CLAT Aspirants: Did you take your first Mock Test?

We are in December 2014. CLAT exam is just 5 months away. You have been preparing for the CLAT exam since the last one year or more. Have you taken your first mock test? Abhyaas Law Prep(ALP) students took their first mock test online last weekend. It was a very interesting experience, and a very enriching one too.

At what stage of preparation should one attempt a mock test? What do you achieve by attempting mock tests? As ALP students discovered over the weekend, a mock test gives you an experience of what the actual CLAT exam could be like. Right from booking a slot, reaching the test center and taking a proctored test, it was a novel experience.

Some of the doubts that linger in the minds of students are “The syllabus is not yet completed….”, “I do not have enough practice”, ”Should I finish all my study material and classes before taking tests?”. Well, there is no perfect time to start attempting mocks. Gaining Conceptual Knowledge and Developing a test strategy are two separate aspects of test preparation. Gaining conceptual knowledge can happen over a longer period. But as you gain the conceptual knowledge, you should start focusing on developing your strategy. It is high time you start experiencing how the CLAT exam actually looks like.

As you finish the first mock test, you would have the following learnings:

1) The time management would be all awry. Most of you would have barely been able to finish reading all the questions, let alone solving them. Some of you would have done exceedingly well in one or two sections, but not even attempted some other sections. If you have faced these situations, do not panic. It happens to most students on their first mock experience. So far, you would have only solved questions at your own pace. That is what you do as you master the concepts. However, in an exam, the focus is on maximizing your efforts and time on questions that you can answer confidently. As you attempt more mocks, you will figure out how to manage the given time, as ALP mentors will help you define your strategy.

2) Of all the questions that you have attempted, maybe only 50% are correct and the remaining are incorrect. As a result, you have lost quite a few marks due to the negative marking, bringing your score down. One important learning is that you need to attempt a question only if you are confident of your answer. All through your education, you have been advised by your parents and teachers to answer all questions. Never leave a question unanswered. Sometimes, you are even asked to attempt more than the required number (when there is choice), to be on the safe side. You now need to unlearn that!! Attempting competitive exams, and that too, with negative marking, is a completely different ballgame. You would have now realized that attempting more questions is actually detrimental unless you are sure of the answers.

3) Attempting an online exam is not as bad as you envisaged. Navigation, reading off a screen and solving on paper is not actually that difficult. As I have mentioned in my earlier post on Online CLAT, you are comfortable with technology and all mobile devices. So navigating questions on a screen is a cake-walk. Solving the questions correctly is a different aspect, but that can be mastered only with practice, which can be done offline.

At the end of the first mock test, you would have got a sense of the exam format, the challenges of time management and negative marking. You now need to focus on completing your study material and building your conceptual knowledge. The more adept you are at solving problems, time management and negative marking will be less of a challenge. As you take more mocks over the next few months, you will be able to define and refine your strategy.

Gear up for the next mock test that will be conducted by Abhyaas Law Prep in the first week of January 2015!!

An Awesome Experience!!

When we embarked on a weekend trip to Bhadrachalam and Papikondalu, we had sort of a pilgrimage trip in mind. Little did we realize that it was less of a pilgrimage and more of a fun-filled adventure trip!! No wonder my mother-in-law, who is above 70 years old, joined us to visit Lord Rama at Bhadrachalam.

The trip started at Yatri Nivas, Secunderabad at 7:30 pm. The Volvo bus, incidentally was the worst experience of the weekend, with its uncomfortable seats and the noisy movies. The first halt was at 4:30 am at the Harita hotel, Bhadrachalam. We had about an hour to get ready for the temple. The serene temple atmosphere was enjoyable from 6:30 to 8:00 am. After breakfast at the hotel, we started for the Parnasala, which was the place where Sitadevi was supposed to have been kidnapped by Ravan. 

