Civil Service Examination : Syllabus of the Examination

Civil Services Aptitude Test CSAT (Earlier Civil Services Preliminary Examination) - General Studies
Main Examination - English and Indian Languagues; Essay; General Studies (C) | Optional Subjects | Literature

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Application Procedure

Syllabus

Exam Date 2024

Part A - Preliminary Examination :

The Examination shall comprise two compulsory papers of 200 marks each.

Paper I - (200 marks) Duration : Two hours

• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance - Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development - Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require subject specialisation
• General Science

Paper II- (200 marks) Duration: Two hours

• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision making and problem solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. -Class X level)
• English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).

Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level (last item in the Syllabus of Paper- II) will be tested through passages from English language only without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.
The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

Part B- Main Examination

Compulsory Subjects

English and Indian Languagues
The aim of the paper is to test the candidate's ability to read and understand serious discursive prose, and to express his ideas clearly and correctly in English/ Indian language concerned.
The pattern of questions would be broadly as follows :-

(i) Comprehension of given passages.
(ii) Precis Writing
(iii) Usage and Vocabulary
(iv) Short Essay

Indian Languages
(i) Comprehension of given passages.
(ii) Precis Writing
(iii) Usage and Vocabulary.
(iv) Short Essay
(v) Translation from English to the Indian language and vice-versa.

Note 1 : The Papers on Indian languages and English will be of Matriculation or equivalent standard and will be of qualifying nature only. The marks obtained in these papers will not be counted for ranking.
Note 2 : The candidates will have to answer the English and Indian Languages papers in English and the respective Indian language (except where translation is involved).

Essay
Candidates will be required to write an essay on a specific topic. The choice of subjects will be given. They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.

General Studies - Paper I & II

Optional Subjects

Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science, Anthropology, Botany, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, Commerce and Accountancy, Economics, Electrical Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, Law, Management, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering, Medical Science, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science and International relations, Psychology, Public Administration, Sociology, Statistics, Zoology.

Literature of one of the following languages : (A candidate may be required to answer some or all the questions in the language concerned; In regard to the languages include in the Eighth schedule to constitution, the scripts will be the same; Candidates should note that the questions not required to be answered in a specific language will have to be answered in the language medum indicated by them for answering papers on Essay, general studies and optional subjects)

Arabic, Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Chinese, Dogri, English, French, German, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Pali, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu.