Shahid Hussain Raja
www.shahidhussainraja.com
June25,2015
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Introduction
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FAQs about CSS Examination
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Answers to those questions
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Interviews-preparation and conduct
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Some suggestions
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Conclusion
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Appearing in the CSS examination is an
extremely rewarding experience of one’s life
Success or failure aside, preparing for this most
challenging examination will open new fields of
leaning which will help you in your practical life
Any examination is a science (there are rules to
follow) as well as an art (practice makes you
perfect)
Here are some rules and suggestions to make
this a memorable experience of your life
There are three tiers of Pakistan’s civil service structure
1.
2.
3.
Federal Government-which has more than 12
Ministries looking after the functions allocated to them
under the Rules of Business
Provincial Governments-of the four provinces, GilgitBaltistan and Federally Administrated Tribal Ares(FATA)
have around 15/20 departments which run their affairs
almost independently but in close coordination with their
Federal counterpart Ministries
District Governments-which were given constitutional
status in 2001 with maximum autonomy are now nominally
independent, have 20 departments to look after
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In order to run these departments and ministries in the
federal/provincial secretariats and in the field, all these
governments recruit officers and subordinate staff through
various means including annual competitive examinations
Federal Public Service Commission, established under an
Act of Federal Parliament, has been mandated to recruit
officers to be inducted at entry level in Grade 17 for 12
federal ministries according to the vacancies indicated by
them
Federal Public Service Commission accordingly holds a
competitive examination for recruitment to posts in basic
Scale-17 for 12 Groups/Services under the Federal
Government
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CSS Examination consist of the written test, medical
examination, psychological assessment and
interviews
Written tests are normally held in the first quartet
of every calendar year and are conducted
simultaneously in all the big cities depending on
the number of applicants for each center
However the medical tests, psychological
assessment and interviews are held only at
provincial capitals, usually in the third/fourth
quarter
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Any Pakistani national or belonging to Azad Jammu
and Kashmir, between the age of 21 to 28 years(with
relaxation to certain persons)having at least 2nd class
BA/Bsc degree can appear in the CSS Examination
Successful candidates are allocated to various
occupational groups on the basis of their merit in the
CSS Examination, provincial quota and their
preference
Any eligible person can attempt to qualify for these
examination three times before the age of 28 years
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You must secure at least 40 % marks in any
compulsory subject,33 % in any of the optional
subjects and 50% in the aggregate and 100
marks out of 300 in interview to be eligible for
appointment.
In fact you loose all credit in all those subjects
where you fail to cross the threshold
Illegible hand writing, irrelevant writing and
superficial knowledge entail punishment in the
form of marks deduction
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Why to join the civil service
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Am I capable to pass the CSS examination
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What subjects should I choose
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How to study for CSS Examination
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How much time is enough for preparation
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How to prepare for interviews
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Every year around 12 thousand candidates take this
examination out of which nearly 400/500 pass the
written examination, only 150/200 finally selected
It is a thrilling experience to compete with thousands
and be successful-accept the challenge
An institution where merit still counts. Do not
believe the cynics, the cowards who did not compete
or those who failed to qualify
An institution where you can serve, enjoy power and
command respect-all in one
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If you have been a consistently 70 % + student
throughout your academic career
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If you are passionate about it
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If you are fairly confident about your capabilities
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If you can put in 9 to 12 hours of daily study
during the last 4 months
Then you are a perfect material for CSS
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All subjects are equally easy or difficult if you are
going to study for the first time
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Competition is very intense in case of so called “easy
subjects”
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Try to have International Relations in any combination
you choose as it will help you in three different ways
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My suggestion-Triangle Principle
1.Subjects you have studied in BA/MA
2.You have passion/interest
3.They reinforce one another
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Political Science, Economics, International
Relations, American History
Economics, European History, International
Relations, Journalism
Economics, Political Science ,Sociology,
International Relations
Psychology, Sociology Journalism, International
Relations, American History
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3 to 4 hours daily if you have one year to
study
6 to 8 hours if you have six months to go
12 hours during the last 3 months-no
compromise on that
Concurrent preparation of all subjects
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Concentrate on finishing your studies first
and then prepare for the CSS examination.
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Do not try to ride two boats simultaneously
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If you have all the three chances, do not
waste any one by appearing earlier than due
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Best time to take the CSS examination is
right after your MA/MSc examination
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Syllabus and past papers
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Guides and notes
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Internet resources
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Newspapers and magazines
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Prescribed books(at least two in each subject)
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CSS is all about focused study for which syllabus
and past papers provide excellent guidelines
Go through these two at least once a fortnight to
ensure you are not reading irrelevant material
Try to answer the questions which appear
regularly in past papers to have first hand
experience
Prepare a guess paper of your own and solve
those in simulated conditions for practice
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Do buy them and go through them when
starting the preparation. They will give you an
overview of the subject matter of the paper
However these are just what they say-guides
and notes-and that’s all
You must supplement your study with other
relevant material
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Internet is now what used to be libraries in our days.
There are virtual libraries everywhere on the net
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But there are three problems-information overload,
biased views and surfing temptation
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Be very selective-start with Wikipedia and browse the
websites and sources suggested there
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Cross check the facts, figures and opinions given by
an author with other sources
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Avoid surfing when studying-the biggest time waster
of modern times
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Despite the availability of information on
internet, these have not become irrelevant
Although available at internet, yet you must
have a home-delivered subscription of one
good English newspaper and a weekly
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Do keep clippings of relevant articles in files
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Make notes from these magazines as you will
be doing from the internet
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Most of the books prescribed are text books
and can be used for background knowledge
about a subject
You must thoroughly read at least two books
out of all the books prescribed for a subject
However buy their new editions if published
Also buy one or two relevant books which
have not been listed as suggested reading
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Reading and highlighting
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Summarizing and note taking
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Self lecturing and teaching
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Acronym building
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Framework analysis
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PowerPoint and info-graphics
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Blogging and commenting
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Depending upon your retention power, less than 25%
can be retrieved if you just study a text. However,
highlighting important points increases this to more
than 40%
Be very selective in your highlighting as too much of
the underlining will defeat the very purpose of the
exercise.
