At last, I post here. Pardon me for digressing from the tradition of this thread which generally has success stories of people who have got into B-schools. I wanted to post here on a similar note since 2 years now, but I don’t see a better time to post here than today.
The memories of a young lad in an engineering college, dreaming of making it to the IIMs, are still fresh in my mind. This goes back to December 2003, when I was as confused as anyone else on what would I do after graduation? I had my computer business running but with increased competition and decreasing margins, it was not very promising. Prospects of campus placements also looked bleak as I had a history of 2 backlogs. But I knew if I managed to qualify for an aptitude test or technical / HR interview, I would arguably beat anyone on a given day. I didn’t want to risk it, decided to join the
CAT race as a back-up plan.
CAT 2004:
In January 2004, I joined the classroom course at IMS, Mumbai. Within 3 to 4 months, I was on friendly basis with the Quant faculty. He told me once that I was good at Quant and DI, and for CAT04 we should prepare together! I felt that was a good start. By August, I was done with the basic material and raring to take tests. A few SimCATs later it was clear that I was very good at DI. I was good at concepts in Quant but not at Quant test taking skills. VA was not up to the mark. Consequently, QA and VA were always on the edge. I decided to give it a final thrust, 1 month of only VA and QA preps. This was September, 2004. With vivas and Semester 7 exams drawing nearer, the emphasis gradually shifted to engineering studies. Meanwhile, the engineering exam schedule was declared.
CAT was in between engineering exams and many drew out of the battle. I saw it as a chance and prepped harder forgetting the Engg. Studies again! Mom said, ‘Yeh ladka pagal ho gaya hai!’ But I was in no mood to pay heed. Exams as usual, were average.
CAT04: The first paper that started the trend of an ever-evolving
CAT paper. Deferred marking was introduced the first time. I knew I was not a 99%ile material and if I wanted to make it, I needed to catch the big fish, 2 markers. Attacked them first, understanding that it could be a risky take. At the end of 2 hours, I felt confident of was performance, though, was a little dicey about RCVA section. On verifying with answer keys, DI was cent percent accuracy. QA and VA let me down. I forgot about it for the moment, got done with the remaining engineering papers. 21st December, 2004, CAT04 results were declared. I scored 95.11 with 99.70 in DI section. Other 2 sections were in 70s and 80s. I went to Mr. Prasan Kamat, Centre Manager, IMS. We had a discussion at length about what could be done next? This discussion was a turning point in my MBA plans. He convinced me to look high and target IIMs the next year. By then, I already had 2 job offers in hand, VLSI Research, Wipro, and Energy Automation, Siemens, Mumbai. Decided to go ahead with Siemens, Mumbai option and crack CAT05. By this time I was very clear, I had to phase out my company, take up a job and prepare for next
CAT.
Continued here:
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