Adeel Ali

Alhamdulillah. 2 in 2. Qualified the written again. The first time I cleared, I was elated. This time I am emotional.
Allah has been extremely kind. Extremely Kind. No amount of sujood can be enough.

Watu izu man tasha, wa tu zilu man tasha

-Adeel (2020 written qualifier) :)

Before answering, a brief introduction of mine. Qualified CSS and got allocated in 2018, before that did my Electrical Engineering from NUST(National University of Science and Technology), was awarded a couple of gold medals during my period at NUST. So, I guess I am a relevant person to answer the query as I too was faced with this dilemma when I had to choose my optional subjects.

I had a job and some 4 odd months of time for CSS preparation… I went through the syllabus of physics, past papers of physics and bought a couple of books. Did the same for Maths.
These were my observations regarding these subjects
I felt if I gave either of the two subjects a good 45 to 50 days, I can prepare them well. But then will also have to keep practicing numericals of physics or problems in case of Math. If I stop practicing even for a month, it would be difficult to regain the momentum again. University mein math or physics buhat kiya tha is liye andaza tha. Atleast for me, practice was essential.
Another hurdle was that I will have hardly any time of practice in the last month before exam and aik din mein do papers hotay hain to exam k dino mein to bilkul hi nahi ho sakegi practice. Time is liye kam hoga, kiun k job k saath CSS ki preparation k liye 4 to 5 months ka time wese hi buhat kam hota hai, is liye last month mein bhi mein syllabus hi cover kar raha hunga to practice k liye time nikalna mushkil hoga.

Then I compared it with IR.
When I went through the syllabus of IR, I felt this could be done in half the time. Agar physics ya phir maths 50 days lengay to IR 25 days mein acha prepare kiya jaa sakta hai. And it did overlap with Current Affair, Paksitan Affair and also could help in essay, which was definitely not the case with either Physcis or Maths. (For a detailed post on IR, you can visit my page, or inbox me for the link).

(CAUTION: However, there is a huge difference in how IR questions and C.Affairs questions need to be attempted.)

Thus, keeping in mind the time constraint I was forced to go for IR and not physics or MATH.
If I had 8 months of preparation time, I would definitely have gone for Physics or Math. Kiun k agar aap CSS qualify kar jaatay hain or in subjects mein acha score aajata hai. There are bright chances that you will land into your desired group. But only if you can afford the luxury of time.

Secondly, try solving the past papers, agar aap comfortable hain past papers k saath, that is a very good sign that you should go for these subjects. Agar 70% past paper samjh aata hai, it is a very encouraging sign.

Thus, I would advise the candidates to repeat the same process and make the choice accordingly.

For further details you can ask questions on the page or on the whatsapp group. I will try and reply within 24 hours In Sha Allah.
JazakALLAH

How to write an essay on an unknown topic/ how many topics should I prepare for essay/ buhat saray essay yaad kiye, exam mein aik bhi nahi aaya, sir essay ka kia hal hai?
Responded by a CSS qualifier

Now, these are a few questions, I frequently come across. A vast majority of students focus on preparing a topic, rather than focusing on acquiring the skill of essay writing.
Let me tell you, aap chahay kitna acha essay likh len, kitnay hi facts and figures quote kar len, kitni hi researches or quotations de den essay mein, aap pass nahi hongay agar aap basic essay writing k rules follow nahi karengay….

These rules include maintaining unity, ensuring cohesion and coherence, proper development of an essay, having topic and concluding sentences in your paragraphs, proper usage of transitions, ensuring that your introduction is a summary of your essay, knowing how to write a thesis statement and many other rules….

Even agar aap k arguments weak hain, lekin aap ne essay k saray rules follow kiye hain- jo k buhat asaan hai karna- you have a great chance of succeeding.

The biggest flaw while checking essays, I see with students is,
k wo quoatations and facts and figures pe 90% time laga detay hain, bajae is k, k wo essay writing sahi se seekh len.

