For your information, my dear brother, I got my practice essays checked from around 10-15 people, some of them being ex-Examiners and some were CSS qualifiers.

It all boils down to luck and whether Allah has destined it for you or not. It's hard to decipher this system where the top 3 officers from 43rd Common failed to clear the exam this year. It is all dependent on the whims of the examiner. Also, a cursory glance at the previous years' result tells us that there is a fixed pattern that is being followed. Every year, either the Preci or the essay exam is picked up, and simply butchered! A lot of worthy candidates fall short of meeting this senseless butchering criteria. And quite interestingly, when the odds are not stacked against them, they manage to clear the exam.