Hey Guys! We noticed that a lot of you are curious to know how you performed in the CBSE-PSA 2014-15 conducted on 20th November, 2014 and we thought that we might be able to help you assess your performance better with some insights into the paper.

It is a widely acknowledged fact that research, analytical skills , ability to apply concepts to real life scenarios  and solve application based problems in Mathematics and Science are skills which ensure success in higher studies and professional areas.

A lot of you are writing to us about the exam and the questions therein. Meritnation experts therefore decided to do provide you all with complete solutions  for PSA paper. We feel that the paper was a balanced one and few similarities to the previous year paper  issued by CBSE.

Check out some examples from CBSE-PSA 2014-15 mentioned below which were particularly tricky.

Class 9- Qualitative Reasoning 

VERDICT: The ‘Qualitative’ section of this year’s PSA comprised quite easy questions however there were two questions which we found tricky.

Q. Read the following statements A, B and C and choose the correct option from the alternatives which

A. Less than 10 percent of the Indian workforce has formal skill training.

B. Nearly 95 percent of India’s workforce is in the unorganised sector.

C. Most unorganised sector workers have no formal skill training.

(1) Only statement A is true and statement B is not true

(2) Only statement B is true and statement A is not true

(3) Statements A and B are true but C is not true

(4) All the three statements A, B and C are true

Explanation: This question is tricky as the given information was very confusing. Without going through the given data thoroughly, it is very difficult to answer it correctly, as the three statements are quite related to each other.

Question: While taking a decision on an issue, it is essential to see it from ‘multiple’ perspectives. Read the following statements A, B and C and answer the question that follows:

A. New economic policies led to increase in the proportion of poor in developing countries. Income inequality also increased in most of these countries.

B. During the last 60 years, India’s health policies led to increase in the life expectancy from 34 to 69 years. This is not an ordinary achievement.

C. India’s new industrial policies failed to improve industrial output. Yet, a large section of industrial workers began getting social security.

Which of the above statements(s) provide(s) scope for multiple perspectives?

(1) Only A

(2) Both A and B

(3) Only C

(4) Both B and C

Explanation: The information given in this question is quite ambiguous. To approach this question, a student must know what “Multiple perspective” is? Then only s/he will be able to interpret the information out of the given context.

Class 11- Quantitative Reasoning 

VERDICT: The ‘Quantitative Reasoning’ section of PSA – 2014 -15 proved to be a perfect platform to test a student’s critical thinking and analytical abilities. This paper involved a mixture of questions which required a clock around concentration and followed a thought evoking process to solve these questions. 

The theme of the passage based questions was more inclined towards computer technology that provided an advantage to the students with computer as one of their main subjects.

Grade 11:

Question: A postman can travel from village A to village B by four different roads, from village B to village C by two different roads and from village C to village D by three different roads.  If the postman goes from village A to village D and comes back by a different route, in how many ways can he do this?

(1) 24

(2) 36

(3) 72

(4) 144

Answer: (4)

Explanation: In this question, the answer could be 24 (24 – 1) = 552, as if there are 24 ways in which the postman can go from village A to village D, then there will be 23 ways in which he can come back from village D to village A via a different route. But this was not one of the alternatives in the given question.

MERITNATION VERDICT

So you see , CBSE -PSA aims to develop life skills and prepares young learners towards the ability to identify solutions to problems in a systematic manner. This is an ability which acts to empower individuals in both their professional or work lives, as well as in their personal lives.

We at Meritnation in an attempt to help our users analyse their performance , also announce the release of CBSE-PSA-2014 answer key. You can log onto class 9 & 11 and find the PSA banner on your dashboard or

On the landing page, click on the solutions link for the desired answer key . After clicking on that link, all of you will be able to view the CBSE Problem Solving Assessment for classes 9 & 11 Answer Key 2014.

For More Info:

New Users – CLICK HERE

Class 9 – CLICK HERE

Class 11 (Science) – CLICK HERE

Class 11 (Commerce)- CLICK HERE

Class 11 (Humanities) – CLICK HERE

Class 10 – CLICK HERE

We hope the solutions prove to be helpful for all you users and helps you to further develop your problem solving skills.

All the best

Team Meritnation