Success story : Ashish Verma (PD at IDC-IITB and CPDM-IISc)

Ashish Verma (PD at IDC-IITB and CPDM-IISc)

Hello,

         I am Ashish, I am just about to graduate with a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Noida. I have lived here my whole life but now it’s a sudden change in it, a new city and new opportunities, got selected for MDes in Product Design and Engineering at IISc Bangalore.

        Frankly speaking I never thought of becoming a designer, I was preparing for GATE essentially I should be talking about CEED, but I don’t have much cause I had the bare minimum preparation for it. But yes I was sincere in my preparation for GATE , I was devout in giving the best of me in whatever was coming my way, guess sincerity and hard work are the only two paths for success and I gave CEED, got a pretty good rank, and into both the design schools. 

         I came to know about CEED at the end of July 2013 searched the wits out for information about this exam in the internet and the bible was at a single place the whole time, TeaCupBlog. I filled up the application form without delay and looked up into this site, every bit of information, tips about preparing, and all the resources required for CEED. A big thanks to Prasanna sir for helping out thousands of aspirants all around India, the way he is helping people is praiseworthy.

       I have been sketching my whole life, since childhood and even now I cant stop scribbling stuff with my charcoal and graphite pencils. I don’t know any design software’s, why start something you cannot finish, so with full trust I have mastered my skills with pencils. You have to be creative, visualize a scenario, have a picture of it in your head, be as perfect as you can, pour it out of your mind, be your hands be the medium, and see the wonder you have created, nothing is perfect but with persistent dedication you will be a nano distance from equaling that mark.

       Now I have some tips which I implemented about preparing for CEED, DAT’S and Interviews:

1. Have a basic knowledge and general awareness about the recent headlines, you can consult Manorama online or even the quarterly/yearly books that are available
2. Speed is a big constraint in this exam, draw fast, don’t use scale, protractors, compass and stuff. Rely on basic hand sketching, it doesn’t have to be perfect, you just have to be creative.
3. Chill out, relax and enjoy the paper, it’s a full 3 hour roller-coaster ride.
4. DAT’s at IIT and IISc are very different, for IDC you need to have good knowledge about materials, manufacturing processes, design synthesis, sustenance of your design, and good working hands
5. IDC has a material test also(for PD only), don’t be all fancy on your work, try creating something useful out of the given materials, use them economically.
6. Interview panel is very friendly, have good communication skills, your portfolio is important here, a basic engineering knowledge, and don’t fake anything just be yourself.
7. Whereas at IISc, the written test was in 2 parts this year each for 1.5 hours. In the 1^st paper there were questions on aptitude and then there were engineering questions on thermodynamics, trusses, bending moment diagram, network analysis, functions maxima/minima, fluid mechanics, kinematics, probability and chemical constituents, we had to attempt 5 out of 11. The next paper was purely design based, you need to have latest information on technological advancements, frisk info on materials, redrawing an object from an image, design issues in common things, re-designing them. Just observe things around you more often you’ll be able to counter questions based on your acquired experience or get close to solving them.
8. The interview was a tough one, they test your approach to basic engineering questions, they’ll be according to your background architecture/engineering, your interest in joining this course, again communication skills, confidence. btw, they were barely interested in my portfolio here.

At last I would like to take the opportunity to thank Prasanna Gadkari sir again, Trivikram Annamalai sir, Karthika Ramanujam ma'm, and Bhavik Grover. Because of you people mostly I was able to achieve this feat.

Feel free to drop your queries at - ashish.pablo@gmail.com

Or connect with me on facebook - www.facebook.com/ashish.verma.7771 

All the Best. Keep Designing.