Harmit's story - preparing for the Finance Industrial Placement Programme at CSC

Harmit had this to share: Well, best of luck with your preparation for CSC Harmit! And a free license has already been sent to you.

"After completing a degree in business and finance and being a 1^st class candidate academically I initially thought that every business opportunity will touch my feet. However, I never knew the importance of psychometric testing in determining somebody’s chances of getting a Job. There a mission started with loads of struggle. However, a determination to succeed always encouraged me.

I started it off with some basic calculations. I was surprised to see that these tests are filled with loads of tricks. It’s like someone playing “snakes and ladders” where one can be rewarded with a fast-tract to completion or punished by snake bite and downgraded to a lower level. As I sharpened my basic numerical skills I realised there was so much more I could still accomplish. With few books which I borrowed from the library helped me sharpening my mind and assisted me to deal with more complex questions. I spent a large amount of time surfing on the educational forums, such as “thestudentroom” and “mathshelpforums” where I came across many more challenging problems and a strategy to combat them using an appropriate technique. One of the most difficult sets of questions is where you are given nearly 30 second to answer each question. These questions are often multiple choices but require a great deal of calculations. Unsurprisingly, my brain had now learned to excel at doing these calculations without using a calculator which saved me a plenty of time. So how did I improve my calculations so fast? Well, with the help of a website I came across “vedicmaths.org”, which provided me with free sample videos on how to solve lengthy calculations within few seconds through a new method. Of course, speed doesn’t always give you a piece of cake in your hands; accuracy also plays a crucial rule in determining you final score. The use of these videos alongside few number games such as “sudokou” as well as games which require logical thinking, such as “chess” not only enhanced my reasoning skills and but also boosted my accuracy to a level where I felt much more confident than I ever was. I now could look at the choices given and try to eliminate the wrong options. Now I stepped up to a level where I was dealing with complicated data handling questions with a limited amount of time in my hands. Although, analysing graphs was never an obstacle I faced during my childhood, I was still making a lot of effort in answering even the simplest question. One reason was me not reading the question properly and sometime assuming that it is meant to be hard and would require various steps. As I practised more and more I became more experienced in dealing with all sets of problems. One good piece of advice I can give is Practice, Practice and Practice.

A free subscription to this website will help me practice more and pass the entrance exam for “Finance Industrial Placement Programme” at CSC."

We do hope you make it through the programme at CSC.