[Zarine]

CAT GYAN #3.

Logical problems are generally time consuming. My suggestion is that avoid these problems in the first instance.

Remember, your objective is to score the maximum amount of marks in the
given time. You will not be penalized for having solved all the easy problems in CAT. Neither would you be given special credits for digging out the tough problems. CAT, fortunately, to date, does not have adaptability in difficulty levels as GMAT does.

So, the first lesson in test taking strategy is -- choose your questions smart. It is easier said than done. You gain confidence about the questions that you can attempt adn the ones you have to skip only by continuous practice and scrupulous analysis of your previous test papers. Take each of the tests that you have done to date and
analyse every single question - see how long you took to crack the question - was it out of fluke you got it right? or you actually knew how to do it? Second, check out if you made use of the answer choices to arrive at your choice - if so pat yourself - you are on the right track.

Sometimes, it helps to have some very simple rules.My advice would be to crack only those problems where you can use the answer choice (like substituting them in the question) to arrive at the solution in the first instance. And after solving all of those questions where you can use the answer choice, if you are still left with time on hand, attempt the other questions.

Given all this logic - logical question does not fit in the first or the second go. If you still have time and the only question you have left unanswered is logical question, then try and solve them. To get sufficient practice, get one of the GRE books like Barrons. they have sufficient exercise on these type of arrangement problems.
Draw tables and try and represent whatever data is given to you in either tabular or pictorial form. It helps you to crack the problem effectively.


CAT GYAN #4

One of the key things to note is to have a strategy before you take a Mock CAT.

One thing that I have found to have worked for a lot of people is this.
Whether there is a section wise time limit or not, set a limit for yourself.This year CAT, as mentioned in the brochure, is one where there is going to be no section wise time limit.

So give yourself time limits for each section. Say, Quant 50 minutes, DI 40 minutes and Verbal 30 minutes. The individual section wise limit will vary from person to person. But the above is a reasonably good representative sample. Then attempt questions in each of these sections and move to the next section 5 minutes before the time limit that you have set. That is in 45 minutes for Quant, 35 for DI and 25 for Verbal. At the end of 1 hour 45 minutes take a quick evaluation as to how you have performed in each of the sections. If you feel, you have not done well in say,
DI, spend the remaining 15 minutes on DI. On the contrary, if you think you have done reasonably well in all three sections, spend the last 15 minutes on the section that will give you the maximum returns.

In all of these, keep one thing in mind. Maintain as much accuracy as possible in the first 1 hour 45 minutes. In the last 15 minutes, make intelligent guesses. For instance, if you can eliminate 2 out of the 4 answer choices and you are not sure which of the other two to tick, take an intelligent guess. This does not mean that you mark anything during the last 15 minutes. Remember, what I said was INTELLIGENT GUESSING and not random ticking.

[/u]

[Zarine]

CAT GYAN # 5

Step one:
"Macro-Picture"
Last few months have gone in addressing every single important issue of your test – fundamentals, short-cuts, test taking techniques, simulated tests, etc. Now is the time for us to move away from these important but operational matters and look at the macro-picture ahead of you.

One or two sections are not to the best of your liking. You hate some sub-sections, etc. But forget all that for the next 17 days. Your task is not to solve the entire paper. Re-look at the objective. Do your best in those two hours. Get a minimum score on each section and maximize your overall performance. Worry about CAT as a whole.

Time to freeze your broad strategy with the understanding that it may have to be altered slightly after you face the CAT.


Step 2:
"Match Temperament"
All your hard work and sweat put in single-mindedly (!!!) will be tested in those 2 hours. Just 2 hours!! How can a two-hr test pass a judgment on your ability to make it to an IIM? Is it not too cold? Perhaps even cruel!! No scope for any error.

