CRACKING COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS: TOPPERS’ TRICKY TECHNIQUES
Please hold on friends, I have not cracked many of them. And still I am going to preach you about how to have the edge in competitive examinations like JEE, CAT, Civil Services, PMT,AIEEE,TOEFL,GRE,GMAT etc. But there is reason to it. Even though I have not myself cleared all these tests , yet many of my friends have , and I have been observing them at close quarters , aspiring , perspiring , burning with desire ,fighting their hearts out and what not. This friendship with the toppers , who are incumbents of high flying posts in various government departments, corporates and other multinational companies , and a keen interest in the techniques they adopted to crack the hardest of tests , lies at the root of my desire to write this article. I have been accumulating facts and figures from the toppers for a long time in order to be able to write such an article but on the eve of completion of this article, I spoke candidly to many of my old topper friends so as not to miss out any finer points. Speaking of CAT, says Kritarth Arora, one of my best friends, now general manager of an overseas company, “It’s a T20 finale match. Time is limited, you are put against the best and you have to give your best. Every run counts and every bit you are going to put in, matters.”
Having churned out all the details from the high rankers I finally zeroed in on a few off-the-trend techniques which will be the guiding light for anybody who is willing to permeate through the sophisticated test filters. Everybody will advise you to analyze the syllabus in detail , solve previous five or ten years’ question papers , eat and sleep well during the examination and so on but toppers’ tricky techniques teach you to have the edge in the grand finale where nothing else but your position in the merit list counts. These techniques guide you through the ups and downs of the preparation period, raise your mental level and take you to the door of the examination hall in the required mood and finally see you through the undulating path of the enigmatic tests. Now let us understand these techniques:
1. Academic Meditation: Meditation, we all understand. Now let us enter into what Shankar Subramanyam, who cracked JEE in 90s, refers to as academic meditation. In this sort of concentration we first choose a suitable time at which our surroundings are calm and quiet, suitably, early morning hours, but the time may be chosen according to one’s convenience. The process may be repeated twice or thrice during a day for a period of ten minutes apiece. During the process one has to first forget all kinds of anxieties, gradually recede back into one’s own self and then finally concentrate on the matters of academic interest. During this period we think about the topics we have studied recently, the ways which can make our surroundings better suited for studies, the relaxation of mind, the brilliant achievements of people, self improvement methods, meritorious effects of being positive etc. One may also dive deeper by considering more intricate things like effects of good handwriting, presence of mind, fruits of sincerity, neatness of presentation etc.
Effect-Sometimes a computer hangs or slows down and when we reset it or remove some junk data from the hard disk it operates faster. Similar is the case here. What we are doing is deleting the redundant data and filling our unconscious cache of the mind with positive, relevant instructions. So the mind gets focussed to the goal.
2. Acclimatization to Adverse Conditions: Remember CAT’s first time examination where candidates were required to answer on computers? What kind of hue and cry it made? Many aspirants, not well acquainted with computers, suffered the hardest blows. Many talented students had to lose the fray just because their computers ditched them at the very crucial moment. I also heard of someone who, for first one hour, was not able to enter into the questions area because he did not know how to feed the password. JEE is also heard to alter its pattern of question paper many a time. All these sudden changes may come as a bolt from the blue to an aspirant who is not ready to handle shocks. Here comes Abhay Bhattacharjee , a senior from my college while I was doing my B.E. and all branch topper too, to our help. Abhay was of the view that one should be prepared to deal with these things and in the run to the gruelling tests one must appear some of the practice papers under adverse conditions. Like we may switch off the fan or air condition on a hot day while taking the test or take a three hour test with a time constraint of two or two and a half hours. We may choose to appear the mock test at a place in the house which is not very quiet or one may chose a difficult time for the test, say, at a time when he/she generally feels drowsy. The only precaution which must be undertaken is that any of the aforesaid ‘adverse’ conditions should not pose a health problem, i.e. don’t over impose anything on yourself. For example, never think of taking the test empty stomach, which may cause gastric troubles or under poor light conditions which may be detrimental to your vision.
Effect-One of the most important criteria while attempting to clear a tough test is the mental toughness. At times, conditions emerge during such examinations which make the going tough and then only the tough get going. So only a seasoned candidate with high level of tenacity will be able to sustain the difficult test schedules. By this time you must have perceived what Abhay means by ‘adverse conditions’ and why taking tests under such conditions is so important prior to the tests.
