through others' experiences,i came to following points :

generally:
wrong time management
poor english
lack of in depth study
no experience of 2 papers on daily basis and continuously
follow others blindly
losing confidence
improper guidance
cannot handle pressure
wrong subject selection
relying too much on academies and their notes
not making their own notes
lack of revision during exams(outlines of each question can save time during exams)
coping exams and sleep factor
biggest reasons are poor way of expression and time management

English:
poor expression
weak grammar
improper usage of vocabulary
use of wrong words
not answering essay well
lack of study
weak structure of essay
lack of continuity
weak in precis
idioms,synonyms,pair of words not well prepared
taking english lightly
no practice of writing
preparing essays but not answering according to title of essay
poor guidance in english:most don't have any
errors in english essay are blunders and are never forgiven

majority of aspirants fail in english

Everyday science:
weak background
lack of understanding
poor study
weak concepts
difficult to understand science terms
lack of guidance
taking it lightly
less time given to it
poor book selection
50 mcqs decrease scoring for those who have not studied science before

Current affair:
weak study
depending on notes
weak geographical approach
mcqs part quite tough
lack of different perspectives
opinion based approach
no idea where to start its preparation
too lengthy and difficult to cover whole world
weak expression of english

Pakistan affairs:
poor guidance
one-book study
weak understanding of questions
not writing what is asked
lack of different perspectives
no time of revision during exam
lack of detail study
taking too much stress for this paper


islamiat:
weak knowledge
incorrect usage of ayats and hadiths
wrong translations in urdu or english
generalised approach
not well prepared
depending on 1-2 books
wrong approach in doing paper

mush of css is based on hard work ,proper guidance and correct timing
remaining depends on luck

majority fail in any of 3 subjects: english,islamiat,everyday science
if properly prepared,then only luck can stop one.

generally one does not fail optionals

Dear Deadly Doctor,

I really appreciate your sincere efforts to point out the most common faults and weaknesses that do not let the candidates to pass out CSS Examination.But i want to point only one reason and that is feeling of over confidence and that my overconfident behaviour was the main reason of my failureness in 2009 CSS Examination and i was the victim of that overconfidence that resulted my failureness. Please make me correct if i am wrong.

Best Regards

@raju4u
you are right. i pointed this thing by saying only don't rely much on academies and notes. overconfidence is a problem but very small number of candidates are having this problem.
this overconfidence leads to mismanagement of time and preparation.ultimately one has to suffer at the end.

__________________
Reality is something you rise above.

yes u r right doctor. i appeared in the css exams 2010. iam not satisfied with my examsbecause coz now rely on 2 or 3 books is not possible for css. one must have full knowledge about the things espacially for the paper if indopak history because the paper was v general especially paper 1 of history.

i really appreciate doctor for sharing his vast experience with us about having plenty of problems and hurdles in Css examination,,,i m just very newly motivated by my frnd for it,,i dont knw many abt it but i think that a just study is nt sufficient,,one must kill his wishes for at least 8 or 9 months and just take a corner for preparing him self for,,,,,and once any one being failed,,he must nt b disappoint,Bcoz
(Ghirtay hain shehsawar he maidanyy Jhang mai,,))
(Wo Tiffal kia giray jo ghuitno k ball chalay)))

hi all. my brother said, girtay hain shahsawar hi medan e jang main ,. its right . but my dear brother ! what about hat shahswar jo 2 ya 3 bar gir chukd ho ?? hmm. i mean , jo more 27 ka ho chuka ho aur still effort, effort, n effort ...... any body.. plz reply. Regards.

:My dear friends actually sucess depend upon following facters.
A) Hardwork
B) Sincerity
C) Interest
D) Time management
E) Concertraction
F) Planning
G) Discussion and conversation

@ Deadly Doctor

I am rephrasing your lines with some changes to elaborate it further.

Lack aptitude

There are many candidates who actually lack aptitude but go for it. For CSS one has to grow the thirst of knowledge to its heights. There are some basic reasons due to which many of the students appear in the CSS exam. Some of them are listed below:

1. For the wish of their parents
2. For following the example of some relative who is a CSP
3. Being over-confident because some of their mates or friends has said that you cannot qualify CSS
4. By being impressed for the perks and previliges a CSP owes in our society

There are many other reasons similar to these, such candidates lack aptitude and go for CSS on the basis of motivation that alone is insufficient to get the desired result. In short to qualify CSS is the dream as Albert Einstein said,

• "Dream is not something that you see while sleeping rather it is something that don't let you sleep"

Poor Time Management

It is one of the biggest reason for failure in CSS. Poor time management before and during the exam brings failure to many. There are the students who poorly planned their preparation strategy and donot realize their strengths and weaknesses well before time. I have seen many students who score just ordinary marks in the subjects, were their strength just for poor time management before exams. They keep on planning for setting aside some time for said subjects but couldnt manage it so everytime make themselves believe that no problem we are so good in it thus it wont create any trouble, but it brings finally. There are thousands of examples where students attempt only 3 descriptive questions because they went into extra details without realizing the importance of attempting all four questions. So time management is most important for schematic preparation and well planned approach for attempting papers.


