A flurry of preparation

It’s a busy month for the engineering students of the City as they are preparing for their examinations, which are due next month. While some have already begun their preparations, others are hoping to complete their portions by the last minute.

Many say that studying a week before their exams is enough to get above-average marks. “I haven’t started preparing yet. I don’t have a particular strategy; I will start studying a week or so before the examinations. That has been my strategy throughout. I am not a ten-pointer and I am happy with my marks — but some extra effort will
definitely help in fetching more marks. I have always followed this schedule and it helps me in retaining things better,” says Dhanush, a final-year engineering student.

Others say that it has always been time versus portions for them, and no matter when they start studying, they cannot cover the entire portion. “Covering the entire portion is impossible. What I try to do is cover the important topics, which are sure to be asked in the question paper. I am up late at night during the exams and try to revise right before them. My preparation begins ten days before the exam and if I concentrate, I can score well. I am also involved with several extracurricular activities like theatre. This helps me lessen my stress during the examinations and I can manage the pressure well. My strategy is to concentrate on things that I know well — I don’t waste time on the entire portions and focus on my strengths instead of my weaknesses,” adds Karthik, a second-year student of engineering.

The first-year students seem to be a little more serious and say that they are spending a good amount of time preparing for their first engineering examinations. “I will make the best use of these few days before the exams begin. Last minute studying makes me very
nervous and I generally avoid doing that. Our teachers have pointed out the important questions that may be asked in the exams and have also shown us chapters which are important. Model test papers are available and practising those will help, I am presuming,” says Adityan, a first-year engineering student. Besides this, he has also taken some advice from the seniors who have helped him out with his problem areas. “I was not very confident about a few theories and some chapters, I took some help from my seniors who advised me on the kind of questions that can be expected from those
chapters,” he adds.

The examinations will soon be followed by the placement sessions — but final-year
students explain that marks usually don’t matter when it comes to placements. “All above-average students get placed. Those who are below average or average are placed in companies that have small packages. There is a pass percentage that is required to sit for placements. If a student is above that percentage, there is no stopping them,” concludes Dhanush.