CSAT Foundation Course for UPSC Prelims 2025 Exam
WHAT IS THE CSAT PAPER IN UPSC PRELIMS ALL ABOUT?
UPSC Prelims consists of two papers, of which the second paper, officially called General Studies-II, is also known as Civil Services Aptitude Test or CSAT.
- The UPSC CSAT paper comprises of 80 questions which are to be answered in 2 hours.
- Each question in the CSAT paper carries 2.5 marks, and every incorrect answer will result in the deduction of 0.83 marks (1/3rd of the marks awarded for the correct answer). It is also to be noted that for an unattempted or unanswered question, there will be no deduction of marks.
- To qualify for the Mains examination an aspirant needs to score more than 33% of the total score (66 marks out of 200) in the CSAT paper.
- Qualifying through the CSAT may appear to be easy as one just needs 67 marks out of 200 to qualify. However, in the recent years, the CSAT paper has turned out to be a tough nut to crack.
- The qualifying nature of the paper has made many aspirants complacent, taking it lightly, and focusing only on Paper-I. However, this approach has resulted in many aspirants failing to clear the Prelims Examination.
- Hence, despite being only qualifying in nature, the CSAT paper is gaining importance in the wake of recent trends and needs to be covered diligently to ensure a chance to face the UPSC Main examination.
Syllabus For The UPSC CSAT Paper 2025
The UPSC Prelims General Studies-II Paper comprises of questions from:
- Basic Numeracy such as factorization, simplification, exponents etc.,
- Data Interpretation such as charts, graphs etc.,
- General Mental Ability
- Comprehension
- Interpersonal skills including communication skills
- Logical Reasoning
- Analytical Ability
- Decision-Making and Problem Solving
Highlights of the UPSC Course for CSAT paper
This CSAT course is offered with a limited objective of getting the student past the 67 marks required in Prelims GS-II Paper. The course has been started based on the demand by few aspirants who lagged in Mathematics or English Comprehension and hence, the classes will focus just on these areas covering fundamentals and some tricks to solve the questions at a brisk pace.
This will not be a separate batch per se, and the students enrolling for this course will be joining the Students of the existing batches (such as Foundation Course/Prelims-cum-Mains course students) in their regular CSAT classes.
DETAILS OF THE CSAT COURSE FOR UPSC 2025
- The course will start in the month of February 2025 and will be conducted over a period of 2-3 months before the Preliminary examination every year.
- The course includes over 40 hours of classes in Offline + Live-and-Interactive Online modes.
- The Course will cover al the topics comprehensively as per UPSC requirements
- Study Material for your refence will be provided
- 10 Full-Length CSAT tests along with numerous Classroom tests will be conducted
- Test discussion classes and one-to-one mentorship will also be provided.
Syllabus of the CSAT paper for UPSC
- At Legacy IAS Academy, we employ our own platform for conducting Online tests along with the Offline tests conducted at the Institute itself.
- The e-test platform allows for smooth navigation through the Prelims questions (MCQs) and provisions for marking questions to attempt them later and reviewing marked questions are also made available.
- The Prelims Tests will be graded and the results and batch-wise rank will be available immediately after completion of the test.
Fee Structure for CSAT course
The Total Fee amount for the CSAT Course is Rs. 7,999. The course includes:
- 40 hours of classes in Offline + Live-and-Interactive Online modes
- 10 Full-Length CSAT tests along with numerous Classroom tests
- Study Material for your refence
- Test discussion classes and one-to-one mentorship etc.
FAQs About CSAT UPSC Course
The classes for CSAT paper will be conducted in Offline mode (physical classroom sessions) as well as Online Live-and-Interactive mode.
At Legacy IAS Academy we employ our own online platform (online.legacyias.com) which was designed specifically for UPSC Civil Services Aspirants which enables access to Live and Interactive classes from anywhere as long as you have a working internet connection.
The platform works effectively in supporting the projection of content in the offline physical classroom as well as displaying the chat box to the faculty taking the class. Hence, it directly broadcasts everything the faculty ‘writes on the board’ in the classroom to the live online class while also displaying the doubts asked by online students directly to the faculty.
Legacy IAS Academy’s Online Platform for Live Interactive Sessions
Recorded Sessions as viewed on Legacy IAS Academy’s portal
Yes, the nature or discipline of your degree does NOT mean that it is impossible or extremely difficult to clear the CSAT paper. Although Engineering graduates and students who have done their graduation in Mathematics will have some added advantage of dealing with Basic Numeracy and Data Interpretation, any other candidate from any background such as Arts or Commerce can do well in the CSAT (GS-II) paper of Prelims as well.
The CSAT Course will cover all the topics comprehensively as per UPSC requirements:
- Basic Numeracy such as factorization, simplification, exponents etc.,
- Data Interpretation such as charts, graphs etc.,
- General Mental Ability
- Comprehension
- Interpersonal skills including communication skills
- Logical Reasoning
- Analytical Ability
- Decision-Making and Problem Solving
Since the CSAT paper is only qualifying in nature and an aspirant needs to score just more than 33% of the total score (66 marks out of 200) in the CSAT paper – it is very much possible to clear this exam irrespective of your knowledge background with the help of the CSAT course offered by Legacy IAS Academy.
You can look into Legacy IAS Academy’s Foundation Course – Legacy IAS Academy’s flagship programme which provides a comprehensive physical classroom + online platform to holistically foster aspirants through all three primary stages of the UPSC Civil Services Exam, viz., Preliminary exam, Main exam, and the Interview.
In case you are opting for Optional Subjects such as Mathematics, Management, Science subjects such as Physics, Zoology etc., Engineering subjects, Literature subjects etc., are not available at the institute – you can take up the Prelims-cum-Mains Course.
If you are NOT taking up either the Foundation Course or the Prelims-cum-Mains course, then you can take up –
The Essay Guidance Program provided at Legacy IAS Academy – Key Features of the Essay Guidance Programme are:
- 4 Orientation Sessions in Offline + Live-and-Interactive Online modes
- 8 Essay Tests conducted in both Offline and Online modes
- Personalized one-to-one feedback by Mr. Sagar B A and Mr. Pavan Kant
- Comprehensive Discussion sessions to clarify doubts regarding Essay paper
- Value-added material for supplementing the requisite knowledge base for Essay-writing
- Post-test analysis of each topic with Knowledge-transfer sessions with expert faculties
- Extensive Coverage of 45 most important and probable topics for Mains
- Time-bound evaluation of Essay papers by the expert faculty themselves
- 360 degree coverage of Essay writing for the entire range of topics
Optional Subject Programme (OSP) – under which the Optional Subject will be covered in 3 hour classes held on Saturdays and Sundays during the 5 months from September 2022 to February 2023 including 5 Full-length Tests along with Daily Answer writing practice.
You can also enroll for the YAGA UPSC CSE MAIN TEST SERIES 2022
| S.NO | Nature of Tests | Number of Tests |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sectional | 8 |
| 2 | Full Length | 8 |
| 3 | Essay | 5 |
| – | Total Tests | 21 |
| – | Mains Test Series Price | INR 13,000 |