Tips to be careful during CEED exam

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I have also included a video tutorial at the end of this page with additional concepts and tips on how to crack CEED with strategic steps fyr !

Read and understand the question carefully

Yes it's true, the most common and frequent mistake that I observed almost all of us were doing is not reading and understanding the question. Most people do what actually not asked in the question. So, Read the question carefully at least twice (and even thrice !!!) and understand what actually they want's us to do. Observe each and every word of the question. Reading and understanding is itself a kind of observation skill. 

This is one of the most important factor to be taken care during CEED exam. During our practice (where we have no time limit) we do mistake of giving solutions of what not asked in question rather than what actually they asked. Imagine in exam hall, where we will be in pressure because of time limit; we will be giving less importance to understanding questions, because of which there is a big possibility of giving wrong solutions.

So, lets make a habit of reading the given question carefully (right from now) to understand it in full respects. Remember that every question itself gives some clues to you !!!

Some questions like "Problem Identification" were asked with factors/perception of the problem, but some may not require that. Please note and answer accordingly

Observe the given picture 

For questions where you will be given a picture and asked to identify problems as well as give some of your own concepts (Part-B Problem Identification); the best thing to do is focusing carefully on the given picture. By observing the picture itself you will get some loop holes in it. The question itself will give you many answers; that's because solutions were found where problems arise. The important thing is - you need to assume yourself as the user and identify problems, and in fact you need to create your own problems (at times) but supported with proper written justifications.

The below three points were already discussed by me in one of my earlier post. But still i'm repeating the same because of its importance. 

1. It's always advisable and will be more meaningful to concentrate on finding problems FOR THAT PARTICULAR GIVEN PICTURE rather than finding problems for a general problem; say for example if you are given with an ATM picture and was asked to find problems, it will be good if you focus on that particular shown picture of ATM location rather than generalizing or summarizing problems for all the ATM centers. This principle applies to all problem identification type of questions like bus-stop, railway platform, college canteen ........ and any such similar type that usually appears in CEED papers.
2. It will be more better to maintain the same view (perception, angle of view, size and proportions as well as arrangement) for better communication of problem - that might even impress the examiner !!!
3. Most of such questions were usually asked with factors or perception of the problem, So it's always better to start with problem identification by writing the factors or perception of the identified problems in the space given, later detailing in brief the possible changes to be made (your ideas) through sketches (simple and clean).

Concentrate on the topic/character

It's always better to concentrate on the particular character of the topic. Say if you are asked to design a cooker, then you are required to sketch particularly cooker only, rather than spending time on unnecessary accessories like say table with shadings, stove and any such surrounding things. It will be a waste of time, instead concentrate on giving details to your design. This is applicable - unless particularly mentioned in question. 

If you are doing a storyboard or comic strip of say a crow. Then always try to highlight the characters or hero of the story (i.e crow in this case) in almost all the frames/part of the comic strip. Give secondary preference to the backdrop (sketching of houses, trees and similar things) if that's not an essential requirement to complete the frame of the comic strip. It will be better in this way to deliver/communicate your ideas and stories.

Marks and Time factor

Checking the marks of the question before attempting is more important. Marks may vary like 15, 20 ........ up to 50, and it's very essential to attempt questions based on marks. Questions carrying higher marks need to be attempted in-detail with all possible rough sketches, factors/perception (as asked in question) and detailed final solution. Time setting is also a major concern while writing CEED exam. Time should be appropriately divided among questions (based on the marks) so as to attempt all the questions.

Generalized solutions

For design kind of problems, especially product designs where you will be asked to design a product by giving a situation; the solution should be a generalized one i.e its should be focused on the kind of user (age, purpose/necessity, preferences etc). Say for example you are asked to design a multi-purpose walking stick; keeping in mind the age of the user and what they requires, we have to give a solution in a general way (that will be applicable to all similar users and not for a specific one !!!)

