CSS Examination – Pakistan

CSS Examination

CSS Examination is a competitive examination conducted by Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) Islamabad every year for recruitment to posts in Basic Pay Scale 17 for following groups/services under Federal Government.

1. Commerce & Trade
2. Customs & Excise Group
3. District Management Group
4. Foreign service of Pakistan
5. Income Tax Group
6. Information Group
7. Military Lands and Cantonments Groups
8. Office Management Group
9. Pakistan Audit and Accounts service
10. Police Service of Pakistan
11. Postal Group
12. Railways (Commercial & Transportation) Group

Parts of CSS Examination.

The CSS Exam comprises the following.

1. Written Examination
2. Medical Test
3. Psychological Test
4. Viva Voce

(Each part is explained in detail in the last of this topic/page)

Eligibility for taking CSS Exam.

Male as well as female candidates can appear in CSS exam if they fulfill the following eligibility criteria.
Nationality. The candidate must be a citizen of Pakistan or permanent resident of state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Education. (a)The candidate must hold at least 2nd division (or grade C), Bachelor Degree in any faculty in one of the universities of Pakistan or equivalent qualification or comparable educational qualification of a foreign university, recognised by Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad.
(b) A candidate who has obtained 3rd division (or grade D) in his Bachelor Degree will be eligible for Exam in case he/she has obtained her division in Master degree.
Age limit. Age limit for candidate 21 – 28 years, which can be relaxed by 2 years (upto 30 yrs) for a person who is already in government service and has completed at least two years in service. Age relaxation (up to 2 years) is also available to candidates who belong to scheduled caste and Buddhist community as well as those candidates who live in remote areas, defined by FPSC (Age relaxation detail is in the last of this page).
Disabled Candidates. Disabled candidates (in categories of physical, hearing/speech (deaf & dumb) and visually impaired (blind)) are allowed to take exam against four Occupational Groups/Services which are (1) Commerce & Trade Group (2) Pakistan Audit & Accounts Service (3) Information Group and (4) Postal Group, provided they fulfil the eligibility criteria of education and age limit as mentioned above.

Places of the Examination:

The examination is held simultaneously at Abbottabad,Bahawalpur, D.I.Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad, Gilgit,Gujranwala, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Karachi, Khuzdar, Lahore, Larkana, Multan, Muzaffarabad, Okara, Peshawar, Quetta,Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Sialkot, Skardu & Sukkur depending onthe number of applicants for each centre.

Places of Interviews:

The interviews will be held at Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore,
Peshawar & Quetta.

How to apply for CSS Exam

Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) Islamabad publishes their advertisement for CSS Exam in all “daily newspapers” every year. In which date of Exam and last date for submitting application form is given.
Candidate must pay Rs. 1000/ (PKR) as application fee (exam fee) which is deposited in State Bank/National Bank of Pakistan under the account head “C02101-Organs of State Exam Fee(FPSC Receipt)”. Application form, Rules and Guidelines, and Syllabi are available on the production of this receipt (application fee deposit receipt in above banks) in Head office of FPSC at Islamabad and branches of FPSC at different cities.
The application form is filled for apply for exam. The application form must reach Commission on or before the closing date. No extra time is allowed.
Dates of exam and submitting of application form of CSS.
                        Generally, the CSS exam (written) is held in the month of March or April every year, and last date for submitting application for is 1st or 2nd January of the same year. Like, The CSS exam (written) for 2012 will be held by FPSC with effect from 6th March 2012 and closing date for submitting application is 1st January 2012.
These dates can be changed by FPSC Islamabad for every year.

CSS Examination – Detail of each part.

CSS Examination is given for the selection of candidates for services under FPSC, The Commission ensure that selected candidate is perfect in all aspects for the post or service. Candidate has to undergo all the parts of CSS Exam for appointment against a post.

1. Written Exam
2. Medical Test
3. Psychological Test
4. Viva Voce

Written Exam.

The written exam carries total 1200 marks. For written Exam candidate has to take all compulsory subjects (papers) which carry total 600 marks as well as select subjects from optional subjects which carry total 600 marks. Each paper is given time of 3 hours. There are subjective questions as well as some MCQs. MCQs are to be attempted on computerized OMR Answer sheet, whereas subjective questions are to be attempted on Answer Book. Blue or black ink is allowed only. For qualifying written test a candidate should obtain at least 40% in each compulsory subject and 33% in each of optional subject or 50% in aggregate.

COMPULSORY SUBJECTS

COMPULSORY PAPERS
Subject	Marks
Essay	100
English (Precis and Composition)	100
General Knowledge
Everyday science	100
Current Affairs	100
Pakistan Affairs	100
Islamiyat	100
Total	600

Note: The Non-Muslim candidates have the option either to take Islamiat as one of the compulsory subject or otherwise Pakistan Affairs (G.K. Paper-III) will be treated of 200 marks in their case and half of the total marks obtained by them in the paper on Pakistan Affairs (G.K. Paper-III) will be counted in lieu of Islamiat.
A candidate who does not appear in any compulsory subject will not be allowed to appear in the remaining papers of the Examination.

