Success Story : Harikrishnan KM (IISc and IITD)

 Dear friends,

Harikrishnan cracked both IISc and IITD this year. We are obliged to share his success story on this blog. The best feature about this story is the clarity with which he approached the DAT and interviews.

Hello everyone!!!

I am Harikrishnan from Kannur, Kerala. I graduated as an architect from NIT Calicut this year.

I used to sketch and render mostly for my architectural works and as a hobby. I am very passionate about photography. Designing has always been a source of enjoyment to me.

Before taking architecture I was planning to do mechanical engineering and then go for automobile designing.

After graduating from architecture I was initially confused about the path to choose –architecture or go for other design fields. I gave my GATE and CEED exams, came through and finally made up my mind to pursue M.des. Thanks to Prasanna sir, TeaCupBlog, Mayank, Sanoj, Labeeba, Shilpa, Thridev J for helping me to take this decision.

CEED exam:

Due to my hectic academic schedule I couldn’t prepare properly for the ceed exam. TeaCupBlog helped me find few topics on which I browsed the internet on the week before the exam. On the train me and my friends went through last few years’ question papers 

Part A:

 It basically tests your G.K in the design field.

Internet is your best friend here. Search information related to monuments, paintings, dances, music, designers, architects, directors, authors, current affairs (especially related to India) manufacturing processes, materials, photography, different types of views, typography, colour theory etc. 

PART B:

This part requires sketching and visualisation. Being an architecture student helped me a lot in this section.

DAT @ IISC

The DAT had general aptitude questions, basic engineering. questions and design questions.

I attempted everything except the engineering questions. In the design question I made sure that I first do the initial sketch and complete the rest of the general aptitude questions and finally do the rendering and shading for the design problem. This was to save time and not sit on the design problem for the entire length of the exam.

PORTFOLIO

Basically I divided it into sections, namely:

• Product design
• Architectural works
• Photography
• Sketches and models
• Other design works
• Internship works

INTERVIEW @CPDM, IISC BANGALORE 

Being from an architectural background they asked me questions relating architecture and product design. They asked me how the glass paper weight is made, what are the colourful bubbles inside, etc.

The panel basically tests your understanding of things around you, how it functions, any design interventions you could propose etc. You don’t get to explain what all you have included in your portfolio, they take a look at it themselves, and ask questions randomly.

DAT & INTERVIEW @ IDDC, IIT DELHI

The DAT had 2 parts:

•  Gen aptitude questions
• Design question- design a toy or any product u like and compose it in an A3 sheet

The interview panel had questions like why choose M.des after completing architecture and few architecture related questions. They just went through the portfolio.

So thats it !!!.. All the best to CEED aspirants. :)

Once again, thanks a lot to Prasanna sir and others who have contributed to the Teacupblog J

Please feel free to contact me at sing2hari@gmail.com