How to Pass the Civil Service Examination in the Philippines

If you know the point of balance, you can settle the details. If you can settle the details, you can stop running around. Your mind will become calm. If your mind becomes calm, you can think in front of a tiger, you will surely succeed. - Mencius

The Civil Service Examination that is given in the Philippines is indeed a tough nut to crack; the passing rate over the years had dipped drastically, no thanks to the high 80% mark, one should hurdle. The average numbers of examinees passing the exam is somewhere from 8% to 30%, and this makes the test formidable and prestigious. Why not? Passing the examination will give a potential government employee or current employee that hasn’t pass the examination yet the rights to get a permanent job in the government, and gain access to promising privileges like promotions and salary increases.

This acid test proves to be very difficult for most since it can be likened to an IQ test where accumulated knowledge from the field of Mathematics to the English Language may play a vital role in passing.

Being an English speaking country, the English language is given great importance in the test. Reading Comprehension, sentence structure, and vocabulary forms a good portion of the examination.

One of the greatest obstacles in passing the examination is the Mathematics part of the examination, since this offers a lot of solving employing various techniques in solving progressions, linear equations, ratio and proportions and many more.

• Gather as many review materials as you can, the most current the better. Look for review materials that are teeming with typical test questions that are similar to the questions given in actual examination.
• Review, review and review. Your future is at stake here, and it is wise to use your time very well. Review without let-up as much as possible. Moreover, the exam calls for storing knowledge, constant reading and math problem solving. This is a marathon game and only the well-prepared ones are bound to pass. Superior IQ will not guarantee you a passing score.
• Don’t rely on prayers and luck. God only helps those who help themselves. Be realistic, you are up against a real examination and faith without hard work is useless. Additionally, passing the exam with pure guesswork is a disaster. You already flunked the exam even with out lifting your pencil if you take the examination without preparations (unless you are genius or exceedingly lucky)
• There is no way you can pass the examination without hurdling Mathematics first. It is true that this subject is difficult and there is no doubt about that. But there is always a way to tame this subject and that is with patience and practice. Solve as many problems as possibly you can. Math has something to do with getting experience and maturity, the more you solve problems the better you will be. Don’t memorize solutions but be familiar with the principles and concepts. The only thing that is memorized in mathematics are the formulas. Be spontaneous with your solutions; make sure that your answers emanates from your mind. Many hate this subject very much, but if you are good on this, your chance of passing is already bolstered.
• If you can afford to shellout some fee to get the help of an expert tutor, go ahead. This move will give you an outright edge since you will get good answers about some of your questions with your reviews. You may also want to enroll in a review center that offers CSE review, but be sure that the institution is established and boasts of good passing rate of test takers.
• Ask previous test takers about what are being asked in the recent examination they took. Get ideas especially from the ones that passed this exam and possibly borrow review materials from them if they have any. This gives you the much-neede trend and possibly get the feel of the style of the test givers.
• While you review make sure you are eating well and getting ample rest and sleep.If you are healthy you are capable of storing more knowledge that are vital in passing the test.
• Before the examination, be sure you know your room assignment. Avoid being late since the examination contains many questions. Missing some time because of tardiness, might prevent you from not answering some of the questions or prevent you from from giving the best answers.
• During the examination make sure you are calm. Avoid being nervous and intense, it is understandable to be pressured but this will not serve you well as time goes by. Hold your nerves will yah, and answer every question to the best of your abilities. To be efficient with your time, answer the easy ones first, you can afford to leave some questions unanswered, but be sure you’ll set at least 15 minutes before the time limit to answer all of the questions that are being asked.