Let me tell you a short story. Really, a short one. I wake up at 3 a.m., brush and sit to study in a room quite isolated from the inmates of the hostel. Why? Because, I have a very fickle mind, focus is hard to get. But once I get it, I can do a good magnitude of work without being disturbed.
But why do I need to get up at 3? Just for the feel of it? No.
I am part of our Institute brass band. This means commitment. We practice in the mornings and evenings while the rest of the hostel have their games and study hours respectively. Band is fun, and that reason alone is enough for us to spend our time in this rather than that. However, when you have Actuarial exams to clear, things get a little tricky.
You have to find time for your university academics and also practice questions for your upcoming MAS-I and/or MAS-II exams. It means business.
So there are three things on my plate
- The Brass Band
- University Exams
- Actuarial Exams
But this isn’t the end. We follow a tight schedule day in and out, in our hostel at SSSIHL. The main motivation of studying in that place is getting closer to God, as without his grace none of what I am about to tell you would have been possible.
So, after college, we are given sufficient time to relax, have tea and then we head for Mandir to sing Bhajans (devotional songs) which if done correctly, gives us the energy to fight against whatever problems we are facing in our lives.
Thus if I can consolidate all the “free” timings that I have in a day, we get:
8:00 – 8:45 am (post breakfast)
12:30 – 1:00 pm (post lunch)
4:00 – 5:20 pm (tea time)
6:45 – 7:15 pm (after Mandir)
7:30 – 8:00 pm (after Dinner)
Quite fragmented right? So, you always have to be in the zone; keep planning about the next step and allow not even a single minute to be wasted. Now that I reflect back, I realise how our institute trains our mind to achieve things even when time is less. This turned out to be a blessing as we will see later.
We normally have study hours from 8:00 to 9:40 pm, during which our classmates will be reading academic textbooks and we will be reading music scores.
So, what do I do now? I might sound like I am complaining, and it might be true that I was, back then. But what I want to highlight is that when we have a lot on our plate, we ourselves are to blame, and we will have to prioritize and get things done. Otherwise we shouldn’t have opted for it in the first place.
I chose this institute because I loved the system (and eventually the reason turned to God).
I opted in for the Band because I loved music.
I chose Actuarial Science because I was highly inspired by my mentor and my seniors (both students and working Actuaries).
I cannot go back. All I needed to do is balance.
But wait, it isn’t over yet, I have to revise the list:
- The Brass Band
- University Exam: Takes place in November 2022, just after my Actuarial Exam
- Actuarial Exam: Writing MAS-I in the November 2022 diet
- Hostel events
We love to say that our hostel is a place where…
“Each lives for the other and all live for God.”
We have many subsequently occuring events. They may be house events (like Gryffindor) consisting of Drama, Orchestra, Sports etc. Or they may be festivals like Krishna Asthami, Dusshera and many more. During those events we all come together, participate and give it our best.
All our house events take place in the odd semster, and this year especially it was very tightly packed. For instance, this year the orchestra and drama events were spaced a week apart. And we had been told about the dates at a very short notice.
Now, I had to choose. I couldn’t do everything, I had to say “no” to something. Obviously I couldn’t cross out the first two items in the list above. So the choice was between writing MAS-I in November or participating in house events.
I thought for a while, prayed even and then came to the resolution that its best to skip the Actuarial Exam diet and work hard in the Hostel events. Why? Because, if not then what’s the point? (Yes, referencing you, Stories by Shriram)
My reasoning was not flawed. The original plan was to write MAS-I in the odd semester and MAS-II in the even semester. But now that the odd semester was crowded with events, I wouldn’t be able to do well in everything.
But, the even semester was very free (and we wouldn’t have band practice for events during this time). So, there was not much to think about, I had to write two exams in the May 2023 diet.
At the end we lost the house cup (and also both the Drama and Orchestra events in which I had actively participated). But we did make memories.
After the odd-sem ended, we conduct our sports meet, the last event in which the Band performs. After that got over, I had time to study.
But first, I had to prepare for MAS-I. As time flew past quickly, I developed the conciousness that I was not well prepared in MAS-I and the exam was nearing quick. I had other peers who had written and cleared this exam and now they were preparing for MAS-II.
Then I consoled myself, that I won’t be able to write both exams in this diet, as I felt sad about it.
Enters February. Since, I had only one exam to prepare for I was quite relaxed and prepared nicely for MAS-I. But then I got an itch, “I have so much time now, can’t I study for the other exam too?” I think it was a byproduct of the training I got in the last semester, the blessing I was talking about before.
One day, I saw one of my peers studying for MAS-II and asked him how tough is it. Then I took the material and started reading. “Mmm… I think I can do it”, I thought to myself. So, I started preparing silently, without any hopes of writing the exam. Why? Divine intervention. I believe that Swami (how I refer to God) put this thought in my head.
This continued. But there was another thing added to our plate. We had sent a video introducing the Actuarial members in our Brass Band to the admins of the Global Conference of Actuaries 2023. They invited us to perform in the Actuarial Gala Function & Awards (AGFA) that would take place in the GCA in March 2023.
Super excited as we were, I knew this would mean a lot of study time being spent in practice. Yet, we whole heartedly practiced and it was worth it.
After returning from Delhi, I knew that it was time for me to go full throttle with my studies. And now that I was a bit involved with MAS-II, I thought, I might actually be able to do it. So, I started waking up earlier and conserved my energy throughout the day to focus on my studies and get through without dozing off.
This is why I started waking up at 3.
I simultaneously prepared for both the exams. Practicing sample exams. Realising that I am underprepared for MAS-I, I started working hard at that too. Times were not pretty, I tell you. I was even more worried as I had only one month left. But since, I had paid the fees for both the exams, I continued preparing.
In the end, I passed both the exams.
