In recent years, many students in Pakistan have pursued the dream of becoming a permanent elite bureaucrat or joining the civil services as these authorities are widely considered to be prestigious and respectable. But joining these services is no easy task because candidates are required to undergo an examination by the name of Central Superior Services (CSS) exam.
It is the most competitive and challenging exam in all of Pakistan. Held under the supervision of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) it allows people from all over the country to compete for posts (BS-17) in various sectors of the Federal Government such as Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS), Police Service of Pakistan (PSP), Foreign Service of Pakistan (FSP) and many more.
Only 7.5% of the enrolled applicants are selected based on merit, education, and qualification whereas 92% are selected by the quota system. The examination is conducted once a year and the structure of the exam is divided into four parts:
- Written Exam
- Medical Test
- Psychological Test
- Viva Voce
Passing the written exam is considered to be a mammoth task since it’s so complex and lengthy. Every year thousands of individuals from different educational backgrounds enroll for this examination with high spirits and ambitions but only a handful pass the exam.
When you’re competing for such influential and important posts, the testing procedures are supposed to be tough since they allow the authorities to distinguish potential candidates from a crowd.
Over the years, the number of students being able to clear the writing exam keeps getting smaller and smaller. The highest ratio that was ever recorded is 8.0% out of 19,000 candidates who qualified for these jobs in 2011. Following are the details of the past three CSS Exams held in Pakistan:
- 2020: 39,630 candidates enrolled for the exam, on the day of examination only 18,553 Only 376 candidates were able to pass the written exams putting the results ratio at 2.03%.
- 2021: 39,650 candidates applied for the exam, of which 17,240 appeared and only 364 candidates passed the written exam. This brought the resulting ratio to 11%.
- 2022: 32,059 candidates enrolled for the exam, out of which only 20,262 showed up on the examination day. 393 candidates managed to pass the written test which brought up the ratio of 94% passing result.
The result for the 2023 CSS written exam was announced on 18th September, Monday. The statistics for the exam were as such, 28,024 candidates applied for the examination of which 13,008 appeared on the exam day.
The passing number of candidates was 398 putting the passing ratio at 3.06%. There has been a clear improvement in the result but it’s still not enough to represent the educational level of this country. Every result seems to raise more and more concerns about the candidates who apply for these government jobs.