Students’ Speak: How to crack a management entrance exam?

By: Rakesh Kumar Sahoo

Cracking the entrance exam is only the first step towards your success. There are different tiers that are built to examine your knowledge regarding different aspects. MBA exams mainly consist of English, Quantitative Aptitude, Decision Making, vocabulary skills, writing skills and general knowledge.

Before preparing for a management school, it is important for you to know that the entrance exam is not the only thing you need. Cracking the entrance exam is only the first step towards your success. There are different tiers that are built to examine your knowledge regarding different aspects. MBA exams mainly consist of English, Quantitative Aptitude, Decision Making, vocabulary skills, writing skills and general knowledge.

All of the above subjects have connections with MBA programmes.

English is a global language. Therefore, to understand what is happening all around the globe, you must have a stronghold on the language. After the globalisation of India in 1991, you must be a good speaker and have writing skills too. Now, the globe is like a village and to communicate with people you must have the skills to speak and write English.

Then comes the quantitative aptitude which is a crucial part of MBA. Whatever you do, wherever you go, you will require quantitative skills. Quantitative skills such as LPP, probability, permutation, etc., can play a strong part in your MBA career. You will learn how to apply the related quantitative aptitude theories in your day to day life.

Then subjects such as decision-making and vocabulary skills will make you more confident to talk in a group of people.

After completing the first tier, the other steps include GD, PI and essay writing, among others.

After the completion of the exam, the first thing you need to do is to calculate. Calculate and get a clear idea about how much you are going to score in the exam. Ask yourself questions such as, “Would I be able to crack the exam this time? What will be the cutoff this year? Will I be able to cross the cutoff?”

As soon as you come from the examination center, calculate your score. After two hours, you will get the solved papers on YouTube, probable cutoff, etc. First, tally your score with the cutoff, if you are sure enough that you can crack it then start preparing for the next steps or else make a plan B. Think of other options, other exams. Don’t rely on only one exam.

If you are confident enough that you are going to crack this time, then go for the preparations of GD and PI. There are many online sources where you can learn. Get to know about the recent news such as economic crises, recent games such as IPL, Commonwealth, recent film industry happenings, awards, topics such as Kashmir or CAB issue, etc. If you go through these recent topics then you can cover 90 percent of the GD topics. GD is mainly planned to know that how much aware you are about the topic in comparison to others. From my own experience, I will suggest you remember the facts and numbers as much as possible and put them in your GD. Whatever chances you get, go for it. Do not act as if you are the leader but act like you are worried about all the others. Try to start or end the topic by yourself. It will be best if you conclude the GD topic involving the data from the discussion.

For PI, I would suggest you go through the college history wherein you have been selected for the GD-PI. You can get relevant data about the process of PI from different online surveys. Educate yourself with the common questions of the PI round.

Don’t stop your preparation after cracking the entrance exam, keep collecting knowledge from around you. You will never be old enough to learn. So, learn, educate and conquer.

About the Author:

Rakesh Kumar Sahoo is a student at Pondicherry Central University. He is pursuing MBA and had completed his graduation in B.Sc with a specialisation in Chemistry. He can speak English, Odia, Hindi, Sanskrit and German. His interests are in photography, astrophysics, technology and space.