Some of you have asked me to share my experience. I have already shared it with all of you in another thread, about a month ago. I'm quoting it here because it seems relevant.

CSS 2015 was a fairly pleasant experience for me. Apart from the usual nerves I really enjoyed taking the exam. This is not to say that I have very high expectations for the outcome; I am cautiously optimistic. This was my first attempt and I primarily relied on my work ethic instead of following coaching centres and tutors. The voice in my head was my sole mentor.


Essay:
I picked the first topic, "The war on terror has contributed to the growing abuse of human rights." I spent about ten minutes deciding a thesis statement and it took me another 35 minutes to write down a relatively dense outline for my thesis statement. My basic argument was that terrorists are deliberately shaping 'the war' in such a way as to increase human rights abuses so that there is more and more instability and chaos in this society. The resulting chaos creates an environment that fuels recruitment for the terrorists thereby increasing their chances of winning and seizing power, which is their ultimate goal.

In my writing I discussed social, political and economic rights that were being abused due to WOT. I included the right to fair trial, the right to life, liberty and property, the right to move freely, the right to free expression, the right to be free from discrimination, the right to practice religion freely, the right to vote, and the right to social welfare.

My essay did not start with mundane information about how terrorism or human rights can be defined. I didn't even bother with historical significance. My essay was focused on my thesis, which was focused on the topic. I began my essay with an attention grabbing quote from Aimen Al Zawahiri and ended it with an ordinary quote from Winston Churchill. Beyond this I did not use a single quotation or statistic. I tried to maintain good structure, relevance and clarity to the best of my ability. I may have made a few spelling and grammar mistakes, but nothing out of the ordinary. I wrote 2050 words in all, including a 250 word outline. I am expecting 40-45 marks; there's no tax on dreams.

I wrote this seven months after taking the exam so all the fine details are missing. Passing this exam does not suddenly make me an expert, so please don't take this as a model for writing essays. Each topic has its unique requirements.

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The only thing that comes to a sleeping man is dreams - Tupac