A thread on the CSS Exam :

Dear aspirants for the Civil Services , while you embark on your preparation for the CSS exam ; it is of quintessential importance to understand what goes on during the course of the exam . A cursory look at the date sheets of last two years ...

reveal a total of 6 consecutive days in which 12 papers , 2 papers a day had to the attempted by the candidates .Each paper durations 3 hours and on a given day there is a gap of 2 hours (from 12 noon to 2 pm). Hence , in a given day a candidate shall be writing/reproducing ...

on the exam sheet for a total of 6 hours . Add another 90 minutes of a commute to & from between the exam centre & home/hostel . You are left with 14 hours in a given day . Now in the given duration you have sleep , eat , revise & study , pray etc Bear in mind that ...

you cannot compromise on sleeping & nourishing your body on any of the 5 consecutive nights leading upto the final & 6th day . Therefore , try to wrap up revision for both the upcoming papers the next day within a maximum of 3 hours . Sleep on time and for ...

least 5 to 6 hours out of the leftover 14 hours available . An aggregate of the duration of the full course of 6 days reveals that out of a total 144 hours , a quarter of the duration which is 36 hour shall be spent constantly in WRITING . While ideally a quarter of the ..

duration shall be spent in proper sleep . Half a quarter which rounds of into 18 hours shall be wasted in commute & waiting between the two papers . While around a quarter and a half : which totals 54 hours ,shall be taken up by revisions ,eating and other routine requirements ..

Understand that this exam is as much a test of your mental faculties as it is of physical endurance . I cannot stress enough the importance of proper sleep and food intake during the exam . Many candidates walk out on the 9th paper due to exhaustion and the nauseating fatigue ...

That sets in . Generally on the fifth consecutive day during the 9th paper & onward , you feel numbness in your forearm due to continuous writing for 6 hours a day . Therefore it is better to keep yourself in good shape , so that mind muscle connection carries on ...

Complementing one another . Keep yourself hydrated during the course of the exam . Try to eat something nutritious , like rich in proteins & fats during the paper break . Have some candies or chocolate bars and a water bottle with you so that you can refuel and rehydrate ...

During the paper . Remember take this exam no less than a War , spanning over 6 days with 12 papers being a separate battle each . You must prepare so that you win every battle and ultimately the ‘WAR’, which is the CSS exam ...

As the great Ancient Chinese philosopher & War Strategist wrote in his book , the ‘ Art of War ‘ and I quote , “ Know yourself , know your enemy and in a hundred battles , you will never be in Peril”. That is precisely the purpose of this write up to familiarise the ...

candidates of the challenge they shall be up against .

Above I shared the routine I adopted & by Allah’s Boundless Blessings got through the exam 12 years ago .

All the best to all aspiring candidates !