AMS PERSONALIZED GUIDANCE FOR MBA ASPIRANTS

The ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES was set up at PATNA in MARCH 1995 with the objective of imparting high standard of personalized guidance for MBA aspirants in the state. The Academy strives to prepare an aspirant to appear at the management entrance examinations , which includes the written part and the subsequent Group Discussion stage . The students are taught the very process of entrance examination stage wise; in doing so inculcating in the candidate the much needed self-confidence to handle the written tests and the GD-Interview with composure.

With the career opportunities in the government sector diminishing , there is an increasing demand for careers in the private sector ; specially with the process of liberalization gaining strength across the length and the breadth of the country. There is a definite shift in students opting for private sector jobs .Every student is looking for opportunities with alternative careers.In this quest for opportunities MANAGEMENT EDUCATION has sprung as the most lucrative and challenging alternative in the recent times.
This trend has been highly pronounced in the developed states like Gujarat, Maharashtra , Karnataka etc. In Bihar due to lack of information , exposure and proper guidance students are still largely ignorant of the opportunities that lie in store for them in management careers.Even if they are aware there is a lack of proper understanding of the requirements of the examination process. A crying need was felt to provide the students with information and guidance for pursuing careers in management. It was to bridge this gap that the Academy of Management Studies was set up. 

The directors of the Academy are Mr. Ravi Sharma ,an MBA from University of Pune ; and Mr. Arun Sharma an MBA from the prestigious Indian Institute of Management , Bangalore who was working with Reliance industry for a short stint . Both have extensive experience in the field of training students for competitive examinations. The students gain a lot from their personal experiences.
Says Arun Sharma " The academy was set up with the objective of educating students of Bihar about the challenging careers available , highly paying and lucrative careers available in the corporate sector. Besides, we are here to change the attitude of the students by increasing their self confidence and ironing out their flaws."

The MBA entrance tests are to be tackled with a wide variety of skills and techniques. The course has been designed keeping in view the the demands of the MBA entrance procedure . The course imbibes the requisite techniques in every student to enable him/her to handle these tests with speed and accuracy . The main emphasis for the written test is on developing speed in solving problems in all areas of the tests.
The basic structure of MBA entrance tests comprises of questions related to English , Verbal ability , Reading Comprehension , Maths , Data interpretation , Reasoning and General & Corporate awareness.
ENGLISH : Improvement in English is the central focus of the academy . There are three aspects ;Firstly a good vocabulary . This is a very important area . More often than not it is the most neglected areas . Secondly improvement in grammar . This requires a thorough understanding of the rules . Finally the improvement in speaking abilities ; so vital for the GD - Interview stages.


READING COMPREHENSION : The development of the ability to read and comprehend with greater speed and accuracy is a major feature of the course.This is an area where the student can maximize their scores.Several techniques and methods are inculcated to achieve good score in this section.

MATHEMATICS : This is a gray area for many students. It is however not realized by many that this area can be tackled with great ease and confidence. A lot of students do badly in this section due to a mental block against Math's. However this can be removed by acquiring basic calculation techniques. Adequate practice helps in achieving that goal. The emphasis is to get comfortable with numbers and with equation formations.

DATA INTERPRETATION : This is an area which comes under the purview of application of Math's. However the academy stresses on the fact that this section is not Math's and even students weak at Math's can do well here.The academy instructs skills in tackling different types of problems.

REASONING : Increasingly reasoning is being emphasized in all management entrance tests . It normally forms part of the verbal ability or the data interpretation sections. Questions on non verbal ability are limited to very few exams like XLRI , FMS , CET . 
The general awareness questions normally focus on corporate sector or business related issues. This is a very tricky area since there is no single source from where this information can be acquired ; hence it has to be gleamed from various sources.It is difficult for an unorganized student to prepare well for this section. The Academy has developed several modules and an extensive library to deal with this section.

GD -INTERVIEW : Group discussion is a vital stage in the selection process .In fact it is essentially an eliminination round. This stage requires good analytical skills , communication skills , and inter - personal skills . The Academy provides excellent support and practice for this stage through a well designed Personality Development Programme which is a part of it's course . In fact this is a highlight feature at the academy. The training module is audio visual based where the students are Video recorded at the Group Discussion and extempores and Interview stage . Following this the student is shown his own as well as others performance.This is the most effective way of self improvement. Besides the academy aids the student in building a sound knowledge base and develop debating and speaking abilities. 


Development of confidence & fluency with English language is a major feature of the course . Each student is put through a minimum of 15 to 20 group discussions.
Special abilities to take interviews are imbibed in the student. Support is provided in the form of bio- data building and personality development modules. Moreover an overall improvement is brought about through an efficient system of personalized guidance and training . 
This is a unique feature of AMS which makes it the best amongst similar courses available in the country. This is further enhanced by the high personal commitment and the constant search for ways to develop each individual student. The stress is on changing lives through changing attitudes.


Apart from all this the academy stresses on drawing examination strategies for individual students. It has been observed that a number of brilliant students have failed to make it into the top management institutes of the country. While seemingly ordinary students make it through. It is not the students fault but a fault of their test strategies. This acts as a drawback and the candidate fails to clear the first hurdle i.e the written tests. The Academy recognizes the importance of the right strategy for achieving success in the exam and hence the emphasis on formulation of strategies. 
The course consists of a number of tests which are conducted regularly to help the student gain proficiency in different test areas. Besides a candidate preparing for MBA entrance can avail of the facility of a separate test series which the academy conducts. The students are given the facility of monitoring their performance and scores against the scores of the Faculty. 
The efforts undertaken at AMS have borne fruit in the form of outstanding achievements of it's students who have been selected in all the top Management schools in the country ( All five IIMs, XLRI, IIFT, Symbiosis, BIM, IISWBM, TA Pai, MICA, XIM, IMT, etc.) Says Ravi Sharma " A barometer of our successes can be gauged from the fact that whereas an institute like IIT Kharagpur considered to be a breeding ground for IIMs had 6 students with calls from all the IIMs , the Academy had three such people. This year three of our students joined the IIMs and we had successes at all the major institutes of the country. The secret of our success in largely due to the all round development of the students that we try to achieve." Last year out of 50 people who joined XISS,Ranchi there were 14 students from the academy. 
Says Arun Sharma " We believe in the principle of constant improvement on a daily basis not only for our students but also for ourselves. We set very high standards for ourselves which the students follow automatically. Besides, we also believe in keeping informed on the latest trends in the examinations for which purpose we appear for the exam everytime. And of course to achieve set an example for our students we have to get through all exams. We also set targets for ourselves. For instance the target for this year is to get a minimum of Five students into the IIMs." 

Well, All the Best !!