On various topics for the preliminary exam…..
Language: Previous BCS exam questions + Job Solution + 9th-10th grade grammar books + Hayat Mamud’s Language-Learning + Guide books
Literature: Previous BCS exam questions + Job Solution + Soumitra Shekhar’s Questions + Humayun Azad’s Red Blue Festival of Lights + Mahbubul Alam’s History of Bengali Literature + Guide books
Language: Previous BCS exam questions + Job Solution + English for the Competitive Exams + Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary + Guide books
Literature: Previous BCS exam questions + Job Solution + Guide books
Bangladesh Affairs + International Affairs: Previous BCS exam questions + Job Solution + Newspapers + Internet + Guide books + Reference books
Geography, Environment and Disaster Management: New guide books
General Science: Previous BCS exam questions + Job Solution
Computer and Information Technology: Job Solution + Previous BCS written exam short questions and notes + New guide books
Mathematical Reasoning: Previous BCS exam questions + Job Solution
Mental Ability: Previous BCS written exam questions + Guide books + Dhaka University Evening MBA admission exam question banks + IQ books
Ethics, Values and Good Governance: Common sense + New guide books
I recommend looking at my Facebook notes on BCS preliminaries. There you’ll find many more book names and study techniques.
35th BCS Preliminary: Some Observations
By arranging the A-B-C-D sequence vertically instead of left to right, many candidates marked at least 3-4 known questions incorrectly.
The question paper wasn’t of the ‘let’s do it ourselves’ type. Even talking in the exam hall didn’t help much.
Coaching centers and guide books won’t be of much use unless you have something in your own ‘headquarters.’ Taking the exam well is more important than preparing well.
The days of saying ‘this coaching center’s suggestion was so many percent common,’ ‘that guide book had so many common questions’ seem to be ending.
There were a few more questions this time that could have different answers depending on how you approached them. The PSC deliberately plays this game so people avoid answering them. Greed leads to sin, sin leads to negative marks.
If you look at the question paper carefully, you’ll notice that regardless of your academic background, you’re getting no extra advantage.
If all exams from now on follow this style, the reign of question banks, digests, job solutions, and coaching centers will diminish, or they’ll have to change their service approach. The days of entering the civil service purely through rote memorization are over.
Before Starting Written Exam Preparation
Before you begin preparing for the written exam, remember that it’s more important to decide what NOT to study for the BCS exam than what to study.
Whether you rush around to coaching centers or do whatever else, study at home for at least 8-10 hours daily. Those who must work other jobs should dedicate at least 4-5 hours to studying alongside their work.
If you’ve decided on a job you’ll do comfortably for at least 30 years, surely you’re not so foolish as to not give up eating and sleeping for 3 months to study for it!
My Written Exam Marksheet (Some Relevant Discussion)
Bengali 1st Paper
Grammar: Study previous years’ questions, guide books, 9th-10th grade Bengali grammar, Hayat Mamud’s Language-Learning, Soumitra Shekhar’s Mirror according to syllabus topics. When writing the implied meanings of proverbs in 6 sentences, write in your own simple language. No examples needed here. This section shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes.
Summary: Write this in 2-3 simple, beautiful abstract sentences. May take 20 minutes. It’s very good to prepare notes from various books with ready suggestions for this section.
Amplification: Look at previous years’ questions, guide books, Soumitra Shekhar’s Mirror, books by some Bangladeshi and Calcuttan writers for this section. Write this in exactly 20 very relevant sentences. Write these 20 sentences carefully. You can give examples and quotations. Let it take 40 minutes; ensure each sentence is beautifully structured.
Bengali Language & Literature Questions: Study previous years’ questions very well to get a clear idea of what types of questions are asked. Then read selectively from guide books, Red-Blue Festival of Lights, Mahbubul Alam’s History of Bengali Literature. Answer this section last. Never write without quotations.
