Sure, I will do that.
Nopes! Wrong calculations....it was my second last attempt.
I am a 'weirdo', I do better under stressful conditions. Once my parents, kith and kins were successful in convincing me to take CSS exams, I became determined to achieve my goal. So, the 'touchy' factor was there. Just have a strong faith in your Creator and yourself...this is all you need! Besides Allah being my guide, my friend, who was also taking the exams for the first time helped me through in making strategies for exams. Plus, use your brains, don't over-rely on guidance from others. What works for them may not always work for you, because we all have different temperaments and intelligence level. You know what I mean!?!?

My preparation strategy for CSS/PMS was of three months duration. It was my first attempt after graduating from Pakistan Forest Institute, Peshawar in November 2010.

1.Essay:
Honestly speaking, I haven't solved a single essay during my preparation but had to consult economic survey of Pakistan for various Facts and figures that help in writing a good essay. So I would suggest you to get hold of Economic Survey of Pakistan's hard copy or else read it on-line. Values like literacy rate, demographics, social statistics Etc. will be of considerable help for you. Besides, the subject of sociology as an optional, is of greatest benefit for solving CA, Essay and even Essay paper. SoI relied on my sociology subject's knowledge in most cases.

2.Precis:
I barely solved last 5 years papers for Precis practice after getting guidelines from Saadat Ali Shah"s "Exploring the world of English".

For pair of words, idioms and phrases and all other MCQ's I had to consult with css forums threads;

Solved Pair of words of Past Papers
http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compu...71-2011-a.html


Solved Idioms of Past Papers
http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compu...71-2010-a.html

3.Current Affairs
There were two types of issues for study;
a. Conventional Issues e.g. Palestine, Kashmir, Nuclearization of Asia (Iran and PK with special focus), Rise and Fall in Pak-US partnership etc.
b. Contemporary Issues

For conventional issues, I relied on DSS, ISS, SASSI's websites for detailed reports along with some old contemporary affairs books. A separate
file was maintained for such an issue and accumulation of various books was avoided. Mastering Pak-US relations will be the best thing to do for
preparing current affairs as this has the largest purview among all the topics and helps one understand relations with India, and Pak's relations
with the Muslim world as well. The compilation of a separate file for such issues helps one in saving time and revising these topics more than once.
For the contemporary issues, one may buy yearly review of dawn or any other magazine that will gives an insight of the whole year's events.
Reading newspapers will create ease in MCQ's. A few links were used in preparation which are shared here for your information;

Shahid Javed Burki's Articles
http://www.cssforum.com.pk/general/n...i-article.html


4. EDS
Since I was a science student throughout my academic career (up to M.Sc), EDS was not a big trouble for me. Rather I consider it my strength.I consulted a local book (by Muhammad Tariq Afridi) with short questions and MCQs, Akram Kashmiri's book and Matriculation books for Human physiology and some
other basic concepts.

During the paper, I made sure to make a figure/diagram for every question and appropriate labelling. I solved past 15 years papers of CSS and PMS and it worked for mein both exams.

5. Pakistan Affairs

Pakistan Affairs subject has some overlapping areas with Current Affairs so those over lapping areas such as the Socio-economics, demographics, indigenous politics etc. were studied from various sources like sociology books, Ikram Rabbani's book and some features of newspapers. whereas, for the pre-partition topics, the book "Struggle for Pakistan" by IH Qureshi was used.

6. Islamiat
Islamiat has proved to be a great challenge for CSS aspirants and has been haunting the candidates since 2007. Contemporary issues have replaced the
simple translations and basic concepts. Therefore, many of the topics of Islamiat are in fact Current Affairs topics and a good command over CA can help getting through in Islamiat. For the Ijtehad/Sources of Shariah topics I consulted Islamic Jurisprudence book whereas for the basic pillars of Islam and other Systems of Islamic society like Judicial, financial, political etc. were covered from Sadruddin Islahi's book. Dogar Unique's book was used for MCQ's and Comparitive religions. Since Muslim history was one of my optional subjects, Personality of Muhammad S.A.W and topics like last sermon, social reforms, Sulah e hudaibiya etc. were easily covered. The Ahadith in Matriculation and Fsc books were re-studied and they helped a lot in refrences at approprite places in Islamiat paper. some of the links from cssforum, that were consulted are;

