You can survive in Counter Strike Source. To stay alive, there are some ways to increase your chances of survival. Follow the simple steps below

Make sure that your system is up to the challenge. You need a good internet connection (1mb/sec) and at least a Pentium D or Core 2 processor with at least a 128 MB Graphics Card (256+ recommended). You should also have at least 1 GB RAM to minimize lag. You’ll find that as your system improves, so will your score.

Make sure you are on the winning team. If you aren’t on the winning team, disconnect and rejoin on the other team. (Note: This tactic, when the teams are unfair [I.E. joining a team with 10 players when the other has 8 or less] is called “stacking”. Team stacking is not only unfair, it is considered cheap and will earn you hate of many of the decent players. Most servers these days autoteam balance, so even if you teamstack, you will be automatically switched to even the teams.) Teamstack is also known as “Lamejoin”.

Buy only pistols until you have enough money to buy good weapons, if the winning team is full and not accepting new players.

Follow your teammates wherever they go, groups are harder to kill.

Use sound to your best advantage. Spend at least $30 on a pair of headphones ($40 if they come with a mic).

Sharpen your sense of timing. Jumping around a corner at the right second, or even better, waiting for someone to run past you will increase your odds dramatically.

Learn the weapons! Not all guns fire in the same way. Spend some time on an empty server and shoot the wall to become more comfortable handling them. Never hold the trigger! Shoot short bursts of bullets.

Aim for the head, and always keep your gun at head level. The time it takes to raise your weapon is enough for someone to get a shot in at you.

Note

• Use the AWP. The AWP is a one-hit kill weapon, and as such it’s considered by most to be a “noob” weapon. If you can learn to use the AWP, you will attain a better score! But if you learn to use the scout then you’ll be pro.
• Some weapons are better on a particular map, for instance, compound and a sniper work well.
• Likewise learn what weapons work best in what situations. If you have a sniper and are inside of tunnels or hallways with walls surrounding you, your pistol is probably a better bet. (Unless you have mad reflexes with scoping and shooting). Rifles are good for medium to long ranges, SMG’s are best for short to medium ranges. Etc.
• Your first two bullets are accurate with pretty much any gun, but after that they start to stray from the cross-hairs. If you watch good players, you’ll see them aim their sights lower than usual once they have discharged the first 3 or 4 bullets of a long burst.
• Use accuracy to your advantage. When moving full speed you have the lowest accuracy. When standing your accuracy improves marginally. While crouching, it improves much more. Crouching and moving is not great, but it is superior to walking and firing. Your best bet, especially with snipers, is to continually move until you want to fire, stop, fire, and then move again.
• Remember that some weapons have better accuracy. The Ak-47 has low accuracy and high damage. It’s best to use this gun in two shot bursts. The M4-A1 however has medium damage and high accuracy. Spraying a magazine with this gun, even at medium range, can be effective. The silencer adds marginal spraying accuracy gains.
• Learn to Anti-Recoil (also known as controlling the Spread) to do this, simply lower your aim so the Recoil, and the Spread, are hitting them, allowing you to maintain a spray, and still hitting them. (This requires ALOT of practice, maybe make a couple games yourself with 1-5 bots on easy, or medium until you’ve successfully learned how)
• It’s good if you learn to use the AK-47,(also known as the CV-47). The AK-47 is the usually the best gun in T because it can kill if you aim at the head. This gun is armor piercing and can kill with 1 bullet if you aim at the head.
• Sometimes the server automatically puts you on the other team because the sides are uneven.
• These steps will help you survive but it will take hours and hours of practice to master the guns and maps.