A method for operating a UE for CSI reporting in a wireless communication system is provided. The method comprises receiving, from a BS, configuration information for a CSI report, the CSI report comprising a first CSI part and a second CSI part, the second CSI part including a total of KNZ non-zero coefficients across υ layers, determining a priority value for each of the total of KNZ non-zero coefficients, partitioning the second CSI part into Group 0, Group 1, and Group 2 such that, based on the determined priority values of the total of KNZ non-zero coefficients, indicators to non-zero coefficients having higher priority values are included in Group 1 and indicators to non-zero coefficients having lower priority values are included in Group 2, and transmitting, to the BS over an uplink (UL) channel, UL control information (UCI) including Group 0 or (Group 0, Group 1) or (Group 0, Group 1, Group 2) of the second CSI part.