DU exam season: Celebs recall their padhai ka stress

The atmosphere in the Delhi University (DU) college campuses has turned quite sombre owing to the examination being at its peak. The second- and third-year students of the varsity are breathing in the solemn air while resorting to all-nighters, last minute revisions, and exchanging of notes (not the ₹2,000 ones)! But as the present students prep and appear for their exams, some of the celebrity alumni recount their days of experiencing similar emotions around exam time, during their #CampusKeDin. Some share their tips and tricks to ensure a gleaning marksheet at the end of the semester!

‘Needed pin-drop silence while prepping’

Moses Koul; Economics (Hons) from St Stephen’s College

“Nobody can forget the barrage of students pleading professors for attendance to get admit cards. This was not my favourite season, for sure! I’ve never been one for group study sessions because I needed pin-drop silence while prepping for exams. My study session would always start at midnight when everyone went to sleep and I’d pull all-nighters preparing notes from books and the course material — I barely took notes in class and borrowing anyone else’s notes felt too alien to me.”

‘Two weeks before the exam, I would shut everything off’

Chayan Chopra; Bachelors of Business Administration (Finance and Investment Analysis) Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, 2019 batch

“I was a constant first bencher in school. But when I stepped into college, I shifted to the last bench — not academically though since I still got good grades. I used to miss a lot of classes due to theatre rehearsals and Enactus visits. So two weeks before the exam, I would shut everything off and begin exam prep with full involvement and YouTube was quite literally my saviour during that time. The online lectures replicated the classroom experience for me and that’s how I managed my scores.”

‘Mera toh 2-3 ghante ka revision hota tha’

Abhilash Thapliyal; Journalism (Hons) from Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College, 2008 batch

“I used to surface only during the exam time, when there was a mad rush to get notes from those two or three bright students! I was busy in radio jockeying right from my college days. Like everyone else, I’d get those notes photostated and I’m sure the photocopy bhaiyya made a fortune enough to open his own college! Mera toh 2-3 ghante ka revision hota tha during my transit from Hissar to the college in the Haryana Roadways bus… While writing the exam, it was the ‘aloo bhardo’ technique (laughs)! (This means) 10 mark ke question mein 20 pages bharne thay, but only the first and last paragraphs had to make sense. Baaki toh beech mein main aloo hi bharta tha. Karte karte, ho gaye pass first division lekar.”

‘Didn’t have the mandatory 80% attendance to appear for exams’

Shriya Saran; BA (Prog) from Lady Shri Ram College, 2002 batch

“I have such fond memories of college, but not of examinations because I barely managed. I actually never managed to graduate because I was thrown out in my final year! I didn’t have the mandatory 80% attendance- because I was doing films and dancing with my guru Shovana Narayan. But, I did sit for the examinations in my first year and it was a whole journey! I hardly managed. I remember sitting at the shoots with my books for hours and hours. And when I was in college, I would find these lovely spots at the gazebos or the library and study from the notes that my classmates had made. That was a lovely time, I wish I had finished what started and every child should have that option. But for me, exams were about the students coming together with their walkmans and CDs and having group study sessions when one person would teach a whole bunch! Those truly were the best times.”

‘I was found in college only during fest or exam season’

Smriti Kalra; Journalism (Hons) from Kalindi College, 2008 batch

“I spent more time outside college than inside and was only found there during the fest and exam time! Exam season was when the time photocopy shops had a mile long queue! I used to take everyone’s notes along with copies of four to five classmates and get them photocopied, which took hours. Back then, it used to cost only 25 paisa per page. The funny thing was, I would study from my friends’ notes and end up scoring more than them! This really pissed them off (laughs). I remember standing outside the exam hall and telling my friends: ‘Jaldi bata kya kya important questions hain!’ I would write essays in the answer sheets jahan kuchh nahi aata tha, and in that moment I would feel like, ‘S**t, ye kya kiya’ but still would end up scoring great marks.”

Author tweets @KritiKambiri

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