Wednesday 30 October 2013

8 things i wish someone told me when i was preparing for IES..

I was not perfect. No one in my whole family or friends never actually thought about IES leave alone clearing it. Even when my college friend talked about it in 4 year it was something unachievable at least for (non studious) me. Ironically he's in BHEL now and i'll be probably getting railways(touch wood).Now when i look back there is definitely a experience advantage. That's why if one in family become an IAS, his brother,sister,cousins etc have a huge chance of making it into services. Well, i wish i was one of those fortunate with high achieving family but i belong to a family of farmers(father's) and mikmen(mother's).Follwing are the things i wish i had known beforehand, though not necesarrily in the same order. Please don't mock me if you already know!!



  1. Ies is a damn easy exam of course you need to work your butts off. What i mean to say that in class all the examples we do are the toughest one's. Ies is a mix bag of easy, damn easy and little difficult one's.Most questions are repetitive.Once you have understood the concepts,they all seem the same.
  2. Objective exam is much easier to score but you need to do the subjective question's practise to get hold of concepts.Yes, solving only objective one's will give you half knowledge.It's solved questions in book will give you complete picture and prepare you for new questions just in case.
  3. Revise revise revise Your ability to forget is monumentary.I read p k nag thermo at least 10 times sincerely apart from class notes. But my mock interview i had forgotten 2nd law. Just like that.This is the golden rule for success.Don't trust your brain..
  4. Comfort level for environment. As you know delhi has harsh environment. So unlike me (kanjoos makhichoos) invest in a heater in winter and cooler in summers. I recall wasting entire afternoon in summers in my heated up room and morning and nights fighting cold in winters. It's a sheer waste of time.Buy a comfortable chair and bed and gadda too.Don't think it's for few months, Think of it as an investment for concentration in studies.
  5. Don't set a time table when not following it upto hilt gives you frustrations. Just get up and start reading untill you feel hungry or tired. If you waste time in getting your body to follow your time table.It's useless.
  6. Do not buy foreign author books No matter how much our teachers criticize indian authors, they are value for money and time. Don't forget you are not here for research purposes, only competitive exam purposes.I bought kalpakjian, popov and tried to read them. You need extra dimag to actually understand them in first place and they were of no use at all.
  7. Library Oh God!! how much i wish i had known these library hidden in Delhi when i was preparing. They are such a nice place to sit away from the familiarity and claustrophobic sleepy atmosphere of your room with no one disturbing you. Some even give tea and nice lunch. Most of them have air conditioning and subscription of newspapers and magazines.And they are located near the sarais too. Look for them nearby your room and you will find them if your are lucky.
  8. NPTEL Videos and others available on youtube.You will be surpized to find huge study material online, But please don't overdo it. Only in your spare time take a look to memorize the concept or understand it.

I ve been meaning to tell 10 but i can't recall anymore. Please comment if anything in this post interests you..

Friday 25 October 2013

Coaching Days..

        I live in a sarai still. I see guys preparing for something or other on roads, buses, mess etc. Looking back i realize how difficult it was yet easy. All the pressure you feel inside, you see other people getting selections which you need, friends in private sector going places with their job like restaurants,tours even foreign trips, people in your facebook profile getting married even having kids and even your juniors doing more stuff than you and your life is stagnant. On the top of all this you are not even studying as much as you want to. You struggle to understand the concepts,wake up in the morning, trying to sleep at time, try to keep you attention and sleep in check in class,parents irritating you , eating the worst food of your life, may be even getting sick at times and feeling home sick too. It just seems never ending path and still when any exam is there you feel you are grossly under prepared  Every exam gives you a hope and every interview more hope. For some the wait might be over soon for some it's more difficult. Some may never get lucky.

      But this is the time when life is still in your hands.Time when you can launch yourself anywhere you want. You can place your self at any orbit. Your identity will depend on the hard work you do now. Once your aim is achieved whether it's a PSU or IES or M. Tech this achievement will stay with you unlike your college.You might not have been a bright student for your life (like me) and people would have told you you have potential or not (again like me), it's your chance to prove them right or wrong. It's your chance to prove yourself to the world. A world or nosy relatives, back biting neighbours or even showy friends. In fact it is probably your last chance to go to places with help of books and knowledge. You can offset a bad academic record and shut anybody's mouth forever.It's a great opportunity if you know how to use one.
   
