Hi folks, I hope you are doing well and working hard to achieve your dreams. In this blog, I am sharing my journey of NIMCET and getting my college. Maybe many of you don’t know much about me. So, before reading this, I would highly suggest that you go through my Blog on Navigating the Uncertainties: My Story of Choosing BCA over Engineering to know more about my background. Here, I have mentioned about my Undergraduate journey.

Brief About Me

I’m Neha Nupur, a student from IIIT Vadodara, Gandhinagar. I have completed my Bachelor's in Computer Application from a state University in Bihar. Like many, I had dreams bigger than my circumstances. I always wished to study at top universities, but the situation never helped me to pursue.

Why did I choose MCA? What were my dreams or motivations?

As I have mentioned in my blog, I was thinking about going for an MCA because just having a BCA doesn’t really open up great job options in India. I mean, yeah, there are some exceptions, but in my case, I did my BCA from an Open University, so I didn’t really get the chance to meet people or share ideas in-person. That kind of held me back a bit. I felt like doing an MCA will give me more chances to learn, grow, and actually interact with people.

If talking about my motivation, my family conditions motivated me to pursue my targets. But not on the regular basis I would say. Since, at many days that tough situation created barrier in my dreams. There were a lot of things, one of them was my mother’s health. If you have suffered this stage in your life then maybe you can relate to my story. If a family member falls ill, then one does not feel like doing any work. The same thing was happening with me. That is why I had to fix all this.

When and how did I come to know about NIMCET?

Since, in my graduation year, I was indulge in so many internet learnings like Digital Marketing and modules that comes under Marketing, I didn’t get to know about NIMCET. I was busy enjoying what I was learning in Digital Marketing so I was not sure about pursuing MCA after BCA.

In my third year, before my final year exam of BCA, some of my college friends talked about it then we figured out about NIMCET. Many decided to prepare for it but few dropped this decision due to their reasons.

I was doing good but not that good enough in my Digital Marketing Journey. Since, every skills wants your time to sharpen it up, same with Digital Marketing. So, I talked to my father about it.

I prepared a chart for both Digital Marketing and MCA Journey. I had written about pros and cons of both and how they both can help me in building my future, and asked my father- What should I go with? I had mostly made my mind for Digital Marketing things, but my father suggested that these skills are in your hand and you can earn by doing this anytime. It won’t ask your age for it. But, if I do MCA, I can be eligible for both. It can open my way for both doing at the same time or can choose one in which I feel more interest. I found this option good for me, so I decided to prepare for MCA now.

Through research, I got to know about NIMCET entrance.

What is NIMCET?

NIMCET (NIT MCA Common Entrance Test) is a national-level entrance exam conducted every year by one of the NITs (National Institutes of Technology) on a rotating basis. It is the gateway to the MCA (Master of Computer Applications) programs offered by participating institutes. NIMCET is one of the most competitive MCA entrance exams in India. It opens doors to top-tier government-funded institutions like NITs and now IIITs also.

After all this research and suggestions, I finally decided to prepare for NIMCET. Since I was late in this, I didn’t get enough time to crack it in my first attempt after my BCA. I got AIR 3500+ in my first attempt. But to get into NITs, minimum rank was 1000. I get idea and about the pattern of this examination in my first attempt. So, I decided to take a drop and prepare for it fully to get good rank.

This year, I prepared proper notes of my syllabus. I took a test-series to check my standing. I was trying to solve my DPTs and take my daily test. I managed to study as per my schedules but due to some family problems I didn’t get the environment to study properly at home. I can’t tell the whole story here but only thing I can tell that it was not easy to manage everything in this year.

In my last few months before NIMCET 2025, I decided to join my offline test-series to get the proper environment and surrounding where I maintain my discipline in my studies. Now question arises why didn’t I join institute from the day from the day I decided to take a drop. So, the offline institute fee was not affordable for me to join from the starting. My father somehow managed to arrange that amount to send me to join institute offline. Three months before NIMCET, I joined and start preparing.

Any self-doubt or societal pressure?

I was really confident about clearing NIMCET this year, and I did, but I honestly didn’t expect to get such a low rank. Still, whatever I got, I’m genuinely happy with it.

Getting a good rank in NIMCET is honestly just a game of accuracy. Like, for example, if you attempt 25 questions in Maths—if all 25 are correct, you can easily get into any NIT. But if you get, say, 15 right and 10 wrong, those wrong ones will completely pull you down and push you out of the selection zone. So even though the number of attempts matters, what really matters is how accurate you are. That’s the real mind game of this exam.

