CUET Toppers’ Tips: How Shivanki Prasad cracked the exam to secure admission in DU’s Miranda House

This Patna girl scored 796 out of 800 in CUET UG 2022. She got full marks in all her subjects except English, where she wasn’t able to answer one question. She shares her experience with indianexpress.com and what advice would she give to her younger self.

Transition from descriptive-type questions to MCQs

The transition from descriptive type to MCQs wasn’t very difficult as we had an idea of what would be asked during the first term of our board exams. Since the syllabus of the board and CUET was the same, I didn’t have to study anything different for either of the exams.

But in descriptive type, there is a flow of thoughts and you can write accordingly but in MCQ type each line in the book becomes important, you don’t know from where a question will be asked so you have to study each line carefully.

CUET study material and sample papers

Though many books weren’t available for CUET, there were sample papers available on the official website. I practised a lot of sample papers that helped me prepare better for the main exam.

I gave seven papers in CUET UG 2022

With CUET more combinations are available to students and they are considering colleges other than just Delhi University. Students are looking at different combinations provided by different universities.

Last year, there was a lot of confusion as DU did not release what subjects it was considering for admission. As a result, I appeared for seven papers — English as my language, History, Sociology, Political Science, Fine Arts, Computer Science and General test. And later, I got to know that DU was considering only four — History, Political Science, Sociology and English. Since the language paper was compulsory, I couldn’t substitute it with any other paper and my score was 796 out of 800.

Exhausting process but DU was a dream

It was an exhausting process for sure, my first reaction when I heard about CUET was disbelief. I was under the impression that it would not happen in 2022 as the government generally takes time to implement it. But later as it became more and more obvious that it would happen, I began preparing for it. I focused mainly on my boards as the syllabus was the same and then prepared for CUET via sample papers.

A lot of my school alumnus have got admission to the DU and therefore, I had set my targets. I wanted to go to DU and explore the world outside my comfort zone. My seniors told me the kind of study culture is in the colleges here is way better the rest varsities. I am glad that I took admission in the country’s top college, the freedom and the responsibility of living alone as well as the north campus culture is unmatchable.

Don’t stop living because of an exam

My advice to the CUET or any exam aspirant is that don’t stop living your life for an exam. I did that for seven to eight months because of which my health suffered. Don’t do it to yourself, give importance to everything including your personal life and health along with studies.