How I made it in the tiresome journey of 28th BCS- Preliminary
Exam
Dear BCS Candidates ,My heartiest "sympathy" to all you guys as
you have stepped into one of the most tedious roads towards
success. About me, couple of days back I was a poor soul wondering
about what will happen after 2.5 years of hardwork , patience and
unbearable uncertainty. Fortunately, I made it in 28th BCS and my
position was 4th in the Police merit list.Before I start, one thing
I want to clearly state that I do not consider myself qualified
enough to "Teach" you how to do well in the BCS exam. As your
fellow traveller, I am just sharing my experience. If you find
these Tips useful and use them to achieve much bigger success, I
will consider my efforts successful.So let's get started!!!As you
all know, BCS starts with Preliminary exam. In my opinion,
Preliminary is the toughest of all the exams a candidate face in
the entire process. You get only one hour to answer 100 questions
and the syllabus is as big as an ocean- these two things combined
make the preliminary exam most challenging. Ironically, marks of
preliminary exam are not added in the selection process-all you
need to do is pass!I followed the following strategies to pass the
preliminary exam (both 28th and 29th):
PREVIOUS PRELIMINARY EXAMS:This is the first step every BCS
candidate should take- they should collect the questionnaire of BCS
preliminary exams from10th-29th BCS and solve them thoroughly.
Little booklets containing all the preliminary questions are found
in Nilkhet which should not cost more than 50 taka. Before you
start your preparation, collect it and solve all the questions.
This exercise will give you a very good idea of what you will face
in the real exam. As they say in Guerilla Warfare
handbooks-"Knowing your enemy is winning half the battle"-so
appropriate for BCS!!!
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE(Bangladesh and international)If you go to any
"candidate's crowd", you will see at least 70 percent of them are
studying General Knowledge crazily. They are trying to memorize
anything and everything they have at hand, including questions like
"What toilet paper Barak Obama uses".Dear friends, please DO NOT
spoil your time and energy like this. General Knowledge does not
have any syllabus and no matter how much you study, you will never
be able to ensure full marks. Spend this extra time in Maths,
Science or even Bangla, you will get better result with less
effort.CAUTION: I did not say that you would not study General
Knowledge at all. As your preparation, take one Big General
Knowledge book (Ajker Bishwo, Notun bishwo etc whatever you feel
comfortable) and collect current affairs magazine (preferable
Professor's) every month. DO NOT try to memorize the entire book,
just study them for 30-45 minutes a day. Try to remember things
that you feel important (for example, "What is the name of US
president" or "Who became champion in WC Football 2010).DO NOT, I
repeat, DO NOT spoil your time and energy trying to memorize
unnecessary information. Have a good knowledge of what a normal
person should know (you will understand what is "Normal' once you
go through the previous preliminary questions)-you will do just
fine!!
BANGLA:I passed both the preliminary exams with the help of
Bangla. To study Bangla, I will recommend 3 books a) A good
preliminary Bangla guide (Professors/Oracle) b) Soumitra Shekhars
BCS preliminary Bangla and c) Bangla Sahittyer Itihash by Mahbubul
Alam/Huq(I forgot the name) . All these books are available in
Nilkhet. You do not need to memorize anything, just read them over
and over so that you can recognize the correct answer from the
given choices. Do not bother much about grammar, Bangla grammar
hardly comes in the exam. For satisfaction, you can read Bagdhara,
Lingo, Karok, Somash, Deshi-Bideshi Shobdo, Ek-Kothay Prokash,
PoriVasha etc from the 9-10 Bangla Grammar book. REMEMBER, 80 %
questions in Bangla come from the literature part.
ENGLISH:Nowadays English has 2 phases a) Grammar and b)
Literature. Questions mostly come from the grammar portion. If you
read the preliminary questions thoroughly, you will understand the
topics that are covered e.g voice, narration, subject-verb
agreement, phrasal verbs, idioms and phrases etc. Study these
topics from class 9-10 and 11-12 grammar textbook. I used A Passage
to English Language by SM Zakir Hossain but any good grammar book
will do-no need to buy that book particularly. You will also need a
good preliminary guide for practice. BE AWARE, each and every
preliminary guide is full of thousands of mistakes so do not trust
them with answers. See the question , try to solve it and if you
are confused, consult textbook or a good English teacher. Internet
can be a great help too. Just google the word/sentence you are
confused with and you will see a lot of answers/similar
problems.For Literature questions I think Professors Current
Affairs is more than enough. But sometimes they have wrong
answers-so check out any confusion with an English Literature
student/teacher. You just need to know questions like Who wrote
Macbeth etc, no need to be an English Literature encyclopedia.
SCIENCE:For science, again you need a good preliminary science
guide (Oracle/MP3), SSC General Science book and previous years
preliminary questions. Like all other subjects, previous
preliminary questions will show you what to study.
MATHS:I just solved previous years preliminary questions for my
Math preparation. You can use Saifurs Math/ Class 8s math book for
more practice. If you understand all the Maths that came in
previous years questions, I do not think you will miss a single
mark in maths. You should really try to get full marks in Maths by
practicing because it will help you a lot to pass the exam than
uncertain general knowledge questions. Instead of studying hours
after hours of general knowledge, study maths. You surely will
carry almost perfect score in maths , which you cannot guarantee by
studying general knowledge.
