The dream of every aspirant is to reach the heights of success. Their aspirations vary according to interest and opportunity. Some pursue medicine; others move towards engineering or the fast-growing IT sector. A number choose to inherit family businesses. Among those left with limited economic opportunities, many turn towards competitive examinations such as the Central Superior Services (CSS) and Provincial Management Services (PMS), seeing them as a way to upward mobility. For them, the civil service becomes not merely a career choice but a ladder out of social stagnation.

Conducted by the Federal Public Service Commission, CSS has long been viewed as Pakistan's most prestigious examination — an elite gateway demanding long hours of solitary study, as advised by predecessors who cleared it decades ago. Yet this mythology conceals the real demands of the exam. CSS success is less about isolation and more about commitment, consistency and proper direction.

For 2025, only 354 candidates passed the written exam out of 12,792 who appeared — a pass rate........

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