After lunch, we left for the Papikondalu trip. That’s when the actual fun began. Around 70 km from Bhadrachalam, we needed to get onto a boat. Halfway to the river bank, all cell-phone signals simply vanished. Imagine 24 hours without a cell-phone!! Well, in a way, I would say it was bliss, because one could enjoy the beauty of nature without being distracted by phone calls, facebook, emails and news. As someone said, even if there was a catastrophe anywhere in the world, there was no way we would know.

Getting onto the boat was a big challenge. As we got down from the bus, ready to drag our strollers, 10 year old kids came running to us offering to carry our bags. Two boys would hold a wooden stick between them on their shoulders hanging the luggage on it. That was the best way to transport our luggage to the boat. It was a challenge for us to walk down to the boat from a height on the sands. Welcome to the adventure!! The next shock was getting onto the boat on a narrow wooden plank. Surprisingly, my M-i-L was the one who got onto the boat with minimum fuss. She was used to it in her youth almost 40 years ago!! Memories came rushing back to her...

The boat journey was pleasant with an awesome view of the river and the surrounding mountains. We enjoyed the gentle breeze even as we struggled to cope with the noisy Telugu film songs. Sometimes it is a blessing to not know a language if you want to enjoy the music!! As we alighted the boat at a village called Kollur, which is the last village in Papikondalu, darkness had set in. There were no boys to carry our luggage. So we had to carry it ourselves on a steep incline with limited lighting. This is where team work played a role. We had a group of youngsters travelling with us, who made sure they gave support and helped us overcome our fears and climb the incline.

Inspite of being involved in the planning for this trip, I did not bother to check the website for the tour details. As we reached the enclosure for our accommodation, expecting to see a decent hotel, what greeted our eyes was a view of the huts where we were supposed to stay. Hmm, I have never been on an NCC camp or a trekking trip, so I have no experience of temporary accommodations or community toilets. An entirely new experience, how do we cope with this?? In any other place, we would have probably said, “to hell with the trip, lets get our own accommodation”, but this was a village, with no other option!! 

So… we get into our hut, where we can barely stand. Fortunately, my M-i-L and S-i-L were barely able to stand whereas I had to manage changing my dress, sitting inside the hut!! Dinner was served at 7:30 pm and it was announced that power would be off by 9 pm. However, it was only an empty threat and the power was on through the night. Strangely, either due to exhaustion, or the lack of pollution, we all crashed by 9:30 pm and woke up only in the morning to the chirping of birds. When do we enjoy the early morning breeze and the birds in the city? We always wake up to the daily grind and the television. We are always wondering what is happening in the world rather than enjoying the current moment…

Next was a leisurely stroll around our tenement and some pictures, enjoying the view of the mountains and the river. After that, we had to climb another steep incline in order to have breakfast and go for a trek in the jungle. We were to go trekking in the jungle for around 45 minutes after which we would reach a place where the Godavari river is shallow and we could get into the waters. The trek was pleasant, with greenery all around and even my M-i-L, who is a nature and plant-lover managed the journey. All tiredness was forgotten as we reached the banks. The pristine flowing water was soothing to the body and 30 minutes in the water made us feel as if all our allergies and sins were washed away.  

After lunch, it was time to pack up from the huts. Though unexpected, we really enjoyed the experience of living in a hut. Since it was only for a day, it was enjoyable. I don’t think we could have managed more than that. The boat journey took us to the tip of Papikondalu, where the river narrows between two mountains - a scenic beauty. We also visited a Shiva temple on the return trip at a village – Parentapally. All good things come to an end and so did the trip. Monday morning, we were back to our daily routines.

I would strongly recommend a trip to Papikondalu. Such breath-taking beauty exists in AP and we go to different states and countries, ignoring our neighbourhood.

TCS New Pattern – The only thing constant is change!!

The TCS recruitment process has been undergoing a change every few years, depending on the demand and the supply pattern. In 2010, the test was made online for the first time and negative marking was introduced. Verbal Ability questions were more or less taken away and the verbal ability of a student was tested by including elaborate analytical ability questions with a lot of irrelevant information. One needed to carefully peruse the given data to pick the relevant information.

