Why most CSS exam candidates fail at English

The Unlikely Path from Dentistry to Bureaucracy

Muzamil opens the episode by welcoming Dr. Hina Sikandar, a guest he has been trying to reach for months. Dr. Sikandar graduated from Islam Medical and Dental College in 2016 and worked as a dentist, but during her house job, her trajectory shifted. She was reading during Ramzan, when patient flow slowed, and stumbled on the CSS syllabus online. What began as curiosity turned into preparation. She attempted the exam in her first year with only three months of study, no academy training, and no formal guidance.

“I didn’t have any clear-cut idea at that time,” she recalls. “I was doing my house job with peace, and it was a 9-to-5 job. So when I started reading books and opened the syllabus, I saw it was different. Internet is a blessing. It’s heaven.”

Muzamil listens as she describes the exam as a structured journey: written exam, medical exam, psychological exam, interview, allocation, and six months of Common Training Program at Civil Services Academy before specialization. She passed her first attempt with a decent score, though not top-tier, and was allocated to the Postal Group.

Why 20,000 Candidates Fail and Only 300 Pass

The CSS exam in Pakistan receives approximately 20,000 applications each year, but only 200 to 300 candidates pass. This enormous discrepancy stems not from a lack of study but from a fundamental misunderstanding of what the exam tests. Dr. Sikandar explains that compulsory subjects include two English exams, current affairs, Pakistan studies, Islamic studies, and general science. “People will give a CSS exam and think we are like this ambassador, or we go to the IG post. People have no idea that there is a whole process behind,” she says.

Muzamil points out the math: if one exam has compulsory sections and most candidates are grounded in rote learning rather than critical thinking, the system naturally filters for candidates who can synthesize information. Dr. Sikandar confirms this view, emphasizing that rote learning has no place in CSS. The exam rewards those who understand history, politics, and current affairs at a conceptual level.

English Fails More Than Any Other Subject

The largest bottleneck is English. “In essay, 80-90% fail,” Dr. Sikandar states flatly. “And those who pass are 40 numbers, which is the passing score. I had 46, and I take so much pride in it. 90% of people have 40 numbers; I must have written something really nice.”

The problem is not fluency. Dr. Sikandar explains that English is a privilege in urban Pakistan. People grow up surrounded by English and assume competence. But the CSS exam tests grammar rules, vocabulary, sentence structure, and composition skills that go far beyond casual fluency. Most candidates, she argues, fail because they do not know tenses, prepositions, and how to construct a coherent argument on paper.

Essay writing is where this breaks down. Candidates treat the essay as a space to express personal opinion, but CSS examiners want evidence. “In essay, you have to be very opinionated, but you don’t give your opinion,” she explains. “You are going to give examples. You are going to give references. Evidences. Everything you will tell. For example, if there’s this topic: self-help is the best help. So I am not going to write in the whole theory that means that you help yourself. I am going to give examples. I am going to give references. Abraham Lincoln, he self-taught himself, he self-helped, and then he was the 16th president of the United States.”

Without such anchoring, even well-written essays fail. Muzamil absorbs this and reflects on how many candidates, even those coached by academies, stumble here.

The Hidden Twelve Groups of CSS

Another misconception is that CSS leads only to three well-known paths: District Management Group (now Pakistan Administrative Service), Police Service, or Foreign Service. Dr. Sikandar corrects this. “There are 12 subjects. Six of them are compulsory, six are optional,” she says. “But there are actually 12 different groups: Postal, Information, Railways, Commerce and Trade, Audit and Account, Inland Revenue Service, Customs, and Military Conduct Group, among others.”

This ignorance has consequences. The top three groups attract 90% of candidate interest, driving up their cutoff scores and making them harder to enter. The other nine groups, though still competitive, are far less crowded. A candidate with a good score might easily enter Foreign Service but have an easier path to Railways or Postal if they understand the structure.

Preparation Without Academies

Dr. Sikandar did not attend a CSS academy. She prepared on her own, read widely, and relied on the internet and self-discipline. When asked whether academies are necessary, she gives a nuanced answer. Academies provide scoring trends, teaching from seasoned instructors who know what examiners look for, and peer support. She did not have these, yet she passed.

What she did have was intellectual curiosity and a calm approach to the first attempt. “I was having fun,” she says of her exam experience. “I didn’t mean that I had to do it. I had to say, this is an opportunity that I can do. This is like a golden opportunity. I was having fun.”

Bureaucracy Runs on Obsolete Systems

After passing, Dr. Sikandar entered the Postal Group, where she discovered that Pakistan’s civil service operates on British Raj-era manuals, barely updated. “For example, the other day I was studying for my exam and I was studying that if you are fined for rupees to an imprisonment for a month or something. It was such a big crime. At that time, 2 rupees will be a big thing, but now it is that. You change a little bit, but when you get revised editions, it will not change much,” she explains.

The deeper problem is her own staff. Lower-grade government employees, many above 50 years old, have little exposure to technology and no incentive to learn. When she proposed a WhatsApp group for after-hours communication at the International Mail Office, a clerk asked if it could be done tomorrow. She had to walk him through creating a group in real time. This bottleneck exists across government. Officers cannot modernize because the foundation staff cannot adapt, and the system does not invest in training. Muzamil and Dr. Sikandar agree that without empowering lower staff through education and technology access, no top-level reform will succeed.

Women, Money, and Preparation for the Worst

Dr. Sikandar pivots to a personal message. She comes from a supportive family and a supportive marriage. But she saw on Instagram that many women face situations where they know nothing about property, inheritance, or finances if a male family member dies. A Pakistani drama where a widow becomes helpless after her husband’s death prompted her to post about women’s financial independence.

“People come to me and say, you can do it because your family allows,” she reflects. “But it doesn’t happen. People can’t talk to their spouse. So start a conversation. Talk to your father. Talk to your mother. Or in my audience, I have a lot of posts. Anti-men don’t do it, but it’s on society.”

She does not blame men; she advocates for conversation and for parents to raise daughters who understand the world, money, and systems. Self-help is the best help. Knowledge and independence do not weaken families; they strengthen them.

The Conversation Beyond the Exam

Muzamil brings the conversation back to politics and systems. He observes that gender issues get people emotional in Pakistan, often because social media rewards performative outrage over genuine change. Dr. Sikandar agrees. Posting that men should change diapers will get engagement, but showing quietly that you change diapers will shift behavior far more effectively. The same applies to women’s rights. “Our problem is that because we have a lot of social media culture, feedback driven, right? Likes are coming. What’s going to get me on stories. We become more and more polarized.”

The solution, she argues, is not attacking groups but starting conversations and leading by example. If one person understands that women deserve financial literacy, that person becomes a voice in their circle.

As Muzamil wraps up, he thanks Dr. Sikandar for a conversation that spanned exam strategy, bureaucratic reform, gender, and the deeper questions of what kind of country Pakistan’s systems produce. She remains optimistic that change is possible, one voice at a time.