[jammer]

hi anupam..

words are not enuf to describe that post but just for the sake of it i would term it as very special.. for u as well as for PG and for all of us who are here.. i dont want to talk bout inspiration and all that stuff bcoz by now u must have gathered that from so many ppl.. its just that after reading that post it feels as if cracking cat is not the single most imp thing in life. Its the entire process and the attitude that counts.. similar situations wud block us in various stages of our lives.. its an ongoing battle i guess which doesnt end once we achieve something.. but if we have the kinda attitude and will power shown by u we will come out victorious each time that happens..
hats off to u and hope to meet u some time.. all the best
tc

[shrutz]

Following up Anupam's post will be hard to do... I won't even be attempting to do it.
My CAT story, is slightly less bumpy and much more happier. (The end result might very well be the same, but ....)

Okay, so where do we begin? Do I begin with the young girl in 10th who bombed in her 10th ? Well, relatively. Or the one that ran all around yelling that she had cracked an exam...

Let's start with the Shruti of 12th standard... the one that wanted to get away from her little world in Kerala, but unexpectedly landed closer to the hearth than ever.... In the premier engineering institute in the state, College of Engineering, Trivandrum, 3 km away from home.. Maybe, it was a happy coincidence, because, I don't know what I'd have done anywhere else. Maybe, this post wouldn't be typed. Maybe, I'd be "yet another software engineer" in the ranks of Infy, CTS and the like...
Life is a series of what ifs?
First day I came into my class, I met a girl who would be one of my closest friends through my college life. Her brother had just got into IIM-A.
"IIM? What's an IIM? I have heard of IITs. But an IIM???"
"Indian Institute of Management, Shruti!"
3 weeks later, I had my gang of friends, the five of us who stood by each other. Four years ago, aspirations were small, and we often talked of living together in Bangalore, working for the same company, cooking and having fun.
In the middle, it all changed. GRE, GATE, CAT came into the picture. It was decided (by my friends, of course!) I'd make a lousy engineer and better put my global talents to something else...
My college regularly churns out CAT crackers (Philiptj was one ) Every year, at least 5 used to make it through...
Suddenly, the IIMs seemed a lot closer....
Come third year, TIME put out their Talent Search Examination to award scholarships to students appearing for CAT '05. We all went and wrote. The exam was ridiculously easy. I remember thinking "This can't be CAT. I can't be doing this well.." Once the test was done, I had marked 99 questions out of 100.
The results were put out and I had topped...
TIME's classes began I realised I was way ahead of the crowd in VA and RC, mainly because I was a voracious reader. I devoured books... QA and DI were fine, except that I couldn't, for the life of me, manage to crack all sections simultaneously.
One fine afternoon, I remember logging onto a forum called PagalGuy. I was told I couldn't post without choosing a user name... Hmm... Shrutz it was, in honour of my friends who called me that name
And, then, the rest was history.
I posted up my intro and got my first PM (Yeah, Girish... YOU!) and then posted only for AIMCATs.
Had to skip the first AIMCAT because CTS was on campus and we were needed to help.. So, effectively, the second AIMCAT was it...
I got AIR 15.
Things went haywire later...
My ranks went all over the place from AIR 9 to a rock bottom 600 odd. The cutoffs were haywire too. It was weird, because I'd do very well in 2 sections and kill the third and I hated that I was doing badly.
Meanwhile, someone bestowed on me the sobriquet of VA goddess.. (Huh? WHAT???)
I was cracking the CRTs, but the AIMCATs were another cup of tea, altogether....
Met some of the most amazing people on PG... DJK, Aryak, Quinty, Pendyal, Hanoz, Ranjitha, Allwin (PG, the MAN!), and of course, the wannabes... Hahahah, convolutedsignal, anandv, anupam (Drama Queen!), DesiGuru *cough*.. It was hazaar fun and I loved meeting like minded people.
I started studying (well answering papers) around September and enjoyed even that...
Got a load of help from a lot of threads on PG and started even distributing my brand of gyaan. All in all, an enjoyable process, even if I was scared about clearing all 3..

