Why is the English writing important in CSS exam? What book should we consult when Wren & Martin, Dawn News Paper, academies remain unable to make your write-ups good?
I have taken an attempt in 2017. Although my score was 658 in total, I was failed in the essay(32) and precis papers(37). I didn't join any academy and prepared all the subjects myself. Now, I am thinking again to give CSS a dedicated try. For it, I have also taken online CSS coaching from the World Times Academy, but it was a total waste of time and money as all of the teachers and officers were of the lowest quality. Being a media person, I am in contact with many CSP officers and take guidance for the CSS exam on and off. Some days ago, I met an AC(G) with whom I got a chance to discuss my 2 years of preparation in detail. After listening to me very carefully he told me a fact that as long as I don't stop seeking coaching from a CSP officer, I cannot make it through. He further said, "Being an AC(G), although I qualified CSS with a distinction, I cannot teach you English essays and precis. I can be a competitive officer, but I am not a competitive teacher. The only reason behind the failure of thousand of CSS aspirants is nothing but academies and CSPs' coaching. In my life, I have hardly seen an officer from PAS, Foreign Services, or PSP joining an academy to teach aspirants. Literally, we don't have time to do this. When aspirants will accept this fact, they can be able to qualify CSS. The CSS exam is based on written expressions, and you can only qualify when you will be able to express your opinions fluently, coherently, and logically. Writing is crucial for CSS. You must read good English grammar books and find a mentor who can check your write-ups daily. You must develop a good vocabulary as vocabulary is the only essential part that enables your writing more effective and more expressive."
After listening to him, I concluded that I haven't only wasted some of my previous years but also lost a lot of money in CSS pursuit. Currently, I am working in a reputed news channel and also have taught in Beacon House School in Lahore, but I am still unable to express what I mean. I am new here, can anybody guide me on how to prepare for the essay and precis papers?

It is indeed a good post having proper guidance. The ACG has given you the right direction. As per my experience, a CSP officer has neither the capacity nor the time to make aspirants prepare for their competitive exams. A competitive aspirant needs proper attention, coaching, guidance, and continuous evaluation for their write-ups. To me, if you follow his, ACG, guidance, you can qualify for this prestigious exam.
When I was preparing for CSS in 2018, I did the same as you did. I wasted many of the months while running after CSPs. I also went to the World Times Academy and KIPS Academy in Lahore, but it was the worst experience I had ever had in my life. These academies just showcase CSPs to drag the maximum money out from the aspirants, especially those aspirants who are preparing for the first time. Otherwise, I have never seen a person taking coaching from CSPs or academies for their second and third attempts.
Well, coming towards your question regarding books, to be very honest with you, I have crammed and practiced almost 7 English grammar books from Wren & Martin (intermediate level) to Murphy (advanced level), but I remained unable to write like writers of the Guardian, Diplomat, and Forbes. Consequently, I came to know that only an expert English grammar teacher could help me out. Although I joined many teachers for learning English before qualifying for exams, 2 of them became my favorite.
One is Sir Syed Kazim Ali and the second is Sir Razi Abidi. Both of the teachers are Pakistan's top English language teachers. When it comes to learning English grammar, writing, vocabulary, presenting your own opinions, blogging, precis, and essay writing, Sir Syed Kazim Ali has no equal. After the recommendation of a senior CSP, I joined Sir Razi Abidi, I learned a lot from Sir Razi Abidi, it is without any doubt that Sir Razi Abidi is the pioneer one for CSS Essay paper. After taking the entire session, although I learned the way how to write an essay, the way I learned from Sir Syed Kazim Ali was very effective. If you want to improve your writing skills, you must find either of them. Other than them, rest all academies, CSPs, and teachers are either don't know the English language or don't know how to make a student learn a language from basic to advanced level.
It took me more or less 6 months to take my write-ups to the next level. To become a fluent, confident writer. What you need to do is to work on your grammar and tenses, especially sentence structures - which are not even written or explained in any grammar book. As far as, the essay paper of the CSS exam is concerned, error-free writing is critical. Writing is the primary base upon which a competitive aspirant's preparation, opinion, and intellect are judged not only in the CSS exam but also in the workplace and the community.
Here is the comparison between both the teachers.
Sir Razi Abidi is the best choice for those who just want to pass Essay. Whereas, Sir Syed Kazim Ali is the best choice for those who don't only pass essay and precis papers but also want to write his thoughts fluently and confidently in all papers. As compared to Sir Razi Abidi, Sir Syed Kazim Ali gives much time to his students if he agrees to teach. Sir Razi Abidi is available for all students who come to him, but Sir Syed Kazim Ali teaches only limited students as he is an advanced English grammar teacher at the international level. Sir Razi Abidi is an aged, polite, and experienced person. Sir Syed Kazim Ali is young, energetic, and fully equipped with English language teaching techniques, and he is strict and never let any student remain in his class if he scores less then 70%. Sir Razi Abidi teaches in Lahore at his place. Sir Kazim Ali teaches online. Sir Razi Abidi teaches batch, not individual coaching. On the other hand, if you want individual coaching, you can have it from Sir Kazim Ali. As far as the fees are concerned, Sir Razi Abidi takes around 5 to 7 thousand per month; whereas, Sir Syed Kazim Ali is much expensive in this regard. If you want to an intensive English learning coaching then Sir Syed Kazim is the best option without any doubt. But if you want to learn techniques of essay writing then Sir Razi Abidi is the best option.

