Tips and tricks
How I won the gold in analytics
at the Indian School of Business
For those of you who are new to India, the Indian School of Business (ISB), is a premier business school in Hyderabad for post graduate programs. It’s difficult to get in, and difficult to get out. I just completed an 18-month program in Big Data, Machine Learning and data analytics, and won the gold medal. My team also won the “Best Capstone Project” for the work we did on modelling youth unemployment (read about that here). If you are planning on studying at the ISB, or any other top business school for that matter, here are a few tips and tricks to consider.
First things first.
Don’t wait till the last minute
This appeared to be what most were doing. Maybe because of other commitments such as family and work, or maybe it was just procrastination. But the last thing you want to do is to leave assignments till the very end, just when they are due. Anything can go wrong — the internet may fail, your computer may crash, you suddenly realise that you had misread the due date (trust me, it will happen). Instead, plan on submitting your assignments a day or two before the actual due date. This will give you extra time to recheck and resubmit if need be.
Inch by inch
My mantra for most of the course was “inch by inch”. And it will continue to be for time to come. There were so many times when the answer to a question was not clear. Hell, there were times when I didn’t even undertstand the question. And the only thing that I did at such times was to take one small step at a time — just understand what each word in the question meant, just read one more wiki page, just look at that youtube video once again. With each small step, the next step always became clear. If instead, I tried to arrive at the final answer, I used to get lost, and rather I kept coming back to taking one small step at a time. And do it as perfectly as possible. You will not know the answers to all the questions, but… heard of the quote “Journey of a thousand miles…”?
Yogaa!
Seen the movie Limitless? Yoga has become for me what NZT-48 was for Eddie Morra. Not a day went by when I didn’t do yoga, or some other form of exercise. ISB will address the needs of your mind more than what you can hope for. You will need to address the needs of your body. Very often I used to exercise twice a day, and there were times when it became even thrice a day! I was asked how I found time to exercise three times a day, and it‘s actually ironic, because it was exactly when I was overloaded with work that I used to step out for a run or a swim. Taking a break from thinking-thinking to actually doing something physical, made me that much more productive. There are literally countless ways to take the mind away from over-thinking and over-analysing, and any/all of them will make thinking and analysing that much more effective. Ping me to know more on this.
Effort, not accuracy
As ironical as it may seem, even in the age of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, it is effort that gets rewarded, and not the accuracy of the final result. And I’m seeing this more and more even in other areas of life. If someone has put in sincere and dedicated effort, there are far more chances that s/he will be rewarded, than someone who hit the jackpot by fluke. Give it your bestest shot, and let go of the results. But don’t let go without giving it your best! That would be ‘giving up’! Krishna said it beautifully; google “krishna let go result” and you’ll see what I mean.
Don’t be silly with HCC
ISB has a very strict honour code, more strict than it appears. All assignments are run through Turnitin, and all online exams are monitored through the Mettl platform. If you do anything, anything that is against the rules the course, then you risk very high penalties, however illogical those rules may appear to you. For instance, if the rules state that you cannot use paper and pen in an online exam, then you cannot use paper and pen, however much you may disagree with that rule. Penalties have been pre-determined, and there is very little that the Honor Code Committee (HCC) can do. So make sure that you read the fine print for each exam carefully. And message me if you want to know more about the HCC.
Learn to say “no!”
They say it’s an executive program for working professionals, they say you can do it even if you are in a full time day job, they say you need only 2-hours a day for this program, but man, are these understatements! The course will demand everything from you, and the only way to excel is to have single minded focus. You will need to say ‘no’ to so many things that matter to you, and to those around you. And you may lose out in the process. You may lose a girl/boyfriend or two, a project or two, and surely more than an episode or two. But what to do. During the program, you will need to make a choice, and if you want to excel in this, then be prepared for everything else to take a back seat. Unfortunate, but true.
If you have read this far, then you must be serious :) So, I’ll give you a few special tips that will set you apart from the rest, no matter what.
Do it with <3
If you really love what you are doing, then it will show! And this is something that cannot be faked. Buying roses when you don’t love someone, will not work. And if you love someone, even if you don’t buy roses, it will show! Same-same but different with ISB! If you love the course, if you enjoy data science and analytical work, if you dig researching and learning something new, then it will show in the quality of your work, and give you that extra edge. In fact, the same can be said of any deliverable, of any client. Do it with love.
Stay positive
The brain is said to have the same neural activity when it visualises doing an action, as when it actually does that action. So by staying positive and thinking positive (different from over-confidence, mind you), you set yourself up for success. There were times when I felt like deferring, especially in Term 2 when the workload was no joke, and it is precisely at such times when I had to stay positive, think positive, and take it inch by inch! This is what worked for me, but there are other ways to ensure you stay in a positive frame of mind. Know that there is light at the end of the tunnel! Mr. Teeyori explained this perfectly with his hallmark “ISB curve”. If you want to know more about this, guess you just have to attend his class!
And as I proof read this blog, I sense that many of these tips will work regardless of when and even where you apply them. The real challenge may lie in the consistency with which you apply them…
Good luck!
P.S. If something else worked for you, mention it in the comments below, for the benefit of those who visit this page after you