But this is a reality. And champions are made of stuff that brings out their best when it is needed the most. What you need in you now is match temperament. BIG MATCH TEMPERAMENT (BMT)

We need not travel far to understand what it is - Steve Waugh, Sachin Tendulkar, Glenn McGrath. They are BMT personified. Put them in a difficult situation. One realizes that they have reserved their best for that day. Unshakable self-belief is the virtue of all these champions.

All your brilliance and high scores at home is a waste if you cave in under ‘pressure’, under ‘competition’. These are excuses invented for lesser mortals called – Losers. Pressure and competitions are always in ones mind.

Step Three:

The Ultimate Mantra – SELF BELIEF

An average performer overcomes his own limitations with the mantra of ‘Self-Belief’ and surpasses the benchmark of expectations others set for him. Because his self defined performance standards are much higher than set by others - Sachin, Steve Waugh….

This mantra is hidden somewhere in each of us. The champions have discovered it for themselves. You need to discover it for yourself. This is the best occasion for the discovery.

Work consciously on it. Nobody can do it for you. Not even the most sincere of your well-wishers – parents, friends, teachers…Tell yourself –
"ONLY I CAN DO IT. AND I SHALL."

[Zarine]

CAT GYAN # 6

*********************************

PART I


Let me begin with the resources on the Web. For starters subscribe to word services. They send an email everyday in your inbox with the meaning, etymology and sample usage of a word. The best and most popular service is run by Anu Garg (featured in Wall Street Journal and Readers Digest among many other newspapers/mags) Anu is an Indian living in the US. Catch him at www.wordsmith.org/award The words are sometimes arcane. However, do not get intimated by them. Easier words come from Merriam Webster by mail everyday. Hit
www.m-w.com


Websites (humble comments by yours truly)

www.coolavenues.com (Annual average salary survey this year published in many magazines. Decent source. Runs another yahoo group called catavenues. It was so voluminous and crappy thats why i started this group. catavenues has 2400+ members)

www.bizkool.com (OK)

www.indiabschools.com (Most pages not in place. Made a survey of
top B schools for Outlook)

Websites of Coaching classes

www.imsindia.com (Good place for initial intros to institutes)

www.cflogic.com (Good place for finding out results. They also have analysis of various papers on their site)

www.careerlauncher.com (They email query handlers generally respond with alacrity. i have had good experience. i mailed them some bouncer math fundas to which they made diagrams in MS Word and replied within a couple of days. Mail
helpme@careerlauncer.com)

Others

www.naukri.com (Good GD/PI tips. already posted on catprep)

www.iimcal.ac.in (Few tips for IIM aspirants. They also have CAT chat with their own students. Most user friendly institute. They sent my friend a CD when he got a call for GD/PI)

www.indiainfoline.com/bisc

Lots of portals have their own education sections where they have covered MBA studies in detail. ex education.sify.com Also check education vortals like egurucool.com and if I may add www.pagalguy.com/cat here now :wink:

Also go thru the following links

http://soyouwanna.com/site/syws/wrerrors/wrerrors.html
(To avoid writing errors. Will help you in english section)

http://soyouwanna.com/site/syws/logic/logic.html
(Some stuff on logic)

www.grammarbook.com (Decent)

Hit www.excelatexam.com for GD/PI experiences of sucessful
students.



PART II [English]

The debate/discussions on whether to read questions before attempting a passage is like debating whether the chicken came first or the egg. Try both for 10 odd passages each. You'll find out for yourself which is easier.

Familiarity helps a lot. Attempt passages which you are aware of. In case you are an arts student you are better off starting with a passage on psychology than say, NTTDoCoMo.

I had the habit of underlying a few things here and there. I found it helpful. Try whether it works for you.

The biggest myth that I came across while preparing for CAT is the widespread belief that engineers are not good in English and non-engineers are good in English. The opposite holds true for Math. This is to put in one word 'baloney'. Engineers who matter have their English as well Math polished. Stop thinking in terms of engineers and non-engineers.