Bengali 2nd Paper
Translation: This is the most important part of the BCS written exam. This section is also in English Part-B. Total marks: 15+25+25=65. Analyzing previous questions shows that very easy translations don’t usually appear in BCS exams. You can study this section differently. Regularly translate editorials from Prothom Alo, Ittefaq, The Daily Star, The Independent, The Financial Express, etc. The work is difficult but very fruitful.
Imaginative Dialogue: You need to increase your knowledge of various contemporary issues. Regularly follow newspapers (especially minutes of roundtable meetings), watch talk shows, practice writing in your own simple language on various topics from guide books. To do well in this topic, you need both eloquence and language skills.
Letter Writing: Looking at previous years’ question patterns, you can study from Hayat Mamud’s Language-Learning and guide books. Prepare only for the types of letters you’re comfortable writing. For instance, if you want to write personal letters, keep the language usage aspect in mind. This section has separate marks allocated for writing format.
Book Review: There’s no specific guidance in the syllabus for this section. However, I believe if you know about 30-40 famous and familiar books, you should get ‘common’ questions. Even if you don’t get common ones, write something like “This immortal creation is a very significant addition to Bengali literature.” It’s better to get 0.5 than 0 in the exam.
Essay: While studying this section, you can prepare in conjunction with English essays and major questions from Bangladesh & International Affairs. Looking at previous years’ questions, understand what patterns of essays appear, then prepare for any 3 patterns. Study from internet, guide books, reference books with ready suggestions. Keep making mind-maps to set points, and write as much as possible. Give plenty of quotations.
English
Stop smoking.
Stop to smoke.
Where’s the difference? Does ‘stop’ always have to be followed by verb+(-ing)?
What does it take to understand this? Grammar? No!
It takes common sense.
Two mantras for doing well in English:
One. No spelling mistakes.
Two. No grammatical mistakes.
Keeping these 2 points in mind, write in very simple language, and marks will come. Writing longer Facebook statuses and comments in simple English will help. Let there be mistakes, but keep writing.
English Part-A
Reading Comprehension:
A) There will be an unseen passage. This might be on contemporary topics. Read English newspaper articles extensively, especially editorials. This will also help in other subjects of the written exam. The simple trick for answering comprehension is to read the questions first instead of the passage, at least 3 times. Find and underline the keyword or key phrase that shows what the question is asking. Then read the passage very quickly to find where the answers are located.…………….contd.
Keep one thing in mind. While reading the passage, don’t try to find meanings of difficult words or idioms in the passage. These are deliberately placed to waste candidates’ time. Then answer the questions in your own way. Practicing this section following IELTS reading part techniques works very well. Start buying and reading market reading books.
B) There will be questions on grammar and usage. Practice extensively from several guide books.………… contd.
Keep English for the Competitive Exams, A Passage to the English Language, Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Michael Swan’s Practical English Usage, Raymond Murphy’s English Grammar in Use, John Eastwood’s Oxford Practice Grammar, T J Fitikides’s Common Mistakes in English and several other authoritative books handy. Develop the habit of painstakingly searching through these books for answers—it will be very useful. For example, the word ‘entrust’ is followed by both ‘to’ and ‘with’. Learning this through dictionary examples by writing will ensure you won’t forget.
Summary: A passage will be provided. Read it thoroughly at least 5 times very quickly. Don’t be intimidated by difficult words while reading. Usually, the main points aren’t given in the difficult sections. Mark where the key ideas are located.……contd.
Divide the entire passage into 3-4 sections. Then write a few sentences from each section in a single sentence. Don’t copy directly from the passage. Modify it a bit and write it in your own way. Don’t include examples or quotations here. By the way, don’t forget to give a title to your summary at the beginning. For this section, practice summarizing editorials and articles from regular newspapers.
Letter: A passage or statement will be given. Based on that, you’ll need to write a letter to the newspaper editor about a particular issue. To prepare for this section, regularly read the “Letter to the Editor” section of newspapers, along with some guidebooks. Marks are allocated for following rules and regulations in the letter section. The language of the letter should be very formal.