Instruments and Shading

Try using more than two grades of pencil and also carry a ruler, eraser, ball point pen and colors to the exam hall (even though you don't wish to use that !!!). Avoid giving extra shadings to the sketches from the very beginning (that you may take care after completing remaining important things and only if time allows !!! )

Here is my video guide on 'How to write CEED exam strategically, and tips to be careful during CEED exam'

These are some of the points that I found aspirants were missing while doing practice exercises. Please keep this in mind during your CEED exams to crack CEED. 

All the best for your attempt.

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Organize Time-table for CEED preparation

You are here CEED >> Organize time table for CEED preparation

Organizing time for CEED preparation is a bit confusing and difficult task. Aspirants usually gets confused in deciding which thing to start first, what to start and when to start. Starting preparation even before 30 days is not a bad idea, but it should be supported with proper planning, so as to cover the topics in the anticipated time. 

That's why in this post,  I will discuss something about my schedule (time-table) that I decided to set for my preparation.

General awareness and GK questions that usually appears in Part-A section of CEED exams were similar to theory subjects (like economics or history). Even though we start preparing these things now (considering two months time), we still need to revise them right before the exam or at least in regular or frequent intervals. 

So, my idea is to better focus on design aptitude development, improvements in the areas of problem solving, analysis  as well as enhancing creative ability skills. That's because these areas of practice can't be developed immediately like the one-day batting or late night studies that we usually do in engineering or similar exams.

Most of the CEED aspirants seems to be working professionals and students (either in final year or in 3rd year). It's common that they won't get much time to spare for preparation due to their busy work and college schedules, and concentrating on Part-A (especially GK) will be boring. Sometimes frustration arises for not doing or managing the time as expected. 

But the subject areas like design, creative thinking and problem solving would probably encourage and even relax the mind. That's why it would be wise to target the above areas first, by doing sketches of your ideas every day and also with mental thinking.

The best way is to collect and preserve the useful resources for Part-A from the beginning of the preparation process and when you find right time, you may start studying them. Going through some design ideas in the web; improving your sketching, thinking and writing skills are some good exercises that will keep you entertained right from the beginning.

Multi-tasking (simultaneous working and mentally thinking for ideas) seems easy for the above (design) topics, while concentrating on awareness topics and doing work is a difficult task. But at the last moment (say 20 to 30 days left), out of fear and responsibility, you will be concentrating on the remaining topics without feeling boredom.

The thing what I am doing is I started taking one or two simple examples every day (say water bottle) and I will go for its analysis like :

• Existing design and uses
• Problems with the current design (I will create some even though there is none !!)
• Any creative modification ideas
• Uses of the new ideas

After analyzing  this, I will go for some quick and simple sketching/illustrations at leisure. This kind of exercise can be done while say eating, bathing or travelling and in my case i am enjoying it without getting bored. My plan is like I will be preparing for Part-A by the last 30 days. (as I feel one month is more than enough for awareness study; at least for me)

OK, the next important thing to note is: after writing CEED exam, I won't be waiting for the results, instead I will start generating portfolio. I know that portfolio is not required until CEED written paper and so I give no attention to it (up to the exam). Every one will be getting more than one month of time gap between CEED exam and DAT/interview, so it would be wise to concentrate on portfolio later.

Do you know one thing ? yesterday; while travelling on car, I got the thoughts (ideas and concepts explained above) for writing this post. That's why I always carry a notepad and even my iPad mini, so as to note the ideas whenever any such useful (and even non-useful ..... !!!) thoughts strikes my mind. That's the advantage of always engaging one's mind with lateral and creative thoughts with concern for effective utilization of the available time. 

Friends, please don't mind if you feel like my posts were sometimes crowded with out-of-syllabus topics. I just wanted to share my thoughts, so that it would be of some or little help to you and your preparation.

Organize your time and plan to prepare the best time table most suited to you based on your nature (student, professional, freelancer etc) to crack CEED exam. 

This is how I prepare for CEED. what about you ?

All the best.


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