CSS Preparation Tips for Intermediate Pass Students by Jahan Zaib Brohi

“Civil Service is the back-bone of the State. Governments are formed. Governments are defeated; Prime
Ministers come and go; Ministers come and go; but you stay on, and therefore, there is a very great
responsibility placed on your shoulders.”

— Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Founder of Pakistan

Dear aspirants if you are interested in Competitive Exams. And if you want to pursue your career
in Civil Services of Pakistan and your education is Intermediate. If you want to appear in CSS
immediately after your bachelor, then here are some tips for you for the preparation of CSS Exam. But
before going to these tips let’s took an eye that, what is meant by CSS? What is CSS Exam? Why we need
to appear in it?

CSS (Central Superior Services):

It is a permanent bureaucratic authority that is responsible for running all the bureaucratic
operations and secretariats of the cabinet of the country. It is defined as;
“Key wheels on which the entire engine of the state has to move"

CSS Exam:
CSS exam is a competitive exam which is conducted by the Federal Public Service Commission of
the country to select BPS-17 grade officers for different occupational groups of the country. The highest
attainable rank for any CSS passed officer is BPS-22 grade.
In Pakistan it was formerly known as CSP (Civil Service of Pakistan). But later on in 1973
Constitution it was reorganized and termed as CSS (Central Superior Services). The Civil Services of
Pakistan selects 7.5% of the applicants by merit, education and qualification, while the other 92.5% are
selected by quota system.
It comprises of total 1500 marks and usually 12 subjects. 1200 marks for written and 300 marks
for interview. Written exam has 6 compulsory papers for 600 marks i.e.
1. English Essay (100 Marks)
2. English Precise and Composition (100 Marks)
3. Everyday Science and Ability (100 Marks)
4. Pakistan Affairs (100 Marks)
5. Current Affairs (100 Marks)
6. Islamiyat or Comparative study of Major Religions for Non-Muslims (100 Marks)

And 45 subjects are optional and we have to select optional for another 600 marks. Optional
Subjects are given below;

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Group-1 One subject carrying 200 marks

Subject Marks
Accountancy & Auditing 200
Economics 200
Computer Science 200
Political Science 200
International Relations 200

Group-2 One subject carrying 200 marks or 2 Subjects carrying 100 Marks

Subject Marks
Physics 200
Chemistry 200
Applied Mathematics 100
Pure Mathematics 100
Statistics 100
Geology 100 100

Group-3 One subject carrying 100 marks

Subject Marks
Business Administration 100
Public Administration 100
Governance & Public Policies 100
Town Planning & Urban Management 100

Group-4 One subject carrying 100 marks

Subject Marks
History of Pakistan & India 100
Islamic History & Culture 100
British History 100
European History 100

History of USA 100

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Group-5 One subject carrying 100 marks

Subject Marks
Gender Studies 100
Environmental Sciences 100
Agriculture & Forestry 100
Botany 100

Zoology 100

English Literature 100

Urdu Literature 100

Group-6 One subject carrying 100 marks

Subject Marks
Law 100
Constitutional Law 100
International Law 100
Muslim Law & Jurisprudence 100

Mercantile Law 100

Criminology 100
Philosophy 100

Group-7 One subject carrying 100 marks

Subject Marks
Journalism & Mass Communication 100
Psychology 100
Geography 100
Sociology 100

Anthropology 100

Punjabi 100
Sindhi 100

Pashto 100
Balochi 100
Persian 100
Arabic 100

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 So you have to choose from above subjects for another 600 marks. I suggest you to choose
optional subjects on the basis of your subject interest and background knowledge about subject. You
can also choose on the basis of your degree program or qualification. If you are intermediate passed
doing B.A (Bachelor of Arts) then choose optionals according to your personal interest, do not go for
marks trending subjects.

After passing the exam (both the written and interview) successful candidates are sent to Civil
Services Academy Lahore for training. And after training they are appointed as BPS-17 grade officers in
the different occupational groups on the basis of their performance and score. The list of these
occupational groups is given below;

1. Pakistan Customs Services (PCS)

2. Commerce & Trade Group (PCG)
3. Foreign Service of Pakistan (FSP)
4. Inland Revenue Service of Pakistan (IRS)
5. Information Services of Pakistan (ISP]
6. Military Lands & Cantonment Group (MLCG)
7. Office Management and Secretariat Group (OMG)
8. Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS)
9. Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service (PA&AS)
10. Police Service of Pakistan (PSP)
11. Postal Group (PG)
12. Railways (Commercial & Transport) Group (RCTG)

That was all the procedure and basic knowledge about CSS. Now let’s move towards the Tips.

Tips for Intermediate Pass Students:

So if you have passed Intermediate this year it means your age is approximately 18 years. You
still have three years (the minimum age required to appear in CSS is 21 years) for your preparation. No
matter if you have joined university or you are doing Bachelors from college side and preparing for
competitive exams. I will suggest you some easy tips that will help you in your preparation.

• Start from Compulsory Subjects first.

• In first phase improve your English (Vocabulary, Grammar & Tenses)
For that I suggest you to read English newspapers and note down difficult words in your
note book with their verb, noun, adjective, and adverb forms and go for their meaning in
dictionary. Read these words from your notebook and record audio clip of it in your smart
phone. And every night before going to bed & in morning listen these audio clips. Practice these
words in your sentences in every form.

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 For grammar and Tenses at beginning level I suggest you Wren & Martin. Study topic
wise and practice that what you read either parts of speech or tenses.
For newspaper you can also download official Apps of newspaper from play store or app
store.
• Improve your Knowledge
Read informative articles from internet, note down new points i.e. new inventions,
important dates, important personality names, abbreviation and other general knowledge from
newspapers, internet and books etc. But make sure that the information is authentic.
• For Islamiyat read Islamiyat books of class three to xii.
• I also refer you to read Social Study or Pakistan Study books of class three to xii.
• You should read General Science books of class three to xii. It will help you in General Science &
Ability paper.
• Try to gain knowledge from everyone and everywhere. And note down specific knowledge.
• After that all go for your subject books according to syllabus. I will refer you some books for
compulsory subjects.
• After compulsory subjects select your optional subjects of your interest that link to compulsory
subjects.
• Commit yourself for continues study of three years and then enjoy.

Some Books for compulsory Subjects:

➢ English Essay:
01, Paragraph and Essays by Prof: Manzoor Mirza
02, Dogar’s Unique Latest Essays by Prof: Muhammad Asif Qadri
➢ English Composition:
01, Precis Writing by (Ab: Basit, Naimatullah)
02, Practical English Usage by Michal Swan
03, Dictionary of Synonyms & Antonyms by Prof: Tariq
04, Oxford Idioms
➢ Current Affairs:
01, International Affairs by Dr, Safdar
02, Strategic Studies/ Quarterly
03, Contemporary Affairs by M. Imtiaz Shahid
➢ General Knowledge:
01, Encyclopedia of General Knowledge by Adeel Niaz
02, General Knowledge Advance MCQ’s by M. Imtiaz Shahid
➢ Every Day Science:
01, Encyclopedic Manual of Every day Science by Dr, Rab Nawaz Soomro
02, CSS Every day Science with solved papers by Shabir Hussain Choudry

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 That was all for you guys, I hope it will help you in your preparation. If you are agreed with my
tips then drop an email or feedback to me. For Queries my email address is given below.
Best Wishes for you future officers!

By: Engr Jahan Zaib Brohi

Mehran UET, Jamshoro
Email: jahanzaibbrahvi@gmail.com

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