Hi everyone!
This is Farhan Anjum from BBA 34th, instructor of Growlithe. Many of you may know that I come from a Business Studies NCTB background, which is a rarity in IBA (demotivating, I know). Every year around 2-5 students from this background make it into IBA. In my year, the number was only 1. Another one of my batchmates also made it to the viva but sadly failed the viva by 0.25 marks.
This is a guideline for students who want to prepare for IBA (Business Studies background), answers to the common questions I face and my personal experience.

1. Why don't students from this background make it into IBA as much as Science students do?

The second you chose this group, you limited your options compared to someone from a Science background. You can't prepare for medical, engineering, and become strictly restricted to DU C unit as your main goal (considering you want a public university seat). IBA is also an option but it's nowhere near the curriculum you will study in SSC and HSC. Everything else such as JU and JnU become backups. At some point in your academic years, you will hear about IBA and learn that it is the best business school in Bangladesh. You will become motivated and wonder why you never heard about it in the first place. You do some research and you figure out why. Math. (I'm assuming you have a solid base in English. You watch English movies and have no trouble understanding conversations in English. The question being in English doesn't intimidate you either)
The Math is not Accounting or Finance. It's something completely different. It's close to General Math you faced in SSC but much much harder. To make it worse, you won't have a calculator either. You try solving some previous year questions. You solve questions from the 90s and think to yourself "maybe I can figure it out" but the more recent the question papers get, the more you realize that the difficulty only kept rising.

This is the first demotivating factor for students of our background. The Math is insanely more difficult than what you had practiced in SSC or will learn in college.
Students from Science background aren't as intimidated as we are. They've solved really difficult problems in Physics, Chemistry, Higher Math that challenge their thinking. They are more than willing to take on this challenge.
In the end, students from a Business Studies background (I'm writing Business Studies over and over cause I don't want to abbreviate it) fail to get past the initial hurdle of the Math section and decide early on that IBA may not be for them. Business students are comparatively lower, and only a small number of that portion actually prepare for IBA, and an even smaller number actually make it into IBA. Because, simply remember, your chances of getting into IBA is minuscule compared to not getting into IBA.
Notice how I assumed you are good in English before writing all of this. I personally believe that if you don't have a decent foundation in English (you follow "it sounds good so it must be the answer", watch English movies, can follow English conversations easily), you shouldn't start IBA preparation at all. Everything is in English. If you have to translate a question to Bangla before solving it, that puts you in the bottom of the bracket of people who are preparing for IBA. Play it safe. Admission season is one of the most important times in your life. Make smart decisions, not emotionally blinded ones.

2. Should I prepare for IBA if I'm from a Business Studies background?

Before anyone decides that they want to give IBA prep a shot, they should definitely know the question pattern and sit for an assessment test beforehand to get a general idea of how the exam works. It's applicable for students from any background. Doing bad in the assessment test is alright as long as you understand what your weaknesses are. If you are confident in covering up these weaknesses in the upcoming months then you should definitely prepare for IBA. However, another important question comes to mind. Should you solely prepare for IBA? No, I don't think anyone should solely prepare for IBA due to how risky it is. Preparing for IBA helps you prepare for BUP BBA Gen, NSU/BRAC, and JU IBA. That's about it. People aiming for medical, engineering, FBS DU- the IBA prep won't help them significantly or at all if IBA doesn't work out.
So should you prepare for IBA? Yeah, if you want to and you're confident that you can take care of your weaknesses over some time and you have proper backups ready if IBA doesn't work out.

3. Common problems faced by Business Studies students

You will face a lot of problems during the admission season just like any other candidate will. Some will be unique, and most of it will be something every other candidate is facing as well. "Vocab mukhostho hoy na", "math pari na", "data sufficiency bujhi na" - these are not commmerce specific problems. It's something the majority of the candidates will face and you probably won't be an exception. You will need to figure out how to solve or tackle the obstacles.

A common problem among commerce aspirants (I was no exception until the last 2 weeks before the exam) is low self-esteem. You will constantly see people who do better than you, especially at the beginning of the preparation. You will mess up easy math problems that everyone else solves in a blink of an eye. You will feel that you lag behind and everyone else has a head-start but not you. However, you have to remember one thing: don't make it an identity issue.
What I mean to say is that, whenever you fail a math test or struggle keeping up, you cannot tell yourself "Ami commerce tai pari na" because it will soon become engraved in your identity and at some point in life you will have a hard separating the problem from yourself. A problem needs to be solved, not be made a part of your identity. This will result in low self-esteem and you will feel your confidence plummet over time.
So how can you tackle this? You don't make the issues a part of your identity. You couldn't solve an easy math problem because "tumi commerce" but because "practice hoy nai/concept bujhi nai bujha lagbe". You struggle with Math not because "tumi commerce" but because "tumi enough practice koro nai" and enough practice will eventually solve the problem. Believe what you say about yourself, and make sure you say things that will help you in the admission season and not the other way around. You have to be your best friend during the admission season and you can't do that by constantly lowering your self as a person. Be confident and rational and put in the effort.

