When I was taking the BCS examination, general knowledge was my weakest subject (I could hardly manage it at all). Assuming an exam date of January 5th with only one month left for preliminary preparation, here’s what I would do based on my present understanding:
1. Instead of reading entire newspapers, I would focus only on essential headlines. There isn’t enough time during this period to read columns and articles.
2. I would take at least 3-4 sets of model tests daily from various guidebooks.
3. I would repeatedly review questions and answers with explanations from job solution books and preliminary digests.
4. I would purchase and complete special preliminary editions of books like Current Affairs, Current World, Current News, and similar publications.
5. I would definitely stop discussing general knowledge with friends who were better than me in this subject.
6. Rather than worrying about what I didn’t know, I would focus on strengthening other subjects. The BCS exam isn’t a test of scholarly expertise in general knowledge.
7. Studying 15 hours daily on average, I could dedicate at most 70 hours to general knowledge in 30 days. With such limited time, it would be better not to read reference books.
8. While studying, I would keep only this in mind: whether what I’m reading would be useful for the exam or not. This certainly isn’t the time for knowledge acquisition.
9. The more I could skip while studying, the better. This would allow multiple readings of essential material.
10. Reading most things quickly is better than reading slowly and missing some necessary material. This builds confidence.
11. Going through question-answers from three guidebooks is far more useful than reading four reference books.
12. There’s no time now to study general knowledge following the BCS preliminary syllabus. I would read as many question-answers as possible from question banks, guidebooks, and digests.
13. There are many difficult questions that don’t stick in memory even after repeated reading. Instead of trying to remember those, I would attempt to retain 20 easy questions in the same time it would take to memorize 5 difficult ones. Unnecessary and pointless stubbornness ruins exam preparation.
14. I would try to memorize years, dates, numbers, treaties, various theories, organizations, and meetings through repeated reading.
15. Many old general knowledge questions have lost their relevance over time. I would skip those.
16. Correct answers to many questions can be easily found by typing in English on Google or in Bengali using Avro. This saves considerable time.
17. To stay well-informed about recent events, treaties, various awards, names of international entities, headquarters, place names, international wars and treaties, I would regularly scan the international pages of various newspapers.
18. This isn’t the time for memorizing maps, remembering trivial information through rhymes-songs-poems-stories, memorizing world capitals and currency names, forcibly learning the constitution by heart, or cramming statistical data from economic surveys. Such foolish, self-gratifying study methods have no place now. “Today is not the day for playing with flowers!”
19. I would break the habit of being shocked by surprising questions. The notion that “I must study whatever everyone else is studying” is particularly harmful when preparing for competitive exams.
20. Going out and wandering around feels good, but reduces study time. Every hour spent outside instead of studying at home during these 30 days would be like hammering another nail into my own coffin—you’ll understand this very clearly after the results are announced!
I believe the result of any game is always determined after the game ends—not before, not during. Until the results are announced, I am no less capable than anyone else. Just as good preparation doesn’t guarantee success, poor preparation doesn’t guarantee failure. Taking a good exam is more important than having good preparation. If you give your maximum effort during these few days of study, understanding what you’re doing and preparing intelligently, you will definitely pass the preliminary exam. What matters isn’t what you haven’t studied before, but what you’ll study in this one month—that will determine whether you pass or fail the preliminary. Your life’s account will be written in the devotion of the coming month! Good luck!
This article was first published in Prothom Alo’s Career page on Friday, December 4, 2015. The link is provided below:
ধন্যবাদ, স্যার!