CSS Forums - Compilation of Study Material

[QUOTE=Ammara Khan88;686678]First of all thank you so much for your massive favour to the new aspirants. I need your invaluable advice here. I am working on essay and current affairs at the moment, but I am so much confused because there are so so many topics to be prepared. Secondly, I have recently bought bi-annual by imtiaz shahid for current affairs and when I started with it, I realized that it is very lengthy. Every topic is explained from many angles. Third, if I prepare Current affair and Essay only from the link you have given, would it be ok to produce the same material in the examinations. I mean, are these material, fact and figures updated? Can you identify the most important topic for essay and CA. Answer all of my questions, please.[/QUOTE]

Go through this link. I hope it answers a few queries of yours.

[url]http://www.cssforum.com.pk/beginners-guide/tips-experience-sharing/86832-sharing-my-experience-some-tips-guidance.html[/url]

Talking about the course outline of Current Affairs paper, you are never going to get a definite answer for that. Here on forum you will come across multiple threads where detailed outline has been sketched. But those outlines contain conventional topics like organizations (ECO, SAARC, EU, UNO etc) and dead rubber like Palestine Issue. While I was doing my preparation, Dawn was my bible for current affairs and I followed every article/topic which made it to Dawn because anything appearing in a newspaper is current.

If you look at 2013 and 2013 Faisalabad Re-Exam current affairs papers, you will find no questions from organizations etc. All the questions are about current issues. So I suggest you start covering the core domestic and international issues right now.

[url]http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compulsory-subjects/current-affairs/87333-important-topic-prepared-css-2014-a.html[/url]

This thread should help you with what topics to cover. Add to it some other recent issues like "New Silk Route", "Decline of America and Rise of China and Asia", "Energy Crisis", "Water Crisis in Pak", "Economic Crisis of Pak" etc.

As of what book to consult, I don't favour Imtiaz Shahid. How I prepared CA is given in the link I mentioned above, but you don't have the luxury of time now. So I recommend you purchase some academy's current affairs notes and go through them once. I never recommend academies' notes because (1) they become viral and pretty much every aspirant copy pastes them in the paper and (2) they are normally outdated by 2-3 years, but still you should get them so that you get some insight into the dynamics of all the core issues to start with. Then you can go about updating that stuff. You can do it from internet using various resources including the links I gave. Yes, the stuff I have given is updated as of mid-2013 and it's sufficient.

This strategy might make you nervy but it works better than Imtiaz Shahid and Academies' notes. There is a reason that majority fails to cross 45 marks barrier in CA. Reason is reliance on academies and bi-annuals and quarterlies. This rigorous effort you put into Current affairs will not be restricted to current affairs, it will come handy in all other exams as there are 2-3 questions from current affairs in almost every paper. The trend is shifting and you should use it to your advantage. The CSS 2014 aspirants, I believe, are in for a shocker.

[B]As of essays, [/B]all you need is flawless grammar and ability to draw a comprehensive outline of whatever topic you are presented with. Go through the link I gave. As of what topics to cover, the current affairs topics will be covered while preparing CA. After that there are some general topics which are repeated often like Gender Discrimination, Women rights in Islam or in Pakistan or in West, Status of women in Islam or in Pakistan or in west, Democracy, Governance, Environmental challenges, Education, Media, Social Media, UNO's role, failures, success, challenges etc.

Prepare these topics in all possible dimensions and again no book will help you there. You are going to have to compile data from multiple books or internet (I recommend the latter). Collect all the relevant information about each topic, arrange it accordingly in sub-headings, organise whatever material you have and eventually you will have your own essays in 2-3 months' time.

Take democracy for example. Under the "democracy" head, you can have subtopics like Democracy: the concept, The history of democracy, democracy is Greco-Roman era, Democracy in Middle Ages, Democracy in the Modern Age, Islam and Democracy, Benefits and Ills of Democracy, Democracy and other forms of government, a comparison (Like monarchy, dictatorship, aristocracy etc), Comparison of democratic styles (representative vs direct democracy), Ideologies in democracy (fascism, nationalism, fundamentalism etc), Democracy in Pakistan, history and overview, turbulent political history, Why democracy fails to prosper, Democracy in west, Recent democratization of Middle East. Whatever information you come across about democracy, arrange it under these sub-heads and you will have an essay of your own in sha ALLAH. You will be able to attempt any essay which has even the remotest link with democracy.

But a word of caution: Given the 2013 Faisalabad Re-Exam trend and FPSC's recent ruthless activism, I won't be surprised if there is no topic from current affairs or the frequently repeated issues in Essay paper in 2014. Be prepared for philosophical issues which are normally given in expansions like Might is Right, Every Dog has its day, Ignorance is a bliss etc.

Best of luck.