Yes, It’s hard. And sometimes you feel let down, especially when you expect a fair result and the opposite happens.
VTU has a reputation of bringing in some of the toughest papers. Most of us have had many night – outs (Studying the entire night before the exams) on the examination day. As the semesters advance – things seem to get tougher. So, what are you gonna do about it ?.
I think there are some basic problems here that I would like to point out.
Firstly, we’ve got to be a little more responsible and show more commitment. Yeah – we have to make the most of college life – Enjoy and have fun etc etc . But what we seldom forget is – what are we here for in the first place? I think we need to have the right balance. That’s the key word. You need to balance your academics and your personal life. Prioritize things. This does not mean you need to have a time table for everything. Partying a week before the exams – really ? That’s what I am talking about. There are guys who can handle it. If you can’t, don’t go for it.
Stop blaming - I know they don’t teach well enough in most of the colleges out there. But we can’t just sit there and blame them, or our fate. Do something about it. Network among friends, discuss concepts and understand them. Come on, you are not on 10th grade . Try a couple of text-books to see which one is good for you and stick to it . Always try to get the basics right.
Your way of Doing things - The way your friend studies might not work for you. Studying in groups helped me a lot – Firstly I don’t feel bored or monotonous – Secondly, healthy discussions have always helped me understand things better. A good friend of mine used to stay awake and study the entire night – write the exams – and get great scores. If I follow that –I will end up sleeping during my exam. So, not every method will work for you. You have to do a little bit of experimentation and find out which one works best for you.
Take your sessionals seriously – We all know that 90% of the sessionals come from previous semester papers. Small things like these can go a long way. Doing well in sessionals gives you a real good chance of getting a decent score in the semesters .
The art of writing the exam . I am not very sure about that but following a set of points has certainly helped me. Lets discuss them.
- Don’t loose before you’ve even started playing – Ok – so you haven’t prepared well enough - and you come into the examination hall and start crying – Not gonna help . You need to be mentally prepared for facing it – not loosing it. Sometimes the paper turns out to be easy and you fail only coz you have this thing at the back of your mind that you haven’t prepared well enough. There is nothing you can do in that situation– Just go there and give your best shot – that has helped me do better, and I think that’s the way to go . Always try to avoid being in this situation in the first place.
- How much can you actually answer ? – Go through the entire paper and check how much can you answer. You should probably change your style of answering the questions depending on that . Lets check a few cases .
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70 – 100 marks – What an amazing feeling isn’t It ? .. Didn’t have much of those during my engineering
. You know it’s a good paper and you can do pretty well. The problem is , you wont get enough time to do everything perfectly. This is what I would do.
i. Make sure you write the main points of every answer
ii. Draw only the required diagrams
iii. Stop when you know you have made the point. Do not elaborate too much and waste time.
iv. Don’t bother too much about hand-writing , but make sure it’s decently legible. -
50 – 70 marks : In this case, you know that you can get more time so ,
i. Elaborate the answers a little more
ii. Draw neat diagrams
iii. Make sure your handwriting is good.
iv. Make sure you read the question a number of times before you answer ( so that you don’t describe the wrong motor ? )
v. You will get some spare time so do a thorough rewind. Use this to fine tune your answers if required. -
below 50 marks : Alright , this is when things get a little tricky. This is when we end up along the 30 – 40 mark line. You need to squeeze in as many marks as possible .So here is what I would do.
Make sure your handwriting is really really neat . You cannot .. I repeat … you cannot afford to be able to answer so less and look dirty at the same time. That is asking for trouble. Write headings and underline them. Group your paragraphs well. Draw neat, detailed diagrams. Give a single line border after every answer. make sure you write the question numbers correctly as well. You need to get your marks in the first few pages, thats the catch here.
Elaborate but don’t fake. Explain your answers by giving examples whenever possible. When you fake, you are probably trying to buy a couple of marks and the examiner knows that – so, it might backfire sometimes.
