The examination was of two hour duration and had 122 questions. It was divided into four sections  namely General Awareness, Quantitative Ability or Quant , a combination of RC and Verbal as the third section and a combination of LR and DI as the fourth section. This time, IIFT introduced sectional cutoff which were not present in the paper earlier.

All the four sections had different number of questions with different marks allotted to them. The break up is as follows:

The General Awareness section had 20 questions of 0.4 marks each.

Quant had 28 questions at 1 mark each.

RC and Verbal combined had 40 questions in which RC had 15 questions at 1 mark each and Verbal had 25 questions at 0.6 marks each.

LR and DI combined had 34 questions at 1 mark each.

The negative marking was one-third or 1/3 of the marks of a question.

According to puys who took the exam, the DI cases were difficult and calculation intensive and RC was the easiest section of all. Quant also was on the difficult side, though according to candidates, it needed good question selection abilities as there were some questions from mensuration which were quite direct.

Take part in the IIFT 2009 post exam discussions and analysis on PaGaLGuY Forums here!

Note: We will keep updating the links here as and when coaching institutes come up with their analysis and answer keys.

Analyze IIFT at Career Launcher

Tradewinds 2009: The National Manufacturing Symposium at IIFT Kolkata

The recent global economic slowdown took a toll on the manufacturing segment of nations across the world and India too faced heat due to the same. This theme of ’sustaining growth in turbulent times’ formed the backdrop of Tradewinds 2009 – The National Manufacturing Symposium organized by Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, IIFT, Kolkata Campus in association with National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) at ITC, the Sonar, Kolkata. Kishore Roongta, the Chairman of SAIL and an IIFT alumni was the Chief Guest for the event. He began by stating that manufacturing sector accounts for 15 percent of India’s GDP, 50 percent of total exports and 79 percent share in the Index of Industrial Production while employing 12 percent of India’s total workforce. Roongta opined that although India has several advantages such as low labor and power cost, availability of land resources, yet bottlenecks in the system like high transaction cost and low productivity have set us back on the path we should have been marching forward. R.K Jain, Joint Secretary, NMCC pointed out that if India has to sustain a growth of 9 to 10 percent then our manufacturing sector has to grow at a fast pace of 12 to 14 percent.

S Shandilya, Chairman, Eicher Motors initiated the opening session of the day on maintaining firm level competitiveness. ‘Think Lean’ was his mantra for companies aiming to secure a competitive edge in these turbulent times. “Lean management”, said Shandilya, “is the key to reducing waste and redundancy in different processes especially in the manufacturing industry which shows high incidences of resource wastage”. Carrying the session forward, Rakesh Makhija, Managing Director, SKF outlined the three keystones of a successful business model – cost leadership, price value and frugal innovation – incremental innovations with optimal usage of resources. According to the next speaker for the session, G Chatterjee, Director, Exide , ‘Innovation’, ‘Brand’ and ‘Technology’are the pillars of a successful company.

The second session focusing on the challenges faced by the manufacturing sector in managing talent, was introduced by Anirudh Singh, Vice President HR, JSW Steel. He prescribed that organizations need to create future leaders from junior management to facilitate loyalty and retention. Nihar Ranjan Ghosh gave an insight into the concept of employee branding, providing employees with a holistic experience in terms of compensation, value, growth and scope. Rahul Ghatak, Vice President HR and TQM , CEAT India Limited , held the view that only 20 to 25 percent of the workforce in an organization is difficult to replace, and organizations need to identify these players and transform them from average employees and generalists to specialists. He summed up by saying “you bet on people not strategies”.

The closing session threw light on concerns of the Manufacturing sector vis-a-vis the Protectionist measures adopted by several countries. Ranajoy Bhattacharya, a Fulbright Scholar and Professor at IIFT, Kolkata Campus advocated temporary protectionism in the manufacturing sector as in the long term it breeds efficiency. ‘Let protectionism not destroy the spirit of liberalization’ was his motto for the future. R. Maitra, Executive Director, EEPC was of the view that protectionism was beneficial only to a small group of people with deep pockets and hence should be avoided as far as possible.

Xpressions’09 concludes on November 17 at XIMB

Xpressions ‘09, the annual B-school event of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB), hit a crescendo on November 16, with Mohit Chauhan’s scintillating live performance drawing hundreds of fans to the campus. The delay of the event by a day due to inclement weather wasn’t enough to dampen the spirits of students and fans, who were treated to all of his popular numbers, from ‘Dooba Dooba’ and ‘Boondein’ from his first album with Silk Route, to Bollywood tracks from the latest films, including ‘Mohabbat Ki Hain Pehli Baar’ from Kaminey, ‘Tune Jo Naa Kahaan’ from New York and the effervescent ‘Masakali’ from Delhi 6, which got the crowd to its feet.

The fest was launched on Thursday evening with ‘Conclave’, a panel discussion on ‘Power India: Power Leveraged from all its Diversities’, which saw eminent speakers like Rashmi Bhansal, author of ‘Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish’, and Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay award winner and leading social activist share their thoughts, views and opinions on the topic from their own different fields and perspectives.

The five flagship games of Xpressions were held over the course of the next two days. ‘Kurukshetra’, the biggest and most prestigious business simulation game, was won by MDI Gurgaon, while Gladiator, the game which tests a manager’s cross functional abilities under pressure, was won by Anand Goyal from IIM-Calcutta. XIMB’s very own team ‘Balle Balle’ took home the honors in Skill City, a test of soft skills, while Helios, the only nationwide event for undergraduates which aims to introduce them to the world of management, was won by team ‘Empty Thoughts’ from KIIT, Bhubaneswar. Spardha, the social entrepreneurship competition organized by the Rural Managers Association of XIM, was won by team ‘Shristi’ of XIMB.

