Endeavour and Impact – CET

Deeksha’s approach to CET: Deeksha has a robust academic programme that helps our children prepare for competitive exams in a systematic manner. The content provided covers both the Board-prescribed syllabus and the syllabi of different competitive examinations like JEE, NEET and CET, giving children the best of both worlds.

When we look at CET, the preparation starts right from the first year., The weekly tests for CET are conducted on Mondays, ensuring that children get sufficient time to study over the weekends. The tests are based on both Class 11 and 12 concepts, but mainly from Class 12. For children who really commit themselves to their learning, Deeksha provides a great platform and supports them in their academic journey.

Another advantage in CET is the absence of negative marking. There is scope of making intelligent guesses and it can, at times, be a game changer.

Success Mantra: In addition to Deeksha’s quality content and great teaching, children are also motivated to step up and commit to their goals and put in the required efforts to succeed!

Our manuals are great to refer to while children prepare for CET.  Parallelly, they can attempt chapter-wise tests on the eDUCATOR app. Children need to ensure that they make the best use of time and allot a minimum of 2 hours a day for competitive exam preparation.

Common qualities of top-scorers: Ability to stay focused, time-management, optimal utilisation of resources, referring additional books and taking multiple mock tests.

Samarth S Rao

Deeksha, Main Campus, Bengaluru (2019-21)
KCET – 165 Rank (Engineering)
Currently studying Computer Science Engineering @ PESIT

My Deeksha journey – My time in Deeksha was very rewarding. Though the second year was largely online, the resources that were provided by Deeksha during this phase were amazing! During the lockdown everything changed in matter of days. But Deeksha had all its resources ready, making the transition from offline to online very smooth. We also had an amazing set of teachers, who were our main source of support!

Role of my teachers – I would like to thank my teachers – Renuka Prasanna Sir for Chemistry, Shyam Vadlamani Sir for Maths and Gaurav Chakravarty Sir for Physics. Owing to their vast teaching experience and having guided so many children over the years, they were able to identify our study and learning patterns and suggest learning strategies to excel.

Initially, when I was struggling to focus due to multiple tests that we were taking, Shyam Sir, who was my dP advised me to see the multiplicity of these tests in perspective as they are devised to help us cope with the highly competitive exams. This was very reassuring and helped me prepare for finals with renewed zeal.

During the last few months before exams, our teachers would send us question papers and worksheets every day, for additional practice. This was beyond the regular tests that we took and helped in building our confidence. It was wonderful that our teachers were able to go the extra mile in helping us, amidst their busy teaching schedules.

My preparation for CET – I set out with the goal of studying Computer Engineering in a top college. Since I was also a JEE aspirant, I used to prepare simultaneously for JEE, along with board exam syllabus. After two attempts at JEE, although I got a decent score, it wasn’t enough for me to get the course and college of my choice. I assessed the situation realistically and started my CET preparation with absolute focus. My pillars of support during these two years were two of my closest friends – Utkarsh and Harsha. We called each other daily and set up a daily target for chapters to be studied. This turned out to be a great effort and gave us a platform to exchange tips and best practices, adding value to our academic journey together.

As CET had two main aspects to it – speed and accuracy, my approach was to start by solving multiple papers, while timing myself. Towards the end, as a group, we would have solved CET question papers of the last 10 years in PCM subjects. I also referred to question banks, which had important questions extracted from the previous years’ papers, which helped me get the additional concepts cleared. I started with the most challenging topics and got thorough in them.

Based on the inputs from my seniors, I decided to excel in accurately marking the answers in CET. In CBTs (Computer Based Tests), there is   an option to change our response.  In contrast, in CET an OMR (Optical Mark Reading/Recognition) sheet is used to record the responses in ink, making it impossible to change the response. These were the minute but significant factors that we must take note of. So, we printed the OMR sheets and practiced on it in order to replicate the real exam situations.

Study Routine – During online sessions, after my classes, I would dedicate 5-6 hours to self-study. During the study holidays, my friends and I planned 6 hours of mock tests, which were split into three hours in the morning, followed by lunch break and then three hours in the afternoon. We did not stress out by overburdening ourselves and that helped us relax better.

My tip for CET aspirants is that apart from thorough revision, ensure that you prepare with standard examination conditions, preferably with an OMR sheet.