CSE Prelims (CSAT) 2013 Syllabus, Pattern, Papers & Books

Civil Services Prelims Exam 2013 is going to be conducted on 26th May, 2013 and therefore this blog post has been made to help you prepare...

Civil Services Prelims Exam 2013 is going to be conducted on 26th May, 2013 and therefore this blog post has been made to help you prepare for the same with exam prep materials for Civil Services Prelims - it would provide you the Syllabus and than go on to provide previous years Prelims exam papers & prep books with a discussion on the Civil Services Prelims exam pattern.

If you would like to know more about Civil Services exam and how to apply for the same, you can go through my previous article titled: Civil Services Prelims 2013 Notification, Form & Eligibility.

Let us start the discussion with the pattern of CSE Prelims exam 2012.

CSE Prelims 2013 exam Pattern:

There were lot anticipation about the change of exam pattern of Civil Services Exam this year - well, the changes have come, but CSE prelims have been left unchanged. Only the exam pattern of  Civil Services Mains Exam have been changed. I have made an elaborate blog post titled: Change in Civil Services 2013 Exam Pattern - New Vs. Old to discuss in detail the changes brought in Civil Services Mains Exam 2013.

So if you have already started your preparation for the Civil Services Prelims Exam 2013, based on last years exam pattern than you can go ahead. This exam pattern is continuing from CSE Prelims 2011 -  CSE Prelims is called as CSAT: Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT). There are two papers with equal marks (i.e. 200 marks) in each paper – while the Paper I is on General Studies, Paper II is a Test of Aptitude, giving you the pattern/format for the CSE Prelims exam as given at right above for total 400 marks. Each paper is of 2 hour duration.

I feel it is needless to say that marks you score in CSE Prelims is only for screening purpose for CSE Mains - the final merit position would be based on CSE Mains marks (1800) and Personality Test (275) marks.

CSE Prelims 2013 exam Syllabus:

Syllabus of Civil Services Prelims reproduced from the exam notification is as given blow:

Syllabus for Paper I - (General Studies)            Marks: 200,  Duration : Two hours

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

Syllabus for Paper II- (Test of Aptitude).            Marks: 200,  Duration : Two hours

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

Note 1: 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.

Note 2: The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

Note 3: It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the Papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for the purpose of evaluation. Therefore a candidate will be disqualified in case he/she does not appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination.

CSE Prelims Previous Years exam papers:

You can download the previous years exam papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Exam of last four years in PDF format from the following links of UPSC website:

Click here to download CSE Prelims 2012 General Studies Paper I.

Click here to download CSE Prelims 2012 General Studies Paper II.

Click here to download CSE Prelims 2012 General Studies Paper II (X series).

Click here to download CSE Prelims 2011 General Studies Paper I.

Click here to download CSE Prelims 2011 General Studies Paper II.

Click here to download CSE Prelims 2011 General Studies Paper II (X series).

Click here to download CSE Prelims 2010 General Studies Paper.

Click here to download CSE Prelims 2010 Optional Subjects Paper.

Click here to download CSE Prelims 2009 General Studies Paper.

Click here to download CSE Prelims 2009 Optional Subjects Paper.

Apart from the actual exam papers of CSE given above, you can also visit the CSE Prelims Prep websites given towards the end of this blog article.

Prep Books for CSE Prelims:

There is no dearth of books in the market for preparation of Civil Services Exam. The questions is not of availability but of choosing the right books – since there are too many options, I have hand-picked some of the best books for CSE Prelims, based on reader feedbacks from various discussion forums.

These CSE Prelims books are available in most of the good book stores. But in case you do not find them, you can order them online by clicking the links below from Flipkart, which offers huge discounts (Upto 30%) apart from free shipping if the order exceeds Rs.500/=. What’s more, you can pay through numerous payment options- Credit Card/Net Banking/DD as well as Cash-On-Delivery (i.e. you pay only when you receive the book at your doorstep).



Civil Services Planner; Author: Vivek Kumar; Publisher: Unique
List Price: Rs. 140; Offer Price: Rs. 126; Discount: Rs. 14 (10%)

One of the highest rated book, this is a very good book for you, specially the one who wants to have a bird-eye-view of the whole selection process of Civil Services Exam. It helps you to plan your exam and dispels many of your doubts. Particularly good for beginners and the ones who wants to start from the scratch.




Guide Books (One-in-all) for CSE Prelims

CSAT General Studies for Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2013 (Paper - 2) Author/Publisher: TMH
List Price: Rs. 1250; Offer Price: Rs. 900; Discount: Rs. 350 (28%)

There is also a combo version of above two books:
General Studies for Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2013 (Paper-1) + CSAT General Studies for Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2013 (Paper - 2)

List Price: Rs. 2500; Offer Price: Rs. 1750; Discount: Rs. 750 (30%)

For specific test sections of CSE Prelims, you can refer the following books as under-
Our Constitution: An Introduction to India’s Constitution and Constitutional Law  by Subhash C. Kashyap

List Price: Rs. 140; Offer Price: Rs. 102; Discount: Rs. 38 (27%)

Indian Polity for Civil Services Examinations; Author: M Laxmikanth; Publisher: TMH
List Price: Rs. 450; Offer Price: Rs. 324; Discount: Rs.126 (28%)
Indian Economy; Author: Ramesh Singh; Publisher: McGraw Hill
List Price: Rs. 350; Offer Price: Rs. 287; Discount: Rs.63 (18%)
Certificate Physical and Human Geography  by Goh Cheng Leong

List Price: Rs. 306; Offer Price: Rs. 297; Discount: Rs. 9 (3%)

Objective General English, Author: SP Bakshi; Publisher: Arihant
List Price: Rs. 225; Offer Price: Rs. 155; Discount: Rs. 70 (31%)

You can choose from the rich collection of  CSE Prelims Prep books from this Flipkart link.

In addition, you should also refer following books:
NCERT Books on Biology, Physics and Chemistry, Standard IX & X

NCERT Books on Indian History, IX, X, XI and XII Standard

NCERT Books on Geography from IX standard to XII standard

Pratiyogita Darpan (for Indian Economy)

Economic Dictionary by Penguin or Collins

India Year Book published by Government of India

Manorama Year Book

The Hindu or the Times of India

Yojana Magazine

CSE Prelims exam Prep websites:

There are hundreds of websites offering free prep materials for CSE Prelims exam. Out of them, I have shortlisted few websites below:

Prelimsmodeltests.com
UPSCPortal.Com
Onestopias.Com
IAShelp.Com
GKToday.In

Thats all for now. Hope above prep materials for Civil Services Prelims Exam-  Syllabus, Exam Papers, Prep Books & websites is useful to you so that you can crack the exam easily. Best wishes for the exam!

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