Xpressions also saw the hosting of the Annual Alumni meet known as Alumni Homecoming on November 14, 2009 in its campus. This event was attended by many alumni currently in several senior positions in the industry and social sector. The event included panel discussions, Alumni Advisory Council meeting, Alumni AGM, and was followed by the corporate dinner.

Friday night saw renowned bands from Kolkata and Delhi fly down to perform in ‘Decibelz’ The Rock Band Competition. ‘Moshpit’, a band known all over India for its metal core compositions, emerged victorious in the event, beating competition like ‘Cynical Recess’, who rendered a near-perfect performance of the song ‘I Remember You’ by ‘Skidrow’.

‘Carnival de Vogue’ came to XIMB on Saturday night, which saw students from colleges of national repute scorch the ramp in the fashion show event. The show was split into three rounds, the first showcasing Indian culture in traditional and ethnic wear, the second being an on-the-spot theme round and the third testing the teams innovation.

Team ‘Vetements de Creaturer’ from NIFT-Kolkata were the cynosure of all eyes, with creations designed by in house budding fashion designers Abhishek Debnath and Shonit Dasgupta. They sealed victory with their theme of drapes, in the final round, the clothes being merely draped around the models and not stitched in any way.

Sundar Raman CEO, IPL visits MICA to teach ‘Sports Marketing’

Sundar Raman, CEO of IPL was in the city on Monday, 16 November 2009 to take the ‘Sports Marketing Course’for PGDM (Communications) final year students at Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad.

He brings to MICA his wide experience including strategic media thinking for some of the biggest brands in South Asia including Unilever, PepsiCo, Motorola, Samsung and Amex amongst others.

“It was very interesting to meet Mr. SundarRaman and discuss potential links with MICA especially in the field of Sports Marketing Communications. There is a need for good Sports Marketing professionals within the industry and SundarRaman felt that the students should not constrain themselves by just looking at Multinationals and advertising agencies but should broaden their scope and look at the Sports sector. We also look forward to building our relationship with the IPL”, said Prof Ashok Ranchhod, Director of MICA.

JBIMS hosts Dr Bharat Singh

As a part of the student development initiative through interaction with the industry stalwarts and corporate personalities, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, JBIMS, Mumbai hosted Bharat Singh, Chairman of Services Business Review Council, Aditya Birla Group on November 18. A management graduate from IIM Calcutta, Singh completed his doctorate program from JBIMS.

Dr Singh urged the students to give due importance to studies and build themselves to face challenges in industry. Citing examples, he emphasized the need to give back to the society in whatever way one can and ensure a sustainable life for oneself.

In today’s dynamic environment, Dr Singh also talked on the importance of having a goal in life and also putting in efforts to achieve those goals. It is necessary that each one carves out a journey for oneself based on one’s liking and passion.

Responding to a question, Dr Singh cited an example of ethical business model that The Aditya Birla Group follows to explain the role of the management in adapting to the ever-changing scenario. With the dynamic environment, the scope for growth is huge; and so is the lure of getting into unethical practices. It is important for the young managers to get their principles right and set up a goal based on the kind of career they are looking for. The efforts and approach during the two years of management studies should be directed towards that goal.

Samanvay- The annual corporate symposium concludes at JBIMS

Samanvay, the annual corporate symposium organized by Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, JBIMS, Mumbai on November 18 is an occasion for student-corporate interaction which provides the much needed insights and experience deemed essential to face corporate realities. Over the years ‘Samanvay’ has hosted many luminaries and this year was no different. Ninad Karpe, MD and CEO of Aptech and Rajiv Naik, a Scotland based consultant were the guests of honor this year. The theme this year, ‘Renaissance: The Time for Re-Awakening’ was befitting the times; a world trying to find its way in the aftermath of a crisis of confidence.

The symposium was flagged by Karpe. A chartered accountant by profession, he has donned many hats of financial consultant, author and educator in the early years of his career. He played the part of entrepreneur equally well, setting up the Indian operations for Computer Associates (CA) from scratch and garnering a huge presence for CA in a span of ten years before taking over the reins at Aptech. Karpe spoke about the Indian education and training sector and pointed out that it had not received the attention it deserved. He said that private players should be allowed to participate and contribute to this sector in a more unfettered manner. While institutes of higher learning were needed, the real requirement was at the primary level. The number of dropouts, nearly 40 percent of the country’s school-age children was a major cause of concern. Constant monitoring and improvement in the quality of education imparted will surely help raise the literacy levels in the country. He reiterated that if the necessary steps were taken, it would have a domino effect on the entire education and training industry and India could awake to a literate and empowered populace. He also exhorted students to free their minds of biases and inhibitions, especially in light of a situation where corporate organizations need young managers to spearhead their rural forays. Lastly, he reminded the students never to let go of their ethics, nor to forget the thrill of creating something new.

