bhumisparsha Mudra. It symbolizes

4. religion of early Vedic Aryans was

5. Suf i myst ics were known to pursue which of the fo llowing practices

6. guilds (Shreni) of ancient India that played a very important role

7. scientif ic progress of ancient India

8. common to both Buddhism and Jainism?

9. Nagara, the Dravida and the Vesara

Questions Mostly related to religion and culture.

They had asked about Jainism in 2011s paper as well.

Thankfully, No dat es, places or name of kings though.

Modern India (Freedom Struggle)

1. Ryot wari sett lement2. Rowlatt act aimed at

3. Cont ribution made by dadabhai naoroji

4. Princi al feature s of the overnment of india act,
http://www.mrunal.org/2011/06/topicwise-analysis-general-studies-gs.html


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1919

5. National social conference was formed. What wasthe reason for its formation?

6. Parties were established by dr. B. R. Ambedkar

7. Gandhi undertook fast unto death in 1932

8. Lahore session of the indian national congress

(1929) is very important9. Regarding brahmo samaj

10. Things introduced into india by the english

11. Congress ministries resigned in the seven provincesin 1939

Even with t he lousiest half-hearted preparation, one could solve question number 2, 4, 7, 8, 9,

11 f rom reading NCERTs, GS Manual and Bipin Chandra.

Polity

1. Duty of the President of India to cause to be laid

2. Deadlock between the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha calls

3. Importance of t he of f ice of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)

4. Prime Minister of India, at t he time of his/her appointment

5. Delimitation Commission, consider the fo llowing statements :

6. Distribution of powers between the Centre and the States

7. Fundamental Dut ies of cit izens

8. Autonomy of the Supreme Court of India

9. Special powers have been conf erred on the Rajya Sabha

10. Recommendations of the Thirteenth Finance Commission

11. Parliamentary control over public finance in India

12. Provisions of t he Const itut ion of India have a bearing on Education

13. Adjournment mot ion

14. Directive Principles of State Policy

15. Union Territo ries are not represented in the Rajya Sabha.

16. Of f ice of t he Lok Sabha Speaker

17. Original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court

18. Panchayat (Extension t o t he Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996

In my earlier art icle 100 Days 4 CSAT? I had given the preparation strategy and study
http://mrunal.org/2012/01/strategy-100-days-to-go-before-csat.htmlhttp://www.flipkart.com/freedom-struggle-8123702493/p/itmdythvvwahthaf?pid=9788123702490&affid=mrunalrugm


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plan for Indian Polity and If you had t horoughly it, this Polity sect ion was a walk in the

park. At least 15 questions could be solved without any doubt.

Most of these questions are so easy, seems like they f ramed them to insult the

intelligence of a serious player!

update: Answerkey for Polity questions is given in this link (Click Me)

Environment & Biodiversity (enb)

1. National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) help

2. National Green Tribunal Act ,

3. Biopesticides

4. Biomass gasification

5. Lead, ingested or inhaled, is a health hazard6. Chlorof luorocarbons, known as ozone-deplet ing substances

7. Protected areas in India are local people not

8. Pollinat ing agent /agents

9. Carbon dioxide in the air is slowly raising the temperature

10. Acidificat ion of oceans is increasing. Why

11. Category of endangered species

12. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

13. Antelopes Oryx and Chiru

14. Threats to the biodiversity of a geographical are

15. Black-necked crane

16. Carbon sequestration/storage in the soil

17. Phytoplankton of an ocean is completely destroyed for some reason

18. Vultures which used to be very common in Indian countryside

19. Government of India encourages the cult ivat ion of sea buckthorn

20. Wetlands of India, consider the following statements

21. Resistance to the introduct ion of Bt brinjal in India

22. Prospects for which genet ically engineered plants have been created

23. Which of the above are Tiger

Q. 7 on prot ected area, was directly discussed in my EnB art icle: In-situ and Ex-situ

conservation.

Q. 18 on Vulture quest ion had been directly discussed in my EnB article: Types of
http://mrunal.org/enb/insitu-exsituhttp://www.mrunal.org/2012/05/polity-answerkey-for-csat-paper-i.html


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Species.

Q.14 Threats to biodiversity: the alien species were also discussed in above article

(under title Non-native species.)

