Students’ Speak: Follow these tips to strike a balance between work & TISSNET preparation

By: Abdullah Salman M

The most contributing factor for your preparation is self-discipline, focus, time management and hard work.

Want to prepare for TISSNET even after graduation while continuing your job? I would recommend contributing daily up to two hours for at least three months with utmost dedication and smart work. There are two major things in the journey of your preparation. First, factors that are in your control and second, factors out of your control. The main strategy is to have control over the things for which you have control over it.

Factors in control include

• Time spent on travelling
• Distractions in life
• Your mental health and physical fitness
• Your level of preparation

Factors out of control include

• Sudden interruptions such as health issues, etc.
• What will come in the paper

If you could manage to work, do well at your workplace, then get a decent TISS score without a sabbatical of any kind. The most contributing factor for your preparation is self-discipline, focus, time management and hard work.

If you are a social networking person then you could dedicate 20-30 minutes daily for all these kinds of stuff that too even productively by going through some TISS forums and Q&A sessions by students who went through this session. Try to leave the office on time instead of unwanted gossip and time wasters. I used to read whenever I took a break at the office. Wakeup early as this will help you to take most of the important part of the day with a highly fresh mind rather than doing night owl study.

The most important thing which comes under discipline is proper strategic planning of your schedule like a preparation course wise, monthly wise, weekly wise and day wise. The crucial thing is to stick on to the schedule religiously so that it will make yourself accommodated to it. Make use of the free time and break time of your schedule.

Make use of your smartphone to read, or to practice some math, or to revise something. .Our minds are well-tuned to finding gaps/exploiting them using our hack ways. Study more on weekends especially up to a stretch of 5-6hours by taking Mocks and analyzing them. Have self-belief that you will surely crack the exam.

TISS prep was very enriching since it was a departure from my monotonous office work. This added a flavour to the prep, and I started looking forward to the time of the day when I would be prepping. Enjoy the journey.

Some additional pointers

1. Know your priorities. Don't study like the donkey from 12-15 hours. Know your strength and weakness and act accordingly smartly.
2. Set realistic expectations at work. Let it be known that you won’t overwork much or work on the weekends consistently. And
3. Learn to say NO even to your immediate boss who puts unwanted works at late night and even on weekends.

To conclude: It’s very much possible to ace TISSNET with work. Almost 60% of students at top TISS have work experience during their admission.  Balance is the key to do well on the TISSNET while working.

About the Author:

Abdullah Salman M. is currently pursuing an MBA in General Management from TSM, Madurai. He has 15 months of work experience as a Network Engineer. He hails from Vellore, Tamil Nadu and has previously completed BE (ECE), from Anna University, Chennai.