Rule #1: Remove The Garbage

Mrunal [Strategy] Comprehension for CSAT Paper 2: Rules, tips, assumpt...
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http://mrunal.org/2013/01/strategy-comprehension-for-csat-paper-2-rules-...
[Strategy] Comprehension for CSAT Paper 2: Rules, tips, assumption,

inference, free practice material (500+ passages!)
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Rule #1: Remove the garbage

Rule #2: Leave Nothing for later
Rule #3: Dont push your luck
Rule #4: Verify every option
CSAT: P2: 2011 vs 2012
English language test
Assumption / Inference?
Assumption?
Inference?
Practice: (500 passages ready for download!)
Booklist for CSAT paper II?
Rule #1: Remove the garbage

In CSAT(UPSC) or CAT, the examiners dont frame / write the passage on their own,
they simply copy it from a newspaper column, article, science journal, book etc. They
only frame the questions by themselves.
So Why do passages look difficult?
#1: Nature of Sentences:

The (original) authors who write for newspaper columns, books, journals- have a
habit of using very lengthy and complex sentences, full of passive voice and
sentence connectors.
Either your vocabulary is low and or you dont read English regularly. Therefore it
takes you quite some time to pause and grasp each statement.
#2: Nature of question:

In SSC/Bank type exam, one RC question is followed by four option A,B,C,D. for
example:
Q1. According to the given passage, Dev Anand was born in
a.
b.
c.
d.
blah blah blah

blah blah blah
blah blah blah
blah blah blah
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Hence, to answer one question, youve to know/find only one statement / fact. But in
CSAT, CAT, often RC questions are 2TF or 4TF nature. For example
2TF
2 Statement true/false
4TF
4 Statement true/false
Q1. According to given passage, which
of the following is true about Dev
Q1. According to given passage, which of the
Anand?
following is true about Dev Anand?1. blah
1. blah blah blah
blah blah
2. blah blah blah
2. blah blah blah
3. blah blah blah
Answer choices
4. blah blah blah
Answer choices
a. Only 1
b. Only 2
c. Both
d. None
a.
b.
c.
d.
Only 1 and 2
Only 2, 3 and 4
Only 1, 2 and 3
Only 4
To answer a 4TF question, youve to know/eliminate four facts or statements.

So in a way, youre solving four question and yet getting marks for only one
question. (similar thing is happening in the General studies paper.)
This makes the RC-exercise very time consuming. Youve to re-read several
sentences again and again to verify/eliminate those 2 or 4 statements.
Therefore, in the light of these two issues (Nature of sentences + nature of question),
your first rule / task while solving RC is: Remove the garbage.
How?
While reading the passage, Do any one of the following:
1. Underline the important stuff using a red or green ballpen/gelpen or highlighter.
(dont use pencil/blue ballpen for underlining because then Important stuff is not
easily distinguishable from garbage). OR
2. Cutdown unimportant phrases/lines/words (=garbage) using a ballpen/gelpen.
For example
Original text
This is what leads to the
idea of an enabling State,
that is, a Government that
does not try to directly
deliver to the citizens
everything that they need.
Instead, it creates an
Cutdown
This is what leads to the idea
of an enabling State, that is, a
Government that does not try
to directly deliver to the
citizens everything that they
need. Instead, (such Enabling
Government) it creates an
Underline
This is what leads to the
idea of an enabling State,
that is, a Government that
does not try to directly
deliver to the citizens
everything that they need.
Instead, it creates an
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enabling ethos for the

market.
enabling ethos for the market.
enabling ethos for the

market.
^as you can see, after cutting down, we are left with important part only: This leads to
an enabling state. Government doesnt deliver everything, instead it creates ethos for
market.
^This habit helps because

If you just keep reading without doing anything (with your hand), then you might
miss an important phrase or word while reading the passage.
But when youve to underline/cutdown some part of text= you need to pay
attention to each and every phrase/sentence.
Since youve underlined/cutdown=data is condensed/compressed.
So next time while youre scanning through this passage (for looking 2TF, 4TF
answers), it takes less time to wade through the data.
To see this rule in action: go through earlier article containing solved passages from
2011s paper click me
Rule#1 (A):
Make a table, if there are questions on assumption / inference.
Ill elaborate on this rule, in the later part of this article.
Rule #2: Leave Nothing for later