I was an IMS student. Have studied very little from Career Launcher. But from whatever little i did, i found IMS english at a higher level and hence more suitable for CAT. Math from CL is better. It seems that this times CAT had a couple of sums straight out of CL's preparatory matter. (For the record only - a sum about some water in grapes)

Keep reading editorials. Cannot overemphasize it. Any newspaper - business or non-business. I particularly found Indian Express editorials better than Times and Business Standard editorials better than Economic Times. (This, by the way, is a classic mistake used by paper setters over and over again. The english here is wrong since i am coming editorials of BS to ET rather than editorials of ET) Arguments suggesting that editorials are boring to read and other things are OK are specious at best. Nothing else in a newspaper is worth reading.

Do not spend disproptionate time mugging up words. CAT, unlike GRE, does not ask synonyms or antonyms (Atleast thats what the trend's been) This year they had a new type of question where they checked whether you knew how to use words.



PART III [Math]

Caution : Coaching Class preparatory matter have sums that have never ever come in CAT and never will. The clock some is a good example. CAT has never asked "What day was 23rd July 1983?" You can dodge these questions and not waste time studying them. For more info, consult some experienced person.

I started studying in late May. I was studying regularly for CAT. In case you intend to do the same, May-July is a good period to start depending upon your individual abilities. Ideally study less of English from October onwards. English cannot be improved in two months. Maths can. However, keep practicing English passages.

Data Interpretation : Can't write much. Know your reciprocals. And always read footnotes.


PART IV [General]

You could ask your local class for last years paper. They reproduce all papers. This is how they do it. Senior faculty fill CAT forms like you and me. They then sit for the exam and analyse the paper. They do not mark a single answer. Meanwhile, the junior faculty is asked to memorise 5-7 questions with options. These questions are pre-assigned. After the test, the junior faculty then reproduces the paper to the best of their ability. (Obviously English passages cannot be reproduced. )However, the topic and difficulty is noted.

This time the top institutes have emphasized quite a bit on accuracy. Speaking to quite a few students, I realized that there were many students, who had attempted few questions with very good accuracy, who had got calls from IIMs.

-------------------
Tht's it folks! All The Best

[haripi2]

Hey Guyz ..here goes Lijo aka Indyan's two pennies worth..poor guy does not want publicity..but real good info must never be hid..so here goes LIJ's article on CAT prep.

Preparing for MBA Entrance Exams - Indyan Inputs

Buddies, No need to read this if you are not preparing for MBA entrance exams ;-D .Why waste your time?



I will tell you my experience. I had a lot of money to blow up when I joined a software company fresh out from College .I laughed out loud when I heard the Citibank Interactive voice response system announcing the hefty amount of my first salary because I was thinking about my shoe string budget during my graduation. It was treats , parties and eating out for the first three months but after that I realized that well, this is not I wanted to do. The Salary was good and everything was fine but there are weeks in which I had to work 88 hours (out of the 168 hours in a week) and what is the point in working hard in case you are not interested in what you are doing.

I was contemplating about a post graduation in management when I was doing my final year engineering .Even though I had an offer from a software MNC I had written CAT earlier to see what 'mother of all entrance exams' is like;-D. Preparationa for CAT is an emotional roller coaster ride if you are serious enough .You can see your scores fluctuating across various tests and your ranks rising and falling. It will help you a lot in understanding your personality and may have an overall positive or negative impact on your personality. I have seen people cribbing about not getting into IIMs after making it to other premier B schools. What the hell? An MBA from IIM is of course highly rated but still you can't say only an MBA from IIM will make you a better manager ;-D.I know one guy who was selected for IIM K four times including this year ( when the panel asked whether he knows where Kozhikode is ) but never went citing that he wants to do an MBA only from A.B or C.Then there is the case of one guy who had A B C calls but he was late for two interviews and couldnt convert the other.It is a matter of priorities , seriousness and what people want.

