asalam o alaikum

dear seniors please advise me, i recently decided to attempt for css 2016.
and i have almost a year to prepare for it. thing is that i have a very little command in english and i know that english and grammar section is very much necessary for the preparation. so please help me in this regard that what should i do to make me good at english and grammar. how much time should i give to english section while preparing for other subjects. any tips,techniques from your side are highly welcomed.

also refer me some good books on english grammar and english usage.

this is all me asking, anything you people think that would be helpful or beneficial for me, please, do share with me.

thanks

Firstly, you should take a detailed look at the past papers of Grammar and composition. This will give you an idea as to what are the requirements of the paper (like précis, synonym, antonym, pair of words, comprehensive note, Sentence correction etc.).

Secondly, the matter of the suggestion for the book is directly related to your existing portfolio of knowledge. Nevertheless, my favourite book is 'exploring the world of english' by saadat ali shah. Unlike most of the books, it is designed specifically to cater to the needs of CSS aspirants. Also, high school English grammar and composition (Wren and Martin) is also comprehensive. However, this book primarily concentrates on grammar usage only. The former (by Saadat ali) one contains portions that deal with almost all aspects of css paper. Therefore, it is a must read.

Generally, aspirants tend to dedicate a large chunk of the preparation to précis and passage questions as they constitute 42 marks in total. Considering the time span for CE 2016, you should be concentrating on these two questions twice or thrice a week. For example, you can take a long passage from dawn etc and write its précis on weekly basis. Not to mention, practice makes a man perfect.

For vocabulary, you can check the relevant portion of the subject on cssforum. You will find a dawn word list which is immensely important as it contains the most widely used words.

Rest, you can decide for yourself.

My advice, try to finish this compulsory subject as soon as possible with a comprehensive preparation. Practice précis writing periodically, read dawn on daily basis, strengthen your vocabulary and read the entire book (saadat ali vali).

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The one who is most deserving of thanks and praise from people is Allah

Thanks for a detailed answer. I have wren n martin English grammar in my possession right now, so should i start with it and read EWOE later?
And also since i know a very little about grammar, shouldn't i need to grasp a basic knowledge of it by reading B.A level grammar books like "Basic English grammar" or any other of the sorts?

I find your advice is very reasonable of reading dawn at daily basis and to practice by writing précis on my own. This should bring some momentum and flow to my writing as well as it will help me build my vocabulary.

I know that plans and techniques may differ people to people and it is not certain that if something worked for someone than it should work for the other person too. Keeping these things in my mind, i want to ask you that what technique you would’ve adopted if you had a whole year for the preparation.

I want to apologize for my noobness but i know that these are the perks of being a newbie at this respected forum. So please bear with me.

Thanks.

tThe book by Wren and Martin is essentially quite bulky as it contains more than 930 pages. Most importantly, there are portions in the book that you can skip.

For example, in part four you can skip letter writing, paraphrasing etc. Similarly, you can skip some portions in the 2nd part as well.

If you feel from the inside that your grammar is not up to the mark, you should stick to this book for some time in order to grasp the basic knowledge. But as I already mentioned, this is a lengthy book and might require some extended time frame for completion. Try to finish it ASAP after a brief and comprehensive go through.

Regardless of your level of skills and knowledge in grammar, you should be reading DAWN on daily basis. Apart from the grammar, it will also help you in essay, current affairs and many more subjects.

If I were you, I would be starting the preparation from Wren and Martin. After a month or so, I would make a switch to the other book. By the end of July, I would have completed the entire syllabus of composition paper. It is quite beneficial to finish this subject as early as possible as then you will have enough time for other subjects and subsequently you can also strengthen your grammar by practising the précis writing and passage questions.

Do not study in a haste as you have a lot of time at your disposal. Go slow but consistent and formulate your goals. Write down on a piece of paper your short term goals and aim to accomplish them in due course of time. After two/three weeks revise your goals and again look forward to completing them. Psychologically, written commitments tend to be more binding then the verbal ones.

Make sure that you go with a complete plan in your mind and document it or else you will end up in a position where the required time will not be enough for preparation. The point being, be ‘spot on’ in your strategy and develop a daily time table to follow. With one year at disposal, even 5-6 hours study on a daily basis will surely yield positive results.

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The one who is most deserving of thanks and praise from people is Allah