Suppose there is one passage with four questions.
You take 6 minutes to read passage and 30 seconds to solve each question. =total
10 minutes.
but fourth question is difficult/confusing/youre feeling 50:50 for the answers.
And You decide ok, Ill come back to this question later, after finishing the
paper=problem
Because
When you leave question for later= it unnecessarily creates pressure on your
mind. One part of your brain is now occupied in thinking yaar Ive to come
back to that question again. It affects your performance in other remaining
question of the paper.
When you come back after finishing the paper, the passage wont be in your
memory. The momentum/understanding of the passage is lost or partially
evaporated.
So youve to once again read or atleast glance through the whole data one more
time.
When the papers timelimit is about to finish, your mind starts playing dirty tricks
on you (out of the fear of imaginary cutoffs). So, if earlier you were feeling 50:50
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between two options, now your mind will tell you to pick one option under that
pressure.=youre pushing your luck=negative marking may dig your grave.
Therefore, whenever you read passage do all questions at once, dont leave
anything for later.
If you cant solve a particular comprehension question then leave it for good.
Dont put it on Ill come back later list.
Same advice for data interpretation question- youve to re-study the graph/chart
/table.
Rule #3: Dont push your luck

In CAT, you dont have to tick 60/60 questions to get 99+%ile.
Similarly in UPSC , you dont have to tick 80/80 questions in paper-II to clear the
prelims exam. (besides, marks of prelims are not counted in final merit list)
So please dont have this board exam mentality ki comprehension kaa har
sawaal tick karnaaa hi hai (I must tick every comprehension question because it
is a comprehension question!).
If you cant decide an answer, then dont tick it. Move on to next question.
Trying to solve RC questions with Gut-instinct = Youre throwing good money
after bad money via negative marking.
Please bear in mind: negative marking plays a huge role in all UPSC prelims. So
never walk in the exam hall with cut off mindset.
Rule #4: Verify every option

Often the RC question-answers are set in such way that the moment you read
option A, immediately your mind thinks ahathis must be the right answer.
And you tick it without actually going back to the passage to confirm/verify that
answer.= big mistake.
You must verify all option A,B,C and D. dont tick answer without verifying /
confirming them with the original passage.
Because when youre in stress and haste, sometimes your eyes see one thing but
your mind reads it as something else. For example
In those years, Dev Anand worked as a surveyor, before that
he was a clerk but Bollywood was his ultimate destiny.
Under stress and haste, Dev Anands career path= surveyor > clerk > Bollywood
Your mind reads it as hero.(actually given clerk> surveyor>Bollywood hero).
Actually given
Now if there is a question on Dev Anands career path, youll end up ticking the
wrong answer (if you dont confirm/verify every option with the given passage.)
CSAT: P2: 2011 vs 2012

In UPSC CSAT paper II (Aptitude), youll face the Comprehension in two sectors
1. Passages to test your Comprehension power (the difficult ones)
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=passage+questions given in both English + Hindi.

2. Passages to test your basic English knowledge (easier ones)= passage+questions
given in English only.
2011
Passage
Right to Education
Inclusive growth
Creative society
Foreign domination
Keystone species
Ecosystem
Moral Act
Total
2012
Qs Words Approx Passage
5 250
Education
5 250
Western liberal
4 100
Pesticide
4 200
Climate
4 250
Exotic species
3 150
Democracy
3 150
Collectivities
0 0
FDI
28 1350
Total
Qs
3
3
6
6
5
3
3
3
32
Words Approx
150
200
400
300
350
350
150
200
2100
Ok so in 2012, UPSC added only 4 more questions in comprehension (32-28=4), Then

why is there so much hue and cry about comprehension?
Three factors:
1. From 2011 to 2012, while the number of comprehension questions increased by
just 14%, but the size of passages has increased by 55% [(2100-1350)/1350]
2. Many of the questions are of 2TF, 3TF, 4TF type (=you are solving 2,3 or 4
sub-questions and getting marks for only one question= time consuming
exercise.)
3. 2011, the questions were straightforward. 2012: Now youre also asked to
identify assumptions, inferences, implications and themes of the passage. And in
such answers, more than one choice appear plausible. Often you find yourself
in 50:50 choice.
Combination of these three factors, makes CSAT passages difficult.
To put this bluntly: CSAT comprehension section looks tough because it is copying the
structure of higher level aptitude tests like CAT and GMAT. (although with UPSCs own
peculiarities).
English language test