HOW GOOD IS GOOD ENOUGH???I always wondered how much marks would
be enough to qualify the preliminary exam. The answer is-it depends
on the question. For example, in 28th BCS I answered only 57 and
got approximately 46.5 after negative marking. I thought it would
not be enough but it was! In 29th BCS , where question was very
easy, I answered 71 and probably got 67. There are people who got
65 didnt qualify in 29th BCS, and there are people who got 43 but
qualified in the 28th BCS exam. So, there is no hard and fast rule.
28th and 29th BCS are two extremes where previous one was very hard
but later one was too easy. In a standard question, I think 60 is
good enough. But again, the more you get correct-the better.
SHOULD I GUESS CONFUSING QUESTIONS????I recommend not to. For
every wrong answer they actually penalize you with 1.5 marks-1 mark
for the wrong answer and 0.5 from what you got correct. When the
question is easy like the 29th BCS, it is better to answer
questions that you are 70% sure but for tough questions like 28th
BCS you should be as precise as possible. But if you see that you
are not being able to ensure even 40-45 marks, it is better to take
a risk and answer questions that you are 50% sure.
NIGHT BEFORE EXAM:To be honest, I slept only a couple of hours
on both the nights before preliminary exams (28th and 29th). This
is not a good practice. It is better to sleep well before any exam,
which helps your brain to work more efficiently. I WARN YOU ABOUT
THIS: DO NOT LISTEN TO PHONE CALLS CLAIMING THAT THEY GOT THE
QUESTION PAPER. They are all liars who say like that. After the
disaster of 27th BCS (where preliminary question was probably sold
in 10 taka in the morning) PSC has been very careful so that this
does not happen. Dear friends, trust me, cheating is not the way
that would help you to get into civil service. It is better not to
join the civil service than doing it by cheating. I know that our
present civil service has ill reputation for corruption but people
like us should be the ones to change the scenario. Besides, you are
capable enough to qualify the exam solely by your merit-you do not
need to collect questions for that. Work hard , every drop of your
sweat will be paid off-trust me!
CONCLUSION:If a guy like me from a private university with a 3.6
CGPA in HSC (science group) can make it in BCS in first try, I
believe that all of you guys can do it. And yes, I had NEITHER any
quota NOR any political connection. It is a tough process but not
at all impossible. DO NOT get afraid seeing the vast syllabus-just
keep studying. As Edmund Hillary( first winner of mount Everest)
said- Its not the mountain we conquer ,but ourselves. Give your
best, God will do the rest.I end up here today. For any confusion/
query- email me in facebook.After the preliminary exam I will post
about preparation for written. Till then, BEST OF
LUCK!!!@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@Dear BCS
candidates,
I welcome you once again in my article about BCS preparation. As
I said earlier, I do not consider myself qualified enough to give
you advices, all I can do is share my experience. As a candidate
you should do what you feel most comfortable; the only aim of my
article is to give you a basic outline of the preparation process.
Lets get started:
INTRODUCTION
Dear friends, I congratulate you on your successful completion
of the preliminary exam. Now please do yourself a favor which is
written below:
STOP WORRYING ABOUT THE PRELIMINARY EXAM AND START YOUR
PREPARATION FOR THE WRITTEN TEST.
I am sure you are worrying about the following matters:
a) What will be the pass mark for the preliminary examb) Is
there any benefit of preparing for the written before the result of
preliminary exam is published?c) What if you fail in the
preliminary exam?
Dear friends, I told you earlier that BCS exam is more a test of
patience than a test of merit. Merit is important, but patience is
more important for any BCS candidate. I am considering the worst
case scenario: Suppose you all fail in the preliminary exam. What
should you do with your written preparation then? The answer is
simple: You will prepare yourself for the next BCS. This
preparation for written test will put you in a much advantageous
position than those who didnt prepare at all. You must have the
determination to fight till the last. My cadet college brother
Major Ahsan (Former Commando School Instructor and Congo civil war
veteran) said - Go forward until the last round is fired and the
last drop of gas is expended...then go forward on foot!
Your mind is like a car and the above doubts/hesitations
regarding preliminary exam is like a brake.If you drive while
pressing the brakes, it will be impossible for you to move in full
speed.So, please stop worrying and start doing!
HOW MUCH TIME YOU WILL GET
After the publication of preliminary exams result , you will NOT
get more that 3 months. If the preliminary result is published on
1st March (NOTE:Its just an example!) then the written exam will
almost certainly start by 1st June. If PSC takes 2 months to
publish the preliminary result, on an average you will get like 5
months in total for your preparation. Now, PSC might change their
mind but if you start your preparation from today (8th August), you
should get at least 4 months for your preparation. The syllabus is
HUGE , so you must utilize your time effectively.
REMINDER: This 900 marks written exam will determine whether you
will get the job or not. If your marks in the written exam is very
high , it is almost impossible to stop you from getting your
desired cadre. Despite what you hear about the
corruption/mismanagement in BCS exam , your written marks is
something that can take you through all these barriers. I tell you
once again, do well in the written exam, just pass the viva-voce
and you will see your name in the merit list of your desired
cadre!
