Decision Making and Problem Solving
CSAT decision making for UPSC Prelims Paper II — situational judgement with a priority ladder, rule-based eligibility questions and constraint puzzles, with practice.
SyllabusCSAT · Decision making and problem solving
The syllabus line “decision making and problem solving” covers two quite different kinds of CSAT question. The first is situational judgement: you are placed in an administrator’s or manager’s chair — a flood, a protest, a corrupt contractor, a rumour — and asked for the best response. The second is analytical problem solving: apply a set of rules (eligibility criteria, scheduling constraints, committee conditions) and find the one outcome that satisfies them.
Situational items were a regular feature of the early CSAT papers and have appeared less often in recent years, but the reasoning behind them is the same reasoning tested in GS Paper IV case studies — so the preparation pays twice. Rule-based problems continue to appear under logical and analytical ability.
What this chapter covers
| Sub-topic | What you learn |
|---|---|
| Situational judgement | The priority ladder: law, life, public interest, the vulnerable, fairness, long-term fix |
| Option patterns | Passive, aggressive, evasive, populist and balanced responses |
| Rule-based decisions | Reading eligibility criteria and their exceptions without error |
| Constraint problems | Committees, schedules and task sequencing |
Begin with Decision Making: The Framework, then the quick-revision sheet and the practice set.