Navid Hassan
The dream started off in the middle of my first year of college, when a friend of mine tried to convince me that Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka UNniversity was a better choice than any engineering institution. The thought had never crossed my mind before because I too chose to join an engineering institute based on societal and familial pressure and stereotypes. But a very close senior of mine talked to me and helped me convince my parents, so that they would let me pursue this line of education. In the end, I was determined to pursue a BBA degree.
For anyone who wants to study BBA, their first choice of institution is most likely to be the Dhaka University Institution of Business Administration (DU IBA), as it is considered to be the best business school of the country. I was planning to finish my undergrad studies in Bangladesh, so IBA was the best option for me. The few months before my HSC examination were probably the most excruciating. The pressure kept building up more and more every day as the examination crept closer. Many might say that a good GPA is not a necessity if you want to pursue a BBA degree. In my opinion, cutting a good GPA in HSC helps you gain a boost of self confidence before the admission period starts, and makes your parents happy, too. In the end, I was able to score a good GPA, so I myself am a good example of that.
The latter period was even harder than I had anticipated. I hung out with my friends, did things I wanted to do, which I couldn’t do before because I didn’t really leave home much from the October of 2018 till the end of HSC. I tried enjoying myself a bit before the beginning of the intense race I was about to dive into.
I was admitted to the Mentor’s Kalabagan branch by the end of April. But I did something that I primarily thought was preposterous but later turned out to be really helpful. I took admission into an all-English Medium batch with a friend of mine because she convinced me that the competition would help me grow faster. As I considered myself an introvert, I didn’t really talk much in class and was in constant fear of not being able to keep up. But as time went by, I started making friends and found out my weaknesses and strengths. I found out how much self-confidence can boost one’s performance, and discovered that I was pretty good at mathematics. I slowly started to bring my days into a routine. You can expect someone to indulge in studying every single day for a long period of time. But I wanted some time to myself, so I allocated my studying times accordingly.
There were two parts to the IBA written examination: The MCQ section and the descriptive section. The first section had three subject parts: Communication skills (English skills), mathematics — which requires you to solve basic problems — and lastly, the analytical ability test.
I used to do fifty mathematical problems in one sitting, trying to solve them within an hour. As for English, the daily lectures were adequate for grammar and I mostly focused on building up my vocabulary bank gradually. I followed my instructor’s advice, did two puzzles and a few critical reasoning questions from the “GRE Bigbook” every day to practice for the analytical ability assessment section. That is how my preparation went on for two months; then monotony hit me hard, and I started to slack off.
As the exam date came closer, I picked up my pace and started solving questions as I was already done with basic preparation. I never missed a mock exam and set a goal to not drop below the top 30 scorers there, which I did in a few exams. But scoring in the top 10s gave me a boost of confidence — maybe IBA wasn’t as impossible for me as I thought it to be.
November 8th — the exam was unexpectedly harder than those of other years. I was heartbroken, as I thought I was not going to get in. But I pushed through successfully. Determination is the key, and I was determined to finish this exam with my best performance. At the end of the day, all the effort was worth it. Confidence and determination is the key. Giving it your all, even if you’re stacked against the wall, can drag you to your goal.