OPTIONAL SUBJECTS.

Subjects carrying total of 600 marks to be selected

OPTIONAL PAPERS
Subject	Marks
GROUP - A
Accountancy & Auditing	200
Economics	200
Business Administration	100
Public Administration	100
GROUP - B
Political Science	200
Agriculture	100
Forestry	100
Sociology	100
Journalism	100
GROUP - C
Pure Mathematics	200
Applied Mathematics	200
Computer Science	100
Statistics	100
GROUP - D (Science subjects)
Physics	200
Geology	200
Geography	200
Chemistry	200
Botany	200
Zoology	200
GROUP - E (History Subjects)
Islamic History & Culture	200
Indo-Pak History	200
British History	200
European History	200
History of the USA	100
GROUP - F
Law	200
Constitutional Law	100
Mercantile Law	100
Muslim Law & Jurisprudence	100
International Law	100
International Relations	100
GROUP - G
Philosophy	200
Psychology including Experimental Psychology	200
GROUP - H (Regional Languages)
Sindhi	100
Pushto	100
Punjabi	100
Balochi	100
GROUP - I (National & Foreign Languages)
English Literature	200
Urdu	200
Persian	200
Arabic	200

Note:

1. There will be two papers of 100 marks each of the subjects which carry 200 marks. In other subjects there will be one paper. Each
2. The Question Papers in Urdu or other Pakistani regional languages (Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto and Balochi), Persian and Arabic should be answered in the respective languages or in Urdu/English unless otherwise directed in the question paper. The question paper in Islamiat is to be answered in English or Urdu only. All other papers must be answered in English unless otherwise directed in the Question Paper. Contravention of these instructions will result in the cancellation of the papers and award of ZERO marks in the paper(s) concerned
3. The candidates are required to select optional subjects carrying a total of 600 marks, but not more than 200 marks from any box/columns, as provided in the columns of rules.
   

   Preparation for CSS written Exam

   About 5000 students appear in CSS Exam every year. 600 to 900 out of the 5000 qualify the written Test. If you are the one who will appear in the coming CSS Exam, Remember that you have to compete against 5000 students in Exam. It is very easy to qualify and get higher grades in CSS Exam provided you work hard and work in directed way. Most of the students fail the test in spite of hard work because their efforts are mis-directed, they don’t know what is worth studying for preparation for CSS Exam.
    I will here share the experience of students who qualified the test securing higher grades so that you can benefit from it. CSS Exam is designed to check your educational skills, aptitude and competence in various aspects. In order to qualify CSS Exam you should really be an intelligent, sharp minded, alert, well-informed and well versed person. Only a book work cannot qualify the test if he is unaware of surrounding. It means CSS Exam tests both your educational skills as well as general skills. Because a big part of your COMPULSORY SUBJECTS consists of General Knowledge which is something you cannot only get from books. First we will talk about how to groom your educational skills and then general skills.
   You have to appear in 12 subjects, 6 out of which are compulsory and rests are Optional.

   Subject-Wise Preparation for CSS EXAM   

   CUMPULSORY SUBJECTS

   ENGLISH ESSAY:
   In English Essay you are asked to write an COMPREHENSIVE ESSAY (2500 – 3500 words) on one topic in given topics. In essay they check your writing skills, grammar, expression and thoughts. For English Essay, you must have excellent writing skills, grammatical correction and beautiful and mature expression. Try to read English Newspaper daily, English Grammar, Essays in order to groom your writing skills.
   CURRENT AFFAIRS:
   For Current Affairs, read daily Newspaper and listen to daily News. Study Relations with other countries, internal and external affairs. You should be well informed about current political and general situation. Good books like “who is who and what is what” etc are very helpful in general preparation.
   EVERYDAY SCIENCE:
   For everyday science study the books of Matric/O-level and FSc/A-level. All the questions set in paper of everyday science are extracted from these books. Questions are asked about Scientific Laws and principles, Experiments, Scientific Terms, Processes etc.
   PAKISTAN AFFAIRS:
   For Pakistan Affairs, you should study good books of Pak Studies, History, Relations with other countries, internal and external affairs, Political and general events of Pakistan,  Daily News papers and other good books like “The struggle of Pakistan by I.H Qureshi” etc.
   ISLAMIYAT:
   For Islamiyat study text books (Bachelor and master level) as well as other Islamic books like Bahesht-i-Zewar etc. Learn a lot of Hadees and Quranic verses with translation to write them in answer as references. Study the Basic Concepts and knowledge of Islam.

   OPTIONAL SUBJECTS

   Correct selection of papers from optional subject is very important for high marks in test. Select those subjects which you have studied in your previous classes and those subjects which you have full command on. Study books of bachelor and master level for these subjects (if possible).