For me, taking the CSS exams was a challenge as well as an adventure. Challenge not in the usual sense of having to study for long periods of time but challenge because I had just finished exams of my MCS degree about 2 days ago and took 2 weeks off from the next semester for CSS exams. As you can well imagine, I had no time to study for CSS during my degree so everything I wrote down on the answer sheets was from past experience and acquired knowledge. All what I studied was between the journey from my home to the examination centre, 30 mins to be exact. Obviously I had no books so I adopted the practice of printing a few relevant articles in the morning before leaving for the examination centre after googling course contents of a subject to familiarize myself with it enough so that I could at least make up something to write during the papers. I must have printed about a 1000 papers in total during that time. Toner of my printer gave up in the end. But the exhilaration of trying to rise to a challenge like this was amazing. I felt really good about myself after exams because I had at least given myself a fighting chance even in the most of difficult papers.
Objectives were something that I tanked in because you can’t attempt them really successfully without going through the entire course content at least once. I think my marks in all the papers will be affected by this part.
Other than that, I’ll explain my position subject wise:
Essay:
http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compu...say-twist.html
English Précis:
I think my English is pretty good so I’ll make it quite comfortably. Wasn’t that difficult to be honest. Expect 70+.
Everyday Science:
I tried my best but other than passing this subject I don’t think I’m going to be able to get good marks in it. My science is a bit hazy I’m afraid. Expected 40-50.
Current Affairs:
This was the paper I had been waiting for, my strength, and it didn’t disappoint. Man, qalam hi toor dya main ne tou
. I wrote some outrageous stuff; consider this question:
Since 1970 every election was accused of rigging, what electoral reforms you will suggest to improve the electoral system of Pakistan?
Man, I said even if election 1970 was not rigged it still led to the partition of Pakistan so why should we continue to strive for another election like that? That election cannot be taken as an example of excellence because illiterate people voted for a power hungry Bhutto & separatist Mujeeb-ur-Rehman based on their slogans created to bamboozle them. If anything, that election should be taken as an example of what not to do to serve Pakistan better. And one of the lessons learnt from that and the subsequent elections is that the concept of one man one vote cannot be applied in Pakistan otherwise the illiterate masses will vote in jahal leaders like themselves again and again. Nelson Mendela might have been right with this slogan in South Africa but for Pakistan we need a local solution and that solution is education based voting. For example, if a man has done PhD then he should be allowed to cast 6 votes, a man with a MSc 5 votes, a man with BSc 4 votes and so on and so forth. A complete illiterate man should only be allowed to cast 1 vote. This way the opinion of jahils will not prevail over the opinion of informed and learned people. After all, how can they be equal? Allah asks in the Quran that how can a person with ilm and one without ilm be equal? I ask the same question, how can a professor of economics be equal to an illiterate criminal when it comes to their opinion on the country’s economy? A professor’s opinion should carry high weight as compared to the criminal’s, only then can we prosper as a nation, only then will there be justice.
I gave many other arguments as well and laid down an entire election reform structure based on the above argument. I guess that examiner is either going to give me full marks or 0 marks.
Did a similar kind of panga with the following question:
Do you agree that pakistan’s role in afghan jihad against soviet union was the root cause of terrorism in pakistan or it is a reaction of US invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11 and pakistan’s U-turn in afghan policy? (20)
I disagreed with both the propositions mentioned in the question.
I wrote that if either of the above mentioned points were the root cause of terrorism in Pakistan then why were there terrorist activities in the 1970s during Bhutto’s era where terrorists blew up railway tracks and killed security officials in Baluchistan? Why did Bhutto have to start a military operation in Baluchistan? Why did PAF do a concentrated bombing run on Waziristan in late 1940s and early 1950s? I argued that the root cause of terrorism in Pakistan is jahalat of the masses who are then taken advantage of by Pakistan’s enemy states like India. In fact, India is the only constant thing which has been there during all of the above mentioned terrorist activities and there is ample evidence to suggest that it has been cooking up trouble for us using our own awam in the form of terrorism since the inception of Pakistan. I went on and on and on about it.
Overall, I loved writing for this paper. If the examiner gave me anything less than 70, it would be his fault, not mine.