Seems UPSC is making a habit of asking locat ion of some odd wildlife animal every year.

(Oryx, Chiru and Crane this year.)

Almost 1/4th of the paper (25%) is EnB, because environment must be protected and

candidates must be forced to prepare heavily for Environment t opic as if theyre going to

actually implement everything they read in the books, into their real lives!

One interesting thing: about the limits of current affairs, This Sea buckthorn initiative

happened in 2010 (according to MoEF public not ification)and UPSC has asked this in

2012.

Anyways most of the questions- not really tough, provided that you had been following

1. The NOS study-material

2. Science and Geography NCERTs

3. The Hindu S&T

4. Website of Ministry of Environment and Forest (www.moef.nic.in)

5. General Studies Manual.

6. My EnB series articles (vultures, Phytoplanktons)

Geography

1. Polestar

2. Duration of the monsoon

3. Characteristic climate of the Tropical Savannah Region

4. Stages of demographic transition associated with economic

5. Chief characteristic of mixed farming

6. Crop that is used as pulse, fodder and green manure

7. Factors influence the ocean currents

8. Predominant ly rainfed crop/crops

9. Travel in Himalayas, you will see the following

10. Temperature decreases with the increase in

11. Part icular Stat e in India has the fo llowing characteristics

Most of t he it from

NCERT Geography books Class 7 to 12.
http://www.flipkart.com/general-studies-civil-services-preliminary-examination-2012-0071332057/p/itmd32swsh2abhzh?pid=9780071332057&affid=mrunalrugmhttp://www.moef.nic.in/http://mrunal.org/2012/03/download-biodiversity-and-environment.htmlhttp://www.mrunal.org/2012/05/enb-national-seabuckthorn-initiative.htmlhttp://www.mrunal.org/2012/03/enb-biodiversity-meaning-and-types-of.html#diclo


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+General Studies manual.

Curiously Im not seeing anything f rom world geography except the Tropical Savannah

climate. (Ocean Current falls under Physical geography so not really a world geography

question)

Economy

1. RBI acts as a bankers bank

2. Capital gains arise

3. Increase in the money supply in the economy

4. Foreign Direct Invest ment in India

5. Price of any currency in international market is decided by

6. Lead bank scheme

7. Why does India import millions of tonnes of coal

8. Rare earth metals

9. Policy init iat ive(s) of Government of India to promote

10. Index of Industrial Product ion, the Indices of Eight Core Industries

If you had been following my articles on Economy, this section was also a walk in the

park!

Science & Technology (S&T)

1. Graphene

2. UV radiat ion in the water purif icat ion systems

3. Stem cells

4. Ant i-matter (anti-helium nucleus)

5. Evidences for the continued expansion of universe?

6. Electrically charged particles from space

7. Capillarity

8. Advantage does thorium hold over uranium

9. Elements was primarily responsible for the origin of life on t he Earth

Graphene directly discussed in my Revision Not e of Hindu S&T Part II.

I forgot to write about water purif iers in the Odomos article

S&T reduced by half : in 2011, they asked 18 questions, this time only 9 but if you look it

f rom a hilltop (combined with heavy doze o f Reading comprehension in Paper II) may be
http://www.mrunal.org/2012/03/science-principle-behind-famous.htmlhttp://www.mrunal.org/2012/05/revision-science-tech-highlight-from.htmlhttp://mrunal.org/2012/02/economy-list-of-all-articles-published.html


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UPSC thought since last two years, the Science and Engineering grads had been getting

more advantage, so let us for a change, make a room for the Arts and commerce

graduates therefore increased importance to Polity +History this t ime and decreased

importance of Science & tech.

Besides, when you want to force everyone learn EnB and (assuming) that theyll

implement climate saving habits in their real life, so how do you make a room? take t he

space out of Science and Tech distribute it among EnB, Polity and History.