All said, the CAT is not a hard nut to crack.. However, it can be a blow to the ego to realise you are not as good as you thought you were..
Come November 20th, I was in Kozhikode with a trainload of friends and writing a 90 question paper..
English was a letdown... I knew it could swing either way. But, I was extremely happy with Quant. DI... What can I say? I didn't take enough risks and paid for it..
I resolved not to check my scores, because I had a feeling I didn't want to take bad news...
5 days later, I succumbed to the constant pressure of SMSes and IMs from collegemates...
DI was it. :( It was a li'l dicey, and I was hoping that I hadn't somehow screwed it up more than I thought I had.
Then, began the agonising wait for results. This time, the IIMs had all resolved to put the results out at once. I knew that C would come at midnight and again, it was PGites who were up and running even at the unearthly hours...
Finally, the server went up at 01:00 hours, 2nd January and I opened the C site...
GEORGE SHRUTI SUSAN.
Congratulations, you have been selected for the GD/PI stage for PGDM/PGDCM in IIM Calcutta.
My hand involuntarily started spasming and it was all I could do to keep it still...
I'd made it to an IIM's second stage.
The next day, those who had Cal calls were jumping around, when the news that L and A had come leaked..
I called a PGite ... Aditya, actually and he was rather reluctant to say I hadn't made it to A. Frankly, I was shocked and took 5 minutes to recover. Which is when, Pendyal called... I informed him that he couldn't have me as a junior. His comment 3 days later was, "You are crazy, I have never heard anyone laughing about not coming to IIM-A"
Then, B, K, and I told me I had made it...
The results told me I had 99.83 with 92 in DI and 99+in QA and VA... Higher percentile in (of all things) Quant.

The GD/PIs began. I went for some TIME GDs and in Trivandrum, those were mild affairs. Talking was never a problem, but I began reading magazines and newspapers in real earnest.
Once, the GDs and PIs began for the IIMs, I realised what a brand name Shrutz of PG had become.
Met some truly awesome people during the GDs and PIs.. Mallus with whom I clicked instantly. We all hoped to get into the same IIM and bug the hell out of each other.
K,L,I,C,B.... the process was done. My mind swung from "Ahh, I am sure I will convert at least 2" to "WHAT? Suppose I don't convert any?!"

Which is when 12th April midnight came up. Again, we had IIMC with results first and again, we had Yahoo conferences. I was in 3... One with PGites like ConSig, Aaradhya, Hahahah, Sajeev and the rest... And the other with my friends...
The results were out!
My hand was shaking as I keyed in my DoB and Registration Number, mentally steeling myself for a rejection.
Congratulations!
It said...
Made it into IIMC! Again, the same St Vitus' dance
Most of the Pagals made it and that was a happy conf. Sheer joy and euphoria all around.
Meanwhile, none of my friends had made it and I was upset. It kind of overpowered the happiness so much that I stayed awake till 4 am with them talking about nothing in particular...
I got up at 7:30 the next morning and had to go to college. That is when I learnt A had come out. So, all of us landed at our comp lab and started checking PG and all the IIM sites.
I keyed in IIM-A and learnt a collegemate had made it and a friend had a WL.
IIMB opened its page and I really didn't want to know. I keyed it in all the same and it congratulated me again. 2/2
Lucknow made it 3/3. Life was really good.
K gave me a waitlist :( and Indore took me in again. That made it 4.5/5 (my classmates say it was 4/5, but the fraction is infinitely better!)

The feeling is yet to sink in.
Shruti George, IIM Graduate
What do I expect from an IIM? Not what I expected 18 months ago. I expect to have a good time and enjoy myself... Ambitions are low-key and life cannot be better!!