Once you are done with answers you know, you will still have a lot of time on the clock. Use this time to rewind and go through your answers once again. Also there will be a few answers you could attempt , say , a paragraph or a diagram you remember etc. Write as much as you can about them – again – neat and without faking. - Prioritize the questions – We have heard this a million times, yet we fail to practice it. Finish off questions you really know well first and get the maximum marks out of them. We can deal with the others later.
Although this post is more about cracking VTU exams, I think most of the above mentioned points are applicable everywhere, in every exam. It’s just that my VTU background make it easier for me to relate.
I would like to also mention one technique a lot of guys use. Prepare the last 5 years papers thoroughly. I mean all 160 mark questions for 5 years. Worked wonders for a couple of my friends . I tried it, but flopped 
.
Tough papers are always a part of the game, the important thing is, how do you tackle it. let me know - How did you do it ?
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thanks for the wonderful advise..i searched this on google blog search n got it
@ faraz: Thanks for the feedback mate
Nice one Abdul
Would have scored more marks if I could have got these tips before
hehe… Thanks Suj…
Guys ..Please help me I got to do it this time. I am doing 8th sem B.E CSE branch. I have got an aggregate of 52%..I need to score at the least 95% in this sem to make my aggregate to a first class(60%). Please let me know how should I study and how the the presentation in my answer sheet should be. Thank you..
@shannon : Not Impossible . The good news is that you have better chances of scoring in 8th sem. I would suggest you to get the basics right - Sessionals, labs, seminars etc - those are the areas you can really score. I was in a similar situation and the max I could come up with was 58 . Like I had mentioned before, stick to the method that works best for you. With a little extra effort, you should be able to get there . All the best
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Hi Abdul Aziz ,
Thank for your post regarding the certificate attestation .Most of the students are not aware of all these. Keep doing good things like this . Best of luck
@Nijeesh : Thanks buddy . You guys get me going
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hey dude
pretty neat info you got out here…..
I really wanna know how much you secured in VTU …
look the problem here is that I know very well I can beat even the topper in my class if I try …I’ve done it sometimes during internal tests …
but when it comes to the finals I dunno what happens …
as of now i have an aggrigate of 64% …it was 69% before my disastrous performance last sem …
what is the methord to be followed …one thing that wroks for me is writting down everything ..but this takes waay too much time ….
if I start out preparing slowly a month or a little more before the exam and following my writting policies will be able to score distinction?
any new ideas of studying …?
thanks!=)
58 - missed FC by 2%…
I’d always advice you to go with the method that really works for you and improvise on that rather than changing it completely .
A month before exams is generally ok [ depending on how fast you can grasp ]. If you are really onto it - Disti is not that hard ( Not that I had many though
). I’d advice you to prepare for about 120. Remember - Preparation is just half job done - the other half is execution .
Also a lot of guys panic for no reason - let’s say when there’s just 1 hour left and 50 marks more to attend. Deal with the situation . Add the main points and Elaborate less .
All the best dude - And thanks for the feedback
hi
i am studying 4th sem nw , prob of mine is i am from diploma background i hv scored 64% in 3rd sem and 1 thing is i hv to clear M1 and M2 , i hv cleared M1 in 3rd, sem i want to clear M2 and score FCD ths sem gv me some tips for tht no and i am frm EC dept
@Satish : The problem with having extra papers (OD’s) is that you will have to answer those along with your regular papers, literally giving you no time whatsoever to even revise what you have learned. And this is the biggest problem of it all. You loose 1 paper - chances are next time you loose many, and you will have to work extra hard to make sure it you clear it all. The obvious approach would be - Figuring out what subjects you have to study in advance, having a proper plan to crack them - and working hard towards it.
There may be a couple of subjects of your taste . Try to do them well . That will increase your chances of an FCD . All the best
thank u bro ur advise helped me a lot
hey i read de tips u gav de were good but il tel u i attempted for al most 140 marks n ended up gettinn jus sixty marks
so solvin solvin que pap or referin texts is nt helpin me could u suggest me some alternative
i am in 8th sem, recently i gave my 1 paper of 8th sem and the paper was horrifying ,as per my calculations i am getting around 32..so wat r the chances they gonna pass me…heard 8th sem liberal?
