PCS Balochistan 2012 Solved Precis

• Conscious level (Noun phrase): The state of awareness and intentional thought
  • Contextual Explanation: Indicates that while overt beliefs in superiority have declined, subtle biases remain
• Proletariat (Noun): The working class, especially in Marxist theory
  • Contextual Explanation: Refers to the new privileged class that emerged in Russia, showing class-based pride
• False conception (Noun phrase): An incorrect or misleading understanding
  • Contextual Explanation: Indicates the mistaken belief that self-interest must conflict with others’ interests
• Monopoly of trade (Noun phrase): Exclusive control over the supply of goods or services
  • Contextual Explanation: Represents the mistaken belief that dominating trade leads to wealth for a few
• Pernicious (Adjective): Something harmful and destructive
  • Contextual Explanation: Refers to the dangerous concept of economic nationalism that undermines global cooperation
• Economic nationalism (Noun phrase): A policy of protecting domestic industries and prioritizing national economic goals
  • Contextual Explanation: Criticized as a destructive ideology rooted in envy and pride, leading to international hostility

The passage discusses the destructive nature of pride and envy, illustrating their impact on individuals and societies. The author aims to show how these vices foster irrational superiority and prejudice, distorting personal behavior and international relations, ultimately undermining equality, morality, and cooperation among people and nations throughout history.

Main Idea of the Passage

• Pride and envy have gravely harmed humanity by promoting irrational superiority, prejudice, and false ideas of self-interest, leading to moral, social, and economic disunity among individuals and nations.

Supporting Ideas Helping the Main Idea

• Pride and envy have long caused great harm to mankind in many forms.
• Pride generates an irrational feeling of superiority based on characteristics like sex, colour, race, or religion, without any rational basis.
• Historically, this pride led to absurd justifications for male superiority, though conscious forms of this feeling have now somewhat declined.
• However, a sense of superiority persists, often working downwards.
• New social hierarchies show that pride continues in new forms.
• Religious pride leads people to condemn those of other faiths as sinners.
• Envy causes harm in public and international spheres, leading to a misguided sense of self-interest.
• This misconception is illustrated by the belief that monopolizing trade ensures prosperity.
• Nations, driven by envy and pride, pursue the harmful idea of economic nationalism based on the false belief that one country’s gain must come at another’s loss.

Confused About Main and Supporting Ideas?

Kindly make sure to revise all five lectures on Precis Writing that I have already delivered. In these sessions, we discussed in detail:

• What a precis is and its purpose.
• What the main idea means and how to extract it effectively.
• What supporting ideas are and how to identify them.
• How to coordinate the main and supporting ideas while writing a concise, coherent precis.

Additionally, go through the 20 examples I shared in the WhatsApp groups. These examples highlight the Dos and Don’ts of Precis Writing, and revising them will help you avoid common mistakes and refine your technique.

Precis 1

Pride hurts societies by encouraging irrational beliefs about dominance in terms of physical or racial characteristics. Historically, it has led to absurd justifications for male superiority although this bias has now decreased. Still, it endures in new forms in an upward sense of equality and new social hierarchies. Religious pride also fuels intolerance in society while spite damages both public and international relationships, breeding a misguided sense of self-interest. This misconception is illustrated by the belief that monopolizing trade ensures prosperity, causing nations to chase a false economic nationalism, believing that success is a zero-sum game.

• Original Words in the Passage: 262
• Precis Word Count: 96
• Title: The Destructive Roots of Pride and Envy

Precis 2

Arrogance and greed significantly harm societies: the former creates irrational beliefs of dominance, exemplified historically by unfounded assumptions of male dominance. Although explicit pride has diminished, it persists subtly in hierarchical attitudes and new social orders. Religious pride, likewise, breeds narrow-mindedness. Furthermore, bitterness damages public and international relationships, giving rise to selfishness, which in turn misguides nations into believing that their prosperity conflicts with that of others, which is an untrue concept of economic patriotism.

• Original Words in the Passage: 262
• Precis Word Count: 75
• Title: The Social Cost of Arrogance and Greed

Precis 3

Vanity intensely harms humanity by fueling illogical claims of superiority, exemplified by misguided concepts of male supremacy. And although overt pride has waned, disparity is witnessed in the notions of selective equality and privileged social classes. Similarly, religious arrogance breeds fanaticism while greed corrodes human relations and distorts national self-interest, inspiring harmful economic nationalism that falsely equates monopolization with prosperity.

• Original Words in the Passage: 262
• Precis Word Count: 60
• Title: How Vanity and Greed Divide Humanity