This is not exactly an inspirational post, I know. In a lot of ways, I count myself a lucky person. I did not have to slog my head off to crack an exam that remains a pipe dream for so many. I did not have to lose an year. (In fact, I was determined that if I didn't make it in CAT this year, I'd give up on it.)
I could remain true to myself and be honest during the interviews and get away with it.
CAT gave me some of the most awesome friends I could ever know. They are those with whom I connected on every level and I love them all for it.
CAT also gave me a wake-up call of sorts.
What CAT did to so many, I could see, and I mourned. Shattered dreams and broken ambitions. It has taken something and someone very dear to me, and I can only hope that it's not broken so much that it can't be mended.
Something else I wanted to add was, an MBA should never be an excuse for you to do badly at your undergrads. An MBA is not a panacea that can be taken to cure-all-ills-of-knowing-your-acads. I see a lot of my juniors who come asking me (for CAT 07!) "When should I start studying?"
My answer is, "When you think you can't waste another second. But not now! Don't burn yourself out."
I also see them offer excuses for not knowing what they learnt for 3 years in college or semi-apologising for being bad at technical questions, "I am more interested in HR."
Of late, I had the fortune to be on the other side of the interview table, when I took interviews for juniors and I saw these excuses offered many times.
This is what I learnt. First do what you are doing well, THEN, try to better yourself. You can only build upon a strong foundation and yes, Never give up on your dreams

Finally, I don't know what life holds ahead of me, but I loved every second of this journey and yeah, I am glad to be a part of the PaGaL community.
CAT teaches you about people, CAT teaches you life....

This is all I wanted to speak about CAT.

[puneet_gandhi]

hmmm....My sojourn..neither my story is as gr8 as Anupam nor am i a gr8 writer as shrutz..but still gonna write this post...

so where shud i start..lets start it from college first year as b4 cmin to GREAT DCE i dint have a clue abt IIMs...

On Notice Board.."Free Mock Cat" by xyz... me along wid college topper( Rank 1)...
(i always scored 10% less than him in all my exams.. on ly once i got 20% less...).. sardar lets take it.. nyways v r vehla...
results cm....i beat this guy(OG 1)...sorry only DCE/NSIT ppl wud understand.. but for d uninitiated...( 1st rank in outsider general category)
wid doin not so well in acads... i start gettin inclined towards CAT

in second year.. i m chucked in a single seater on top floor in d best hostel of college...i subscribe to ET... write sm more Mock CATs.. perform better than sm seniors.. nd then 22 ppl frm college make it to IIMs.. 3 freshers makin to A..they were much revered "Shashwat Sharma,Shantanu Verma,Aditya Malik"( sorry ppl for a very customised post.. but they were three inspirational figures all thru my CAT journey)... so finally decided goal is CAT '04... meanwhile also studying technical wid branch toppers.. since they scored in 80s.. me maintaining 10% rule.. scored decently in 70s..

fast fwd to Sep '04...joined IMS test series.. did exceptionally well in first 4 mocks.. then a fall.. did exceptionally well again in 7th.. down in 8th....
CAT'04...don't know wat happenend...strugglin wid almost all questions.. specially DI...no idea wat struck me...screwed big time.. haven't seen CAT'04 score card till date...had a tough time provin i got more than 95 %ile.. but saved face by doin well in Mock again..

fast fwd 2x to July'05
joined TIME this time.. as dint wanna join IMS again.. nd none else was there in city of my trainin after grad.. won't disclose d name of d cmpny coz have given them a tough time:-)) .. did well in Mocks.. still remem my score was consistently 50+/-2 in most mocks then 3 weeks b4 CAT .. took leave frm cmpny(bluffed them)... gave 15 mocks in first week.. then 4 in nxt two.. now d day of reckoning
CAT'05- pattern .. i was aware of 90 q pattern but had thought of 90 ques. in 1,2,3 mark format.. so immediately felt cmfrtable wid pattern.. started english.. foolishly started 2 markers in eng first...did sm RCs .. just spent 40 mins.. in eng... then came "THE TIME" in paper.. DI cracked in 22 minutes flat....proceed to QA.. spent 35 mins.. took a few risks.. nd 1-2 guesses just on hunch...went to eng again.. attempted heavily 44 marks.. so that i cud clear cut-off...
came out.. was pretty happy.. even told smbdy that 6 calls is also a possibility.. regretted d moment i said it...coz haven't even chked keys....

came the results...BLACKI...but i was sad coz i dint have ny1 of my friends wid me to prepare for GD/PI.. was all alone in d ocean.. u won't believe it but my confidence took a beatin after gettin calls.. coz of lack of partners....
nyways for GD/PI .. did sm stuff in ahd.. then went to delhi(Malay Sir).. meanwhile i again went on leave but this time officially...

