A-O-A


I have gone through all the posts sent by the worthy members. All the members have discussed the things according to their own experience and ideas. Definitely JISAY AZMAYA USI PAI AITBAR HAI. All has given the valuable tips for improving the English. English language can b improved by writing,reading,speaking,listening.
All the tips are accepted by the members but the the objection over watching movies still prevails.

Dear it depends upon the person himself, whether he wants to get benefit of learning English or he watches only for fun! As I have studied in few English language centres and they use cassettes, cds, movies etc for teaching their students.wotever knowledge I got from few sources abt learning English through movies/English programmes/bbc,I will mention that in the end so plz go through that.
It is not only accent,but by watching movies one can improve vaocab, structure, ideoms, phrases, et c.watching historical movies one can improve knowledge aswel along with language. I suggest that if one watches any movie, for an hour,having good story than he can improve his language aswel.
It is not neccessary only movie but one can watch differnet english programmes about general knowledge or current affairs, bbc world etc. From watching movies, the aim is listening english. And by listening one can improve, no doubt.
Dear who says that one should over rule the English grammer? Wotever posts are sent by the all worthy members, they all have mentioned first the name of English grammer book.
By reading that grammar book, u need not to follow any one who avoid grammar in speaking. only it is said that in spoken there is little bit flexibility. And every one have mentioned the grammar book so by that v can improve a lot. Few worthy members have mentioned all the sources through which one can improve language.
According my experience one must follow all the sources through which he can improve his language. Now lets discuss that how one can improve language by watching movies/bbs/English programmes etc

Learning English by watching movies/BBC/english programmes
BY listening BBC u can not only improve ur english language but current affairs, world knoledge etc aswel. So it is also advisable to listen the bbc.
watching English movies is favourite practicing tool, the most entertaining and an almost inexhaustible resource. Clearly there are enormous benefits from watching English movies on a daily basis. First you get lots of correct English sentences into your head. Then you can imitate them and you can make your own sentences. That is why watching movies, just like reading books, is such a great way to learn English. You can learn more about how getting correct sentences into your head improves your English. learn what words they use and how they say these words. Movies let you improve your pronunciation, not only grammar and vocabulary. If you are playing the movie from computer CD or DVD that is more beneficial because you can stop it whenever you don't understand a sentence. You can then play the sentence many times and perhaps you'll be able to understand all the words in the sentence. Pay attention to interesting things: new words,ideoms, phrases, and grammar structures. You can stop the movie to look up difficult words. You can also write down all the interesting sentences, and look them up later. But do use your dictionary.
In the I would say that every one has right to express his vws according to his/her own experience.And it is requested to all that please do not criticise any member, do not take any thing personal and do not make an issue of a little thing otherwise that would confuse the question which was asked. The question is how to improve english language.
regards

1. Reading newspaper is a must. To get more advantage I suggest one should have a World Map and Pakistan Map (A1 size, easliy available from book stores) placed in the study room. Whenever you read a news about a city/ country/ region, spot that on the map. This way one can get well versed with the geography in general and also it develops more interest in the happenings of the country and the world over.

2. Have a diary or register and divide it into portions and entitle them to major contemporary issues or your subjects or w.r.to regions and countries, and mark important events, points, quotes from the newspapers and from several current affairs resources e.g. TV channels, magazines, journals etc. This way, after a few months, you will be having adequate and up-to-date material on all important issues.

3. Remember: "Sharing enhances knowledge". Always try to share your views and discuss with your peers and seniors to get different opinions and perspectives related to an issue. Always keep your mind open for new thoughts and new dimensions of things happening around you.

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Long Live my Homeland

1. Don't keep on piling up books which are of no use for the exam. Select the appropriate books after consultation with freinds or after searching the forum. Use 2,3 books per subject maximum. Try to concentrate on making notes.

2. I would advise you people to read newspaper at that time when you feel tired and look to relax. Newspaper reading should be confined to 2 hours daily.

3. Vocabulary has to be enhanced at any cost. Vocabulary would help you everywhere, in essay, precis, reading newspaper, reading books. Vocabulary is the foundation on which your success depends. Its necessary to write down any new words you find in the newspaper in a seperate copy and try to master those words.

