RutSum

BITSAT 2008 Questions & Preparation

This post was guest blogged by Sneezy Melon of The Goofy Express.

BITSAT 2008 is an important examination for engineering aspirants from all over India. Arguably, BITS Pilani is perhaps even the most prestigious institute for engineering studies in the country after the IITs. The admission is purely merit based and candidates are required to appear for the BITSAT Online Tests which are conducted over a series of days.

I took the BITSAT today and posted, earlier, about my experience and expected cutoff. This information might help all those who have selected dates later than 10th May in preparing for this important examination.

Let’s start from the basics. As aforesaid, the question paper consisted of four parts-

Part I : Physics (40 Questions)
Part II : Chemistry (40 Questions)
Part III : English Proficiency and Logical Reasoning (25 Questions)
Part IV : Mathematics / Biology (45 Questions)

Mathematics was for people with PCM in 10+2 and Biology was for people with PCB in 10+2.

Total Questions: 150

Total Time: 180 minutes (3 hours)

Bonus Questions: 12

Positive Marking : +3
Negative Marking: -1

There were 12 bonus questions available for all those who had attempted all 150 questions in the alloted time. The key was to answer questions with maximum speed and accuracy.

English Proficiency and Logical Reasoning
I suggest you start with Part III as it requires no calculations and not much thinking. All the 25 questions get easily answered in little time on applying simple logic. It also boosts your speed and leaves more time to be spent on other sections, which are tougher. I finished Part III in about 12 minutes.

Mathematics
After that you can move on to any other section as it won’t make much difference. However, attempting Mathematics next might prove to be a little advantageous as it seemed a bit on the easier side to me. Questions in Mathematics were mainly focussed on two topics, namely-

Functions
Integral Calculus

So be sure to practice as many questions as you can from these chapters. Get your basic concepts as clear as possible and do IIT level problems from good books like Tata Mc-Graw Hill for best performance.

Physics
Physics and Chemistry were more or less same in the difficulty level. Questions in Physics were also mainly focussed on two topics-

Electromagnetism (Including Static/Current Electriciy, Magnetism, Induction)
Rotation

I have noticed that almost all entrance examinations emphasize on rotation and mechanics in general. There were a few tough questions from thermodynamics also. I recommend you stick to HC Verma and/or Halliday Resnick Walker for physics preparation. Do as many numericals as you can and skip trivial topics and definitions as not knowing them will not hurt you.

Chemistry
Main topics covered in the Chemistry part of BITSAT 2008 were-

Inorganic Chemistry (s,p block)
Isomerism

I have specified isomerism in particular as about 5 out of the 40 questions were out of this topic only. Questions from physical chemistry were rare, but present. Pearson’s Guide to Objective Chemistry is the best book I have yet found for engineering related chemistry studies. There are other books as well, but concepts in them are usually overstated, understated or garbled up.

Important preparation material for BITSAT 2008 can also be purchased for Rs 600 from BitsatRace.Com

If you want to get a good rank in BITSAT 2008, study seriously and with good concentration. Stay off the internet, television, telephone and blogging as much as you can.

In the examination, dont try to guess answers as negative marking might land you a score lesser than what you deserve. Think clearly and don’t cheat as invigilation is very strict.

Best of Luck!

BITSAT 2008 Cutoff / Predicted Rank

This post was guest blogged by Sneezy Melon of The Goofy Express.

The BITSAT 2008 Online Tests for admission to the Birla Institute Of Technology Campuses at Pilani, Goa and Hyderabad kicked off yesterday, on the 9th of May 2008, and would go on for an odd 34 days till 12th June 2008. I took BITSAT today at the Eduquity Career Technologies buliding in Noida during the morning session (8:30 am - 11:30 am). Unlike ENAT-2008 (Manipal University), the procedure was pretty short and simple, and the test started in about 20 minutes of reporting. Another thing that is appreciable was that the officials were pre-prepared for students who had forgotten to bring along the proof of identity (photocopy of birth certificate / Xth Board marksheet / certificate / school identity card). They were provided with small printed forms saying-

I have not brought along my proof of identity for the BITSAT 2008. I am liable to produce the same at the time of admission to Birla Institute of Technology.

Then after cellphones were collected in packets and tokens were issued, each candidate was provided with a seat number and a rough-sheet pad containing 8 blank sheets. The test rooms were properly air conditioned and the monitors had anti-glare screens. The overall level of the test was not too simple and not too tough. Somewhat comparable to the AIEEE of this year.

The test had 150 total questions with the following breakup-

Part I : Physics (40 Questions)
Part II : Chemistry (40 Questions)
Part III : English Proficiencyand Logical Reasoning (25 Questions)
Part IV : Mathematics / Biology (45 Questions)

The time limit was 180 minutes (3 hours) which provided roughly 1.2 minutes for each question. An option to attempt an additional 12 bonus questions was available for students who had answered all the 150 questions in time. A correct answer resulted in +3 marks and a wrong answer resulted in -1 marks.

According to me, the cutoff for courses like BE Computer Science / Electrical & Electronics might be around 350 (out of a maximum of 450) and that for less popular courses like M.Sc. Biological Sciences might be around 250. Take a look at the last year cutoffs for BITSAT and decide for yourself-

My score is 291. What is yours?

The Ex

This post was guest blogged by Sneezy Melon of The Goofy Express.

It was bad. And that’s in subdued terms. It was so bad, I can’t actually remember why I dropped Shutter for it after all. Overacting? Yep. Bad Direction? Yep. Weak-In-The-Knees-Script? Yep. Character-Funnily-Resembling-George-Bush? Yep. Not-Jokes? Yep. It had it all. And it had nothing. You could make out it wasn’t a Hindi flick though. I bet Yash Raj could have easily created a three-hour blockbuster out of the same story. Maybe he would. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see Shahrukh Khan try convincing his angry wife Kajol Devgan how her school-time ex Saif Ali Khan is evil?! The good part- the movie got over before one could yawn. And the nachos, at least until the hidden hair was discovered.

Iron Man

One of the best superhero movies I have seen in recent times, Iron Man is a complete entertainer. Unlike other movies such as Superman and Spiderman, Iron Man seems more realistic, mainly because his power is based on gadgets rather than his genes, and also because the real life character of Iron Man (Tony Stark) is quite interesting rather than boring like Peter Parker or Clarke Kent. Apart from the fast-paced action and awesome gadgets, the movie has a lot of comedy, which makes it even more entertaining. No cliché scenes or dialogues, no bullshit. Everything is big - the sets, the weapons, the locations; which make it an out-of-the-world experience. Go watch this movie at your nearest cinema halls, make sure it has a good sound system.

The Mist - Pessimistic End

The Mist is a work of art, one of the finest ’shockers’ I’ve seen in recent times. I won’t classify it as a horror movie, because I don’t believe that was what Stephen King intended it to be.

The Mist is based on the popular novel by Stephen King, though the movie shows quite a departure from the plot of the book. The acting by all the artists is excellent, with special mention to Marcia Gay Harden and Toby Jones. Though I felt that Thomas Jane was an inappropriate choice for the character of the protagonist, who is supposed to be an artist, I think he did a pretty good job.

The movie is full of gore and thrilling horror, with CGI monsters, and a chilling soundtrack. The ending however is very pessimistic and gloomy. This ending was not a part of Stephen King’s book and was rewritten by the director. Though the movie, in whole is a suspense, I would like to believe that Stephen King wants to potray the way in which people tend to behave in situations of disaster or crisis, and the decisions people make when they have absolutely no hope of survival, rather than just making people squeal and scream in their seats.