ESSAY: MAKING IT EASY
The Most Successful Secret

Hello Everyone, I know its late to share this very important issue that I always wanted to share here. But I believe it will still work for those who are appearing in the Essay exam tomorrow morning (14-02-2015) if they go through this idea for once

The most disturbing thing at CSS is that the majority fails in Essay, and those who fail the subject include even those with finest academic record. Then one may think what makes one flunk in Essay? It is important to know why you have to be judged on Essay writing skills in the first place. There are many schools of thought on it. Before moving on, I would like to share my experience

I have appeared two times in CSS (2013 & 2014). For the first time, I did prepare all the subjects in only two weeks because I never wanted to do CSS, I had no clear aim and had no experience, no guide. I did not prepare for Essay assuming that if it will be of general type, it will be prepared when I will be doing Current Affairs, Islamiat and Pakistan Affairs. But for that too I ran short of time. It was 23-02-2013, (cold morning: local school in Islamabad) I was very nervous. I knew I would fail in Essay but I had zero its preparation, and my aspirations were low too. When I saw the paper, the options were quite general, covering topics on religion, gender, education, social life and politics (including governance). Because I was not prepared, I could have opted for any topic. I remember from 9 to 10:30 AM, I did not write anything. My hand writing is already slow. I had a pencil and an eraser. I was making outlines on the last page of the answer sheet, and erasing them where I wasn't satisfied

Since my school days, whenever I face difficulty in solving a certain question, I make strategies to fool the examiner. I didn't realise that it would work at CSS as well, and after 2013, I learned that it works every time. All of a sudden, I got an idea. There were two things in my mind:
1. I should make some logic
2. Length should be of 2500 words
I worked on the final outline keeping them in mind
First, I thought If I make 15 points, and write 150 words in each, I will be safe.
Second, I thought the introduction should have a complete idea of the topic. (Here is the trick: nowhere in the introduction you mentions facts or statistics. This is the executive summary of the essay or thesis you are presenting: either in support of the provided thesis or against it)
Third, the conclusion should be crispy too. Then the question was, what it should contain if the information in the text is not valuable? I thought in that case, I will duplicate the "executive summary" by rephrasing it
Fourth, the question was, what would I write in the sub-topics of the essay? I thought I should write whatever I studied in my BBA, and MPM and MPhil, and in various books, learned from television and films, but of-course, I had to make some logic there
It was 10:30 AM. I did not write even the title of the essay on the answer sheet. On the other hand, I could see all of the guys sitting around were writing like robots and filling pages after pages. I did not lose hope and that was the game changer, from that point onwards, I took CSS seriously
I made an outline (see: http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compu...y-success.html)
Time was short, my hand writing was already slow. I couldn't meet the target of 2500 marks. Wrote for only 13 pages. My aim was to dodge the examiner, I assumed that s/he will only look at my outline for an idea about what I was going to write, and the introduction to learn if I was good at basic tenses and organization and the conclusion to see if I have closed the essay properly or not. I met all these requirements. And I got 45 marks

In 2014, I again couldn't prepare for essay, I ran short of time. This time I was over-confident because I had covered C.A and P.A and Islamiat at length. I thought I would use that knowledge and would somehow clear the exam. My target was only score the passing marks (i.e., 40). But the given options this time were way too hard to crack and difficult to understand. I repeated that trick (see: http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compu...g-outline.html). This time I was so much tensed and could write only 11 pages including the outline. But somehow I managed to score 55 marks.

The reason why I shared my experience was not to influence people that it doesn't matter if you prepare or not. But the idea was to explain the requirements of the essay. If you meet them, there is no reason that you fail the subject. Always remember the following six things:
1. Make a logical outline which completely reflects the summary of your thesis
2. Write an introduction (first paragraph of the essay) giving an idea of your thesis, that you are in favor or against the topic. It should be at least of 300 words
3. Make paragraphs of varying length: First paragraph of 300 words, second of 50 words, third of 150 words, fourth of 500 words, fifth of 90 words and so on
4. Where you have to write 50,000, try to write like fifty-thousand
5. You don't have to feel that if you write quotations, you will fetch some good marks. When you write quotations, you increase the expectations of the examiner. So play it safe, and try not to be an English expert: use simple tenses, short sentences and easy English
6. Conclude the essay well. It should have 100 words ending at least