4. Contemporary affairs should be prepared near the exams so that everything can be covered upto that time.

5. For English grammar, go through Wren and Martin once. That would help a lot. Daily practice is must for grammar.

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CSS 2009, 2010, 2011 Qualifier

Third general aspect is your “general study”. General study for css candidates is beneficial in many respects. It helps in essay, islamiyat, Pakistan affairs, current affairs, in everyday science, and in many other optional subjects. Scope of general studies is not limited to any particular subject but it is spanned over many fields of interests. For candidates who are confused that they are already burdened with so many subjects for preparation ,how can they read these general books. Well, it is upto them to decide this. I have found that general study broadens your horizon of understanding about complex concepts.
For general study, I would like to focuss on few special areas.
1. Remember atleast 150 quotes, sayings. It will help you in essay and expansion of passages.
2. remember atleast 30 good poems by classic writers. This fact is also highlighted by Topper of 2008 lala ji. Good place for placement of relevant poem is at the beginning or end of essay.
3. it is my suggestions to all aspirants to read political thought of political science. It will help you in understanding complex philosophical issues concerning state system, how governmental systems have emerged. It will also make your mind a bit creative. You cud argue with existing theories of political thoughts to critique a point effectively in essay.
4. Try to read books of general intrest superficially with a keen eye of observation.

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There are only four questions of value in life, Don Octavio: What is sacred? Of what is spirit made? What is worth living for? What is worth dying for? The answer to each is only love."
Don Juan DeMarco(Johnny Depp), in Don Juan DeMarco

IN particular aspects, a candidate should try in the first place to pass compulsory subjects. Most of the candidates, as much as, ninety percent are out of the game on the very first day of their exam.. in first two papers. that is english essay and composition. Therefore, special endevours are to be specified in this direction. one's essay skills should be perfected well before time. and particular areas of composition should be prepared whole-heartedly by an aspirant if he wishes to pass it.
There is an old saying which is equally worth mentioning today : the best way to write an essay is to 'write it' I think, no one can deny incremental effects of practice. An adage ,'' Practice makes men perfect'' is only half true because if practice makes man perfect and no body is perfect then why practise? ACtually , it is only Right practice that makes you perfect. Right practise should be learned, understood, internalized. it is said that science is based upon obsrvation, of which material are found in laboratory where hypothesis are tested before they become laws. in the case of art, it needs to be practised. you must not only practise every day. but also stay vigilant over what you write. Read your material as write. Note any mistakes in your paragraph. any spelling error, any vague sentence, any meaningless extravagant sentence should be obiliterated immediately. Read your essay after finishing it as you would read essays of your friend ie with a critical look. because there is always room for improvement.
in css exam you are required to write for long three hours. it is indeed test of your ultimate skills. i mean to say, how can one write for long three hours impromptu ? Mark twain once said, '' to prepare impromptu speech, you atleast need three days'' so the crux of the matter is, on the face of it, a thing may seem effortless, yet behind it,if you discover there is arduous work of craftsman. My dear brothers, therefore, put your efforts in this direction. Please do not get deluded that if your english is good, you will necessarily write a good essay. it is not always the case. and if this assumption of yours proved wrong on the exam day, then you will surely 'fail'
Essay skills include narrative, descriptive, argumentative, persuasive.. prepare each of these skills accordingly. You will find essay of one description or another in your paper. css essay question range from religion, to current affairs, to philosophy and quotational. memorize alot of relevant quotations. maintain a diary for this purpose.
Secondly, get your essays checked by atleast few qualified candidates. who got qualified in essay paper. ask them their ways. if possible, ask them to write one essay for you.
For composition paper, precise is just like ''telling a story of movie of three hours to your friend in five minutes'' you will try to condense it, present only relevant points. if you have understood orginal precise, i m sure you will make out good one for you. befuddled ideas, hazy picture of precis will be composed in the like manner. So, if a person has not understood his precise well, how can he come up with strong 'title' for it? Rules on how to write a good precise are found in most good books. i m just mentioning here how i percieve it.
For comprehension of paragraph, again practise of comprhension will help you. Try to be build your vocabulary. inculcate 3700 words of GRE list. i m sure u will not miss any word in synonmous and antonymous portion, as well as, in comprehension passage.
While attempting a question asked in paragraph. there are many methods assumed by candidates. my method was to give impression to my checker that i have comprehended given paragraph completly. i used to give relevant points in my words starting with how the question is asked.
Do direct indirect from exploring, correction of sentences from exploring. In addition, if you can manage to read 'models' from Toefl book. it will be of much advantage.
Expansion of passage, in this it should be assumed that you understand title of your expansion accurately. because if you will not accurately grasp its essence u wud divert while writing on it.

