Guidelines for SP Jain SOP

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Guidelines for SP Jain SOP

Guidelines for answering the SOP related questions asked as a part of the SP Jain MBA entrance test application form:
Q.1 Please furnish details about any academic achievements, if any. Include a maximum of 3 achievements.Describe
Briefly (Max. 50 words)
Not everyone will have all-India level achievements. It's ok if you don't. However, you will have some achievement at least. Probably
getting the first rank in your XI std or being among the top 5% performers in your branch in Engineering or being the topper in a
particular subject at some level in school. Between leaving the section blank and mentioning a not-so-significant achievement, the
latter is preferable.
Whenever we mention an achievement, we must mention the rank, the event, location, and year. If possible, the scale of the event
should be mentioned as well. For example, securing AIR-50 in XII standard (in a subject) may not call for mentioning the number of
people writing the test but it would be better to mention the number of students writing a test for, say, an state level engineering
entrance test.
Q.2 Versatility: It means concurrent significant interest in diverse areas such as sports, creative writing, painting,
dancing, social service etc. Include a maximum of 5 activities. Describe Briefly (Max. 50 words)
When you mention your interest(s), you must mention the level of proficiency as well. So activity, highest level of
participation/award/achievement, event name, year, and number of participants/level of competition.
Q.3 Briefly describe any difficulties you may have faced that have had a significant impact on your family.
You could speak about (i) your decision to pursue some competetive exam (or hobby or competition at a professional level) on a very
serious basis the difficulties it presented and the support provided by your family or (ii) illness/accident at some point in your
career or dilemma in choosing a career (or a break in education) or (iii) challenges posed by your profession (onsite / job posting at
some odd location typically involving physical/mental discomfort or work-load etc.) etc.
All the scenarios presented above have the potential to create further questions during an interview and therefore you must choose
your words very carefully. Be sure to highlight the impact it had on your family and how they have supported you throughout. You
will also want to mention the qualities/nature involved and how the challenge has made you a better person.
Q.4 Briefly describe any difficulties you may have faced that have a significant impact on you personally.
The issues one could speak about here could relate (i) to some work you took up as a hobby (or perhaps at an NGO or at Business or
during an Internship etc.) or (ii) to prepare for a competetive exam when in school/college or (iii) to some personal incident (helping
a person in need against all challenges or, say, (iv) a project in college that ran into trouble or financial trouble as a student or (v)
location/resource related issues (no school in village, say).
In describing any difficulty please be sure to clearly explain the nature of impact it had, the alternatives before you, action plan and
how it has made you a better person.
Q.5 Briefly describe situation/s where you have had the opportunity to take on responsibility in a personal context.
There could be a range of situations (i) shouldering responsibilty for family since parents (or elders) were going through a
challenging time, or (ii) being there for friends (before an exam, at the time of their personal crisis, some social support project they
had undertaken etc), or (iii) some task you took up with friends etc.
Q.6 Briefly describe situation/s where you have had the opportunity to take on responsibility in a professional context.
Examples could be (i) going out of way to take up responsibility in a project, (ii) going live with a plan/project you put together in
college, (iii) conducting events at college or in a social setting, (iv) being a prefect/lead/monitor in school or college, (v) being a
captain/lead in sports etc.
General guidelines for answering questions:

1. The answers to the questions should be written in simple english (use of flowery language should be avoided unless it is a part
of your usual vocab and you would use the same language in your personal interaction as well).

2. The sentences should be crisp. Naturally, they should be grammatically correct. It is one thing you will definitely be judged on.
3. In general, you should not leave any question blank. Similarly, the responses should be neither too short nor too long. If the
word limit has been specified as 50 (for example), then the response should not be more than 50 words But it should not be
less than, say, 80% of the assigned word limit as well, as that would create an impression that you are short on content. The

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Guidelines for SP Jain SOP

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http://www.time4education.com/Guidelines-for-SP-Jain-SOP.asp

questions are an opportunity for you to convince them of your candidature. Do not 'under-sell'.

4. Whenever you describe any event, mention the situation, the time/location, challenge (main), additonal/sub-problems,
alternatives (risks involved if any), course of action, your contribution, result and how it has made you a better person.

5. Follow the directions. If the directions specify that a maximum of 3 achievements may be mentioned, then please do limit your
pointers to three only.

6. Please do not copy-paste. Interviewers can easily assess whether a person has written the answer himself. Typical pointers
would be the kind of language and vocab used, clarity regarding the points mentioned and the interest demonstrated therein
etc. You can seek inputs, discuss your responses etc., but in the end, it has to be written by you, in your language and style.
Remember, there are no perfect answers. We are who we are, and proudly so.

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