The second speaker for the event was Rajiv Naik. In addition to being the co-owner and a partner of Sumati Global Partners, he has over 18 years of experience with originating, structuring and executing business development propositions for blue chip organizations. His stint with corporate companies includes an eight year stretch with Royal Bank of Scotland in Edinburgh. He is a member of the Edinburgh Chambers of Commerce and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE (UK). Having been closely involved with both blue chip firms as well as the top business colleges in Edinburgh he was able to impart his insights on the competencies that constitute a global manager. He noted that the students with their keen understanding of the changing economic scenario, reflection of positivity in their thinking, advanced social behavior patterns and their capability to connect with reality and thinking would surely go a long way. He emphasized that this was the time for re-awakening and moving away from the economics of greed and fear and instead focusing on wealth creation. The need of the hour was young entrepreneurs. He urged the students to understand, explore and do something original. He also shared his thoughts on what he felt had helped young entrepreneurs start successful ventures, drawing on his association with TiE, the global non profit organization dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship.

The potential for Operations Management

Operations Management (OM) is a specialized and emerging body of knowledge that facilitates the process of value delivery by improving productivity, quality, cost and supply chain cycle times and providing a broad array of high quality products and services.

Organisations worldwide have realized that efficient management of business operations and technology is the secret to survival and success. Be it the manufacturing, retail or services sectors such as IT, finance, logistics, transportation, health care or public utility or education, the service delivery pipelines must be carefully designed, resourced and managed effectively.

Envisaging the vast potential in this field, Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management (SIOM) was established as a B-School with a clear differentiation – an exclusive focus on Operations Management.

Unique curriculum

The MBA (Operations Management) program at SIOM is designed to meet the needs of diverse sectors of economy viz. manufacturing, service, IT and consulting. It provides students the skills and knowledge necessary to design, manage, analyze, and improve the operations systems in those business sectors. Students develop both, an in-depth strategic understanding of operations systems, their components, contributions, and interactions with other functional areas and the analytical and computer tools necessary to address both strategic and tactical issues.

Exclusively for Engineers

The MBA – Operations is open only to engineers who SIOM believes have the necessary background, knowledge and mindset to be outstanding “Techno-Business” managers – professionals atop the current competitive markets with a vision for world class excellence.

Special highlights

-       CPIM/CSCP certification: SIOM provides opportunities to its student to attain CPIM/CSCP certification from “The Association for Operations Management”, USA (formerly known as American Production and Inventory Control Society i.e. APICS).

-       Six-Sigma Green Belt Certification: SIOM students are trained in Six-Sigma and conferred Green Belts certifications by KPMG, the world’s leading Management Consulting Firm. Every students carries out a LIVE PROJECT on Six Sigma in the industry.

-       SAP-ERP: SIOM is one of the very few management institutes in India to have a dedicated and fully functional SAP Lab. This provides an edge to our students over other B- Schools in understanding best Business Practices. SIOM students are offered more than 100 hours of training in SAP for any of the 4 functional modules viz., Financial Accounting (FI) and Controlling (CO), Materials Management (MM), Sales and Distribution (S&D) and Production Planning (PP).

-       Students also undergo training and receive certification for CII Logistics and SCS (a Supply Chain software by i2 Technologies).

Strong corporate interface

An important aspect of SIOM’s curriculum is the corporate interface whereby students gain insights into the actual world of corporate business and operations management. At TATTV, an event organized every year, 25-30 CEOs and COO from varied industry are invited to SIOM for panel discussions on topical and relevant issues. This year’s theme was “Desire… Drive… Inspire… from Slowdown to Touchdown” and discussed how to excel in this time of crisis, and how to work towards building a green organization encompassing business ethics which would become a benchmark for one and all to emulate.

Another regular feature is CONVERGE, an interactive seminar where academicians and industry stalwarts meet to deliberate and discuss on a contemporary topic such as Supply Chain Management, Six Sigma, etc.

Eligibility

The SIOM MBA – Operations is open to Engineering Graduates from a recognized university with minimum 50% aggregate marks (all years put together) or equivalent grades. For SC/ST candidates minimum marks are 45%.

Admissions & Selection:

Step I: Register online for SNAP 2009 at www.snaptest.org before 24th November 2009.

Step II: Register online for SIOM and pay the Registration fees of Rs. 1000 either online or by way of demand draft in favor of “Director, Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management”, payable at Nashik main branch before January 23, 2010.

Candidates will be short listed on various parameters like SNAP score, work exp, academic performance, etc to appear for Group Discussions and later, for Personal Interviews at Nashik.

Contact details

Symbiosis Institute of Operations Management

Plot No.A-23, Shravan Sector, New CIDCO, Nashik 422 008
Tel No: (0253) 2397150 /  2376107 / 2376108 Fax: (0253) 2379959

Email admissions@siom.in
Website: www.siom.in

(This article is a sponsored feature. Readers are advised to conduct their own research)

IIM Ahmedabad: Students pledge to fight corruption

Manjunath Shanmugam was a well known and respected alumnus of IIM Lucknow, batch of 2003. His was an unwavering voice that spoke out fearlessly against the oil adulteration practices that he observed in his area, as a Marketing Manager of IOCL in Lakhimpur, Uttar Pradesh. On November 19 2005, the light was blown out and the voice silenced forever when he was brutally murdered, his body riddled by six bullets.

Manjunath’s death shook the world and once again brought the corruption rampant in our society onto the surface. What happened was not something out of place. Several people in PSUs and several other organizations faced menacing threats to prevent them from speaking out against malpractices. But Manjunath, unlike most people, remained unfazed by threats, and did his job honestly.

