Quote:
Originally Posted by roijen
my question is from essay. actually starting to practice this multicultural exam ... king of papers ... how did you start to practice it, only past papers or also chose topics of like importance from other sources and practised those.
the frequency with which you practised essays must have depleted the list of past papers essays soon 
i also want to ask what did it mean to you to feel confident about this paper that yes you've done enough to pass this paper? (although i have gotten your point on expression and presentation)
please narrate you experience of preparing the essay paper. thank you. |
Though I have mentioned few points regarding essay in one of my previous posts but as this paper is a source of threat for all the candidates, I am going to share my own experience here regarding essay along with some tips.
I passed this paper in both of my attempts, though I got 40 this time, when I was 100% confidant that I would get 50+ marks, because in previous attempt I got 56 without surety of even passing marks, so the purpose of telling this all is that essay is quite unpredictable, but one should try whatever is in his/her hands, then leave rest to prayers and positive hopes.
When I wrote my first ever essay, I got 6 marks out of 50, it was assessed by the academy teacher, my hopes and confidence both were shaken and I thought I will not be able to pass it, but I learned that what were the loopholes and in the second essay I got 34 out of 50…..so the best thing is to overcome mistakes.But for my second attempt, I worked hard for essay as in second and third chance you don’t have margin of making mistakes, I stated making outlines of topics which were in past papers, starting from 1975. Then I started practicing on the topics that were even pertinent to today’s era, skipping the obsolete ones. I used to take my essays to the teacher for analysis then I tried to cope up with the continuous mistakes, I never had the problem of grammar, handwriting or sentence structure so most of the mistakes were regarding selection o9f points/content. So now you have to decide yourself that at what areas you need to work. One day you will be the master of essay and you would be able to write essay on any topic given to you. Try to work on the target area; this will lead you to write perfectly.
SELECTION OF TOPIC:
For essay, you will have 10 choices in front of you, remember, in css everything is assessed, the purpose of blank answer sheets is to check your ability of writing in straight lines, it will reflect the strength of your personality, if one cannot write in straight lines, how he/she would be able to make decisions after coming in the civil services, so similarly the purpose of giving wide range of topics for essay is to check your ability of taking right decision, everyone has some strong area in which one can produce the target content so you will have to keenly observe the topics and then decide the one which is purely placed in the paper for you. You may spend 15-20 minutes in selecting the topic, it will save you from disaster, once you have selected the right topic, there will be no issue of time at least for managing your essay in 2.5 hours, this is sufficient time for attempting essay.
HOW TO GO ABOUT IT:
After selecting the topic, make outline, it should be logical, sequential, well-managed, self-speaking so that examiner don’t find any difficulty in understanding it. From your outline, examiner will have an idea that you will be able to pass the paper or not so be careful while writing outline,
STEPS TO FOLLOW WHILE MAKING OUTLINE:
1.
INTRODUCTION: Always mention this word in the start of outline, then you can narrate in one to two sentences that what will be in introduction, otherwise without even explaining you can go ahead, but first heading in outline should be introduction
2.
BODY: (Don’t mention the word body here, the purpose is to tell that in body you will thoroughly explain the topic, covering all the aspects of that particular topic, be to the point and your content should remain relevant, the moment your essay will be distracted, the more will be the chances of failure, make different points, apply heading/sub-heading format……give some main headings in numbers and their sub-heads in bullet points. In outline, way of making outline also matters. Always make an outline whether it is mentioned or not)
3.
CONCLUSION: In conclusion, don’t introduce any new idea, justify the given content in conclusion by explain/rephrasing in a few sentences.
ESSAY CONTENT:
After making outline, start your essay according to the outline, the point you have mentioned first should be explained first, otherwise you can face difficulty, Be careful about language, sentence structure, hand writing, relevance, include maximum examples, justify the topic with solid arguments, don’t quote unauthentic facts and figure, if you are sure about their accuracy, only then include them, quotations, statements of famous personalities, examples from contemporary world will add colours to your essay.
Try to create a unique impact among thousands of essays.
Learning tricks and tips and then practicing will give you more benefit, instead of making directionless efforts. Best of luck to all!