"ASD Results."
That was the subject line of the mail, I received in my inbox, which made my heart skip a beat. In fact anything to do with results always gets me fidgety and this was no different. With regained composure, I opened the mail. The anxiety in me suddenly turned into a deep rage. Our training coordinator had sent the mail only to inform that there would be a slight delay in obtaining the results due to unforeseen reasons. If only I could lay my hands on our coordinator. Firstly, I would have given him a substantial amount of verbal dose. Secondly, I would have set out a training course for him where they train you on how to write apt 'mail subject lines'. I mean, you just cant write a subject line saying something and mean something else. There's got to be some relevance.
Nevertheless, it took around two more days for those unforeseen reasons to get sorted out and there I was staring at my ASD results. It took some time to sink in. I had cleared the exam with 12 strengths, which I later realised was the highest ever in Symbian India. I was in a state of disbelief, but then I couldn't help being delighted too. I had pulled off one of the most challenging exams with amazing "results".
I call the exam "challenging" because it measures you on numerous parameters. There are five options to a given question. There could be multiple right answers. As if that wasn't difficult enough, you are also tested on the level of difficulty of the question. Say, if its an easy question(who decides whether its an easy question? - the guys who've set the paper) and if you get it wrong, you ll be penalised heavily, but if you get it right, you are not awarded as heavily as you would have been penalised, had you got it wrong. Confusing? My sense of reason had gone for a toss on hearing this. Then to add to all this, they also measure you on your speed. I mean, what's speed got to do with this. But that's the way the exam is and that's the way you are going to be judged.
Now to master all of these at one go is near impossible - at least that's what I thought. But then looking at the results one would think that I had reached a certain level in 'decoding' ASD. So, I thought, maybe, I could share some of my experiences which might just lend to your preparation, if at all you intend to give the exam.
Just in case if you have booked your date for ASD, then make the ASD Primer book your bible for the next few days. There' s no book which can prepare you better for this exam. You should at least read it once before D-Day. I read it twice. Then the sample paper available at the majinate site is a must solve. How to get the paper? Google ASD sample exam and you should get a link to a majinate website, which offers a free sample paper. I lost count of the number of times I solved that paper. Now you would ask why the same paper over and over again. Firstly, there isn't any other paper available. Secondly, I never got the answers correct on the first or even the second attempt. So I solved it repeatedly until I got it right. There are a few questions which do appear from this paper, so that was motivation enough for me to get it all right. At least I shouldn't miss out on these 'gift' questions if they do appear on the exam- that was my approach.
During the exam I got questions, which got me questioning and doubting my C++ skills. After the exam, I thought I was an illiterate as far as C++ is concerned. Believe me, C++ questions are really tough. Only later did I realise that the tougher the questions get, the more the chances you have of ending up with a high score. Because that's an indicator that you are doing well. So don't panic if you think the questions are tough. Its just that you are doing really well. Another thing which might have helped me was my speed. I completed the paper within 75 minutes, thanks to my reading speed. But then its more important to answer your questions correctly, rather than mess it up by being in a hurry.
Well that's my ASD story. Hope it helps. All the best for those preparing for it.
That was the subject line of the mail, I received in my inbox, which made my heart skip a beat. In fact anything to do with results always gets me fidgety and this was no different. With regained composure, I opened the mail. The anxiety in me suddenly turned into a deep rage. Our training coordinator had sent the mail only to inform that there would be a slight delay in obtaining the results due to unforeseen reasons. If only I could lay my hands on our coordinator. Firstly, I would have given him a substantial amount of verbal dose. Secondly, I would have set out a training course for him where they train you on how to write apt 'mail subject lines'. I mean, you just cant write a subject line saying something and mean something else. There's got to be some relevance.
Nevertheless, it took around two more days for those unforeseen reasons to get sorted out and there I was staring at my ASD results. It took some time to sink in. I had cleared the exam with 12 strengths, which I later realised was the highest ever in Symbian India. I was in a state of disbelief, but then I couldn't help being delighted too. I had pulled off one of the most challenging exams with amazing "results".
I call the exam "challenging" because it measures you on numerous parameters. There are five options to a given question. There could be multiple right answers. As if that wasn't difficult enough, you are also tested on the level of difficulty of the question. Say, if its an easy question(who decides whether its an easy question? - the guys who've set the paper) and if you get it wrong, you ll be penalised heavily, but if you get it right, you are not awarded as heavily as you would have been penalised, had you got it wrong. Confusing? My sense of reason had gone for a toss on hearing this. Then to add to all this, they also measure you on your speed. I mean, what's speed got to do with this. But that's the way the exam is and that's the way you are going to be judged.
Now to master all of these at one go is near impossible - at least that's what I thought. But then looking at the results one would think that I had reached a certain level in 'decoding' ASD. So, I thought, maybe, I could share some of my experiences which might just lend to your preparation, if at all you intend to give the exam.
Just in case if you have booked your date for ASD, then make the ASD Primer book your bible for the next few days. There' s no book which can prepare you better for this exam. You should at least read it once before D-Day. I read it twice. Then the sample paper available at the majinate site is a must solve. How to get the paper? Google ASD sample exam and you should get a link to a majinate website, which offers a free sample paper. I lost count of the number of times I solved that paper. Now you would ask why the same paper over and over again. Firstly, there isn't any other paper available. Secondly, I never got the answers correct on the first or even the second attempt. So I solved it repeatedly until I got it right. There are a few questions which do appear from this paper, so that was motivation enough for me to get it all right. At least I shouldn't miss out on these 'gift' questions if they do appear on the exam- that was my approach.
During the exam I got questions, which got me questioning and doubting my C++ skills. After the exam, I thought I was an illiterate as far as C++ is concerned. Believe me, C++ questions are really tough. Only later did I realise that the tougher the questions get, the more the chances you have of ending up with a high score. Because that's an indicator that you are doing well. So don't panic if you think the questions are tough. Its just that you are doing really well. Another thing which might have helped me was my speed. I completed the paper within 75 minutes, thanks to my reading speed. But then its more important to answer your questions correctly, rather than mess it up by being in a hurry.
Well that's my ASD story. Hope it helps. All the best for those preparing for it.
3 comments:
very well written... i guess this blog is gonna be a bible for all the guys preparing for ASD... as usual proud of ya... can we expect more blogs frm ya???
not exactly a bible.. but lets c.. certainly do hope to continue writing :)
Nicely done oh great scholar!!! :)
And it would be a must-see blog for all attempting ASD as you are after all the highest scorer in all of India!
Congrats Rajiv and all the best to all those referring this blog(and i mean that in the nicest possible way)!
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