You are absolutely right. Academies are a waste of time. They use a "one size fits all" formula for each and every student. Academies are in place to make money off aspirant's ignorance and utter desperation. The sooner aspirants learn that CSS is an individualistic journey, the more chances they will have of properly utilizing their time and efforts.
For you, I would suggest a complete revamp of your thought process regarding CSS. Get rid of what academies and other people said to you and start afresh.
Study the syllabus, choose your optional subjects (those that you can spend 6 or so months with, otherwise you will end up hating everything), find relevant FPSC recommended books and get cracking.
For English, read. If you are aware of the basic rules of Grammar, and you understand basic rules of Precis Writing, Translation, and Comprehension, then you only need practice.
Choose any book you prefer but with the intent of practicing not cramming. Believe me it takes 10 days of dedicated practice to satisfactorily cover the English Precis and Composition paper.
Read newspapers, current affairs magazines and books. Practice writing. Develop your own writing style. Examiners don't need reproduced info in the paper. They seek originality. You give them originality, they give you good marks.
I will share my first CSS journey to motivate you. I did not practice Essay writing once. I just practiced making outlines and focused on reducing the time it took me to make an outline. The first time I wrote an essay was in my CSS exam. I scored 45 in my first attempt.
For precis, I just practiced for a couple of days, albeit extensively, and looked over some idioms and difficult words. I scored 70.
However, if I suggested the same to you I would be completely foolish. The reason is that you are a different person. Your CSS journey is your own, not mine or any academy's. You decide how you want to tackle it.
The only key to the English Essay exam is to make sure your essay has relevant facts, figures, quotes and a solid argument. I only wrote 12 pages and got 45. People write in excess of 20 pages and still fail.
Quality not Quantity.
For Precis exam, practice, practice, and practice. Go through the syllabus, revise Grammatical rules and solve as many past papers as you can.
Don't overburden yourself.

I hope I answered some of your questions.

It is one of the best threads I have ever read at the CSS-forum. First of all, I would like to guide you, don't even bother about the words of an officer, including me, because the more you will be seeking guidance, the more you become astounded. A good English grammar book is enough to prepare for the CSS essay paper, but a good teacher has no paralel. A book can only teach you rules; on the other hand a good teacher makes you write books. Although I couldn't qualify CSS exam just because of Gender Studies, I scored attractive marks in the essay and precis papers. As you have mentioned that you have scored 658 marks and English papers hindered your success, you just need to get coaching from a good English teacher in your area. Don't need to waste your time at css-forum and other social media, especially Facebook groups and pages. They are full of advertisment and distracting aspirants from their real motives. Well, to me, Sir Syed Kazim Ali is one of the best English teacher for the CSS essay and precis papers. He was the person who put me on the right direction and helped me cracking essay and precis papers. Let me try my level best to write whatever I have been taught by Sir Syed Kazim Ali regarding the CSS essay.
The Essay Paper is one of the 12 papers in the Civil Superior Services exam in Pakistan. In this paper, you will have to write an essay with a word count of up to 2,400. It is not about the pages, as written by someone above in a comment, rather it is all about the quality and the completeness. In your essay paper, you will have to select one topic from a choice of 10 topics. The Essay Paper is for a total of 100 marks. You would have read and seen many articles, answers, videos, suggestions on the internet, especially on Facebook where almost all the low-quality officers or academies are busy showcasing themselves to grab the maximum number of innocent aspirants, on how to prepare for the essay paper in the CSS exam. Let me tell you how to write an essay for the CSS exam first, and then the book or the person(s) you should consult.
All the steps that I am going to discuss here, are the words of Sir Syed Kazim Ali. And I don't want to take the credit of these words. A good officer is a person who always appreciates his mentors, teachers, and books he went for to qualify the exam.