The process has been changed again this year in 2013. The verbal ability section has been introduced which has a writing task. This is a subjective assessment. So one cannot randomly select an option, but apply one’s mind and write a paragraph. The capability of a student to express in written form is tested here. Oral communication can be verified during an interview, and a lot of times, students who have studied in vernacular medium, or those who have an average communication capability were being absorbed. The assumption is that the students who are technically competent can do their job and learn/gain the capability to communicate over time and since engineering exams were being written in English, an above 60% score in engineering indicates written communication capability. Apparently, this does not apply always. Hence the need for a verbal ability test!

Now, how should students prepare for the Verbal Ability test? Is it a cause for concern? There is a short email/essay that one needs to write in around 70-80 words conveying a message. The gist of the message is given in around 10 phrases. So essentially, there is no need to worry because there is no creativity required here. One needs to simply connect the given phrases to frame coherent or meaningful sentences within the given time limit of 10 minutes. That is all!! However, one needs to keep in mind that all the phrases need to be used and make sure that there are no grammatical or spelling mistakes. As long as you write simple sentences, you would be safe. There is no need to use flowery language or exhibit your vocabulary because no one is going to read it. The essay will be evaluated by the system. So it will be trained to look for some patterns & phrases and it would probably have the ability to identify grammatical mistakes. One needs to take cognizance of the fact that only those students who clear the Verbal Ability Section will have their Analytical Ability section evaluated. So this section needs to be taken very seriously.

The Analytical Ability section too has some interesting twists. There are a few * marked questions, which will carry higher marks than the other questions. Of course, these are highlighted with an asterisk, so you are better off attempting these, provided you are sure of your response. There is an increased focus on areas like Number System and Algebra, which was not the case earlier. However, if one is familiar with all the basic quantitative ability and analytical ability topics, it should not be a big deal. The key is practice because time is of the essence and also a judicious choice of questions to answer since there is negative marking for wrong answers.

So gear up for the challenge. Practice makes a man perfect. So what are you waiting for? Take the Open Seesame sample tests without fail and for further practice, you could register for 3 tests from Abhyaas in the same format. For more details, visit www.abhyaas.in.

The travails of a "nerd"

Today, a fifth-grader cribbed to me about being called a “nerd” by her classmates. Well, that set me thinking. Is it really bad to be referred as a nerd? What does the term actually mean? I found an interesting definition in the dictionary – “the group of people who will most likely make a life changing invention that will radically change the world. The computer was invented by a nerd. The macintosh/apple and windows were invented by nerds.”  Then why does one shy away from being called a nerd? Is it a fault to be born with higher intelligence or to have intellectual pursuits?

Smart kids are normally called nerds by their classmates. There are plenty of reasons for this. Most kids aspire to be at the top of the class, but they are unable to. So they try to pull the toppers down. It is a simple case of “sour grapes”. Just because you are not smart, you spread the word that it is not great to be smart. Since there are many students in this category and the smart ones are few, they sort of get alienated from the rest of the class.

Smart kids are in the good books of the teachers. While in school, generally, the teachers are the idols and students vie for their attention. The highly “unpopular” or rather the highly popular back-benchers get their share of attention due to all the wrong reasons. The smart ones gain the attention by their smartness. The average, which forms the bulk of the class, is naturally envious.

There is a problem with being called a nerd. Smartness is generally not associated with “being cool”. So smart kids are not so cool, as they say. Well, it depends on perspective. Their interests could be different. They have set a high standard for themselves which they find difficult to break. They generally like to be in the good books of their teachers and don’t want to rub them on the wrong side. It doesn’t mean they don’t want to have fun. They are fun-loving creatures too. It is just that their idea of fun is different and they might find the activities of the others as frivolous.

So what should the nerds too? Get together with other nerds. They would understand your predicament. Pursue your interests and hobbies. Learn to ignore the sneers and the jibes. These things don’t matter in the larger picture. Just have fun the way you want to. Continue to develop your smartness and flaunt it without inhibition or fear of being labelled a “nerd”. Just remember that though they are ridiculing you, in fact, they are envying you, and would probably talk to you about it when they encounter you decades later.