35th BCS Written Exam Preparation Strategy (Kaler
These past few days should bring you intense mental and physical anguish. If that’s the case, I’d say you’re on the right track. My experience tells me that those who remain too comfortable in the period before an exam suffer proportionally more in the time after the results are announced. No one dies from working hard. If they did, we would see that all the successful people in the world were dead.
This piece first appeared in the ‘Chakribakriť page of Prothom Alo newspaper on May 27, 2016. The link:
For 36th BCS Written Examination Candidates (Part 2)
……………………………………………………………………
Through this series in Prothom Alo, I posted on Facebook asking what topics the 36th BCS examinees wanted to know about. Today’s piece is organized based on those comments.
1. To improve the quality of your writing, do two things. One: Read each question’s answer from multiple sources. Two: Whatever your preparation level, maintain the mindset “I am the best” in the examination hall.
2. Whatever time you’ve mentally allocated for a question, finish writing the answer within that time or close to it, no matter what. Writing one answer extremely well while leaving another unanswered or poorly answered is self-destructive. An exam is not a place for emotions—it’s a place to complete full answers at any cost.
3. To score well in English, follow two principles. One: Make no spelling mistakes. Two: Write grammatically correct, simple sentences.
4. For Science, if you solve previous years’ questions and suggestions from 2-3 guidebooks, you should find at least half the questions familiar. Include necessary diagrams and equations.
5. Worrying whether questions will be difficult or easy is simply wasting time. Because on the battlefield, the rules are the same for everyone—PSC won’t create special questions just for you. If you can’t answer properly, that’s your problem.
6. No need to memorize the Constitution. Study the question patterns and learn about the important articles—know what they contain, and being able to write that in your own words will suffice.
7. For topics requiring practice (like grammar), definitely practice from at least 3 guidebooks.
8. If you’re very weak in one subject, stop trying to become strong in it and instead focus on the subject you know well—make it even better. You’ll lose fewer marks in the first subject while gaining more marks in the second with less time invested. Use that saved time on another subject.
9. One page of information-rich writing helps you score better than three pages of information-poor writing.
10. Your handwriting doesn’t need to be beautiful, just legible. If your font size is too large, you’ll be able to write less than your competitors in the same time.
11. To learn much more about a topic in less time, use Google’s help. You can even type in Bengali and customize options to search.
12. For good mental aptitude preparation in short time, read all the questions and answers from 3 guidebooks.
13. You’re weak in math? Accept that you’ll get 35, not 50. The more you stress over those 15 marks, the more you risk losing 50 marks in other subjects.
14. Those weak in English should spend 30 minutes daily writing 5-6 pages on topics relevant to BCS written exams—whether right or wrong.
15. Don’t discuss your weaknesses in subjects with those who excel in them during this time.
16. In the final paragraph of answers on Bangladesh and International Affairs, include opinions and analyses from various columnists, experts, and your own perspectives to boost marks.
17. Rather than memorizing one question, it’s wiser to read several questions from different sources in the same time. The better your reading habits, the more refined your writing style will become.
18. In exams, you can create margins on all four sides of the main answer sheet and fold all four sides of additional pages while writing. Use blue ink for quotations.
19. For the book criticism section, learn well about 30 familiar, important novels about the Liberation War and other topics.
20. Study easy topics late at night to fight sleep. Don’t log into Facebook for “just 5 minutes.”
21. Create a chart showing how much you can score in each subject. Your average score should not fall below 65.
22. Let colleagues call you a bookworm or whatever—office workers should take BCS guidebooks to work and read whenever possible.
23. I remind you again: there’s no time now to read reference books. Study from guidebooks and internet suggestions.
24. No one gets a job without their fingers and wrists aching—you won’t either. There’s no rule about how many pages to write for each question. It depends entirely on your thinking speed and writing speed.
25. Those with slow handwriting should compensate for writing less by including more facts, data, and quotations.
That’s all for today. The rest will come in the next part. Happy reading!
