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UPSC CSAT 2020 PYQs

Questions from the UPSC CSAT 2020 paper, with passages on privacy, water, agriculture and GM crops alongside number system, data sufficiency and reasoning, all solved.

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Choose Normal practice or a Simulated test.

Questions, answer key and solutions.

Questions
76
Duration
120 min
Marks
190

Negative marking

Attempts
100
Access
Free
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Normal practice, or a Simulated test

Both use the same questions. Normal practice is untimed and needs no account: choose an option and the answer and solution appear at once. The Simulated test is the real computer-based format, with one 120-minute clock, a question palette and full screen, and your score, the key and the solutions arrive when you submit.

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How the two modes differ
No account needed

Normal

Untimed

Every question on one page, loading as you scroll. Choose an option and see straight away whether it was right.

  • No timer. Nothing to start and nothing to submit. Stop whenever you like.
  • Answered as you choose. Tap an option and it is marked at once, with the correct answer shown.
  • Solutions in place. The explanation, and the video where one has been added, sit under the question.
  • Open to guests. Normal practice needs no sign-in.
Real exam conditions

Simulated

Timed CBT

The computer-based test format: one clock, a question palette, and a score the moment you submit.

  • A clock that does not pause. 120 minutes from the moment you begin, and the paper is submitted for you when it reaches zero.
  • Question palette. Answered, not answered and marked for review, section by section, as the real interface has it.
  • Full screen, proctored. The test takes over the screen; leaving it three times submits the paper.
  • Answers hidden until you submit. The key, the explanations and your score all arrive together at the end.

About this test

UPSC CSAT 2020 PYQs: Passages, Number System and Data Sufficiency

UPSC CSAT 2020 PYQs brings together questions from Paper II of the Civil Services Prelims 2020, the qualifying aptitude paper. The set covers reading comprehension, number system puzzles, data sufficiency and logical reasoning. On Aptitude360 it is free, with a written solution for every question, and passages discuss digital privacy, GM crops, urban water financing and small farms.

What the UPSC CSAT 2020 questions test

  • Reading comprehension: labour moving from agriculture to construction, the right to privacy in the digital age, rivers and wetlands as water sources, asset allocation, regulation of GM crops, volatile foreign investment, monsoon flows, education and economic freedom, financing urban water delivery, small farms and rural transformation
  • Number system: trailing zeros in a product, divisibility of cyclic digit sums, primes formed from given digits, digit puzzles with symbols, the greatest common measure of two lengths, integers containing a given digit
  • Arithmetic: weighted averages from a table
  • Reasoning: data sufficiency, syllogisms, blood relations, calendar, direction sense, ranking in a row, letter series, number sequences, the torn page problem

Core concepts for CSAT 2020 preparation

  • Telling apart the assumption, inference and central message of a passage
  • Counting factors of two and five to find trailing zeros
  • Using HCF to find the greatest length that measures two given lengths exactly
  • Judging whether each statement alone or together answers a data sufficiency question

Preparation tips for the CSAT paper

  • Avoid comprehension options with words like only or invariably unless the passage says so
  • In data sufficiency, test each statement alone before combining them
  • Practise careful listing for counting questions, since many reward systematic enumeration

Who should take this CSAT 2020 PYQ set

Civil Services aspirants at any stage of Prelims preparation who want to test their CSAT readiness on real past questions.

FAQs about UPSC CSAT 2020 PYQs

Is UPSC CSAT qualifying?
Yes. Candidates must score at least thirty-three per cent in CSAT, and its score is not counted in the Prelims merit ranking.
What is data sufficiency in CSAT?
A data sufficiency question gives a question and two or more statements, and you decide whether the statements alone or together are enough to answer it, without necessarily calculating the answer.
How to find the number of trailing zeros in a product?
Count the factors of two and the factors of five in the product. The number of zeros at the end equals the smaller of these two counts.
How to find the torn page number in a booklet?
Find the sum of all page numbers from 1 to n by multiplying n by (n plus 1) and then halving the result, using the smallest n whose total exceeds the given sum. Subtract the remaining sum from this total; the difference is the total of the page numbers on the missing leaf.

Test structure

How the paper is split, and how long each part runs. A section you have finished cannot be returned to.

SectionQuestionsTime
UPSC - CSAT 202076120 min

Marking & rules

Total marks
190 across 76 questions.
Negative marking
A wrong answer costs marks. Leaving a question unanswered costs nothing.
Attempts
100 in total. An attempt is spent the moment you begin one.

What you get when you submit

The analysis is ready the moment you submit the paper.

Score and accuracy

Marks, percentage, right, wrong and skipped, and the time you took.

Section by section

The same figures for each section, so a weak one cannot hide in an average.

The full answer key

Every question with your answer, the right one, the working, and the video where there is one.

Where you stand

Your score against the spread of everyone else who has sat this test.

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