Meet Aditya Ranjan, a first-year student at SIBM Bengaluru who hails from Mumbai. After completing his engineering in Electronics and Telecommunication from Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology (D.Y Patil), Mumbai University, Aditya worked for one year in the Sagar Defence Engineering and US MNC SENSUS. To improve his career prospects, Aditya decided to do an MBA and appeared for the SNAP exam in which he scored 98.70%ile. He is currently studying in the second semester of his MBA and wishes to take up Finance as his specialisation in his second year.
Did your educational background help you during test prep? Did it help you in subsequent rounds (GE-PI-WAT)?
My Science background (11th, 12th, Engineering) helped me in grasping QA concepts. I focused on the Logical Reasoning section from the very beginning of my preparation phase. SNAP is an unbiased exam which tested my verbal, analytical and quantitative skills.
The GE-PI-WAT process is decent. It tested my communication skills (oral and written), technical knowledge, confidence and my ability to handle stress.
What was your strong/weak section and what was your overall test-taking strategy?
My strength was Quant. The verbal section of SNAP is comparatively easier than the other exams. It is enough to read a newspaper daily for your GK section. Logical Reasoning was my weak point as I used to take a lot of time. SNAP being a speed based paper, one should focus on mental calculations and the elimination of wrong options.
What was your strategy for individual sections (Quant/Verbal/Data Interpretation/General Awareness/Reading Comprehension)?
We had a paper pen-based exam. From 2018 it would be online based. I am more convenient with the offline mode of exam. You can easily switch between sections in offline mode of exam. So, I focused mainly on the time management, speed and accuracy to first get my strong section in place, and then move over to the other difficult sections. Since Quant was my strength, I started with it to get the initial traction. I gave time to each and every section.
What do you think you did right during test prep? What was it that you did right on Test Day?
I would say the day was lucky for me as I could score well that day. I focused on accurately solving as many questions I could and as fast as I could. For me, leaving the seemingly difficult questions was very important.
How did you prepare for the group discussion? What was the topic and how did you tackle the GD round?
For group discussions, I was up to date on the current affairs. I had given a lot of mock GD which proved to be a great help. This gave me the confidence to speak in the GD.
In my GD, my topic was religion and science. It was a generic topic and we made sure our group did not make the GD a fish market. Everyone was given an opportunity to speak.
What resources did you use to refer while preparing for the essay writing? (Please mention the topic)
General reading of the newspaper and your own thought are sufficient for essay writing. Your thought needs to be clear and what you write should have concurrence with who you are.
How was the interview experience like? What was your preparation strategy and how did the interview turn out to be?
My interview experience was great, lasted for 10 minutes as far as I remember. It started with “Tell me about yourself” followed by some questions on my Work-ex, my dad’s profession and finally my thought on the Mumbai BMC elections.
You just need to be confident and know your resume inside out. You cannot bluff things. One of the important questions in an interview is “Tell me about yourself”. Try to make it as unique as possible.