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!)

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)// // ( ) + , , / - , ! (),()@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@Written- 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

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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