Another problem will be: finding people to relate to. Everybody is an EV student, or a Science student, or an EM student. You don't know any seniors with the same background. For that, I'm here. Find me on Facebook. Ask me about all the other seniors I know that got into IBA from a Business Studies background.

Another problem is: managing backups. This is a common issue for most aspirants, but I'm gonna talk about the commerce side of it. You have every typical commerce student's dream: DU FBS. The syllabus for C unit (DU FBS) is just your college academics, just more in-depth. I personally had a hard time preparing for C unit because while I was really good in academics, I hated the syllabus. I did not enjoy studying Bangla, Management, Finance, Accounting theory cause it was just a lot of memorization and there wasn't a lot of room for fun imo. You might find yourself in a similar situation. However, it's best you prepare for C unit side-by-side. It's possible, and you just need to find a system that works for you; where you can enjoy the IBA preparation and dedicate some time make sure you get a seat in C unit. C unit prep will also help you secure seats in JU and JnU. My honest advice would be to prepare for C unit side-by-side even though I couldn't do it. I was under a lot of stress after I quit my C unit preparation and always kept wondering "IBA na hoile ki korbo", and it's one of the worst feelings ever. You don't want all that extra stress during the admission phase and you surely need to have good backups.

4. Actual preparation

If you're not an aspirant right now, maybe you are HSC 27 or 28, you can actually take this time to collect books like Saifurs BBA Math. This book provides you with basic Math concepts and helps you keep your Math in practice. However, this is not the book you should collect if you are an aspirant right now. You collect all the resources you are supposed to (I'm not mentioning them here since it's already covered in other blogs) and start practicing. This is how section-wise preparation as a commerce student looked for me:
Math: This is probably what you will be spending most of your time on. For the first month, you might even feel clueless and doubt yourself. However, there is indeed a gap. A gap[ that is caused by studying in commerce and you have to work just a little extra hard to cover that gap up. You will probably spend more time in Math than any other section. Best advice for this is: don't focus on finishing more resources. Focus on understanding the concept behind the problems. Solving and reviewing a handful of decently difficult yet rewarding questions is more important than finishing a lot of resources. Solve a math problem. See if you got it right. If yes, move on. If not, review it properly. Find faster and more efficient ways to solve the same problems. Become really good at hand-calculation. Since you will have to multiply/divide huge numbers without a calculator, you have to be really fast with it. Minimize your errors by practicing consistently.

English: I hope you believe that you have a decent foundation in English. You can learn grammar over time and figure out what patterns to look for in the English section. Make sure you are good in vocab as well. Finishing Word Smart 1 and the hit parades is a huge boost in confidence. There's a blog on the English section as well. I personally was really confident about English so I maximized my marks on this section. You can too if this suits you.

Analytical: I believe just a few weeks in analytical is more than enough for anyone. If you were able to keep up with everything else in your IBA preparation, this section will come naturally to you. As a commerce student, you might struggle a little in the data sufficiency section since it also requires good understanding of Math, but if you have been consistent with your Math preparation, this should be easy at some point. One advice I'd give to students who are preparing early is that: Start solving puzzles early. You can find puzzles in the IBA book, GRE bb, and find playlists on YouTube that show you how to approach puzzles in general.

That's about it about the IBA prep. It won't look too different than any other aspirant, but you have to find ways to differentiate yourself from the average aspirant.

5. Mentality

I know this sounds weird but you have to be your best friend during this vulnerable time. Low self-esteem and unimaginable stress will hamper your confidence if you are not careful enough. Your background is not a handicap for you to use every time things go wrong. Learn to believe that you have a chance if you make consistent effort. Learn what mistakes students make in the exam hall that ultimately result in them not getting in. Learn what strategies IBA students used that helped them stay calm during the exam and the weeks leading up to it.

Lastly, don't get the "IBA or nothing" mentality. It will do you more harm than good. Prepare smartly. Every year 2-5 students from a Business Studies background make it to IBA. Maybe you are one of them, maybe not. Don't get too fixated on the idea of IBA and learn to make changes to your plan so when the admission season ends, you are at a place you are content with. Best of luck.

Farhan Anjum
IBA BBA 34th
HSC SSC Business Studies