Manjunath’s death was a wake-up call to the nation, especially the young generation, reminding them of the importance of integrity in each action of theirs. The onus is upon this generation, to set an example of exemplary ethical conduct and to report any unethical practices that they come across so as to take India forward into a corruption-free era.

On November 19, 2009, students and faculty across 25 colleges nationwide came together for candle light prayer meets to commemorate Manjunath’s fourth death anniversary and to take an integrity pledge to remind the nation of what Manjunath died for.

At IIM Ahmedabad, one of the institutions where the candle light prayer meets were held, students from different programs came together and bserved silence to pay respect to Manjunath and pledged to fight corruption in every form.

Manjunath Shanmugam Trust

To ensure that Manjunath was delivered quick justice and that his killers were appropriately punished, the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust (MST) was formed on 23 February 2006, Manjunath’s 28th birth anniversary, by members of the international IIM alumni network. The broader vision of the trust is to build on the network, skills and resources of the professional corporate community, to help improve governance in Indian public life. MST has a small, focused group of Trustees and Advisory Board members drawn from corporate India. Volunteers are spread across the U.S, UK, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong and India. The Trust has instituted the Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award to honor and encourage person/s or institutions who are working to uphold the values of truth and honesty in Indian corporate, government or public life.

MST also set up India’s first national RTI Act helpline in association with noted NGO Parivartan on Nov 19th 2006, to mark Manjunath’s first death anniversary. This was discontinued after a year to opt for a more decentralised approach, by funding local initiatives across the country.

Envisioning a Corruption free India – A Panel discussion at IIM Lucknow

Manjunath Shanmugam Trust and Hindi Section of IIML held a panel discussion on the topic ‘Envisioning A Corruption free India on November 17 at IIM Lucknow. The event was held two days before the 4th death anniversary of Manjunath, an IIML alumnus who lost his life fighting against corruption. His death anniversary was remembered by organizing a Candle light march across top management colleges of India.

The panel discussion aimed at increasing awareness about deep rooted corruption of our country and discussed ways through which we can fight against it. The discussion focused on: How to fight against corruption using RTI; how Manjunath and his ideology are relevant in today’s India; and how can educated elite contribute to build a corruption free India?

The event was graced by the presence of many distinguished personalities who shared their enlightening thoughts with the students of IIML and other prominent colleges of Lucknow.
The key speakers of the panel were:
Dr. Devi Singh, Director, IIM Lucknow
I.B. Singh, Senior Criminal Lawyer of Allahabad high court
Dr. Jitendra Chaturvedi, Founder of Developmental Association for Human Advancement which is popular as ‘DEHAT’
Dr. Sandeep Pandey, Magsaysay Award Winner (2002)
Vikram Singh, Ex. Director-General of Police, UP

The event opened with key note speeches from each of the leaders. Dr Singh shared his thoughts on the role of education in making India a corruption free nation. He focused on the some key issues that are crippling India and informed that bribery has remained an inherent part of Indian Society and illustrated the fact by giving an example of a corrupt constable being a more sought after groom than an honest school teacher. He laid emphasis on the requirement of a support system to combat corruption.

Singh asked the youth to follow a zero tolerance policy towards corruption and quoted the bible by saying ‘The wages of sin is death’. He was unhappy with the sorry state of affairs in the country and quoted “If it is possible to remove capitalism from America, then it is definitely possible to remove corruption from India”. His message to the youth was to become a winner rather than running after money all their life.

Dr Chaturvedi, the well known social activist and the winner of Manjunath trust award in 2009 gave some valuable insights from his experiences in working with the villagers and empowering them with the usage of RTI act. His speech inspired one and all to fight against bribery and eradicate corruption from India. He talked about the Forest Management Act of 1865, and how it was used against the illiterate workers even after independence. He narrated the success stories about his experiences and how the effective use of ‘Mass RTI’ as a weapon has empowered villagers to lead a better life.

IIM Lucknow Noida Campus hosts industry leaders under ‘Leaders Interaction Sessions’ program

Deepak Verma, COO Emergent Venture India, addressed IPMX students at the Noida Campus of IIM Lucknow, on the topic The Renewable Energy Opportunity in India on November 16, 2009.

Verma said that there are two key drivers for the growth in Renewable Energy: Energy Security and Climate Change. Currently only 9 percent of total power generated in India is contributed by Renewable Energy installations. Some of the sources of Renewable Energy are Wind, Biomass, Cogen, WTE, Solar and Small Hydro. In terms of Cost per Unit, Conventional energy stands cheapest at INR 1.80 while Solar Energy is costliest at INR 14.00.

Verma also talked about Potential roadblocks to the expansion of Renewable Energy. Due to global financial crisis, obtaining long term debts for such projects is difficult. The market for Carbon Credit is also volatile with uncertain future after year 2012. Higher Subsidies are required because of higher risks and costs as compared to conventional sources.

Arvind Singhal, Chairman Technopak, had a leadership talk on Future Growth Engines of Indian Economy at the Noida Campus of IIM Lucknow. He was addressing IPMX students under Leaders Interaction Sessions program.

Singhal said that there is continuous expansion in the Consumption Basket of a typical consumer and that leads to the emergence of new sectors. He said that dramatic changes in the consumption basket have pushed the categories like Telecom, Jewelry and Watches, Transport and Leisure, higher up in the market size. The mass class of India consists of around 400 million consumers who are decision takers. He said that consumption can be classified in into Need based merchandise and services and Aspiration based merchandise and services. This will have a fundamental impact on the nature of jobs that will be created in the coming years. Currently less than 30 percent workforce is employed in Services which will account for more than 60 percent in next 5 years. His top three picks of sectors for opportunities are Healthcare, Retail and Education.