Also, if you learn how to manage pressure and attempt questions smartly during the actual exam, that’s a huge win in itself.

So yeah, NIMCET isn’t just about solving more and more questions or going through multiple books. It’s also about how well you handle the paper in those two hours. And that can only be improved by taking a lot of mock tests and analyzing where you went wrong.

If I talk about societal pressure, honestly, all my friends from graduation are now postgraduates from private universities. Some have already gotten jobs this year, and some are still struggling to get their dream ones. And I won’t lie—sometimes it did demotivate me. It made me feel like I was stuck in the same place while everyone else was moving forward in their journey. But this feeling didn’t stay for long, because deep down, I knew I was working hard to get into a top university. And that thought kept me going. That was my motivation.

There were also times when some of my relatives taunted me—saying things like, “Your cousins are already earning and you’re still not settled,” or making comments about my BCA degree, like there’s no future for BCA graduates. And honestly, I don’t think I’m the only one who goes through this. Many people face the same during their struggling phase. So I believe it’s better to face it with patience—and to stay strong, brave, and bold.

When did I start my prep?

I started preparing for NIMCET after my graduation, which was the worst decision truly. For NIMCET, the best time to start preparing when you are in 1st or 2nd year of BCA or any other three years programs of graduation. If your basics and questions grabbing power is sharp, you can crack NIMCET in one year also. But to get top rank to get admission in top NITs you should prepare for minimum 2 years fully dedicatedly. I am talking this all about the average students who has no Math background or know the basics of it and wanted to prepare for NIMCET.

The reason I started this late I have mentioned earlier.

Did I take coaching or self-study?

My three-year BCA actually took four years to complete. Yeah, that happens in some states. Also, I wasn’t really surrounded by people who were planning to go for MCA after BCA, so pursuing it never really crossed my mind. I was more focused on learning online skills like Digital Marketing—and it actually worked for me. I was getting clients and genuinely enjoying what I was doing. So at that time, MCA didn’t even feel necessary.

But after my final BCA exams, I came across NIMCET. And by then, only about 3 months were left for the exam. Still, I decided to give it a shot. I started preparing during those last 3 months—I gathered some important notes from the internet and started practicing Maths using the Arihant book. That’s when I started understanding the exam pattern and the types of questions asked in NIMCET.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t crack it that year. But I wasn’t too far off either. So, I decided to take a drop year. I also enrolled in an online course—mainly to bring some structure and discipline into my preparation. From then on, I was following the resources provided in my course.

Time management, family responsibilities, electricity/internet issues, health problems.

One of the biggest challenges I faced during my preparation was managing time. Because of my family issues—both health and financial—I had to take care of household responsibilities along with my studies. It was really tough to juggle daily classes, DPTs, mock tests, analysis, self-studies, and household work all at once. Out of 10 days, there were at least 6 days when I couldn’t even study properly—due to household work, family pujas, guests at home, or just unexpected things happening around me. That’s when I decided to at least give the last few months completely to serious studies, mock tests, analysis, and revision.

So I finally shifted from online to offline coaching. And honestly, in those last 3 months, I learned a lot. I feel like joining offline coaching was the best decision I made—it’s what brought me to IIIT Vadodara.

Some of the biggest things I learned after joining offline classes:

1. Waking up at the same time every day, no matter what. Even if I slept at 3 am, I still used to wake up at 6 am because my institute’s classes started at 7 in the morning. That consistency became a habit.

2. I learned to sit and study for at least 5 hours a day, and sometimes even 7 to 8 hours at a stretch.

3. I started completing my daily targets on the same day. Even if I couldn’t complete everything, I made sure I finished 7 or 8 tasks out of the total. That built a strong discipline in me.

4. I trained myself to study 5–6 different subjects or chapters in a single day. Earlier, that felt impossible to me.

5. One funny thing I picked up was taking 5–10 minute power naps. It sounds silly, but it helped. Earlier at home, I used to take long afternoon naps for 3–4 hours. 😛

6. I developed the habit of drinking 3–4 litres of water every day, something I never really paid attention to before.

7. I learned to study effectively during live classes. Earlier at home, I would take 3–4 hours to finish a 2-hour lecture. But in offline classes, I got used to learning things in real time, and then I would use the next two hours to just practice more questions instead.

8. I revised all the DPTs I had from the entire year in just 2–3 months by solving them under timed conditions.

9. In offline coaching, I felt surrounded by serious learners—everyone studying like crazy. That environment created real competition, and I could clearly see where I stood in class.