Interviews...hmm... first was L...GD was peaceful..nd only 6 ppl.. did well nd did decently in L.. i was kinda confident that coz of ur %ile LIK will take u.. though not entirely true.. but gosh it happenend.. this belief was 1 of the reasons.. i was extra confident for LIK..
wanna tell u that the same guy told me that it holds for C as well...:-))
then d big day..A interview.. pretty gud GD.. but cudn't have a worse PI.. all basic ques.. nd moi cm up wid d worst of answers possible...
B Interview was pretty strong content wise but just cud not speak well in PI.. i mean articulation wise...GD was decent though...

so finally rejects frm A nd B.. wanna add another word for A reject .. that don't prepare for GD/PI alone.. if u r a fresher nd got sm calls .. nothin like that.. coz u gotta whole bunch of ppl prep alongside.. acads brushin or watever.. no issues...nd u don't even need to take much leave for GD/PI prep... just normal 1-2 hr prep will do...
final calls CLIK.. so if i believe that guy i haven't done nyth after written...

hmm.... thats "ALL I WANT TO SPEAK ABOUT CAT".. pour in wid ur commentary.. wanna start a blog as well.. so just testin d waters
Cheers!
Gandhi

[vahgar]

^^ lol it is a sticky..from 2 years ago!

[amardeep.rishi]

Originally Posted by vahgar

^^ lol it is a sticky..from 2 years ago!

he is newbie and ur addicted

[coward]

Great Chandoo....for people like me its a bible

[shrikanthk]

...edited...

[vinz]

This post has been long overdue....But anyways, better late than never.
My CAT story would not be as inspiring as Anupam's nor as well written as Shrutz's. However, its a story nevertheless, a story of dreams, of pain, of sacrifice, of risk, of toil and finally, of glory !!! Read on.....if it inspires even 1 person to go all out for CAT, I would consider my job done.

Year 2000:

This was the year I had passed 12th. Appeared for JEE but could not make it. I was quite disappointed, needless to say. I had always been a topper throughout and hence thought that I have the potential to make it to IIT. Anyways, joined an average college in Pune Univ, at least the branch was of my choice (Computers). I could have got into a better college on payment seat but I didnt want that after scoring so well in 12th. And hence compromised on the college. I prepared for IIT again during my first year at engg. I cleared the screening but cudnt get through the mains. And thats where my dream of getting an IIT tag was buried. :(

Fast Forward to 2003:

I had done well till now, being the topper. Though I had never had an inclination for pursuing masters in technical field, still had a liking to go abroad and it being in fashion, I too decided to take GRE. Got a 1460/1600 but then realized that am not gonna go in technical field and hence didnt apply anywhere. This was the time I decided that I am better suited for mgmt and thats what I will try for next year. Didint give CAT in my final year of college as I was busy with my project work and didnt want to sacrifice on my academics.
Result: I topped the college and scored very high in final year.

Year 2004: My first tryst with CAT preparation

The IIT debacle still hurt me and I had decided that if not the IITs, then IIMs it should be for me, coz I knew I had the potential to study at country's best institutes. I think what drove me more initially towards CAT was not MBA, but the desire to be at country's best known colleges...ones in the same category as IIT...and what better than the IIMs.
Yes, so college rather than MBA was my initial aim...Wrong I know, but then I was a novice then, with a sole desire to make it to a top college.

I had joined an IT MNC close to my home so that I get time to study. I took the prelim test at a coaching class and got a score of 42, which acc to the people there, was excellent. Its a diff matter though that I had barely touched maths section. I joined a long 1 year batch, the one begining in Jan. My basics were good, but I wanted to study at my own pace and hence joined so early. I was always very comfortable with English, probably coz the GRE preparation had given me tremendous confidence, specially for vocab. I knew I was good in Maths as well (I had 800/800 in GRE, but then thats so simple compared to CAT) but also knew I needed loads of practice.

I finished the basic prep in time and was ready to take on my first ever mocks starting Aug end.