SUBJECT-BY-SYBJECT PREPARATION
WRITTEN: MATHEMATICS AND ANALYTICAL ABILITY
This is one subject where you can easily ensure 90+ marks out of
hundred. There are always one or two papers where the questions are
unusual/out of pattern/very tough. For example, in 27th BCS the
science question was quite tough as they asked to draw the circuit
,which is totally unexpected for non-science graduates like me. In
28th BCS, Bangladesh 2nd paper was fully based on constitution
which is very unfair to the non-law students. When these things
happens, the only way to save yourself from complete disaster is to
do really well in mathematics and analytical ability. Good marks in
this exam might save you from the shortage in any other paper.
For mathematics, the first thing you should do is to solve the
previous years question papers. By doing this you will be able to
understand what kind of math they ask you to solve. For last 2 BCS
exams they have asked to solve only 5 maths questions in 2 hours
which was not very tough. However, if they ask you to solve 10
questions within the same time, it will be tough for you to solve
unless you practice really well. If you practice maths 1 or 2 hours
everyday, it is almost sure that you will get 50 out of 50. So, buy
any guide (Professors/Oracle/MP3) and solve it from A to Z. You
should buy the old Patigonit book of class 9-10 and solve the
entire algebra part with examples given in that book. Examples from
the old text book are very important as they prepare you to solve
confusing algebra questions in the most accepted way. You can use
Gonit-BCS(Shikkha-Sagor Publications) as the solution for the old
textbook. Remember, I am not advertising any particular book , any
good book should be enough for your preparation. It is not
necessary to buy the books that I mentioned above. Whatever book
you use, please try to practise in such a way so that you get full
marks in the mathematics part.
It has been a trend of BCS analytical test to ask questions from
the GRE book. You should solve all the analogy/sentence
completion/synonym/antonym questions from GRE big book. It has a
massive collection of questions so by solving it you can be quite
confident about doing well in these questions. IBAs BBA/MBA
questions can also be a very good sources for practice.Go to
Neelkhet and buy any BBA and MBA preparation guide where you will
have all the questions of previous exams.Tell them to give you the
GRE Bigbook too. Vocabulary part is the tough one in the analytical
exam-if you do well in this part you can easily get 40+ marks. For
other questions, buy any BCS Analytical ability guide and solve it
(generally maths and analytical ability are put together) .Try to
use your own judgment while finding the answers as these guides
have billions of mistakes.
Remember dear candidates, by practising only 1 or 2 hours a day
you can get 90+ out of 100 in this paper-which is impossible in any
other subject.Try to use this as an advantage and do your homework
well. These maths are very easy and even the weakest mathematics
student can get full marks if he just practise well! Get 90+ in
this paper and give subsidy to any other paper where you might get
below average mark.
( Due to shortage of time I am stopping here. I will gradually
write about the preparation for other subjects one by one and add
them in this post. I plan to write about Science and Technology
paper. Any suggestion/criticism/discussion is welcome!)
Mashroof Hossain@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ , - -
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EnglishWARNING:IT IS A LENGTHY,IN-DEPTH ARTICLE. Dear BCS
candidates, I am once again back with my "Experience-sharing"
mission for the future candidates.The BCS examination process is
such a lengthy one that there is a joke among candidates-"Those who
have taken the BCS exam need no other tormentor to torture them"!
In this lengthy process most of us gets confused simply by looking
at the vast syllabus.As I said earlier,I do not consider myself
qualified enough to teach you anything new,I am here just to share
my experience so that new candidates can get some help.It is not
necessary to follow my guidelines,however,you can give it a try.
Okay,enough dilly-dally,lets get started: BASIC GUIDELINE: Someone
who is good at English has a great advantage over others. 200 marks
in English is a very big deal and people can take upto 50 marks
lead from others if s/he has good command in English. However,one
does not have to be William Shakespear to perform well. If one can
write simple English without spelling and grammatical errors,it is
more than enough to secure good marks. We know that out of 200
marks, only 25 is grammar and the rest is free-hand writing
(essays, precis, amplification, letter/application, translation
etc). I had the opportunity to talk to some of the very senior
university teachers who check BCS English scripts. Most of them
told me that they are ready to give very generous marks if a
candidate writes simple English without error. Whenever there is a
silly spelling mistake of a grammatical error (like using "He"
after a female gender or mistakes in subject-verb agreement), it
has really negative impact on marks. It is better to write simple
but correct sentences than writing complex sentences with mistakes.
So, by "Has a good command in English" I mean "Someone who can
write simple, correct English". HOW TO IMPROVE FREEHAND WRITING
STEP-1:READING To be a good writer you must read first. Read
English comics, newspapers, whatever you feel like. I read it in a
book which is very true: "Nobody became dumber by reading". If you
read a lot, you will unknowingly find that writing correct English
is not very tough. Start with English Newspapers, second-hand
English novels found in Nilkhet, Archie Comics or whatever you feel
like. Read, read and read- this is the only way through which your
subconscious mind will prepare a very strong English base for you.