This piece appeared in the ‘Chakribakri’ page of Prothom Alo newspaper on June 3, 2016. The link:
For 36th BCS Written Examination Candidates (Final Part)
……………………………………………………………………
There’s no such thing as “giving a brilliant exam next time.” Don’t dwell on what you did or didn’t do before—think about who you are now. Our bodies run not on physical capacity but on mental strength. A healthy person’s inability to work hard is essentially a kind of mental disability. Use these few days to give your absolute best. Just see what happens!
1. There are no “uncommon questions.” If questions don’t seem familiar in the exam, you’ll have to write creatively, and if you can’t create, you’ll have to imagine, and if you can’t imagine, you’ll have to force yourself to imagine. You not answering isn’t the problem—the problem is that someone else is answering it.
2. Not even 0.5 marks can be left unanswered. You must complete “full answers” no matter what.
3. Quickly read only the necessary parts of at least three digests. We need jobs, not erudition.
4. Never think that just because someone before you got away with cutting corners, you too will get away with it.
5. Your personal sorrows and sufferings cannot be excuses for poor exam performance—at least that’s what the world around you thinks. Your hardships are at most your misfortune, but your failures are simply your failures, nothing more.
6. I believe that just as good preparation doesn’t guarantee a good exam, poor preparation doesn’t guarantee a poor exam. Results are always final only after the final results are out, not before. Until then, you are in no way inferior to anyone in any aspect.
7. At this time, some novel “touch and pass” type suggestions with unusual questions become available. Stay 100 hands away from these. It’s better to rely on your own suggestions.
8. Live a “no excuse” life. If you succeed, you won’t need to show excuses. If you fail, no one will listen to your excuses anyway. Keep hitting yourself, keep challenging yourself at every moment.
9. Never inquire about how much others have studied. Think about your own preparation.
10. How many pages to write for which question depends on the question’s marks, importance, time, and your writing speed. Time is equal for everyone—its proper management is what matters.
11. If you haven’t studied a topic at all, it won’t be easy to write creatively about it in the exam. At least “touch” everything once.
12. When you sit to study, write down what you’ll study in the next few hours on paper, then study. Never think about what you’ll study in the next few days.
13. Sleep exactly 4 hours until the exam. What? It won’t work? It will, it will. Many have done this. Why can’t you?
14. In question selection, it’s better to answer four questions worth 4+3+3+5=15 marks than one question worth 15 marks.
15. Stop Facebooking. Completely! Answer phone calls strategically.
16. Study Bangladesh and International Affairs less. Focus more on the other four subjects.
17. No need to take model tests elsewhere. Spend much more time at home.
18. Write down the names of 25-30 people who write on various issues and their “areas of interest” in your diary. It’ll be useful when giving quotations.
19. Explain issues from various columnists’ perspectives, and toward the end of your answer, conclude with your own analysis in your own way. Write any comments or personal opinions you have (and even if you don’t have any).
20. Write with many bullet points in paragraphs. The first and last paragraphs should be most attractive.
21. You won’t remember much of what you’re studying. No one can take written exams with 100% preparation. The art is to forget 60% of what you thought you learned 100%, and use the remaining
BCS Written Exam Preparation Strategy: Bangladesh and International Affairs
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The Bangladesh Affairs syllabus hasn’t changed, though the style of questions has shifted somewhat. Let me share some practical advice.
# Purchase at least 3-4 sets of guidebooks. Also read various reference books such as Mozammel Hoque’s Higher Secondary Civics Second Paper, books on Bangladesh’s constitution (like Arif Khan’s Constitution of Bangladesh in Simple Language), books on the Liberation War (like Maidul Hasan’s Muladdhara: ’71), Nihar Kumar Sarkar’s Politics for Children and Economics for Children, Muhammad Habibur Rahman’s What Citizens Should Know, Akbar Ali Khan’s Economics of Altruism and Strange Economics, Abdul Hai’s Bangladesh Affairs, and other relevant texts.
