Candidates Self-Appraisal Form: Fill & Download for Free

My interview was as normal as normal gets. I would like to write down the story though, because I am super bored. xDAfter the aptitude test, I was looking at the answer key provided by KVPY and realised I had absolutely no memory of many of my answers. I almost solved the entire paper once again to see what was the maximum marks I would get and stuck to around 62, which was sure to get me a selection to stage 2.I had always wanted to attend a KVPY interview, mostly because of the super cool experiences that people have wrote about in this thread and other similar threads. Even though I was kinda nervous, I was also quite excited.My coaching centre asked me to choose a topic that I was interested in and learn more about it, and told me that I could get all my questions from that topic if I was lucky.I thought and thought and thought, but could not think about any topic that I was particularly good at. Meanwhile, my friends had already chosen something from bio - the easier way out and I decided to go with the crowd and chose genetics.This. Was. My. Most. Stupid. Mistake. Ever.Back then, I was quite bad at biology. I was only climbing the little steps to learning it and also had no particular interest in anything bio related. I was also super attached to physics, even though could not talk much physics because of my lack of knowledge in the theory aspects.I went on to also write very hilarious paragraphs about my interest in bio in the self appraisal form, some of which were, “interested in the mystery of the human genome” and “heavily attached to biology ever since I could read.”Note for aspirants: Do not ever lie in your self appraisal form or interview. It is bound to backfire on you.I had to wait around 5 hours in a heavily air conditioned room before I was called for the interview. This was super annoying even though I already knew that I was quite down the list. Thankfully, I had friends allotted the same day and I wasn't very bored.Once I was called to sit right outside the interview board and was the next-after-next candidate, I was quite freaking out. I cannot shut up when I am nervous and blabbers non-stop, so the girl who was seated beside me was visibly irritated and wanted to escape to outer space by the time her name was called.Twenty minutes later - FINALLY - I was called too. I entered the room listening to one of the interviewers loudly reading out my self appraisal forms and my huge lies about biology. I started blushing furiously, because most sentences were pure literature dumps.The interviewer asked me - Medicine or Research? Without a second’s thought, I said research, even though, clearly, they knew I was lying.I was totally ashamed of myself by the time he was done with the little introductory part and boom, the biology teacher asks me my research plan and what is it that I would do if I was selected.This shook me off my mind because this was a question I wasn't prepared for. I blabbered on and on about curing AIDS by editing genes, an idea which was plagiarised from some human being that I do not even know of. (long story, really)I was then asked to talk about the life cycle of an HIV virus, and also asked why they were resistant to all sorts of medicines. I talked about their short lifespan, but I still don't know what the actual answer was.My interview started after I stopped saying more nonsense about retroviruses and the interviewer from bio asked me (indirectly) about lac operon. I drew the cluster of genes and explained how it functions in a bacteria.I, also, foolishly, said that the i gene is a constitutive gene, and all of a sudden, she wants me to define a constitutive gene and also give an example from the human body. I knew the definition but I will not tell you what I said for an example. (Its that foolish, and I don't know why they had the courtesy to not throw me out then and there)Then she asked me what was lactose intolerance, which is clearly a very simple question but since we were talking about lac operon in a bacteria, I talk about bacteria getting intolerant to too much lactose in the surrounding medium. (Horrendous, I know. xD)Then the maths sir asked me if he could ask questions from maths. I honestly tell him I suck at maths, and don't know much (I should have just taken this opportunity, because bloody hell, maths is love.) Biggest regret ever.I said I wouldn't mind chemistry and the chemistry sir asked me to draw an amino acid. (Biochemistry. :() I drew the one with an R group. He asked me to replace the R group and I did with H. (I could have just drawn phenylalanine or something, now when I think of it.) He asked me to show a peptide bond. I did that. He asked me to draw another dipeptide and I did that.Then he asked me to show the interactions between the two peptides. I was initially confused, but I ended up drawing hydrogen bonds between them and explained about alpha helices and beta pleated sheets. He didn’t seem convinced but I could not think of anything else.He asked me to write a Cannizaro reaction and explain it. When I used the word disproportionation, he frowned at me like I was some sort of an alien - I don't know why.It seemed only like 2 minutes but the 20 minute bell rang and I was sad because I did not know if I said anything that was worth giving me good marks.I apologised to the Maths sir for refusing to answer any maths questions (he was totally the nicest person in the board). He asked me if I knew the person who was the next interviewee because we have similar names.I told him she is my twin sister. The entire board is surprised and the maths sir asked me if we are Siamese twins. (LOL) We had a good laugh over his bad joke and then I was allowed to leave. There were lots of nervous faces waiting outside the room, including my sister's and I just told her a gist of everything that happened before she is called.After the interview, I was expecting a rank of 500–800, and the story does not end here.When the results come, I get a totally unexpected 58 AIR.I spent the next week wondering about my marks, because I just could not figure out how or why I would get such a good rank. At all.As it turned out, I had gotten a 76 in the aptitude test, varying by more than 10 marks from my calculations. (Really bad memory, I know. :/)I scored an exact 70 in the interview which is decent, I guess?It was a fun day all in all and something I would laugh over for a very long time.

I will suggest not aiming according to last year's cutoffs. I got 48.5 in SA 2015, SA 2014 cutoff was 43.5. But no, 2015 SA cutoff was 50 marks - so didn't get through.But yes, 65 marks and above should be a very safe score with which you will also get a decent rank.Though after JEE Advanced 2017, I don't believe in predicting according to past year trends.About the interview: I can tell some things about SX interview.If selected for interview, a candidate has to get some documents and fill some forms and bring them for the interview.The self-appraisal form is the important one, this is the one which interviewers read at the time of your interview.I was not asked difficult questions in interview. They were mostly basic questions, which any serious JEE Advanced candidate is expected to know anyway.My interview questions are described in one of my other answers on Quora.In SA, my friends told that they will ask some questions of all 4 subjects. It's okay if you can't answer for a subject, but at least have 2 strong subjects.Also, even if the interviewers ask you easy questions, they will most probably ask you to explain what you have done. Hence, understanding is required - the significance of a formula, the interpretation of the result you have got, etc. However, don't worry much about it.And choose your favourite subject wisely, fill only that subject in your self-appraisal form which you think you can answer questions from.And please don't try to fool them if you don't know the answer to a question. Just tell them you don't know.That's all I can think of for now.Feel free to ask in comments if you have doubts

NPTEL certification does have the value to the organisation who knows it. Although the certification is not known to many still if you mention it, the interviewer will be interested as this is a joint initiative of Indian government (MHRD) and IIT.Be prepared and ready to answer most of the question asked especially from the topic mentioned in CV as a part of NPTEL certification course. NPTEL not only help with admission or internship but also with job and that too for experienced person. Please make a note that the content prepared as a part of this course is prepared with extensive research work and the help of experienced industrial trainer from MNCs like Cognizant, Infosys, TCS and industry lobby Nasscom. You can mention this in interview in case interviewer doesn't know it and ask about NPTEL. The core aim of this course to educate and train young generation free of cost. The certificate shows your keenness to learn other than the regular course. It also enables you to think out of box and prepares you for the industrial challenge.But, let me tell you one thing. Even if you have the certificate or degree from top institution, it is not going to help you in clearing the interview if you do not perform well during the same. But certainly it will give you an edge over the candidates, who do not have it.Prepare well for conceptual based questions in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics and give your best.Wear nice formals and shoes. It will give you an additional confidence :) .All the best. I hope I was able to answer the question. Please note the above opinion is of my own and based on personal experience.