If you read a lot, after couple of months you will find that you
are writing correct English automatically, your subconscious mind
will help you to write complex yet correct sentences without any
extra effort. As a BCS candidate you need to know what is going on
around you, for which English newspaper (Daily Star/Independent/new
Age etc) can be really helpful. From today onwards, spend at least
30 minutes a day in reading. I can guarantee that you will feel the
change in you after 30 days. The number of unknown words in reading
will be reduced dramatically and it will be fun for you to read.
STEP-2: WRITING To achieve the level of writing simple and correct
English, you should start writing at least 3 pages a day everyday.
Select any topic and write 3-5 pages everyday.You can start with
easy topics like "My family","Why I want to join civil service" and
then gradually write about serious topics like "How to fight
terrorism", "Economic development in Bangladesh" etc. After you
have finished writing, take a red pen and revise what you have
written. Point out the mistakes in spelling/grammar and try to
avoid it in your next writing. You can take help from your teacher
or anyone who has a good command in English to point out your
mistakes. While writing on a topic, you will face difficulty in
expressing what you are thinking. This is exactly why you need to
write 3-5 pages because you will face the same difficulty in the
BCS exam. By continuing writing 3-5 pages everyday, your fear about
writing on an unknown topic will be gone and your writing will be
smooth. Once you have the smoothness, English exam will be your
biggest friend in getting you your desired cadre. TOPIC-BY-TOPIC
PREPARATION TIPS: 1) ESSAYS(60 marks): In most of the cases recent
burning issues come as the Essay topic in BCS exams. Believe it or
not, I got 'common" in essays both the time: In 28th BCS I read
"Global Financial crisis" and in 29th I studied "Global Climate
Change". Both were "common" for me when I read the question paper.
So,you should keep your eyes open about the important topics that
might come as essays. You can buy market guides to see what essays
they are emphasizing but please, DO NOT MEMORIZE FROM GUIDE BOOKS.
These guide books have hundreds of mistakes and thousands of people
directly memorize them. To secure better marks, you have to show
something original. Select 10-15 topics that you think is important
(hot issues from newspapers/most talked issues/common issues like
corruption.traffic jam etc). After selecting the topics start
collecting data/article in newspaper about those topics. Search the
internet and you will find dozens of articles on these topics. Read
those articles and make a final copy on every topic which you will
reproduce if that topic comes in the exam. Try to use relevant
quotations (you can get them from internet) in the introduction of
an essay. Using maps,statistics is also a very good tecnique to get
better marks. About statistics, you do not need to memorize every
single data-just have the approximate data in mind and use them in
a table/chart. 2)TRANSLATION(40 MARKS): Reading is directly related
with translation. If you read regularly, 40 marks translation will
be very easy for you. So,my dear friends, you need to read not only
for the sake of a distant goal like "Improving your English" but
also for doing well in translation section. For translation
practice, take the editorial of a Bangla and an English newspaper.
Translate them at least 3 editorials (both in English and bangla) a
week. Translation is a very time consuming task in the real exam.
If you practice it well, it will take less time and you will be in
an advantageous position. by practising you will be able to know
what to do when you don't know the exact meaning of a particular
word/sentence. The more you practice,the easier the job will be for
you. 3)GRAMMAR(25 MARKS) The first thing you need to do is to solve
the previous year's grammatical questions from all the BCS exams.
You can collect the questions from market guide books but DO NOT
trust them with answers. As I said again and again, they have
zillions of mistakes. As reference book, you can use 9-10 and 11-12
textbook. Another good book is "English Grammar and Composition" by
Wren and Martin. "A Passage to English Language" by SM Zakir
Hossain is also a very good book. While facing problem in
"correction" questions you can use internet as a source. GMAT books
has excellent sentence correction practice sections, one can
practice from there too. Good command in conditionals/
Subject-Verbagreement/ Tense/ Voice/ Narration/ other topics
mentioned in the syllabus can be achieved by reading grammar
textbooks (any good one will do). It is very important to do well
in this part because these 25 marks are solid marks.Full marks in
this section not only helps to cut a good score but also helps to
give a very good impression of the candidate-which might be
translated into good marks in freehand writing section too! 4)
SUBSTANCE/PRECIS WRITING(15 marks): Keep in mind that
substance/precis writing is a tough job because you have to express
a long passage in a nutshell in your own language. Some basic
guidelines are: the length should not exceed more than one-third of
the original passage. You must not quote any direct line from the
passage and avoid all the examples used there. Try to write summary
of the newspaper editorials/ articles. Enough practice wil help you
speeding up your summary writing skill. 5) AMPLIFICATION OF
IDEAS(20 MARKS): Dear friends, you all know how to write
amplifications. My request is,once again, DO NOT MEMORIZE IT FROM
MARKET GUIDEBOOKS. Write them in your own language,use
quotations/examples that you have collected personally from
internet/newspaper/any other source. To get good marks, you have to
show the examiner that you worked hard by your own and you are not
one of the common thousands who use market guidebooks. 6)OBJECTIVE
WRITING(20 Marks): The best source to prepare yourself in objective
writing is to read newspaper articles. Whenever there is an
incident (accident,bomb-blast,road-accident,fire,storm,economic
problem etc) we can see wonderful articles in the newspaper. In BCS
exam we are asked to write exactly that type of articles. You can
get the format of objective writing from any English newspaper
report. Practice writing by following those reports. Do not forget
to add an attractive and short title in each of your objective
writing exercise. 7)LETTER WRITING(20 MARKS) It is better to write
official/demi-official/Memorandum or business type letters than
writing personal letters. Check out the previous years questions.