Weak Nerves

To me CSS is the test of your nerves as well. One has to be iron nerved during preparation and exams. Students who go for History of Indo-Pak along with Journalism and Sociology has real tough time caz they have to appear in 10 consecutive papers mean from Saturday to Thursday and its really nerve breaking. Your fingers will stiff, shoulder muscles will swell and above all sleeplessness will cause bad stomach and body pains. Its only for those having weak nerves while those have trained themselves well before time go through it smoothly. In a report published by FPSC enumerated that highest ratio of qualifying CSS is among Dr, and Engineers and the simple reason is strong nerves and excellent time management that they learn during their course of studies.

Improper Guidelines

Many of the students lack guidance thus they fell prey to failure. There are very few competent people available to guide for CSS. It is hard to find a person who has gone through this iron test and knows how this jinnie should be bottled. I have seen many of the students while first go to academy dont even know how many papers they have to appear? and what should be the selection. With such poor knowledge they join academies, pay handsome money and during their 3 months, only realize that CSS is a hard nut to crack. They make unmatched subject selection due to their little knowledge. I have seen students selecting certain subjects due to following common reasons;

1. Academy offers specific subjects so they go for them
2. Some friend / relative / cousin had suggested because one of their friend qualified CSS with same selection

This kind of negligence becomes a hurdle in their way. While I went for CSS a teacher said to me while selecting subjects keep in mind following do's and dont's;

Do's

1. Subject that pleases you
2. Subject you have background knowledge
3. Subject you ever have read during your academic years
4. Must go through the syllabus outlines, recommended books, past papers

Dont's

1. Choose subjects randomly
2. Select on the basis of suggestions of others
3. Select because it is said to be highly scoring

His Do's and Dont's really proved effective during last few years.

Lack of Personal Effort

There are very few students who make personal effort for preparing CSS and those who make, earn its benifit. Those who rely upon ready-made notes, written material available in the form of Dogar's, Jahangir's and Ilmi's books couldnt score well because their answer lacks novelty and personal effort. Such material is produced by almost 60% of the candidates thus examiner score them so low.

Their are the subjects that need in-depth study like EDS, Current Affairs and Pak Affairs so aspirants has to make concerted efforts to grasp the concepts. In Pakistan Bloom's Taxonomy is applied in very few fields and CSS is one among them where you have to complete all 6 steps before sitting in the exam.

Weak general expression

Its another weakness that is intolerable for the CSS examiner. Science students usually have weak expression due to the nature of their academic background. Although they know well how to attempt the paper and what should be the course of action, how material has to be related to the topic. When we say general expression we mean good command of english language and its grammatics.

__________________
"When Allah leads you to the edge of the cliff, Trust Him Fully, only 1 of 2 things will happen either He will catch you when you fall or He will teach you how to fly"

thanx for the valuable analysis....

i want to have ur opinion about the DONTs that u have mentioned.Actually i appeared twice with political science as optional subject.i have interest in it but most people are advising me to change it with some scoring subject.No doubt it is generally a low scoring subject but the problem is that i have read it for 2 years now and changing it with another subject will again require putting a lot of effort..

Well i may feel comfortable with pol-science but do you think it is worth a try in my last attempt..

Desperate first of all be a positive person and never use the words like desperate, hopeless, panic for your identity. As you are preparing for CSS and you must know that it has a very important component that is psychological test so, you have to shape yourself as a balanced personality.

Now come to your question; you have to keep few things in your mind before changing your subject.

1. How much you scored in your last 2 attempts?
   
2. Was it a low scoring subject for you although your preparation was excellent.
   
3. 1st January 2011 is the tentative date for upcoming CSS exam so do you find yourself able to prepare a new subject and then wait for luck to help you out?
   
4. How much chances are there that new subject will be proving high scoring subject for you?

I hope after answering these questions you will be able to take a better decision. Keep in mind 1 thing if you are well prepared and know the techniques to score good you can make a difference. Let me give you my own example that I have done MSc Applied Psychology and my score in Psychology was just 108 marks although I owe great expertise in it. On the other hand my score was 118 in History of Indo-Pak that I had never studied before and had least interest being science student throughout my academic career. The simple reason for the above presented fact is my effort. I was over-confident about Psychology as I thought its my own subject so its not a hard nut to crack. While History of Indo-Pak was a new choice so I made some efforts for scoring well. I have seen many candidates who study Psychology just because of their interest and score around 150. It donot happen because its scoring subject but for the hard work and effort invested by a candidate.

Journalism is highly scoring subject but I have seen students fail in it. So there is no concept of high scoring or low scoring there is just one concept and its combination of hard work, dedication, devotion and commitment. There exist some generalities as well that few subjects like pure science are less scoring while regional languages are high scoring.

Now listen to your own head and heart what you should opt for and I hope you will be able to reach a concrete decision.

__________________
"When Allah leads you to the edge of the cliff, Trust Him Fully, only 1 of 2 things will happen either He will catch you when you fall or He will teach you how to fly"