3. Welcome Challenges: Never be afraid of taking challenges in your stride. Rather be used to it. Make it a habit to do difficult tasks. Always say to yourself, “I am not for the easy ones. I have to solve those problems which others find difficult.” Recently I was reading the success story of a topper who topped GATE and his choice of subjects was solely due to the fact that he considered himself weak in these subjects.
Effect-Challenges make you feel appearing an examination everyday and thus the phobea is automatically done away with.
4. Learn to Outlast Everybody Most of the Times: Be it a chess competition, a cryptic crossword, a difficult quiz session, a nail biting cricket match in which you are participating or a guess word tussle, you have to learn to outlast and outdo your opponents. Says Gurujit Baweja who secured a position among top 100 in the prestigious civil services examination, “Winning is a habit and you have to be better than others. So make a habit to do whatever you do, better than others. Once this becomes a habit it will be fun for you to defeat others. And this helps immensely in competitive examinations as tough as Civil Services, JEE, PMT, AIEEE etc.” Baweja goes on to add, “Don’t lose heart if you find the question paper tougher than you expected. Always remember it’s a comparative game. Theory of relativity is always at play. If the question paper is tough for you it is not so only for you. Others are also facing the same quantum of difficulty as you and what will matter in the end is who gives his best.” To Baweja’s suggestions I shall only add as much as “Play the outdoing game in a healthy and positive mood and please don’t resort to any unhealthy and unfair means.”
Effect-In the comparative fray that a written test poses, the habit of outperforming the opponents comes handy in applying all the gears for a win.
5. Make a Pre Start Before the Actual Start at the Test Venue: This technique gives an aspirant a head start in the examination. A candidate begins applying this method when he/she sits in the examination hall and awaits the question paper, that is to say five to ten minutes before the question papers are distributed. What you actually do is, you concentrate on any analytical question you have solved during your preparation. You do it in quite a relaxed mood, no stretched veins, no lines on the forehead. Once you are done, go on to another question from your mock tests already practised by you. Meanwhile the question paper will be distributed. Just before the question papers are supplied, rid yourself of the pre start which you had launched. Receive the question paper in a relaxed mood.
Effect-You receive the paper in an accelerated mood. By the time others start their motor,s you will be firing on all cylinders and will gain a time lead in relation to others cutting out the natural hysteretic effect of the start.
6. Don’t Start Your Preparations Too Early: An old friend of mine is of the view that the take off moment for the preparation should not be too early. “As a yardstick”, he says, “You can take my case. I started serious preparations for CAT about two months before the D-Day and you see! I cracked it.” But I believe different kinds of tests take different spans of time. For example a Bank Probationary Officers’ examination demands more the speed of problem solving than the candidate’s depth of analytical ability. So even if you spend time acquiring knowledge for the test it is not of much use. Rather one should take a crash course which sharpens already existing skills in you. A subjective test may comparatively require more time. But one thing is for sure. Too early a start may cause one to lose focus and at the level of tests being discussed you have to be a focussed, stream lined candidate with clear objective who will not agree at anything less than hitting the bull’s eye.
Effect-You never take your eyes off the target and degree of dedication increases.
7. Ideal Attitude During the Examination: Many champions of their respective fields have suggested that the most suitable mental state while facing an event of utmost importance is a relaxed one infused with a bit of nervousness and anxiety. The added pinch of nervousness and anxiety provides the extra flow of adrenalin required to make the impact felt.
Effect-Your strike ratio increases.
8. Prepare According to the Pattern of the Examination: If you are going to write a subjective examination , practise critical writing, reading editorials carefully, finding out short comings of an essay and writing counter attacking letters in the newspapers. On the other hand if you are preparing for an objective test where time and accuracy are the main constraints, you are supposed to concentrate on facts, figures, formulae and conditions under which they are applicable, your reading speed etc.
Effect-Moulding yourself to the type of examination enhances your chances of cracking the test and it occurs to you as if you have already written the examination a hundred times.