Format is very important in Letter writing, so you must consult a
standard textbook to check out the format. For business letters,
Business Communication textbook can be a good source. CONCLUSION: I
have tried to depict a 200 marks topic-by-topic guideline. As I am
a human being, there might be some errors/typing mistakes. I will
be grateful if anyone kindly point out those mistakes. Any
constructive criticism/suggestion/opinion will be most welcome. Let
me conclude with a famous quotation-DO YOUR BEST,GOD WILL DO THE
REST. Best of luck!!! Mashroof HossainBCS Police(28th BCS)Merit
Position-4th@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@Written-
Bangladesh Affairs
, - BCS: Our Goal - , - - , , - (topic) , - , , ! , - If you are
going through hell, get going! , , , ! , Basic You Can Win , , , -
- ? , - , - , , ! ) - , , , - !
- ) , ,,,, , ! - , - -) , (?) , , , , ) + , + , - ( )
) , -- ,-- , ) , , ( - ) - ) - ) ) ) ) ) , , ) / , , ) , - - , ;
- , ) , , , - , , , , !- ) Constitution,Constitutional Law And
Politics: Bangladesh Perspective - , - -- ! ()
,@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
BCS Written International AffairsMy dear BCS candidates,I am
back again,although after a VERY long break.As the written exam is
knocking at the door,I will cut off the preamble and directly shoot
to the business!!!In 28th BCS the highest marks in International
Affairs is 86,so now you know it is possible to get such high
marks.Imagine what a great advantage it will be if you can get such
good marks in IA!!!
STUDY MATERIALS:I will recommend you the following
books/websites:
a) BBC Website ( www.bbc.com/news)b) Economist Magazine website
( www.economist.com)c) Daily Star Newspaper ( www.thedailystar.net
)d) BCS Syllabus for International Affairs (You already have it
with your application form)e) Any IA Written Guide(
Professors/Oracle etc )f) Previous years IA questions.g) An atlas
where you have good quality world maps.h) Wikipedia website (
www.wikipedia.org )i) Professors Monthly Current Affairs
magazine
If you have the above mentioned study materials, you are fully
prepared for the preparation of taking the exam.In the next
paragraphs I am going to tell you how to prepare yourself.
HOW TO STUDYDear friends, first thing I want to tell you
is(which is equally true for all other subjects except Maths and
Science) this: DO NOT MEMORIZE ANSWERS FROM MARKET GUIDE BOOKS.If
you want to get your desired cadre, you have to identify yourself
from thousand other candidates to the examiners. Those thousand
other candidates will do exactly what I warned you not to : They
will memorize word by word from typical market guides and vomit it
in the exam script.I repeat, please don't.You might be asking
yourself: "If I don't memorize from the guidebooks,how will I write
them??!!"Dear friend, you will write them from your own concept. I
told you to buy the guidebook so that you can go through it and get
the primary idea. Now, after reading a topic in your Professor's
guidebook- search internet, google it. Go through the websites I
mentioned, specially wikipedia. You will find at least a dozen good
articles about the same issue. Read at least 3 articles and you
will see that your concept on the subject has been very clear. Now
use this concept to write your answer. I am sure that this extra
reading will differentiate you from thousand others,and hopefully
you will get far better marks than those who simply memorized it
from a guidebook. Believe me, it takes less time to read three new
articles from internet than memorizing couple of boring pages from
a colorless guidebook. Internet is a modern day wonder, so use it
wisely instead of chatting and looking for latest celebrity
scandal.
PART BY PART PREPARATION TIPSA) SHORT QUESTIONS/SHORT-NOTE: 40
MARKSAs I said about the preparation of general knowledge in the
preliminary exam, DO NOT confuse yourself by trying to memorize
whatever information you see. First, go through the previous years
questions-which will give you idea about what kind of questions
they ask. Read all the previous years short questions/ short notes
that were asked in the exam .Then take the syllabus book in front
of you, open page three and study the topics one by one. Most of
the questions come from these topics; some questions come from
current international affairs. If you go through BBC website,
Economist website, www.bdnews24.com and Daily Star website
regularly, you will know what is going on in the stage of
international affairs. It will help you to answer those current
affairs questions.
B) BROAD QUESTIONS: 60 MARKSEconomist Magazine and Wikipedia
website will be tremendous help for you guys to clarify your
concepts. In Neelkhet there is a political science textbook named
Antorjatik Rajniti by Rakhi Burmon (and another writer whose name I
forgot). You can read this book too, reading a textbook will be far
better than memorizing from market guides. While reading about a
country, please open the map and find the place there. It will give
you a visual concept about the country. While reading about a
conflict , try to see the pictures of that conflicted area where
people are fighting and suffering. Try to see the map of that area
too. These things may seem unnecessary but it will be a tremendous
help to make your concept crystal clear. This extra work will boost
up your confidence level from where you will be able to write
exceptionally good answers. Suppose you are reading about the
Commonwealth treaty. After reading about it in the guidebook and IR
textbook of Rakhi Burman, go to wikipedia and search Commonwealth.
