CSS English Essay Exam: A Struggle for Aspirants
Recently, the results of Pakistan’s Central Superior Services (CSS) have been announced, with only 2.77 percent of the candidates passing the exam. For many years, the passing ratio of the CSS aspirants in the written part of the exam has been around 2.5 percent. Most aspirants appearing in this competitive exam fail to pass it due to various reasons. It has been observed that most of the students fail in the CSS English essay exam. In this article, I will discuss reasons why aspirants mostly fail to pass this subject.
Limited Comprehension of the Essay Topic
Understanding the topic is the most significant step in passing the English essay paper in the CSS exam. Most of the aspirants fail to grasp the true spirit of the topic asked by the examiner. They fail to comprehend what the examiner wants them to write about the topic. The key reason behind this is their failure to understand the topic is lack of practice and limited knowledge on the topic. This leads them to write on the topic in the wrong direction, resulting in their failure in this paper.
Weak Thesis Statement
The thesis statement holds immense significance in this paper as it works as your first impression with the examiner. It is also considered the foundation of the essay as it presents your main argument to the examiner. It tells him if the aspirant has comprehended the topic and how he is going to attempt the topic. An unclear or weak thesis statement leads to an unstructured and disorganized essay, leading to failure in the exam.
Lack of Coherence and Outline
Coherence is one of the key elements in passing the English Essay paper. However, a huge proportion of the aspirants lack coherence in their essays. A well-structured essay is always coherent and flows logically. However, it has been observed that most of the aspirants lack coherence in their essays due to a lack of practice and right mentorship, resulting in disorganized and vague writing. Aspirants must organize their thoughts clearly and coherently present them in their outline and throughout the essay. A well-structured outline goes a long way in essay writing.
Grammatical Errors and Weak Composition in Essay Writing
Most of the Pakistani youth suffer from weak English writing skills. They fail to adhere to the grammatical rules due to their academic background and the obsolete educational system of the country. Unfortunately, a huge proportion of the CSS aspirants fail to write a simple sentence properly and lag behind in vocabulary, falling victim to repetition. In addition, many aspirants think that using modern or difficult words could help in impressing the examiner. However, they fail to understand that having a good command of sentence structure and grammar is equally crucial for passing the CSS English essay exam. Poor writing expression and frequent grammatical mistakes have a negative impact on the essay on the examiner.
Deficiency in Analytical and Critical Reasoning Abilities
Aspirants commonly think that an essay is merely an information recall. They think of an essay as writing down bookish knowledge. Most of the aspirants cram information regarding some specific topics like education, gender issues, terrorism, international relations, and governance. However, the examiner seeks to evaluate an aspirant’s analytical skills, as evidenced by the high ratio of good scores in analytical essays. Therefore, the aspirants must acknowledge that they need to present well-reasoned and logical arguments and evaluate a topic from different perspectives to pass the English Essay paper.
Failure to Adequately Support Assertions with Evidence
Writing an essay does not mean merely stating your opinion on a topic. It requires substantiating your argument with solid evidence and authentic statistics. Many candidates fail to support their argument with sufficient references, historical events, examples, and statistics. This weakens their arguments, leading to failure in the CSS English essay paper.
Absence of Consistent Practice and Performance Assessment
Another major reason for failure in the English essay is the lack of practice and guidance. Essay writing requires extraordinary practice and consistent feedback from qualified mentors. A huge number of aspirants fail to practice essay writing regularly and get feedback from their mentors. This has multiple negative impacts on their performance in the final exam. Mock exams and regular guidance from mentors can help them improve their essay structure, argumentation, and writing skills.
Ineffective Essential Time Management Skills
Time management is one of the key factors in passing the CSS exam. However, a huge number of CSS aspirants fail to manage their time, which leads to their failure to efficiently attempt the full paper, leading to their failure in the exam. Lack of practice is one of the key reasons behind ineffective time management during the CSS exam.
Conclusion
In sum, passing the CSS English essay paper requires a fusion of analytical and writing skills. It also requires a strong command of grammar and sentence structure. Moreover, the aspirants also need to utilize the time limit of the exam effectively and efficiently. The key to achieving all these skills is regular practice and feedback. Moreover, the aspirants must understand that the CSS essay paper is not about writing their opinion or cramming information; they must substantiate their arguments with strong evidence and historical references.
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The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of Paradigm Shift.
Mr Abdullah Nisar holds a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from International Islamic University Islamabad. He is currently working as a freelance journalist.