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There are only four questions of value in life, Don Octavio: What is sacred? Of what is spirit made? What is worth living for? What is worth dying for? The answer to each is only love."
Don Juan DeMarco(Johnny Depp), in Don Juan DeMarco

hi guys
Alot has been discussed and said about different subjects......In view there are many other things which must be taken care of. I will discuss them under following headings.
Remember: i am sharing my personal opinion and observation. With the help of Almighty i did well in examz.

1.UNDERSTANDING URSELF:
You need to understand yourself. ASk what kind of man u r? what is your goal? what you want to do in life? Are you willingly going for css? or there is some sort of external pressure? Knowing oneself is the best way to get maximum work from your body and mind....
Try to explore when your mind works in better way. Some people stdy in morning while others prefer studying at night. So if your mind worls in better way in morning, dont put presure on it at night...

2.STAY AWAY FROM NEGATIVE THOUGHTS:
Keep in mind that negative thoughts or feelings like anger, jealousy, hipocracy ets all affect you mind badly. In fact, they damage your capabilities. Think positively. And when you start stdying remove everything (grief, sadness) from your mind.

3.LAWS OF ATTRACTION:
It is believed that if a man always thinks about his failure,he ultimately fails in his task. Laws of attraction say so. If you will think about positive things and success you will get it.
In other words you have to make your aptitude suitable for particular goal. Wasif Ali Wasif nay bhi yehi kaha tha k insan apni kamyabi ki rah mein khud rukawat ban jata hay because of his thinking and aptitude. So always think about success.

4.CONSCIOUS COMPETENCE LADDER:
To judge ones competence, conscious competence ladder is made. the stages are
a.inconscious incompetence (people in this stage of mental development dont know that they cannot compete)

b.conscious incompetence (people here know that they cannot compete)

c.conscious competence (people having this level of mind know that they can compete)

d. inconscious competence (people at this stage dont know that they can compete,they have hidden abilities)

Css demands you to be at stage 4 which is inconscious competence. you need to develop these skills as most of the questions in css papers are innovative.

5. STUDY TO LEARN AND GAIN:
i remember during my preparation, i reached a point where result had no value for me. I thought that i have gained enough. Css taught me great things. i became very much confident. So dont stdy to pass the exam only. Css gives you great oppurtunity to learn. It broadens your vision. When you will stdy keeping this thing in your mind, you will never get tired....


6.CONTINUOUS WORK:
Css utilizes the memorising and other powers of mind. So be consistent in your work as only consistency polishes your mind. If you work 5 days and in other 2 days, you dont even touch the books, it will cause great harm to previously remembered things. So if you plan to rest at any day, you should stdy for 1 or 2 hours at least.

7. BODY TEMPERATURE And HEALTH:
We are like machines. We work in better environment and temperature. Shift your stdy time to the cooler parts of day. And yes dont create ideal temperature in room. As in ideal temperature you will fell asleep. it should be little bit hotter or prefferably cooler than your ideal temperature.

Ideal temp: simply the temp where people fell asleep.

Take great care of your health. AS healthy body mein he healthy mind hota hay.

These are the things which i followed in my preparation and with the grace of ALLAH i felt no difficulty in exams.....

The tips about the preparation of different subjects will be posted on demand.
My optionals were
Indo-pak history
journalism
sociology
geography.

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Whatever mind can conceive,it can achieve - W.Clement Stone

Thank you very much for your tips. Bhai have you done CSS?
I want to get The tips about the preparation of journalism,sociology but these two subject are unknown for me because I am doing MBA Finance. What you say on this?