The thing is 12 subjects parh kar, you should bhi good enough to write on any topic. The better thing is that important topics like Climate Change, Kashmir issue, Pandemics like Corona Virus, Trade War and others which are important when you appear for the exam should be prepared in detail. There is no way you cannot write on a topic having prepared 12 subjects. Bas sahi tareekay se brainstorming/mind-mapping or sequencing ki jae essay likhnay se pehlay, to koi bhi aspirant kisi bhi topic par likh sakta hai. I have seen and taught dozens of students, who initially thought that it is almost impossible to write an essay without preparing a topic but when taught brainstorming correctly, koi aisa nahi tha jo css k past papers na attempt kar sak raha ho. Everyone was able to attempt atleast a couple of essays from each past paper without preparation of that particular topic.

A final word, focus more on how to write an essay rather than preparing topics for essays.

AOA,
CSS-2018 qualifier here.
Aap ki koi bhi CSS or PMS(of Sindh) related queries hain aap yahan puch saktay hain till midnight tomorrow.

Books konsi purchase karen? : Advice by a CSS Qualifier.

A short answer: Refer internet searches, youtube and FPSC recommended books for note making and not books by famous publishers.

Longer Answer: Well, this is a question that always haunts CSS/PMS/PCS etc aspirants at the beginning of their preparation. I was no different. I ended up buying books worth 30,000+ even before I had hit the ground running(a bit of a burden on my walid sahab’s jaib, lekin bacha CSP ban raha hai, to 30k qurban :p). But guess what, that's when I realized atleast Civil Service preparation has nothing to do with money.

One fine day, full of enthusiasm, I went to Sindh's biggest book market-Karachiities would have guessed it right-URDU BAZAR....I wouldn't be surprised if it’s actually Pakistan's biggest.

Without much research as to which book is the best book for a particular subject. Naively, trusting the shopkeeper, who had known my father for a long time, I asked him to show me 3 to 4 best books for all of my optionals and compulsories, and this is what he did, according to his very knowledge. He sold me the books of top 4 or 5 BEST PUBLISHERS(Naam aap samjh g*e hongay, is liye mein lena nahi chahta,,, han wohi jo aap soch rahay hain,, wohi, wohi top 4 5)

The smell of new books was very similar to fresh money out of an ATM, thus I couldn't resist sniffing, so I got into my car, tearing the non-biodegradable shopper, kiun k dukaan walay ne buhat kas k knot baandhi thi....So, I swung into action and kitaaben parhna shuru kardien gari mein hi...

10 days into it.... I didn't really enjoy the reading. Here are 6 reasons why…
1). Past papers k questions ka jawab nahi mil raha tha mujhay sahi se. Agar mil b raha tha to mujhay satisfy nahi kar raha tha.
2). I could find a lot of copy pasted material from the internet. Sometimes even reference tags bhi nahi hatay hotay thay... Aap andaaza laga saktay hain kitnay saalon ki din raat ki mehnat lagi hogi wo kitaaben likhnay mein :O
3). Some topics which required detailed explanation, weren't in detail at all.
4). Concept to bilkul clear nahi ho paata tha, bilkul bhi....
5). Quality. This is where these books performed very badly, as it was copy pasted material, how could I have expected quality.
6). The biggest reason one shouldn't rely on these books--> I told the dukaan waala, give me the most sold and the best books that u have.... he gave me exactly that.... ab har banda agar yahi substandard material parh k exam mein produce karega, to kahan se top 200-300 Pakistanis mein aega, as it is a competitive exam and your only aim is to do better than others!(agar koi “X” amount of effort put kar raha hai, then aap ne X+1 amount put karni hai to standout, be different)
Ab aap ye soch saktay hain, agar sab log FPSC ki recommeded books parh k jaien to phir bhi to same material hoga na sab k paas.... My argument is k those books develop critical thinking ability, aap ka concept banati hain, sirf piece of information nahi hotien wo books... a lot of effort goes into those books...FPSC,PPSC,SPSC etc want candidates jo acha opinion de saken apna, this is what these books do.. Aap ko acha opinion dengien and thinking ability develop karengien.,..

