Whyva?

Wotcher! T'has been a while.

The title seems to be a bit confusing innit? Let me clear it out: Whyva = Why Viva?

Subtle, if you ask me! ;)

Heh, well, for those Einsteins and Einstein-ettes( is that even a word?) who didn't figure that out, today was my first ever Viva. First. Ever. Not really worth filling these blog-pages if you ask me, but i'll still tell you what i had to go through. See, i'm that good!

The main pain about such an exam is that you dont know:
a.)What to study.
b.)From where to study.
c.)What could be asked.
d.)Who'll have the unenviable privilege of grilling your backside on D-Day.

Theory papers are so much better. Atleast you know you can get away with your bluffing. :P
Okay, not only that, you know that your examiner will not read through the utter crap you've written with even the slightest hint of interest. And YET, you get marks for that. It's almost as if you get paid, for sitting at home, on your couch, with a bag of popcorn, watching an English-action movie for the umpteenth time. Okay, maybe not THAT easy, but you get my point don't you? Vivas are a different ball game altogether. The examiner will go out of the way to read your mind. Once he knows what you're thinking, he'll exploit it and make you feel miserable. Well, thats in general. The teacher who grilled me today was of the saner breed. Equipped with a cheeky smile with not-so-cheeky timing, she fired the questions one by one at me like those miniature tanks in Pocket Tanks. I was sweating.

Q.1) How many chapters have you studied?

Err, WhAt?? *stares in utter disbelief* I had least expected her to ask this. I didn't know what to say, as i didn't know what she had in mind. I mean, she probably would've asked me questions from those chapters i would say i hadn't done. Then again, it could've been otherwise. I decided to be positive, and started telling her what i'd done. But wait a minute. What HAD i done???? I couldn't recollect the names of the chapters, and quite embarrassingly, i had to wait for her to prompt me into saying the names of those chapters which anyone would do. The easy ones, to be precise. Jesus! Can you believe it? I was quietly confident of the impression she had of me by now. What sort of person forgets the NAMES of chapters he's done? Lol.

But to my surprise, it went quite smoothly after that. Ofcourse, my definition of smooth isn't exactly smooth. An odd bump here and there is typical! Once i started answering, i was actually taken aback by the content of what i was saying. I never knew i had actually studied that much. And then i hatched an impromptu plan, to facilitate things even more. I tried to take as much time as i could to explain the easy answers. She simply had to be convinced of what i said, since i was elaborating so much. I mean, i couldn't care less if she understood or not. That was her look-out. She was nodding away to glory though, to my delight. I actually thought she was quite impressed by me. But as always, i was wrong. She asked me: "What do you mean by the extended features of an E-R diagram?" That was followed by an eerie silence from my side. I tried to transport myself to the deepest roots of the chapter that was in consideration. I knew i had read it. But well, i was lost for words. Try as i might, i simply could not answer. But then again, I had garnered a bit of confidence in the past 8 and a half minutes or so. So i was pretty sure i could get away with bluffing. No sooner had i started explaining/confusing her, she caught me. "It's not right, you know!", she said. I was shitting bricks. I promptly apologized and admitted i didn't know the answer.

It was quite a session if you ask me. 12 minutes of rat-a-tat from either side. It was almost as if two sworn enemies were at war with each other, and were constantly bombarding the other with WMDs, each time trying to outdo the opposition. But thankfully, i came out unscathed. My Viva was conducted in concurrence(forgive me, but my mind is so full of DBMS terminology, its not even funny!) with another student's Viva. Both me and Mitul(the other guy who was being grilled) were just a couple of inches away from each other. And he was asked questions by another madam. Its so difficult to concentrate on your Viva in such a case. Sometimes when an answer comes to your mind, it disappears in a flash just because the moron(sorry Mitul) has to also answer at THAT very instant. You feel like throwing a fit, cos you take another 5 seconds to gain composure and another 7 seconds to recollect your answer. In that much time, the teacher could probably come to the conclusion that you know nought. But thankfully, he was asked only a few questions. His teacher seemed more interested in what i was saying. So I had managed to gather a "mini-audience" for all my efforts. Yay!

I was one of the first few students in my batch, so that meant i had completed my Viva way before anyone else. It was actually a good experience. I could answer almost 75% of the questions, which is quite decent. But it was a bit stressful since it was my first time. Infact, after my Viva was over, i came out of the lab WITH my practical journal which i was actually supposed to submit inside. It was only when Mitul told me that i realized that. Heh, talk about being tensed and shaken, and that too for nothing!! :D

Great experience overall. But its not over. Two more Vivas to go, and i personally hope they're smooth. I have PCOM and COA vivas left. The former is my most hated subject. The latter is kinda manageable. I have them on the 3rd and 4th of May respectively, so i better get down to studying for them.

Oh, and before i leave, how goes it on your side? Whats happenin'!?! Leave your answer via a comment or two. You know where, don't you? .

PS: That, by the way, is a shrewd way to increase the comments in your "comments" section. ;)
It helps to be smart. See, thats what distinguishes me from you. :D

Anyway, i'll be off now.

Laters, timewasters!