Derek O’Brien conducts quiz at IBS Gurgaon’s BLITZKRIEG 09

BLITZKRIEG 09 a two-day management and cultural festival of Indian Business Sschool (IBS) Gurgaon was held on November 14 and 15 at IBS campus, Gurgaon. The students Council of the MBA school organized the much awaited annual event that welcomed the students from over 200 MBA schools and corporates alike to participate in the colorful occasion.

Subhash Bansal, Manufacturing Director, Gillete India Ltd inaugurated the management festival on 14 November. The top MBA schools that participated were: MDI Gurgaon,IMI New Delhi, Fore School of Management, New Delhi, TAPMI Manipal, BIMTECH Greater Noida and ITM Gurgaon.

The main attractions on inaugural day were ‘Goonj’. The War of Bands and Zephyr, The Biz Quiz that was conducted by renowned Quizmaster Derek O’ Brien. A cross corporate team of Accenture and Citibank was the winner of Zephyr and ITM Gurgaon appeared as winners at the Goonj respectively.

The second day at the festival of this MBA school was equally fun-filled and exciting. The day had a bouquet of events and activities that engaged the crowd. Abhinay The Dramatics competition was won by IBS Gurgaon. A talk show followed soon after the dramatics performances. The topic of Talk Show was ‘Expectation of Corporate from upcoming managers’. The panel in the talk show constituted of business leaders like Sandeep Bansal, Director, Silicon Biztech Pvt Ltd; Rajeev Kabra, CEO, Telegent Teletraining, Ajay Chowdhury, Founder & CEO, Benifys Pvt Ltd, S.T. Kalairaj, Sr. Manager, Market Research Dept., Ranbaxy Ltd, Rishi Mehra, Academia, IBS Gurgaon and Prof. PC Verma, Dean, IBS Gurgaon, The Moderator for the show was Nitin Bhatia from ANI.

(Read a recap of Prep until now).

Let me run you through some of the major features and refinements of Prep.

1. Everybody learns at their own pace – which is why, the Learn Mode throws questions at you depending on your current level in any subject and then smartly adjusts the difficultylevel based on your strike rate. So let’s say, you start solving questions in the Algebra section in the Learn Mode. Prep will first throw some questions of varying difficulty at you to figure out what level you can currently handle. When it finds the highest difficulty level that you can handle, it will stabilize at that level. Depending on how you fare from there on, Prep’s smart adaptive engines will gradually increase or decrease the toughness of questions. Each question that you solve will unlock new concepts and tricks of solving, that you will learn from the solutions posted by others using Prep. The increase in difficulty will be gradual and before you know it,you would have begun to reach a level of mastery in that section.

Questions that you like or want to save for reference later can now be bookmarked using the Favorites feature. Just click on the ‘Star’ symbol above a question to add it to your Favorites list.

2. A better interface for Solutions – You can now express your opinions about solutions with Thanks and Groans, the popular feature from the PaGaLGuY Forums you are already used to. Be careful with this feature though, particularly the Groans. It takes initiative for someone to post a solution and if you are groaning at them, it better be with good reason. At the end of the day, you come to PaGaLGuY for getting access to a great network of people!

You can also bookmark really good solutions with the ‘Star’ symbol for reference later.

3. Favorites – All the favorite questions and solutions that you bookmarked can be accessed at once inside the Favorites section. We got a lot of requests for such a feature after the previous version of Prep, so here it is.

4. It’s all about glory – If you are good in a particular section of CAT, people ought to know so that they can look up to you for help. So your profiles on Prep now feature ranks. There are two types of ranks: the first, for your ability in a section, that is, how good you are in a section compared to others using Prep. Yes, the Abilities ranks are percentile-based. Which means that you might be a Demi God today, but you will have to keep up your performance in Prep in order to maintain that rank. The second type of rank tells people how helpful you are in terms of posting solutions to questions, or how people are rating your solutions with Thanks and Groans. Unlike the Abilities ranks, you do not have to keep your contribution consistent in order to maintain your Helpfulness ranks.

5. See what others are upto – you can view the Live Activity feeds to know in real-time what others are upto. This is a great way to access new questions and keep a tab on active discussions in the moment.

There are several more refinements in Prep, which you will discover as you use it. As always, Prep is in beta, which means that it will continuously evolve based on your feedback on the discussion thread for Prep 2.0 (link) feedback and suggestions. So keep using Prep and telling us about how we can make it better. Until the next version, then!

ETV came to the PaGaLGuY headquarters in Mumbai and interviewed the guys that keep PG chugging along its zany path. Soumik, Apurv & Rohit  amongst others spoke with ETV for a detailed insight into PG and how one should go about preparing for CAT. The program also captured how it is to work in the craziest environment in the country!

The episodes are ready and will be aired as per the following schedule.