# Rather than studying blindly for 4 hours, it’s far better to study questions for 1 hour. By studying various question patterns extensively, you’ll learn how to avoid unnecessary topics. Create 3-4 sets of suggestions yourself by adding or removing different questions. This is the preliminary stage of preparation. Control your natural urge to study everything.
# Read 4-5 papers online very quickly. While reading newspapers, understand which topics might appear in exams by going through the columns. General knowledge questions can change according to contemporary relevance. When reading various columns, carefully observe which columnist writes about which subjects and in what style. Note down in your notebook: columnist’s name, their area of interest, and writing style. This will be very useful when citing references in exam papers.
# Draw necessary diagrams and maps. Include relevant data, tables, charts, and references wherever appropriate. When quoting from newspapers, mention the source and date below the quotation. Show something in your exam paper that makes it stand out. For instance, you can give references from various websites with sources. You can quote from Wikipedia or Banglapedia. Write relevant statements made by important personalities of the country at various times. Learn the formal presentation style from newspaper editorials.
# There’s no need to take notes while studying. Instead, write next to each question which source you’re reading it from—this will help during revision. Keep regular track of Bangladesh’s constitutional explanations, official websites of various organizations, Wikipedia, Banglapedia, National Web Portal, some international newspapers, and collect data and information.
# You must read various references, texts, guides, and authentic books. Most BCS exam questions aren’t common. Reading these books makes answering easier. When answering questions, citing from various authors’ writings, newspaper columns and editorials, internet sources, and various references increases marks. Use blue ink for these sections so they easily catch the examiner’s eye. Try to include at least one quotation, data, table, chart, or reference on every page. There’s no need to memorize the entire constitution. Understand very well the explanations of articles that frequently appear in questions. Constitutional articles don’t need to be quoted verbatim.
# Good handwriting is fine, but poor handwriting isn’t a problem either. Just ensure your writing is legible. Practice writing 1 page every 3-5 minutes.
# Never leave any question unanswered. If you don’t know the answer, at least write something based on your understanding. If you have no understanding, write from imagination. If imagination fails, force yourself to imagine! You leaving a question blank isn’t the problem—the problem is that someone else will answer it.
# Occasionally practice writing continuously on various topics. Increase your reading habits on different subjects. This will improve the quality of your writing. You don’t need to memorize any answers. Develop the habit of writing from understanding. No one gets a job by writing everything perfectly correctly. Everyone writes creatively in written exams. Learning to write creatively properly is also an art.
Now I’m discussing International Affairs according to the syllabus.
Short Conceptual Notes: Go through previous years’ questions, reference books, guidebooks, and newspapers to list what kind of notes might appear. Then google these topics and read them from the internet. Along with newspaper clippings, articles saved in word files, guidebooks, and reference books! Adding your own analysis at the end of answers in this section will increase marks.
Analytical Questions: Write in as many points as possible, paragraph by paragraph. In this section, it’s better to answer questions worth 4+6+5=15 marks rather than one 15-mark question. The first and last paragraphs of answers should be most attractive. Give plenty of quotations. Explain issues from various columnists’ perspectives and draw your own conclusions at the end. Include any comments or personal opinions you may have.
Problem Solving Questions: Some important international issues will be written about or some problem will be presented. Analyze it and write in points what solutions might be possible considering various aspects, including international analysts’ opinions and your own views. To excel in this, there’s no alternative to reading newspapers regularly.
You’ll find answers to almost all International Affairs questions online. So it’s best if you study topics by googling them. If necessary, type topic names in Bengali and search. Reading answers from Wikipedia, Banglapedia, and various organizations’ official websites will save time and bring good marks. Read daily and weekly international pages in newspapers, The Hindu, The Economist, Times of India, Project Syndicate, and necessary articles from various international newspapers. Read analytical comments and criticisms on various topics from the internet. This will sharpen your writing. Various maps, data, charts, tables, reviews, personal analysis, and contemporary relevance will make your paper stand out to examiners. Questions won’t be very common. So improving reading habits is essential for doing well in this section. Nothing needs to be memorized. Read by underlining repeatedly. Write creatively in your own way during the exam.