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Be great in act, as you have been in thought.
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Thank you for your kind remarks. I’ll share with you how I prepared each subject:

Pakistan Affairs:

•Books consulted: Ikram Rabbani’s Pakistan Affairs and Jehangir Book Depot’s Exam Cram Top 20 Questions for Pakistan Affairs.
•I prepared every topic keeping in mind that I will not exceed 6-7 pages for a single answer. Supposedly Aligarh movement comprised of 7 pages in the book, I highlighted from those 7 pages a total of 2 pages worth of text book material and focused on memorizing it well
•All my answers had an introductory paragraph that did not exceed 5-7 lines but was very rich in content in explaining the concept that was later discussed.
•All questions had sub headings
•With in subheadings, where possible I bulleted each separate point
•At the end there was 7-8 line conclusion, summarizing the impact, advantages or disadvantages of whatever event discussed
•There was no repetition of any point
•My handwriting is normal (neither big nor small), I did not exceed 7 pages for an answer
Originally post by amubarak

@ Almass Rubyy

Well dear this above is not my post. This was posted by qualifier of CE-2008.
Now, I think you must endorse my view in this respect. However, I can not impose my view upon you. But, its morally bound upon you to accept suggestions of a our respected qualifier member of this forum. Neverthleless, you have right either refuse or accept his suggestions. This forum is for the guidance to the css- aspirants. However, yours views are worthy for me. But, one should makes difference on any point. I pray for all members who apperared in CE-2009, May ALLAH successes them. (Amin).
regards
Faisal Ahmed.

aslamalykum.

All members.

I herewith write to inform you that I'm currently working in a Islamic Bank in ops Deptt: . I'm having keen intrest to appear in CSS exam 2010. Besides this, my qualification is MA -Economics by age wise 25 years old. I go to office at 8:45 am, and leave my office at 8:50 pm most days. Please suggest me how much time should I spend for studies, and what is the procedure to improve my english as well.

All senior members are requsted to assit me by providing necessarily information to appear CSS exam 2010.

Thanking you in advance.


JazakAllah.

I Banker.

I was to write something on particular aspects of general knowledge. But, it seems that i participate something in ongoing controversy of how much to write in particular paper. We have several examples from each category. I would like to mention specially name of one of my friend qualifer Waheed Anwar Abro{known out of love in this forum 'janiabro'} He is of the openion that Answers in css papers should be concise,to the point, witty,and relevant. He avoids lengthy answers over terse. it should be to the point.in contrast, one example of a qualifer is Amubark, whose suggestions have been mentioned above by my friend Faisal memon, She used her strategy of 7 paged answer. But, it should be noted that her answers in psychology were to the point. she got more than 150 marks. There is one more qualifer, i have forgot his name, but i read that he wrote only 6 page in whole paper for mercantile law and got more than 80 numbers. Therefore, afterall, who is to be believed? For beginers are in a state of predicament in this matter.
I m nai've in this regard for i m not sure whether or not i wud pass css examination. But, as tortoise i know more about the road that goes to success. Nevertheless, you should blame yourself if my strategies do not work!!

1. Write to the point.

2. Do not just write to the point. Mention some additive facts. Reinforcements, backup, support structures on which your answers will be based.

3. Your mind should be perceptive; you should understand the question, then plan your answer as to what is asked, and what you are supposed to write.

4. your concepts should be clear. Answer should not be in your subconsious. When the answer is in your subconsious you have the feeling that you know the answer, so when you actually get down to answer it, you get too many words to say a single thing. it is obvious that your examiner will get tired of your answer. he needs a break with such extravagant answers which lacks in material, yet it is wordy and nonsensical.

5. Your answer depends upon the question asked, paper attempted, and your state of knowledge about the subject matter. You can not expect to write more than you know,therefore, if you are unsure about the answer write only the parts of which is most understood to you. science subjects demands factual knowledge ,which is limited in scope, requires a particular way to be attempted. arts subjects also require their own parameters. dear friends, do not ever forget that what is the question asked about, and what type of answer examiner is looking for.

6. on the question of whether quality or quantity. i would just ask you a simple question. Can you express something without quantity? To express a thought you need ideas. the problem is peculiar assortment of ideas in proper blocks of your essay or paragraphs, its proper allocation is what is quality. Quality refers also to relevant points. quality also refers to how beautifully you have produced an answer to the questin asked. Whereas, when quality is supplied, it will have supplied quantity. Quantity is ''same material'' for example one liter of water contain one liter of H20 molecules. its quantity is one liter. Whereas, the question'' is water purified of sediments?'' demands quality. quality refers to purity of the thing measured. in our context quality means relevance, and quantity means abundance. i m sure no one will sacrifice one for the other. i hope the matter is pretty much clear.

regards

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There are only four questions of value in life, Don Octavio: What is sacred? Of what is spirit made? What is worth living for? What is worth dying for? The answer to each is only love."
Don Juan DeMarco(Johnny Depp), in Don Juan DeMarco