See the picture of Commonwealth headquarters , its Logo etc. It
will help you to conceptualize the whole thing and make it easy to
remember. Some other important tips are:
1) Reading newspaper articles is a MUST to do well in IA.
Strategic issues page by The Daily Star is a very good source of
reading. The Economist Magazine website also provides very well
analyzed articles on current world affairs. You must read them
everyday (both are available on internet free of cost). By reading
them , you will have a very good idea about the recent burning
issues. Chances are, questions will be common from these topics.2)
Drawing maps is a sure-fire way to get extra marks. It is not at
all tough to learn how to draw the world map. You do not have to be
precise like a surgeon , practice drawing the entire world map
20-30 times and you will see how easy it is. You can use maps in
almost any IA broad questions. For example, drawing a map of Indian
subcontinent while writing about India-Pakistan conflict will be
very helpful to get good marks. I am not asking you to learn the
map of 193 countries because that will be impossible. However,
learn to draw the continents, Indian Subcontinent, conflicted areas
and of course, Bangladesh maps. Also learn where the countries are.
For example, if the question asks about Israel-Palestine conflict
and you can just identify the area in map ( by a circle or box )
,better marks are guaranteed .3) You can use statistics while
answering a question. For example, if the question is about Kashmir
Conflict, you can draw a chart and show year-wise death toll in
that region. You do not have to memorize the exact data , just see
such kind of charts a couple of times and reproduce it as far as
you can remember. Write the source of the chart (for example,
Bangladesh Statististical Pocketbook, The Economist etc) and then
write approximately in bracket. You can also use graphs to
illustrate your answer.4)Go through the previous years questions
and read about them from the internet by the way I instructed in
the short questions preparation above.5)You must watch at least one
Bangla and one English TV news everyday.
Lastly, I apologize to those who expected me to write down a
list of important topics. My dear friends, there is no short-cut
for success and you must give your best if you want to achieve your
desired cadre. If you start studying seriously right from today,
you will find that there is still enough time to cover all the
topics and more from the IA syllabus. Remember,if someone else can
get 86 out of 100 in this paper,so can you.
Mashroof
Hossain@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Written - Science and Technology
(As I have deactivated my previous account all my posts about
BCS written preparation were gone .I am reposting them here:)(THOSE
WHO ARE SCIENCE GRADUATES CAN AVOID READING THIS ARTICLE IF THEY
WANT,SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SHOULD BE VERY EASY FOR THEM.HOWEVER,I
REQUEST THEM NOT TO TAKE THE EXAM TOO LIGHTLY .THEY SHOULD USE
THEIR SCIENCE BACKGROUND TO GET GOOD MARKS IN THIS SUBJECT)
Dear BCS Candidates,In my last post "How I made it in the
tiresome jounney of BCS exam Part-2(written)" I wrote about the
basic guidelines and discussed about how to prepare for maths and
analytical ability.Today I will discuss about another very
important subject which is a deciding factor for getting the
job,which is SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.
A COMMON MISCONCEPTIONIt is a common fear for non-science
graduates that they might not be able to prepare for this exam
properly as they are not science graduates.Dear friends, the
questions that come in Science and Technology part are very
basic,you have mostly studied it in your General science book(class
9-10).However,the syllabus for science and technology is very well
defined, you really do not need to become a scientist to get good
marks in this paper.It is very much possible for a non-science
graduate(like me) to get 70/80+ marks if they prepare well.
WHAT TO STUDYMainly one should focus on the following 2
sectors:
a) All the questions/short-notes that came in previous science
and technology questionsb)All the topics covered in the
syllabus.
For a) you can read any science and technology written guide.In
those guides there are thousands of questions given in every
chapter which are extra.You do not need to study them first.Make
sure you know the answers of all the previous BCS questions
first.Then start studying the science and technology syllabus
topics one by one.After you complete these two sectors(which should
allow you to answer 95% questions) you might go for extra
studies.
For b) Please open the BCS syllabus of science and technology in
front of you.You will see that In the first part(General Science
and Technology) there are seven topics.
GENERAL SCIENCEYou should start with Light as the first tipic is
not defined properly and cover almost anything.Start with the
defined topics like Light,Sound etc.You will see that not only the
topics are given but also the sub-topics are well defined.For
light, class 9-10 Physics book is very good as they have a chapter
dedicated to Spectrum,Different colores and wavelengths etc.In the
physics book you will see there are questions like "Why the sky
looks blue", "How Mirage is created", "What is the benefit of
having two eyes" ,"Why the sun looks red during twilite" etc short
notes.Read them very attentively because these are frequently asked
as short questions.
