[anir-iim2005]

Enter 2006, the year that will change quite a few things. There were personal problems (Yes, related to CAT in a big way) that caught me unaware and shattered for some time. I couldn't think of it even in a nightmare, but that actually happened. All these things happened while I was still recovering from the pain of failing to convert my IIML call and trying to regather myself for another season ahead. This was an important time, an d I must say the beginning was not as I wanted.

This time I didn't go for full-time anymore, it was test series only (from TIME & CL). AIMCATs started, and it was a kick start. From 2nd mock onwards, I started to get Top 100 ranks (Never happened in years before). This continued for 5-6 mocks, may not be Top 100 always, but was getting 99+ pretty regularly. The scene was even better in CL, where I started topping my City regularly. I was happy, things started getting better in personal front also. And the focus moved away from preps. Problem was that I was getting good scores not only due to my English. My QA and DI scores also improved. This was my target, and it was achieved. I didn't realize my folly then, that Success doesn't come without strong ground work. Just went with the flow. Kept getting prizes from CL for topping the city (they were giving it to the Top 3, and I was 2nd most of the times. Reaching top was not possible since there was a certain Mehul Agarwal in my city ). This seriously hampered my preparation, all due to my own complacency. I ignored the fact that my AIRs came down a lot in AIMCATs, that there was a certain chink in armour in name of DI. It was like playing a series of ODIs, where I could erase one bad performance by a series of good performances (on different wickets though). I asked the question to myself, what am I really doing for preparation? Reply was "Close to nothing, other than solving 3 papers a week". But good mock scores made me think that is the correct way. Result, the problem with DI took a bad shape by the time I reached the last few AIMCATs. I was no longer able to ignore it totally, but there was little time left. Devised a strategy of playing it safe in DI and hitting the other two sections out of the park. This would seal my fate on 19th Nov, 2006. Alas, i didn't realize then..

19th Nov, 2006. Reached the exam hall as planned. Made it a point not to feel tensed. Kept repeating to myself the mock performances throughout the year. In the event, became over-confident may be. I won't say I was over-confident really, but it was a state of trance kind of thing. A certain amount of nervous energy actually helps in CAT (for that matter, in anything). I had voluntarily got rid of that. Saw the paper, a totally new pattern. Of course, not that surprised. My job was to solve questions, not worrying about the pattern. Went according to planned order - QA-DI-VA. QA was pretty ok. was feeling better by the time I moved to DI, but at the same time I was a bit confused. Never saw such an easy QA section in CAT before, and it puzzled me. Judging approximate cut-offs is a very important ability as far as CAT is concerned. I was not being able to. do that There were so many new things after all - 2.5 hr paper, 5 options and above all, so few and so easy questions. Also, I had overshot my time limit by 5-7 minutes in QA (Reasons well known across India, the Raja-Praja questions hurt me). Anyways, moved on to DI. As already mentioned, I was defensive here. Got hold of 2 sets. Completed those, felt good. Felt I was comfortably clearing the cut-off now . Did 1 question from the share waala set, but couldn't do the other questions in that set (didn't waste time, I wanted to solve at least 1 more set). I had 5 minutes in hand. Went to the roads (Network) waala set. Solved the 1st question, but got stuck between two options. Both seemed correct and I couldn't eliminate 1. Kept on trying, as I had to solve it. Couldn't move onto the other questions in the set either, since I felt I must be missing something. result, 7-8 minutes of effort, wasted. Moved to English, with 45 minutes in hand. within 5 minutes, knew what had stuck me. My strongest section, and I couldn't make head & tail of it. Tried gamely, did some 17 questions in the end. Was not sure about anything..

Not going into details of Prediction etc, Everyone knows what happened. I knew my fate was almost sealed, whatever be the prediction from Coaching institutes. Reason - so many people, who used to be 3 percentile points below me in mocks, were scoring more than me. Only a miracle could save me. I also knew that the Raja-Praja questions were actually wrong (It was a double whammy for me actually. Naturally, I tried to solve the questions backwards, from the options. The second question was such that it could be solved from options and once that was done, first question was a no-brainer. Problem - that second question didn't have the correct option present.) and more importantly, the DI question was not solvable. Results would prove how much those things hurt me, specially the DI question as it lead to a loss of at least 12 marks.

Results - Didn't expect anything, didn't get anything. It was still a shocker though. I never thought my score could come down to that level - 97.16 with 82.84 in DI. And IIM solution had both options 2/3 as correct answer for that DI question. That was where the game was over.. Hail IIMs.

Whatever the results be, this was a great season in pg. Got to know so many new people, so many inspiring people. There were two guys specially - Arun unkil and Prem. Two guys who showed what never say die attitude means. This season was different in all aspects. The DT couldn't perform according to expectation, largely due to VA. So many of sure shot call getters bit the dust. Best part was, most of them stood up again to fight back. We can see the results today. Well done Adi, Basilsk, Mantri, God2Be and above all Harshad. His was a different kind of heart-break, one which hurts much more. To be able to fight back from that - I Salute you buddy.

