1.Congratulations on achieving such an amazing feat. Tell us a bit about yourself. Please also tell us your individual marks in each subject.
Hi. I’m Kasturi Sarvankar. My individual marks are:
Physics- 123/180
Chemistry-113/180
Biology-307/360
Total-543/720
2.So, when all of this is new and the rest of us are still busy figuring the head and tail of the subject, how did you tackle and master the syllabus?
Well mastering the entire syllabus is way too difficult. What I tried to do was to master what is important and just go through what is not and that really helped.
3.Do you have any special pointers for specific subjects? The do’s and don’ts of it?
Mtg guides only besides the Aakash packages and standard NCERT textbooks
Physics is all about the numericals. I solved as many types and varieties of questions as I could get and not to forget to repeat the difficult or the tricky ones twice or thrice until you get a hang of it.
Chemistry, organic must be perfect. I focused on getting my basics clear and again solving loads of questions is equally important. It’s a must to know important reactions and specific functions of common reagents. For inorganic, I did it the same way I did biology. Physical chemistry, is simple. So I just did basic sets of questions and some theory part which was required.
Biology, read, learn, revise, revise again, revise again and again. That’s the only way to deal with it.
Please don’t ignore biology, please don’t. Because that’s the only subject where you can be sure about a great score, provided you’ve done it thoroughly. Physics theory can be ignored, but please do not overlook the simple tricks and techniques to deal with particular questions, that have been mentioned in the theory part. Trust me, these tricks are a savior.
4.Was there any help that you acquired while exam preparation? Or those little tit bits that the professors tell us but none other than the toppers pay attention to? Please share with us.
Help as such? Not really. And about the little tit bits, well that depends on the kind of doubts you have. In general, nothing as such.
5.How vital is the Question bank during exams? Does it come highly recommended or you advice thorough reading of the text and having confound knowledge of the subject?
Both of them. But I paid more attention to the previous year papers.
I never actually referred a question bank as such. Because you can never be sure about the type of questions that are going to be asked. Personally, I would advice thorough reading of the text.
6.Could you give some important pointers on Exam writing skills?
Manage your time. Very important. You must allot specific time intervals for each section. Do solve as many papers as possible by setting the time limit. This is going to help you. Sure shot.
Do not stress. The more you stress, the terrible you perform. There’s going to be a hell lot of pressure around. So just please be calm. And yes, studying one night before exam, trust me, is a very very bad idea. Besides that, stay focused, do not lose hope midway, and manage your time.
7.Any special tricks and tacts for the students who would be reading this?
Getting all my doubts solved was humanly impossible, but I made sure that important ones were solved. I mean if a particular question has been repeated twice or thrice in the previous papers, you’ve to get it solved. Solving all papers is a must, no tricks, no shortcuts. It is a must.