For "Sound" chapter, learn the definitions of Decible,Frequency
etc.Learn the working method of Tape Racorder,Loud Speaker etc as
given in the syllabus.Class 9-10 books can be a good source for
easy description of generator/motor/dynamo etc.You can study
General Science for arts and commerce students(class 9-10) and the
Physics book for the same class as the best reference book.For
"magnet" chapter I again refer you class 9-10 Physics
book.Remember,you do not need to be anxious,they will not ask you
too tough questions-only the basic ones.Do not try to memorize
everything without understanding.For 'Disease and Healthcare'
chapter I think internet can be a very good source.Use wikipedia as
your reference.You can write the technical terms in English which
is okay.If you find it too hard,read the guides available in
market.For "Atmosphere" chapter you can read the available
guidebooks.You should know the percentage of Oxygen,Nitrogen Carbon
Di Oxide etc in air.You must study different circles like Nitrogen
Cycle,Carbon Cycle etc.Read the definitions of Pasteurization
too.For basic concepts of Cancer,Aids and Hepatitis,I think
Wikipedia is the best source.Read the description from Wikipedia a
couple of times and you should be able to answer any question that
comes from these topics.Apart from these, you might be asked to
answer everyday science questions like "Why iron-made ship floats
on water but a dumbell made of iron sinks","How do we see Rainbow"
etc.Market guides should provide a lot of everyday science
questions like these which you should study to have a strong
basic.
TECHNOLOGY
I think technology is the part which scares most of the
non-science graduates.First,please throw-off all your fears.If I,a
GPA 3.6(HSC) and an Economics graduate,am not afraid of it,you
shouldn't be afraid either.You work hard and work without fear,good
marks is assured.I am telling you from where I have taken my
preparation:i) For Computer Technology I have consulted SSC and HSC
Computer Education textbooks that are issued by the education
board.For HSC you can use any writer you feel comfortable but i
think till now there is only one book for SSC which is written by
Mostafa Jabbar.The book is very backdated but it is not bad for
beginners.Do not read the entire SSC and HSC computer books,just
read the topics that are in the BCS syllabus.
ii) For Information Technology I suggest SSC,HSC computer
books,market note book(any) ans internet.As I said,these things
will be a bit tough for those who did not have science background
but the number of topics are not very large and you do not need to
know the intricate details. Just know the definition and some
primary information,it will serve the purpose. Do not try to become
a science graduate before the BCS exam, just give your best.iii)
For Electrical Technology and iv) Electronic Technology you can
read class 9-10 physics book. HSC Physics book can also be very
good for definitions. Market note books (Professors/Oracle etc) can
also be helpful. Remember, you should focus only on the given
topics which are not very large in number. I know it will be a bit
tough for non-science graduates but as the syllabus is not very big
and the number of topics are limited, regular 1-2 hours study for
3-4 months should make you an expert on those particular
topics.
REMINDER ABOUT DIAGRAMSYou should learn to draw diagrams for
almost everything you write. Diagrams are very important because
with a diagram you have more chance to get full marks. If two
persons write the same thing about tape recorder but one draws the
diagram with description, that person will surely get better
martks. If you do not have diagram in your textbook, use google
image search for finding your necessary diagram. Choose such a
diagram which is not very tough or time-consuming to draw in the
exam script.It is better to identify several parts of a diagram
when you draw it in the script. For example:If you draw the diagram
of a cell, you should identify which part is anode and which is
cathode. LET ME REMIND YOU AGAIN, DRAWING A DIAGRAM MEANS BETTER
MARKS.
WHY SHOULD YOU TAKE THE EXTRA PAIN??Science and technology can
be quite stressful to study if you are not a science graduate.
Learning the definitions and diagrams can sometimes make you feel
helpless. However, this should not stop you from taking a very good
preparation. As it is tough for you, it will be tough for others
too. The examiner does not know if you are from science or arts
background so it is very much possible for you to get equal/better
marks than a science graduate. Remember, science graduates will
have an extra benefit as they have studied these things but with
hardwork you can overcome your shortage. It is possible for anyone
to get 80+ marks in this paper. If you can achieve that, it will be
an invaluable help to become above-average and put your name in the
merit list.
CONCLUSION:If you count the topics, there are only around 50
topics under General Science and around 100 topics under Technology
syllabus. If you study 1)these 150 topics(many of them are just
short notes and definitions), 2)learn to draw diagrams 3)study the
previous questions as well as 4) everyday science questions from
the market books , my experience says that you will get at least
above 70 in this paper. If you work harder and your answers are
correct, you can even get above 80/90 marks. I solemnly request you
to take the pain and put your name in the merit list by doing so.
Good luck!
Mashroof HossainBS(Economics),
NSU.@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@BCS- Viva(While
preparing for viva we spend much time on our appearance,
confidence, speaking power etc which are very important factors.
