Those aspiring to clear the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) should ideally be eyeing scores around 140, as cut-offs have risen over the last few years. This is because of the growing number of aspirants from business administration and mathematics backgrounds, who seem to have an edge in aptitude tests.
The scores, however, are not unachievable with concerted preparation and guidance, the test can be cleared.
This was the message given to hundreds of aspirants who attended the seminar on CSAT, organised by The Hindu in association with Triumphant Institute of Management Education (TIME) here on Sunday.
The participants, who included fresh graduates, working employees and postgraduate students, were introduced to key issues of preparation and attempting the question paper in the right frame of mind by TIME’s civil services course director Arvind Mantry. He spoke about the examination and the competition, besides informing the gathering about the break-up of subjects covered and the type of questions an aspirant can expect.
“Competition is growing every year due to several factors but as aspirants one should not be intimidated by it. Proper preparation can ensure success irrespective of what percentage of success of applicants give the exam or clear,” Mr. Mantry said while dishing out statistics pertaining to the exam in the last few years.
In 2014, 1,290 seats were available with 4.5 lakh applicants vying for them.
“Solving easy and medium questions alone can help clear the exam. While an exam-taker without preparation can answer a few questions, preparation is clearly essential to make the cut,” Mr. Mantry said. The CSAT consists of two papers, general studies and aptitude.
Aspirants said the seminar addressed queries pertaining to various aspects of CSAT.
“The session helped me easily understand the structure of the examination as my attempt in 2015 will be my first,” said V. Ravi, who is interning with a local company. Another aspirant A. Nooruddin said the seminar would help him with his preparation.
“It was useful to learn that easy and medium difficulty questions can help clear the exam. It reminded me that I need to practice aptitude related subjects to reduce time for problem-solving,” he said.