Current Affairs:
Again, I had a blast with the questions of general nature because I hadn’t done much study. But there was one question about khilafat movement which I didn’t know much about so I pretty much ruined it I think.
And I still cannot believe that I botched my favorite topic;
Critically evaluate the role of Pakistan in "The War on Terror". I tried to explain our role on this WOT but it came out as a recitation of facts. The only evaluation I could come up with was from the point of view of the US who claims that we haven’t done enough and need to do more. We truly haven’t if you consider WOT legit. It was a depressing moment for me.
But in all the other questions I did my usual pangas with the examiner
For example; take the following question:
Separation of East Pakistan, though a tragic part of history of Pakistan, was not the negation of Two nation theory". Comment
I wrote that not only it wasn’t a negation of the two nation theory, but, in fact, an
reaffirmation of it.
Bangladesh chose to be an independent Muslim majority state instead of joining India thereby slapping Indira Gandhi in the face who had declared in Indian national assembly that India had drowned the two nation theory in the Arabian sea. Not only that, but even the Lahore resolution of 1940 was reaffirmed which said that “India should be grouped to constitute ‘
independent states’ in which the constituent units should be autonomous and sovereign.”
And on and on and on I went as usual.
Then came this, another one of my favorite topics:
Was Islamization during Zia Era a need of the time, or was it Political propaganda?
Man, I thought the paper was made for me especially after I saw this question. I argued that not only it was the need of the time but also a political propaganda as well. If Pakistan was made in the name of Islam then Islamization of the laws of Pakistan was long overdue and Zia did us a favor while doing his duty. It’s another thing that in some of the matters his interpretation may have been wrong but it happens all over the world. Laws are made and then according to the situations that develop due to these laws, they are refined to make them water tight against exploitation by cunning lawyers and individuals. Same thing happened with the hudood laws. Went into quite a bit of detail on this issue.
Overall, if the examiner gives me anything less than 60 then I’d be well within my rights to curse him like a teeth Punjabi.
Islamiat:
Can’t say I did any pangas with the examiner here but my answers must have been pretty different from the other candidates because of difference of reading materials. For example, in answer to the following question:
Stability of modern society depends upon a strong family system in the light of islamic principles. Discuss
I wrote everything I had heard about Islamic concept of a family system from Dr. Javed Ahmad Ghamdi in a TV program once. And then explained the negative consequences of the concept, or lack thereof, of family in the western society and how Islamic concept can save the humanity from further degradation and humiliation that the western concepts of family have heaped upon it. Gave examples of research studies done in the west about how majority of the children of single parent families are high school drop outs etc. etc. There are real research papers like this out there.
On the other questions, I wrote a lot of stuff that I thought was really good. Like the difference between jihad and fassad etc. and really enjoyed writing it as well.
I hope to get 70+ in this one.
Muslim Law & Jurisprudence:
Frankly, my heart sank when I saw this paper. I didn’t know anything other than 1 question with certainty. I tried my best and attempted all required questions but my answers were not of a really high quality. It is one of those subjects where you have to have complete command of its content to get good marks I guess. General knowledge that I had applied in all the compulsory papers was not sufficient here. It demanded pure technical knowledge. But anyway, I didn’t give up and gave myself a fighting chance to pass this paper. I’m hopeful that if a lenient examiner checks this paper he could give me 50 marks at least.
International Law:
I almost had a heart attack when I saw this paper even though International Law as a general topic is something that I really enjoy thinking about. But this papers was a bit too technically demanding. Anyhow, I held my own and attempted all the required questions. Botched the last 2 questions to some extent but still, I give myself a pat on the back for not giving up and finishing the paper to give myself a fighting chance.
I expect around 50 marks from this one.
Political Science:
Political Science turned out to be a mixed bag. In the first paper I had to leave a 10 marks question because frankly I had no idea what it was talking about. Other than that, it can be said that the paper went pretty well. I did explain the concept of Social Contract as much as I could read about it in my journey to examination center in the car.
Regarding a question about local government system in Pakistan and why it hasn’t been successfully implemented here, I wrote at length about the merits of local governments taking examples of local government systems in UK and the US and how they help create leadership from the grass root level. Also outlined that in Pakistan, politicians do not want to part with money and powers, this is the only reason why such a system has still not been implemented. Ironically, local government systems were implemented by so called military dictators. Tells us the whole story about democracy in the country.
