When aspirants choose CSS as their career and understand the comprehensive exam, they find a big problem in the form of timetable creation. Well, everyone has their way of dividing the time for CSS; however, some students get diverted when they choose the wrong mechanism for the division of their time. Every aspirant should try to make a suitable timetable that helps them cover their subjects optimally.
The management of time is very necessary. Once you plan your day to be spent in a sort of manner, you will see no burden on your shoulders. Lots of people study more than 15 hours a day, but they still face failures. The week management of time may lead you towards failure. Remember! You should not dedicate your entire day to the CSS exam’s preparation; instead, you can prepare it without any hurdle if you work smart.
If we look at the timetable creation of the CSS exam, there can be seen three parts. First, you should know how to prepare the subjects with an approach from the start to the end of the preparation in different phases. Second, you should see how you can use time of day during the preparation. Third, you must calculate the duration available at the time. Let us have a look at all these parts of the timetable in detail.
Phases of Preparation
There should be at least three phases of your preparation. The reason behind this is that the subjects of CSS may be very new to you except your academic ones. So, you have to prepare for them with no shortcuts; you have to use an intelligent approach. In short, there can be three phases of the preparation.
Phase 1: This phase should be used for detailed studies. You should give all your time entirely to the compulsory and optional subjects (your ones). Make detailed notes of each topic, and spend all your energies to understand the subject. Leave no stone unturned in the first phase of CSS preparation.
Phase 2: In this phase, your primary concern should be about the precision of topics or subjects. Revise all the subjects you have covered and shorten your notes that were previously written in detail. In addition to this, you should watch documentaries related to the topic and read research or survey papers. This will help you broaden your ideas and will help you improve your opinion.
Phase 3: In this phase, you should revise all the content you have studied. This phase must be very near to the exam so that you have nothing left to prepare anymore. You may have lots of time by then. Do use your analytical skills to criticize the topics you have studied. Research as much as you can, do exercises, and write as many compositions as possible because you will soon appear in the exam!
Management of daily tasks
After you have understood the big picture, now is the time to divide your day according to the tasks. Here, we will propose a time plan that may help you in the preparation. Or, it may give you a better idea about your one. Let us have a look at the timetable.
| Time | Task | Description |
| 5:00 AM to 5:30 AM | Salah | Offer your prayer early in the morning. Salah brings punctuality to life. Therefore, begin your day with the remembrance of Allah. |
| 5:30 AM to 6:00 AM | Exercise | Exercise in the specified time. It is a beneficial time of the day, which will keep you both physically and spiritually fit. |
| 6:00 AM to 8:00 AM | Breakfast and opinion building | Take your breakfast in the first 10 minutes and start reading magazines or editorial pages of the newspaper. Keep this time for opinion building because it is the most energetic part of a day. |
| 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM | Composition and comprehension | Practice essay and précis writing in this duration. You should increase the time for essays as you go near to the exam. |
| 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM | Take a rest | Take a rest and do whatever relaxes your mind. |
| 10:30 AM to 1:30 PM | Subject 1 | Cover as much as possible in this period and make the notes along with the study. You should keep a notebook and a pen to write important points meanwhile. |
| 1:30 PM to 2:00 PM | Salah and lunch break | Offer Zohar prayer and take your lunch. |
| 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM | Subject 2 | Now is the time to go for another subject. Crack it as you did the first one, and make notes along with the study. |
| 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM | Sports | Play your favorite sports at this time. Giving time to sports is essential because it keeps you safe from depression and anxiety. |
| 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM | Bath and salah | Take a bath so that you become fresh and active after playing sports and offer your Maghrib prayer. |
| 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM | Subject 3 | Now study the third subject. You should make the notes along with the study. |
| 9:00 to 9:30 | Salah and dinner | Offer Isha prayer and take your dinner |
| 9:30 PM to 11:00 PM | News/documentary/ research paper | This is most probably the last time of your day. Watch news, documentary, or read research papers on hot topics you have come across in the day. |
| 11:00 PM | Bedtime | Take a tight sleep until the next morning. You should sleep a minimum of six hours a day. |
Duration of the overall Preparation
Last but not least is the duration. Usually, 7 months prior to the exam is an ideal time for CSS. You should give the first 4 months to the first phase. Cover all the topics that were mentioned in the FPSC syllabus. Remember! You must take mock exams or evaluation tests every Sunday, which will help you know your level of improvement.
After this, you should give two months to the second phase. Go for a revision that you have studied already, and make as much analysis as possible. By now, you would have spent six months of preparation.
Last is the third phase. Give one entire month to the last phase and revise every subject and topic that you have prepared for the CSS exam. Meanwhile, you must give extra time to composition and comprehension skills in this phase, as CSS is all about written communication. Don’t forget to get evaluated every Monday.
This is all about the CSS timetable. This timetable may vary if you have a specific time in a day. For example, if you are a job holder, you have to manage your time after 5:00 PM. We hope that our proposed timetable has cleared the confusion in your mind. Now, you may be able to follow this timetable or make your own easily.
Very helpful and interesting!
Thank you!
Assalam o Alikum
Sir there are 6 subjects compulsory and 6 subjects optional how do we manage preparation of 12 subjects in a day
W/Salam. It is not necessary to prepare all 12 subjects at once. Make a better study plan for a few consecutive months and do check our timetable planning blog post. Thanks