MBA Admission Test of IBA Tips and Suggestion; IBA/University of Dhaka or Executive MBA at Dhaka University MBA program Preparation.
- Math Part of IBA MBA Admission Test & Some General Talks:
I hope most of you have already finished your preparation in order to avail one of the most prestigious degrees of our beloved country. I got too many messages to write about the Math section’s preparation of the admission test. But honestly speaking, I don’t think there’s much to say about it. You already know from the previous years’ questions what the most important topics are!
Around 20 days are remaining right now for the admission test. So the best strategy right now would be to focus on the most important math chapters that will eventually come at the admission test. I am sure you know what they are; percentage, profit-loss, numbers, time & work, speed & distance and geometry. These are going to carry almost 70-75% marks in the math section. So give priority to these problems. Then give priority to the problems of ages, average, interests, permutation and combination, probability and data sufficiency. Have a good command over data sufficiency. In my exam there were 5 data sufficiency problems in the math section. They helped me gain confidence when I was really struggling in the math part as I had only around 30 minutes to answer the whole math section. So be very serious about it.
Don’t jump on shortcut process before understanding the basics. Those who have a sound understanding of the basics of math will eventually be able to create their own shortcut methods and they will surely do well in the exam. But if you are all about shortcuts and weak basics, chances are pretty high that you would commit a blunder in the exam. So understand the basics first and then go for shortcuts. Try to cover at least 2-3 chapters every day. Mix it up so that you don’t get bored.
As for the books, I would suggest you to stick to previous years’ question bank, S@aifurs Math, Mentors Q. Bank and Official GMAT Review. If you have already finished these books and want to practice more, then go for Nova’s GRE. I don’t think you need more books than these for math section of IBA MBA Admission Test!
Finally, some general advice (I hate it!). Think like a manager (That’s what you are eventually going to become if you get into IBA!). Remember those who would study every single section (Math, English, Analytical, and Writing) every single day will surely find it easier in the exam. So split up your study time. If you are planning to study 8 hours a day, then divide it according to your strength and weakness (For example, 3 hours+ 3 hours+ 1.5 hours+ 0.5 hour for writing). Like if you think English is your strongest side, then you can afford to give less time in it and work harder with your weaknesses. Then if you have allotted 3 hours for math’s, split it up again and plan how much time you would give in each math chapter so that you can cover maximum topics and have a productive day.
Work harder. It’s a make or break time now. Don’t loosen up. Fight for your chance. Before my admission test, I was poised to give my 200% to study in this awesome institution. The only reason for my hard work was I didn’t want to regret later that if I had studied a bit more, then I would have got in! I wanted to ensure that even if it doesn’t happen, I could still think that “Okay, I couldn’t have done anything more. I exceeded my capacity. May be next time it’ll happen with this preparation still with me”. So don’t waste your time. Study hard. Be optimistic and passionate.
I wanted to keep the post short and hence I have written 633 words till now! God help me!
Happy preparing everyone.
- How to improve in ‘ Reading Comprehension ’ section:
Comprehension carries almost 15-20% marks in the verbal section of IBA MBA Admission Test. So gaining accuracy in this part is pretty important. For practicing comprehension, you can follow Official GMAT review. Here are some of the tips that I’d personally like to share regarding comprehension part:
- I used to read the questions first and then go to the passage. It allowed me to know in which parts of the passage I have to emphasize more and read carefully and in which parts I can increase my reading speed and cut through. Thus it took less time to finish my task. For example, let’s assume a question says, “What did the author mean by the term ‘pragmatic approach’ in the passage?” Now, I know the question and so when I will go to the passage, I’ll be alert about the term ‘pragmatic approach’ and whenever I see this term in the passage, I’ll be aware of the answer to my question. If the line number of the term is given to you in the question, you can just go to that line and underline that particular term so that when you read the passage, you will know where you have to concentrate more. But again, these techniques vary person to person and if you think by reading the passage before the questions can save your time, you should do that. It’s completely up to you which technique you’d choose. So practice more and also experiment with different techniques and see which one is most suitable for you.
- Don’t bring in any outside knowledge while answering the questions. Remember, the passage is all you have to find the answers. Your knowledge and perception about the world doesn’t matter at all in this case.
- Do eliminate options while answering the questions. It will increase your probability of scoring more.
- To find out the main idea/purpose of the passage/a particular paragraph, concentrate more on the first and last sentence of that portion. Chances are pretty high that your answer is there!
- There are some questions that will ask you to infer something. This means that you have to find out something that the author has not directly stated in the passage. But this also doesn’t give you the permission to go beyond the passage! No, you can’t do that. If you do that, you’ll be assuming. There is a huge difference between inferring and assuming. When you infer, you make an inference based on the information in the passage. But when you assume, you bring in all your perceptions, biases and external information which do not relate with the given passage. Here you have to understand what the author is suggesting indirectly or what points he has developed indirectly. Therefore, while answering these inference questions, you can eliminate options which are directly stated in the passage. I used to follow this technique to avoid complication!