How to write the essay for the CSS exam by Sir Syed Kazim Ali?
Give the topics a thorough read
This is the foremost important step before start attempting an essay. You will have to choose one out of 10 topics. While deciding your topic, make sure you know most about that topic. What you need not select:
Never choose a topic at once. Give the topics a thorough read and analysis.
Never choose a controversial topic such as feminism.
Never choose a proverb, like Too many of us, are not living our dreams because we are living our fears or Let there be more light at the corridors of worship places, unless you have a command over the topic and the English grammar.

Take some time to brainstorm about the topic
After you have decided on your topic, you should not start attempting the essay straight away. Take some time to brainstorm about the topic. Draw a circle at the last page of your answer sheet and write your topic inside the circle. Now, try collecting your thoughts and writing all of the valid points you have inside your mind. When you are done, now try arranging all your points in a logical and correct sequence. For example, you are writing about Pak-China relationship, you need to write the historical background, some facts, and events that initiated the relationship.
Why this practice is important. It will take you to the safe-side because if your logical sequence is disturbed, your paper is disturbed too. Therefore, your rough draft helps you write logically and coherently. Once you have written all the points logically on a rough paper, you can start writing the essay - start with the outline.
According to Sir Syed Kazim Ali, While writing, you must adhere to a good structure and not commit spelling, grammar, tense, and syntax mistakes. The structure of a good essay is as follows (it is just a sample):
Introduction (Always includes the topic sentence, as the topic sentence is the fate driver. Your introduction manifests your success or failure.)
Historical background
Some main problems or issues about the decided topic
Current scenario/situation/condition related to the decided topic
Logical aspects (can be positive and negative)
Obstacles (that hinder the relationship)
Way forward/reforms/suggestions
Critical analysis of the given topic (this is the backbone of an essay and help you pass the essay paper easily)
Conclusion
If your essay paper has the following, your marks will be outstanding.
Quotations/proverbs/sayings/metaphors/smilies that are relevant to the topic.
Current government policies and plans about the topic.
Some facts based on numbers (Remember, they must be accurate otherwise don’t need to include them).
Some important points you should remember.
Never use the personal pronouns - I, we, and you. (It will end your game at once)
Never use high-frequency words from GRE, GMAT, etc. vocabulary. (High-frequency words are disregarded by the examiner because an essay is an explanation of your thoughts regarding the particular topic).
Never get personal in your essay. (Don't need to mention names of political people)
Don't be biased, always take a moderate stance.
Never criticize the government excessively.
Always try to show a balanced picture to your examiner, even though the topic is provocative.
Don't write utopian reforms/suggestions/solutions.
Keep in mind you are a future officer, not a journalist!
Last but not least, keep it in your mind that you are a future officer, not a sub-ordinate.

Thank you. As you have claimed that you have scored 70 in the essay paper, I must request you let me see your marks sheet, please. Because your reply has many grammatical and structural mistakes, I wonder how you managed to score 70 in the essay. I have mentioned a couple of mistakes that I found in just 4 sentences. If you had scored 70 with these many mistakes, FPSC could have awarded me more than 90.