DISCLAIMER: Not all books may be substandard, well the ones I came across turned out to be.. NAAM nahi le sakta, lekin everyone knows konsay publishers hain... I hope life threats na aana shuru hojaien is post k baad publishers se :p I also don’t blame the publishers, as their books are being sold kiun k unki demand exist karti hai, so they don’t really worry and produce better books.

MY ADVICE: Being a CSS qualifier and having interracted with fellow CSPs. The best thing is, shortlist your topics, us k baad internet search karen, youtube videos dekhen and go to a library if u have time, there u can get fpsc recommended books and make your own notes out of all these 3 sources... These 3 things are like the SUGAR, SPICE and EVERYTHING NICE of PPG(agar ye line samjh nahi aee to ignore karen :p). Or agar khareed lien hain aap ne wo books meri tarah, to koi maslay ki baat nahi, u can refer to them... refer karnay mein koi masla nahi,, lekin dont depend on them 100%, han 5-15% is fine.

Myth of high scoring and low scoring subjects- Opinion of a CSS qualifier after having interacted with FPSC chairman and FPSC board members on this issue.

Agar mein aap ko FPSC Chairman ya phir FPSC board members ki zubani is cheez ka jawab dun to according to them…. HIGH SCORING AND LOW SCORING subject is a myth, FPSC intentionally plan nahi karti k falaanay falaanay saal US history mein students fail karnay hain dher saaray and Pol science walon ko 150+ dene hain. And according to me their opinion does hold merit.

In 2017, Gender studies yielded excellent scores, but in 2018 it did not yield a good score. I saw one candidate who got 80+ in 2017 failed gender studies in 2018, there were many stories like this. Similar is the case of I.LAW, it yielded a very good score in 2017, and an average score in 2016 and not a good score in 2018.
US history got a relatively better score in 2017 but had a very bad score in 2018, even people securing 700+ failed the US history exam, and having seen hundreds of mark sheets I have not come across a single DMC with a score in excess of 50 yet.

I can give you ten other examples where a subject yielded a good or a bad score in 2016 and it completely changed the next year. So, it is not possible to predict whether a subject will be high scoring or low scoring the coming year specially after the CSS syllabus has been revised post 2016…..

Opinion of Chairman FPSC on this issue: “FPSC doesn’t target or encourage a subject, the FPSC designs 4 to 5 papers for each subject made by different professors, un mein se koi bhi paper raat ko randomly pick kar liya jaata hai” (now it depends on luck whether the paper that has been picked is easy or difficult)
“Secondly, according to the chairman, to maintain uniformity a single teacher checks the papers of a complete subject and that is why it takes FPSC almost 10 months to produce the result, now that teacher might be lenient or strict when it comes to awarding marks” (so again the factor of luck kicks in).

So best of luck....

CSS k liye konsi degree best hai?
CSS bachelor's k degree k saath de den, ya masters kar k den?
These are a couple of questions that I am being asked on a very frequent basis…..

So, I decided to come up with a post, instead of answering aspirants individually.

Never ever choose your education path based on the thought “CSS ki tayari k liye konsi degree best rahegi”.

Phir Kin basis par career choose karna chaie?

That’s a topic for another day, another post. Lekin for example: Sirf CSS ki waja se sirf aap law/engineering/medical chor k International Relation/political science etc mein masters karlen, YE GHALAT HAI! I know of a Gold Medalist in IR, who could only secure 56/200 in 2017. I know of a person who had masters in IR, and even taught IR online and otherwise, and secured 61/200 in 2017. And there are people with no background whatsoever in IR, and had gotten scores in excess of 110.