My First Ever Mock....and then further mocks till CAT

I had absolutely no exposure to CAT and the kind of percentiles u need to get into top colleges. I also had very less idea about the top 15 colleges of the country. After some research, I dunno why I had decided that if I make it to any of the top 15 institutes, I will go for it. Somehow IIMs did not remain my sole aim. I thought I will settle for less as well. I still dont know why I thought that ways. May be I presumed theres not much to chose between IIMs and other, which I later realized was a big mistake.

First mock was a very pleasant surprise. I came out of the exam hall thinking this was the worst paper of my life. I had hardly attempted anything and was very cross with myself. However, I scored a 97 percentile and I was absolutely elated. Though my percentile in Quant was somewhere in 70s, I still was happy as a 90 + score was a good begining.

I then realized that even if your paper goes bad, its all relative finally and you should never lose hope. Others out there are also as bad as you.

Mistake #1: I attempted the quant questions serial wise and hence could not even read half of the questions in the section. Didn't realize this mistake until the next couple of mocks.

After few mocks, I had a chat with my prof at the coaching centre and he told me that strategy is as important or even more crucial than intelligence in CAT. I got tips about how to go about allocating time and attempting questions and tried to implement them in my furhter mocks.

I would clear the VA and DI cut offs in every mock but miss quant always, at times by a whisker, other times by a huge margin. I never realized that I was making a big tactical mistake in all my mocks. Sadly this dawned on me much later after CAT.

Mistake #2: I often got stuck on tougher questions. Always thought I can do a question on the first glance. However midway through it, used to realize I am reaching nowhere. Hence I wasted lots of time. After the paper, my prof used to make me realize that I missed a lot of sitters. I would kick myself for missing out on the easy questions. But still I would continue making the same mistake in future mocks.

My percentiles hovered around the 97-98 mark, except for the last 2 mocks where it dipped to early 90s. This was the danger sign which I did not heed. I was at my peak during October, having solved lots of papers and gaining confidence. However, come November, somehow that enthu started waning. I was not tensed but was not very comfortable as well.

Mistake #3: I put in so much of endless effort right from april-may to october that by the time Nov came, I felt kind of burnt out. Again, I realized this only after the CAT.

Anyways, come 21 Nov 2004 and I was ready to take on my first ever CAT.

21 Nov 2004.......My first ever CAT

My basic strategy was set. Start with VA, my strongest area, then move to DI/LR and finally to Quants, where I should manage to solve just enough questions to be safe to cross the expected cut offs.

The paper was given to us and to my dismay (along with that of Lakhs of others across the country), I found that the pattern was completely changed. What the heck is this 1 mark and 2 mark thing, I thought . Anyways, I quickly formulated a strategy:

I will first finish off with the easy 1 markers and then move onto the 2 markers, and solve as many as I can. Sounded simple enough.

Started with English, but somehow got stuck in the half marker fill in the blanks itself ...Anyways somehow proceeded but finally managed only 2 RCs. So far so good, I thought.

Next came DI and the section which paralyzed me I thought that I would first try out the 2 markers...High risk high gain stuff u know....But fate had other ideas. I got completely bamboozled by the 2 markers and could not attempt even one.
So finally went to the 1 markers. Thankfully, there were few that i could do and once 40 min were up, I decided enough is enough, jitna kiya so kiya, lets move on now.

Finally arrived at Quants. Again went straight away for the 2 markers and here finally I had a smile on my face. The section which was supposed to be my nemesis finally got me smiling. I spotted few easy 2 markers and went ahead with them. After that, went to the 1 markers and here again there were few dollies waiting to be devoured

The bell rang and that was the end. I felt pretty happy coz I had done about 20 marks in maths which I knew was good enough to carry me home. Only DI was a disappointment.

Results 2004: CAT and others

I checked the GD/PI calls first and saw that IIMB had called me. My joy knew no bounds and I was sure my percentile would be 99+. But then reality stuck. My CAT result was sort of a mini shock to me. It read:
QA: 89.3
DI: 91.xx
VA:96

Net: 96.3

Nothing great. QA shocked me coz I was expecting a homerun here. At this percentile, I was surprised how IIMB called me. My only other GD/PI call was VGSOM, with a JMET rank of 886.

I wont go into the details of the GD/PI here. In the end, I did not convert IIMB but got though VGSOM.