I salute the spirit of pg itself. This forum was my main source of inspiration in those days. Went away from CAT completely, thought a dream has ended. But the desire was still burning, and two things came to my rescue. Someone told me - Most of the times people end up as failure because they don't know how close they are to Success. This person stood by me when no one else believed I could do it. If personal problems had me in disarray at the start of 2006 season, it was being in peace with my life that helped me in season 2007. Second effect was pg, not any person in particular, it was an overall effect. Season 2007 would be totally different from the other seasons in terms of group preparation, I would come in touch with so many great minds. But all these will come later. For the moment, the learning from CAT2006 -

1. Never place too much emphasis on mock scores. One starts from zero on CAT day, and only strong fundamentals help then, not previous scores.
2. CAT is not sacrosanct. Trust your own instinct. If a question seems wrong after careful observation, leave it then & there. Chances are very bright that it will turn out to be incorrect question indeed.

Season 2007, coming soon...

Anirban

[anir-iim2005]

Season 2007 started in a haphazard way. Was not exactly sure about going for CAT again, GMAT seemed a more reliable option for quite some time. In fact, I was considering some overseas exposure (I had shied away from those previously, for CAT prep), to build my profile. Fortunately, plans didn’t materialize. And as usual, I couldn’t stay away once the mocks started. I won’t go into the description of the mocks etc, but I will certainly go into the changes from previous years –

• CAT2006 was the biggest learning, and started with that this time. Knew mocks mean nothing, and maybe was a bit pessimistic about the whole thing too. I remember Basil reprimanding me in the forum once for my pessimistic attitude 2wards CAT & everything related. He had every right to do so, indeed I was pessimistic at that point of time. But that also meant that I was never really complacent.
• Did not start serious preparation till end of August. Not that serious prep meant giving 4 hrs daily, for me it was like solving 3 papers weekly instead of 1 paper that I used to do till August. This helped me in staying fresh at later stages.
• Analyzed the papers properly. I used to do that very perfunctorily before. I used to Just go through the questions once, and solve anything that I could solve myself (in addition to the ones I had solved during the actual exam). Never tried to learn new things, from solutions or through the peer group. I changed that this time, was prepared to put in the hard work. It results in minor improvements in absolute terms, but those minor improvements can result in a difference of 1 percentile – from 98.5 to 99.5.
• The Most Important Factor, built a network. Everything was through pg (and to some extent, TIME forum). The change was more in my attitude. This year, I looked at group preparation too, instead of just prep by myself. Few happenings helped –

• • Starting the year with Prem. His enthusiasm and network was extremely important.
  • Getting good scores in initial mocks gave me a good visibility in TIME forum. Used to get plenty of friend Requests and got to know a lot many people. Most of times, it was about helping others with my experience. But that in itself meant that I was always in touch. In addition, I discovered some gems in my friend list. Prashant, Vivek (vivekvarendra) and some others. The competition, the urge to stay competitive even in mocks helped me in coming out of my comfort zone.
  • Getting in touch with Nitin. Again, Prem was the important factor here. It has been more than a month since my last day in IBM and I don’t really miss anything, except the balcony from where I used to have those 3 way phone calls. Here was 1 guy, quite a bit like me (in terms of CAT only, I am far superior in some other matters ). Not exceptionally talented (Well, better than me, but not exceptional ), but with A no nonsense approach towards preparation and ready to put in the hard work (in spite of being extremely lazy otherwise ). Also, we were perfect complements for each other – his strength being DI & mine VA. No prize for guessing our weak areas – VA for him & DI for me. What it meant – we kept pushing , trying to beat each other in mocks but also helping each other in staying extremely competitive. As par our own analysis about our telephonic discussions, 90% of the time we talked crap, but the remaining 10% time proved invaluable in the end.
  • My frequent trips to Bangalore, getting in touch with some of the best friends I could ever get – Spammy, Mac.
  • Being selected for DT. I still believe that selection had more to do with my friendship with Prem (Knowing a candidate individually will always influence a selector), rather than my mock scores . But being in the team helped in two counts
• • • I didn’t think I was worthy of Dream Team, but once selected, I wanted to make Prem proud of his selection. It was an added motivation.
    • Got in touch with JLT, Basil (Prashant was my buddy already). Two absolute Gods when we talk about cracking mocks. Not to mention that other DT members were equally superb, but these two guys took the cake according to me. Having them in my friend list helped me a lot, even through trivial discussions.

So, thus went the whole preparation season. I did better this time, much more consistent in mocks. Kept some targets for myself, and met those pretty much. A mock season where My score was less than 98%ile in only 1 AIMCAT, with 10 99%ile+ scores. It’s still not close to Gods, but it gave me the belief that even on my bad day I could ace CAT and get some calls. That’s the thing I kept telling myself on 18th November, 2007….

CAT Day

Initial things went pretty smoothly. The paper structure didn’t change, and I was not complaining for sure. Had a tried and tested strategy for that pattern, and went with that only (Caution, what I am going to describe now, is a highly dangerous strategy. I knew that myself, so made sure that I tested it many times before applying on the all important day. ) What I had learnt from the mock season was that I wasted most time in the starting section (Initial jitters, getting some quick attempts is the cure) and the last 20 minutes (tension creeping in). The best way to handle this – Doing my strong section in 2 parts, one in the beginning and one in the end. I did just that, broke English in VA & RC – VA for initial 15-20 minutes, RC for last 20-25 minutes. I never needed more than 45 minutes in English section, so this was ideal. It’s a different thing that most of the times I ended up giving around 30 minutes for English, but that again was a blessing as I got used to completing English in 30 minutes. So, with this strategy I started CAT 2007 –

