Originally Posted by shah3431

I completely agree with Mr. Nasr Khan. My first attempt was in 2009 in which I passed all the subjects but failed in aggregate by 1 mark (599 marks). For 2011 I came back to Pakistan in the end of Nov and I still had assignments pending for my MSc, started my new job in Jan (with a head of department who deliberately wouldn’t let me study in free time). 4 days before the last date for submitting documents I was confused between choosing sociology and agriculture (later went with former).

I remember that I stated preparing for the exams 2 days before the essay paper and my father was enthusiastically giving me in depth information and statistics about the electricity crisis while I was sadly thinking I was going to let him down big time again this time as I had zero preparation . I hadn't even given a read to most of the optionals let alone finish them once.

But the papers were a breeze for me (thank god) and I didn’t feel lethargic (in fact I slept ALOT during the paper breaks). In 2009 i was at my wits end and halfway through the exam wanted to jump off the roof but 2011 went swiftly. So, once the papers ended I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to inshallah pass (and my intuition turned out to be true).

So I would like to second Mr. Nasr Khan’s opinion that CSS is about smart work and that a lot of it depends on luck. I don’t know what’s in store for me and whether I would qualify in the end or not but I am very happy with the fact that I passed the written portion and the encouragement and appreciation shown by my friends and family (especially my dad) on my result has really made me happy.