Information about CSS Exam-FPSC

CSS Examination – Pakistan

The CSS Exam is held by Federal Public Service Commission every year for recruitment to posts in BS-17 for the following groups/services under Federal Government:

1. Commerce & Trade Group
2. Foreign Service of Pakistan
3. Information Group
4. Inland Revenue Service
5. Military Lands & Cantonments Group
6. Office Management Group
7. Pakistan Administrative Service
8. Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service
9. Pakistan Customs Service
10. Police Service of Pakistan
11. Postal Group
12. Railways (Commercial & Transportation) Group

The CSS-Competitive Examination comprises the following four parts:

1. Written Examination;
2. Medical Examination;
3. Psychological Assessment; and
4. Viva Voce.

Eligibility for CSS Examination:

EDUCATION

1. A candidate must hold  at  least  a  Second Division  or Grade “C” Bachelor’s degree in any faculty of one of the Pakistani Universities or an equivalent degree or comparable educational qualifications of a foreign University recognized by Higher Education Commission, Islamabad.
2. A candidate who has obtained a Third Division (or ‘D’ grade) in his/her Bachelor’s Degree will be eligible for the Examination in cases where he/she has obtained a higher Division in Master’s Degree.
3. The matter as to which foreign degree is comparable and equivalent to corresponding Pakistani degree shall be decided by HEC. Therefore, an equivalence certificate issued by HEC may be attached with application form.

NATIONALITY

1. Candidates for the examination  must be a citizen of Pakistan  or a person deriving his/her nationality from  the State  of Jammu  and Kashmir.
2. A candidate who has married a person who is not a citizen of Pakistan shall not be eligible for appointment provided that a person who marries a “foreign national of any country recognized by Federal Government” with the prior permission of Government may be regarded as eligible for appointment.

AGE-LIMITS
A candidate for admission to the examination must have attained the age of 21 years and not over 28 years on the closing date of submission of application.

AGE RELAXATION
(ii). The upper age limit will be relaxed by two years up to the age of  30 years in respect of :—

1. The candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Buddhist Community subject to production of a certificate (Annex-A of Application Form) to be issued  by  Political  Agent/DCO/  District Magistrate in support of their claim.
2. The candidates belonging to the recognized Tribes who are permanent residents of the areas mentioned-below and whose families have been living in these areas. Such candidates must attach a certificate (Annex-B of Application Form) to be issued by Political Agent/ DCO/District Magistrate in support of their claim:—
1. Baluchistan
2. Tribal Areas of D.I.Khan and Peshawar Divisions (including former Frontier States of Dir, Swat, Chitral and Amb).
3. Former excluded (Baluch) area forming part of the Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur Districts.
4. Former Tribal Areas of Mardan and Hazara Divisions.
5. Upper Tanawal Area of Hazara Division.
3. The candidates who are permanent residents of Azad Kashmir Territory, subject to submission of a certificate (Annex-C of Application Form) to be issued  by Kashmir Affairs Division, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad.
4. The candidates who are permanent residents of Gilgit- Baltistan including Gilgit, Diamir, Baltistan,  Ghizar and Ghanche, subject to submission of a certificate (Annex-B of Application Form) to be issued by the Political Agent/DCO/District Magistrate.
5. The candidates who are disabled namely, physically impaired, hearing/speech impaired (deaf & dumb) and visually impaired (blind), subject to submission of certificate of disability issued by the competent authority designated for the purpose by the Federal/Provincial Government.
6. In Service Government Servants, Armed Forces Personnel, Contract Employees, including the Government servants of AJ&K, who possess a minimum of two years continuous Government service as on 31st December, 2015, subject to submission of Departmental Permission Certificate (Annex-E) from the competent authority. Employees of Nationalised  Banks,  State Bank of Pakistan, WAPDA, Regulatory Authorities, Autonomous bodies and other semi autonomous bodies are not entitled to age relaxation.
7. The relaxation in upper limits prescribed in paragraph 3 (ii) above shall be permitted up to the maximum period of an individual concession and not by the total period of the concessions taken together, if admissible in any case.
8. Subject to the relaxations in upper age limit prescribed in paragraph 3(ii) and 3(iii) above, no further relaxation in age limit under any other rule for the time being in force, or on any other ground shall be provided by any authority.

PLACES OF EXAMINATION
The examination will be held simultaneously at Abbottabad, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, D.I.Khan, Faisalabad, Gilgit, Gujranwala, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Larkana, Multan, Muzaffarabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, & Sukkur depending on the number of applicants for each centre.