Completed VA in 20 minutes, liked it More than CAT 2006 VA for sure. Was sure abt a few answers, which I was not in 2006.
Moved on to DI. I remembered the trauma of 2006, so was cautious but moved quickly too. After some hiccups, settled in a good rhythm. Then found the incorrect question in the easiest set, but experience of CAT 2006 helped. I knew CAT may not be error free, and banked on my abilities more. A neat effort, with 16 attempts in 55 minutes.
QA then. I was on track till now, more so having removed the headache of DI well. Little did I know what was awaiting me in QA. Started pretty well here too, solving some 4-5 qsns in pretty good time. Then, got STUCK. Couldn’t solve anything for 2-3 pages. Somehow reached 9 questions at the end of stipulated 55 minutes. Now, this was dangerous. I knew this QA was much tougher than CAT 2006 QA, but still only 9 questions was a bit too little. Lost my way, kept trying for 1-2 more questions instead of going into RC. As I write this, I can still feel that tension, that feeling of emptiness, the fear of everything coming to naught again. I knew I shd move into RC, but I couldn’t. 10 minutes I wasted in QA, without a single attempt (in fact, I marked 2 qsns, only 2 erase again as I was not totally sure. As it turns out to be in those cases, both were correct answers). So, at the end of 65 minutes of QA, 9 attempts. Moreover, only 10 minutes left for 4 RCs. I knew my plan of completing all 25 in English was out of question. It was a matter of damage control and doing whatever I could in RC.
10 minutes for all those very dense RCs. Thankfully, I was used to this (Mock season again). Just targeted 2 RCs, 5 minutes each. Did them and came out. Dejected.

CAT 2007 was over, and I was sure about another failure, due to QA. Even 1 mistake there would result in cut-off related problems. Had a chat with Nitin, 13 attempts in QA. Prem, 11 attempts, but not sure about most. Now, datz when I started feeling that it was really tough. A QA instructor feeling it to be tough, and I knew Prem’s capability in QA very well. Still, couldn’t feel good, took a cab and went for lunch with my gf. Some calls from friends and family about expectations etc – I was simply not interested. Was afraid to check the QA answers with others too. Finally, in the evening, gathered enough courage to discuss some answers with Nitin. Encouraging they were – I was getting most a good accuracy in DI and more importantly, 5/5 in QA till then. Gathered some more courage, and matched my answers with 2-3 friends. Interesting findings – 9/9 correct in QA when cut-off was expected to be as low as 19-20. I give a damn to predictions, but I knew 36 would be enough for any cut-off in that QA. DI was not bad either. Rushed back home to check answers. Only IMS was out, Prashant relayed the options to me over the phone (couldn’t login myself for some internet issues). The expected result was something way above my expectations – 9/9 in QA (36), 15/16 in DI (59) and 12/19 in English (41). I was getting a total of 136 at that point of time, comfortably clearing all cut-offs.

Drama was not to end that easily of course. The great CAT English drama unfolded again, and took all of us for a ride again. Nothing, absolutely nothing was sure. I was sure of getting a good overall, but everything depended on English keys of IIMs. A wait of 49 days, seemed like eternity then. Finally, 8th January 2008. After 3 blank SMSs, I got this – QA – 97.2, DI – 99.37, VA – 98.53. I knew already, what would be there in the 2nd SMS regarding overall score, I was ecstatic already. A 99.73 overall made sure I stayed that way only. later on, came to know that I had still missed IIMB, due to my acads for sure. I LACK B were my calls.

I need more than 1 post for the remaining story, the story after CAT results. Please follow it in the link below…
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/1140732-post367.html


Anirban

[zadd00]

