Need help for selection of CSS optional subjects.
 

International Relations
Public Administration
History of Pakistan and India
Gender Studies
International law
Plz need suggestion!! Is it a right selection??Or There should be 5 or 6 subjects... Please somebody get me out of this little confusion.

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[QUOTE=Hania Ansari;1085458]International Relations
Public Administration
History of Pakistan and India
Gender Studies
International law
Plz need suggestion!! Is it a right selection??Or There should be 5 or 6 subjects... Please somebody get me out of this little confusion.

Sent from my G3212 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]
Check syllabus and at least 2, 3 years past papers before selecting subjects and have a look at US History too.

[QUOTE=Dire Wolf;1085463]Check syllabus and at least 2, 3 years past papers before selecting subjects and have a look at US History too.[/QUOTE]I've done Masters in IR, so I'm familiar to these all subjects but just want to confirm that is it a right selection!!

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[QUOTE=Hania Ansari;1085466]I've done Masters in IR, so I'm familiar to these all subjects but just want to confirm that is it a right selection!! Not interested in US!!

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[QUOTE=Hania Ansari;1085458]International Relations
Public Administration
History of Pakistan and India
Gender Studies
International law
Plz need suggestion!! Is it a right selection??Or There should be 5 or 6 subjects... Please somebody get me out of this little confusion.

Sent from my G3212 using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]My honest suggestion is that plz don't go for public administration.

If you've done masters in IR, then these are brilliant subjects to chose. I have prepared gender studies and History of Pakistan and India so can give a more personal review of these two. History of Pakistan and india can seem intimidating because of the timespan but most of the later portion of it overlaps with Pak studies and the rulers from 712-1857 we've all either heard about or the events are vaguely familiar at first glance. It was a mildly tedious subject to cover but highly satisfying once I was done with it. Gender studies is easy, fun and interesting to cover.

I think the key point here is that don't give much thought to "scoring trends". Pick subjects which you want to study and would genuinely enjoy giving a good portion of your time to. CSS is a relative exam. So you aren't being judged by some set standard but basically by the papers the examiners have checked before you. If in relation to them you've done well (even if it would be considered fairly avergae on its own), you can score well. And conversely if some exceptional papers went before you then even if your paper is above average the scoring would be a little more stingier. When lots of people opt for a subject in an year it is said to be "targeted" by the examiners when in fact there is a fairly good chance that amongst the large number of hopefuls are people who've either done nasters in that particular subject or just did exceptionally well and hence are now the standard (as compared to a normal year when a couple of dozen people chose a subject and no one really knows much about it so everyone can get by on average). I hope this makes sense. This isn't meant to demoralise you but give you a fairly clear view of the expectations. I wish you the very very best of luck.

I would like to give you a word of advice which I wish someone had told me sooner. Before starting a subject create a word document. Take the time to go through the past five year papers of the subject and copy the questions into the document. Then try to sort them into groups. For example for Gender studies there are topic on gender studies as a subject (its relevancy and importance), history of feminism, feminism in Pakistan etc. You'd notice that each subject can be whittled down to a few main topics. They rarely repeat questions in css but the general points stay the say each year. This is really helpful because the syllabus given for many of the subjects are really all-encompassing and broad. So when you start preparing from the syllabus and go through its topics you can have the word document open with you to see what kind of questions come and how to frame your studies. The word document would also come in handy when you finish up a subject but are still unsure whether you've grasped enough of it. You can give yourself a self-set quiz from the previous questions to see how well you would do. This could apply equally as well in the compulsory subjects (esp general sceince and islamiat) as with the optional ones.

Anyway wish you the best of luck once more. I hope you found this helpful.

[QUOTE=Hania Ansari;1085466]I've done Masters in IR, so I'm familiar to these all subjects but just want to confirm that is it a right selection!!

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If you have done masters in IR then you know better than most of us.
In my opinion course of public administration is lengthy but if you have interest in it and are familiar then doesn't matter much, you are good to go.
Gender Studies is easy but choose only if you believe in feminism otherwise it becomes difficult to write good arguments.
Rest you are already expert in.

[QUOTE=aishalam;1085475]If you've done masters in IR, then these are brilliant subjects to chose. I have prepared gender studies and History of Pakistan and India so can give a more personal review of these two. History of Pakistan and india can seem intimidating because of the timespan but most of the later portion of it overlaps with Pak studies and the rulers from 712-1857 we've all either heard about or the events are vaguely familiar at first glance. It was a mildly tedious subject to cover but highly satisfying once I was done with it. Gender studies is easy, fun and interesting to cover.

I think the key point here is that don't give much thought to "scoring trends". Pick subjects which you want to study and would genuinely enjoy giving a good portion of your time to. CSS is a relative exam. So you aren't being judged by some set standard but basically by the papers the examiners have checked before you. If in relation to them you've done well (even if it would be considered fairly avergae on its own), you can score well. And conversely if some exceptional papers went before you then even if your paper is above average the scoring would be a little more stingier. When lots of people opt for a subject in an year it is said to be "targeted" by the examiners when in fact there is a fairly good chance that amongst the large number of hopefuls are people who've either done nasters in that particular subject or just did exceptionally well and hence are now the standard (as compared to a normal year when a couple of dozen people chose a subject and no one really knows much about it so everyone can get by on average). I hope this makes sense. This isn't meant to demoralise you but give you a fairly clear view of the expectations. I wish you the very very best of luck.

I would like to give you a word of advice which I wish someone had told me sooner. Before starting a subject create a word document. Take the time to go through the past five year papers of the subject and copy the questions into the document. Then try to sort them into groups. For example for Gender studies there are topic on gender studies as a subject (its relevancy and importance), history of feminism, feminism in Pakistan etc. You'd notice that each subject can be whittled down to a few main topics. They rarely repeat questions in css but the general points stay the say each year. This is really helpful because the syllabus given for many of the subjects are really all-encompassing and broad. So when you start preparing from the syllabus and go through its topics you can have the word document open with you to see what kind of questions come and how to frame your studies. The word document would also come in handy when you finish up a subject but are still unsure whether you've grasped enough of it. You can give yourself a self-set quiz from the previous questions to see how well you would do. This could apply equally as well in the compulsory subjects (esp general sceince and islamiat) as with the optional ones.

Anyway wish you the best of luck once more. I hope you found this helpful.[/QUOTE]Thanks a lot for your suggestions and moral support... From beginning till end there are lots of things to keep on mind... Thanks once again to wish me a good luck🤞.

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[QUOTE=Dire Wolf;1085479]If you have done masters in IR then you know better than most of us.
In my opinion course of public administration is lengthy but if you have interest in it and are familiar then doesn't matter much, you are good to go.
Gender Studies is easy but choose only if you believe in feminism otherwise it becomes difficult to write good arguments.
Rest you are already expert in.[/QUOTE]Hmm I will think again...

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