                   HOW TO APPLY FOR CSS EXAM

Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) Islamabad publishes the advertisement for inviting application for CSS Exam all ‘Daily-Newspapers’ in the months of September/October every year. The closing date for submission of application for CSS Exam 2016 was 31st October 2015 and the exam was to be conducted in February 2016. After the advertisement for exam is published in newspapers, candidate must follow the following steps to apply for CSS Exam:

1. Candidate must submit online Application for CSS exam though official website of FPSC (www.fpsc.gov.pk)
2. Candidate must take a print-out (i.e. hardcopy) of the Online Application Form. Candidate must attach all the required documents/certificates alongwith original Treasury Receipt with the print-out (hardcopy) of Online Application Form and send it to FPSC as to reach the FPSC (Headquarters) within 10 days of the closing date.
3. Candidates are cautioned that online application received incomplete or wrongly filled in or its hardcopy lacking required documents, will be rejected. Similarly hardcopy of online application form, if reached FPSC after the stipulated period of 10 days from the closing date will not be accepted.
4. Candidate must pay Rs.2200/- as Application fee for examination, as per procedure prescribed, deposited in the nearest Government Treasury or in State Bank/National Bank of Pakistan, under the account head “C02101- Organs of State Exam Fee(FPSC Receipt)”. Cash, postal orders, bank drafts and cheques will not be accepted by the Federal Public Service Commission. Original treasury receipt for written examination must be attached with the application form to be deposited to the Commission. Without providing original treasury receipt as prescribed above, the application of the candidate shall be rejected.

CSS Examination – Detail of each part

CSS Examination is given for the selection of candidates for services under FPSC. The Commission ensures that selected candidate is perfect in all aspects for the post or service. The CSS Exam has following four parts:

1. Written Exam
2. Medical Test
3. Psychological Test
4. Viva Voce

Written Exam

The written exam carries total 1200 marks. The exam consists of 12 papers, each of 100 marks. Six papers are compulsory and remaining six papers are to be selected from the list of Optional Papers. Each question paper consists of ‘descriptive questions’ as well as MCQs. MCQs are to be attempted on a separate computerized OMR Answer-sheet. Descriptive question are to be attempted on the Answer-book. Only blue and black ink is allowed for writing the papers. The passing-marks for each compulsory subject is at least 40% and for each optional is at least 33%.

The revised list of compulsory and optional list for CSS Exam 2016 and onwards is given as below: 

COMPULSORY SUBJECTS (600 Marks)

 

Code No.	Subjects	Marks
1.	English Essay	100
2.	English (Precis and Composition)	100
3.	General Science & Ability	100
4.	Current Affairs	100
5.	Pakistan Affairs	100
6.	Islamic Studies OR Comparative Study of Major Religions  (For Non Muslims)	100
Total		600

OPTIONAL SUBJECTS (600 Marks)

Group-I: (To select one subject of (200 marks)  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
11.	Accountancy & Auditing	200
12.	Economics	200
13.	Computer Science	200
14.	Political Science	200
15.	International Relations	200

Group-II: (To select subject(s) of 200 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
16.	Physics	200
17.	Chemistry	200
18.	Applied Mathematics	100
19.	Pure Mathematics	100
20.	Statistics	100
21.	Geology	100

Group-III: (To select one subject of 100 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
16.	Physics	200
17.	Chemistry	200
18.	Applied Mathematics	100
19.	Pure Mathematics	100
20.	Statistics	100
21.	Geology	100

Group-IV: (To select one subject of 100 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
26.	History of Pakistan & India	100
27.	Islamic History & Culture	100
28.	British History	100
29.	European History	100
30.	History of USA	100

Group-V: (To select one subject of 100 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
31.	Gender Studies	100
32.	Environmental Sciences	100
33.	Agriculture & Forestry	100
34.	Botany	100
35.	Zoology	100
36.	English Literature	100
37.	Urdu Literature	100

Group-VI: (To select one subject of 100 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
38.	Law	100
39.	Constitutional Law	100
40.	International Law	100
41.	Muslim Law & Jurisprudence	100
42.	Mercantile Law	100
43.	Criminology	100
44.	Philosophy	100

Group-VII: (To select one subject of 100 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
45.	Journalism & Mass Communication	100
46.	Psychology	100
47.	Geography	100
48.	Sociology	100
49.	Anthropology	100
50.	Punjabi	100
51.	Sindhi	100
52.	Pashto	100
53.	Balochi	100
54.	Persian	100
55.	Arabic	100

Note:

1. There will be two papers of 100 marks each of the subjects which carry 200 marks. In other subjects there will be one paper. Each
2. The Question Papers in Urdu or other Pakistani regional languages (Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto and Balochi), Persian and Arabic should be answered in the respective languages or in Urdu/English unless otherwise directed in the question paper. The question paper in Islamiat is to be answered in English or Urdu only. All other papers must be answered in English unless otherwise directed in the Question Paper. Contravention of these instructions will result in the cancellation of the papers and award of ZERO marks in the paper(s) concerned
3. The candidates are required to select optional subjects carrying a total of 600 marks, but not more than 200 marks from any box/columns, as provided in the columns of rules.
4. Ratio of MCQs in compulsory  papers  for  CE-2016 will be 20 MCQs in each paperexcept in the paper of Essay. Similarly there will be 20 MCQs from each optional paperexcept Pure Mathematics and Applied Mathematics.