My mother told me that the 1st word which I spoke was neither mom nor dad but it was “CAT”. It was surprising for them as well as for me but I realized its importance & relevance when I completed my ISC with flying colures. I was a bright n merituous student and could hv been part of the IITs but destiny had something else in store fr me. My father expired wen I was studying in class 8 and my elder sister was on the verge of her ICSE. We had two options either to pack up our bags and start leaving with our maternal uncles (since my father was the only son and my grandparents hv died long time bck) or face the brutality of life by our own. My IDOL, my mother chose the second path n hence I realized fr the 1st time that life is nt a bed of roses. My hectic schedule started frm then. I had 2 work in our small shop from 7.45 am to 10.30 n run fr my school wich stared at 11.15 and come bck n do the work agn. I dint understand the meaning of Sunday thn coz it was my routine fr all seven days. But I nvr gt jealous with any of my frends who were njoying life. N fr the records I dint evn mentioned my routine to ny1 bck in school. I was very good at debates, quizzes, extempores n dramas but I evn being the best in the school team I cudnt participate coz most of the inter school events were scheduled on Saturdays mornings wich was impossible fr me to attend. But anyways life went on I completed my ICSE with 90.4% and ISC with 86%. I was eager to do engineering but cudnt do it coz of my work commitments. I had an elder sister wich needed to b married and being a maru had to attend the social gatherigs as a represeentativ of my family. Being in cal I had only 1 option wich suited me that was doing my BBA coz it classes started frm 1.30 n ended at 7.30. so I decided to go fr it coz I was fascinated towards 3 letters IIM & MBA. I workd hard coz I knew my limitations n my commitments. I had many a responsibility 2 fulfill n I cudnt mangage the luxurious life wich my frends dealt. So it was tim fr some sacrifices. I was very good at playing cricket & could bowl really quick n the only time I played was on national holidays. My other interest was watching TV so I decided to QUIT both of them. Its been more than 1000 odd days since I watched TV instead I used that time reading rc’s and yes browsing pagalguy. I 1st appeared fr CAT 2006 without much of preps. The bba project deadlines n my small business commitments burnt me mentally . I still remember that I cudnt analyse a single mock that I took but still managed a decent 90 %ile with 80 odd in all sections. I knew it was a poor shw but my source of inspiration was the “dream team” n the six magical letters “BLACKI” I feel so proud of all u guys that I cant write my actual emotions. But I wanted to achieve the same fr myself. I knew I was asking too much coz my business n family commitments dint gv me much time to prepare . but at that time wen I was very demotivated 1 of my sweetest frend told me that I shud always say “try me god” instead of “y me”. That boosted my confidence n I started giving time mock on Saturdays coz I had my work on Sunday mornngs. I was fairing well but nvr did I ranked in top 250. in the mean time my sister gt married to a decent family and I m thankful to god fr this. I was back with serious prep in the month of September. I started solving lot of lr frm arun sharma n onlne puzzles. It worked wonders fr me I was consisitently gtting 99+%ile. But my weak area was still verbal/rc so I make it a habit to browse wikipaedia fr unknwn topics n analyse that. It started working I was gaining confidence n was clearing all 3 cutoffs. But suddenly in the month of October something happened (can’t disclose that) wich shattered my dreams. I realized I cudn’t go outside cal fr my MBA . I had to stdy in a college in cal n leave alongside my mom n continue looking after my business. I cried a lot but again those words “not y me but try me” make me calm. I gv cat 2007 knowing that the only option in Kolkata fr me is IISWBM wich requires around 85%ile but I gv my best shot . I had taken forms fr few examinations so I hv to gv them like SNAP, XAT & CAT. I performed decently. But puys 1 thing is fr sure my battle is nt over. I will come bck 1ce I gt settled in my life. I am fascinated towards IIM n “BLACKI” n I want those letters to sign under my signature.Yes fr the recordsCAT 2007 – 97%ile with 99.99 in DIXAT 2008 - 96%ile with 99.88 in quantsSNAP 2007- 72.5Sorry puys if wtever I hv written is spam in ny ways thn prem bhai can delete it…

[d-maniac]

Jus fr the record
CAT 2007: 99.72 overall
Calls: Only I

Heres my story.....

My gtalk nick "d "under performer" tag persists...redemption delayed!! " ...says it all...

ICSE exams :I was always of the kinds who neve studied but somehow topped the class. I was expected to top the city wid 95+%, had topped the preboards with an unprecedented 90%...Finally went on to score 91.8%, ranked third in the school...88 in english was what ruined me,,,it seems english has always been a thorn in my flesh...

IITJEE 2003: Was never among the toppers in my FIITJEE batch (lack of hard work was the sole reason i guess), but was performing reasonably well and in AITS I was predicted to get a 1000-1500 AIR. Did reasonably well in my IIT screening with a 1400 odd rank. Yet, the one month after the screening results wr out, when i peers wr sloggin it out,,,i made a huge blunder!! Chose to go home, instead of staying back in the hostel to prepare fr the final frontier...The result,,,Underperfomance yet again,,,4800 odd AIR in mains,,,I was truly devastated..

The dream seemed over..but thr was a chance to redeem myself,,,I desperately wanted to drop a yr and appear fr IIT again....I wasnt allowed to,,n forced myself into DCE...If this was nt a blunder enuf,,,i opted DCE Mechanical, jus based on a 1997 India Today survey which rated DCE mechanical as the best in Asia...(How foolish was I!!!)

DCE Mechanical 2003-2007: A journey I can never forget....A departmental rank of 70 odd out of 100 people is all that I managed...Never gave myself a chance to like my core subjects,,,neve attended classes...I guess i must have ended up with a close to 20% attendance in my theory classes!!! Worst still, got detained fr poor attendance in the third semester...Infact some of my mech batchmates found it hard to believe that I had a General category rank 602 in CEE(Again underperformance though!!)...They thought I was a fool who was lucky to be in DCE!!! Academically the only high point in DCE was that I was among the first ones to get two job offers,,,and ended up with a job offer which was quite vouched fr,,,specially the ppl who ve MBA dreams...A fitting reply to the mechie "ghisu" toppers who used to nurture a thought that I was a fool!..When I started preparing fr CAT in the seventh semseter,,,i looked at it as an opportunity to do away all the academic misdoings of my four yrs of college lyf...A dismal aggregate of 62% in all eight semsters...

AIMCATS 2006: Maintained an impressive average of 99+ in all mocks(with a low of 94 odd and a high of 99.8 odd),,,again to the surprise of many ppl...i dnt blame dem,,, coz i did nuthin academically or proffesionally useful in DCE...I was back in my competitive mould...It seemed my academic and proffesional lyf had a purpose once again ( All that was totally eroded during my four yrs in DCE,,,the workshops, ED classes, Lectures on Turbines..hate then all!!!)....Infact I set a secret ambition...tht I will settle fr nothing less than the big three IIM ABC...did nt even bother to fill oder forms..yep, not even XL, FMS!