In case you are working you may have met all these people giving out all these reasons
-- 1 year exp ("too early, still not settled in job"),
-- 2 years exp("never got time to prepare, project pressure"),
-- 3 years exp ("had to go onsite"),
-- 4 years exp("maybe I should save some more money and then try for an MBA in a American B school"),
-- 5 years exp ("currently contemplating marriage")... :-)

In case you are serious about MBA I am of the belief that you should try for it seriously @ least once. In case you are already placed in cushy jobs and are happy with their work should really give a hard look before taking the plunge to do an MBA.This mail that I got from a senior who is working in Unilever will help you

"Another thing that gets lost in the din created by the 7 figure salaries, placements abroad, and colorful brochures.. is that.. even in the best of B schools in India only the top 15% (at max top 25%) get all these talked about jobs. The rest of the 75%+ percent still get jobs, but not of the high flying type. Of course there is still the promise of making it to the top leagues soon (by virtue of having a B school tag and working hard the first couple of years..). So people who are already placed in cushy jobs and are happy with their work should really give a hard look before taking the
plunge.

At the end of the day. no decision is easy. You must learn as much as you can before you make a decision so that you are not driving blind. At the same time, once you take a decision, stick to it even if it hurts. Having been through all this, these are some of my learnings..

-- If you are good and hardworking... it really does not matter what the qualification - you will do well in your career - not having the "right degree" might at best delay your progress
-- CAT is really no great deal.. its 100% hardwork.. and then praying that the other guy screws up. Once inside a BSchool, you realise again.. its only hard work that matters. Guys from IITs, RECs, Univs abroad etc.. are no different from you. Infact some of them are real specimens.. and make you wonder how thay got so far!!
-- If you don't make it to one of the top B schools, its worth taking up a job and trying again rather than doing an MBA anyway. An MBA from an unheard BSchool, has virtually zero value.

Hope this helps you take a more informed decision" .

So see MBA is not all rosy and shining and even it will have the travails but if you are going to like what you are doing well I dont feel then it shouldn't be a serious problem.

Ever wondered what is special about people from premier B schools or why people from Premier B Schools are given high packets? (It is like the Ad of Jockey underwear when one guy exclaims about another "What does he have which I dont have?")All students in premier B Schools have been filtered across various strictly followed criterion and they are expected to perform from Day 1.Every year IIMs and other Premier B schools are in news during their placement time for the hefty pay packets that have been offered in the respective campuses(other than MM Joshi vs IIM Fee controversy) .But even after these rigorous course the number of students who wish to start something on their own is very less. Why? I dont know.If the course is so rigorous why do everyone opt for an Aaram Se job ?They are supposed to take on any real life challenges after the B School stint..
.

What is so special about B Schools was one of my genuine doubts when I started of with my preparation and it was answered by K S Bhaskar who runs Ascent Education in Chennai .He told me " An MBA is a jack of all trades.He is expected to perform from day 1 and what B Schools does is filter students who can perform , if you can be among the top 1000 in say 1,50,000 students or say top 60 among 30000 students after a written test which is considered to be tough and a gruelling(?) interview then you will definitely perform.But once you do an MBA may be after two years your experience and performance will count. It wont matter whether you have taken MBA from say XYZ institute in kanyakumari or ABC institute in Mumbai.But the opportunities provided by ABC institute in Mumbai or any other metro will be far greater when compared to anyother.So try to get into a premier B School in Top 10"



The basic allure of all MBA entrance exams is that everyone thinks it is easy to crack it since it has only some basic maths and Angrezi.Agreed what matters is those two hours , but in case you are not born brilliant then you may have to work very SMART to crack it.The only thing to remember is that the final score and clearing the sectional cutoffs count and other than that nothing else matters in a B school entrance exam.You are expected to work hard and smart for cracking the entrance exam because that may help you in the intense cut throat competition in your B school.




