Students’ Speak: What after you haven’t scored well in SNAP?

By: Abhishek Desai

One should not regret the result if they had put in the required efforts. There is no harm in failing in life, for it is a failure that teaches us more than success.

Studying for an exam is entirely in the hands of students, but getting a good score in it isn’t. There are numerous cases wherein aspirants diligently preparing for the Symbiosis National Aptitude Test (SNAP) ended up with a lower than expected score.

And, a diligent MBA aspirant would surely bounce back from such setbacks and make amends by scoring well in the next exams (or next year’s SNAP if they are willing to do so).

Upon getting the result, one should positively take it in their stride and aim for scoring well in the next exams such as XAT, CMAT, CET, etc. It is always advised for all the serious aspirants to keep a backup and not solely depend upon any one exam.

There are examples of aspirants in the past learning from their SNAP experiences and scoring really well in the other exams. Since the likes of the aforementioned exams are comparatively easier than SNAP, there are pretty good chances of a candidate getting a high score in them.

Since the syllabus of almost all MBA entrance exams remains more or less the same, now an aspirant just needs to tinker with the test-taking strategy (which can be done by giving mocks) and revise the basic concepts thoroughly. This should ideally not take a lot of time.

To shortlist different colleges accepting various percentile ranges, you can refer to the information provided on Shiksha. Check for the cutoff scores of the past four years to get more clarity on the probable cutoff next year. Always keep the return on investment (ROI) and brand name in mind while choosing the colleges; a college having a better brand will always provide a great learning exposure in those two years of MBA/PGDM.

Based on the scores in the recent mocks, you can get a fair idea of which college to be ideally aimed for. Keep a wide range of good backup colleges. For example, the usual cutoff score of SIBM Pune is around 98 percentile whereas the same for other good colleges (SIIB, SCIT, etc) is roughly 90 - 92 percentiles.

When it comes to giving suggestions on increasing the scores, see if you are spending more time than necessary on a particular question or section since most of the upcoming exams would require a better speed. Keep a tab on the time as well as the accuracy while giving the mocks. Ask your peers and professors for more guidance; make use of articles and videos posted on the Internet on how to use shortcuts and tricks to solve a particular type of question (in case you’re unaware of).

About the Author:

Abhishek Desai is currently pursuing Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) in e-Business from Welingkar Institute of Management.