Hmm...To be frank I have always been lucky in Lyf,,,I had been academically brillant (Except in DCE Mechanical ofcourse) widout having to work hard...But The one thing I worked hard fr was denied to me...Yes, I fractured my leg 10 days prior to CAT,,, struggled with pain and yet decided to appear fr AIMCAT 0701 on crutches and supported by a couple of frens...Scored a dismal 94%tile,,,and lost all my confidence....The game was over,,,mentally, I had lost my chance of cracking CAT n I beleive CAT is a 50% mind n a 50% luck game...

CAT 2006 : The results prove it...My centre on 19th was Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan...The main school building seemed a kilometer away frm the main gate...(I was limping on one leg,,,with the plaster still on my leg,,,and me struggling with pain and itching)...As I ve written earlier mentally, I had lost my chance of cracking CAT...started with VA/RC ( Fatal error in strategy), struggled on it fr 1 hr, 17 mins,,,,moved on to QA and then DI...I was so in a state of shock by the ambigious nature of the English paper , tht i could neve quite recover and ended up with 97.14 %tile overall in CAT...with 92 odd in va/rc and di and 96 odd in qa...A slap on the face of someone who was aiming fr the big three....

To be continued......

[vallabh143]

Originally Posted by d-maniac

My gtalk nick "d "under performer" tag persists...redemption delayed!! " ...says it all...

ICSE exams :I was always of the kinds who neve studied but somehow topped the class. I was expected to top the city wid 95+%, had topped the preboards with an unprecedented 90%...Finally went on to score 91.8%, ranked third in the school...88 in english was what ruined me,,,it seems english has always been a thorn in my flesh...

IITJEE 2003: Was never among the toppers in my FIITJEE batch (lack of hard work was the sole reason i guess), but was performing reasonably well and in AITS I was predicted to get a 1000-1500 AIR. Did reasonably well in my IIT screening with a 1400 odd rank. Yet, the one month after the screening results wr out, when i peers wr sloggin it out,,,i made a huge blunder!! Chose to go home, instead of staying back in the hostel to prepare fr the final frontier...The result,,,Underperfomance yet again,,,4800 odd AIR in mains,,,I was truly devastated..

The dream seemed over..but thr was a chance to redeem myself,,,I desperately wanted to drop a yr and appear fr IIT again....I wasnt allowed to,,n forced myself into DCE...If this was nt a blunder enuf,,,i opted DCE Mechanical, jus based on a 1997 India Today survey which rated DCE mechanical as the best in Asia...(How foolish was I!!!)

DCE Mechanical 2003-2007: A journey I can never forget....A departmental rank of 70 odd out of 100 people is all that I managed...Never gave myself a chance to like my core subjects,,,neve attended classes...I guess i must have ended up with a close to 20% attendance in my theory classes!!! Worst still, got detained fr poor attendance in the third semester...Infact some of my mech batchmates found it hard to believe that I had a General category rank 602 in CEE(Again underperformance though!!)...They thought I was a fool who was lucky to be in DCE!!! Academically the only high point in DCE was that I was among the first ones to get two job offers,,,and ended up with a job offer which was quite vouched fr,,,specially the ppl who ve MBA dreams...A fitting reply to the mechie "ghisu" toppers who used to nurture a thought that I was a fool!..When I started preparing fr CAT in the seventh semseter,,,i looked at it as an opportunity to do away all the academic misdoings of my four yrs of college lyf...A dismal aggregate of 62% in all eight semsters...

AIMCATS 2006: Maintained an impressive average of 99+ in all mocks(with a low of 94 odd and a high of 99.8 odd),,,again to the surprise of many ppl...i dnt blame dem,,, coz i did nuthin academically or proffesionally useful in DCE...I was back in my competitive mould...It seemed my academic and proffesional lyf had a purpose once again ( All that was totally eroded during my four yrs in DCE,,,the workshops, ED classes, Lectures on Turbines..hate then all!!!)....Infact I set a secret ambition...tht I will settle fr nothing less than the big three IIM ABC...did nt even bother to fill oder forms..yep, not even XL, FMS!

Hmm...To be frank I have always been lucky in Lyf,,,I had been academically brillant (Except in DCE Mechanical ofcourse) widout having to work hard...But The one thing I worked hard fr was denied to me...Yes, I fractured my leg 10 days prior to CAT,,, struggled with pain and yet decided to appear fr AIMCAT 0701 on crutches and supported by a couple of frens...Scored a dismal 94%tile,,,and lost all my confidence....The game was over,,,mentally, I had lost my chance of cracking CAT n I beleive CAT is a 50% mind n a 50% luck game...

CAT 2006 : The results prove it...My centre on 19th was Army Public School, Dhaula Kuan...The main school building seemed a kilometer away frm the main gate...(I was limping on one leg,,,with the plaster still on my leg,,,and me struggling with pain and itching)...As I ve written earlier mentally, I had lost my chance of cracking CAT...started with VA/RC ( Fatal error in strategy), struggled on it fr 1 hr, 17 mins,,,,moved on to QA and then DI...I was so in a state of shock by the ambigious nature of the English paper , tht i could neve quite recover and ended up with 97.14 %tile overall in CAT...with 92 odd in va/rc and di and 96 odd in qa...A slap on the face of someone who was aiming fr the big three....

