I am Tahmid Zarif, currently studying Economics at BRAC University as part of the Spring ’26 cohort. From cracking some public universities to failing to crack others, I wanted to share what I learnt in my journey through this hectic phase. Hope this series brings to you some well-needed relatable stories and some expected guidelines.

Here’s my story: from making mistakes to learning, from losing hope to holding onto a niche till the very last moment.

With that being said, today’s tier is about the unseriousness of one of the exams I possessed willingly or unwillingly, by choice or chance: the DU admission test.

Somehow, all the problems of life entered my life during that phase, and it has now turned into a story worth sharing, not because of the failure but for the realisation that a little effort and mental easiness could have changed the scenario.

There are some dreams that do not begin with a formal decision. They simply grow quietly inside you. For me, studying at the University of Dhaka was one of those dreams.

Ever since I entered college, I had imagined myself studying at DU, particularly in the Faculty of Social Sciences. I was deeply interested in International Relations, Public Administration, and even Law. So, when my HSC examinations finally ended in July 2025 and the practical examinations stretched everything into August, I knew that the next chapter had already begun. The Dhaka University B Unit admission test was ahead of me, scheduled for January. On paper, I had roughly four months.

Three months should have been enough. At least, that is what I thought.

I never had the same obsession with Dhaka University’s other units. If I had gotten the opportunity, I certainly would have prepared, but preparing for A or even IBA was never the dream I was chasing. The B Unit was different. I genuinely wanted it. I was focused on it. And, at least in my head, I was ready to work for it.

After HSC, I finished my ISSB-related commitments and enrolled at a reputed coaching centre’s Mirpur-10 branch for B Unit preparation. I still remember my first day there. It was probably the first moment when my confidence began to disappear.

Almost everyone seemed ahead of me. Some students had already completed multiple admission courses. Students from humanities backgrounds seemed far more comfortable with General Knowledge. Many had stronger command over Bangla and English grammar. They knew things I had never even encountered. I walked into that classroom expecting to prepare for an examination, but instead I found myself constantly comparing my preparation with everyone else’s.

The first class was General Knowledge, particularly Geography. The second was English grammar. The third was Bangla grammar. Classes continued according to the routine, and I was in the 8:00 am batch. For around one and a half months, I attended classes, sat for written examinations continuously, collected lecture sheets, and tried to finish them every day.

From the outside, I was preparing. Inside, something was missing.

I was doing the work, but I was not carrying the feeling that usually comes with a dream. I could not see the destination clearly anymore. I was not building confidence. I was simply trying to survive one day after another.

And then, as if the admission season itself had some strange ability to expose every weakness in a person’s life, everything else began happening at the same time.

Personal problems, uncertainties, external pressures, internal struggles, things I could not control and things I probably could have handled better. It felt as though every unresolved problem in my life had decided to arrive during those few months.

That period became one of the hardest transitions of my life. I now understand that I lost almost two months not because I did not care, but because I was trying to understand the admission process while simultaneously trying to hold myself together. I was late in understanding the pulse of the B Unit. Looking back, I wish I had started much earlier and approached the preparation with a clearer strategy.

Eventually, I lost confidence completely. I stopped believing that I would get a chance at Dhaka University. More importantly, I stopped allowing myself to dream about it.

And that is exactly what happened.

By the time I had roughly 36 or 37 days left, I knew I had to change something. I enrolled in an online batch run by one of my seniors. Those final 36 days became completely different from the months before them.

She taught me extremely well, and for the first time in a long while, I became genuinely focused. I studied with whatever time I had left not only for Dhaka University B Unit, but also for several other admission tests: Sust B Unit, Chittagong University D Unit, Jahangirnagar University’s B, C, D and E Units, and BUP’s relevant units.

Rajshahi University was different. I did not sit for that examination intentionally because I never really saw myself studying there. Besides, its examination coincided with BUP’s FSSS and FASS examinations, so I chose BUP.

My preparation for all of these examinations was therefore built on a relatively small foundation: whatever I had managed to learn during those one and a half months at the coaching centre, combined with the intensive final 36 days with my senior apu.

But the most important thing I learned was not academic.

It was about preparation itself. I had not taken enough examinations beforehand. As a result, I had very little understanding of negative marking. I did not know when to take a risk and when to leave a question. I guessed too much. I made unnecessary attempts. My written performance was not where it needed to be. I had not developed the instinct that comes only from repeatedly sitting for competitive examinations.

These were small mistakes individually. Together, they became significant.

Today, I believe the admission season requires something beyond studying. It requires detachment. It requires discipline. It requires knowing when to disappear from unnecessary social distractions and give yourself time to work on your weaknesses.

The students who genuinely lock in during this period often develop something more valuable than preparation alone: a target, a dream, perseverance, and eventually, confidence.

That was something I failed to build properly. And Dhaka University’s B Unit taught me that lesson painfully. I still remember walking out through the Hazaribagh gate after the examination. I continued to wipe my eyes. It was not simply because an examination had gone badly. It felt as though a dream I had carried since college had been broken by a collection of small mistakes.

But I did not let that moment destroy me. I stood there and told myself something very simple: if Dhaka University is not happening, then at least one of the next public university examinations has to happen. I have to crack one at any cost.

That was the moment the story changed. I did not know which university would eventually become my destination. I did not know whether Sust, Jahangirnagar, Chittagong, BUP, or another institution would become my next chapter.

But I knew one thing. I was not going to let one failed dream decide the ending of my admission season. If I could go back and speak to the person I was one year ago, I would tell him this:

‘Do not wait until the final 36 days to understand your dream. Start early. Take enough exams. Learn how negative marking works. Understand your weaknesses. Protect your focus. And most importantly, never allow one difficult phase to convince you that the dream is already over.’

Dhaka University B Unit was the examination I wanted most. I did not get it. But perhaps that was the first examination I truly needed to fail. Because the next ones were about to teach me how to fight differently. And that’s where my story had begun.