   I was always told IES is tough, I hadn't been a bright student throughout my life, graduated from a private college with less than 65% marks. With such a bad track record, i never thought of making in to ES written leave alone interview.There were always NIT. IIT people, toppers, who knew every concept beforehand sir taught us but i don't know.It's not like a studied for every damn day or did everything told to me by made easy teachers. I slipped often, was confused often and was so sure i am a failure that i left mechanical engineering completely and changed field. You can sense how much frustrated i was.I was even rejected for DCE mtech.When i cam do it i feel everybody can.
    
You are a person who took a risk instead of a cushiony private job.You must have dreamt something when you entered this phase unless you were pushed by someone. So, make the best of it. Always keep your goal in mind. You may digress for a while, get distracted but do not for God's sake forget why you are tolerating all this in first place.For a future. A future that will make all this struggle a worth it. Otherwise all this suffering will be meaningless, useless. Just a step more everyday will bring you closer to your goal. So my friends study with a vengeance and realize youe own destiny... 

When few days are left for IES and you know you have not done enough!!!

I have reached in a blissful slumber state after my selection.Though there is boredom now after 3 and half years of constant tension, i no longer need to prove myself in life. Thanks to "Mayank Tiwari" for suggesting a nice topic to write and i urge other curious people to suggest topics according to their experiences with IES.

I did not define the time limit in my blog like 3 months or six months or 1 month. It only depends on your state of mind. In short when exam is close enough for you to start worrying which again depends on your state of mind. Saurav Tiwari sir said in one class "There is no perfect time to start preparing" and he is absolutely true. Recall in engineering days one night was enough for a subject which we were give a whole semester to study or sessionals when one lunch hour was enough. We are obviously not talking about seriousness of the exam but the point of not losing your heart and of course time when you feel your preparation is inadequate for exam. Trust me!! there is no point worrying over this. You can start your preparation even a week before exam (not that i am advising you to do it). Whatever it is you have not read or done, please don't get disappointed. Because then you would need a smoke, good meal or session with friends to so called cheer you up and you would end up losing more time than ever and again feeling guilty about it. My dear friends it's an endless cycle.
Things often won't go as you planned. You would wake up an hour late, Food won't come up in time, Your girlfriend or boyfriend might take long time to finish off (call or meeting), Parents may irritate you till your limit. Please don't be upset and take a deep breath and remind yourself this time won't stay forever.You have to take one step at a time to leave this coaching phase everyday.

Well whenever you decide that time left is less and some urgent measures are needed then you can follow my plan which i followed.It may or may not help.Please make suitable adjustments according to your need.

1.  At whatever time you wake up, wash your face and start studying. If possible already earmark the subject you are going to study.
2.   At least after 2 hour take a break to eat or bath. It offers a opportunity to refresh once more.
3. Try to take two subjects in a day, one theoretical and one numerical.When sleepy start solving numericals and when exhausted of numbers read theoretical one.
4. Time is less, don't aim to finish a subject inside out or start to end. Meaning don't go too deep in topics nor you need to do every chapter at one go.You can change subjects everyday on your choice, starting from where you left last time. As you would gradually need to look back to revise, automatic revision will take place.
5. Read notes (class notes or your own) again and again instead of books as time is less. If you start your prep now (october) i would like to advise solve books now
6. Needless to say start solving previous year papers. IES is very repetitive and often questions are asked from same topics every year. So. even if you haven't studied much you would have a clear idea about important topics.
7.  If you see a certain topic appearing again make a point to revise it. If you are planning to leave a subject completely skim for topics who have maximum chance of coming, read it once.
8.  Don't forget giving the test series as i ve already explained it's importance.

As i ve told time is less don't bother with tough topics or subjects. It's unlikely IES exam will be comprised of all the hard topics. It's a mix, more often of easy questions with a pinch of hard ones. You must take steps to grab the easy ones and leave the hard ones. After all cut off is hardly 50% of total..


That's it for now...I will update if i recall anything. Please feel free to comment or ask any doubts about the post