10. I met all kinds of classmates—some really helpful, some jealous. But I’ll never forget the ones who supported me. And for those who didn’t, I hold no grudges. Honestly, every person teaches you something, and I think it was important for me to meet all kinds of people. Now I know how to handle such situations in the future with calmness.

11. Most importantly, none of this would’ve happened without the constant support of my teachers and the belief my parents had in me. I’ll always be grateful for that. Their guidance and encouragement meant everything.

When it comes to electricity or internet issues, I rarely faced those problems. My father always made sure I had proper internet and electricity for my studies. He took full responsibility so that nothing disturbed my preparation.

And as for my health, my mother was always there. She took care of my meals and made sure I never skipped my medicines. Her care played a big role in keeping me physically and mentally stable throughout the journey.

Emotional setbacks: fear of failure, comparison, loneliness.

There were some days, when I used to get 750+ out of 1000 and some days where I used to get 250+ out of 1000. I remember crying after scoring low in a mock test. These fluctuation in my marks always used to scare me in my preparation journey. Trust me these fluctuations were necessary in my preparation because, my institute teacher was setting these types of papers to teach us how to handle paper in exam if we get some surprising types of paper in exam. This helped a lot truly. Sometimes I used to feel like failing but it was natural. Every failure takes us to success slowly. Failure is the reason we learn our mistakes and improve them by practicing and changing them. That’s why mistakes help to know failure and achieve success.

There were some days when I used to compare myself with my mates. Sometimes, I used to feel like I would be the only one who didn’t get college this year. Every of my mates will succeed and I probably would fail. But that is all natural in this competition journey. These all are just phases that we have to face to reach the destination. So, just be patient and face whatever comes your way calmly without getting panic.

How I felt before and during the exam?

Before the exam, all of us at the institute gathered and prayed to Maa Saraswati. We did aarti and prayed to all the gods together. That moment honestly gave a big energy boost. Everyone was excited and full of confidence. The vibe was like—no matter what kind of paper we get, we’ll handle it somehow.

But during the actual exam, I started feeling a bit nervous. Even though it was my second attempt, the exam pressure still felt real. I wasn’t really worried about the difficulty level of the questions—I was more affected by the memories of my first attempt. I started feeling the exact same way I did back then while writing that paper, and I think that triggered my nervousness this time too.

But gradually, I started doing some deep breathing—inhale, exhale—and tried to calm myself down. I focused, got into the zone, and began solving the paper.

How life has changed after selection

I’ll keep updating this section as I continue experiencing this new journey. Let’s see how life unfolds from here.

Advice to Aspirants

If You're Thinking About MCA, Don’t Wait — Just Start.

If you're planning to do MCA, don’t delay it. Start preparing for the entrance exams as soon as you can. Whether you're doing BCA or any other course, and if you’ve already decided that you want to go into software development or the IT field, then don't overthink—just take the first step and begin your preparation.

If You’re Doing Self-Study:

If you're preparing by yourself and not joining any course, that’s totally fine. Just pick one good book for practice—especially for Maths—and follow one set of free videos on YouTube. But don’t run after too many resources. Stick to one and revise it as many times as you can. That’s how your speed and accuracy will improve.

Every night, set your target for the next day. It's okay if you can't complete it fully, but at least try to do as much as possible.

⭐ If you get distracted by social media, better to stay away from it till your exam.

Also, buy at least one test series. It helps you track your progress and shows where you need to improve.

If You’re Planning to Take a Course:

If you want to join a course or coaching, just make sure to research it properly. Don’t join something just because someone told you to—not even me. Every teacher teaches well, but the main thing is whether you are able to understand them or not. Some people catch the concept in one go, some take time. That’s completely normal.

What you can do is—check a few demo classes of different teachers on YouTube. See whose way of teaching clicks for you, who explains things clearly, and who makes you feel like, “Yes, I can do this.”

Once you find that teacher, just stick to their plan. Solve the DPTs (Daily Practice Tests), revise old topics, and start making short notes. The best way to revise is—after finishing a chapter, take a blank page and write down whatever you remember. That’s how you’ll know which topics you’re confident in and which ones need more work. It really helps.

At the end of the day, what matters most is not how early you start, but how consistently you work. So, don't stress—just start. And stay regular. That’s all.

That’s all for this blog for now. I’ll end it with one quote:

“Whether you have books or just a borrowed phone, your determination is your greatest resource.”

Thanks for reading! 💜

See you in my next blog.

You can connect with me on my socials! ✨

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