Gentlemen,
Thank you for the input.
Aik Admi, perhaps you are correct. Each of these flaws could have motivated the examiner to deduct a few marks here and there.
Cogito Ergo Sum, point regarding introduction duly noted. I was under the impression, a catchy and attractive introduction may make the examiner happy. I will have to rethink introduction strategy. Same for conclusion.
The Shah Ends - yes, your point regarding critical analysis from both sides came to my mind in the essay hall but I didn’t do it because 1) the essay hadn't asked for critique on both sides; 2) I interpreted it as asking for a concrete opinion on the topic and justifying that opinion in 3k words; and 3) discussing both sides would have made the meaning entirely different. But you may be right. Perhaps my interpretation was lacking.
Based on the experiences of some of my friends and others here on the forum I have tried to reach some sort of conclusion regarding the essay paper in particular. A graduate of Imperial College London (who was an editorial writer for top papers in Pakistan and is now serving in a leading MNC in Singapore), an investment banker from JP Morgan Chase, UK, another fellow who has now gone to Harvard, the TOEFL topper in Pakistan and some other brilliant people have flunked the essay paper in recent years. Moreover, Cogito and a few other people on the forum add to this category. Therefore, the assumption that English skills play a major part in passing this exam appears to be questionable. The following may be possible:
- I have heard some people say that when a large number of people successfully sail through the written exam, the authorities apply some form of percentage rule that reduces the number of marks for all candidates by a certain factor (say 10 marks deduced from all papers). Same may also apply when very few people qualify any paper or when there were errors in the question paper. This saves the cost, hassle and time of conducting 1000 plus interviews later. I am not sure if this is true or not.
- A rather crude trend that I note is that somehow, people who take guidance from ex-examiners (not academies but individual tutors) entertain higher chances of qualifying the essay paper. This could be true because these examiners may be able to clarify so many ambiguities about the CSS essay structure. For instance, for the IETLS examination, there is a standard pattern of attempting the writing section and if somebody knows the technique, there is high likelihood a band 9 score be obtained (provided he/she has decent grammatical skills). IELTS tutors clearly state that an overview paragraph is needed, four to five body paras are required, when and how to give examples etc. There may be a secret checklist of this sort with CSS examiners too? The checklist may be the key to winning the exam.
- Having talked to some CE-2015 essay qualifiers (who attempted the WOT essay) I notice that each one of them is a little different from the ordinary in some way. For example, Tupac Shakur’s approach is completely unconventional. From what I understand, he has contended that terrorists are actually magnifying HR abuse that already existed. Moreover, the idea of beginning with a quote from Zawahiri was unique indeed. This may have won him the examiner’s praise. There could be other outstanding and unconventional ideas in his approach that made him a winner here. Similarly, I came across another qualifier who mentioned he added graphs and tables to his essay. This could have made his paper stand out. It might then be that in around 8000 to 9000 essays on this topic, such unconventional tactics help win competitive advantage? As this is competitive exam and there is no set criteria on the basis of which exam essay is marked, it’s all about survival of the fittest – or the survival of the most unconventional.
- Having said that, the topic choice in itself may determine half of the total success rate. I think, FPSC has begun to encourage people who attempt the ‘out-of-the-box’ essays. I’m not sure how many of the 371 qualifiers this year attempted essays other than WOT, but I know there is a considerable percentage here.
- In the end, I agree with the luck factor, of course.