Yes this was my first attempt.......
My preparation strategy for compulsory subjects:
Essay: a. looked up important facts and figures
b. read current affairs magazines
c. made lots of outlines for practice
d. wrote to the point (only 1400-1500 words)
e. chose a less taken topic

English: practiced 5 paragraphs per day (precis, comprehension and translation)
read idioms of vowels and most used alphabets (same for pair of words and the rest)
For the objective i just read up on identifying word roots and similarities between a word and its synonym and antonym.

GSA: just prepared the topics that came as a single question like environmental science and food science
For topics that i had no inkling of I prepared short questions and mcq's only
prepared the abilities and math section very thoroughly.

Current Affairs: read up on all important topics (national and international issues) from current affairs magazines. Didn't bother with the syllabus too much.

Pak Affairs: same as CA