UCEED Topper Interview 2022 : In Conversation With Sagnik Ghosh – AIR 3

UCEED Topper Interview 2022 : In Conversation With Sagnik Ghosh – AIR 3 

UCEED or Undergraduate Common Entrance Test for Design is one of the prime Entrance Exam for entering the Design courses at IITs & IIITs. The total number of candidates 11,713 appeared in UCEED 2022 , out of which Sagnik Ghosh was one of the few who rose to the top with an All India Rank (AIR) 3.

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Sagnik Ghosh has almost secured his seat at IIT Bombay. To check his awesome creations, you may visit his Instagram & Facebook Handles :

https://instagram.com/meghmalhar_?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y

https://www.facebook.com/sagnik.ghosh.731572

Harshita : Congratulations for securing AIR 3 in UCEED. Did you expect to be the topper of UCEED exam?

Sagnik : Honestly, when I went to write the exam, I hadn't really thought of securing such a rank. My only aim was to give in my best, and reach the peak of my performance. But after the exam, I was really happy with my performance, I knew I had performed better than I had expected.

After the release of the Part A answer key, my score came to 183.87 out of 240 in Part A, which was almost equal to the part A score of the previous year UCEED topper. After this I indeed expected to get into an IIT, probably Bombay, given, the average score didn't rise too high this year. But I hadn't really expected to secure AIR 3. I had come across a number of people in the telegram aspirant groups, who claimed to have scored 180+, and the median score too, was much higher than that of the previous year. In fact, even the day before the declaration of the results, I was way too nervous.

Though I had dreamt of getting into IITB after the release of the answer key, AIR 3 was far beyond my expectations.

Harshita : The Competition in the exam is quite high. What would be the perfect strategy a student can adopt to crack UCEED Examination?

Sagnik : The first thing I'd say about this, is to not think about the competition. It's pretty normal for a person to feel under-confident, due to the high competition, given that there are only 37 seats in IITBombay, and the number of candidates is around 12000. The outlook that I had held all the while was, I don't really need to compete for all the seats, I simply need that one seat, which is there for me, and which I'll be given after I complete the examination. The moment one thinks of it this way, you gain a lot of confidence, which is undoubtedly a determining factor in a mostly aptitude based exam like UCEED.

Secondly, the best strategy would be to chalk out one's weaker, and stronger sections in the paper. Against the general trend, one needs to work more on his more confident sections, so that he might score the best out of it. Because you never need to answer all the questions in the paper, scoring 160+ out of 240 is generally enough to fetch you to a good rank. So it's always wise to chalk out a proper plan as to which topics one would aim to score the most out of, and which topics one would omit. Also, it's preferable to avoid answering the questions that you aren't confident about, to avoid the negative scores.

Harshita : Having the right set of Books and study material is always a must for any exam preparation. What Books and Study materials would you recommend for UCEED preparation?

Sagnik : UCEED isn't like most other exams where you need to study from textual books/ study materials. It's more about ones aptitude and creative ability, so it's essential to work on skills and aptitude, instead of following a definite book. I had taken the BArch study materials from BRDS, and the UCEED learning course from Silica. But I hadn't really used their study materials or text books. But the practice questions, and the test papers indeed offered great help. I had also used a few books with puzzle and aptitude tests, for practice questions. Practicing as many questions as possible, definitely proves helpful.

Instead of following notes/ study materials/ text books from other external sources, I would insist one should make his or her own notes. That way you already have an idea what your notes contain. I had maintained a notes copy from the very first day that I had started preparing for the exam. I used to take down the things that I felt I should work more on, and gather further knowledge or expertise in. Though the GK part had been excluded in the exam this year, it was helpful for the other design entrance tests like NID, and NIFT.

Harshita : Students start their preparation for Examinations like JEE and NEET mostly just after passing class 10th or sometimes even before that or after they enter class 12th. When did you start your preparation for UCEED and how did you go for it? Kindly take us through your journey

Sagnik : Speaking honestly, I had started preparing for design entrance exams right after my class 10th boards. I had been introduced to the design courses back in 2018, when I was in class 9, during a career counseling session conducted in our school. I appeared for my class 10 boards (ICSE) back in 2020, just before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. I had started preparing during the pandemic, though my preparations in the initial phase had been focused more on NID UG, than on the UCEED examination. That being said, starting late for UCEED isn't really an issue, because the exam tests your reasoning, observation, common sense, creative and numerical ability along with your ability to deal with real life problems. And for all these, you simply need to work on your alertness, focus, and determination.

I had never been a JEE or NEET, aspirant, though I pursued science in high school.