Take care of your dreams, and dreams will take care of you. Make your thoughts and actions dream-centered in the coming time. Believe that when you’re not thinking about your dreams, you’re not really thinking about anything! Remove from your life, even temporarily, those who speak negatively about your dreams. Welcome to the beautiful moment when you’ll touch your dreams with the audacity of a tangent!
This article appeared in Kaler Kantho newspaper’s ‘Chakri Ache’ page on May 18, 2016. The link:
Thirty-five for the Thirty-fifth! (Prothom Alo)
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The preparation preparation mindset, whether you understand or not, just by writing you’ll pass the written exam, but you might not get the job. How to write well, and what you can do in these few days:
1) Being tense about exams is a common courtesy and excuse for not studying. Read your favorite subject at that moment.
2) Stop going to coaching and unnecessary outings. Spend time studying at home; at least 14-16 hours daily.
3) Give Facebook narcissism a break.
4) Never inquire about what others are studying. Forgive those whose preparation is better than yours.
5) Control the natural urge to study everything.
6) Those who have jobs, for this month either quit your job or give up sleep.
7) Keep your phone off frequently. Stay away from laptops too.
8) You’re reading something and getting tired! Read something you enjoy, the fatigue will disappear. Practice math, grammar, translation, mental ability at night to stay awake.
9) Don’t sleep before 2 AM, don’t wake up after 6 AM. 4 hours of sleep, that’s it!
10) Study Bangladesh and International Affairs less. Study the other 4 subjects more.
11) If you haven’t studied any topic at all, writing creatively during the exam won’t be easy either. At least ‘touch’ everything once.
12) There’s no time to read reference books. Buy a few digests.
13) Prepare suggestions yourself, not someone else’s.
14) Prepare not to get common questions, but to at least get ideas for creative writing.
15) Decide time allocation beforehand based on question importance and marks.
16) Read books by underlining and writing as you wish. It will help during revision.
17) You cannot leave even 0.5 marks. Whatever it takes, you must complete ‘full answers.’ Try to write much faster—on average 1 page every 3-5 minutes.
18) On every page, definitely include at least one relevant diagram, map, quotation, data, table, chart, or reference.
19) Study short questions, notes, short notes, summaries, essence, idea expansion, translation, grammar well. There’s no question of taking notes while studying!
20) No matter how difficult, definitely translate editorials from various daily newspapers regularly.
21) Citing in blue ink from various authors’ writings, newspaper columns and editorials, internet, various organizations’ official websites, relevant constitutional articles and explanations, Wikipedia, Banglapedia, National Web Portal, some international newspapers, various references will increase marks.
22) In question selection, it’s better to answer 4 questions worth 4+3+3+5=15 marks rather than 1 question worth 15 marks.
23) Write in your diary the names of 25-30 people who write on various issues and their ‘area of interest.’ This will help when giving (creative) quotations.
24) Focus well on what others can’t do or do less of, but need to be able to do.
25) Writing with various reviews from newspapers, personal analysis, contemporary relevance will make your paper stand out to examiners.
26) Write with as many points as possible, paragraph by paragraph. The first and last paragraphs should be most attractive.
27) Explain issues from various columnists’ perspectives and conclude with your own analysis at the end of answers. Write any comments or personal opinions (even if you don’t have any).
28) For book reviews, learn about at least 30 well-known Bengali books.
29) Even writing in very simple language without spelling and grammatical mistakes will get more marks in English.
30) Don’t use shortcuts in math, show every step in detail.
31) For General Science and Technology, study previous years’ and digest suggestion questions well.
32) Besides digests, solve 3-4 IQ test books and practice mental ability questions online.
33) Instead of memorizing the entire constitution, understand very well the explanations of articles that frequently appear in questions. Articles don’t need to be quoted verbatim.