However, it is also equally important that you have a solid
knowledge base to face the interviewers. In this article I have
tried to give you an outline of what to study to build up such a
knowledge base. No outline of such nature can be 100 percent
perfect so please feel free to add anything that you think
necessary)
Introduction:
Ok folks, so you are here. You are the brave souls who have
fought through one of the toughest battles of career and completed
two-third of the journey. The very fact that you have the ability
to come this far makes something very clear-You DESERVE to be a BCS
cadre.However, since this is a competitive exam- you need to put
icing on the cake and blast the viva board with your wonderful
performance. Qualifying the preliminary and written exam of BCS is
no joke, so I know you are ready to finish this race with 100 metre
sprint like Usain Bolt. I know you have what it takes.So, lets get
started!!Points to be noted first:1. It is true that the major part
of your exam is over. Out of 1100, you have completed 900 marks the
moment you saw your registration number in the written
result-sheet. Yes, it is time to be happy. Yet, it is time to be
serious too. In the rat race of BCS difference of one mark can
decide whether you will get the job or not-let alone 200 marks. So,
wake up!!2. The most common dilemma a BCS candidate faces about
viva is- There is no solid syllabus for viva, what the hell should
I study?? What if I am in a tough viva board who will ask
everything out of my knowledge??? My dear friends, the
above-mentioned thing has happened before, and it will happen in
your time too. There have been hundreds of incidents that the
interviewer started asking questions out of blue moon and made the
poor candidate totally dumbfounded. Now, DONT YOU THINK THIS IS A
GOOD REASON TO STUDY HARDER? If you prepare hard then this kind of
situation might hurt you but still you will survive. There will be
some easy questions even in the ugliest of boards. Your preparation
will help you to answer those questions in a pressure-cooker
situation. Instead of failing, you will get average marks. Who
knows, combining with your written score, this average viva score
can be enough to get your desired cadre!!
What To Study:The good news is, you do not need to study
anything new for the viva.So far what you have studied for the
preliminary and written exam should be more than 90 percent of your
viva preparation. Remember, they are NOT trying to see how much you
know-for that written exam is already there. They are going to see
whether you have the good appearance suitable for a BCS cadre or
not. All you need to do is to revise what you have studied and keep
them in your working memory. Apart from what you have already
studied, there will be some additional subjects too. I am coming to
this later.
Questions that you should practice right now: The following
questions are the topics that are important for each and every viva
board no matter what your cadre choice is. If you are in the
beginning of your preparation, please do ensure that you have good
answers for these questions (I have written in bracket in which
points you need to specially emphasize) Describe yourself (How to
start the description, what things to say, meaning of ones name in
English, famous personalities of the same name, what other
questions might arise from the given answer, what unnecessary
information one should avoid , what can be a standard answer
pattern) Why do you want to join civil service? (How to avoid
typical answer that might make the interviewer angry/bored, what
other questions might arise from this question, what can be a
perfect answer, how to make the answer sound strong and logical,
what will be done if one does not get the cadre, what are the
things that must be avoided while answering this question) What is
your cadre choice? (Why first choice is a particular cadre, what is
the relationship between your chosen cadre and your academic
discipline, why you didnt choose another cadre, what will you do if
you get your last choice, what is your alternative plan in case you
fail the BCS, cadre related questions) Tell us about your favorite
hobby. (What is your hobby, why do you like this particular hobby,
hobby related questions) Tell us about your family (What things can
be said about ones family, speech about mother, father and siblings
separately, what things should be avoided, family related
questions) Tell us one happy incident, one embarrassing incident
and one sad incident of your life. (What type of incidents can be
said, how far one should describe the incident, what situations
should be avoided, incident related questions) Tell us something
about your favorite personality/movie/sports/book/best
friend/university/teacher/season(How to choose among many, on what
basis a personality/movie etc should be favorite, how to justify
ones choice about these things) Describe your own
district/village/the place you live in. (Description, important
personalities from the area, role of the place in our liberation
war, important institutions/rivers situated in that area , what
development plans you have for your area, what are the problems of
your area and how to solve them) Suppose you are the chief of your
cadre. What would you do with your position? (What will you do if
you are the foreign secretary/Ambassador/IGP/Cabinet
Secretary/Secretary/NBR member, how will you improve your
department, what steps will you take to make your cadre more
efficient) How to answer personal/tricky questions (PSC members
often ask the candidates personal questions/questions that are
politically motivated. Sometimes they ask unconventional questions
only to test how the candidates react. Sometimes they even ask
insulting questions. You must prepare yourself accordingly)
Question from your own discipline ( It is very common that the
interviewer will ask about the subject you have studied in your
bachelor degree. Especially if you are from general subjects like
English, Economics, Political science, Physics etc then there is
high chance that major part of your viva will be dealing questions
from your academic background. Please have a solid preparation on
the basic of your discipline. For example, a student of Economics
is almost sure to face questions about stock market crash,
globalization, definition of Economics etc . If you cannot answer
the primary level questions from your own discipline, it will be
very embarrassing ) Liberation war ( You must know the basic
information about our glorious liberation war as a future BCS
officer ) Current Ruling Party and its leaders ( I guess I do not
have to make you understand how important this is for any BCS viva.
Make no mistake and have a rock-solid preparation in these issues )
Current Affairs (Important topics like International Organizations,
treaties, important topics from the written syllabus for Bangladesh
and international affairs. You can read daily newspapers ,
Economist website, BBC website for this and watch BBC,TV news
etc)Conclusion: What I have mentioned above is the basic for BCS
viva preparation that is needed universally. Once you are equipped
with these topics you should start fine-tuning yourself. Remember,
as I said in the beginning, your appearance, politeness,
confidence, speaking power, dress-up etc are also very important
factors .If you know everything above but cannot produce them in
from of the viva board-the result will be zero. However, I believe
that a solid knowledge base will increase your confidence level and
you will be able to prepare yourself as a complete package. Happy
hunting, tigers!!!!
Mashroof Hossain