I dont know why, even though I missed all the top colleges in taking CAT scores, I was very happy and pleased with myself for clearing VGSOM. I thought that finally I will get an IIT tag. After all, IIT Kgp is indeed a very good college. I paid the fees, went on a holiday, told my relatives about my success and was getting ready to quit my job when suddenly my life changed.

My life changes....a 180 degree turn !!!

I had seen this only in films. I had heard about it only from others. It was something I never expected would happen to me.

There are times in life when one single meeting with someone for a short span of time completely revolutionizes ur life, changes ur outlook and awakens you to a new reality, new dreams. I never knew this would happen to me personally.

Just days before leaving my job, I was loitering around on FC road , when suddenly I thought lets go to my coaching insti, tell them the good news about VGSOM and thank them for all they have done for me. I went in and met the same prof there who was my mentor during CAT prep. I told him about my success/decision and expected a hug and celebrations from him. To my utter surprise, all I got from him was a wry smile and concern written all over his face. He signalled me to sit down.

And for the next 1 hour, I had a discussion with him that, I can now say confidently, changed my entire life !!! He told me that he personally feels I have the potential to make it to the IIMs, so why am I compromising. No doubt VGSOM was a good college, but lets face it, IIMs are different league. He said he knows me well enough to see an IIM material in me. One attempt at CAT is nothing to give it all up. Plus, I have a great job and I would only gain in experience. Theres nothing I will lose by giving CAT another shot. And worst come worst, I still would have the potential to convert VGSOM again, if nothing better happens.

It was an awakening. I dont know why was I happy and comfortable with my so called success and never thought of giving the IIMs another shot. But now it dawned on me that what he said makes a lot of sense.

I reached home and summoned my parents for a talk. I explained them the entire thing and told them I intend to take CAT again, dropping my VGSOM admission offer. My mom nearly fell off her chair. But both mom and dad also understood that my reasoning is good enough and if I am ready to slog it out for another year and aim for the best, they have no problems. It was a heart to heart chat with my parents and they supported me fully.
In the next few days, I sent my regret letter to VGSOMand had to forfeit an amount nearing Rs 30,000 ..Only because of my late decision of not joining.

And so started another year of toil, in a quest for the best, with the added burden of having forfeited an admission offer from a pretty good college.

Continued in next post....

[vinz]

Year 2005: What different did I do

My existing coaching insti offered me free coaching as I had an IIM call last year. Apart from that, I joined a postal course of another coaching class to get some added variety.
My prep this time was much more focussed and full of strategy. You can say that it was more of smart work than hard work. Based on my prev years exp, I realized that there are 3 things I need to keep in mind this year :

1. In Quants, there will always be sitters. Picking up those sitters is the key to cracking this section. I dont need to be a maths don to clear the cut offs. I knew my limitations and I was in no ways a maths genius. But I also knew that by careful selection of questions, I can definitely clear the cut offs.

2. I dont want to burn out by November. Thats what happened to me last year. My prof always used to say that u should "Peak at the right time". I used to think its all jargon n nothing else. But now I realized how true it was. I had to be at my best during November.

3. I need to make separate notes for all new formulaes/shortcuts/new fundaes that I come acroos while solving problems. There are always things that no book will directly state. But once u solve a problem, u will see it uses few shortcuts and other fundaes. So I started making notes of important types of problems and other shortcuts. This also gave me tremendous confidence.

4. I need to analyze all the papers I solve in the truest sense, which I didnt do last year. it really doesnt matter the amount of test I solve. Without analysis, its a waste. And by analysis, I mean solving all the questions without time limit, seeing where I went wrong and why and analyzing why am I missing sitters.

The mocks start........

Come aug end and I was ready to take on the battle. I had decided that in every paper I solve till CAT, my sole focus in Quants would be to select the sitters. I would make a note after every paper stating the no. of sitters I missed and why did I miss those.

My first mock fetched me 99 %ile for the first time ever in my life and I was ecstatic. I was more so happy coz this time, I cleared all cut offs, even Quants.
Furhter mocks followed......I cleared the VA cut offs in all.....miseed the DI cut offs someitmes.....and again missed the quant cut offs few times, but much less than last year.