17-November 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- I

Selecting B-Schools
Selecting Specializations
Impact of recession and the way ahead

18-November 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- II

What an aspirant should be doing one month before CAT
PaGaLGuY.com – Profile

Repeat Telecasts:

26-November 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- I

Selecting B-Schools
Selecting Specializations
Impact of recession and the way ahead

27-November 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- II

What an aspirant should be doing one month before CAT
PaGaLGuY.com – Profile

02- December 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- I

Selecting B-Schools
Selecting Specializations
Impact of recession and the way ahead

03- December 2009 CAT-2009 Special Episode- II

What an aspirant should be doing one month before CAT
PaGaLGuY.com – Profile

Channel wise telecast of ‘Yuva Bharat’ in ETV Network Channels

Note: As we at PaGaLGuY.com shall be shooting more episodes with ETV in the future, do tell us what kind of programs would you like to watch on TV regarding CAT and MBA preparation in general. Tell us what you want to know, and as always, PG will tell you.

• Prerana 2009: The annual management festival of NITIE, Mumbai

• Subash Palekar, launches the first of MDI Gurgaon-GAP Inc lecture series

ISB Admission Information Session in Mumbai on November 15

Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad conducts information sessions at various locations within India and internationally for aspirants to be able to learn more about the ISB and about admissions into its Post Graduate Program in Management through one-on-one interactions with the Admissions staff and the ISB Alumni. These sessions, which include video conferencing and world MBA tours, are done with prospective students to guide them about the available courses, the admission process and procedures to follow. Though the institute has been doing this for a long time, it is now planning to double the number of video conferencing sessions from 25 to 50 this year. In fact, because of these innovative sessions, the admission applications are expected to rise by 40 per cent as more students can interact with the ISB’s alumni.

Fir the first time, the information sessions are also being held in the country’s financial capital, Mumbai on November 15, 2009 at Goregaon. Registration will be done on the spot.

Venue details:

Grand Sarovar Premiere, A.K.Plaza, Junction of S.V.Road and Veer Savarkar road flyover, Goregoan.

For Spot Registrations Contact : Tel: 022-28718000.

Schedule: 9.30am – 11am, 12.30pm – 2pm, 3.30pm – 5.00pm

Prerana 2009: The annual management festival of NITIE, Mumbai

Prerana 2009, the annual management festival of National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai aimed at promoting business excellence, was organized from November 5 to 7, 2009

Here are the glimpses of some of the events:

Prerana Business Meet

With Prerana Business Meet 2009, NITIE provided the students with a platform to meet and interact with luminaries from the Indian corporate sector. This business conclave was a resounding success, with stalwarts like Gurcharan Das, former MD of Procter & Gamble Worldwide and a leading columnist, Meera Sanyal, Country Executive, Royal Bank Scotland India, Narayan Ramachandran, Country Head, Morgan Stanley India and Dr H B Joshipura, Chairman and Managing Director, Glaxo SmithKline, deliberating on the topic: ‘Demystifying the Reforms enigma: The How, Why and Why Not of Laissez Faire’.

Summer Project Contest

Summer Project Contest or SPC provides a platform for the students to benchmark their summer projects against the best in the country. It gives them an opportunity to not only have their work reviewed by eminent industrialists, but also rub shoulders with the best talent in the country. This year, the Summer Project Contest had received over 500 entries and garnered participation from around 25 corporates from companies like HDFC, Standard Chartered, Marico and many others. The contest has five modules for Marketing, Finance, IT, HR and SCM thus covering all aspects of management. It is one of the most respected events on the Prerana schedule and is actively sought after by B School students from top colleges like the IIMs, XLRI, MDI, FMS, JBIMS etc.

Decibelz

The evening of November 6, 2009 saw the serene NITIE lawns spring alive to the sound of rock as the students of NITIE let their hair down with Decibelz, the rock show. Well known Indian rock bands Talaash and Parikrama set the stage afire with their electrifying performance.

Launchpad

Launchpad, the marketing case study competition, was about innovative thinking in brand management. Sponsored by BPCL, the event presented the participants with an opportunity to create a business model that focuses on untapped potential markets like SDCV (Short Distance Commercial Vehicles), by giving due consideration to the unique characteristics of the target customers. Launchpad 2009 received an overwhelming 72 entries and was a great success.

Strategem

The SCM strategy contest Strategem, is an attempt to measure the talent among B School students in drawing up strategies to sustain competitive advantage in the industry. This year Reckitt Benckiser sponsored this event and provided the students with a live case to work on. The winning team and first runners up were awarded a cash prize of Rs 30000 and Rs 15000 respectively along with a Pre Placement Interview from Reckitt Benckiser.

The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai was a unique single person management event testing the business acumen of management students. With participants from XLRI, SP Jain, NITIE and other colleges, this event included Case study competitions, B Plan submissions, CSR activities as well as informal games, all spanned across the three days of Prerana.

Prerana Business Quiz

Prerana Business Quiz, or PBQ, is a corporate versus student quiz competition with participation from the highest level corporate managers across India and students from the top Business Schools in the country.

This year, around 85 teams were present for the written elimination round. Competing for prizes worth Rs 50000 in the finals were the corporate teams from Accenture, Questsoft, Sun Microsystems, Deutsche Bank, ICICI, and student teams from ITM and S P Jain. Radhakrishnan Srinivasan, the face of NEO cricket was the quizmaster. The brilliant questions, researched by Quizmonks, were appreciated by all quiz enthusiasts present there. The teams from Accenture and Questsoft and Deutsche Bank and ICICI took away the prizes for the first and second positions respectively.