Secondly, there are no guarantees in CSS, in 2017, according to a report by FPSC, 151 graduates from 27 different foreign universities appeared for CSS. And majority could not qualify. I recall a report published by FPSC, where 19 graduates of oxford while 16 of Cambridge appeared in CSS one year and many could not pass. Don’t misconstrue k CSS mein to luck chalti, the thing is the candidates might have lagged somewhere, thus could not qualify that year.
Is k ilawa people with masters, Ph.d, bachelors, M.Phill etc all sit for the exam, or wo fail bhi hotay hain or pass bhi hotay hain har saal.

So, jo bhi degree Karen, Mehnat se Karen, apna 100% den. CSS mein background se buhat ziada kaam dedication and hardwork aata hai. So, if u have a habit of working hard, there are brighter chances of clearing the CSS exam, rather than choosing a particular degree that u think will help u in qualifying CSS.

So, Best of luck :)

Advice by a CSS qualifier.

Benefits of opting International Relations in CSS(Apologies for the long post, it was necessary for explanation....however, for a short answer u can directly jump to heading of conclusion at the end)

In CSS, the written exam comprises of 1200 marks, where 600 marks are for compulsory subjects and 600 are for optional subjects(matlab k aap ko 600 marks k subjects apni marzi se choose karnay hain). Amongst the optional subjects, IR is a 200 mark subject from group 1. It comprises of two parts, IR part 1 and IR part 2.

The benefits of opting IR are manifold. It overlaps with a lot of subjects.

a).Overlapping with current affair: After 2016(the year when the syllabus of CSS was revised), if one had opted for IR….. then the aspirant could easily attempt 4 questions of Current Affair exam also,,,,, be it CA exam of 2016,17,18 or 19. I gave my exam in 2018, and in current affair’s paper I could attempt all the 7 questions present in the paper, because I had opted for IR. It is very beneficial for someone like me who hardly had 4 months to prepare for the CSS exam.

b). Overlapping with International Law: If someone has also opted International Law (100 marks) along with IR, IR can help understand the concepts of I.Law much better. Majority of my colleagues who had opted IR, found I.Law much easier compared to those who had not opted IR.

c).Help in essay writing: I am a firm believer that for essay writing a good CSS candidate doesn’t need to specially prepare topics for essay. A good CSS candidate should invest all their energies in understanding and practicing the structure of an essay. After 4 to 6 month of good preparation a candidate has enough knowledge to easily write on the topics given in an essay exam. But still, if one has IR as an optional he can give much better arguments in an essay as at least ONE of the essays in essay exam is related to international affair, if not more.

d). Overlapping and help in Pakistan Affair: Well, more than IR, Political Science (another 200mark subject from group1 of CSS), I feel overlaps to a greater with Pak Affair, but IR also overlaps, to some extent.

Like the following topics which are a part of Pakistan Affair’s syllabus, are also studied in IR.(u can skip reading the topics)
1).Non-Traditional Security Threats in Pakistan: Role of Non-State Actors
2).Pakistan’s Role in the Region
3). Palestine Issue and Paksitan’s stance.
4). Pakistan and US War on Terror
5). The war in Afghanistan since 1979 and its impact on, and challenges to Pakistan, in the Post 2014 era
6). Foreign Policy of Pakistan Post 9/11
7). Proxy Wars: Role of External Elements
8). Pakistan’s National Interest
9). Pakistan’s relation with various countries(neighbouring, Saudia, China, US etc).
10). Pakistan and changing regional apparatus.
11). Challenges to Sovereignty

Conclusion:

Thus, IR is an interesting subject and many find it easy. It consumes less time compared to other 200 mark subjects, because of its overlapping nature. Aap ne IR or us k topics wese bhi Current Affair and Pak affair mein parhnay hi hain, so why not opt for IR itself.
The only disadvantage I feel in opting IR is that to get a good score one needs to provide quality answers, and for that one needs to put in some extra effort. Kiun k IR almost 60-70% log bhi opt kar jaatay hain kisi kisi saal, so you need to be better than others when it comes to providing quality answers. So, provide quality answers and you will In Sha Allah secure good marks.