UPSC Aptitude Test Syllabus

S.No	Civil Services Preliminary Examination	Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT)
1	Two Objective Papers with one General Studies and One Optional out of the 23 subjects given by UPSC	Two Objective Papers with one General Studies and One General Aptitude Paper
2	More weightage for optional with 300 marks for Optional subject and only 150 marks for General Studies	Equal weightage for both General Studies as well as General Aptitude paper. Both carrying equal marks
3	Advantageous for people who completed masters degree and having a grip on Academic Subject	Equally good for All kinds of graduates creating a level play ground.
4	No Transparency in terms of Assessment and disclosure of Preliminary marks	Complete Transparency in terms of disclosure of marks
5	High amount of disparity between one optional subject and the other, creating sense of biasedness on few particular optional subject.	No disparity, Equal game to be played by all in a equal platform
6	Easy for Candidates who studied in high caliber institutes compared to a student with Rural background.	All the students have equal opportunity, since everyone has to prepare in similar patterns.
7	High Competition due to people cramming with the subject knowledge in Optional.	Infuses fresh blood in the examination arena such that all the people have to prepare a fresh.

Introduction of Aptitude paper will be the major change after the introduction of Negative marking pattern. UPSC was talking about the System of Online Application Procedure (SOAP) that was successfully implemented in the Indian Forest Service Examination .

Aptitude tests are designed to assess your logical reasoning or thinking performance. They consist of multiple-choice questions and are administered under exam conditions. They are strictly timed. UPSC conducts various examinations in any given year and they name those test papers with various names such as General Studies in Civil Service, General Ability in Combined Medical Exam, General Knowledge in Combined Defence Service, General Ability and Intelligence in Central Police Force Exam. But they have never used the nomenclature General Aptitude; this is the first time UPSC going to have an Aptitude test. Attempting maximum question under exam condition in the given time is the key for success in a normal Aptitude test.

The most common Aptitude test pattern are

1. Verbal Aptitude,
2. Quantitative Aptitude,
3. Abstract Reasoning,
4. Spatial Reasoning,
5. Mechanical Reasoning,
6. Data Checking,
7. Fault Diagnosis.

Is the Aptitude Test a Combination of Public Administration, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology
NO, This is a General Aptitude test and no subject will influence or be infused in this paper. May be the above combination of professionals like Administrators, Psychologist and others can be used to set a question paper. But for sure the above-mentioned subjects (Theoretical and Purely Subjective) will not play a part in the Aptitude test.

CSAT will not only enable us to choose civil servants with right aptitudes but also end the use of scaling system, a matter of concern to some.

Related: CSAT Syllabus, CSAT 2011, CSAT