- If you see any extreme words like never, always, completely in the options or even any statements/adjectives which judge a particular system/process/person (words like best, worst, controversial etc.), chances are pretty high that those will not be the answers.
- Logical Keywords or Direction Indicators are the words which tell us on which direction the author’s argument is going. Keep an eye out for these words as you read. Many of these keywords fall into two groups: those that indicate continuity (e.g. furthermore, in addition, also), and those that indicate contrast (e.g. despite, but, nevertheless).
- Concentrate on the context of the passage. Whenever a question tells you to go to a particular line, do read that line carefully and read one or two lines before and after that sentence so that you don’t lose the context.
- DON’T PANIC! Yes, there is pressure and uncertainty. But whenever you feel burdened by these, don’t let your fear take over your brain. Take a deep breath, have some mental break, be patient and start fresh. You can do it.
- Writing Tips:
One of the coolest (!) rules of IBA MBA Admission test is that a candidate has to acquire a minimum cut-off mark in all the sections of the admission test including the writing section. Those who are efficient in writing will surely find it easier to cross the barrier. Exam is just 10 days away. So this post is not about improving your writing skill because that is a long-term process. At this stage, I want to emphasize on some of the most common blunders that I’ve seen people commit while writing!
First of all, know what you are told to write! Is it an essay or a paragraph or an argumentative writing? My experience of checking scripts says that most of the people have complete misconception about paragraph and essay! They think that a paragraph is a short write up, preferably 1-2 pages and an essay is a long write-up of 3-4 pages! If you also think in this way, then it’s time to change your thoughts! A paragraph must be written in a single para while an essay must consist of at least three paras; an introductory para, then a descriptive para or body and finally a conclusive one. If you write a 5-page write-up in a single para that means you have written a paragraph, not an essay. To simplify the whole thing, here’re the short points:
Essay: minimum three paras.
Argumentative writing: minimum three paras
A paragraph: must be written in a single para
For example, suppose the question says, “Write an essay on the Impacts of Social Networking Sites in Our Life”. If I have to plan this writing, I would write this in 4 paras. The introductory para in the beginning, then the second para describing the positive impacts of these sites in our life, the third para to state the negative impacts of these sites and finally a conclusive para which will say that the positive impacts outweigh the negative ones as technology has made our life easier.
Paragraph and essay must have a title (if the title is not given to you) and it should be relevant with the topic. In case of argumentative writing, you may or may not give title. It’s not that important.
Remember you don’t have to create a literature in your write-up. Just keep it simple and grammatically accurate. Don’t complicate the structure of your sentences if you are not sure about its accuracy. Try to avoid using complex sentence and passive form. Don’t make any spelling mistake. Try to tell a story through your writing.
Try to see the whole thing from the perspective of the person who is going to evaluate your writing. An experienced elevator knows where the mistakes could occur without even scrutinizing the script. S/he will first check the title (whether it’s there or not & whether it’s relevant or not). Then s/he will check if you have correctly written a paragraph or an essay following its properties of paras (which I have mentioned before) and then s/he will see whether your handwriting is easily readable or not. If all these are okay, only then s/he will have a motivation to give you good marks. So be very careful about these stuffs.
It’s an argumentative write-up that I wrote. I tried to keep it as simple as I could. Hope it helps.
Question: Some people prefer to work for themselves or own a business. Others prefer to work for an employer. Would you rather be self-employed, work for someone else or own a business? Use specific reasons to explain your choice.
Answer:
We all have different perspectives about life. Some people want to be self-employed while others prefer to work for an employer. It depends on our ambition, choice and needs in our life.
Being self-employed has many advantages. In this case we are our own boss and thus we are more valued. We choose our own area of work and we find interest in that. We can follow our passion. We set our own schedules and we choose our own customers. Although there is a high financial risk, it provides opportunity of earning more and spending as much as we need. We ought to face tough challenges in our path and these challenges continuously push us to adapt, learn more and improve our personal skills. We get to choose people we like to work with and we are directly responsible for creating value for the society.
On the other hand, working for an employer has its own benefits. It gives us a regular and disciplined life. We have a fixed income and we do not need to worry about that. There is less tension and mental stress in our life. We might have to work with people we do not like that much but still we have to co-exist with them. This enables us to adapt in difficult situations and become expert in managing conflicts. By working for an employer, we gather insights about a business, its challenges and the ways to face and overcome them. We can also have a pretty good savings. Thus in the long run, we can use all these resources, knowledge and experience and become successful entrepreneurs.
Analyzing all these points, I would like to work for an employer first, acquire resources, knowledge and experience for some years, make sharp plans and strategies and then become self-employed or own a business when I am fully prepared.