To be continued......

Hey man.. don worry everybody is like u..

I can write the exactly same story as u.. right from the IITJEE times to CAT 06 07...

Life is about learning from mistakes.. Only thing is that we people had to learn it... the hard way... I believe hard work is the key.. stay positive...

Hope we land up in some IIM next year....

[abhrabumba]

Its really heartening to read the experiences of Reachmonil, Chandoo, Zadoo.... to name a few. Sometimes I wondered, why is the competition this high??... What is it that I am lacking??... A decent academic record, good extracurriculars, G.Sec of college, work exp in a MNC... (last but not the least: some Grey matters!! )I have all these; even then why I am not able to make it to the top instis????.... Many a times I ended up cursing myself, cursing the country ......
But now I realise how wrong I have been. It's not at all sufficient to perform well when you are among the stalwarts. When you are up against souls as pious as these, their never dying spirits and their skyhigh confidence, you need to come up with your best. Even then chances are high that you may fail; not because you were unlucky (That's a very lame excuse which does not befit the bests), but because there are guys who are better than you. So you have to pick yourself up and start running again. Albeit, you will be limping at first. But the sheer joy of pitting yourself against the very best of the country acts as the analgesic. I believe being counted as one of the elite warriors of the country is much more important than the fat pay packages.
It's just the sheer joy of recognition, of freedom and of success that keeps you ticking. The game is never over till the final whistle is blown and you can stretch as long as you feel you have the fire to chase your dreams. At times people will call you Pagal, fanatic, wasteful what not.... with a a lot of suggestion pouring in to take up alternate career options.....
But to a serious aspirant, nothing can be as important as a seat in a hallowed B school classroom. No matter what, HE WILL CHASE.:bomb::infinity:......
A fitting tribute to the tired souls who are down, BUT NOT OUT:
Only the indomitable LIONS will be catching the elusive CAT.

So the chase continues........

p.s. - prem bhai, agar kuch galat likha hai to kaichi chala dijiega...... but I wanted to pour out my feelings.

[rajesh_p]

hi folks my xperience--

It was in my engg 1st yr that i decided to take the Common Amission Test(CAT),a decision taken to avenge my sumersault in the final stages of IIT-JEE.I didn't do any serious prep in the first two years,just an odd hour a week goin thru some puzzles,joined a coaching centre in july 2006 but left it due to their slow pace of teaching.Then time was literally flying on and the date read april 2007,took decision of my life ,driven mad in love-went out a day before my semester exam to propose to my lady love which she quiet flatly refused(n ofcourse i flunked in that exam).





SO this was how it started a broken heart,a will to prove my worth and to stand apart from others.Got to praise my college for the fact that they gave us a lot of holidays.But this made things worse for me,i gotta a hec lot of free time and that ment a lot of dreams abt my lady love.The only way i could get myself together was to keep myself very very busy. I joined another coaching centre,which is 2.5 hrs away from my place.The first few months made a good use of the study room,used to leave home at 8am and get back at 10pm.stuck to this schedule for a fortnight and when i felt i was back to my normal sense shifted the schedule to 3pm -10pm(note: out of these 7 hrs ,5hrs go into travellin and2 hrs for regular class).So,this fulfilled my temporary aim of keeping myself busy.





I was pretty good at math and logical reasoning ,verbal was my achilles heal.Started reading newspapers and magazines,vocabs(to increase my confidence levels).My schedule read like this




2hrs quant2hrs di/lr,3hrs vebal,math- bought 2 good books available in the market and collected materials of different coaching centres,Di-only one book was available in market then and it was pretty useful,used to search for data, graphical presentations in different bussiness mags n made some analysis this helps building your interpretation skills,try to frame as many qtions on the data available and answer those qtions.




sincerely stuck to this time table and results started pouring in




SIMCAT1-99.55%ile




SIMCAT2-99.04%ile




SIMCAT3-98.5%ile




SIMCAT4-99.14%ile









That was a high time, i was literally flying in air with such a consistant performance,became very very over confident and careless and my study hours decreased drasticallymath was my %ile booster in almost all the cases,Di/lr always crossed the cut-offs comfortably,but never crossed verbal cut-offs.Attempted in the order math-di-verbal.so, now was the time to experiment tried out different combinations answering math atlast,all in vain.My scores in those exams read lik this









SIMCAT5-92%ile




SIMCAT6-86%ile




SIMCAT7-81%ile.









Now i was back to square one,desparetly wanted to get a good score in the last and final simcat,stuck to my 7 hrs schedule and the score read




SIMCAT8-98.5%ile




NOTE:used to analyse each and every test paper in detail(atleast 5hrs on the whole)





Then maintained my cool in the upcoming week,was a bit tense on the d-day but once the xam started i was felt vry comfortable wid the xam..n aftr wat it seemed to be a nvr ending wait my score card read something lik this...


quant-99.43
di-84.79
verbal-98.67
ovr all-99.12
calls-iimI

[raghav507]

After reading many of the PUY’s stories, finally i also decided to write a few lines to open my heart in this sacred thread.
My profile goes as under:-
STD X – 90.4 % CBSE (All India merit certificate holder in Hindi)
STD XII – 86.2 % CBSE
B.Tech (CSE) from NIT Hamirpur, H.P. 8.76 (CGPA)
After getting 2 job offers in my kitty in the final year, I was overwhelmed. One of my classmates took CAT 2006 and came out with flying colours - A BLACKI (that too a final one i.e. all converts). I learnt about IIMs as the mecca of management education in India.