I was gaining in confidence. I could clear Quant cut offs more regularly now compared to last year. I kept the above 4 points in mind continuously. Since I was solving papers of 2 coaching instis contonuously apart from my office work, life got extremely hectic and I had no time for anything else.

One interesting thing I noted. I always scored around 98 %ile consistently in the mocks of one coaching class.......however, in the other i never crossed 98 and the avg was around 96. But I didnt let this worry me and continued with confidence, refining my prep after every paper I solved.

I had started practicing breathing excercises and used to meticulously do them for 10 min everyday one month before CAT. I hoped that would keep my nerves in check during the exam. Took a week off from office before CAT and in the final days, did one paper a day along with the analysis.

Finally after months of crazy prep, analysis, self motivation and what not, the D-Day arrived, the moment was here. My centre was the same as last year's. I tried hard to forget last year's experience and was determined to change my fortune this year.

CAT 2005: The D-Day

I was mentally prepared for any kind of paper. I had a basic strategy in mind though. Paper was distributed, and after filling out the OMR, sat back comfortably to read the instructions. 90 Questions..ummm....interesting i thought. Apart from that, there was no major change from last year.

Now my forte had always been my accuracy, not speed. I used to attempt the minimum no. of questions among all the high scorers during mocks, but rarely went wrong in maths and DI and very less in Eng. So u can say that whatever I attempted, in all probabilties it was correct. My total no of wrong answers in any paper rarely went above 5-6.

And hence after reading the instructions, I knew the paper suits me. It would surely be tough with emphasis on accuracu and not speed.

As usual, I started with VA. but to my surprise, it was anything but simple. In the first go, I left almost all questions and then realized that in my second scan, I have to do lotsa questions before I can proceed to the next section. There were lots of questions that had very close options. Moreover the stakes were high as they were all 2 markers. I thought a lot and finally followed my gut feel, marked the OMR sans any guesses and moved ahead. I had attempted about 30 maks in VA and had left the Derrida RC. However I knew if my accuracy does not ditch me, I had done a good job with the section. But since the options were so damn close, I wasnt very comfortable.

Anyways, moved on to DI/LR. Finished the seemingly decent 1 markers and went for the 2 markers. Cracked one set and I knew if I get all 4 right in that set ( 8 marks ), I would be more or less safe in that section. Finally spent alot of time in the Tennis caselet and then could do only 1 question, that too an intelligent guess. I knew the section was pretty tough but having solved one caselet completely, I felt a bit relaxed. However, the time I spent for just 1 question of the tennis caselet worried me and I felt like kicking myself. Couldnt do that as I had to maintain decorum in the classroom

Finally came down to Quants, the one that has always let me down. But today i was determined to put the past behind me. I brought all my sitter-selection skills to play, which I had worked on endlessly for past few months. And I guess it payed. I picked few 1 markers and 2 markwers that I thought were simple and successfully solved them,. Though I did make an intelligent guess in a 1 marker, but rest all were certain answers. Started working on another 2 marker which I knew how to solve, but unluckily I ran out of time and the stupid bell signalled the end of 2 years of toil and sweat.

I came out and calculated my rough score. If all goes as i perceive, I should be scoring somewhere about 45-46. Ummm...not a very good score I thought. And my initial reaction after coming out and discussing was that I have missed the bus to IIMs yet again. :(

In the coming week, all analysis and solutions were out. With trembling hands, I checked my score from al the coaching instis websites. Due to ambiguity in VA answers, I wasnt certain of my scores, but all in all I started feeling happy.

I got only one 1 marker wrong in Quants (yeah, the intelligent guess one ), one 2 marker wrong in DI and only two queestions wrong in VA. I knew my accuracy has finally born fruits and felt glad that my strength didnt leave me in those crucial two hours.

Now even at this score, I expected a max of 2 IIM calls, not more than that. However, I was mentally prepared for the worst.

Results 2005

They say bhagwaan deta hai to chappar phad ke deta hai.......Never knew god would be kind and reward me in such a manner that I would be left speechless. One by one the results poured in. My CAT score read:
QA: 93.3 ( My efforts in this specific area finally payed off )
DI: 93.3
VA: 99.5

Net: 99.41

I had never got a score of above 99 apart from once in my 2 years of mocks. I was so glad that my strategy worked to the fullest. Do sufficient enought to clear cut offs in Quant and DI and blast the section of ur strength, VA.