Guys… Couldn’t keep up with the blog due to my extended work timings… so I am shooting my take right away.
) . So, for me, it looks like ur gonna make it . Hope you do 
@abinash : yeah 8th sem is generally liberal… got my second best result ( the other being 1st sem of course
@ akshata : Well … have you tried group study etc ? . Worked good for me . 140 - 60 ha ?… well, how bout 120 - 28 ?… - on micro controllers - my then favorite . At times you just cant help it buddy . You just accept it and move on. Sadly, that’s how it works with VTU sometimes .
hey hi azi…..
good going …. and pretty nice things put up der … also sounds interesting…. three cheers for ya ….
Hey Aarudhra …
Thanks for that …. Glad u liked it
Salam Aziz…
How u doing????I m just done wid my 8th sem exams a couple of days back…
I did my engg. in CSE from VTU only…my aggregate after 8th sem would be around 58-59%…I won’t be crossing 60% for sure…Guide me if i’ll b able to find a good job in my field with this aggregate???I know i’m not eligible for many companies in the first place..So where does it put me in the current job scenario???
I hope u guide me with ur invaluable experience???I think u also must have faced this situation earlier since ur aggre is same as well…
ok you scored 58% not bad ..but if you don’t mind can you tell me about campus placements ?
what are looking at here ? some say that they take into account all your 10th and 12th grade marks as well ..some say that all 8 sems aggrigate
some say only 5 -8th sem ..I personally feel this is what is right because most of what we are gonna excecute at work is learnt only during these 4 sems rit?
so could you please tell me a little about my positon? did you get placed ..if not =) tell me what are someother opition you have considered ?
yesterday was the GT paper I screwed it up ..day after is ADA ..I think I will do ok ..
ooh yeah tell me about backlogs also ..if we have backlogs but have cleared it does it affect placements?
@All : The good news is ( if you are in IT that is - not sure about other branches ) - The market looks good - Lots of opportunities. For a fresher I would advice you to get into the industry and have a good feel about it. learn as much as you can in the first one or two years and then weigh your options. Don’t worry much about pay during the initial phase. Hard work and passion will get you the pay down the line - Its all about knowing the trade now . BTW - The most important question you’ve gotta ask yourself is - What do you want to do ?.. Im planning to write a post on this - So stay tuned
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@Aasim : Salaam to you too . 58 - 59% is good enough ( acc to me ) . Companies have started realizing the fact that quality cannot be judged only by the numbers . Get your CV’s across companies - Do a research on trends [ From a dependable source ] - and then you could probably go for a course on that .
Personally - I was passionate about the web from early days - And even though my field was E&C , I always knew I would be happier doing stuff online . I was lucky enough to get an opportunity for PHP in a start up. The pay was just enough to scrape through but Its paying off now - thankfully . So I wouldn’t bother much about pay if Its decent enough and a chance at some real good experience .
For IT - I’d suggest web technologies coz - from my experience - can tell that It’s there to stay. Also Check out Objective C - Coz apple developers seem to be in demand rite now. And I can only see that increasing down the line . There’s lots to discuss on this so - Ill pen down my thoughts on this soon.
@bull : Campus placements - Too much to talk about - What I can tell you is that u need the numbers - 55+ is acceptable nowadays.
Placement criteria depends on the company - but yeah - generally your engg marks [ for most companies ]
Ive put my thoughts on the options in my previous comment . You could check that out.
All the best
well… i’m currently doin my engg…. cse .
i’ve cleard my first three semesters with an incredible 81,84 and 70% in each respectively ( don ask how i’ve managed that … i dunno myself…. got quite a few boderline marks … 36 38 )
i’ve just finished with my 4th semester exams… an i’ve screwed up ada,co and math… just hoping to pass al three … (keepin my fingers crossed)
i know there’s no point in looking back but i want to know whether having a backlog is a serious black mark when looking for a placement. is there any point in finishing my course and applying for a placement?