After a year’s tryst with my current employer, I came to realise that to be separate from the whole ‘lot’ I need something else. That’s where I came to know that some of my colleagues were also preparing for the same, may be because of the same reason as mine.


As I have been a mathematical guy with sufficient amount of self discipline:satisfie:, I found that I didn’t need any class room coaching. So finally somewhere in July ’07, I decided to take CAT.


I joined career launcher’s test series and was geared up for the mocks. Due to an unfortunate incident in the family I wasn’t able to take the first and second mock cats in the series. When I took the third mock cat (my first one in life), I was totally astonished to see a 40 %ile.:(


Then it was the time for introspection. I was totally in a dilemma whether to continue or not. But after hearing comparable first time scores from my friends I got a boost. Then the journey towards CAT started. As I was suggested ‘Quant by Arun Sharma’, I bought it and started following it religiously.


It took me around 2-3 months to complete it. With the ongoing mocks I started realizing my strengths and weaknesses. My scores went up to 90 something’s slowly and steadily. I started gaining in confidence.


I used to take a mock test early morning on alternate days and the next day analyzed the same. I followed a strategy of attempting Quant first then English and DI at last and stuck to it. I started getting good scores in the mocks.


Finally the D-day came. I felt no pressure as such that day. On seeing the paper my half tension faded away on learning that the pattern was the same. I started with the same strategy that I followed usually. I realized it later what a terrible mistake I made.??:


For the first 15-16 minutes I wasn’t able to solve even a single quant question. Then I jumped on to the verbal section and started attempting. As I was getting consistently good scores in verbal section in mocks, I followed the same strategy there too and attempted 21 questions confidently.


Then came back to quant again, solved some sitters there and moved on to DI when some 45 minutes were left. There I got a whacky surprise by the section as a whole. The mocks haven’t given me such an easy section ever. May be that’s why I conceived DI to be my weakness. Earlier I had planned to just clear the cut offs in DI and score in my staple - Quant and verbal.


The whole plan backfired. I didn’t check the scores from the coaching institute’s keys as it has been my habit since JEE 2002 and AIEEE 2002.
The results got declared on January 08, 2008. I got a 92.xx %ile with 35 %age score in DI and a mere 9 %age score in verbal. Quant was as usual in higher 90s. My CAT dream was over.


The major lesson I learnt very quickly was that I needed to concentrate on my accuracy and the most important one – the best strategy is no strategy (at least for CAT).


I took other exams too for the first time itself and scored a decent 98.5 in XAT which I thought to be more difficult as compared to CAT. Here too, I screwed up in one section, but this time surprisingly in Quant. I scored a mere 83 %ile in Quant with 99 in verbal and 96 in DI.


This particular result has reinforced my faith in following No Strategy.
So this was my story, I hope u won’t get bored by my boring story.
Currently I am waiting for a call from SPJAIN as some of my seniors have rekindled the hope in me for the same. So plz wish me luck.

[spirit11]

So here goes my CAT story.....

I alwys thought that i would one day write this here after i have conquered CAT but as they say MAN PROPSES MAN DISPOSES......

Here are my cat score:

CAT2004:86.5%
CAT2005:71%
CAT2006:NA
CAT2007:78%


CAT 2004

i was in 7th sem of my engg when i frst came to know bout cat(like many of you),most of our cllg junta was busy jonin CAT Coachin institutes,i had been a mediocre student till thn who was just about to face harsh reality of life,so thought why not do somethn gr8 in life,so wat did i could do,i was not a cricket plyer,not an actor,not a singer,not a roadie.. ,so wat does a normal avg student like me do...hmmm....he goes for the fav thng like most of us nowadyss are doin and thatz go for cat..

i mean it had become a fashion statement then(and its still is....)

Q) wat r u doin these dayzz......??
A) I am preparing for cat....(ohh man and the Questionare thinks this boy is a genious..)


so i too joined a coaching insti in delhi....was 40 km frm my home so every weekend i used to go to delli,most of the time was gone in commutin rather than studyin and same goes for the classes thr..it was like mini cllg thr waith thousands of students coming thr all with dreams,chasing the elusive feline but i really thought how many knew why they were here....atleast i didnt

thrs one funny incidence that i cant forget till date,me and my friend were returinig after getting cat2004 forms and we stopped midway at an eating joint lunch and i had the forms in my hand,it was the frst day of the forms getting out..(really xcited i was to get them first) and as i entered many uncles and aunty came to me and asked about the way to procure forms(all were thnk mera beta bhi cat karega.......),and then frm nowhere thr came couple of boyzz to our table,they were smilin and i asked them watzz the reason dude why u laughin and they just asked me u givin cat for frst time i said yeahhh...and again they started laughin, i said watzz the matter dude and he simply said just give the xam and knw urself.....i was like...i later found out that they too had given cat couple of times and were now in a C class Insti for thr mba....i was like full of confidence that no ,matter wat i am going to crack cat..

wel time flew by,i wouldnt say that i didnt study,i used to study till late in nght but somehow i felt i was lagging somewhere and it was not until the d day passed by adn results came that i came to knw of my lagging,and that was that i hadnt prepared my basics right and not only basics there were othr reasons as well,like too much pressure to perform,attitude lacking...so cat04 came and went by........i was like hmmmm,i could have done better.........and so with this feelin closed my cat 04 xprnc.

to be continued...