All B school entrance exams are a matter of two hours.Plenty of hype is created now a days regarding MBA and stuff . If you see the ads in THE HINDU metro in Chennai you will feel that half of the world wants to get into a premier B School. Dont think about others , think about you.You need only one seat among the coveted 2000+ seats in premier B schools and if you feel that you have the potential to do it then you will . "I was born Intelligent , Education ruined me" is a slogan which is fit only for T shirts. What an MBA entrance exam be it CAT,GMAT,XAT,FMS or SCMHRD tests is what are the fundamentals you have acquired through 15 or 16 years of education in comparison with others. Even if you have got first rank in JEE and thoughout your school the only thing that matters is those two hours.If you screw up , well your fate -your preparation has been like lines drawn on water .If you crack it , well good for you. So never ever give up your job, things you like for a year etc... to prepare and crack for this feline ghost and dont be afraid of this ghost.You yourself can know whether you can crack it or not once you write the first three Mock CATs by your institute.However if you feel that you can still crack it after scoring low then buddy you may, who knows?I have seen people like that too. Let us hope the best may happen to you .

In case you are preparing for MBA entrance exams here are some resources that may help you and I hope you will share it with your friends who are preparing for B School entrance exams.


The best Link that you will find in Internet for any of the Indian MBA entrance exams

PAGALGUY

Some Links for Online Word Subscriptions
Dictionary.com
MywordaDay
A Word A Day
Merriam Webster
Yahoo Words
Your Dictionary
Number2.com
All Words
Onelook Dictionary
365 words


Most of these sites send a word everday to your mail box.It is a nice way to improve your vocabulary in case you are a wordophile or someone who is preparing for a vocab based entrance exam.

[haripi2]

Some Links for Vedic Mathematics

ics.uci.edu
truman.edu
geocities.com/vedicmathematics
Vedicmaths.org
vedmaths.tripod.com
Mahrishi.UK
TCY Online
lesmurdie.wa.edu.au

Acha, So I hope you have clicked in @ least some of the links. No need to waste time by going to any of the links buddy , It is highly improbable that you will apply any of this shortcuts in a pressure cooker type MBA entrance exam.But still, In case you are interested you can go and check. I never bothered to check.





Some Other Useful Links


Urpercentile


Cat2k2

Cat2003
Bized.ac.uk
Magical Methods
Tryets
Sheppard Software
Amos Web Tutor
Investor Words
India Infoline
CoolAvenues
Economist
Remittag
BrandQuest

Some tips no one else in this world will give mane indyan Inputs

1.When you start preparation keep some target B schools that you want to get into.Make sure you choose B Schools in such a way that you will get a better opening after completing your MBA.ie No need to go for a A- or B rated School in case you are working in a reputed MNC.It wont offer any value addition to you.

2.Ranks in Mock CATS are not the actual indication in case you are not consistent enough.I had ranks ranging from 22 to 600 and I screwed up CAT quant big time ;-D.But I was lucky enough to getinto FMS where the rejection ratio is even higher ( 60 seats and 30000 applicants).If D Day of an exam is your lucky day you will get through. In case you screw up it is your fate , no need to crib take it as it comes.

3.Plan your preparation in such a way that you will attain peak on the week of the D Day.I know quite some people who burned a lot of midnight oil but couldnt get any call @ all.It is not a case of hard preparation but smart preparation.

4.Finish your basics well in advance so that you wont have any doubt regarding the basics while you start off with the tests.Identify your strong areas and try to maximise in those areas.

5.In entrance exams the only thing that matters is score and not the number of attempts .Try to have a decent score across all sections so that you will clear the sectional cutoffs.

6.If you have good accuracy it will help you a lot in cracking CAT big time.Try to pickout the right questions and Of course it is not easy .It comes only through practice.

7.Read far, wide and deep .It will help you in Verbal Section and during your GD's and PI's.