English Part-B
Essay: You’ll need to write a composition within a specified word limit. Keep yourself regularly updated about explanations of Bangladesh’s constitution, official websites of various organizations, Wikipedia, Banglapedia, the National Web Portal, some international newspapers, etc. When answering questions, marks will increase if you include quotations from various authors’ writings, newspaper columns and editorials, internet sources, official websites of various organizations, relevant articles from the constitution, and various references. Using blue ink for these sections will easily catch the examiner’s eye. Don’t even think about writing an essay without quotations. Keep in mind that essays won’t be predictable, so prepare suggestions and get ready accordingly. Practice writing continuously on various topics in simple language in your own style.
Translation: I’ve discussed this already.
Mathematical Reasoning
Twelve questions will be given; you need to answer any 10. Buy any three guidebooks. Don’t sleep without practicing some math every night. Don’t use shortcuts in math; show every step in detail. Make sure nothing—no side notes, no relevant information—is left out. Pay attention to some minor details; for instance, putting a semicolon before the third bracket when writing side notes. If you prepare properly for math, getting 49 out of 50 in this subject isn’t very difficult. If you get even one mark less, you’ll be among the rarest unfortunate candidates. With a bit of understanding, you don’t need to be a science student to get full marks in math. However, math questions aren’t expected to be very easy. So without proper practice, there’s a high chance of getting caught!
Simple: Previous year’s questions, guidebooks. Answer simple questions at the very end.
Algebraic expressions, algebraic formulas, factorization, one-dimensional and multidimensional equations, one-dimensional and multidimensional inequalities, solution determination, mensuration, trigonometry: Previous year’s questions, guidebooks. If you want, you can solve the relevant chapters from 9th-10th grade general mathematics.
Unitary method, averages, percentages, interest calculation, LCM, GCD, ratio and proportion, profit and loss, lines, angles, triangles, circle-related theorems, Pythagoras’ theorem, corollaries: Previous year’s questions, guidebooks
Indices and logarithms, arithmetic and geometric progression, coordinate geometry, set theory, Venn diagrams, number theory: Guidebooks and relevant chapters from 9th-10th grade general mathematics
Permutation and combination: Guidebooks, relevant chapters from 11th grade algebra
Probability: Guidebooks, relevant chapters from 12th grade discrete mathematics
Mental Ability
The questions in this section are supposed to be a bit tricky. You need to keep your head cool, read the questions carefully, and answer with full concentration. The questions in this section will be easy—so easy that they’re harder than difficult ones. Buy 3-4 sets of guidebooks, along with 3-4 IQ test books. Don’t expect full marks in this section; prepare with this in mind.
Verbal Reasoning: A question will be given with some roundabout statements. There might be a statement related to history, geography, literature, science, or any other subject, from which you need to figure out which part of that statement is missing. Common sense, grammar, and language skills will be useful here.
Abstract Reasoning: Some diagrams will be given where you need to carefully observe the pattern of change in some object or idea and show the next position of that object or idea.
Space Relations: Related to the middle or final position when an object moves in different directions or changes position; or qualitative or quantitative questions about the position of letters or numbers in various examples.
Numerical Ability: This is basically math, but of a slightly different type. You’ll need to find missing numbers in some series/table/diagram. Simple math and common sense will be useful for this.
Mechanical Reasoning: Some pictures or diagrams will be given. Questions will be asked by writing something about them. Questions can be of two types: simple math that can be done mentally, or something that can be answered by imagining different positions of the diagrams.
Guidebooks, IQ test books, and regularly solving by googling in English ‘verbal/abstract/mechanical reasoning/space relations/numerical ability practice’ or ‘verbal/abstract/mechanical reasoning/space relations/numerical ability test’ and entering various sites. Questions in this section aren’t supposed to be “common,” so there’s no alternative to extensive practice to do well.
Spelling and Language: Some words or sentences will be given with wrong spellings, wrong grammar, wrong punctuation marks. You need to correct them. Or you need to form meaningful words or sentences using some jumbled letters or words. English grammar preparation will be useful here too. Guidebooks, IQ test books, and regularly taking various online tests will be very helpful.
