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Journalism of Courage
Born and brought up in Assam’s Tejpur, Poorav Bajaj, a CUET UG 2022 topper, attended Army Public School in Solmara. He is currently pursuing BCom (Hons) at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) of Delhi University. Despite scoring a perfect 100 percentile in CUET 2022 and 99 per cent in Class 12 board exams, Bajaj could not get admission to his dream college — IIM Indore.
The National Testing Agency (NTA) will conduct the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) UG 2023 between May 21 and 31. Hee tells indianexpress.com how he prepared for the CBSE board exam and CUET.
Pursuing BCom wasn’t my original plan, instead, I wanted to clear the Integrated Program in Management Aptitude Test (IPMAT) and study at IIM Indore. However, I couldn’t clear the sectional cut-off (which was 44) by two marks, despite scoring above the overall cut-off — my overall score was 192 while the overall cut-off was around 170-180.
It was my father who advised me to apply for CUET. “You should give it a try because you have studied for the course and the syllabus is the same,” he told me.
Due to the limited number of books available and advisory by the NTA and UGC Chief, I mainly focused on NCERT. Also, since my school conducted the term 1 paper in MCQ format, I had some idea of what the questions would be like. Even IPMAT followed the MCQ format, which further helped me understand the exam pattern.
I appeared for the first CUET UG, so there wasn’t a lot of study material. I, therefore, utilised my term 1 questions as a resource and concentrated on NCERT samples. Even though we didn’t have any mock tests readily available, I was still confident of my preparation.
As I had to give multiple exams, I decided to go step by step. I focused first on my board exams and then prepared for IPMAT. Since CUET and boards had the same syllabus, I only needed to brush up on my concepts. However, since I studied for IPMAT after the board exams, I didn’t have enough time to prepare for it.
Since there are several boards in India — ICSE, CBSE as well as state boards — students are being assessed differently. But, with CUET, now there is a common platform for assessment and provides a fair ground for competition in higher studies.
While my school’s term 1 exam was based on the same exam pattern, the same was not followed in the board exams. School exams helped me understand what kind of questions are asked in an MCQ-based test. However, boards and CUET were different, as in the boards you have to write descriptive answers but CUET’s MCQ format mainly focuses on practical concepts.
CUET gives us flexibility and allows us to focus on our areas of strength, rather than being constrained by a strict framework. It also gives us a lot of options, which help a student explore his/her interests. Also, CUET uses negative marking, which helps prepare kids for competitive exams in future.
Consistency is very important. Without consistency, you won’t be able to finish the entire syllabus. At the beginning of the session, when you have plenty of time to finish the syllabus, you should concentrate on understanding the concepts because this will help you in the long run.
Towards the end when the exams are knocking on your door, it is important to stay calm and not worry too much because worrying can hinder your performance. It is important to maintain your cool.