8.Dont be overawed by the tag of any of the top B Schools or the rankings by major magazines.As long as you are sincere and smart in your preparation you have a decent enough chance anywhere. There will be hazar institute wars going on in Internet and between students.Remember that you yourself are creating a negative image by taking part in this cheap gimmick game , it doesnt add any value @ all.You are wasting your energy by taking part in Institute Wars .After all majority of the companies that comes to all these schools are same which means you may end up in the same job whether you have done your MBA from UVW or XYZ.


9.Try to get some study partners who are almost in the same level as you in the initial stages.Take common tests and compare your performance to gauge the level of preparation.

10.Remember that a B School entrance exam is not a knowledge based exam , it is a matter of startegy , presence of mind , common sense and your luck .The only thing that you can hope is that everything will go well on the D day and others screw up.

[prabhu_cat]

CAT hota kya hai.

My two elder bros ar both from IIMs (A and c resp), and both did not prepare for CAT. Got through in their first attempts. Both C.As. CAT did not give perentile around then, but i know that their Math was far worse than mine.

I have prepared for CAT twice (grudgingly and without much seriousness). Have got high percentles (98+) both times, and am half a CA. Got into L and I last year, but still gave it up to finish CA.

I feel that if you can keep your cool, then clearing cut-offs is amazingly simple. getting 15 is not that difficult if you choose the rights Qs.

So please stop sweating 'bout CAT and get on with your lives. Just a couple of hours a day reading papers, and solving puzzles is good enough for the above average candidate. And take some Mock CATs for practice. Do Math BRM's on your own and leave hte rest to lady luck (the most important ingredient, i say) .

And work on GDs and interview, they are more difficult than CAT as quality of competition is much better.

p.s. (food for thought): Heard that IIM-A is the most difficult B-school in the world to get in as applicants per seat is highest. But would not that logic make iim-i and iim-k much tougher to get in as seats are lesser and 99% of IIM-A applicants also apply to these.

[DynaMICA]

Chandoo's account was amazing... inspired me to post my experiences too

All I wanted to speak about CAT

The Early Years

The first time I heard about CAT was in Class XII... when I thought MBA was for Commerce grads.

The second time was in first year of graduation. I was wondering what I should PG (postgraduate) in. I knew it had to be a communications/journalism related field. Looked up the MICA site & saw that they select thru CAT. At that time I thought... "Oh.. CAT's that super-tough test. Not worth slogging it out if I'm gonna apply to only one insti."

Over the next couple of years I met people who had actually taken the test, and it didn't really sound super tough. Still, the profile of the average CAT-taker appeared to be Techies-who-hate-coding or Engineers-who-wannado-something-else.

Summer of 2003... my decision was finally made. Thanks to a combo of friends in B-Schools, an old Math teacher from my schooldays & CNBC - corporate India suddenly appeared very glam. IMS & CL successfully sold CAT to me. I decided, management, or more specifically, communications management was my calling.


The Preps

So, I targetted MICA & signed up at IMS, Hyderabad in April-May 2003 for the classroom course. Also started with the customary worship of ET, BT, BW & CNBC India.

I took the prelim test at IMS & found I almost maxed the VA/RC section. Quant, I wasn't so good at. LR & DI were cool. Religiously attended the 6:30 am classes at IMS. Rushed back home. grabbed books and rushed to college in the opposite direction. I'd be solving Quant sheets during ImmunoGenetics lectures in college. I enjoyed every minute of the preps, because I liked Math.

Never "worked" on VA/RC. I don't believe in concepts of Reading Speed & stuff that IMS prescribes. Instinct helped a lot in this section.

For DI, I tried to learn the speed calculation techniques etc, but on Test Day, I don't think I used any of it.

So, CAT preps took up abt 1 or 2 hours a day from April-September. Most of it was for Quant. Solved every problem from BRMs & section tests. Dug out my CBSE math books & worked with those too.


The MockTests

I took tests at IMS & PRIME. Also solved all the TIME mocks at home. Invariable fell short of the cut-offs in Quant. I cleared all SIMCAT cutoffs only 3 times. Lowest rank was in 1800s, highest was 21 (IMS). