CSAT is qualifying: you need 33%, that is 66.67 marks out of 200, and the score does not count towards your rank. That single fact leads most aspirants to under-prepare it, and it is why CSAT ends some attempts. Below is UPSC's syllabus, and under each line, how many questions that section actually carried from 2014 to 2026.
The short version: Comprehension and Basic numeracy together take about 73% of the paper, every year. If you are short of time, that is where it goes.
One-third of the marks assigned to a question is deducted for each wrong answer, except in the decision-making questions, which carry no negative marking.
Average questions a year, counted over the 13 years where we hold the complete 80-question paper (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026).
Comprehension.
UPSC's wording
402 questions since 2014 — about 30.9 a year in a complete paper, ranging from 25 to 38.
Our read: The largest section every single year, without exception. If you are short of time, this is the section that decides whether you qualify.
Interpersonal skills including communication skills.
UPSC's wording
6 questions since 2014 — about 0.5 a year in a complete paper, ranging from 0 to 6.
Our read: Absent from the paper for years at a time, then back: 2026 carried six such questions after a long gap.
Logical reasoning and analytical ability.
UPSC's wording
135 questions since 2014 — about 10.4 a year in a complete paper, ranging from 4 to 20.
Our read: Volatile. Twenty questions in 2015, four in 2018. Prepare it, but do not build your qualifying plan on it.
Decision-making and problem-solving.
UPSC's wording
No question in our bank is tagged to this line. UPSC keeps it in the syllabus, so it can return — treat it as a low-probability section rather than a dead one.
Our read: The one section with no negative marking, which makes an educated guess strictly free. UPSC has asked very few of these in recent years.
General mental ability.
UPSC's wording
139 questions since 2014 — about 10.7 a year in a complete paper, ranging from 3 to 20.
Our read: Grew through the late 2010s and has settled around eight to fourteen questions a year.
Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level); Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc. — Class X level).
UPSC's wording
358 questions since 2014 — about 27.5 a year in a complete paper, ranging from 18 to 38.
Our read: The second-largest block, and the one that makes non-mathematics graduates anxious. UPSC states the ceiling in its own words: Class X level.
We hold 1,040 CSAT questions across 13 years. Four of those papers are incomplete in our bank — some questions depend on a figure we do not have, and we would rather leave them out than publish an unanswerable page. Averages and shares above are computed only over the 13 years where we hold all 80 questions. Per-year counts show what we hold, which for those four years is less than UPSC asked.
33% — that is 66.67 marks out of 200. The CSAT score does not count towards your rank; it only has to clear that bar for your GS Paper I to be evaluated.
Both. It is qualifying by design, and it has eliminated candidates in practice — 2023 in particular was widely reported as a hard CSAT paper. The section counts on this page show why: comprehension and numeracy together account for roughly two-thirds of the paper every year.
80 questions carrying 200 marks, in two hours. That is 2.5 marks a question, with one-third deducted for a wrong answer except in decision-making questions.
Class X, stated in UPSC’s own syllabus line for both basic numeracy and data interpretation. That is the ceiling the Commission has set itself.
Both papers are set in Hindi and English, except the English-language comprehension passages, which appear only in English.
Syllabus text: Union Public Service Commission. Counts and commentary: UPSC Answer Check. Read the CSAT papers → · GS Paper I syllabus →
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