Bhutan Civil Service Preliminary Examination cheat sheet

Bhutan became a constitutional monarchy in 2008; the Constitution was adopted on 18 July 2008 and the first general election was held in March 2008.

The Constitution requires the National Assembly to have a maximum of 55 members and the National Council 25 members (20 elected + 5 appointed by the King).

Bhutan joined the United Nations in 1971 and became a member of SAARC at its founding in 1985.

Gross National Happiness (GNH) has four pillars: sustainable and equitable socio-economic development, environmental conservation, preservation and promotion of culture, and good governance.

Bhutan is carbon negative: forests cover over 70% of its land area, and the Constitution mandates at least 60% forest cover for all time.

The Takin (Budorcas taxicolor) is the national animal; the Blue Poppy (Meconopsis grandis) is the national flower; the Raven (Corvus corax) is the national bird.

The national currency is the Ngultrum (BTN), pegged at par with the Indian Rupee; the Royal Monetary Authority is the central bank.

Key current-affairs anchors: Bhutan graduated from LDC status in December 2023; the 13th Five Year Plan runs from 2024 to 2029.

The King of Bhutan is Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, crowned in 2008; the capital is Thimphu, and the official language is Dzongkha.

Dzongkha is written in the Uchen script, a form of the Tibetan script; it is written left to right and has 30 consonants and 4 vowel signs.

Dzongkha was declared the national language of Bhutan in 1971 and is the medium of instruction in schools alongside English.

The Dzongkha Development Commission (DDC), established in 1986, standardizes terminology, orthography, and lexicon.

Classical Dzongkha literature includes Choekey (religious script) texts; Choekey is the liturgical language used in monastic rituals.

Key literary genres: lozey (verse), tsangmo (quatrains), and namthar (biographies of saints); the Drukpa Kagyu tradition shapes much of the canon.

Dzongkha has four tones; tone is indicated by prefixes, suffixes, and vowel signs in the Uchen script.

The national epic and historical text is often associated with Pema Lingpa and the Zhabdrung's writings; the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal standardized the dual system of governance in the 17th century.

Dzongkha numerals and honorific registers (zhe-sa) are important for formal correspondence; the honorific register is used for royalty and clergy.

Subject-verb agreement: singular subjects take singular verbs; compound subjects joined by 'and' take plural verbs unless they form a single idea.

Use 'fewer' for countable nouns and 'less' for uncountable nouns; 'amount' for uncountable, 'number' for countable.

Dangling modifiers occur when the introductory phrase does not logically modify the subject of the main clause.

Key literary periods: Old English (Beowulf), Middle English (Chaucer), Renaissance (Shakespeare), Romanticism (Wordsworth, Keats), Victorian (Dickens, Hardy), Modernism (Joyce, Woolf).

Common literary devices: metaphor (implied comparison), simile (comparison using like/as), personification, alliteration, and irony (verbal, situational, dramatic).

Active voice is preferred in formal writing; passive voice is used when the actor is unknown or unimportant.

Punctuation rules: use a semicolon between independent clauses not joined by a conjunction; use a colon to introduce a list or explanation.

Reading comprehension strategy: identify the main idea, supporting details, inference, and tone; distinguish fact from opinion.

Percentage change = ((new value − old value) / old value) × 100; successive percentage changes multiply: (1 + a)(1 + b) − 1.

Simple interest = P × R × T / 100; compound interest = P[(1 + R/100)^T − 1].

Speed = distance / time; average speed for equal distances = 2xy / (x + y).

Ratio and proportion: if a : b = c : d, then ad = bc; partnership profit shares are proportional to capital × time.

Permutations: nPr = n! / (n − r)!; combinations: nCr = n! / [r!(n − r)!].

Logical reasoning: syllogisms use Venn diagrams; contrapositive of 'if P then Q' is 'if not Q then not P'.

Number series and coding-decoding: identify constant difference, ratio, or alternating patterns; letter positions A=1 to Z=26.

Time and work: if A can do a job in x days and B in y days, together they take xy / (x + y) days.

The Constitution of Bhutan (2008) establishes a democratic constitutional monarchy with separation of powers among the executive, legislature, and judiciary.

The Parliament consists of the National Council (upper house) and the National Assembly (lower house); the King is the head of state.

The Royal Civil Service Commission (RCSC) was established in 1982; it recruits, promotes, and disciplines civil servants under the Civil Service Act.

Civil service values include integrity, impartiality, accountability, transparency, meritocracy, and service to the Tsa-Wa-Sum (King, Country, People).

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was established in 2006; it investigates and prosecutes corruption cases.

The Local Government Act (2009) provides for Dzongkhag Tshogdu and Gewog Tshogde as elected local bodies.

The Bhutanese civil service uses a position classification system with categories such as specialist, executive, and supervisory; performance is assessed through the Managing for Excellence (MFE) framework.

The Ombudsman, established under the Constitution, investigates maladministration and protects citizens' rights.

The Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) conducts elections and referendums; it was established in 2006.