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.

I started my preparation in late August. Before that, I gathered information about the subjects and the pattern of examination. I talked to my friends who are currently serving as a CSP officer about the exams and the preparation. Moreover, I joined the CSS Times Facebook page, Facebook groups related to CSS and started following the pattern the experts and other aspirants were suggesting each other. Because I had the responsibilities of my home, so I could not join any academy (and I was happy with my decision that I had not wasted time at academies).

It seemed very easy at the start. I had collected all the books on the subjects I had selected and started working on subjects one by one daily. And I forgot to mention earlier that I started reading DAWN, the day when I made up my mind to appear for the CSS exams. I was covering the syllabus (according to the outlines of FPSC CSS syllabus) side by side with the editorials and news from the newspaper.

It had to be a slow but a steady journey. But as the days passed, the burden of covering the syllabus became more and more and it started to feel difficult. At days, I was motivated for appearing in the exams, but there were those days too when I felt so frustrated that I did not study properly. Some days, I felt guilty about not giving proper time to kids (the mommy feeling). Still, I was working hard and always got back to track after being distracted for a while. A dream was there to come true. A goal was there to achieve. And the encouragement from my father were my biggest motivator.

Time fled in the blink of an eye. December had passed. It was January, and I was still lagging behind, far, far behind my target. I felt shattered and frustrated that I could not complete the syllabus in time. And this time was allocated to revisions and most importantly, the practice for essays. I was already studying for almost the whole day and night, working hard to get my dream come true.

January, 2018 passed and it was February. I was still struggling and gathering myself to keep myself motivated for the final exams. Covering 12 subjects in six to seven months was a hell lot of work. And keeping focused on studies while having kids and other responsibilities was another side of the story.  My friends were there to boost me up. And was still running in the race. I started practicing essays in February. Though I knew it was late, but not too late to repent. At the same time, I was focusing on the revision of one subject a day.

The days passed like a wind whirl. It was February 15, 2018, the day I had my first paper, the English Essay. The essays that came were quite known to me. I had almost covered 5 topics out of the 9. But writing continuously for 3 long hours made my arm sore. In the same way, all papers went down, ticking the calendar dates one by one. I was waiting for the exams to get over because it had been a long period since I was preparing and kept myself focused.

After taking six compulsory papers, I was very tired. Writing for three continuous hours for a paper, coming home and preparing for the next paper, I felt very frustrated and my arm was hurting like anything. The next three days were two papers a day with a gap of two hours. I was prepared to write, but I did preparation at the ease of my home, in a comfortable room. Which was not the case of an exam hall. Those three days passed and I got free from my exams. Quite satisfied with my performance in the exams. And my kids were the happiest when they got their mother back after a long and almost hibernated time.

If you need to know more about my experience. Or if you have any questions, please let me know in the comments section. I’ll answer your queries.

In the next article, I would give suggestions based on my experience. So keep updated and stay tuned.