I had never really devoted all my time into preparing for the exam. I had always been passionate about art and design, and I remember completing a painting even the day before the exam.

I used to sit with sample and past years papers, and my notes copy, once or twice every week, and stay with it for around 5-6 hours at max, and this continued till last December, 3 weeks before the exam. After the NID exam on 2nd of Jan, 2022, I used to sit with the UCEED past year papers and sample papers, almost every day, but not more than a couple of hours each day.

Harshita : The Drawing section in UCEED is also a must to crack the examination. So, how did you prepare for the drawing section of UCEED?

Sagnik : The drawing section carries 60 marks, and you get only 30 mins to complete it. Therefore, it's not just tests your observation, creativity, and skills, but also your efficiency, accuracy and your ability to recall things in proper time.

The question generally asks one to depict a real life situation, with a number of criteria and details mentioned in the question. The drawing section was introduced just in 2020, and the last 2years it didn't ask the candidate to draw a human figure, unlike this time in 2022, when it clearly asked for human figures in a school canteen room.

So it's essential to brush up one's drawing and sketching skills, along with developing a sharp observation power, in order to achieve a good score in the drawing section.

For that one can definitely start with the basics of drawing, like human figures and drawing objects in 2d and 3d, in different perspectives( 1point, 2point and 3point ). The line quality, and shading should also be given equal importance. Drawing basic shaped repeatedly in 2d and 3d can help achieve that. Besides, one should read the question really well, to note the details about the time, light, and other details mentioned and effectively use them in the sketch, so that their sketch stands out better against the thousands of other copies.

Harshita : What is the ideal time to start taking mock Tests & What role do mock tests play in Preparation? What was your strategies in particular towards mock tests?

Sagnik : I would definitely recommend that one should start taking mock tests as early as possible. Because unlike other entrance tests like JEE and NEET, one doesn't need to cover a definite syllabus before starting to solve the papers. In fact, I had started my preparations only with sample papers and past years papers. And after 2-3 weeks of preparation, I would suggest that when one should start taking mock tests, or maybe solve the sample papers in a time bound manner( 2 and half hours), just like a proper mock test. That way one can not only judge his position well enough, but also chalk out his strengths and weaknesses, as I had mentioned earlier. Following a strict time limit from the very beginning shall also help in increasing one's speed and accuracy with time.

Mock tests, and other test papers definitely play a major role in the UCEED preparations. When I had completed my first mock test paper back in 2020, my score had been somewhere around 110/240. And solving a test paper doesn't only mean answering the questions and evaluating your score. It's essential that one understands the flaws and the back logs and improves them in the subsequent tests.

For example, I remember not being able to answer any question regarding photography and animation, in the initial phase, but once I made a mistake in one paper, I made sure I coveted every relevant thing related to it, before I appeared for another test.

Harshita : What advice would you like to give the future aspirants of UCEED & share with us the strategies you used to stay motivated in your exam days.

Sagnik : One thing that I'd tell every aspirant out there, is that no exam, or academic score going to determine their worth in life. One shouldn't look at UCEED, or any other exam just as a milestone that they need to achieve, instead if they look at it as a journey and a learning experience, the process becomes much more enjoyable. It's definitely essential to give into it one's best, because when you do something wholeheartedly, that boosts your confidence.

Making a proper strategy, is essential for every examination. And the best strategy is the one that works best for you. It depends on one's own capabilities, strengths, and interests. I would never recommend that you follow the strategies that worked well for other people. But learning from their journeys, and studying the exam pattern along with the trends in questions, one can definitely find out the exam strategy that works best for him.

During the two years of my preparations, every school and educational institutions was closed due to the ongoing pandemic, and therefore it was extremely important to keep myself focused, calm and motivated all the way. Undeniably, there had been a lot of days when I had questioned my choices, my abilities, and worth, when I had failed to accomplish any of the tasks in my daily to-do lists, especially during the 2nd wave of the pandemic. But the only thing that matters during those days, is keeping faith in yourself and not losing hope. For me, painting, poetry, cinema, crafting, cooking and other recreational activities like evening walks, hanging out with friends and social media did help in keeping myself going, and growing through all of it.

With sufficient efforts and dedication, and by using one's time and energy in a productive manner anyone can prepare well for the examination. Just a couple of hours every three or four days is enough to start with the preparations for UCEED. With time and dedication, everything can be made possible. Spending a few hours every week, from the very beginning, will take you to a much better place, than spending 16 hours a day, a month before the exam. When there's will and determination, fueled by passion, no exam be too hard an obstacle on your path.