@nish : Firstly, you haven’t had any backlogs so far - And hopefully you wont have any [ and all the best on this result ] .
Backlogs aren’t as serious as you think they are ( In my honest opinion ). You still have time to clear them if [ God Forbid ] u get any . Companies generally don’t come till end of 5th sem. Most of em allow 1 or 2 backlogs , but you’ve gotta clear them all before you finish your course. The best part is that the market is on full throttle - loads of openings - Especially in software . And if you are good, you will get hired, regardless of the amount of backlogs you’ve had … All the best
thnx abdul.. appreciate it!!
I had a doubt.
Can I add the marks that I secure after clearing a backlog subject to my grand total while calculating my aggregate percentage of 8 semesters? Especially in my resume & job interviews.I need your help too.
Did you fail in any of your subjects back then?
I need your help here brother. Life is sickening man!
Thanks in advance!
@Ram : Good question. There are differing views on this , some say you can’t .
In my opinion, you can. It really doesn’t matter what your first marks were, you can add them up to get the aggregate. Ive had backlogs and have always put the latest marks on my resume. You have worked hard for those improvements, and I think you should add them . Hope this helps
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salam aziz,
i m in big problem,please help me out.. Actually i got 60% in 5th sem n 70% in 6th sem.. but i have a back log,i.e in 4th sem.. i am in civil branch,i cant enter final year.. actually i am sufeering becoz of internal marks,sir is too strict n coz of that i m sufferng now.. got ur blog thru google.. I have got 29 in xternal n 9 marks in internal.. i need 12 marks to clear this subjct,i had worked really hard but may b somewhere my problems were wrong.. Subject is too tough only related to problems and i do mistake only during exam.. i dont want to waste 1 year just coz of 1 subjct,please advice me what shall i do..
@Sophie : Salam , uve got 9 marks in internals, so u need 41 . If you are finding the subject really tough, u need someone to explain how its done. Not everyone is good in every subject. We all will be bad with some . The important thing is, to ask someone who’s good at it to help you out.
It could be your lecturer, friend, senior - anyone. I have been in a similar situation and it was my friends who helped me out . And don’t be let down by the numbers , I know Its disappointing to have a backlog . But sometimes you just cant help it. U need to have the confidence to tackle it. Do the basics right. Concentrate more on this subject and put in some extra effort. I am sure you will be able to pull it off. Prepare for at least 120 marks.
Hope this helps . All the best
I dont know in which sem i should be write now. All my frnds hv started attending 5th CSE.. I have a back in M1(engineering mathematics-I) i tried re-writting it three times. My marks in internal is less. Last time i got 45 marks 36 external and 9 internal.
This time it was less. What should i do in this case? I hv already filled a reval form. Should i continue in 5th sem or 3rd sem… I m in great depression nw.. my head is spinning and i cant make any decision.
plz reply soon.
Hi. I’m a final yr student. But i have a 4th sem sub as a backlog. I’ve passed in external but my internal is 9. This is the back log i have. Will they give me grace marks and clear this subject if i get around 37 after reval. This is a critical paper.
i got detained once and after that two year backs in my second year of engg. do i have any carrier in software if i look ahead by continuing the course or i should quit..???
@rocky : If there are areas in your course that you think you can do well, I see no harm in continuing .
The important thing is , you need to really like what you are doing. If you have a passion for it, you can definitely continue and make a good career. So, It all depends on what you really want to do .
dude, how do i calculate my aggregate percentage..???
i mean, i got sm backlogs an then i cleared them, so sud i take my first attempt marks or i sud consider the marks i got wen i cleared the paper..??? some of my friends told me that we sud consider the passing marks only ie 50 no matter how much we get when we clear a backlog….
plz help..
@Subho : Like I’ve mentioned before, I personally feel you can write your best marks in there. I mean, You’ve earned it.
Also I don’t think most company’s are gonna make a big fuss out of it. But again, confirm from your placement director or the guy in charge of this. Some companies are very particular with these things. All the best