CSS Exam Syllabus

To download the complete syllabus of CSS Exam (for CSS 2016 and onward exams), click on the download buttom given at the end of this page.

COMPULSORY SUBJECTS (600 Marks)

Code No.	Subjects	Marks
1.	English Essay	100
2.	English (Precis and Composition)	100
3.	General Science & Ability	100
4.	Current Affairs	100
5.	Pakistan Affairs	100
6.	Islamic Studies OR Comparative Study of Major Religions  (For Non Muslims)	100
Total		600

OPTIONAL SUBJECTS (600 Marks)

Group-I: (To select one subject of (200 marks)  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
11.	Accountancy & Auditing	200
12.	Economics	200
13.	Computer Science	200
14.	Political Science	200
15.	International Relations	200

Group-II: (To select subject(s) of 200 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
16.	Physics	200
17.	Chemistry	200
18.	Applied Mathematics	100
19.	Pure Mathematics	100
20.	Statistics	100
21.	Geology	100

Group-III: (To select one subject of 100 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
16.	Physics	200
17.	Chemistry	200
18.	Applied Mathematics	100
19.	Pure Mathematics	100
20.	Statistics	100
21.	Geology	100

Group-IV: (To select one subject of 100 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
26.	History of Pakistan & India	100
27.	Islamic History & Culture	100
28.	British History	100
29.	European History	100
30.	History of USA	100

Group-V: (To select one subject of 100 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
31.	Gender Studies	100
32.	Environmental Sciences	100
33.	Agriculture & Forestry	100
34.	Botany	100
35.	Zoology	100
36.	English Literature	100
37.	Urdu Literature	100

Group-VI: (To select one subject of 100 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
38.	Law	100
39.	Constitutional Law	100
40.	International Law	100
41.	Muslim Law & Jurisprudence	100
42.	Mercantile Law	100
43.	Criminology	100
44.	Philosophy	100

Group-VII: (To select one subject of 100 marks  only)

Code No.	Subject	Marks
45.	Journalism & Mass Communication	100
46.	Psychology	100
47.	Geography	100
48.	Sociology	100
49.	Anthropology	100
50.	Punjabi	100
51.	Sindhi	100
52.	Pashto	100
53.	Balochi	100
54.	Persian	100
55.	Arabic	100

Note:

1. To download complete syllabus of compulsory and optional subjects for CSS Exam, click on the following button.

Click and download the complete syllabus of compulsory and optional subjects for CSS Exam. Click on text 

complete syllabus of compulsory and optional subjects for CSS Exam 

CSS Exam - Medical, Psychological Test and Viva Voce

 

Medical Test.

Candidates who qualify the written examination will be medically examined by the Medical Boards constituted for the purpose to ensure that candidate is in good mental and physical health and free from any physical defect likely to interfere with the discharge of their duties. The candidates who (after such medical examination which Government or the appointing authority, may prescribe) are found not to satisfy these requirements, will not be appointed except the disabled candidates as rules mentioned for disabled candidates by FPSC.

Disabled candidates must submit a certificate of disability issued by the competent authority designated for the purpose by the Federal/Provincial Government. Disabled candidates in the categories of physically impaired, hearing/speech impaired(deaf & dumb) and visually impaired (blind) are allowed to compete for Competitive Examination against four Occupational Groups/Services viz: (a) Commerce & Trade Group (b) Pakistan Audit & Accounts Service (c) Information Group & (d) Postal Group....
Disabled candidates will be provided helper such as Writer, if so requested by them in their application forms.
In order to prevent disappointment, candidates are advised to have themselves examined by a Government Medical Officer of the standing of a Civil Surgeon before applying for admission to the examination.

Psychological Test.

All candidates called for Viva Voce will be required to undergo Psychological Test first, comprising written tests and group tasks. Such tests are designed to assess abilities, attitude and personality characteristics of the candidates with special regard to their aptitude for the Civil Services. Separate marks are not awarded for the Psychological assessment. However, 300 marks assigned to Viva Voce also reflect the performance on Psychological Test. Candidates must bring their National Identity Cards and two copies of recent photographs when summoned for Psychological test, andViva Voce. If a candidate remains absent in the Psychological Test, he/she will not be allowed to appear for Viva Voce.

Viva Voce.

