I suppose at the beginning of this article that you have a fair
good idea about what the MBA entrance test is like?. now with just a
month to go A great deal of practice to an extent does help an
individual improve his performance in the mock tests and consequently
improve his chances of cracking the various entrance tests, but one
also needs to spend roughly 4 to 6 hours analyzing every mock test.
It is only through systematic analysis that one would be able to
pinpoint the areas where one is going wrong and discover the flares in
ones strategy.
Now an important word about strategy. It is important that one has a
foolproof strategy by the time one appears for the entrance tests.
Every individual has to have a unique strategy about how one should go
about hauling a paper, taking into account the various contingencies,
which could arise on the day of the d-day (in terms of the toughness
of each sections, pattern of paper, time limit, type of questions
etc.). It is not only through analysis that one could expense the
weakness of ones current strategy as well as move towards formulating
an optimal strategy.
One needs to start off the process of analysis by recording his
performance and what was the strategy followed during the test. Plus
one needs to make a note of his/her mental conditioning during the
course of a test. For instance many a time an individual does badly in
a section just because he has allowed a previous section to psyche him
out. Or sometimes an individual wastes a lot of time (unnecessarily)
encountering a speed breaker. It is important that these points are
also noted. One obviously has to aware of how ''ripple effects'' and
''ego blocks'' can affect ones performance.
It is important to note down your exact reaction after you have
completed your test. After all most of the entrance tests are mental
game. Sometimes one does do well in a section in which he has felt
that he has done badly. But because of that pressure build during the
examination performance anxiety does take a toll in the rest of the
paper. One needs to keep into account all of this. Thus it would be
appropriate to take a few minutes after each test to pen down ones
opinion about the test.
It is just as important for an individual to keep track of his trend
of scores in the mock test. For this I would suggest it would be handy
to maintain graphs of ones performance.
This is a simple yet useful tool that would help an individual focus
on the trend of his scores. One could also incorporate his error rate/
attempts/ etc. into the graph if he wishes to. A similar graph may be
maintained for the individual sections as well. Any test that shows a
sharp fluctuation from the trend needs special attention. One needs to
analyse what are the things he is doing wrong or correct which is
causing a fluctuation in ones scores.
Lastly one needs to compare his scores in a particular mock test,
namely the current one in analysis to the previous mock tests. One
needs to compare the performance of each section vis-à-vis the section
in the previous mock test?s and also needs to keep a track of the
trend of the net scores in each of the sections.
In order to solve a particular problem one would have to begin by
identifying it. This entire exercise would help one to analyse the
problem areas, which are responsible for low scores as well as a
report card for the strategy you have been following. If the strategy
is a good one for you then obviously your scores will be firmly
consistent. Otherwise your strategy would need a re look. Moreover you
would be able to evaluate the extent of improvement you have
registered. If you have not been registering the desired / Targeted
improvement then there is something wrong with the way you are
practising of your approach to a section or a particular block of
questions. Once you have identified that problem I am sure you will be
able to find a way to solve the problem
Now with just a month left just keep on practicing it helps a lot .
Many people just give up at this stage not knowing how close they were
to success when they gave.
Wish you all, all the very best!
