Saturday 22 April 2017

Current Affairs

There is no need for you to read Dawn daily! Yes, no need to read any newspaper! Reading dawn takes atleast 1-2 hours daily and main time consuming activity of all other CSS aspirants. You on the other hand do not need to read it except on weekends. For CA prep, get the following

1)Quarterly Journal (4 editions come in a year)
2)Jahangir World Times magazine (all 12)

Go through these a couple of times and you are all set to go. Off-course, here my earlier assumption also comes into play that you have debated in life previously and therefore have analytical skills. You also have good english etc etc. If needed or if you feel like, you may read Opinion/Encounter of Dawn on a daily basis. 

Thus preparing for CA should take max 1 week

Pakistan Affairs

Ikram Rabbani: Thats it! Read this book only till Zia-ul-Haq era and no more. Prepare your own pointers from the internet on agriculture, manufacturing, education and water crisis in Pakistan. Go through this book a couple of times as it contains everything you need to pass in Pakistan Affairs.

Do get solved past papers and give special attentions to MCQs and topics like Sir Syed, Shah Walli Ullah, Pakistan movement, Ideology of Pakistan etc

Max time 4-5 days

Islamiat

Solve Islamiat in English because you are good at it (earlier assumption). Get the following books

1)Islamiat by Dogar Sons
2)Jahangir Exam Cram series

Go through both these books and repeat if necessary. Also important here is that you look at Friday Feature of Dawn. No need to buy a dawn on Friday though or even look at it each friday for the next 52 weeks. You can search on Google and get articles from any period. Once again, last 10 years solved papers are important.

Give a full week to Islamiat prep as it is a difficult subject and questions are generally contemporary in nature.

Geography

Sarfaraz Bajwa: Thats it! Your paper A should be complete within 3 days max

For paper 2 get latest edition De Blij and read up on population/migration/urbanization. Also get Jahangir Exam cram series and prepare paper 2 from it. When you are done with it, take a look at past papers and search for important figures from the net and note them down.

For both papers, once again last 10 years solved papers are indispensable.

Prep time for both subjects shouldn't take more than 5 days

Journalism

Journalism by Mehdi Hassan and Exam Cram series: Both books should not take more than 2 days max

Forestry

Masood A A Qureshi (Book 1 only): Thats it! 

Indopak History/British History

This wasn't my subject in 2011 papers (Accounting was) so I can't really guide you but Exam Cram series should be your friend and practice diagram drawing (for British History). Hopefully I will write an update for these subjects in a couple of days.

THE END!

Basically, the crux of whole preparation is on hard work and 1/2 books max. If you add up the number of days, it hardly takes around 40 days. You should spend rest of the time revising. It is imperative that you follow this strategy just before exams to ensure maximum possible retention. 

Let me repeat here that this a general strategy which I felt worked for me in 2011 exams. It may not work for everyone, but it may also work wonders for someone with a bit of modification. All I would say is that whatever strategy you follow, do not let anyone else tell you that you can not do it or that it isn't possible.

Also do not rely on academy notes. The underlying notion behind my assumptions, mentioned at the top, was that you can think critically and analyze yourself. Utilize your skills!

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