Pass BCS Preliminary in 10 Days!

(I wrote the following piece for candidates of the 36th BCS examination.)

Today is done and finished! So, forget about it. How many days remain? Ten. Okay, fine! I’m assuming that whatever you’ve studied all this time, none of it is in your head right now. Or perhaps you haven’t studied much at all. Oh, you do remember a little something? Even if you do, please take the trouble to forget everything. Let’s bid goodbye to all accumulated memories and start fresh. A completely empty mind! This very mind will conquer the BCS! You’re thinking, “What sort of absurd, baseless nonsense has this fellow started writing? The man talks far too much! A complete fool! Who does he think he is? Says whatever comes to mind, as if no one has ever become a BCS cadre! Just spouts useless chatter! Acts all high and mighty!” And so on, and so forth. Well, if I were to say, “Listen friend, you can’t do anything, what’s the point of taking your exam?” would that be very helpful? If one must say something to someone, it’s better to say something good, isn’t it? And if there’s nothing good to say, it’s even better to remain silent.

The arrival of exams in life is as certain as sitting at a wedding ceremony next to someone else’s former unsightly lover. Both will come, both will happen! The worst thing about exams is that whether you want to or not, you must take them. Since you must take them anyway, why not use these ten days wisely with a bit of intelligence? How? I’ll write whatever I understand, whatever comes to mind right now. I’ve been using this kind of psychological technique since class eight. Ten days before any exam, I would assume I knew nothing, understood nothing, or that nothing I had studied remained in my head. The feeling of rising from absolute zero is something else entirely! Whatever the case, let your new journey begin! Don’t be afraid, I’m here with you. Take my hand! This is a journey from being nobody to becoming somebody!

One. Don’t try to remember anything you’ve learned. Does this mean nothing will remain? Something will remain, or your previous basics, some things will stay in your head whether you want them to or not. You have no control over that. I’m assuming you’re starting from absolute zero. Starting from zero is far better than not starting at all, so that later this regret doesn’t haunt you: “If only I had started then, I could have done it too!”

Two. To enter another world, you must know how to transform yourself into another person. The distance between having no job and having a job spans leagues upon leagues. You have only ten days to cross this distance. Haven’t you read John Reed’s “Ten Days That Shook the World”? In just ten days during the October Revolution, the rest of Russia’s history was written. And you can’t write the rest of your small life’s history? Try sincerely with everything you have, and you truly can do it.

Three. During these ten days, except for absolute necessity, don’t leave the room where you study. Apart from bathing, eating, natural bodily functions, and prayer, there seems to be no reason to leave your room for any other work. For the sake of holding your head high in society for the rest of your life, what harm is there in being a little antisocial for these ten days? The sociability of these ten days could make you antisocial for life. Don’t read newspapers during these ten days. Study exactly sixteen hours each day, totaling 160 hours. What? You can’t do it? You can, you can. Can’t you endure this small hardship for ten days to live comfortably for the next thirty years of your life? The thought keeps coming that you can’t do it? Do you actually need this job, or not? Is life just a joke, friend?

Four. During these ten days, don’t talk to anyone about BCS—not on the phone, not in person. If you keep your mobile phone turned off most of the time during these ten days, will Bangladesh’s GDP decrease a little? Or will the Third World War break out? Don’t let anyone visit your home if possible, and don’t visit anyone else’s home either. Whatever anyone says on Facebook or elsewhere, there’s absolutely no need to pay any attention to it. You’ll take your exam with whatever you know and whatever you don’t know. Learn to believe during these ten days that what you don’t know won’t appear in the exam. Someone knowing more than you doesn’t mean they’ll write better than you in the exam hall. The game will be played on the field on game day; nothing outside the field has even the slightest connection to the game’s outcome. I’ve seen many well-prepared candidates fail. Why they failed despite good preparation, I still haven’t figured out. The Creator leaves mysteries in some places. Why? There’s truly no explanation for this. Or even if some thoughts come to mind about this, I’m not writing them as they’re beyond the scope of this note. However, I can offer simple advice: Never harm anyone in life; if you do, you’ll receive double in return at some point in your life. You will! Don’t believe it? Your life’s journey isn’t over yet, friend! Wait, you’ll get your answer. Nature returns everything!

