Journey of Punjab Civil Services from rags to riches: VARINDER SINGH KHOSA

INTRODUCTION

 

Hello everyone!!! I am Varinder Singh Khosa and I have secured rank-25 in Punjab Civil Service-2018. I have been selected as DSP in Punjab Police Services(PPS). I have cracked this exam at the age of 25 in my first attempt. I am a native of Village Jhandeana West, Dist Moga and my hobbies are Reading books, Fitness and travelling. I am going to share my experience of this journey which might help all the aspirants.

EXAM PATTERN

 It comprises of four successive stages.

Stage 1: Preliminary Examination

It consists of 2 objective papers.

(a) General Studies- 100 Questions of 2 marks each (200 marks)

(b) CSAT- 80 Questions of 2.5 marks each (200 marks)

Language- Punjabi and English
PS There is no negative marking in prelims.

Stage 2: Main Examination

It consists of 7 subjective papers.

(a) Punjabi language (100 marks)

(b) English language (100 marks)

(c) Essay (150 marks)

(d) GS 1(250 marks) includes History, Geography, Society

(e) GS 2(250 marks) includes Indian polity, Governance, International Relation.

(f) GS 3(250 marks) includes Economics, Statistics and Security

(g) GS 4(250 marks) includes Science & Tech, Environment, Ethics

Language- Punjabi or English except language papers.

Stage 3: Physical Test

It consists of 4 events.

(a) Race- 1600 Meters in 7.5 minutes

(b)Long Jump- 3.60 meter

(c)High Jump- 1.15 meter

(d) Vertical rope climbing- 2 meter
PS-  This stage is only for the post of DSP and Physical criteria is different for girls

Physical Standards
Height- 5'7(Men) 5'3(Women)

Stage 4: Interview

Interview is of 150 Marks. I will share my interview experience in the next blog post.

THE D-DAY

                             

                    Pic- Punjab Public Service Commission, Patiala (06-june-2019)

 

QUALIFICATION

(a) Education: Graduation and must have passed Punjabi at matriculation level.

(b) Age limit: 21-28 years for DSP  and 21-37 years for other posts.(There is age relaxation for reserved categories)
(c) Number of Chances- 6 (Relaxation for reserved categories)  

BOOKS

(Note- I have referred these sources but if you are already using any other source, Please continue with the same)

1. History:

Ancient History- Tamil Nadu (TN) State Board Book

Medieval History- Tamil Nadu (TN) State Board Book

Modern History- Bipin Chandra old NCERT

World History- Old Ncert by Arjun Dev.

Art & Culture- Nitin Singhania Sir notes and Punjab’s Culture from Sada Punjab.

Punjab History- Sada Punjab, and for mains you need detailed history, so go for Raghunath Rai’s BA books.

2. Science

General Science: NCERT Books 6th to 10th with special focus on 9th and 10th… Also science portion of Lucent GK book

Science & Tech: Vajiram notes for static portion and Vision notes for current.

3. Economy

Mrunal videos for conceptual clarity And NCERT +1 and +2 (Macro-economy Only ), as per syllabus, the topics which are not covered by these NCERTs need to be covered from INDIAN ECONOMY by Ramesh Singh. Have a look at Budget and Economic Survey (Summary) by any institute

Punjab Economy: Sada Punjab and latest Budget and Economic Survey of Punjab

4. Polity

NCERTs 6^th to 12^th and Laxmikanth Only

Political Theory (Prelims Syllabus): Didn’t find any concise material, revise questions asked in PCS previous year papers and UPSC papers till 2010. Watch random You tube videos, any institute booklet and prepare your own notes with a keen focus on western political thoughts. I have uploaded some coaching institute notes here. Click

5. Geography

+1, +2 NCERTs more than enough (Punjab portion from Sada Punjab)

6. Environment

I have done from Shankar (because Geography is my optional) So, Please read very selective for this exam… Focus  Current issues related to environment like New Pacts, Schemes, initiatives at world and national level.

7. Society

You can read +1,+2 Ncerts for conceptual understanding and better terminology. But most of the questions are from contemporary social issues impacting society.

8. Statistics

Statistics for Economics (NCERT 11^TH) for conceptual clarity and Spectrum’s Statistics book for practice.

9. Security

Internal security by Ashok Kumar, plus current from Vision IAS.

10. Aptitude

Quant: Topics which are asked in previous year paper (like Speed, Age, Percentage etc.) from any maths book (I referred RS Aggarwal)

Data Interpretation: Practice from any book

Reasoning: Practice from any source, Easiest section to fetch good marks.