Solved MCQ's of Islamiat past papers
http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-compu...st-papers.html

Dawn's Friday Feature
http://www.cssforum.com.pk/general/n...ures-dawn.html

I believe wise use of cssforum is mandatory for short span of preparation. I didn't do hardwork precisely due to shortage of time , but relied on smart work. I based my study on past repeated questions but made sure to read the whole of syllabus atleast once for MCQ preparation. My Optional subjects were Islamic history, Sociology, International law, Pushto and Forestry. I will Inshallah share the details of optionals in next sitting.

Keep praying.

Best Regards
Arifullah Awan

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"I strictly disagree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it untill my death"

Thankyou amnatariqshah, for such wise words

Hope u'll start ur own thread soon.

Regards

__________________
Cowards die many times before their death,
Valiants taste of death but Once.

Brother congratulations on your success.
Can you please share your daily study plan.
Thanks in advance

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Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. –Napoleon Hill

Sure...I will do that once I settle down with some technical issues at my end (a serious DSL glitch). Thanks!

How to use this flash card feature..as i have installed dictionary software on my cell?

You know the main difficulty people experience in CSS exams is in ENGLISH skills. Not just Grammar and Essay; other subjects can easily get compromised if you arent good at this part. And certainly, the examiners at the other end also bear this skill in mind the most.

1. If you arent already good at English, please begin your preparation from scratch 1-3 years in advance of exam year, depending on your level of proficiency at the moment. Get books. Visit and practice on online grammar sites. Make it a habit to only speak in english, to 'think' in english too instead of in native tongue. Doing so once a week just wont cut it if you arent already good at it. Dont feel ashamed even if u make enormous mistakes. Remember, that in the end, if u win this race-thats all thats gonna count.

2. Make it a habit to pick 2 words from dictionary everyday and write em down and memorize them. that way you wont be cramming through 2000 words 10 days before the exam.

3. Practice essay writing. Now, in my opinion, and to the detriment of several elements on the forum-the best way is to use the DISCUSSION section of this forum to the max. You're faced with many topics. Shoot. dont write one -liners for your opinion. do a paragraph at least. it wont matter if everybody isnt reading it. you're getting ur practice.

4.nothing will ever make up for your lack of reading however. you need to read extensively to develop your writing style. read fictional novels. read billboards. read package wrappers. watch english movies with subtitles on tv. Human nature doesnt like reading boring stuff. When something's interesting it will hold your attention while sub-consciously bucking you up. All this will imrprove ur english IMMENSELY. I challenge you to try this technique out for an year and judge yourself.

The next tough part is current affairs:

1. Sign up for Twitter. Subscribe to domestic and international current affair journals like Express Tribune, Time mag or The Economist. It will tweet everything to your page. Select the relevant material to read from each journal daily.

2. Every morning for at least an year, wake up and prepare a news brief for yourself on Word-as collected from at least 2 online newspapers-English of course. Divide your format into subheadings as follows: Foreign Policy, National, Politics, economics, social, Inside your province, Law & order/interior ministry, defence, international/miscellaneous, editorial/opinion.
Fill in news accordingly. Read 2 editorials or opinions. Save it with the date of the day. This cannot go wrong, I assure you.

@aphrodite
simply marvellous it is..
I have been reading since two years about techs and techniques to improve my english,to boost my current affair knowledge.But i never came across such a useful post.I might be able to analyze all of the above things after some time but you have make them known to me right now.
Specially your suggestions regarding currents affairs and about discussions are quite impressive.

Best of luck for your future endeavours.
Sincere prayers for your allocation in the group of your choice.

Keep it up please.


Regards

Flash card is a feature that lets you think for a while and then check the answer. Make the flash cards of those words you counter while reading News Feed, get the meaning and concept clear. Flash cards will be saved and you may visit those next morning and again after that. You'll have to insert the flash card by going to options<flash cards and creating those. It's simple not bowling reverse swing, so try it.

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Fixed signs.

You're welcome honey!
Hope you get in too InshAllah..