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Do not undertake this activity in the first reading,
rather do it when rereading the same
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Rule of thumb-do highlight the first, the middle and
the last sentence of a paragraph
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If highlighting increases the retention and
retrieval by 40%,then preparing notes of the text
will increase it still further to 60%
Summarizing and note taking should be done
after at least third reading of the text and must
be supplemented by additional reading from
other sources
Rule of thumb-summary of the text should be
one third of the text and end in bullet points of
the main ideas
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Excellent way of remembering a text is to
explain what you have read to your
colleagues
It will not only improve your learning and
retention but will also increase your
knowledge base when your colleague, in turn,
teach you what they have learnt
If no colleagues are available ,then try to
lecture yourself in front of a mirror
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Takeout the first letter of main ideas of the
text and try to build a word, even a
meaningless one.
Pakistan stands for P----,A----(although it
is not true ! Check Dr.Mubarak Ali’s article on
this)
For example, goals should be SMARTSpecific, Measureable, Assignable, Relevant
and Time bound.
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Frameworks analysis is the technique of using
one framework for using in different subjects
for understanding and also for remembering
complex issues
All subjects are now becoming multi
disciplinary as they use the terms and
analytical framework of one another with
suitable adaptation
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PowerPoint presentations and info graphics
have become an extremely useful methods
to jot down your ideas in a very presentable
form for remembering
They serve as the outlines of the entire text
which can be used for quick revision near
examinations
They are available for every subject in
hundreds of websites
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Finally the best way of learning is to share
your opinions and thought with others by
starting a blog of your own
Commenting on the articles written by others
on the topic you are studying will also help
you in improving your grasp of the topic
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Bio questions: About your CV, your interests, why you
want to do CSS, your hobbies, books read etc
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Subjects questions: To check the depth of your
knowledge you have exhibited in written test
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Professional experience: questions about your job if
you are employed, any voluntary job etc
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Pakistan affairs-How much you know about social
and economic issues relating to your country
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International affairs-Are you well-informed what is
happening at global level? Depth of understanding
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Why do you want to join the civil service ?
(Everyone wants to serve the country. Why you
think you are suitable for this purpose)
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Why are you interested in the occupational
group you have indicated as your first choice
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What will you do if you are selected and allocated
to your first preferred occupational group
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Who has inspired you the most in your life and
why? (Leave Quaid e Azam-select father/mother)
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What is your favorite book/hobby and why
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What is the most important challenge Pakistan is
facing right now and what is the solution
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What are Pakistan’s achievements in the last 6
decades and what are her failures ?
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Who is to be blamed for present problems of Pakistan
and why
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How do you see the future of Pakistan and what
should be done to make her a prosperous country
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Why East Pakistan separated from us ,who is to be
blamed and any lesson for future ?
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Ideology of Pakistan, its salient features, relevance in
present day globalizing world, differences and
similarities between Pakistan Ideology and Two
Nation Theory
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Legacies of Pakistan Movement and their role in
present day policy formulation and governance
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Pakistan’s foreign policy, its sources, main features,
why we depend too much on USA,
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Pakistan society, legacies of past, salient features,
main strengths, weak points, how globalization is
affecting its various dimensions. why we lack
tolerance, recent trends in our society
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18th Amendment-context, issues and problems
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Energy crises-magnitude, causes, solutions
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Pakistan’s Agriculture sector, its importance,
weaknesses, solutions
Significance of Khilafat Movement for creation of
Pakistan
What is the National Interest of Pakistan, how it
can be secured
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Role of Aligarh Movement in the Indian
Muslims’ Renaissance and creation of Pakistan
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Causes and consequences of War of
Independence of 1857,causes of its failure
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Was Pakistan inevitable ? If so, then evaluate
the role of Quaid e Azam in its creation
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Significance of 1857 War of Independence for
present day Pakistan
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Causes and consequences of present Syrian Crises.
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Post 2014 Afghanistan and its implications for
Pakistan
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Water scarcity and increased threat of water wars
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Climate change-How serious is the threat, is it
manmade or a natural phenomenon, its likely
consequences and possible solutions
Global food security-nature and extent of the threat,
causes of food crises, what should be the global
response
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Baluchistan issue-causes and the role of
global and regional politics
New Great GameNew Cold War-differences and similarities
between the classic cold war and the new one
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Globalization-is it inevitable? Is it desirable ?
Is it reversible ?
Climate change-nature, causes,
consequences and solutions
Clash of Civilizations-real or imaginary
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Islam as a complete code of life in a rapidly globalizing world
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Human rights in Islam
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Principles of good governance in Islam
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Role of Ulema in rise and fall of Muslim civilizations in different
parts of the world
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Causes of Muslim backwardness
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Role of Zakat in a Muslim state
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Contributions of Muslims in science, technology, social sciences
and world civilization
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Fill in the form correctly, pay the prescribed
fee, attach the relevant documents and
submit well before the deadline
Take it seriously. Do not say I am not
interested in civil service or I am appearing in
the CSS for fun, or I was idle so I decided to
take it etc
If you do not make it, do not say I couldn’t
make it because I didn’t cheat or I didn’t have
sifarish etc
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CSS is all about passionate commitment,
focused study, cool nerves and a bit of good
luck
Wish you best of luck
Contact me for any further advice at
shahidraja@hotmail.com