As i saw css from near!

[nafees khattak]

Salam to all!
I am one among those who prepared for CSS 2010,but due to my continuous engagement in other federal and provincial civil service exams,could not appear in exam.But i got some experience during preps.Here i want to share it.
1)Regularly listen to BBC,a very suitable source of current affair.
2)Regulary read dawn news paper,specially sunday newspaper page titled "ENCOUNTER".
3)It will be very helpful if you select 100 marks paper instead of 200,because you will have singal paper a day.But give preference to your understanding of subject,be it 200 marks.
4)Write every day one page on certain topic on your own,be that topic anything.


5)And also be expert if you want through CSS,and remember,Expert is one which more and more about less and less.


"MERI AGLI NAZAR SITARO PAR"

Nafees khattak

[Bilal Zamir]

@ nafees khattak

3)It will be very helpful if you select 100 marks paper instead of 200,because you will have singal paper a day.

Dear nafees, I humbly disagree because if you opt for a 200 marks subject there is practically little or no chance of failing. This is so because you have to secure 66 out of 200 marks to pass in a 200 mark optional paper. So if God forbid, you score 20 in Paper-A, you can pass overall by scoring 46 or above in Paper-B.

[fromQAU]

Originally Posted by nafees khattak

3)It will be very helpful if you select 100 marks paper instead of 200,because you will have singal paper a day.

its good that u shared ur experience.but plz dun misguide others.did u see the time table?? the papers and their timings revolves around the groups of the subjects.if u opt for sociology and journalism, they both r held in a single day with different timings ( 1st from 9am to 12pm , and the 2nd from 2pm to 5pm) .similarly, if u opt for constitutional law and muslim law, they both r held on the same day with same different timings.there are many such subjects.plz be careful while sharing something worthwhile.

Thanx.
Allah Bless u.

[Imadafridi]

I think one should atleast take one subject of 200 marks as even if Paper 1 doesn't go well one might compensate for it in Paper-2,also taking six subjects of 100 marks each mean that the exam would become very hectic and lengthy for the candidate.

[humza css]

mister bilal zameer as u have mentioned that there is less chance of failing when one opts a sub carrying 200 then it is easy to get66 marks as u said, brother to get 66 marks is easy but these marks are useless u have to get more marks to stand in the interview many candidates pass all the subjects but they were not called 4 inter view dats y u should target high marks not passing marks 66..........

[Bilal Zamir]

@ hamza CSS

Hamza I would like to inform you that the passing marks 66/200 have been used by me to tell the new aspirants about the safety of 200 mark optional subjects. Sometimes what happens is that one may score very well in most subject but attempt one or two optional papers in an unsatisfactory manner. This is where 200 marks optional subjects save the day.

Example:

Lets say you score 340 out of 600 in your compulsory subjects.

Now lets say you score 135/200 in Geography, 125/200 in British History, 72/100 in Political Science Paper-A but only 30/100 in Political Science Paper-B (failing in it), Thus you get 102/200 and you pass in Political Science as a whole. Overall you score 362/600 in your optionals.

This makes the total marks as follows:

Total = 702/1200 (Very Good Marks in CSS by any means).

I hope you understand what I mean and don't remain confused about the truism that it better to be safe than to be sorry especially in the tough and highly unpredictable Civil Services Exams.

[bravo_99]

I would like to share that if you failed in 100 marks optional but u qualify on overall basis i.e get more than 600 marks, you will be called for interview.so your perception that 200 mark subject is safer than 100 marks is not factual.but it is trend that 200 marks subjects are more scoring than 100 marks individuals

[Malang_Baba]

I second the opinion of bilal zamir and from QAU.
If some one going to appear in css he must be prepare for 2 paper daily, no one can run away from this.
secondly papers choice depend on a person's acedemic background plus his inclination towards a particular field of study.

[Raz]

Originally Posted by nafees khattak

Salam to all!
I am one among those who prepared for CSS 2010,but due to my continuous engagement in other federal and provincial civil service exams,could not appear in exam.But i got some experience during preps.Here i want to share it.
1)Regularly listen to BBC,a very suitable source of current affair.
2)Regulary read dawn news paper,specially sunday newspaper page titled "ENCOUNTER".
3)It will be very helpful if you select 100 marks paper instead of 200,because you will have singal paper a day.But give preference to your understanding of subject,be it 200 marks.
4)Write every day one page on certain topic on your own,be that topic anything.

5)And also be expert if you want through CSS,and remember,Expert is one which more and more about less and less.

"MERI AGLI NAZAR SITARO PAR"
Nafees khattak

When you have tie in two subjects and you are equally good in both the subjects. Then go for 200 marks subject. It is human nature to explore more and more about the subject. We strive hard to collect, read, and remember exhaustive material on our subjects without considering maximum marks allocated to that subject. This is because of existence of anxiety, stress, tension and uncertainty about the paper. We try our best to cover maximum topics even most of the time exceeding the syllabus limits. Our study habits turn to be research-oriented / PhD like assignments. We tend to refer various books, and sources for the same topics and we explore some new arenas beyond those topics no matter it is 100 marks paper or 200 marks. In this phenomenon it is better to capitalize 200 marks when we put same energies and we consume same time for both the 100 marks paper and 200 marks paper.


Regarding the exam schedule, we should be mentally ready for two papers a day. Best way to handle this problem is to make short notes, margin notes, point-wise memory tips for the quick review during exam days. This practice should also be implemented in compulsory subjects in order to revise topics in a short span of time.

As for as passing comfort is concerned, both the papers of 100 marks and 200 marks offer same ease / challenge. If one scores below average in Paper-1 of 200 marks subject and better in Paper-2 his total score touches acceptable threshold. Similarly, in the case of 100 marks paper if one fails to score passing marks, he is fail in that individual paper but he may meet aggregate passing criteria by scoring well in his rest of the papers. A similar case is present in 2008 exam where one female candidate scored 25 marks in Mercantile Law paper (fail) but she was declared pass in aggregate and she stood in top candidates of that batch.

Don’t worry brother nafees khattak, you haven’t made any mistake rather your post touched our minds and invited us to share our views. This is a positive and mutually beneficial discussion. Your experience sharing has given us some golden points and in the same way fetched back some in return to you through correction from multiple minds.

Regards
Stay blessed.

[Bilal Zamir]

@ bravo_99

I would like to share that if you failed in 100 marks optional but u qualify on overall basis i.e get more than 600 marks, you will be called for interview.so your perception that 200 mark subject is safer than 100 marks is not factual.but it is trend that 200 marks subjects are more scoring than 100 marks individuals

Well bravo_99, you are right but the above is only true if the number of candidates who qualify the CSS exams is below par as was the case in 2007 when all those who qualified in the written portion got allocated. But I would still like to remind you that it is up to the FPSC to decide the matter whether or not to call a candidate for psychological, interview if in fact he/she has failed in a 100 marks optional paper (although he/she might score 600 plus marks). If you want to choose a 100 marks paper, choose either Sociology or Journalism as they are safe and easier to prepare. Never choose difficult 100 marks optional papers unless you have thoroughly prepared them to the last word.

Therefore, please practice safety in subject selection. At this juncture, I would like to remind you that in 2005 a lot of candidates failed in Forestry Paper (100 marks optional) but were not called for interviews. The rest is up to you.