Subash Palekar, launches the first of MDI Gurgaon-GAP Inc lecture series

Subash Palekar, father of zero budget natural farming inaugurated the Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon-GAP Inc lecture series on November 11 at Gurgaon with four thought provoking sessions spanned over two days. The series began with a farmer’s rally on MDI’s campus with close to 170 farmers from the neighboring villages in attendance. Palekar highlighted the reasons why farmers should adopt natural farming methods and its immediate relevance in light of the growing number of farmer suicides and the impact of currently employed farming methods on agricultural land, global warming and climate change. The session concluded with the promise of more workshops to be conducted in the villages near Ranthombore, Mewat, Sona and in UP district to instruct the farmers on the implementation process.

In the evening Palekar, addressing MDI Gurgaon students, called upon them to understand the very critical role that every B-School student, possibly future decision and policy makers could play in the development of the rural sector  of the country. He urged the audience to take a stand in life in support of some social cause like adopting and transforming a neighboring village and addressing its social problems. He highlighted that if each young citizen devoted one day of a week in support of a social cause, great strides could be taken on the nation’s path to progress.

The following morning he addressed the students of Pearl Academy of Fashion, Dayal Singh College and citizens of NCR, in yet another inspiring session where he confronted them with the realities of rural India. He elucidated the negative impacts that chemical farming and other agro innovations continue to have on the health of the ecosystem and urged students to join the movement against it.

The lecture series culminated in a final panel discussion replete with eminent personalities contributing their ideas to rural development and sustainable progress. Dr B S Sahay, Director MDI, reinforced MDI’s continued commitment to the cause of sustainable development. Professor Ashok Kapoor, Dean, Continuing Education and Consultancy, MDI exalted the farmer’s rally as a ‘chamatkar’ which signified a new dawn in the march to rural rejuvenation. Manjula Krishnan, Honorable Joint Secretary, Ministry of women and child development also contributed her thoughts on promoting the role of women in rural development. The session concluded with the constitution of an action plan to continue the march towards rural progress.

The lectures were sponsored by notable personalities like bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt and producer Firoz Nadiadwala and by institutions like Orient Fashion, Pearl Academy of Fashion and Ad Matrix. Professor Neelu Bhullar of MDI Gurgaon, Lakshmi Menon and Ranjib of Gap Inc played pivotal role in rolling out the first of the series of MDI-GAP lectures series under the aegis of the Centre of Sustainable Development at MDI Gurgaon.

The Royal Bank of Scotland made the largest number of offers by any investment bank, by taking in 11 students. It was closely followed by Barclays Capital and Bank of America“Merrill Lynch (BoA-ML). Nomura too recruited from campus. Some of the other banks that recruited from the campus were UBS, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan Chase, HSBC Global, Macquarie, Rothschild, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs.

Leading consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, BCG and AT Kearney took part in the placement process.

Private Equity firms finally returned to IIM Calcutta. Among the prominent ones were Baring Private Equity Partners and Mount Kellett Capital Management. Mount Kellett was a first-time recruiter at IIMC. More importantly, along with Morgan Stanley (London), IIMC was the only college in India it recruited from.

Marketing and general management firms too made their presence felt here. Leading recruiters were Hindustan Unilever, Procter and Gamble, Diageo, Tata Administrative Services (TAS), Aditya Birla and Edelweiss. TAS made an unprecedented 10 offers on campus, making it one of the largest recruiters here.

The college also played host to other highly sought-after recruiters. Some of the leading finance firms were American Express, Citibank, Standard Chartered, HSBC India and DBS India. Other big players were Cadbury, Coca Cola, Pepsi and RPG Group.

Regarding international offers, as many as 61 students have internship offers in locations across the world, such as New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and South Africa.

Sector-wise Information

Finance dominated the scenario with 43 percent of the students taking up jobs in banks. This included 80 offers in investment banks and private equity firms, as compared to last year’s 58. The Slot Zero consulting firms made 20 offers, up from 16 in 2008.

Marketing firms recruited 50percent more than last time, gathering up more than a quarter of the students in the process. Leading marketing companies like HUL made more offers this year than any other year in recent times.

Apart from media houses like HT Media and Star, the campus was visited by NGOs such as CRY and Akanksha. Public sector firms such as Union Bank of India and SEBI also made internship offers here. For the first time, IIMC played host to sports marketing and event management companies.

As a way of regulating quality of education, the All Indian Council for Technical Education (AICTE) controls the number of approved PGDM seats in every complying b-school. But in the vast landscape of privately-controlled management institutions in India, it is a rampant practice to admit more students than the approved limit, thus fooling students into sub-standard educational institutions.

This is how the racket operates. Let’s say, a b-school has 60 seats approved by AICTE. Using that as a marketing-pitch, the b-school will admit many more than 60 students and accommodate them in batches that are named PGDM, but are affiliated to local universities or distance-education universities such as Sikkim Manipal University, Madurai Kamraj University, Yashvantrao Chavan University and so on. Often, the students in these batches will not come to know that they are not in the AICTE-approved batch until they receive their degree at the end of two years. Observe a few private b-schools in your city, and you’ll be shocked with how common this malpractice is.

How would AICTE’s enrollment numbers help? If you are a PGDM student and your name does not feature on the AICTE website under your b-school’s enrollment numbers, then you have clearly been fooled by your b-school. AICTE on its part will smell a rat whenever a b-school submits a list of students more than its approved limit. No b-school will of course, send such a list. But this move will put pressure on private b-schools to get their act together.