Each candidate who qualifies written part of the exam. will be interviewed by a Board. He/she will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the interview is to assess his/her suitability for the services for which he/she is entered and in framing their assessment the Board will attach particular importance to the moral and ethical qualities of the candidates, his/her intelligence and alertness of mind, his/her vigour and strength of character and his/her potential qualities of leadership. The Board will take into consideration his/her extra-mural activities such as sports, debates, hobbies, etc., and their effect on his/her physique and character, in assessing his/her merit.
All candidates are expected to have basic knowledge regarding Islam and Pakistan. Questions may be asked in the Interview on these subjects. Persons securing less than pass marks in these subjects will not be considered for appointment to Government jobs, irrespective of their proficiency in other fields. However, the Non-Muslim candidates will not be asked any question regarding Islam.

Qualifying marks in over all test for eligibility for appointment.
The Commission with prior approval of the Government may fix qualifying marks in any or all of the subjects of the examination but a candidate who fails to secure at least 40% marks in any compulsory subject, 33% marks in any of the optional subjects, or 50% marks in the Aggregate and 100 marks at the Viva Voce, will be considered to have failed and will not be eligible for appointment.

How many time a candidate can take the CSS Exam?
A candidate can take CSS exam three times only.

Re-counting of CSS Exam.
If you want to do re-counting of your marks obtained in CSS Exam, you will have to submit your request for re-counting with in one month from the date of issue of result card/marks sheet, along with a Treasury Challan of Rs 200/- per paper as fee of re-counting.

General Tips and information about CSS Examination

1. Be careful in the selection of subjects from optional subjects. Select those subject which you have studied in your previous classes or those subject in which you have more interest or you have more command on them comparatively.
2. While filling the application form never write false things or exaggeration to influence Commission or officers or member of the staff of commission, if they come to know (even after your appointment) about any information given by you is wrong or false, you will be liable to dismissal from service. 
3. If you are not satisfied from your exam you took this year and want to take exam again next year, apply for exam by prescribed date without waiting for your result because result may take time and you may miss the date for submitting application for next year exam.
4. Date of Birth: The date of birth accepted by the Commission is that entered in the following documents:

(a) Matriculation Certificate;
(b) Secondary or Higher Secondary School Leaving Certificate;
(c) Certificate of birth from the Principal/Headmaster of the School from where a candidate has passed his/her GEC, ‘O’ level or equivalent examination, showing the date of birth in the School Admission Register;
(d) In case of Christian candidates, Baptismal or birth registration certificate.
(The decision as to which certificate is acceptable for the purpose of date of birth rests with the Commission). Note: Once a date of birth has been claimed by a candidate and accepted by the Commission for the purpose of admission to an examination, no change will be allowed at a subsequent examination or selection.

1. Age Limit Relaxation: The upper age limit will be relaxed by two years up to the age of 30 years in respect of :—

(a) the candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste and Buddhist Community subject to production of a certificate (Annex-A of Application Form) to be issued by Political Agent/DCO/ District Magistrate in support of their claim.
(b) the candidates belonging to the recognized Tribes who are permanent residents of the areas mentioned below and whose families have been living in these areas. Such candidates must attach a certificate (Annex- B of Application Form) to be issued by Political Agent/DCO/District Magistrate in support of their claim :—
1. Balochistan.
2. Tribal Areas of D.I.Khan and Peshawar Divisions (including former Frontier States of Dir, Swat,
Chitral and Amb).
3. Former excluded (Baluch) area forming part of the Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur Districts.
4. Former Tribal Areas of Mardan and HazaraDivisions.
5. Upper Tanawal Area of Hazara Division.
(c) the candidates who are permanent residents of Azad Kashmir Territory, subject to submission of a
certificate (Annex-C of Application Form) to be issued by Kashmir Affairs Division, Government of Pakistan.
(d) the candidates who are permanent residents of Northern Areas including Gilgit, Diamir, Baltistan, Ghizar and Ghanche, subject to submission of a certificate (Annex-B of Application Form) to be issued by the Political Agent/DCO/ District Magistrate.
(e) the candidates who are disabled namely, physically impaired, hearing/speech impaired (deaf & dumb) and visually impaired (blind), subject to submission of certificate of disability issued by the competent authority designated for the purpose by the Federal/Provincial Government.
(f) In Service Government Servants, Armed Forces Personnel, Contract employees, including the Government servants of AJ&K, who possess minimum of  two years continuous Government service as on first January, 2012, subject to submission of Departmental Permission Certificate(Annex-E) from the competent authority. Employees of Nationalized Banks, State Bank of Pakistan, WAPDA, Regulatory Authorities, Autonomous bodies and other semi autonomous bodies are not entitled to age relaxation.

Note: It is not official website of Federal Public Service Commission FPSC. This information is for the help of aspirant candidate who are new to CSS Exam and want to take CSS Exam in soon future. We have tried our level best to be precise and accurate. Still if there is any mistake or modification or update information, please do write us. Thanks