Dear Afzal, congrats on your success and best wishes for the remaining stages.

Please go through this thread thoroughly and then if you find difficulty in any specific area, feel free to post your query. In the next few posts, I will try to cover other areas for psych/ viva as well.

The mathematical part consists of simple sequence, series, proportion and things like this, e.g. 'the 5% of the two third of half of square of 12 is ___'. or what comes after '2, 6, 12, 20, 30, ___'.
These questions are MCQ type. You can go through some IQ tests books available in the market (ISSB type) to get yourself comfortable with these.

Your preferred group/ service:

A very important question can be about your preferred group/ service. Why do you wish to join it? How much do you know about it? Its ranks and posts, etc. You should sort out all such details about your preferred group. You should be able to answer such questions like, what will you do in that job? What are the main issues of that field and how do you plan to handle them? And so on. For example, a person opting for DMG should have a clear idea of the devolution plan and duties of a DDO/ AC. Those going for PSP should know about Police Order 2002 and duties of ASP/ SDPO etc. Selecting people from your preferred groups as role models can be helpful, and also their history and achievements can give you motivation and plan of action for your field. Knowing the environemnt is also essential for you, which, if you don't have a clear idea about, can go against you.

Optional Subjects:

You should also go through your optional subjects before your psychological/ interview, as they may ask you something from those. Also the reason of your subject selection can be asked. For instance, a question I heard in this regard was like, ‘All your optional subjects do not have any link with your previous qualifications, why?’ One should be able to answer such questions as well.

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Long Live my Homeland

Regarding your personality traits, you may work on the important ones thoroughly e.g. you are social or isolated, religious or secular, conservative or liberal, talkative or silent, like mingling or remain reserved, like to work in a team or solo, you feel comfortable working inside your office or moving around etc. This preparation helps you a lot when you are going through the personality tests in psychological test (Day-1). Similar questions are asked several times from different angles to judge whether your response remains same or not. So the best strategy for this type of questions is to remain natural about yourself.

Favorite Books / Personalities:

This is another important task in psychological test. You should have read the books and also some reviews on those thoroughly. It is very good if your books/ personalities link with the other things in your profile e.g. your qualification, professional field, preferred group, hobbies/ area of interest, aims in life etc. You must study about the life history of those personalities to answer the panel’s questions. Sometimes they also ask you to mention a specific number of books/personalities. Preparing for 3 books and personalities is fine.

Your aims / inspirations in life:
You are sometimes asked to mention your aim in life other than CSS. You should be able to tell them something in that area too. Generally speaking, it’s always necessary to have a plan-B and at that moment you have to reveal that on the paper. For example, apart from CSS you plan to go abroad for higher studies and do something in your relevant field for your people.

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Long Live my Homeland

Salam Rao Sahib
I am Wakeel Ahmed Rao from Islamabad. I am preparing for CSS 2010. I am going to opt Journalism, Agriculture and Urdu. If u can help me in getting helpful material (ntoes etc) in this regard, I shall be very thankfull to u for this. Moreover, somedays ago i find your post about 22 lectures on mass comm but at that time i had no USB and now i am unable to find it again. please send me if u can as soon as possible.

Regards

Group Discussion:

This is a very important task carried out on Day-2 of Psychological Test.

Candidates are given two topics, one each in Urdu and English, and they are asked to have a group discussion. The topics can be related to current affairs, social or political issues and are general in nature. Just after the psychologist announces the topic you are supposed to start the discussion. Please keep this in your mind that the panel sitting in front of you is noticing each and every word and movement of yours. Keep all the etiquettes of public speaking in mind. If you understand the topic clearly and you think you have a point to say then you can start the discussion. But in my own opinion speaking second or third gives you time to think and gather some convincing points on the topic. If you don't get a chance to speak during the first couple of minutes, don't get impatient. The time is enough that almost all the members get at least a couple of turns to speak. Throwing your weight in favor or against the topic does not make any difference as long as you remain logical and realistic. Remember, you don’t have to prove yourself to be a good speaker only; you must act like a good listener too. A good listener always listens to others’ points carefully and attentively. Then you may agree or disagree with the other candidate’s point of view. But do it gracefully. Disagreeing with someone is not a fault, but sometimes one’s way of expressing disagreement makes it seem like that. Abstain from passing indecent comments on anyone's views, no matter how awkward they are. Never point a finger towards anyone. Interrupting others is not good, you can excuse if you do so unintentionally. If you speak twice or thrice during the discussion being logical I think it’s enough for your performance. If you are being interrupted, you can excuse and continue speaking by saying ‘please, let me complete my point’. Again if you are interrupted indecently, please don’t reply in the same token. Because, in the first instance this is a negative move for the other person, but if you also do like that, it goes against you as well. If the discussion goes away from the main topic, you can always draw your groups’ attention to the core issue by saying ‘gentlemen, I think we’ve got away from our topic’. In the end one of the members can conclude the discussion by summarizing the various points discussed. The conclusion must be impartial and comprehensive. When the time finishes they ring a bell to make you realize that.

The topics of our discussion were:

'Urdu'

Hukoomat, Adlia ki bahali ki thereek ki nakami ki zimmaydaar hay

<Remember, it was October 2008 and this statement wasn't totally unfair at that time>

'English'

People are responsible for the water shortage in our country

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Long Live my Homeland

Command Task:

This is another very important task on the Psychological Test Day-2.

Each of the members is given a file that contains a paper describing the situation that you are in, your role and the requirements. There is another blank paper for you to note points for your task.

For explanation purpose, I describe here the task I received:

"Sectarian militancy is on the rise in the country. It has caused the loss of lives of many civilians. Now it has reached to such an extent that even the country’s solidarity is at stake. The Madressahs are involved in increasing militancy and they are getting funds and weapons/ ammunitions from foreign donors. Many committees have been made for this purpose but in vain.

Being a member of the Law enforcement agencies, call a meeting and devise strategy to deal with this situation".

After receiving these files all candidates are given 15 minutes to work on their respective command tasks. Then one after another all candidates come forward, sit on the presiding chair and hold a meeting. In that meeting you have to introduce yourself, e.g. ‘I have called this meeting in the capacity of Secretary Health. The purpose of this meeting is that _ _ _’.

After describing them the situation you will invite their suggestions. After getting everyone’s suggestion you will give a final conclusion as to how you will deal with the situation in question.

__________________
Long Live my Homeland

From ur description I understand u were to preside the meeting but what were the roles of other participants of the meeting?
by whom their role, if any, is determined?
were there seperate command tasks for every candidate?
further this command task thing is a test of the leader only or other group members also have to join in?
if they have to join in whether they r also evaluated or not for their active or inactive participation?

Hats off to you dear Arif Rao!

You have done exceptionally well by guiding eloquently and remarkably well.
A very fruitful and useful tips, will definitely help us out in preparing the Psychological Test and Interview.

Regards.

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Sweat in peace will lessen the blood in war.

AOA.

I second to maawan............
really brilliant job....................

keep it up....well done

There are separate and different command tasks for every candidate. In the command task role is only assigned to the one who is supposed to preside the meeting. The one who presides, can assign roles to others if he/she finds that suitable. I didn't assign roles to my colleagues. I just invited their suggestions without assigning them any role, because I think it is easier for the participants to give their input that way. They would be able to give their natural suggestion. But that was my own practice, people can do otherwise.
So, everyone has to preside his/her own command task, and then has to sit as a member and give input during others' tasks. Being attentive and giving logical suggestions is what you should do during others' tasks.

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Long Live my Homeland