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Why People Fail CSS

The document discusses common hurdles that cause aspirants to fail the CSS competitive examination in Pakistan each year. It identifies the top 5 reasons as: 1) Lack of a proper study plan, 2) Lack of motivation to stick to study timelines, 3) Blind studies without focusing on what questions may be asked, 4) Not having a test plan to develop consistency, and 5) Relying on outdated local books not relevant to the exam topics and questions. The document provides solutions and recommendations to each hurdle, such as creating a comprehensive schedule, finding study materials from varied sources, practicing prior exam questions, and getting tutor evaluations.

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Ammar Yasir
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145 views

Why People Fail CSS

The document discusses common hurdles that cause aspirants to fail the CSS competitive examination in Pakistan each year. It identifies the top 5 reasons as: 1) Lack of a proper study plan, 2) Lack of motivation to stick to study timelines, 3) Blind studies without focusing on what questions may be asked, 4) Not having a test plan to develop consistency, and 5) Relying on outdated local books not relevant to the exam topics and questions. The document provides solutions and recommendations to each hurdle, such as creating a comprehensive schedule, finding study materials from varied sources, practicing prior exam questions, and getting tutor evaluations.

Uploaded by

Ammar Yasir
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Students Syndrome: Competitive Examinations

“I know the answer, but, I do not know how to answer it during the exam”. I am sure the foregoing sentence seems
familiar to you. Every year, thousands of aspirants face the dilemma of “How to write an answers to a questions in the
exam”. There are also similar questions I encounter from my students such as:
“From where should I start answering the question? What should be the content of the answer?
Is it possible to write 5-6 pages of answer over this question? Should I write detailed
introduction/ history of the topic? Etc.”
Apart from the aforementioned serious concern of the aspirants, let us examine some of the common hurdles in cracking
CSS exam:
Every year thousands of aspirants fail in CSS exam because of the following reasons:
1. Lack of a study plan
Most of the aspirants do not plan their studies. They simply start studying in an ad-hoc manner and study
spasmodically. In this way, they end up draining their precious time and achieve nothing. For plan, I mean a
comprehensive schedule of studies including division of one’s daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly available
time, setting targeted milestones in the form of completion of a subject on a particular date, and plan revisions
and test sessions, etc.
Solution: Prior to starting your studies, make a comprehensive plan, i.e., your plan should answer following
questions:
 What are my optional subjects and why?
 How much time should it take to complete first cycle of studies of each subject?
 Should I start compulsory subject first or complete optional subjects at the outset?
 What are the subjects which needed to be studied regularly till exam? (e.g., English Essays, Precis and
Composition and Current Affairs, etc.)
 Is there any need to join coaching?
 How many subjects should I start simultaneously? (e.g., one subject at a time, two subjects at a time, or
three. It depends on one’s stamina and daily available time for studies.)
 How many hours I should/could study in a day?
 In how many days/weeks I shall take to complete first cycle of study covering all subjects?
Etc.
After preparing a comprehensive but flexible plan, start studying accordingly and try to stick to it no matter
what hinders you from accomplishing your targeted deadlines.
2. Lack of Motivation
Most of students work perfectly well on step 1 stated above, however, they fail to gather motivation and courage
to stick to the timelines set by themselves. There could be myriads of reasons behind this failure vary from
person to person. For example, one of them is that the aspirants could not find relevant material and hence
end up losing interest and understanding of the subjects. Once they do not understand a subject, they are not
in position to give requisite attention and time. For this, I preferably suggest to seek guidance from an already
qualified CSP to find the most relevant and easy-to-understand material and use mix of sources for studies,
e.g., books, newspaper, documentaries, video lectures and debates, etc. Another solution to keep one’s
motivation level up is arrange group studies with maximum one or two committed friends. This would help you
do one’s work regularly.
3. Blind Studies
I have seen many of my students who read a lot of material about a subject but fail to answer questions during
the test sessions. One of such examples is of a student who read three well-written books of renowned authors
on “Pakistan Affairs” but failed to answer very simple questions in the exam. This is because of the fact that he
did not study according to the requirement of the FPSC. FPSC does not wish to make aspirants write a thesis
on a particular subject. It demands an exhaustive but broad knowledge about a subject with latest facts and
figure and logics. So rather reading a book without knowing what could be possible questions would not bear
any fruits. Hence, the plan should be to study a topic from mix of sources such as books, newspapers,
magazines, think tanks, documentaries, and debates (whichever suits you). During reading prepare NOTES in
any preferable form, nonetheless, I suggest make short notes covering the key information. The third step is
to review past papers, search for questions relevant to the topic you have prepared. TRY TO SOLVE THOSE
QUESTIONS BY MAKING OUTLINES. Fourth step is to get those outlines reviewed by some reliable tutor. This is
the only way which let you know where you stand.
4. No Test Plans
Another reason for failing to cope up with the timelines is lack of continuity and persistence. In order to develop
consistency, develop a test plan either with your friends, study partner or a reliable tutor. This test plan would
keep you motivated for continuous studies. For test plan, I mean take tests of what you have prepared. I am
reiterating again, prepare a topic, review CSS past papers, solve one or two relevant questions and get them
evaluated from a seasoned tutor. This way of assessment would build your confidence and motivate you for
further studies.
It has been observed that most of the failures occur because of the fact that the aspirants do read the content
in the syllabus from various sources but do not take tests and hence fail to respond to question in real exam.
5. Use of local books
A few days ago, I performed an exercise to solve this year’s CSS past paper of Pakistan Affairs. For this I
bought, four available books specifically written for CSS examinations of the same subject from the market. I
picked up a question and gather apparently related content from all the four books one by one. After integrating
the available data, I found that none was relevant let alone sufficient to answer the question asked by the
examiner. Further to this shocking reflection, I tried to solve four more questions and found that the content
available in the books is not only outdated but also irrelevant, and copy-pasted from various web-sites without
even bothering to ponder what the topic is all about. From this, I found one of the reasons behind aspirants’
failure to respond to questions in the exam. Most of the CSS students, study from these ill-written books and
got the complacency of studying up-to-the-mark, however, their efforts do not bear any fruits.
In the light of the foregoing, my earnest request to CSS aspirants is that “please stop buying such rubbish
material, instead, only buy books recommended by FPSC or books written by foreign authors. After studying
from approved content, aspirants would be able to answer properly and as required.

Thank you.

Continued...

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