UPSC CSAT Syllabus and Qualifying Marks: The 33% Rule Explained

CSAT is the common name for General Studies Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination. It is taken on the same day as General Studies Paper I. This post covers CSAT only: what the official syllabus says, how the 33% rule works, and how to plan each topic. It follows UPSC's Examination Notice No. 05/2026-CSE, dated 4 February 2026. The notice for the 2027 examination may change details, so check it on upsc.gov.in when it is released. For the dates, see our CSAT exam date page.

For the full two-paper Prelims scheme and statement-question formats, read our UPSC Prelims exam pattern post.

CSAT at a glance

The marks, time, penalty, qualifying rule and language come from the notice. The notice does not fix the number of questions. The figure of 80 comes from the cover of the 2026 CSAT question booklet, which says the booklet has 80 questions and that all questions carry equal marks. A future paper could differ, so read the booklet cover on exam day.

The official CSAT syllabus

Section III, Part A of the notice lists the Paper II syllabus in six lines (UPSC's wording):

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);

There is no sub-topic list and no weightage. The "Class X level" note applies to numeracy and data interpretation only. For more on the syllabus, see our CSAT syllabus page.

The 33% qualifying rule

The notice says Paper II "will be a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying marks fixed at 33%". On 200 marks, that is 66.

Three points follow from the notice:

• CSAT marks are not added to Paper I. UPSC draws the list for Mains on two conditions: at least 33% in GS Paper II, and the total qualifying marks in GS Paper I that the Commission decides for that year.
• Both conditions apply together. A high Paper I score does not help a candidate who is below 66 in CSAT. A safe CSAT score does not help a candidate below the Paper I mark.
• Both papers are compulsory. A candidate who does not appear in both papers is disqualified.

The GS Paper I qualifying mark, often called the cutoff, is not fixed in the notice. The Commission decides it each year. CSAT's 33% is the only fixed number in the rule.

Prelims is a screening test. The notice says Prelims marks of candidates who qualify for Mains are not counted for the final order of merit.

What 66 marks means in questions

With 80 questions of 2.5 marks each, a wrong answer costs one-third of 2.5, about 0.83. Some simple cases:

So with no wrong answers, 27 correct answers clear the mark. Every three wrong answers cancel one right answer. Accuracy matters as much as the number attempted. Leaving a question blank costs nothing.

A topic-wise approach

The approach below is our guidance, not UPSC's. It maps the six syllabus lines to the kinds of questions students usually meet and to a way of practising them.

Some practical steps:

1. Take a full timed paper first. Use an original UPSC paper from our previous year papers page. Your score tells you how much time CSAT needs. A candidate well above 66 can keep a light routine. A candidate near or below 66 needs a regular weekly slot.
2. Find your strongest line. Many students lean on comprehension because it needs no formulas. Others lean on numeracy. Know which part you will score in first.
3. Fix the weakest line to a safe level. You do not need every topic, but one large gap makes 66 hard to reach.
4. Track accuracy, not just attempts. Count wrong answers in every practice paper. With the one-third penalty, a high error rate can pull a good attempt below 66.
5. Plan the two hours. Decide in practice which section you start with and when you move on from a hard question.

You can take full CSAT tests with the same marking in our live UPSC tests.