It’s always unsettling when you move to an unexpected territory. You are enveloped with maximum uncertainty at that hour with your umpteenth vulnerabilities wrapped around your ankle, trying to knock you down! Wo bhi aisa vaisa girna nahi, mooh ke bal girna.
So, it just happened that in mid-this year, amidst a conversation that headed from one paradigm, shifted to me – wherein, it was suggested that I should prepare for F&O Microsoft Dynamics. As I do have an MBA-Finance in my kitty, this was a natural course, only a minor hitch – it came to me after 15 years since I gave my last set of examinations during my master’s day. Now, let me clarify that the idea of preparing for an examination and applying for the paper did not scare me in the first instance.
When you apply yourself occasionally (keyword here), you like the challenge! And to study after ages is one of the big challenges! But then it’s also about the subject matter. Two years back, I attained certification in Content Management and thoroughly enjoyed the process. Why? It’s a matter of interest!
But, to learn about a digital product, a Microsoft product, is not a rookie job! But then that’s life – you aren’t always served what you like, you aren’t always in a relationship that’s blessed – you work in an unknown domain and try your luck – chala toh theek hai varna aur mehnat karni hogi!
So, there are a few things I learnt during this time frame, and I wanted to share and pen it down for my future reference. I don’t know who wants to read it, but I, for sure, will need quite some of it in the future.
First, you got to set a timeline for your examination! Because when it’s in your hand to fix a date, you keep procrastinating till the last moment, thinking there will come a day when you feel prepared. No surprises there – it never happens. I wish I woke up a day thinking “Today is the day I feel prepared!” Nahi hota, bas nahi hota. So better set a day and say “Aaj kuch toofani kartey hai!”
After weeks of haggling with an unsettled emotion that I can prepare and will set a day once I feel prepared, I chose the other way around– let me take a day to appear for the examination so I can locate the endpoint and my mind registers ki “Apna time aayega nahi, aa gaya”. I opted for the last week of July, paid for the examination, and set it on my calendar. Done! Ho gaya! Ab preparation and then appearing for the exam. Correct? Nah, Wrong!
Did you know that you can reschedule your MB 900 examination 24 hours before you sit for it, without any cancellation fee? Unfortunately, I read it because somehow these things stick out to you when you look for them to dodge an affair. And then there is sone pe suhaga. You can reschedule it multiple times. Now this was the worst proposition – for a week, I pushed the paper to the next day to catch on some more studying. Finally, I put my foot down because the best you speak is for and to yourself, “Bas. August 03 it is! At 2:30 PM on August 03, 2023, I will appear for my paper and come what may, I will not reschedule. No matter how less I’m prepared, I will give this paper and then will take the result with a pinch of salt!
Another enlightenment, no matter how extended the timeline you ascertain, padhna aapko aakhri kuch shado (palo/time) mein hi hai. I did study hard the last week before the examination, but what and how I studied on Aug 03(the DAY) was beyond comparison. I was up at 5 AM (anxiety worked on its optimal potential) and I studied till 1:30 PM, without a break. My mind was working like an Intel Core i9 processor. I felt my brain expand and I had no idea it could collect so much information in a go! I read, read and read without a break, and you know what – I realized how much time I have in hand, in half a day if I don’t allow my mind to wander.
On a side note, I am a hopeless Wonder Woman – nahi bhai, not the superhero (I wish) – I’m a woman who wonders in her thoughts in the daytime more than at night. My face may say I’m listening to you, but in my head, I may be walking on the frozen land of Antarctica. That’s me! And so, you can imagine how many times I leave for the lala land when I work, but then anxiety and a clicking clock set my mind to work and kept me in check. The moment I wondered the inner panic button called out, “No Saumya! Back to work. Come to these training pages.” And it worked. The lesson here – learn what works for you – sometimes it’s just a ticking time bomb!
On Aug 03 at 1:30 PM, as per the guidelines, I entered an empty room at home (I gave the examination from home) with no other person in sight as an investigator on the other end of my computer screen ensured I was all by myself – no person, no books, no phone, no looks. All I had with me at that hour were my stern hands and a trembling soul. Fear is complex – it makes you shiver while the urge to get out of that zone makes you work harder than you ever can imagine. Whenever I encountered the most difficult moment, I met a new me – who wanted to perform and wiggle out of the matrix! Khair, they say ‘darr ke aagey jeet hai’, so keeping that in mind, I pressed the ‘START’ button on the screen.
And then the timer started on the right top of the screen. Uff..the feel! The ticking of a timer on your head, while a person watches you from the other end sets your performance duty on another level. Now, in terms of preparation I did well, but then some modules were unattained till the last moment. So, keeping that in mind I planned to adhere to a strategy taught to me in my MBA days – Be thorough with what you know, because to decipher a technique to unknown questions will cost you three other known questions. Always attempt what you know at first glance and do it well, because that’s where you gain. Waha galti ki gunjaaish honi hi nahi hai! Once you are through with it, come back to the ones you want to attempt to conquer the unknown.
