CSAT-2014: IR defense Compared to other exams
CSAT 2014: Difficulty level of IR/Defense questions
CSAT-2015: How to approach IR/Defense?

CSAT-2014: IR defense Compared to other exams

other exams	CSAT-2014
CSAT-2013, 2012, 2011- they had stopped asking international relations, events and defense related topics.	resumed asking
CAPF, CDS exam: usually 8-10% of the MCQs come from this area	4%
in CDS-2014 features of Pragati missile system statements about Indian Ocean rim org.	agni-4 statements about BRICS

other exams

CSAT-2014

CSAT-2013, 2012, 2011- they had stopped asking international relations, events and defense related topics.

resumed asking

CAPF, CDS exam: usually 8-10% of the MCQs come from this area

in CDS-2014

features of Pragati missile system
statements about Indian Ocean rim org.

agni-4
statements about BRICS

CSAT 2014: Difficulty level of IR/Defense questions

Arab Spring	Easy for senior players, they’d have prepared this topic for mains, interview anyways. Tough: for new players, who may have downplayed IR portion for prelims (Because in past three prelims, UPSC had stopped asking such IR/person in news/defense type GK) Topic in news: May 2014, Tunisia revoked emergency.
Regions In News	same as above
BRICS summit	Difficult, because hard to keep memorizing “First” summit. There are so many intl. organizations and so many first summits! Topic in news: July 2014 when 6th Summit held in Brazil.
AGNI-4	Moderate. Because such missile-defense questions not seen in recent CSAT exams, therefore players would have stopped mugging up such factoids from newspapers and magazines. (Except those players who simultaneously prepare for CAPF, CDS or SSC as career backup.) Topic was in news: In Jan 2014.

CSAT-2015: How to approach IR/Defense?

This is UPSC’s “doubt-bluff-Back-breaking moveTM” to deter senior players and coaching classes from gaining competitive advantage over new players- because for last 3 years, UPSC did not ask IR/Defense GK so, they’d have stopped focusing in it.

Anyways, if UPSC wants to revive IR/defense then you’ve to prepare. Standard approach is following:

Notes making from TheHindu
Mrunal’s defense compilation– old article from 2012-13, but basics of weapons and missile development still relevant.
Augmenting those notes, using competitive magazines like Civil service times, Pratiyogita etc. for factoids.

Q1: IR- Arab Spring

Recently, a series of uprisings of people referred to as ‘Arab Spring’ originally started from

Egypt
Lebanon
Syria
Tunisia

Arab Spring is a misnomer used by the media to describe the uprising that the self-immolation of Mohammad Bouazizi unleashed in Tunisia on December 18, 2010 in protest against police corruption and ill-treatment. (ref:Hindu)

Therefore, answer (D). Topic was in news, in May 2014, when Tunisia ended the state of emergency.

Q2: IR- BRICS summits

With reference to a grouping of countries known as BRICS, consider the following statements:

The First Summit of BRICS was held in Rio de Janeiro in 2009.
South Africa was the last to join the BRICS grouping.

Which of the statements given above is / are correct?

1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

Peu Ghosh, International Relations, 3rd Ed. Page 471-72

Statement #1 wrong because first summit held in Yekarterinburg, Russia in 2009
Statement #2 is right. South Africa was admitted as a BRIC nation on 24/12/2010, after being invited by China and other BRIC nations. The capital “S” in BRICS now stands for South Africa…..There can be further expansion of BRICS and there is proposed inclusion of Mexico and South Korea.
Therefore, Answer B only 2 correct.
Topic was in news, July 2014, because 6th BRICS summit held in Brazil.

Q3: IR- Regions in News

Consider the following pairs
Region often in news	Country
1. Chechnya	Russian Federation
2. Darfur	Mali
3. Swat Valley	Iraq

Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched?

1 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
1, 2 and 3

Answer is (a) 1 only because

Darfur : Sudan
Swat Valley: Pakistan
Therefore, 2 and 3 wrong. By elimination, Answer has to be A.

Q4: Defense- Agni-IV

Which reference to Agni-IV Missile, which of the following statements is/are correct?

It is a surface-to-surface missile.
It is fuelled by liquid propellant only.
It can deliver one-tonne nuclear warheads about 7500 km away.

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

1 only
2 and 3 only
1 and 3 only
1, 2 and 3

News appeared in January 2014

Check statements individually
1. It is a surface-to-surface missile.	Yes, correct
2. It is fuelled by liquid propellant only.	No, it has two-stage solid propulsion.
3. It can deliver one-tonne nuclear warheads about 7500 km away.	No, only 4000 kms

Therefore, answer (A) only 1.