General Science and Technology
For this section, first read the previous year’s questions and the suggested questions from guidebooks very carefully, taking enough time, several times. When preparing for science, don’t prepare thinking whether you’re a science student or not. It’s better not to mix personal flair with science and create literature. In this section, if you can provide necessary identified diagrams, symbols, and equations, your answer sheet will stand out from ten others. These things need to be learned by writing. It’s better to answer 3 questions worth 4+3+3=10 marks than one question worth 10 marks.
Part-A: General Science
Light, sound, magnetism: Guidebooks, 9th-10th grade physics, 11th-12th grade physics 1st and 2nd papers
Acids, bases, salts: 9th-10th grade chemistry, 11th-12th grade chemistry 1st paper
Water, our resources, polymers, atmosphere, food and nutrition, biotechnology, diseases and health care: Guidebooks, internet, 9th-10th grade general science, 9th-10th grade geography
Part-B: Computer and Information Technology: Guidebooks, internet, Peter Norton’s Introduction to Computers, Higher Secondary Computer Education 1st and 2nd papers
Part-C: Electrical and Electronic Technology: Guidebooks + Higher Secondary Physics 2nd paper book
Looking at the syllabus, read only what you need topic by topic from the above books (guidebooks also contain many unnecessary things). If you want, instead of buying whole books, you can photocopy only what you need. Googling the topics on the internet and reading them will be very good.
Bangladesh Affairs
Buy at least 3-4 sets of guidebooks. Read various reference books, such as Mozammel Haque’s Higher Secondary Civics 2nd paper, books on Bangladesh’s constitution (like Arif Khan’s Bangladesh Constitution in Simple Language), books on the Liberation War (like Moidul Hasan’s Mainstream: ’71), Nihar Kumar Sarkar’s Politics for Children, Economics for Children, Muhammad Habibur Rahman’s Good for Citizens to Know, Akbar Ali Khan’s Economics of Altruism, Strange and Very Strange Economics, Abdul Hai’s Bangladesh Affairs, etc. A good technique for reading references for BCS exams on any subject is to read not for knowledge acquisition, but for marks acquisition. To do this, study questions from various years and learn very well what types of questions don’t come in exams. After looking carefully at written exam questions, read reference books ‘selectively, excluding’ what’s unnecessary.
Studying questions for 1 hour is much better than studying for 4 hours without understanding. Then it’s possible to read 4 hours’ worth of study in 2 hours. If you study more question patterns, you can learn how to read excluding unnecessary topics. This is the initial step of starting preparation. Give enough time to this. Shake off the notion that I must read whatever others are reading. Control the natural greed of reading everything. Instead of reading an unnecessary topic once, read necessary topics repeatedly.
Read 4-5 papers online. Read papers very quickly. Don’t read the whole paper; read only articles on topics necessary for BCS exams. There are at most 2-3 such useful articles in one paper. If necessary, save them in Word files and read them later.
When reading newspapers, carefully go through the columns to understand which topics might appear in examinations. In Bangladesh Affairs, the nature of questions can change according to contemporary relevance and timing. While reading various columns, pay very close attention to which columnist writes about which subjects and in what style. Keep a notebook listing the columnists’ names, alongside their areas of interest and writing styles. This will prove invaluable when citing quotations in your exam papers.
Draw necessary diagrams and maps. Include relevant data, tables, charts, and references where appropriate. When quoting from newspapers, mention the source and date beneath the quotation. Show something in your exam paper that sets it apart from others. For instance, you could provide references with sources from various websites. You might quote from Wikipedia or Banglapedia. Write about what important figures of the country said at different times, contextually relevant to your answers. Learn formal presentation style from newspaper editorials.
Beautiful handwriting is good, but not essential. In written examinations, you must write very quickly. Practice writing one page every 3-5 minutes. Ensure your writing remains legible. Good presentation enhances marks.
You must read various references, texts, and authoritative books. Many questions in BCS examinations don’t follow common patterns. Having read these books makes answering easier. When answering questions, include quotations from various authors’ works, newspaper columns and editorials, internet sources, official websites of different organizations, relevant constitutional articles, and various references—this will increase your marks…….contd.