[kushal_gupta]

hello friends..
..i never thought that someday i wud get enough strength to sit and write something under the thread "Inspiring stories of CAT cracking or The Best of 'All I wanted to speak about CAT"!!!i m not 'that' stuff!!but i feel my story can at least motivate not those people who think they can but those who think they cannot...:angel:


i m from the city of amritsar, known for golden temple and jallianwala bagh but least known as a study centre.its true,the level of studies is not very gud in punjab but still we manage....i was in class 5th when i was send to army school called- sainik school,kapurthala...it was the first time i undertuk serious tests....life there was very tough...learnt a lot of gud things and bad too...was like any other hostel boy-non-serious in studies,serious in all other things-girls,movies,clothes,beers and all other stuffs u understand(no need to mention here!!!)level of studies were all time low in class 9th when my father took me out of it and i was send to nankana sahib public school,samrala.a very small town with no infrastructure.....did 10,+1 & +2 from there...got 80% marks in 10 and 75% in +2 and was at 2nd position in school wid such low scores...!!!


i opted for medical in +2...my father BADLY wanted me to be a doctor but i was least interested....but still i cudnt say-i cant do it....i was like any other boy doing all the fun in school,i was not like those studious students who keep mugging up all the buks and are very-very serious regarding there careers....then i went to chandigarh for PMT(pre-medical tests for getting admission in mbbs course just like iit-jee) preps and there i was at my worst-no studies even when i wanted to do--only masti!!!result-failed in all PMTs....my father stopped talking to me,my whole family was against me,i had killed all the expectations of everyone...meanwhile my girl friend left me...i dropped a year after +2 for preparing again but all these factors drov me crazy...most of the times i was crying like a baby....a hard body and mind after army training changed to a very sensitive and emotional soul...it was very tough time for me....again came PMTs and again the same result-FAILED:icon_cry:....this was worse then earlier...i was treated like a bad boy in the family and everyone used to say-dont become like kushal...mine was the condition like that of darsheel in taare zameen par-exactly same,difference was i was not mentally-ill and i wasnt getting any support from anybody....


but then somehow i cleared JET exam and got a seat in the hons. physics course in guru nanak dev university at amritsar...conditions started improving but still i was not very studious...just managed to pass my exams...then in second year i decided to go for CAT...but i was very much afraid of my past failures...but still i tried...i joined career launcher.my aim was just to get respectable %ile in cat and getting an ok type b-school for mba....though at first i was gud at learning but in the middle i started losing interest...but again i recollected myself...my score in mocks varied from 55 to 95%iles...i got 95 only 1 time and 3-4 times above 80 and generally i was in seventies....in november 2007 i had no hope that i can clear cat...:crazyeye:


then after 14th i started losing sleep...i thought again a failure i m going to see...on 17th i reached chandigarh with a blank mind...i was restless as i had not slept for 3 days...my friends there took me out for some fun and wud u believe-at 1.30 am in the night of 17 and morning of 18,we were drinking madly-each one crying over what has happened in his life...i went o bed at around 2 but again got up at 4o'clock because of stomach pain...remained awake till 7 then i tried to sleep a bit but cudnt-in few hours i was about to write cat!!i got up at 7.30 took bath with cold water and got ready...then i heard a song-chak de india after which i got some boost to perform well in cat....then few minutes before cat i was exercising in the examination hall and all were luking amazingly...i was so tired and so sleepy that i wud have fallen down on bed at once if there wud have been no restriction!!


then came cat 2007 in hand...i said to myself-DO YOUR BEST...GIVE WATEVER U HAVE...FIGHT LAST TIME LIKE AN INJURED SOLDIER FIGHTING FOR LIFE....JUST TRY..TRY..TRY...i started with english...this was the first time i started with english,in 13mocks which i gave,i never started wid english...but i need to take risks...i completed english in time...then i reached to di...di was easy and i had done that type of stuff so many times before!!!but i cudnt do it there!!!my mind was exausted...i was checking 6*4=24 atleast 4 times!!!i knew i can do this but i cudnt!!!still i tried...then came quant...i thought it tough...but still i tried...at the end of exam...i thought it was all over...i cudnt even manage a score of 80...


.but then came results---:2gunfire:--CAT-93%ile-----XAT-92%ile----SNAP=70marks----the score might not be great for u getting 99%ile in cat but for people like me...its a big thing yaar.....now-a-days i am giving various gds,interviews,extempores and i hope to make it to some gud b-school of india...not the best one but one of the best....now i feel ki kash agar me cat se pichle 3-4 din thik hota...i wud have managed 99....but now nothing can be done...moreover i m happy with what i have got...by the grace of god and by my feeling of---just give it a try yaar.....i wud like to say u friends------IF I CAN DO,WHY CAN'T YOU?! GIVE WATEVER U HAVE....JUST TRY...TRY...TRY...SOONER OR LATER ONE WHO WINS IS THE ONE WHO THINKS-HE CAN...:grab:
ALL THE BEST
---KUSHAL GUPTA