Five. Don’t discuss anything during these ten days with anyone who isn’t in civil service or has failed in previous BCS exams. Many will call you crazy for your behavior (if they’re sane). No need to care. The only rule for getting along in this world is that you can’t care about everyone. Throughout history, it’s the crazy ones who have written the world’s story. Your dreams, your life, your madness—these are the three most precious jewels in this world! These ten days belong to the crazy ones. These ten days don’t belong to sane people.

Six. When the exam is ongoing, if you have an exam the next day, you’ll certainly sleep at least 8-9 hours the night before. Whatever it takes, you must sleep. This means during the exam period, except for Friday, September 2nd, you won’t get a single day to study by mixing your heart’s sweetness (or divinity) with it. So whatever you need to do must be done now. Now is the time! How about sitting down today and taking an hour to make a routine for these ten days plus those six days?

For an average candidate who will take the exam and become a cadre in the 36th BCS itself, considering the importance of various subjects, the routine could be roughly like this:

22nd morning, afternoon, night; 1st afternoon: Mental ability.

23rd morning, afternoon, night; 24th morning, afternoon, night: Bengali.

25th morning, afternoon, night; 26th morning, afternoon, night: Science and Technology.

27th morning, afternoon, night; 28th morning, afternoon; 1st night: International Affairs.

28th night; 29th morning, afternoon: Bangladesh Affairs.

29th night; 30th morning, afternoon, night; 31st morning, afternoon, night: English.

Until the 30th, do math properly for 2 hours each day (it’s even better if you review repeatedly rather than solving by hand). After taking the exam on the 3rd and until you go to the exam hall on the 4th, during whatever time you get to study, it’s better not to spend more than an hour on International Affairs.

Seven. During this time, read digests (it would be good if you could read at least two). There’s no need to read reference books. It’s good to ‘touch upon’ all topics following the syllabus of each subject, even if briefly. This isn’t the time for thorough reading; this is the time for rapid scanning. If you don’t see each thing at least once, somehow, you don’t get proper confidence when writing creatively in the exam hall.

Eight. Don’t study difficult and hard-to-remember stuff during this time. Why must you remember the answer to a question? Who said it will definitely appear in the exam? And even if it does appear, what great Mahabharata will be ruined if you answer with an “or”?

Nine. Want to study everything? What’s the big deal—go ahead! The 40th BCS is waiting for you! (If it’s in your fate, that is!) To do well in any competitive exam, you must certainly control the natural greed to study everything. Following suggestions, read fewer essential questions multiple times as much as possible.

Ten. If you feel crazy or scattered while studying, take a break and dance and sing with some arm and leg movements, or chat with loved ones for 10-15 minutes, or lie down on the bed for some time with the strict condition that you absolutely won’t fall asleep. Or during that time, you can look at my Facebook notes about last-minute preparation for BCS written exams. I’m giving links to three such writings about the 35th BCS written exam below:

(Those writings no longer exist. Some people made all the proper arrangements to make them disappear, succeeded, and found joy in it.)

That was a lot of talk. I’m a bit of a talkative person, so I feel like saying more. “Having finished, I shall not finish!” Setting aside pointless autobiography, let me just say it!

Suppose that compared to the ‘best possible preparation’ for the 36th BCS written exam, your preparation is 40%, and a friend of yours, whose preparation is much better than yours, has 65% preparation. In these ten days, by following this writing of mine (or not following it) and trying very hard, you bring your preparation to 65%, while your friend brings theirs to 90%. That’s not the point. The point is this: there’s actually no such thing as the ‘best preparation.’ The best preparation has no value if the exam doesn’t go well. Through your strong willpower and self-confidence, you can pour 100% of your 65% preparation onto the exam paper, while your friend, able to utilize only 50% of their 90% preparation in the exam, might lose the job by scoring 20% fewer marks than you. And this is a very common occurrence in every BCS exam. If you don’t remember anything you’ve studied, I’d say you’re a healthy, normal candidate. I often say that thinking you’ve learned a hundred percent, forgetting sixty percent of it, and properly utilizing the remaining forty percent is an art. I don’t say this casually. Take the exam, and you’ll understand for yourself.

I’m saying with full responsibility: utilize these ten days properly, and you’ll certainly succeed. Think I’m showing off? No matter, keep thinking that way. No one has ever become a cadre believing they can’t do it, no one becomes a cadre that way, and no one ever will become a cadre that way. Please don’t join their group—that group is heavy because joining it is the world’s easiest task. I’m saying again: you can do it, you will succeed in this very 36th BCS!

Good luck with the thirty-sixth!!