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. A good point: there’s absolutely no need to memorize the entire constitution. Understand very thoroughly the explanations of those articles from which questions frequently appear. You don’t need to quote constitutional articles verbatim.
There’s no special need to take notes while studying. You won’t have that much time. Instead, note which source you’re reading for which question. This will help during revision. Stay regularly updated about constitutional explanations of Bangladesh, official websites of various organizations, Wikipedia, Banglapedia, the national web portal, some international journals, etc. Collect information and data. Present them in your exam papers with proper references as needed.
Never leave any question unanswered. If you don’t know the answer, write something based on your understanding. If you have no understanding, write from imagination. If imagination fails, force yourself to imagine if necessary! Your leaving a question unanswered isn’t the problem. The problem is that someone else is answering it.
Practice non-stop writing on various topics occasionally. Increase your reading habit on different subjects. This will improve the quality of your writing. There’s no need to memorize any answers. Rather, read repeatedly from various sources. Develop the habit of writing from understanding. No one becomes a cadre by writing everything perfectly correct. Everyone improvises in the written exam. That’s not a problem! Rather, improvising correctly is also an art. Whether the cat is white or black doesn’t matter. The real question is: can it catch mice?
International Affairs
Buy 4-5 sets of International Affairs guidebooks. Study previous years’ questions very carefully to understand what types of questions appear most frequently. Some questions lose relevance over time. Exclude those. While reading 4-5 newspapers online daily, notice which subjects are most relevant to current times. You can save these separately in word files. Prepare your own suggestions based on guidebook suggestions and various newspaper articles. Create 4-5 sets of suggestions by adding or removing some questions at different times.………..contd.
Then read the questions from your suggestions using guides, reference books, and newspapers. It’s best if you search and read the topics on Google. Type topic names in Bengali if necessary. You’ll find answers to almost all International Affairs questions on Google. Reading answers from Wikipedia, Banglapedia, and various organizations’ official websites will save time and earn better marks. In newspapers, read the daily and weekly international pages, The Hindu, The Economist, Times of India, Time, and necessary articles from various international publications.
List 15-20 names of writers who write about various international issues in your diary. Write briefly beside each name about what types of subjects they write on. This will help when giving quotations. Search the internet for analytical comments and critiques on various subjects. Read some authoritative books—for example, Abdul Hai’s International Organizations, Relations and Foreign Policy, Tareq Shamsur Rahman’s International Relations, and others like these. Use them contextually when writing answers to enhance presentation. Your paper will stand out to the examiner if you write using various maps, data, charts, tables, reviews, personal analysis, and relevance to contemporary contexts.
Questions won’t be very common. Therefore, improving reading habits is essential for doing well in this section. No need to memorize anything. Read repeatedly, marking important parts. In the exam hall, improvise and write in your own way. Try to include at least one quotation, data, table, chart, or reference on every page. You can use blue ink for these sections. Beautiful handwriting is good, but not essential—legibility suffices. In written examinations, you must write very quickly. Practice writing one page every 3-5 minutes.
Short Conceptual Notes: List what notes might appear by going through previous years’ questions, reference books, guidebooks, and newspapers. Then search these on Google and read from the internet. Along with newspaper cuttings, newspaper 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 paragraphs with as many points as possible. In this section, it’s better to answer a 4+6+5=15 marks question rather than one 15-mark question. The first and last paragraphs of your answer should be most attractive. Give plenty of quotations in blue ink………….contd.
Explain any issue from various columnists’ perspectives and draw your own conclusion at the end of your answer. If you have any comments or personal opinions, write those too.
Problem-Solving Questions: There will be writing about various international issues like development, security issues, trade, treaties, climate change, foreign aid, and other important contemporary matters, or some problem will be presented. Analyze it and write in points what solutions might work considering various aspects, including international analysts’ and your own opinions. There’s no alternative to regular newspaper reading to do well in this section.