Does it happen with all of you ?
 

Salam to all fellow members.

I am CSS 2013 aspirant. After perusing past year papers i decided to begin with PA. Selected Trek to Pakistan and Pak Affairs by Ikram Rabbani. Now the First problem that grates me is making notes, i am unable to condense the material and its more like a reproduction of the bookish material. While going for the bullet notes it feels that i might not be able to recall suffice details. Second nuisance is that after assimilating a topic (+notes making) 1st time ,if i try to attempt a related question i cant recall enough material to answer that. Thats really bothering me as its making me feel dejected and lose faith in myself. Did you feel the same when preparing for the first time ? Please share your opinions. All this is taking too much time and i am running far behind schedule of preparing rest of the subjects. Please help me out .:confused:[B][/B]

Yes, you are right! I am also facing the same problem but there is a very simple solution to it. try to understand the stuff and align it with the dates, this is the very first step in resolving the issue. after that, try to highlight the main points in the stuff. read the stuff thrice and put the stuff on plain paper in your own way. This will help you and i assure you that.

dont worry you have time. In the start we sometimes set the bar too high and thats the reason we face disappointment.
the only suggestion i can give based on my own exp is that you will develop cognitive abilities along the way. you cant order the brain to memorize a thing it will take some time the best thing u can do is to prepare a time table and follow it that way you can discipline your body and brain and they know what time is for what and hence they will work much more efficiently
other things you can do is to choose a suitable environment drink green or simple tea that also help.

"read the stuff thrice and put the stuff on plain paper in your own way. This will help you and i assure you that." very good advice that will surely help
good luck take care

Yes when I started my preparation I was confronting with same problems. It is natural, in the beginning one has no clue from where to start, on which points I should work hard and which point is worth to skip.
Any ways what you need is to get adhere to your study. Read each thing as many times as you can can so that it may become familiar to you and then you will find it easy to jot down over this topic thoroughly.
With the passage of time you would be able to overcome on all these problems, which every aspirant confront in the very beginning.
Regards

Time for REVISION
 

Thanks fellas . Now i feel a bit relaxed and will overcome it with persistence inshaAllah. But this is affecting my preparation schedule as if one subject takes almost a month then i might face time scarcity for revisions. Thats a crunch. What do you say ? how much time revisions would take ? . :rrolleyes

Hi MehmoodAhmed,

Firstly, the book Trek to Pakistan is not enough to prepare Pakistan Affairs. Secondly, this problem can be resolved if you read 2,3 books on the same subject. Remember i am not saying that you've to memorise them all. Just make bullet notes, memorise the key points and give a read to rest of the things. After this, you would be able to remember a lot of things and when you'll sit to write about a specific question, you will have enough material in your mind. You can adjust your schedule in a way that in the day, you can devote your time to the subject you've chosen to study and at night, you can give 2,3 hours just for the 'reading' of books on Pakistan Affairs. This is what i had done for my exams preparation.

Regards.

i am also a 2013 CSS aspirant. i have started with sociology by horton and hunt and i am making notes of it. so far its going ok but i feel that i am not giving much time to studies. may be the study routine has not been set yet. planning to start studying geography with the book of Sarfraz bajwa which is an easy one on this subject.
which book is recommended for starting the preparation of Islamiat Compulsory paper and that of Everyday Science?

its not necessary that you should make notes, you can also make them in the form of bullets which is easy to learns and revise. because at the end of a day if you stick with making notes you can come out with large amount of overloaded notes like happened to me in sociology. so mate i suggest, that the best way is to be simple and precise.

Yes, its happen with everyone but after facing hardships in life we get our goal. so continue your struggle. You can make good notes.


Regards

[QUOTE=Sana Shoaib;436616]Hi MehmoodAhmed,

Firstly, the book Trek to Pakistan is not enough to prepare Pakistan Affairs. Secondly, this problem can be resolved if you read 2,3 books on the same subject. Remember i am not saying that you've to memorise them all. Just make bullet notes, memorise the key points and give a read to rest of the things. After this, you would be able to remember a lot of things and when you'll sit to write about a specific question, you will have enough material in your mind. You can adjust your schedule in a way that in the day, you can devote your time to the subject you've chosen to study and at night, you can give 2,3 hours just for the 'reading' of books on Pakistan Affairs. This is what i had done for my exams preparation.

Regards.[/QUOTE]
[B]@ Sana Shoaib[/B]

Thanks for sharing your valuable experience . I will definitely give it a try. Which book do you recommend in addition to Trek to Pakistan ? and would you mind if ask you how much time it took you to complete PA in first go ? for me it seems like i have to reschedule my all preparation plan. But anyway thanks for the advice.:D