Yearbook stuff

Im combining the rights issue, Empowerment and Government scheme in one category:

1. Jobs of ASHA, a trained community health worker?

2. National Rural Livelihood Mission seek to improve livelihood opt ions of rural poor

3. Mult i-dimensional Poverty Index developed by Oxford

4. Social Security coverage under Employees State Insurance Scheme?

5. Inclusive Governance

6. Janani Suraksha Yojana Programme is

7. DRDAs help in the reduction of rural poverty in India?

8. National Water Mission

9. Consumers rights/ privileges

ASHA worker was discussed in my Yearbook art icle

Seems UPSC is obsessed with National Rural Livelihood mission because in 2011 Mains

GS Paper, they had asked about it.

If you had been following India Yearbook and Economic Survey 2012, again most of the

question could be solved with ease.

Current Affairs vs Static

Static = f rom rout ine books, theory stuf f . Majority of the questions this t ime, are from the

static portion.

Over last three years, UPSC has constantly reduced the importance of current affairs:

my take, theyre doing it to give level playing f ield to small town & rural candidates, whore

unable to purchase lot s of newspapers, current-af fairs magazines, internet for following

the current aff airs.

Indian Juntaa doesnt care for sportsmen (Except cricketers), Authors (except t hose

Indian authors who can only write novels about adultery and sex), Dancers (Except those

who can do item-song) or social activists (except those who get extensive media
http://www.mrunal.org/2012/03/economy-economic-survey-2012.htmlhttp://www.mrunal.org/2011/11/topic-wise-analysis-gs-mains-paper-1.htmlhttp://www.mrunal.org/2012/03/yearbook-employment-health-and.html


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coverage).

So over the years, UPSC was feeling sorry for the unknown celebrities and had been

asking questions related to persons in news in preliminary exam to give them their due

recognition.

But f inally UPSC has learned the lesson: There is no point in forcing candidates to

mugup names of people in news, you cant make someone love you by holding a gun on

his face.

4TF type of question

4TF= four (or two) statements are given, and youre asked to identify t he correct o r

incorrect statement.

UPSC has increased the number of 4TF quest ion in last two years.

This time, There are approximately 20 normal quest ion (i.e. pick up one f rom a/b/c/d, andremaining 80 questions are 4TF.

4TF have their own advantages and disadvantages

Good: you can eliminate wrong answer choices and certain combinations.

Bad: requires thorough grip over the topic.

Bad: Time consuming because you have to re-read entire question multiple times to

eliminate the wrong choices.

Seems theyre trying to f rame dif f icult questions from easy topics. using the 4TF

technique.

Authentic Answerkeys! (lolz)

Authentic answerkey is an oxymoron just like Honest Politician.

Af ter prelims are over, everybody starts googling for answerkeys and cut-offs. So, in a

haste to capture the audience (and to advert ise their mains classes and study packages),

the coaching classes and certain websites release faulty answerkeys without doing

proper research and homework.

UPSC gives you 2 hours to solve 100 questions in the exam hall, so If you manually

check the reference book for each and every quest ion, it ought t o take you no less than

4-5 hours at home. Besides for certain questions there is no reliable source / book /

website to conf irm the answer!

Many candidates check their paper using multiple answerkeys and from whichever

answerkey they get maximum score, they take it as their of f icial score and start worryingabout t he cut-o ff s!

Make your own answerkey


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I suggest you look at each and every question individually and find its source.

For example, in this prelims, UPSC asked questions on green t ribunal and 13thFinance

Commission. If you solve these from readymade answerkeys, you will only know t he four

statements given in the question itself. But if you manually solve every question, youll

come across 10 more points related to t he topic, which you can use as fodder material

for mains exam and interview. Who knows you might f ind some direct questions!Caution : donot merely type question phrases in Wikipedia, UPSC did not frame

question after reading Wikipedia and Wikipedia is not the authentic source. You should

f irst refer the standard reference books to solve these questions and use Wikipedia only

as last source.

Why Cut-offs talk is useless

As usual, I dont involve myself in cut-off prediction or speculation.

If India won 2011s world cup by making 250 runs, does it mean India will win 2015s

world cup by making 250 runs? Then why are you t rying extrapolate the RTI replies of

previous cut-offs to speculate 2012s cut-of fs! Each years exam is a separate thing with

separate dif f iculty and separate crowd.

Second, in the online forums and facebook communit ies, people post their score based

on t he answerkey which gives them maximum marks! So you dont get a standard data in

the first place.