With all 6 IIMs calling me for GD/PI, to say that it was a dream come true would be an understatement. Little did I know even this achievment would be bettered by me in the days to come.

Apart from IIMs, I got calls from all other top colleges. I took a revenge on JMET as well, getting a rank of 102. SJMSOM called me and I felt nostalgic when i did not apply to VGSOM. Even IIFT, where I had a horrible written, called me. I knew this was my year.

The GD/PI prep

I always knew that for me, the written was the main hurdle. I was confident about GD/PIs, but left no stone unturned for the prep. I had been collecting news articles since september and made loads of notes and analysis on events spanning all fields. I finally had a notebook and a file that contained articles and self notes/analysis on things ranging from the Budget to E-choupal to Jet/Sahara deal to the court dimesions of a badminton court.

Now when I see my file and notebook, I feel mighty satisfied. I had indeed done a neat job of my prep and felt very confident going into any interview. I knew I have given my best shot in my prep and theres really not more that I could have done in the given time. I spent endless hours on Wikipedia, and TOI, ET, India Today and Business Worlds at my house were reduced to shreds. You can say I had created a mini collection, which I would revise before any interview. And the colection kept on growing till my last interview.
Can you imagine, I had even made notes on how a photocopier works !!!!

Apart from that, I always used to do a 2 page analysis on the college whose interview i was going for.

All said and done, I was quite satisfied with all my interviews and expected to convert at least 1 IIM call.

Rest is history. By god's grace, I converted all 6 IIMs, MDI, NITIE, SJMSOM, IMT, IIFT (K), SIBM. Infact, I converted every interview that I gave .

In the Hindsight

Now when I look back over my past 2 years, I realize that one evening with my prof changed my entire future. It wasnt that I didnt have faith in my abilities. It was just that my vision had narrowed and my ambition diminished. I needed someone to show me the path and thats what transpired that evening.

CAT is not about intelligence alone. Its also not true that a so-so college at grad is a major setback. I am a living proof of that. CAT has taught me things about life that I never knew existed.

I sacrificed a lot during these 2 years. I am a very social person by nature. But I genuinely ran short of time to keep up my social life. People would often tell me that I have forgotten them and dont give them time. I knew I was guilty, but I had my ambitions clearly laid out and could not afford to compromise on them.

Toil, pain and frustration were my constant companions for these two years. But I lived with them. Coz I knew they are the keys to a glorious future. In a way I had a lot of pressure on my shoulders. People around me always expected me to be the best and though I tried hard not to let that effect me, I agree it was always on ther back of my mind, what will others think if I dont make it !!

Before I end....

I was fresh out of a personal depression before I started preparing for CAT. In a way, it stoked the fire in my belly to put all my sorrows behind and go all out to prove to the world and myself that I am the best. Yes, I now have done that, overcoming innumerable personal setbacks.

But I have also realized that CAT is not the end of the world. Neither is the fact that you are an achiever. All these are avenues that you explore to finally feel content and happy about urself. CAT is one exam that has been hyped beyond imagination, thus turning a normal maths and english aptitude test into a monster. Dont fall into the trap. Treat it as a normal exam and you will fare much better.
And even if you do not, hell with it yaar. There are 101 other avanues in life that u can explore and finally be happy and content.

People are there to comment and u cant stop them. What you can though do is to listen to your heart and not bother aboput what others say. They are no going to lead ur life, its u who has to do it. So if you feel CAT is what u want, go ahead with full force without looking behind. If you feel you are not upto it, then forget it and do whatever u feel good doing. Give a damn to what the world says. Live ur life on ur own terms.

CAT or no CAT, life goes on.....

[mancee]

@Vinz,

I am tempted to apprecita your post. 'Brilliant' wud be an understatement. After reading vinz's story on top of Anupam's, I dont think there would be anyone who wont have a fire in his belly to crack the CAT.

The meticulous preparation and strategy that you planned is just amazing. This is what I would call Management in its real sense. You deserved each and every institute you converted!

Kudos to posts and posters like Anupam and you!!