In the year I appeared for my entrances (2013), of the 20 or so candidates admitted to the ISI MSQE program, about 10 were students taught by Amit Goyal. Only one of them was a fool of astronomical proportions and opted not to enroll there. Funnily enough, he was also the only boy in the lot. Anyway, about at least a third of all students qualifying for the programs at DSE or IGIDR were also his students. It would be an understatement to call him the very best.

Everyone else has elucidated on the multidimensional aspects of his teaching style. Personally, I have aped his approach of graphing and visualizing everything while trying to tackle problems, and it has served me immensely. I had neither the aptitude, nor inclination towards math before his classes but spending time in his tutelage gave me the courage to grapple with questions beyond my ability.

He gives you a set of 20 or so questions in class (most of which are discussed therein), and another set as homework. If you devote yourself to solving both sets regularly (a mean feat by any standards), you can legitimately aspire to some of the smaller joys of life.

He is, hands down, the best teacher of microeconomics and statistics I’ve ever had the good fortune of studying under. You will more or less have to deal with macroeconomics on your own, but frankly, macroeconomics isn’t very rigorously tested at Masters level entrances. As far as econometrics is concerned, I have a masters in economics and I still don’t know any econometrics. Perhaps, it reflects more on me…

Anyway, the bottom line is that as far as entrance preparations are concerned, Amit Goyal is Jesus. If you accept him into your heart and solve questions diligently, you will be blessed with the opportunity at the miserable crucifixion that is the Masters course life at DSE.

I owe him a debt of gratitude for the sole fleeting moment in my life when I wasn’t a disappointment to my parents.