In the 2nd paper I literally went nuts and trolled the examiner so hard.
Consider this question:
The American Senate today is the most powerful legislative body in the world. Comment
Everyone who has taken up political science as a subject knows that the standard answer to this question would have been to start talking about how the US senate has so much powers that no other senate in the world has. There is a long list of those that I read somewhere. But I knew everyone was going to write like that and I wanted my answer to be different. So I thought really hard for about 15-20 minutes during the paper and then came up with the following conclusion:
The question says uses the phrase “most powerful legislative body” for the US senate. If it had used the phrase “most powerful upper house” of the world then that would have been a justified comment. But as it stands right now, the fact of the matter is that it is not the “most powerful legislative body” in the world because it cannot do any legislation on its own without the help and approval of the US House of Representatives & the President. If senate passes a bill but HoR rejects it then senate can’t do anything about it. Even the president can veto it and send it back for a 2/3 majority vote. But unlike the US senate, the French legislative assembly is much more powerful because once it passes a bill; even the French President can’t annul it. I argued vociferously with many more points as well in favor of my opinion.
In the end I said that the only way the US senate can be declared to be the most powerful legislative body of the world is that since it is a legislative body of a military and economic superpower, the decisions that it makes affect the world much more than the decisions of legislative bodies of other countries.
Honestly, I almost laughed out loud while writing this answer because it’s so true yet so unorthodox and bal ki khal nikalne wali baat.
Wonder what the examiner will do with my paper.
But overall, it was a very satisfying paper. I attempted all questions and answered everything up to the standards that I hold myself to. Had an opportunity to do some India bashing as well on the question of
“Is India a secular state?” which is one of my favorite hobbies on the internet.
If I get anything less than a 140-150, I’ll not be the one at fault, the examiner will be.
Islamic History & Culture:
I think this is the paper that I enjoyed the most while attempting. Had hi ho gai yani ke. I felt like I was an orchestra master and a symphony was playing in my mind and my hand was writing to the tune of it, literally. I cannot explain enough how much I enjoyed it.
Consider this question:
Estimate the colonial impact on Muslim society under European rule.
I wrote that first of all, the most important impact of colonial rule on Muslim society is that FPSC has prepared this question in English and I’m writing the answer in English despite the fact that our mother tongue is Urdu.
Man I trolled the examiner so hard in this question, can’t believe I actually wrote this stuff. And on and on I went….
Islamic contribution to science? Thankfully I had read about this stuff on the way to the exam center so I wrote at length.
Does Islamic Society need renaissance and reformation discuss.
Among other things, I wrote that there was a time when there were hundreds of book shops and libraries in the Islamic world and there were 100s of thousands book in them whereas Europe’s best library had 30 books in it (fact BTW). We used to write on paper and west used to write on ancient parchments. Now a days, we are still stuck in Urdu Bazar and the West has ebook stores like Barnes and Nobles and Amazon etc. and KindleFire type products. Tells the whole story. Surely we need renaissance and reformation like the west needed back in the day.
Explain the difference between Jihad and Terrorism through Quran and Sunnah
Again one of my favorite topics. Itna likha ke qalam hi toot gya.
So over all, if I get anything less than 150-160, I’ll know what kind of sad individuals FPSC hires as examiners.
Finally, if I pass the essay paper and the IL paper and the ML paper
, which looks a bit difficult to be honest because of rigidity of examiners, and everything else also goes according to plan then I’m looking the following outcome:
Essay: 40
English Precis: 70
Current Affairs: 75
Pakistan Affairs: 75
Everyday Science: 50
Islamiat: 70
Muslim Law & Jurisprudence: 40
International Law: 50
Political Science: 140
Islamic History & Culture: 160
Total: 780
This is the total when I’m being very optimistic. In all honestly, maybe 40-50 marks should be subtracted from it for some reason but I’m going with 780 for now. Let’s see what happens.
The one thing that I learned from this experience is that I need to focus more on the objective questions because they floored me on almost all papers. So probably I should read the course content at least once before attempting the papers again in 2016.
Your comments would be appreciated.
PS. In the above write up, consider anywhere I have been a little boastful as a joke. Don’t take it seriously.