With that technique in mind, I looked at the first question and my eyes met a case study. Five long lines of the case with four options, one of which was correct. I read it once. I did not get it. I read it twice. I still did not get it. By the third time, I felt something inside me would break! Question one questioned my confidence. Suddenly I looked at the timer. 1:29 minutes were gone! There were 33 questions and 45 minutes. I needed to act fast. On BTW, on the left top, there was a button called “mark it for later”, and marking was all I could do at that hour. With the “next” button, I moved to the next question to regain my confidence. As the page moved, so did my composure. Another case study, another set of four options, and another disappointment. I did not read it thrice this time and saved a minute by bookmarking this one, as well. Nahi aata – aagey badho! As I moved, I realised something by question 14 – it was not working out. The study hours of the last month were going to a bin. Another fact – You feel sincerely bad (dil se bura) when you have prepared for something by heart, and see and feel still losing a battle. Taiyaari kam ho toh dukh bhi kam hota hai!
And then my mind started running on how would I tell people who knew that I was preparing for this exam, that I failed. Not that I would have not studied again, but it would make me question myself and my capabilities. Hum lakh auro ko samjha le, apne ko samjhana behad mushqil kaam hai! I was slowly drifting to my Wonder Woman land, when question 15 came on screen. You know that feeling when you witness a familiar question – that tingle in your stomach is hard to miss. My heart peaked a smile and whispered to the question on the screen, “Hi my dear friend, you meet me after 14 missed calls. You don’t know how much I needed you.”
With all the attention in the world, I assured myself, I clicked the right answer. I did not want to come to the question again, so I did not bookmark it and send it as a final check.
Then came 16, and familiarity peaked again. And then, the rendezvous with the preparation began as I was escorted well with my knowledge bank from questions 15 to 33. As I attempted all, I was back to the bookmarked 16 – 16 questions with 15 minutes remaining. 1 minute a question is a good amount of time, but it falls short if you are trying to understand the depth of those questions. I didn’t have time to lose. That point is about making or breaking it, and I knew I needed half of those questions right to make it to the passing side.
“Nahi aata, nahi aata, nahi aata!”, cried my inner soul.
My fingers tried hard to pick an option while my peripheral vision was stuck to the timer seeing me lose 10 seconds in a second. The instructor asked me to keep my shoulders in the camera frame as he wanted to make sure I wasn’t involved in any suspicious activity!
My head asked me to calm down several times, but let’s be honest who wanted to listen to it at that hour? And then I negotiated with the inner self. “Theek hai, let’s go with the gut feel. Let’s attempt all with the best of the logic and we won’t fidget with what we choose at attempt one. Jo ek baar commitment kar di, bas kar di.”
Keeping that in mind, and calming myself so I can absorb when I read the questions, I started choosing an option – one at a time. And while all this is going on, I hear Nayan Mongia saying “Shabash Saumya Shabash!”
“Ab ye kaha se aa tapka? Ye sab kya ho raha hai? “, cried my head like Dhritrashtra in Jaane bhi Do Yaaron’s epic Mahabharat scene.
Uff, my mind is such chaos! I wish I could take you all to a LIVE session with it someday to showcase what havoc it causes every second of my life. It never stops working – EVER! So I have to work hard to push and apply myself working through those zillion voices.
With only 1:59 minutes in hand, I was done with the questions and with a deep breath, I submitted my answers with “Done”! I promised myself that I won’t go back to what I did – I will trust my intuition.
The next screen stated, “Could you please wait for a minute while we work on your result.”
I had such a sombre fighter face at that hours ki “jo hoga dekha jayega. It’s okay if I don’t make it”, while I was begging internally “Please pass kar do, PLEASE!” I could feel my heartbeat from my stomach, it descended somehow, and the heartbeat was strong, really strong. As the invigilator was about to say, “Tumahara dil hai ki train ki whistle, yaha tak sunai de raha hai” that my result appeared.
You need a weighted score of 700 to pass this examination, and yours truly got 701! Can you beat this? Saved by a MARK – mark my words! And I swear when I saw that score I saw a bright light in front of me like HE said “Main hoon aur MAIN hi hoon!”
I have said time and again, to work with all honesty is our job, but then we have to leave it for ONE and ONLY! Usko us din meri nayi-yan paar lagani thi so laga di, varna 701 ka 699 bhi ho sakta tha. Ek mark idhar se udhar hota aur mera din badal jaata! Time is a very powerful tool, and the value of 1 is highly significant! That was my biggest take that day.
To sum it up – I was able to clear the certification and somehow even after hours of preparation and help from my friends, I want to thank Mr Nayan Mongia as his “Shabash Shabash” made me cross that boundary line.
Explore.Dream.Discover. 
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