34) You can study International Affairs topics by googling them. Analyze the issues or problems you write about and write in points what solutions might be possible considering various aspects, international analysts’ and your own opinions.
35) It’s impossible for anyone to take a written exam with 100% preparation. The art is to properly utilize the remaining 40% after forgetting 60% of what you thought you learned 100%.
Work hard; there’s no benefit in making excuses for not being able to prepare. If you succeed, you won’t need to make excuses; and if you fail, no one will listen to your excuses anyway. Good luck!!
This article was published as the main feature in Prothom Alo’s ‘Chakri-Bakri’ page on Friday, August 7. Here’s the link:
35th BCS Written Exam Preparation Strategy (Kaler
These past few days should bring you intense mental and physical anguish. If that’s the case, I’d say you’re on the right track. My experience tells me that those who remain too comfortable in the period before an exam suffer proportionally more in the time after the results are announced. No one dies from working hard. If they did, we would see that all the successful people in the world were dead.
This piece first appeared in the ‘Chakribakriť page of Prothom Alo newspaper on May 27, 2016. The link:
For 36th BCS Written Examination Candidates (Part 2)
……………………………………………………………………
Through this series in Prothom Alo, I posted on Facebook asking what topics the 36th BCS examinees wanted to know about. Today’s piece is organized based on those comments.
1. To improve the quality of your writing, do two things. One: Read each question’s answer from multiple sources. Two: Whatever your preparation level, maintain the mindset “I am the best” in the examination hall.
2. Whatever time you’ve mentally allocated for a question, finish writing the answer within that time or close to it, no matter what. Writing one answer extremely well while leaving another unanswered or poorly answered is self-destructive. An exam is not a place for emotions—it’s a place to complete full answers at any cost.
3. To score well in English, follow two principles. One: Make no spelling mistakes. Two: Write grammatically correct, simple sentences.
4. For Science, if you solve previous years’ questions and suggestions from 2-3 guidebooks, you should find at least half the questions familiar. Include necessary diagrams and equations.
5. Worrying whether questions will be difficult or easy is simply wasting time. Because on the battlefield, the rules are the same for everyone—PSC won’t create special questions just for you. If you can’t answer properly, that’s your problem.
6. No need to memorize the Constitution. Study the question patterns and learn about the important articles—know what they contain, and being able to write that in your own words will suffice.
7. For topics requiring practice (like grammar), definitely practice from at least 3 guidebooks.
8. If you’re very weak in one subject, stop trying to become strong in it and instead focus on the subject you know well—make it even better. You’ll lose fewer marks in the first subject while gaining more marks in the second with less time invested. Use that saved time on another subject.
9. One page of information-rich writing helps you score better than three pages of information-poor writing.
10. Your handwriting doesn’t need to be beautiful, just legible. If your font size is too large, you’ll be able to write less than your competitors in the same time.
11. To learn much more about a topic in less time, use Google’s help. You can even type in Bengali and customize options to search.
12. For good mental aptitude preparation in short time, read all the questions and answers from 3 guidebooks.
13. You’re weak in math? Accept that you’ll get 35, not 50. The more you stress over those 15 marks, the more you risk losing 50 marks in other subjects.
14. Those weak in English should spend 30 minutes daily writing 5-6 pages on topics relevant to BCS written exams—whether right or wrong.
15. Don’t discuss your weaknesses in subjects with those who excel in them during this time.
16. In the final paragraph of answers on Bangladesh and International Affairs, include opinions and analyses from various columnists, experts, and your own perspectives to boost marks.
17. Rather than memorizing one question, it’s wiser to read several questions from different sources in the same time. The better your reading habits, the more refined your writing style will become.
18. In exams, you can create margins on all four sides of the main answer sheet and fold all four sides of additional pages while writing. Use blue ink for quotations.
19. For the book criticism section, learn well about 30 familiar, important novels about the Liberation War and other topics.
