How to Prepare for CMI MSc Data Science Entrance Exam

The best starting point for preparation of any Entrance Examination is the official college/university admissions page .

Find the link below :

https://www.cmi.ac.in//admissions/syllabus.php

If you go to the link above, you would find a brief description of the exam format & syllabus along with links to previous year question papers and sample paper. If you dig deeper you can also get a detailed syllabus along with a set of prescribed books, link below:

https://www.cmi.ac.in/admissions/syllabus/datascience-syllabus.pdf

Let's dissect the syllabus coverage :

1. Maths & Statistics

2. Boolean logic and truth tables

3. Pseudocode (ability to understand loops)

The above segmentation is based on my understanding of the exam pattern and I was selected for this course in 2018 but I came to ISI, that's another point of discussion!

Let's go to each section:

1. Maths & Statistics:

For this section, get hold of a good JEE Maths book (Buy from Amazon from here) and try and cover the syllabus of the CMI MSc Data Science Exam. Additionally, you will need to go through a bit of material on some standard probability distributions like Normal Distribution. 

2.  Boolean logic and truth tables:

Refer any standard source, as the questions asked are quite straightforward in nature.

3. Pseudocode (ability to understand loops)

This portion tests whether you can understand how to change values of variables through various loops like For, While,... I would recommend you getting hold of Yashavant Kanetkar's Let Us C (Buy from Amazon from here). I know you don't need to learn the C programming language. All I am saying is get the book and look for chapters on Loops and try to understand how to write and read codes. 

Find my Youtube Video on the same below: 

PS : Like & Subscribe! If you can then share too!!! 

How I Got Admission in MSQE Program at Indian Statistical Institute

It all began in the month of December, 2014. After researching about various courses and career paths since I got into IIT, it took me roughly 7.5 years to decide that I want to do a Masters in Quantitative Economics(MSQE) from the Indian Statistical Institute. My first pointers for MSQE preparation came from a friend who has worked for UBS both as an I-Banker and as well as a Quant.  

January 2015

After gaining the information about preparatory books & coaching institutes, I was all set to start my MSQE Entrance Journey. The first thing I did was to read Varian (Check in Amazon from here) & Mankiw (Check in Amazon from here) like story books in 20-25 days; This was a vital part of my preparation as I am engineer so it was necessary to understand the turf of economics. I also enrolled myself in a coaching institute. 

February 2015

A lot was going on in my life and to add more to it, I wasn't learning much in the coaching institute, perhaps it was structured for economics undergraduates. 

March 2015

As, I had to commute for 1.5 hours one side from my home to the institute, plus the suboptimal coaching experience, I stopped going to coaching and started practising Snyder along with solving previous year question papers. 

April 2015

In no time the exams season started; didn't apply to IGIDR as I wanted to be in Delhi. ISI Delhi, DSE, JNU were my only bets. Sigh! 

May 2015 - July 2015

Whether the exams went great or not never occurred to me and when the results were announced, I couldn't qualify any of the three exams. 

August 2015

Started working again after a break of around 1 years and thought of MSQE preparation along with it.

Sept 2015 - April 2016

A lot of good stuff started happening in my life. I started working for a startup as their Video Lecturer and helped them in animation & stuff too. Needless to say, I could only prepare for MSQE half-heartedly in these months. 

May 2016 - July 2016

Missed IGIDR cutoff by just 0.6 marks. Yes, that's 0 point 6, less than 1!!!

Decided to STOP preparing for MSQE/Economics entrances!

Aug 2016 - Dec 2016

Started a data science project in my company - related to performance assessment analytics in studies as I was working in a coaching institute cum Edtech startup ; Also did a small gig as a data science faculty in a small management institute. 

Jan 2017

Got married!

Feb 2017 - June 2017

Switched jobs, as my Data Science project was not getting support of founders. This was not good for intellectual satisfaction. Decided to prepare for MSQE again!!!

June 2018

And after 1 year, I was inside Indian Statistical Institute giving interview. I messed it up completely. More on that some other time

2 July 2018

After almost 3.5 years, good news greeted me on the screen. I got an All India Rank 7 in ISI Kolkata MSQE Merit List. Dream Fulfilled! 

Also, you can watch the video format of this journey in my YouTube Channel below. Don't Forget to Like, Subscribe & Share!

This is a personal journey and you could be more interested in how to prepare for MSQE. So, here is my blog post about the "Essence of MSQE(Indian Statistical Institute) Entrance Exam"

Figuring out your Ikigai - "a reason for being"

Ikigai has been touted as the chief reason for the happiness of people residing in Okinawa Prefecture of Japan. You can read more about it in wikipedia or if you prefer books, Albert Liebermann and Hector Garcia have written about it in "Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life"

So, how do you find your Ikigai?

Ikigai is the intersection of what 'you are good at', 'you can be paid for', 'the world needs' and 'you love'.

So, all you need is calm environment and a thinking head.

List out :

What 

1. 'you are good at'

2. 'you can be paid for'

3. 'the world needs' 

4. 'you love'

Let me give you my example:

 

you are good at

- Reading

- Writing

- Organising

- Conversations

- Graphs & Charts

- Multiple Choice Question Exams

- Maths & Statistics

you can be paid for

- Reading

- Writing

- Organising

- Graphs & Charts

- Multiple Choice Question Exams

- Maths & Statistics

world needs

- Graphs & Charts

- Multiple Choice Question Exams

- Maths & Statistics

you love

- Reading

- Writing

- Conversations

- Graphs & Charts

- Cricket

- Maths & Statistics

So, my intersection is - 'Graphs & Charts' and 'Maths & Statistics'. This is my Ikigai. Yay!

Also, you can watch this on my Youtube Channel :

Please consider subscribing the channel & give the video a thumbs up if you liked it.

My YouTube Corner [First Video : Top 3 Strategies for JEE & NEET Physics Preparation ]

After a lot of reluctance, I finally decided to post videos on YouTube. Let's see how it goes. 

Below you can find my first YouTube Video on Physics Preparation Tips for JEE & NEET. Like. Share. Subscribe! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuJviz9iowk