9. Use Internet to Your Advantage, don’t Overuse It: Modern top rankers use the net to their advantage. The net is full of marvellous websites which provide hugely beneficial material as well as practice tests for competitive examinations. When we purchase a magazine, the entire content may not be useful for us but we do not encounter such problem on internet. We chose a website most suitable for us, free of cost most of the times and even if we pay for it, the material provided is useful in totality. Moreover, as already mentioned, CAT has shown the way by taking the test on computers and in the time to come, most of the prestigious examinations may follow suit. A word of precaution for the internet users; it begets fatigue and the energy level goes down due to high level of concentration while surfing. Our attention is so taken away that we forget to breathe properly. So overuse of internet is not good for health as well as giving our best performance. So tweak your use of internet in such a way that when the test is a bit far off you are using it for a comparatively bigger time span than when it is near. An even better advice may be that you should go on taking print-outs of the best materials from the very beginning of your preparation so that as the exam nears you may go on cutting your use of the net.
Effect-On the internet you get what you want and you remain updated.
10. Effective Revision Schedule: This is one of the most important constituents of Toppers’ Tricky Techniques. The revision schedule should be so meticulously planned that every subject finds its turn on the weekends or any suitable time in rotation. A good revision tool is the main tool of a topper used to retain the entire gamut of knowledge acquired over a period of time. On the contrary, you will be nowhere if all the preparation you have made requires you to revise on the eve of the test.
Effect-You are ready to appear in the examination any day any time and consequently anxieties and tensions are nowhere to be felt.
11. Read Success Stories: Says Shankar Subramanyam, mentioned before, “Many ups and downs and despairs and distractions come your way during the preparation. You have to find ways to keep your motivation afloat and it must peak when examination nears. Reading success stories of toppers helps. I personally found ‘IAS topper talks to you’ of COMPETITION SUCCESS REVIEW very inspiring.” So that’s it. All you have to do is to remain motivated throughout the preparation period and unruffled by any disturbances whatsoever.
Effect- Longer spans of preparations are not faded by monotony and a sense of purpose always accompanies.
12. Honesty, the Best Policy, Politeness, the Best Learning Tool: You may wonder what honesty and politeness have got to do with clearing an examination. But indeed they form the foundation of our belief in ourselves. I remember Mayank Sabarwal, one among top ten in JEE, 2000 as saying, “Unless you are honest about any of your goals you can’t give your hundred percent to it. Hard work along with freshness of innovative thoughts cannot be input until you have decided to pursue your goal with complete honesty.” I add the ‘politeness’ component along with honesty. I remember Kapil deo, the captain of World Cup winning team of India in 1983, as saying, “I tried to learn some of the reverse swing tricks from Manoj Prabhakar.” Just imagine a master alrounder of Kapil deo’s reputation, accepting having learnt the tricks of the trade from Manoj Prabhakar, a junior to him and a novice to that day, when the statement was made! So the moral is that unless you keep your head down and try to learn from high rankers as well as those lower down the order, your efforts are not complete in themselves.
Effect-You carry an ambience of confidence and brightness with you.
13. Stir Your Brain Regularly: In the run to the test day, one has to constantly keep stirring the grey matter along with regular studies. In order to do so a daily dose of brain teasers like cryptic crosswords, word jumbles, puzzles etc. is required. Newspapers and magazines may quench our thirst in this respect. Some websites also have a good cache of such things.
Effect- Just as physical exercise keeps your body in shape and active, the mental exercise helps us to keep the brain agile and alert.
14. Learn to Relax: In order to achieve success in the toughest of competitions, it’s obvious, you must be able to do tough things and the toughest thing to do, in today’s world, is to relax. Some watch comedy sops like ‘Comedy Circus’, some go for a stroll, others watch a T20 match and some resort to Yoga and meditation, all for a moment of relaxation. And it goes without mentioning what an important role these moments play. So break the monotony with breaks of pleasure. An absorbing hour of study must be supplemented by a good, joyful break of at least ten to fifteen minutes. Say to yourself, “MILTE HAIN BREAK KE BAAD.(Let’s meet after the break).”
Effect-Relaxing imparts an overhauling effect to your body and soul. Your engines are ready to fire again.
15. Form Study Groups: Nalini Pradhan, a computer stream topper at her B.Tech, now CEO of a software company, says, “Forming study groups with A-Grade candidates is extremely rewarding. The discussion sessions are retained intact and analytical conversations make the basics clear.” Here the care must be taken to choose candidates who understand the seriousness and degree of effort which they must put in. But a well organized group has an inherent ability to automatically sideline an unsuitable candidate.
Effect-Lateral flow of knowledge makes you wiser and your intellect level rises.