These passages are given only to test your knowledge of English language. (hence
difficulty level easy compared to previous comprehensions) Hindi translations not
given for these passages.
2011
He walked several miles
My toothbrush
Polar bear
Qs
3
3
3
2012
Jail
Camping
Hero
Qs
3
3
2
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Total
Total
Anyways, back to the discussion: what to do when Assumption / inference type

question comes in the passage?
Assumption / Inference?
These questions are peculiar to GMAT passages.
So, whenever youre asked a question on assumption / inference from the passage, you
should prepare a very small table (containing keywords, shortcodes, summary only)
Gist:
Body1.2.
Pro Con
1.
1.
2.
2.
3.
Please note: you dont need to fill all cells. Just fill up some keywords/ data as per the
situation.
Every passage follows this patterns
Assumption(s)==> Passage (body, text, pros, cons) ==> inference, implication,
conclusion
Assumptions
They are above the table (Therefore not given

in the passage explicitly.)But the passage is
based on them (assumptions). If the assumption
is taken away then whole passage/argument/case
will collapse.
Inference/implication
/conclusion
Theyre below the table. They are based on

the passage.
Consider this example passage.
GDP and Nuclear power

GDP of a country depends among other things- on ready availability of electricity.
Nuclear energy has played an immense role in the rise of manufacturing industries in
France and Russia. Recently RBI lowered Indias growth forecast from 6.5 to 5.7%.
Our PM must immediately clear the apprehensions and fear among people regarding
the use of nuclear power.
Rule #1: remove garbage
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GDP of a country depends - among other things- on ready availability of electricity.

Nuclear energy has played an immense role in the rise of manufacturing industries of
France and Russia. Recently RBI lowered Indias growth forecast from 6.5 to 5.7%.
Our PM must immediately clear the apprehensions and fear among people regarding the
use of nuclear power.
Now rule #1 (a): Make the table.
Gist: We need nuke power for GDP.
Body:
GDP= depends on easy electricity.
RBI lowered GDP forecast.
Pro
Con
France, Russia grow thanks to nuke power. (Some) Indian people fear nuke power.
Above table is the summary of our passage.
Now lets check sum questions
Assumption?
Q1. Based on given passage, which of the following is the valid assumption?
a. Use of Nuclear power will lead to improvement in IIP and GDP of India.
b. People are worried about the safety of nuclear plants.
c. There is a gap between supply and demand of electricity in India.
approach:
As you can see, all of the given answer choices seem logically valid according
to the given passage. But which one of them is the assumption?
We already saw that passages are based on assumption.
And if assumption is taken out of the equation, whole thing will collapse.
So, Try to visualize it as a courtroom drama.
The author is a criminal and youre the public prosecutor.
You must give an argument thatll completely destroy his entire premise/case.
Thus the negative of your argument, will be his assumption. Lets check
Given answer choice
a. Use of Nuclear power
will lead to
improvement in IIP
and GDP of India.
Negative.
The negative of this statement = Nuke power will not
lead to improvement in IIP/GDP.But This is just a filler
dialogue. It doesnt totally ruin authors case. So this
answer choice is wrong. Move to next choice.
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b. People are worried

about the safety of
nuclear plants.
People think/trust that nuclear plants are safe.Ya but this

statement doesnt help us destroy authors passage/case
/argument. So this answer choice is wrong. Move to next
choice.
The negative of given statement is:There is no gap