Third, Most ly three types of people post their scores online:

A. those who performed except ionally well.

B. those who performed terribly bad. They just post unbelievable scores for sadistic pleasure.

(particularly in orkut.)

C. those who feel they are on border line based on their own cut-off speculation.

But even the combined number of above A+B+C category of people in all internet

communit ies = no more than 2000. While there are no less than 20,000 serious

contenders. (Rest 1-2 lakhs are just JBPS, we are not bot hered with their future.) You

need a huge sample data to stat istically predict the cut-offs.

So let UPSC come out with cut-off data, there is no point in you increasing your blood

pressure over cut-of f speculation.

The exam finished in the Evening of Sunday, right now it is tuesday morning, so not

even three days have passed, UPSC cannot even collect back all the answersheets from

every exam centre across India India to Delhi in such short t ime, and yet some people aresaying theyve conf irmed it with reliable sources inside UPSC of f ice that cut of f will be ***

for 2012.

^How is it possible? The OMR bundles are not even opened yet, the answersheets are


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not even checked yet and youve came out with the cutof f data conf irmed from UPSC

itself!

Start preparing for mains

Those of you have the mindset Ill prepare for mains based on cut-offs. If my chances

look good, only then I prepare for mains.

^ wrong mentality. Youre thinking like a stockbroker but Success in UPSC requires the

dedication of a world class athlete and pat ience of a gardener. Prelims is over means you

have to start preparing for mains. You dont wait for the results until August 2012 or

waste t ime in cut-offs speculation. If you wait until August, it will be impossible to cover

the syllabus of GS + Two optional subjects.

Your CSAT paper did not go good or Bad. You paper is only over.

In school or board exams, youve a pre-set target: 90% or First class therefore you can

predict your own chances meraa paper acchaa gaya. / Mera paper kharaab gaya

But in UPSC CSAT or CAT or similar competitive exams, there is no pre-set target, you

just have to t ick as many quest ions as you can accurately without doing guesswork.

So dont say meraa paper kharaab gaya. Because 10 of your friends are claiming to

have ticked more answers than you did, or just because x member of orkut, or y coaching

sir came up with a magical cut-of f f igure.

And dont waste your t ime or bandwidth asking people online My score is *** so

Whatre my chances? = only God or UPSC can answer that question.

Was the CSAT-paper Tough?

Paper is never tough or easy. Paper is just a paper.

Youre not expected to know answer of each and every question.

You dont have to t ick 90 or 100 answers to crack the exam.

All you had to do was study hard, t ick answers accurately and leave the rest in thehands of God.

IF you believe you had studied hard and youve t icked the answers accurately without

doing guesswork, then there is no need to worry. Let the result come in August 2012.

And, Dont become a Devdas or Superman aft er the results. In either case it ll be a minor

setback or victory, life is long and there are so many batt les yet t o be fought.

Conclusion

This CSAT-2012 paper is mere cont inuat ion of the trend started by UPSC since 2010 to

break the backs of Coaching Factories in Delhi and to provide level playing f ield to the

small towners and first t imers.


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Less emphasis on mug-up type of current affairs

More emphasis on t heory and standard reference books.

Apart f rom that , there is not hing much to say, same old stuf f like in 2010 and 2011.

41 Questions from Guidance and Study material ofwww.mrunal.org in CSAT-2012

Months before the actual exam, I had posted articles on preparation strategy, booklist and

studyplan:

1. CSAT GS study plan

2. 30 Days Revision 4 CSAT

3. 100 Days 4 CSAT, where are you?

If you had followed the advice given in them, theneven on a really conservative est imate, even with not -so-really-hard preparation: 6 In History,

15 in Polity, 3 in EnB, 4 in Geography, 7 in Economy, 2 in S&T and 4 in Yearbook stuff , that is

total

6+15+3+4+7+2+4=41 questions could have been solved easily using the study plan and

articles provided by me.

That is 41 x 2 =82 marks from GS paper alone.

Previous Articles on Exam Analysis

1. Essays (1993-2011)

2. GS Mains11

3. CSAT11 P1 GS

4. CSAT 11 P2 Apt.

5. Pub Ad M10

6. GS M10

7. GS P10

May 21st, 2012 | Category: analysis
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Analysis CSAT Paper I General Studies 2012