20. Study easy topics late at night to fight sleep. Don’t log into Facebook for “just 5 minutes.”
21. Create a chart showing how much you can score in each subject. Your average score should not fall below 65.
22. Let colleagues call you a bookworm or whatever—office workers should take BCS guidebooks to work and read whenever possible.
23. I remind you again: there’s no time now to read reference books. Study from guidebooks and internet suggestions.
24. No one gets a job without their fingers and wrists aching—you won’t either. There’s no rule about how many pages to write for each question. It depends entirely on your thinking speed and writing speed.
25. Those with slow handwriting should compensate for writing less by including more facts, data, and quotations.
That’s all for today. The rest will come in the next part. Happy reading!
This piece appeared in the ‘Chakribakri’ page of Prothom Alo newspaper on June 3, 2016. The link:
For 36th BCS Written Examination Candidates (Final Part)
……………………………………………………………………
There’s no such thing as “giving a brilliant exam next time.” Don’t dwell on what you did or didn’t do before—think about who you are now. Our bodies run not on physical capacity but on mental strength. A healthy person’s inability to work hard is essentially a kind of mental disability. Use these few days to give your absolute best. Just see what happens!
1. There are no “uncommon questions.” If questions don’t seem familiar in the exam, you’ll have to write creatively, and if you can’t create, you’ll have to imagine, and if you can’t imagine, you’ll have to force yourself to imagine. You not answering isn’t the problem—the problem is that someone else is answering it.
2. Not even 0.5 marks can be left unanswered. You must complete “full answers” no matter what.
3. Quickly read only the necessary parts of at least three digests. We need jobs, not erudition.
4. Never think that just because someone before you got away with cutting corners, you too will get away with it.
5. Your personal sorrows and sufferings cannot be excuses for poor exam performance—at least that’s what the world around you thinks. Your hardships are at most your misfortune, but your failures are simply your failures, nothing more.
6. I believe that just as good preparation doesn’t guarantee a good exam, poor preparation doesn’t guarantee a poor exam. Results are always final only after the final results are out, not before. Until then, you are in no way inferior to anyone in any aspect.
7. At this time, some novel “touch and pass” type suggestions with unusual questions become available. Stay 100 hands away from these. It’s better to rely on your own suggestions.
8. Live a “no excuse” life. If you succeed, you won’t need to show excuses. If you fail, no one will listen to your excuses anyway. Keep hitting yourself, keep challenging yourself at every moment.
9. Never inquire about how much others have studied. Think about your own preparation.
10. How many pages to write for which question depends on the question’s marks, importance, time, and your writing speed. Time is equal for everyone—its proper management is what matters.
11. If you haven’t studied a topic at all, it won’t be easy to write creatively about it in the exam. At least “touch” everything once.
12. When you sit to study, write down what you’ll study in the next few hours on paper, then study. Never think about what you’ll study in the next few days.
13. Sleep exactly 4 hours until the exam. What? It won’t work? It will, it will. Many have done this. Why can’t you?
14. In question selection, it’s better to answer four questions worth 4+3+3+5=15 marks than one question worth 15 marks.
15. Stop Facebooking. Completely! Answer phone calls strategically.
16. Study Bangladesh and International Affairs less. Focus more on the other four subjects.
17. No need to take model tests elsewhere. Spend much more time at home.
18. Write down the names of 25-30 people who write on various issues and their “areas of interest” in your diary. It’ll be useful when giving quotations.
19. Explain issues from various columnists’ perspectives, and toward the end of your answer, conclude with your own analysis in your own way. Write any comments or personal opinions you have (and even if you don’t have any).
20. Write with many bullet points in paragraphs. The first and last paragraphs should be most attractive.
21. You won’t remember much of what you’re studying. No one can take written exams with 100% preparation. The art is to forget 60% of what you thought you learned 100%, and use the remaining
I’m preparing myself for the exams and this instructions helped me a lot. You are a mentor, an icon.
Allah bless you Sir ❤
Very helpful