Used Dogar Brothers books, music & hobbies in Islamabad & Rawalpindi
Is a used Dogar Brothers books, music & hobbie worth buying?
Dogar Brothers is a Lahore house whose exam guides fill the competitive-test shelves in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, and its catalogue is organised by recruiting body rather than by subject: separate volumes for NTS, PPSC, FPSC, PMS and the entry tests. Buying second-hand turns on picking the right volume out of a shelf of near-identical covers, several of which are not even the same publisher.
Made or assembled in Pakistan
Spares are widely stocked locally and most technicians in the twin cities have worked on these, so common faults are usually economic to repair.
Dogar titles are printed locally and stocked in the book markets of both cities, so a second-hand copy can be held against the current edition on a shelf before money changes hands — which is also the quickest way to settle which Dogar-named house published it. That same easy availability is why an outdated copy is hard to move on.
Checking a used Dogar Brothers books, music & hobbie
These are specific to Dogar Brothers. The general books, music & hobbies checks apply too and are on the books, music & hobbies page.
Read the full imprint
More than one Lahore publisher trades under the Dogar name, and their books sit side by side on the same shelf with similar cover treatments. The title page carries the full imprint, so read that rather than the word "Dogar" on the front.
Find the printing year
Covers on these guides carry flashes such as "updated" or "latest edition", which are printed claims that survive every reprint. The edition and year on the imprint page is the only date that means anything to the next candidate.
Guide or past papers
For the same exam there are separate volumes: a syllabus guide built around MCQ banks, and solved past or model papers. Read the subtitle, because someone who wanted recent papers can easily end up holding the syllabus volume.
Match volume to post
Alongside the general commission volumes there are titles written for particular cadres and subject papers. A general PPSC or FPSC guide does not cover a subject paper, and the cover art gives little away, so read the full title on the spine.
Check for a photocopy
Guides this popular are copied heavily in the local book market. A photocopy shows grey, soft text, no fine detail in the tables and diagrams, and a cover printed on plain card instead of laminated stock.
What Dogar Brothers books, music & hobbies are worth
- These volumes lose value on the commission's cycle rather than the calendar: when a recruiting body changes its scheme of examination, the matching Dogar title stops being the current one and the next edition takes over.
- A torn-out or defaced imprint page hurts more here than it would with most publishers, because several Lahore houses trade under the Dogar name and the imprint is what settles which book a buyer is holding.
- Post-specific and subject titles hold value more narrowly but more firmly than the general commission volumes, since a candidate for that cadre has few substitutes while the general MCQ volumes compete with many.
- A copy with the options ticked and the keys marked loses most of its worth, as these books are bought to be attempted cold and there is no way to un-mark them.
Model lines you will see second-hand
- NTS and GAT preparation guides
- PPSC and FPSC guides
- MDCAT and ECAT entry test guides
- CSS and PMS guides
General books, music & hobbies checks
These apply whatever the badge on the front says — the books, music & hobbies page covers them in full.
Check the edition page
On a textbook or exam preparation set, the edition is most of the value. Read the copyright page for the edition number and printing year, and check whether an online access code or disc that came with the book has already been redeemed, because a used code cannot be passed on.
Open the book flat
Hold it open at the middle and look along the spine. Glued paperbacks crack and start shedding pages in blocks. Fan the pages for loose sections, highlighter running through the whole text, silverfish holes, and the wavy edges that mean the book has been wet at some point.
Smell a stored box
Books kept in a damp store room or under a leaking roof smell musty, and the smell does not leave. Look at the closed page edges for the brown speckling of foxing and for grey-green mould. If one book in a box has it, treat the whole box as a single problem.
Hold discs to the light
Tilt a CD or DVD against a lamp and look for pin-holes or a bronze tinge creeping in from the edge, which means the reflective layer is lifting and the disc is finished. Concentric scratches read worse than radial ones. On cassettes, check the tape is wound evenly and not crinkled.
Count every game piece
Work through a board game or model kit against its piece list and rules sheet before agreeing anything. One missing pawn, die or rules leaflet turns a boxed game into a parts box when the title is out of production. Check the box corners, which is where storage damage shows first.
Run the motors and servos
On remote-control models, drones and motorised telescope mounts, fit a known-good battery and work every control: the motor should spin up without grinding or stalling, servos should answer at once and return to centre, and a mount should track smoothly rather than stepping. Refuse any pack that is swollen or leaking, and check the charger and connectors are present and matching.
Dogar Brothers books, music & hobbies — questions
Are second-hand Dogar Brothers guides still useful?
How do I tell one Dogar guide from another on the shelf?
Other books, music & hobbies brands
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