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ANALYSIS:
CIVIL SERVICES (PRELIMS) 2013 PAPER -II
Civil
Services (Prelims) 2013 - Paper II had 80 questions. Each of the 80
questions carried equal marks of 2.5. There were 74 questions for
which 0.833 marks was deducted for any wrong answer marked. The
remaining 6 questions (on Decision Making) did not carry any negative
marking. Out of a total of 80 questions, there were 31 English
questions (from 12 passages), 24 Reasoning, 19 Maths and 6 on
Decision Making. These questions, however, were placed in a random
order. In English part, all the questions were pertaining to the
passages. The number of qs ranged from 2 to 5 per passage. Out of 12
passages, there were 3 passages which were simpler to understand as
compared to the remaining nine passages. One
doesnot require any prior knowledge of any particular topic to be
able to answer the majority of questions. However, the questions were
such that the answers cannot simply be obtained by just scanning
through the passage. One has to read through the passage, get the
essence of it and then look for applying those points in arriving at
the answer for the questions. So, these questions demanded good
application of logic, and inference and hence clearly were more
analytical. However, the questions pertaining to
Maths & Reasoning were such that in order to crack them, the
candidate need to be good in reasoning & elementary mathematical
skills. Overall, the difficulty level of the paper was MODERATE. For
a well prepared candidate, it wouldnot be difficult to score at least
110 marks(out of a maximum possible 200) from this Paper II alone.
Out
of 80 questions, there were 51 easy, 13 medium while 16 difficult.
Even if one does a total of 60 questions, with an overall accuracy of
80%, one can get to a net score of
110
marks,
considered as a good score. The questions can be
classified area-wise. The table below
gives the broad overview of the questions which were there related to
each of the test areas. The last but one column in the table gives an
illustration of how at
least 110 marks could have been obtained
in this paper.
TEST
AREA
|
NUMBER
OF QUESTIONS
|
MAXIMUM
POSSIBLE MARKS
|
GOOD NET
SCORE
|
DIFFICULTY
LEVEL
|
Comprehension
|
23
|
57.5
|
26
|
MODERATE-DIFFICULT
|
Basic
Numeracy
|
19
|
47.5
|
25
|
EASY-MODERATE
|
Decision
Making & Problem Solving
|
6
|
15
|
12
|
MODERATE
|
Analytical
Ability & Logical Reasoning
|
24
|
60
|
32
|
MODERATE
|
General
Mental Ability
|
Interpersonal
Skills including Communication Skills
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
English
Language Comprehension Skills
|
8
|
20
|
15
|
EASY
|
TOTAL
|
80
|
200
|
110
|
MODERATE
|
The
table below gives the number of questions (difficulty level wise)
with respect to each test area.
-
Test
Area
|
Number
of Questions (Level of Difficulty wise)
|
Easy
|
Medium
|
Difficult
|
Total
|
Comprehension
|
13
|
3
|
7
|
23
|
Basic
Numeracy
|
12
|
4
|
3
|
19
|
Decision
Making & Problem Solving
|
4
|
1
|
1
|
6
|
Analytical
Ability & Logical Reasoning
|
15
|
4
|
5
|
24
|
General
Mental Ability
|
Interpersonal
Skills including Communication Skills
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
English
Language Comprehension Skills
|
7
|
1
|
0
|
8
|
Total
|
51
|
13
|
16
|
80
|
Let
us analyze the different types of questions from each of the test
area, number of doable questions in each of the test area, and a good
net score.
COMPREHENSION
No.
of Questions: 23
The
paper had 23 questions from a total of nine passages. This
test area had some of the questions, for which the answers cannot
simply be obtained by just scanning through the passage. One has to
read through the passage, get the essence of it and then look for
applying those points in arriving at the answer for the questions.
These questions demanded good application of logic, and inference and
hence clearly were more analytical. However, there were many other
questions which were easy in nature. One of the key highlights, here,
was that out of 23 questions, there were 11 questions, where each of
these questions was followed by two to four statements. In such
questions, you have to identify the correct/incorrect
statement(s)/assumption(s)/inference(s). This format is exactly in
line with the question types as given by UPSC in the earlier years
exam-CSAT2011, 2012 -Paper II. In 40 mins, a good candidate can
attempt at least 16 questions with at least 80% accuracy. Thus, a
good score in this test area, alone, will be 26+ marks.