Observe the AICTE notification below, especially the grey box at the bottom. While the idea is a smart one, it relies completely on the student’s initiative to verify the existence of his enrollment number in order to be an effective system. So if enough PGDM students across the thousands of AICTE approved b-schools in small towns and cities do not know about this initiative, they will never check for their name on the AICTE website and that will allow b-schools to continue their racket scot-free. I am hoping that very soon, AICTE will run large eye-catching advertisements in newspapers to inform PGDM students of their role in this initiative.

Added Later: The Director of a Private Business Institute in Bangalore, who does not wish to be named told us that this initiative was taken by AICTE last year too, however, in practice very few institutes sent the names of the students of their PGDM program to AICTE. After July’s cleanup of the corrupt AICTE top-brass and a more promising Human Resource Development Minister (Kapil Sibal) at the helm, we expect better results.

Arrival:

You have to arrive at the center 2 hours before the allotted time. Thus

For the morning 10:oo am slot, arrive by 8:00 am and NOT LATER than 8:30 am

Testing timing: 10:00 am to 12:30 pm

For the afternoon 3:30 pm slot, arrive by 1:30 am and NOT LATER than 2:00 pm

Testing timings: 3:30 pm to 6:00 pm

Note that if you fail to arrive by the said timings, you will be barred from testing.

Directions to the testing center will be provided on the website: www.catiim.in few days prior to the testing window. Staff wearing ‘CAT 2009′ jackets will be present to assist the candidates on the testing site.

Things to bring along with you:

CAT 2009 admit card: The one sent to you via email after online registration.

One acceptable form of photo identification, namely:

a) Driver’s license

b) Passport

c) PAN Card

d) Voter ID

e) College ID

f) Employee identification card

g) A notarized Affidavit with Photo, Signature, Date of Birth and Residential Address.

Note that if you fail to bring one of the above identity proofs, you will be barred from testing

In case the name has been changed due to reasons such as marriage, the candidate will have to carry a proof such as marriage certificate, divorce decree or legal name change. Carry a photocopy of one such proof with you. You will have to submit a copy at the time of testing, at the interview and at the time of joining the institutes.

Your pen, wrist watch, calculators, cell phones and other such items will be stored in a plastic bag away from the testing area.

Do not bring:

a) Large bags

b) valuables

c) Any other bulky item as there is no provision to store such items.

DA candidates will only be provided magnifying glasses. Other requirements such as wheel chair or hearing aid should be brought by the candidates.

Security at the center

Your identity proof will be checked at the center to make sure there is no impersonation. Await your turn in the line patiently. Only the candidates will be allowed in the secured area hence you can ask your parents or guardians to leave immediately after dropping you off at the center.

Once your identity has been verified, you will be led to your designated testing seat. You will then be called up to a biometric check-in station for fingerprinting. At an adjacent station, your photograph will be taken and ID checked again before being led back to you seat.

During the test, a proctor will patrol the room and all testing sessions will be audio and video recorded.

Test duration and pattern

Actual duration of the test: 2 hours 15 minutes. Candidates with scribe requirements will be given an extra hour.

There will be 15 minutes tutorial to familiarize you with the layout of the screen and functionality available during the test. Watch this tutorial carefully as it will tell you how to use a mouse, select, change or deselect your response, mark a question for review, move from one question from the other, highlight text within a passage and end the test.

No breaks will be given during the test so prepare yourself accordingly.

Scratch paper will be provided for rough work which will have to be returned to the administrator at the end of the test.

The test center administrators will not be able to answer any query regarding the questions in the test; thus do not waste your time asking them. Answer the questions to the best of your ability.

Facilities:

The centers will be equipped with the right computer hardware and software, generators and uninterrupted power supply (UPS), Internet connectivity and security. They will be air-conditioned and provide individual testing seats with partitions on either side as well as the front.The test center administrator will be present for assistance

A peek into the 15 minute tutorial:

Highlighting text:

This is a useful feature for RC. You will be able to highlight the text by dragging the mouse (after holding the left button) over the text. This shall be lost once you change the screen.

Mark a question for review:

Mark a question for review if you are unable to answer it the first time. The mark button will turn red once clicked. Click it again to ‘unmark’.

Reviewing screen:

You can go to the review screen to check which questions you have completed, not answered or marked for review. You can either double click on the questions to go back to them or click on the buttons “review all”, “review incomplete” or “review marked” on the bottom of the screen.

Time management:

The on-screen timer will be present on the top right corner of every screen. This will count down from the stipulated 2 hours 15 minutes, showing at any given moment, the time remaining to complete the test.

Results

The results to CAT 2009 will be announced on January 22, 2010 on catiim.in. You must retain the print out the score card.

Contingency Plan:

The testing centers are fully equipped to face situations such as power outage, natural calamities, medical outbreaks and terrorist attacks.

In case of power failure or a computer crash, all your responses will be safe in the server’s hard drive which is powered by an uninterrupted power supply. You will then be shifted to a new computer where you will be able to resume the test exactly where you left, without any loss of time on the test.

You will be contacted by Prometric for rescheduling the test in case the it cannot be taken on the scheduled day.

Following are some important links:

What to expect on the test day?

Request for resend: CAT admit card and/or application

www.catiim.in

Candidate Care

The Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) and phone support will be available from 9am – 6pm, Mondays to Saturdays, until the end of the CAT 2009 testing window (7 December 2009).

FAQs are available on the CAT website at www.catiim.in.

Phone: 1800 103 9293.

Webmail support is also available until candidates receive their score reports.

Queries received by webmail will be responded to within 48 hours.

Visit: http://www.prometric.com/IIM-CAT/contactus.