Career counselling: questions and answers

Q1: Dear Mr Abidi, I am currently doing MA HRM from a local university. I have completed my course work with a CGPA 3.85 and now pursuing a thesis. Sir, before my current degree I did Masters in Commerce with specialisation in two-year Finance, BCom and FSc (pre-engineering) from the federal board with 65% marks. Now I wish to pursue further education in my field. I will appreciate it if you could please advise me from which country I can pursue PhD easily with a high acceptance rate and no tuition fees. I will be waiting for your expert advice. (Nasrullah Rana, Rawalpindi)

Ans: Dear Mr Rana, please note that the requirement for PhD is some research work or MPhil rather than MS. Majority of the institutions in USA, Canada, UK and Europe normally require the above-mentioned qualification. All high ranking and reputable universities demand a four-year Honors and are reluctant to accept Pakistani students on the basis of 2+2 (two years BCom, two years MCom etc) I would suggest when you complete your course work, you should write or compile your CV and contact us.

Q2: Dear Mr Abidi, sir, I obtained 51% marks in Intermediate. Now what should I do? Repeat Intermediate or go to Virtual University. Do you think VU is the right choice for a BS Computer Science degree. A degree from VU is better for a job or should I go for a two years BSc? I want to study Computer Science. (Chaudhry Jaasim Javed, Lahore)

Ans: Dear Jaasim, I would not recommend you to repeat your Intermediate. Consider studying a Computer Science degree from a public/private sector institution. Most of them give you admission at this percentage at least in Computer Science. It is important that you understand Computer Science thoroughly and since you have huge interest you can make a career going forward.

Q3: Dear Abidi sb, I was going through your recent column in The News and thought it would be a good idea to request your guidance. Therefore, I would like you to please guide me if MA Political Science has any scope? (Samar Tiwana, Gujrat)

Ans: Dear Samar, your chosen subject is a very huge and diversified subject area and has now become multidisciplinary science that touches base with a number of Social Sciences particularly Development Studies and International Relations etc. If you wish to do Political Science, you may try to attempt CSS provided you have a deep insight to current affairs and international relations. If so, you may have better chances of passing the written test. As a subject it is a good area for research / PhD and then going into teaching or publications can be another option.

Q4: Respected Sir, I wanted to request for your kind guidance regarding my studies. Right now I am preparing for FSc Pre-Engineering 2nd year. I lost two entrance tests for my dream university. In the first and second series of entrance tests, I secured 105 marks out of 200 in each which is not what I expected. I prepared for my test from a leading entrance test preparatory academy, but the problem is that the questions or techniques or methods told there were not helpful for me in my test as in the whole test out of 200 only few questions were those in which those methods were fruitful resulting in my low marks. I talked to them about those they said we are top in Pakistan and the same course or techniques are taught to everyone. Maybe the test on the day you chose was not according to our methods.

I have my board exams in near future and I am now focusing on them and the last test series will be after exams but the only thing I want from you is to guide me where I am wrong, where I can improve myself. After all this from where I should prepare for the test because questions are pretty much out of box. I know I must be fully committed to my exams and I am but I want a clear scheme of preparation in front of me after I am finished for my exams as there will be hardly a month for preparation. I will be thankful for your urgent advice. (Zaahir Ghouri, Sargodha)

Ans: Dear Mr Zaahir, please note that entrance tests are not based on any specific template. The questions and format keep on changing and therefore you will have to practice based on their previous test papers that are available online. You need to go through and follow advice and suggestions for MCQs which are defined in all subject areas. It is always better to do your own preparation rather than seeking help from academies who are used to preparing students according to a generic template and very true that is not repeated always. One month should be enough for you and therefore I wish you all the best.

(Syed Azhar Husnain Abidi is a renowned educationist in Pakistan, with more than 20 years of experience as provider of education counselling services. He has represented Pakistan in over 100 national and international seminars, conferences and fora. He is a recipient of the most coveted civil award Tamgha-e-Imtiaz).