11. Ethics

Unlike UPSC, it is distributed over GS1, GS2 and GS4 in PCS. I have followed Lexicon's Ethics for this part. For GS4, we need to practice situation based questions from any source.

12. Punjabi

Punjabi Vyakaran Ate Likhat Rachna by Narinder Singh Duggal

13. English

Any standard book

14. Current Affairs

If you are daily newspaper reader, then it will be very easy for you. And if not, choose any magazine like PD/Drishti/Vision/Insights etc. (More conceptual for mains and bit factual for prelims)

For current affairs of Punjab State: Read The Tribune and make your notes. Or you can get notes made available by many institutes in Chandigarh just before exam.

This portion is very important considering the recent shift in orientation of PPSC towards current. Try to link current affairs with the static portion to generate a broader picture in exam.

 

 STRATEGY FOR EXAM 

 

Preliminary test

According to me, the prelims is the most competitive and arbitrary stage of this exam because the success rate at this stage is very low. I cleared prelims by just 1 mark. The most imp for prelims is to go to previous year papers and know about demand of this exam. This is the key to understand the mindset of the examiner. Now you can read your sources accordingly, taking out the gist. Also, stick to your sources and revise them as many times as possible. Counting of CSAT marks in prelims merit makes paper 2 a deciding factor at this stage. Attempt multiple paper sets to rectify your mistakes. Also based on your performance in test series, you can devote more/less time to a particular subject.

 

 

Main Exam 

This stage is going to decide your final selection in this exam because it contains 90% of the aggregate marks. So leave no stone unturned when it comes to the mains. Start your mains preparation just after prelims, don't wait for the prelims result. At first, read the syllabus carefully. Now you must strive for covering each and every topic mentioned in the syllabus. Before starting your mains prep, pin down your sources for each paper, subject and topic. You can take help of previous year papers to know what to read in those sources. Then, make your short notes, at least for contemporary issues. The topics not found in any book can be covered from internet. Assimilate current with static portion of syllabus. Now you have knowledge, you need to know how to express that knowledge. For that you need to practice papers in advance on yourself or join test series. It will help in time management as well. Like, this time many of my friends couldn’t complete 20 questions in 3 hrs. Revise your sources multiple times. Also, do prepare facts, committees, reports and other references in advance on major topics in syllabus to substantiate your answers. Take language papers seriously(i did this mistake by not giving optimum time to language) as they create a huge difference.

                                                                                   Though I have mentioned separate strategy for prelims and mains. But there must be integrated preparation for both stages.

 

 

Interview

There were 8 members in my interview panel and it went for 45 minutes. The questions were primarily based on bio-data sheet, hobby, family occupation, issues in news in last few months etc. Though i was prepared to give interview in English but more than 80% of the questions were asked in Punjabi, so i answered them in same language. I mean to say language in not a barrier but you must be proficient enough in your language to express your viewpoint. For that we attended many mock interviews. You can speak in front of mirror or analyze your recorded videos. The purpose of interview is, to access whether someone can be competent administrator or not. So work on your personality from day one. You must possess qualities like honesty, positive attitude, no caste/religion bias, liberal viewpoint, which makes a good civil servant. You must have solution and vision to solve problems concerning common folks. This stage can completely turn the tables. Especially in our case, as it was low scoring main this year and difference in marks was very narrow. Thereby interview marks could make a great impact. I got 110/150 in interview which played a major role in my final selection.

 

REACH OUT

If still any query, feel free to contact me.

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RESOURCES

Syllabus
Prelims Question Papers

Mains Question Papers

 

END NOTE

This journey not only helped me in clearing this exam but it fundamentally changed me as a human being. It helped me develop a balanced mind, with broad outlook towards issues concerning common man. In nutshell, I can say that this preparation helped me explore the world. The preparation period was very interesting because each day we used to learn new things and meet new people. During this preparation, I found that if you love what you do, it will definitely pay you back.

 At last, I am eternally thankful to everyone who stood by me during this journey.

ਨਹੀਂ ਤੇਰਾ ਨਸ਼ੇਮਨ ਕਸਰੇ ਸੁਲਤਾਨੀ ਕੇ ਗੁੰਬਦ ਪਰ,

ਤੂ ਸ਼ਾਹੀਂ ਹੈ ਬਸੇਰਾ ਕਰ ਪਹਾੜੋਂ ਕੀ ਚੱਟਾਨੋਂ ਮੇਂ।