34 Comments on “[Answerkey] CSAT-2014: International Relation & Defense MCQs solved with explanation for all booklets”

rochak29

Nice, I did silly mistake of selecting option c in Agni missile question. Mrunal, i was confused in range. Because somewhere i read that India is developing advanced version Agni6 which would have range of 6000 km +. Well this is the competition.

Reply

akshat

Its about agni4 not 6!.

raja

gave paper at home…..paper 1-86, paper-162.5 according to shankar ias key…….giving prelims in 2016, now in third year of engineering…..plz suggest how to improve score in paper 1 and how to prepare for mains exam considering i have 2.5 years from now.

Reply

tandav

Hello,bro ,i am also in 3rd year of engineering and wantto give exam in 2016 .Can we prepare together?

Btw ,i really appreciate your prepararion that you got this much score at this preparation stage?how didi you did it?
1. Reply
  
  gupta
  
  hello.. I am also in 3rd year of engineering & preparing for exam in 2016 .. so, if u don’t mind can we prepare together ?

rajesh godara

arab spring wala question dirctly from cds 2013 paper first..insted of arab spring they given’which one among folwng initiated process of “Fourth Wave of Demographic Transition’

chalesh chandran

Exam comparatively tough. Can you please suggest me how to improve our writing style. Can you tell me the approximate cut off ?

Reply

Akshay

writing tips… checkout study plan and Guidence

Uzair Qadri

I’m getting 120 in Paper 1 and to my utter dismay, only 105 in paper 2. Lost concentration in the second half. In the paper1, I over-attempted, 70 are correct out of all the 100 attempted. In the second, I didn’t retain the necessary focus.

Reply

Natasha Varghese

ur through boss…225 is a good score….
1. Reply
  
  rishabh
  
  whats ur score natasha?

Ankit Bhardwaj

Just remember that Agni I had a Range of 700 Km. Rest all the Agni Missiles till date have a range of the variant number multiplied by 1000. Eg. Agni 2 (2000km), Agni 3(3000km) and so on.

gyan prakash mishra

Dear mrunal , please tell about IB recruitment in any article if possible

yogesh kumar

thanks sir ji ..you are doing good job .

Anupam Barman

Do the question on Arctic Council falls under IR?

lalu

I have r c tiwari book geography its good for geography?

Reply

bodyguard

yes, especially for the human geography part, but relevant only if you have geography as your optional. otherwise not required.

yaseen

Hello sir, I’m self preparing. Attempted CSAT 2014. Im getting only 26 correct ans out f 100 in CSAT 1.. im belongs to obc.. can I able to go for Mains? .. plz suggest me.. what should I to do..this z my 1st attempt.

Anand Kamal

It was biggest mistake for me. Attempted 3 out of 4 but only one Qs was right. Very much frustrating.

Sachin Gupta

mRUNAL sIR .. is it worth buying CrackIAS notes for mains 2014 … is their claim of 81 questions from their notes only, factually correct or not.

Thanks in Advance !! :-)

shipra aggarwal

sir/mam NCRT History, Science & Geography me kon se chapter jyada pdhne chaiye ? means most important chapter kon se h? pls reply…

renuka

I will be giving cse pre in 2015.self preparing.till now hv cmpleted core syllabus of history,polity and geo.which sub should i approach next.pls suggest me book for geo after ncert.

rupali

Hello,
I am preparing Upsc exam for 2015.
My optional is geography .can anyone tell me how to plan for study or which Subject can I complete first .

Thank u

guru

thanks very much sir

socrates

Sir thanks for ur dedicated efforts. It helped me a lot in prelims. M preparing for mains now. CAN U PLZZZ START POSTING ARTICLES FOR MAINS PREPARATIONS INSTEAD of ANSWERKEY.
PLZ . I NEED UR GUIDANCE TOO.THANKS

sunil

sc category 190 marks kya pre clear ho jayega please tell me

alina

Sir m preparing for 2015upsc exam,and i have all the study materials for prelims,i read hindu newspaper also, but apart from tat which magzine should i subscribe for?and sociology is my optional so which books should i refer?….

Suraj

Hi,
I am preparing for UPSC 2015.
My optional subject is Sociology. I am currently working at MNC. In order to crack UPSC what should be my agenda so that i can effectively appear in exam both prelims and mains.

Sandeep Kumar Sharma

Hi, Can anyone tell study plan & books for Public Administration in Mains exam.

anu

sir u r excellent thanks

vaibhav

How to prepare pre exam of upsc?
please reply me.

harmeet

How to improve my writng skills could any1 suggest me plzz

Prem chopra

Bhai itna tension mat le pehle complete ur engineering.
Nahi to subject back laag jaenge.

ANIKET NIRBHWANE

SIR I NEED MODEL ANSWER PAPER HOW TO WRITE THE ANSWER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONSHIP WILL YOU PLEASE HELP ME

[Answerkey] CSAT-2014: International Relation & Defense MCQs solved with explanation for all booklets