Improving English language is imperative for success in CSS. Not only that the very initial couple of papers – English Essay and Précis & Composition – filter out most of the candidates not well versed with English writing skills, the candidates are also required to attempt all papers in English language. Having a good English grammatical foundation is indispensable in this regard.
The best way to improve understanding of English grammar is to study and acquaint oneself with rules of English grammar. A very useful book to learn basic rules of English grammar is ‘English Grammar in Use’ by Raymond Murphy. It contains grammar rules with exercises to help you find out and correct your mistakes.
My name is Zoha Shakir. I got allocation in PAS through CE 2016. Today I’ll be sharing my experience regarding CSS, how I cracked CSS in my 1st attempt and what are the basic requirements to ace competitive exams. I hope this post will be beneficial for aspirants.
English Essay
My Take on English Essay:
Essay is the test of English writing skills so it should be tackled accordingly. The examiner is much concerned about the language you’re using throughout the length of your essay rather than the knowledge you’re trying to show off so be very careful what you write in your essay. Some of the things you’re being tested for are:
English Essay approaches the tricky and dangerous subject from three sides: content, style and structure, making sure that if you are a hardworking student, you will have everything you need to pass.
In CSS, up to 92% candidates pass in all exams, but fail in the English Essay, making it the greatest obstacle to your CSS dream. I faced the same fear when I applied for CSS in 2017. I took advice from a lot of people and everyone said different things! It not only became confusing, but made preparation impossible.
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Because I come from an engineering background, I did not have a lot of essay-writing experience and my long journey to ace the CSS English Essay has now made me an expert on the topic. The biggest proof for this: I secured 70/100 marks in CSS-2017English Essay and am 1st in Pakistan in the subject!
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Now I’m sharing everything that I have learnt with students
For me it was a difficult journey; for you, it will be a piece of cake if your basic English skills are okay and you are looking for a course that can give you the right amount of guidance, direction and mentorship to help you secure high marks in the CSS English Essay.
This course is especially for students from top-notch foreign or English-medium universities like LUMS; students from engineering/medical background and students who have premonitions about CSS English Essay or confusion about why people fail this seemingly simple exam.
The entire course is one large module, with three aspects covered: Content, Style and Structure.
Hope you’ll find this beneficial and make me proud, Hammad Ahmed
(Pakistan Customs Service; CSS Essay Topper)
Disclaimer:If you expect this post to be something like a pep-talk telling you very sternly that “you need to prepare for 10 hours daily for 10 months to ace CSS exams”, you’ll be disappointed. I don’t function that way, have never been that consistent, and cannot sound all scholarly and noble just for the sake of it. If you want me to tell you exactly how to excel in the exams – given that I topped my province and scored 6th position overall in Pakistan – let me assure you it was never my plan. It’s more of Almighty’s doing than my own, so cannot flutter about that. Also, if you’re not a fan of reading long posts, well, you might like to use that cross button on the top-right corner of your screen right now!
If you’re still with me, I need to make a point that it’s very important to realise that whatever I say here is solely, only my personal experience and thoughts. This is not a standard guide on the CSS examinations – I am neither a teacher nor an examiner. I’m only doing this for all the people who specifically have asked me to share my thoughts on it. My preparation was all over the place, it didn’t follow well-defined sources, or specific books or a proper routine. I did what I felt was working for me, you should do the same. Even the many recommendations I make in my post here aren’t infallible or necessary – they are only things I retrospectively think can benefit you. Some of you might disagree with things I list here, some might have better ideas, and some may find my way quite impractical and impulsive. Also, what more learned, experienced people might have told you could be in contrast to what I say here, so take all my ramblings with a pinch (or pitcher) of salt. Do your own thing, make your own moves and grooves – and shine for who you really are!
Today we are going to start CSS Video tips. here we are sharing some important tips by CSS TopperMuhammad Hassan Ahsan 23th Position, CSS 2016, Pakistan Administrative Service.
View the Video below and share your comments in comments section.
Meet Awaid Irshad Bhatti (First in Pakistan – CSS 2017)
CSS is one of the toughest and the most prestigious exams in the country. Despite any institutional weaknesses, we can proudly say that it is an exam based upon merit and allows people of all strata of the society to get an opportunity to be in the highest echelons of power. The first and foremost step of the exam therefore is to forget your background and sincerely focus on devising a structure and preparation plan for it that caters to the need of the exam. Where you might have a weakness, others might be stronger and vice versa. So try to learn from everybody and respect all your peers and teachers in this process and stay humble praising Allah in all your accomplishments.
Before talking about the CSS study tips and schedule, I hope you all have selected your subjects (the optional subjects). If not done so far, you can go back to the article How to select optional subjects for CSS.
Managing a schedule and making a time table is a tough task. There is a lot of talk about how much time one should allocate daily. So, to answer this, I would like to say it totally depends on your abilities. And by this, it means the total time you can allocate to your studies according to your own assessment of your abilities. For instance, some people can absorb a piece of information in a short time while it takes longer for some other people. Specifically talking about me, I allocated 4-6 fixed hours first. And then I increased the time, according to the needs of my subjects. (Here I would like to remind you that I started my preparation late in August, so it means you have plenty of time till your exams if you start right now.)
Where to start?
Now, a question will already be in your mind “but where to start the study from?”
Taking any kind of exam is not an easy task. Whether it is at school level, university or any other professional exam. It is totally the game of nerves in my point of view. I chose to take CSS exams in 2018, in order to pursue my career as a civil servant of Pakistan (and now waiting for the result which would hopefully be announced in October 2018). In this article, I will tell you about my journey from the preparation to the final exams of CSS and I hope this post will be helpful for CSS aspirants.
Let me introduce myself first. I am Ayesha Manzoor, a graduate in Business Administration, and a mother of two. The decision of taking the CSS exams was difficult for me because I had all the responsibilities of my family and have two toddlers to take care of. But I was able to appear because of the continuous support and encouragement from my husband and my parents. The support of my family was like a light in the dark for me.
Selecting an optional subject in CSS is very important. It not only effect your preparation strategy but also the overall result in the written part. There are some important steps to keep in mind while finalizing a subject as your optional subject:
1. Skim through the list of optional subjects:
The first step of choosing an optional subject is to go through the list of all the given options for the optional subjects. Make sure you read the list thoroughly and keep in mind all the options in all groups.
2. Figure out what your favorite subject was in the past:
After having a look on the list of optional subjects, the next thing to do is figuring out your favorite subject. The subjects in which you had more interest than others or maybe the subject in which you always get good marks.
Simple Ways to Memorise All the Current Affairs & GK for Competitive Exams
Asslam-o-Elikum and welcome to CSSTimes.pk. A lot of Aspirants have asked us…… How to get ready for General Knowledge and Current Affairs for the CSS Exams and all other Competitive Exams.
So I am sharing 4 possible Ways to reading and memorize Current Affairs and General Knowledge!
Before we set in motion you have to keep in mind a few important points regarding this:
In order to retain information about General Knowledge and Current Awareness for coming exams, constantly make sure your PERCEPTION is 100 percent clear about this.
Keep on the track and you will end up where you want to be. Never miss reading newspaper or current affairs more than a week.