You are absolutely right (When something is "right", there is no need to say absolutely right.) Academies are a waste of time. They use a "one size fits all" formula for each and every student. (kindly, use either "each" or "every", as using both each and every is a redundancy error.) Academies are in place to make money off (make off is a phrasal verb that means to leave a place quickly) aspirant's ignorance and utter desperation. The sooner aspirants learn that CSS is an individualistic (It is a wrong selection of the word, kindly, write individual) journey, the more chances they will have of properly utilizing their time and efforts.

I agree to what you say. Academies pay attention only one week or so and then drag aspirants 2 to 3 months deliberately. Well, my suggestions:
1. Academies provide you only way; its upto you how you go ahead
2. Your score is good, i do not think your writing expression will be poor.
3. Just reading will not help you unless you practice. So, when you read dawn editorial, try to summarize it in your own words
4. Also, try to follow your favourite author's style. I, for instance, like Nadeem Farooq Paracha.
5. If suitable, you can write letters to editors. Since, you are a part of media, it wont be difficult for you. This practice can be helpfu in improving expression. Atleast, i can say it for myself
6. For precis paper, past papers are helpful. Atleast, you should cover vocab, idioms, pair of words from past papers. They can help you cover half of your paper, as they keep on repeating. Precis, composition and translation part require rigorous practice.
7. Essay is everyone's dilemma. A lot of material has been already shared on this forum, you can take it for guidance. To me, no book is going to help you in this paper, except your own practice. Others will guide you properly regarding essay. It would be better if you quote here Your attempted Essay. Just outline and intro. Let 's see what response you get from the memebers. Hope you get it.

Correction: He secured 70 marks in precis paper not essay
Secondly, You are absolutely right. This sentence is correct. Absolutely is an adverb, and is modifying adjective right. I do not think this sentence is wrong. If so, why we use, i am quite well? Please correct me if i am wrong.

Lol, it looks like all the accounts praising these teachers (Abidi and Kazimi) have been made recently and all of their previous posts are marketing posts for these two teachers. I can bet that these accounts are fake and opened for the very purpose of luring more students to take classes from the same teachers.

I didn't know that I was being examined and by a person who is woefully egotistic and didn't even bother to read my comment carefully.
Nida Rizvi, you wanted help and I offered it to you. If you are offended by my marks or by how I can structure a sentence in ways you can't even dream of, then there is nothing I can do about it.
This is precisely why you failed and I passed English.

I don't know about the mentioned teachers, but I have heard a lot of them by many seniors. Well, what I personally think is that everybody should have the right to tell whatever he went through while preparing for the CSS exam. By insulting them or criticizing their feedbacks, we can get nothing in return. That is the sole reason behind the maximum number of failure of students. Because who are serious aspirants or have qualified they stop commenting and guiding beginners just because of the people like Siddiquiali, no offense, please. It is, M.A, a very interesting thread. The way some members explained the things really helped me a lot. Especially, thank you Mahnoor Asif, and Muhammadwd. Mahnoor, I have a request that whatever you have learned from your teacher kindly keep sharing with us.
If I get no offense in return, I must summarize my today's learning at cssforum. I was really confused and didn't have any sort of guidance, so I joined the forum today after being asked by one of my university teachers, name Mam, Khizra (she is not promoting CSS forum in class - sorry I mentioned it here because It would be painful for me if anybody tries to say even a single word against my mam). She asked me to visit cssforum for guidance and you will find three types of people there. And I am amazed whatever she told, I have seen here at multiple threads. Three types of people are the following:
At css forum, some members are altruist, they love participating in a thread and try helping juniors or fresh aspirants with their experience and knowledge, so that a beginner, like me, don't commit the same mistakes they did. Such people at cssforum are really helpful. I think if we listen to them, we can prepare ourselves by wasting nothing. In this thread, Sheikh Arham, Muhammadwd, Mahnoor Asif, and Innocent Hafeez are the people who didn't try to guide well but also explained the way of preparation. Thank you all guys.
Some are sadists. They derive pleasure by inflicting pain on other senior or junior fellows. They must be avoided because they are the people who actually waste our time. In this thread, Siddiquiali is the person who should be avoided.
Some are confused. They are confused either of their failure or of misguidance. In this post, Nida Rizvi is the person who is even guided by an AGC and still seeking guidance. I must suggest you seek guidance from the same person who told you this.