Examiners are expecting the following things from your essay:
1. Have you understood the topic properly. It will be reflected from your outline. Nobody has time to read the entire essay of 20 pages if it has made no logic
2. How good is your English? For that s/he will carefully read the first three paragraphs of your Essay. Make small sentences and use correct tenses, give them no reason to deduct your marks. By seeing the first three paragraphs of your Essay, s/he will be greatly impressed if (I) your paragraphs are of varying length (as discussed above), (II) you have used mature but simple English, (III) you have taken care of grammar (e.g., punctuation etc.)
3. What is the length of your Essay? S/he will count the words written on the second page, say there are 150 words on the second page, s/he will then count all the pages on which you have written Essay (excluding the outline), say there are 16 pages (excluding the outline) . S/he will typically multiply the pages with the average words per per page (e.g., 150 words x 16 pages = 2400 words). Remember, its not the quantity which matters but the quality. But still one has to meet the demand of the length when specified. Any essay with more than 1500 words (e.g., 150 words x 10 pages) is an acceptable essay however you won't get more than 50 marks in this case
4. When all these requirements are met, s/he will directly move on to the last page and see how you have concluded the essay. This is crucial and marks fetching portion. Be careful: be precise and to the point. Here you can write quotations too

If you have managed to meet these requirements, don't worry at all, you will definitely clear the exam. I have shared this secret because at times there are options given in the exam of which you are not familiar. In that case, it is greatly recommended to use the above mentioned tricks. Examiners understand that it is not justified to fail you in Essay if you don't have sufficient knowledge, nobody knows everything. If you cant present sufficient knowledge, they will still not fail you, but if you won't be able to meet their above mentioned four expectations, you won't b clear the exam. So the summary of this entire discussion is, "it doesn't matter if you don't have sufficient knowledge about the subject, you must be good in meeting the expectations of the examiners. You don't have to show that you are an expert on the issue asked, but you have to show that you know how to write an essay"

This was my learning. Try it, I hope now it will be easy for all of us, Insha Allah

Whats logic behind varying length paragraphs? And when examiner is not concerned about your knowledge then why would length bother to examiner?


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Length matters because you are required to produce an essay of 2500-3000 words in the first place. so you should meat the criteria atleast.

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Hope is a good thing, may be the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Mr. BAIG

I salute your intellect. We have same opinion on manipulatibg the examiner, I have found another human of somewhat my kind. Best of luck, both of us :-)

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Hope is a good thing, may be the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

Logic Behind Varying Length:
Paragraphs should always be of varying length as a rule in Essay

Examiners Not Concerned About the Knowledge:
They are definitely interested to know how much you know about the topic. I did not say that they are not. I mean't if you have no sufficient knowledge on the issue, but only a basic knowledge, then you're forgiven. But if you have no sufficient knowledge on how to write an essay, no matter how sufficient your knowledge is on the subject, you won't make it. This is the reason why most of us fail in essay, because we greatly emphasize on our knowledge, and largely neglect the basic rules of an essay (e.g., varying lengths of paragraphs) Good Luck!

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No Retreat - No Surrender

could you please explain how you wrote the introduction.

Dear , The way you described the techniques is really amazing. Secondly, would you please share your complete score in CSS 2013 and 2014.

hahahahhahah man this was my strategy in 2016 and this is the first time i am reading your post. I managed to score 40 this year and my sole focus was on introduction and outline. Even i don't remember what i wrote in my other paragraphs. Kudos, This trick works (Y)

Wow!another hole of confusion has been dug.What about you cannot deceive an examiner and he/she will go through an entire essay,etc.This damn exam has become more mysterious than Bermuda Triangle.Sometimes it makes you think that one needs to be an exceptional in one's knowledge, but from now on we have to go back to FCs and matric days,where reciting few magical words could pass the exam.Lots of confusion indeed.

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The pessimist complains about the wind,the optimist expects it to change,the realist adjusts the sails.

you are seriously smart.

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My success can only come from ALLAH
[Quran 11:88]