Proper Guidance is Necessary and Six Months are Enough for the Preparation

I did my matriculation from Saint Francis Grammar School in 2003 and got ‘A’ grade. After that, I did FSc from Tameer-i-Nau Public College, Quetta, in first division. Then I did graduation from University of Balochistan, Quetta, as a private candidate.

After that, I got admission in Bolan Medical College and nowadays I am studying in the final year of MBBS. Besides this, I appeared in the Provincial Civil Service (PCS)-2010 exam and by the grace of God Almighty I topped in the province and was allocated in the Balochistan Civil Service (BCS) group and appointed as Assistant Commissioner (AC).

Moreover, ‘Civil Service’ is my family service because my great grandfather was a civil servant in the British Government. My grandfather was a retired Commissioner and my father is currently serving as a Secretary Culture, Tourism and Archives of the Government of Balochistan.

At competitive and academic level there is no difference between PCS and CSS exams, but the total subjects in the PCS are less as compared to CSS. In fact, in the PCS exam there are four compulsory subjects including a language paper, but in the CSS the compulsory subjects are six.

In the PCS exam one has to choose three optional subjects of 150 marks each. On the contrary, in CSS optional papers are six. Moreover, PCS papers are quite lengthy and multiple choice questions rarely come in PCS papers, therefore, all five questions are of subjective nature. Unlike CSS, in PCS subjects are not divided into two parts. For instance, in CSS we have two papers of ‘Political Science’ each of 100 marks, but this is not the case in the PCS exam.

Steps for the preparation of PCS exam

In my opinion, personal motivation and self-dedication are the main requirements because these two jointly create determination, which can help one to pass the PCS exam. Moreover, I would say proper guidance is necessary and six months are enough for the preparation.

Strategy for the preparation of compulsory papers and English

Compulsory paper of ‘English’ in PCS exam is easier than CSS because there is only one paper which includes both essay and composition. If one is weak in essay than composition part can be helpful and vice versa. Candidates should work out effectively on sentence structure, punctuation and technique of essay writing for this paper along with extensive practice of precis writing.

General knowledge paper of PCS is always considered tougher than general knowledge papers of CSS, do you agree? How should candidates prepare for this paper?

Yes, general knowledge paper of PCS is far tough as compared to CSS general knowledge papers because anything can come in this paper. In fact, questions relating to physics, chemistry, biology, law, current affairs, astronomy, geography, personalities, abbreviations, everyday science and terminologies like foreign phrases, etc, are regularly asked.

Actually, there is no single book that can cover this general knowledge paper of PCS, but going through past papers and books like ‘Ever-Latest General Knowledge’, ‘Who is Who & What is What’ and ‘Jahangir’s World Times’ can provide sufficient material for this paper. Moreover, one should regularly go through newspapers and TV channels like BBC, CNN and Al-Jazera. They are useful not only for this paper but also for the interview.

Scheme of optional papers is entirely different in PCS as compared to CSS exam, Please tell how candidates should choose their optional subjects in PCS and what are the ways to get high marks in optional papers?

Well, I will not recommend subjects like literature, history, social sciences, sociology, social work, political science, etc, because they are generally low scoring.

One should opt for subjects like geography, geology, journalism, international relations and psychology as these are comparatively high scoring and not as much difficult as pure sciences, but still personal liking and aptitude counts a lot. Furthermore, I would suggest that in order to get high marks in optional subjects, one should avoid cramming and have a conceptual study because questions are never asked in straight forward manner.

How can one get higher marks in interview?

For interview one should dress up in a graceful manner and the introduction must be impressive. On the other hand, over-confidence could be disastrous so one should answer the asked question politely and patiently.

Moreover, effective knowledge of current and international affairs, Islamic history till 61 Hijri, Pak affairs from 1857 to date and grip on general knowledge can really make high scores in interview.

Any message

Always be obedient to your parents no matter whatever high position you get in life and always love your country because whatever BCS, CSP, PSP, DMG we are, it is all only because of Pakistan.