You can get excellent marks in any subject if it is in line with your interest and aptitude. Securing top position in the CSS examination is a dream cherished by everyone who appears in it. This dream has come true for Noor-ul-Ain Fatima who achieved her target in the very first attempt by planned preparation and skilful presentation. In her interview , besides throwing light on her diverse interests, she has given some very useful tips. In the light of her own experience, for those who are still in the process of preparation for the CSS exam. Q...Our readers must be very keen to know about your brilliant academic career which laid the foundation of your phenomenal success. I was born in Lahore in 1983 at a time when my mother, who is a doctor, was still a student at King Edward Medical College. I was, therefore, mostly brought up by my grandmother from whom I inherited a strong passion for Urdu literature, because, she had a refined taste for Urdu poetry. After matriculating from Government Comprehensive School, Wahdat Road, I studied at Kinnaird College and passed the intermediate examination with distinction. Later on, following the footsteps of my mother and grandfather, I got admission in King Edward Medical College and successfully completed my MBBS in 2005. My father is a banker while my husband is an officer in the DMG. God has blessed me with a naughty little son named Taha, who was only a few months old when I started my preparation for the CSS which I completed within five months. Now tell us something about your hobbies. I love to read books on a wide variety of subjects such as literature, religion, history, palmistry, medicine and current affairs etc. Qurat-ul-Ain Haider, Ashfaq Ahmad, Bano Qudsia, Intizar Hussain, Mustansar Hussain Tarar, Abdullah Hussain and Nasim Hijazi are my favourite Urdu writers. Novels of Charles Dickens and Agatha Christi have greatly impressed me. I am greatly inspired by a book “Road to Mecca” written by a Jewish scholar who embraced Islam. With profound interest, I have gone through the books written by eminent Muslim scholars such as Maulana Maudoodi and Allama Muhammad Asad. I am an allopathic doctor but at the same time, I enjoy reading books on herbal medicine and other ways of treating diseases. For satisfying my passion for books, I frequently visit book shops, book fairs and libraries. Many of our readers must be ambitious of becoming CSP officers and they would surely like to know about the techniques which you adopted. The first step is of subjects. What is your word of advice in this regard? It is generally believed that some subjects are high scoring while some others are low scoring. But I firmly believe that you can get excellent marks in any subject, if it is in line with your taste, interest and aptitude and if you have a sufficient amount of relevant material on it. When I chose Indo-Pak History, Urdu literature, Journalism and constitutional law as my subjects, many of my friends warned me that most of them were low scoring subjects. But due to my keen interest and my careful collection and search of the relevant material from libraries and internet, I proved them wrong. Instead of relying on one or a few books, I thoroughly studied a large number of books, magazines and newspapers and prepared comprehensive notes, full of useful quotations that I successfully quoted while answering the questions. After failing in the first attempt, some of the students change their subjects. Is it the right approach? They should realistically analyse whether their choice was wrong or they were unable to present their material on paper in an appropriate and convincing manner. If it is the second case, they should consult some competent teachers to know how to present their collected material in a proper way on the answer sheets. In the light of your highly successful experience, what is the proper way of presenting the material on the answer sheets? The material should be presented in a clear and legible writing. The answers should have paragraphs and headings at appropriate places. Relevant quotations from various authors create a very positive impression. Every answer should end with a comprehensive critical analysis which sums up the whole material. Maps and diagrams also prove immensely useful, as they display the students creative mind. For instance, while answering a question about Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, I drew the map of Central Asia and described Pakistans strategic location as a gateway to Central Asia. In the same way, Babars journey from Farghana to Delhi can also be described with the help of a map. Would you like to give some tips for the interview? Before the interview, groups of friends should get together and hold discussions on different topics to exchange their knowledge and to improve their spoken English. They should thoroughly prepare their current affairs. For the preparation of current affairs, I used to study Washington Post, New York Times, Times, Newsweek and our national newspapers Dawn and The Nation. I consulted regularly World Times and I found it very useful for my preparation. While preparing for the constitutional law, I gathered the constitutions of various countries from the internet, for the sake of their comparison and contrast. During the interview, in response to a question about the controversial 58(2)(b), I said that if it is repealed, the prime minister would become a tyrant and if it is allowed to remain in the constitution, the president will become a dictator. I suggested that for proper checks and balances, we should follow the Portuguese constitution which allows the president to dissolve the parliament but before that, he must consult and seek the approval of a Supreme Council consisting of the chairman of the Senate, speaker of the Assembly, chief justice and member of the ruling party and the opposition parties. This suggestion was highly appreciated by my interviewers. One of them remarked it is a pleasure to take my interview. How far can the academies be helpful in preparation of CSS? They are helpful only to the extent that they serve as an interacting forum where different students can get together for exchanging and sharing their knowledge and information related to different topics and books. Moreover, academies provide some useful guidelines for the written papers and the interview. But if someone relies only on the academies and believes that he can get through CSS by only consulting the notes provided by the academies, he is wrong. Besides consulting the academy notes, the students should prepare their own notes and should also have a close analytical look at the old question papers to have a better idea of the format of the papers. Which academy you joined on a regular basis? Actually academies should be taken as an interactive forum where students do share their knowledge and exchange ideas. And being a girl I lacked that interaction so I visited two or three academies to peep into the preparation strategies adopted by different students. For sure, I did not join any academy on a serious note. So, no academy can claim me as its student, and if I name one, it will look like a mere advertisement of the academy. After becoming MBBS doctor, you decided to change your profession. What is the motive behind this general trend? Can a qualified doctor become a good administrator? As medical students we were told that while treating a patient, we should have a good knowledge of the history of his disease. Then, through laboratory tests, we should have an objective analysis of his present condition. Finally, we should consider the future complications of the disease. I believe that the same strategy should be adopted while dealing with the administrative problems. For the effective solution and eradication of our administrative problems, we should have a thorough knowledge of their origin, present state and future prospects. In this way, a good qualified doctor can become a good administra-tor. As far as the other part of your question is concerned, more and more doctors are switching over to the civil service because in government hospitals, doctors are now given jobs on contract basis, where there is no job security and no pension. Some of the doctors choose to go to the civil service through CSS because they are impressed by the power, influence and privileges of the CSP officers. Moreover, by doing so, they hope to become a part of the policy-making mechanism of the country. However my personal decision in this regard has been prompted by my desire to work for the welfare and progress of my nation. As a CSP officer, you have chosen DMG. What you would like to do on a priority basis and in which department? I would like to work in the Health Department, in order to provide a better medical care to the people, because, basically, I am a doctor. I would like to provide better medical facilities to cure the diseases of our mothers and children. Because there is a great need to work for maternal health. How do you perceive the lawyers movement and the landmark restoration of the deposed chief justice? It is indeed a great news for all of us. In the light of the chief justices previous record, it is hoped that he would provide justice and relief to the common man. Now people would be able to approach the courts to overcome such problems as blackmarketing and undue profiteering. Independent judiciary would surely strengthen our democratic institutions.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 11:56:59 +0000
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