How to study efficiently?
 

Why many people who spend nights in studying over the years become fail in all attempts??

Why there are many who pass CSS in single attempt with preparation of less than 4 months????

Is it true???? Answer is yes because they know how to use time smartly, and they use some tactics for this purpose.

Do you know the tactics of studying efficiently???

1. Study qualitatively not quantitatively.

Studying 10 topics and not getting a single word is much better than covering 1 topic, But you should know and in-depth understanding of what you have learnt in that 1 topic. And you must be able to reproduce and express it in your own words.

2. Study 3-4 hours with full concentration.

Total Time of study does not matter but it matters the topic you covered in how much time.
Some people will cover in 2 or less hours with paying full concentration, and some will cover the same topic in 10 hours with doing lot of other stuff, i.e., doing text, singing songs, gossiping, and taking unusual breaks.

3. Two step study

Step1. Select the main desired topics, sub, topics you have will to cover, their relevance and up to what extent you have give time.
Step2. Thoroughly studying of selected topics, sub topics, and desired details.

4. Time management

Each subject should be given time. You should know what are topics of each subject that you have to cover from the first day when you start preparation.
For example if you are have left with 4 months(4*30=120 days) in exams for 12 subjects then it simply means that you have 10 days left for each subject.
And in those 10 days you can cover 15-20 major topics of 1 subject. It depends on your mind efficiency and its capability to grasp those 15-20 most important topics you will have to cover/study.
Many people just focus on essay and précis, its ok but other things are there that demand time.
One of my friends was failed in Islamic studies and his rest of all subjects were passed in CE-14.
you have to give time to each subject according to the time required and time left in exams.

Obviously there are lots of other factors those effects on one perception while studying it includes on education background, grooming and environment, but these are major factors that influence while learning.

Smart Studying is the way forward!
 

Preparation for CSS Exam is relative to each aspirant in his/her own way. Some students take much more time like 10 months to 1 year to fully cover the entire syllabus while others as you point out do in a matter of few months. It all depends on one's own background in mandatory and optional subjects and his command over their syllabus. An aspirant who has complete mastery over English at all levels find it much easier to cover entire syllabus in a much lesser time because he doesn't have to spend laboring hours on preparation of English Precise and Essay. Similarly a candidate who's weak in English has to start everything from scratch and it'll take much more time to get mastery over his English comprehension because it is the cornerstone of CSS preparation.

In the end it all comes down to your intelligence and your mental abilities to cope with your study scheme by consuming time efficiently and effectively, devising short term and long term goals and objectives and then acting upon and spending time accordingly. Most hard working and laborious individuals fail to qualify because they don't have the right mental approach towards the test and waste their time unnecessarily. Smart studying is the right way of preparation for CSS and you should be able to give proper time to each subject in the day or during the course of a week.

Cramming is an utter waste of energies and time plus it'll take you no where, I've tried that and with cramming alone you won't be able to cover a single subject comprehensively but rather deprive yourself of mental and emotional vitality which will lead to stress, fatigue and mental exhaustion eventually resulting in lack of motivation and will to study, hence it must be avoided.