between supply and demand of electricity in India. OR
in other words,Electricity is easily available in India.If
electricity is available easily then lowering of GDP
c. There is a gap in
forecast (by RBI ) is not due to short supply of
supply and demand of electricty.
electricity.
And therefore, PM doesnt need to create awareness
about Nuke powers.
Now, this totally destroys the whole premise/case
presented by the Author. Therefore, answer C is correct
assumption.
C is the final answer.
Inference?
Q2. What can be inferred from the passage?
a. India largely depends on thermal power plants for the electricity generation.
b. People are worried about the safety of nuclear plants.
c. Use of Nuclear power will help improve Indias GDP.
Table remains the same.
Gist: We need nuke power for GDP.
Body:
GDP= depends on easy electricity.
RBI lowered GDP forecast.
Pro
Con
France, Russia grow thanks to nuke power. (Some) Indian people fear nuke power.
Assumption =above the table and Inference is below the table. (Meaning Inference is
derived from the given arguments/case) hence Inference should stay close to table.
Lets check
While this may be true as per our General
a. India largely depends on Knowledge, but this is not given in the passage.
thermal power plants for (table)Inference must be close to the table. Inference
the electricity generation. must be derived from the table.
Hence, This is not a valid inference.
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b. People are worried about

This is mere restatement of what is said already in
the safety of nuclear
the passage= not good as inference.
plants.
c. Use of Nuclear power
will help improve Indias
GDP.
This is the right answer, because it follows the

table.GDP= need easy electricity.
France, Russia grew because of Nuke plants.
Therefore, use of nuke power will help improve
Indias GDP as well.
Practice: (500 passages ready for download!)

Since UPSC level practice passages are rare, hence for the practice purpose youll have
to make do with whatever is available in the domain of CAT/GMAT. So,
Download this RC zip file: (size about 6MB) use any one of the following link.
Server #1: Mediafire click me OR
Server #2: Google Drive click ME
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It contains saved webpages of Pagalguy forums RC threads for the years 2010,
2011 and 2012 respectively. (in three separate folders)
Total about 290 webpages, if we assume two passages are given per web-page,
these are more than 500 practice passages!
The zip file also contains one PDF file: 35 RC Passages with answers.pdf =
basically it is a few selected passes from 2012s Pagalguy RC Thread. Neatly
formatted and arranged for practicing (the Foxit PDF highlighter/text-strikethru
feature will help you apply Rule #1).
You can also use this following site for practice: http://codecoax.com/grerc/
Booklist for CSAT paper II?

CSAT is still in a nascent stage (UPSC has conducted only two papers so far.)
There is not enough databank of previous-questions / trends so that authors /
publication houses can come out with decent books exclusively written for CSAT.
(like theyve for CAT or SSC type exams).
So, Whatever books/ material are available in the market right now are either
Watered down version of CAT/GMAT books (For example, Arun Sharmas book
for CSAT (by TMH publication.)
or Beefed up version of SSC/IBPS books. (released by most of the Jholachhap
publication houses)
Since CSAT (Aptitude) = newly opened door so lot of publishers are trying to
capture market and in that haste, quality is not maintained. (Books often have
printing, typing mistakes.)
UPSCs aptitude is (again) like Kungfu= You can use variety of
booklists/studymaterial combo and yet succeed.
In this context: CSAT Paper II booklist = you should pickup based on your careerbackup plan.
1. NCERT class 7 to 10 Maths (freely
1. Maths
available)
2. Quantam CAT by Sarvesh Kumar OR
Arun Sharma
1. How to prepare Verbal ability and

UPSC +
CAT/CMAT as
backup
2. Comprehension
Reading Comprehension by Arun

Sharma
2. The RC Zip file already given

above.
3. Reasoning
1. Pagalguy threads on reasoning

2. Coaching class booklets for LR and
or Arun Sharma and other mock
papersets books available in
market.
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In CSAT 2012, the paper contained some peculiar problems on Assumption,

inference, syllogism and logic.
MK Pandeys Magical book on Reasoning, contains some good basic foundation
material in that regard. So if and when youve time and mood, go through it.
Article on How to approach Maths and Reasoning for CSAT= will be covered
later.
URL to article: http://mrunal.org/2013/01/strategy-comprehension-for-csat-paper2-rules-tips-assumption-inference-free-practice-material.html

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Mrunal [Strategy] Comprehension for CSAT Paper 2: Rules, tips, assumpt...

[Strategy] Comprehension for CSAT Paper 2: Rules, tips, assumption,