The commonest query of students about the last minute preparations!

It has been very common for me to be getting messages and emails from anxious students just 1 -2 days before any entrance exam. The emails ask a variety of questions about the last minute preparation.

If I combine all the queries received till now all these years, one central query emerges - "What should I do on this last day before the exam? What should I study?

It's a mistake by you, if you assume that today is that special day that can change the result completely and create a miracle tomorrow - you are completely wrong.

Last day of preparation before the exam doesn't have to be different, if...
1. you have designed a study plan that covers all your weak areas.
2. your study plan extends till the last day before the exam.

You better stick to the same plan and follow it with dedication and discipline. Remember that study plans are made individual specific and situation specific. They are made to bring more clarity to your goals and objectives. In short, study plans are supposed to bring you more rewards by simplifying your task and hurdles.

So why do you want to complicate it on the last day when you are supposed to make it even simpler and more rewarding?

What you should do and what you shouldn't?

1. Don't wear out today. Don't tire yourself out today.

If you are thinking that you have to do "one quick last revision of all questions today" you are wrong. You will achieve nothing other than overburdening yourself with a non-rewarding task, unnecessarily. Even if you do nothing today, your performance will hardly vary tomorrow. Whatever good had to be done, whatever damage had to be done, has already been done. Now you can't change much. So why not focus on a better performance tomorrow instead of inviting a bad performance?

2. Do whatever that adds to your confidence.

What you need the most at this hour is confidence and not some more familiarity with questions or answers given by differing authors. Trust yourself. Avoid anything that burdens you or makes you anxious.

a. Avoid "controversial" question discussions.
b. Mute the MCQ spamming whatsapp groups.

3. Focus on peak performance.

Your peak performance is tomorrow. Not today. So don't exhaust all your energy today by stretching your limits up to 3 am. Instead reserve your performance for tomorrow - wake up fresh, enjoy the exam and later party till 3 am. Remember that there are no consolation prizes for your regrets. No consolation prizes for a hard work done today that would rob you of a peak performance tomorrow.

Relax today.
Wake up early tomorrow and enjoy a good morning walk.
Give your peak performance.

Good luck..

The sure-fire formula to crack any entrance exam!

All students who have been our alumni at Target Educare are well aware of this term that we keep bombarding every year to every batch and every student. In fact 'Core Concept' has been our 'Core Philosophy' for the last 10 years. It has been synonymous with our line of thinking and the kind of learning we want all the students to undergo.

What is a core concept? 

It is basically a central concept around which many other secondary concepts revolve and if you are able to master the core concept and connect it to the secondary concepts it will so strongly be ingrained in your mind that you will never forget it.

It is a very robust, scientifically perfect and extremely logical tool, which is not vulnerable to memory lapses. It will help you analyze any new question as you will be able to make inroads into the question.

You can call it a lazy man's tool. It is designed for students who are lazy, who don't want to work too much on thousands of MCQs but want results in the first attempt without getting trapped in the tsunami of MCQs.

What is most likely keeping you away from your rank?

There are people who don't know there is something wrong in their preparation. And there are people who know there is something wrong in the way they are preparing; yet they take no action to correct themselves.

Taking action is the part most people don't do. It is not enough if you are aware of where others are going wrong, where you are going wrong, and what are the corrective measures to be taken. The need of the hour is to take action. This is one trait that defines successful people and separates them from others.

AIPG is one month away. 30 days are not too many but just enough to implement the changes and get a mindblowing result.

It is much better and much safer than doing a faulty line of thinking that 'where is the time to make that change when only 30 days are left. I have been doing these three books and about 400 to 500 MCQ per day. Why break that routine!'.

The real question and the ultimate decider is 'whether your current strategy is giving you enough knowledge and confidence or it is making you just familiar with MCQs.'

Ask yourself today ~ 'Are you on the right path? Or you need to change?'

"Take Action"

The Secret Trick to Cracking Entrance Exams

The chaos of MDS exams. How to ensure you emerge as a winner?

You have two options.
1. Remain "fragile" - you will get easily broken when subjected to stress or disorder of workload. 
2. Be robust and resilient - make yourself resistant to breakage and distortion. Manage stress successfully.

Which one of the two options you want to get yourself into? 
Obviously the second. But that's because I gave you only two options. 

The question is - "Are these the only two options?".
No. There is a third one ~ Being "Antifragile".    

An antifragile object actually benefits by being under stress or disorder.

There are thousands of students making mistakes all the while; for e.g
1. Following popular methods of preparation - doing a lot of MCQs everyday without checking whether it's helping or not
2. Comparing MCQ books to see who has given right or wrong
3. Asking others what is the right answer
4. Not able to maintain the pace of study till the end of exam
5. Playing victim and blaming exam pattern, MCQ books, exam board, etc.
If you are antifragile you will be able to exploit these situations.
Stress is common to all. It's upto you whether to break, just stay resistant or gain from the stress.
Get wise when others are going wrong . Gain from others' mistakes. Be antifragile; not just resistant.

One grave mistake that's most likely to cost you a rank!

(This blog was written on the Target Educare Facebook Page on December 6th, 2014 - a good one and a half month before the AIPG 2015 exam. It sounded like a warning, and came true. AIPG 2015 had a lot of new questions and new pattern. Read on!)

If your preparation is not good enough to solve any new question or a newer form of an old question, be sure that you will be left behind.Even if you have solved and revised all MCQ books ten times and lucky enough to get 180/200 questions repeating in AIPG, still you can't be sure of a rank. The reason is these 180 MCQs will be repeats for everybody, for all your competitors- several thousands of them who would also answer them correct along with you. So you will have no unique advantage or edge over others. In such situations, the actual competition remains concentrated in the remaining 20 'newer' questions. In every exam, it is the newer questions that decide the fate of students - victories and disappointments.

That's why whenever someone writes to me and explains in an email that he/ she has 'revised' these MCQ books - "Book ABC" 5 times, "Book PQR" 7 times and "Book XYZ" 6 times it conveys nothing to me. It only talks of their 'efforts - to get familiar with Questions' and tells nothing about the 'results - his/her capacity to solve any new question'. This explains why students feel disappointed with the results "even after reading everything". 

You may have done your best - but only in a wrong direction; and your best was not good enough simply because you were not the only one appearing for the exam and there were many others who were better than you.
That's why whenever someone writes to me and explains in an email that he/ she has 'revised' these MCQ books - "Book ABC" 5 times, "Book PQR" 7 times and "Book XYZ" 6 times it conveys nothing to me. It only talks of their 'efforts - to get familiar with Questions' and tells nothing about the 'results - his/her capacity to solve any new question'. This explains why students feel disappointed with the results "even after reading everything". 
You may have done your best - but only in a wrong direction; and your best was not good enough simply because you were not the only one appearing for the exam and there were many others who were better than you.
That's why whenever someone writes to me and explains in an email that he/ she has 'revised' these MCQ books - "Book ABC" 5 times, "Book PQR" 7 times and "Book XYZ" 6 times it conveys nothing to me. It only talks of their 'efforts - to get familiar with Questions' and tells nothing about the 'results - his/her capacity to solve any new question'. This explains why students feel disappointed with the results "even after reading everything". 

You may have done your best - but only in a wrong direction; and your best was not good enough simply because you were not the only one appearing for the exam and there were many others who were better than you.

Take home point: Minimize your over-dependence on repeat questions; it may cost you a rank. Instead develop your analytical capabilities to solve any new question!