S
No
|
Passage
|
Starting
words of the Passage
|
Source
|
Number
of Qs
|
Nature
of Qs
|
Number
of doable Qs
|
1
|
An
extract from the book -”The Idea of Justice” by Amartya Sen
|
The
subject of democracy has become severely muddled.......
|
Source
|
2
|
DIFFICULT
|
2
|
2
|
An
article on Corporate Governance
|
Corporate
Governance is based on principles such as conducting the
business...
|
Source
|
2
|
Moderate-Difficult
|
3
|
An
extract from the book- Basic Nutrition by Lori A Smolin & Mary
B Grosvenor.
|
Malnutrition
most commonly occurs between the ages of..
|
Source
|
2
|
Moderate
|
1
|
4
|
An
extract from the book-”Agricultural Risk, Insurance, and Income:
Astudy of the impact and design of India's Comprehensive Crop
Insurance Scheme”
|
A
number of empirical studies find that farmers are risk-averse...
|
Source
|
2
|
Moderate-Difficult
|
1
|
5
|
An
extract from the first page of the fifth Chapter titled “Financial
Intermediation & Markets”: Union Budget
|
Financial
Markets in India have acquired greater depth and liquidity over
the years...
|
Source
|
4
|
Moderate
-Difficult
|
2
|
6
|
A
passage on “Crude Mineral Oil”
|
Crude
Mineral Oil comes out of the earth as a thick brown...
|
|
2
|
Easy
|
2
|
7
|
An
extract from the book -”Essentials of Ecology” -Chapter 13th
|
The
law in many parts of the world increasingly restricts the
discharge of agricultural slurry...
|
Source
|
5
|
Moderate
|
3
|
8
|
An
extract from the book-””Higher Education in the 21st
Century: Vol 2- Quality & Excellence”
|
The
miseries of the world cannot be cured by physical help only..
|
Source
|
2
|
Easy-Moderate
|
1
|
9
|
An
article on “Illegal Mining and the related ecological disaster”
|
Ecological
Research over the last quarter of the century has established
that..
|
Source
|
2
|
Moderate
|
1
|
TOTAL
|
23
|
Moderate
|
13
|
BASIC
NUMERACY
No.
of Questions: 19
The
number of questions pertaining to Basic Numeracy was 19. The
questions were from different topics (Numbers, Equations, Ratio,
Proportion, Time & Work, Time & Distance, Data
Interpretation). A good student should in a position to answer at
least 12 questions, with at least 80% accuracy in less than 25
minutes.
S
No
|
Topic/Area
|
Number
of Qs
|
Nature
of Qs
|
Number
of doable Qs
|
1
|
Numbers,
LCM
|
2
|
Moderate
|
1
|
2
|
Equations,
Ratio
|
6
|
Moderate
|
4
|
3
|
Time
& Work
|
2
|
Easy-Moderate
|
1
|
4
|
Time
& Distance
|
4
|
2
easy, 1 Moderate 1 Difficult
|
2
|
5
|
Data
Interpretation (Pie Charts & Bar Graphs)
|
5
|
Easy-Moderate
|
4
|
Total
|
19
|
Easy-Moderate
|
12
|
DECISION
MAKING & PROBLEM SOLVING
No.
of Questions: 6
This
test area comprises questions from Situation Analysis. Answering
these questions will not take much of time, as these types of
questions do not demand much of your calculation skills, as what is
required in case of Basic Numeracy. However, in order to answer these
questions, an active critical reading is required. For each of these
six questions, there was NO negative marking. At least four of
these questions were doable. A good time allocation strategy would
have to attempt all of these questions within 12 minutes.
ANALYTICAL
ABILITY & LOGICAL REASONING, GENERAL MENTAL ABILITY
No.
of Questions:24
This
test area comprises questions from topics like Number Series,
Sequencing, Distribution, Routes & Networks, Cubes etc.
Most of these questions were
easy in nature and a good student would not have faced much
difficulty in marking the right answers for a majority of these
questions. There were 15 easy and doable questions (out of 24). By
doing these questions with at least 80% accuracy, one can score 32+
marks. A good time allocation strategy will be 25 minutes for these
questions.
S
No
|
Topic/Area
|
Number
of Qs
|
Nature
of Qs
|
Number
of doable Qs
|
1
|
Missing
Number in the series (Figure based)
|
2
|
Difficult
|
1
|
2
|
Routes
& Networks
|
4
|
Easy-Moderate
|
3
|
3
|
Selection
|
4
|
Easy-Moderate
|
3
|
4
|
Distribution
|
4
|
Easy-Moderate
|
2
|
5
|
Sequencing,
Seating Arrangement, Ranking
|
3
|
Moderate
|
2
|
6
|
Cubes
|
1
|
Moderate
|
1
|
7
|
Comparison
|
2
|
Easy
|
2
|
8
|
Non
Verbal Reasoning (Next figure in the series, Odd Man out)
|
3
|
Moderate
|
1
|
Total
|
24
|
Moderate
|
15
|
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION SKILLS
No.
of Questions: 8
The
passages are small (on an average 100-150 words), as compared to the
passages pertaining to Comprehension. A total of three passages were
there. A candidate, who has a basic command over English language,
can score well in this area. A good time allocation strategy will be
18 minutes. In this time, one can score 15 + marks, which would be a
good net score.