BITS Pilani's BITSAT Exam: Prepare and Succeed

It has been a great experience up till now. The factors that made me choose BITS Pilani was its merit-based admission i.e. there is not even a single student who got here through reservation. Therefore, every student is of more or less same IQ. Secondly, it's attendance flexibility. 0% attendance rule make it easier for student to think beyond academics and get sufficient time for like other things (if anyone interested in entrepreneurship, coding, finance, etc.) and of course how can you forget about the placements which is also driving force and helped in making me decide whether to choose this institute or not.

Based on the score of BITSAT (entrance exam for getting into BITS), I was getting M.Sc in Chemistry & Biology, and BE in Civil. I wanted to get into BITS Pilani and course was secondary for me. As M.Sc was 5-year course and considering that, I was a dropper so I took Civil (which now I'm finding it very interesting). Therefore, you have to clear an exam called BITSAT, which consists of Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Logical Reasoning, and English, with major portion of PCM. It is of total 390 marks but there are also bonus questions. if you attempt all questions and you have some time left, then bonus questions are open which are almost as of same level as the previous questions. In addition, you are only eligible for giving this exam if you have more than 75% combined in PCM in your class 12th and minimum of 60% in individual subjects. Recently it announced that 2 time droppers are also eligible for giving this exam unlike previously. Talking about frequency of exams in my course, it is relatively less as compared to branches like Electrical & Communication and Electrical & Instrumentation. Majorly, there are mid semester and comprehensive exams in every semester. Other than that, some tutorial test (some are announced some are surprised) is almost 4 to 5 per course in every semester. Academics here are very good.

Fee is only the one of the major cons that backs off students from getting here, as it is relatively very higher than other institutes. Per semester, there is around Rs. 2,45,000 tuition fee that is increased every year by 5%. Beside this, there is hostel and mess fee, which is around Rs. 50,000 for hostel and around Rs. 25,000 for mess in every semester, including some other things like electricity. All makes a sum of Rs. 3,20,000 for every semester. Admission fee is around Rs. 55,000. Talking about scholarships, there are majorly 2 scholarships. One of them is merit based scholarships, which is simply given on basis of CGPA and it has 2 categories 80% & 100%. Other one is category based scholarship, for ones whose parents income is less than 1.5 LPA are eligible for this scholarship. Note, this scholarship is on only tuition fee.

Professors here are very good and qualified. Most of them have done their UG, Master’s, or PhD from top institutes of India and outside India. Different teachers have different method of teachings some use blackboards. Some use PPTs and group discussion is a part of almost every teacher here. Their problem solving ability is very good and mostly every single problem or doubts get solved instantly. As there is 0% attendance policy, there is less strength in class unlike other institutes but of course, teachers are very interactive, friendly, and approachable.

Placement cell is very good. Recently it introduced point system where points will be given based on your attendance. some sessions conducted by the cell to give us brief information about every field like Coding, Finance, Consulting, etc. Mostly every big company comes here for recruitment like Google, Microsoft, and Goldman Sachs. Average package is around 12 to 13 Lakh Per Annum and highest vary but it is around 50 Lakh Per Annum.

Yes, campus has around 11 to 12 bhawans (hostels) and around 7 messes. Every hostel has capacity of around 350 students. Every hostel has 2 playing area (open grounds). Beside this, there is common room where there is a television and AC so that we all can go there and chill during some exciting matches or simply just go there to watch movies/series together. Therefore, hostel room has 1 bed (excluding matrices), 1 study table, 1 chair, and 1 almirah. Talking about in & out timings in the hostels, it is quite flexible. Hence, as there is no bondage on time, you can enter or leave hostel anytime no need to take even somewhere or something. Boys are not allowed inside the girl’s hostel and vice versa. Hostel fee is around Rs. 50,000 per semester. Talking about mess, it provides 3 meals a day i.e. breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Quality and hygiene is completely maintained in mess. there are various types of dishes within a week including all types of cuisines and of course, dal is actually dal and not water unlike many other institute messes.

So BITS Pilani’s campus is very big, almost 300 acres. It has 3 main buildings and one NAB (New Academic Building). All academics related things happens here. Every department has been assigned with their separate blocks. One thing a can say is outside campus, there is nothing in Pilani by nothing I mean no places to chill and eat. It is an almost like a village outside the campus. In case of classroom sizes, there are some big lecture halls for lectures with capacity of accommodating more than 500 students while mostly classes have capacity of around 100 students. There is one big library, 1 canteen, every type of labs, and 2 auditorium halls (one with capacity of 1200 students & other with 300-400 students). Campus also has one medical centre. Talking about security, there is a guard on every single corner of the premises. My favorite place is NAB (New Academic Building) as it is newly built, making it aesthetically pleasing.

It has been a great overall experience until now. Institute’s crowd is very good. There is a good alumni consisting of supportive and very helpful seniors. There are many clubs and departments almost in every domain. Many activities are conducted by institute to involve students. Beside this, we have intra and inter hostel tournaments. Talking about fest, it is one of the best thing in BITS Pilani, we there are 3 fests in a year i.e. tech fest, cultural fest, and sports fest. Students of multiple institutes also come to participate & compete in all these fest, which makes it even good. In addition to that, we have various events like Bollywood night, comedy nights, and what not, making our cultural fest one of the 2nd largest in Asia.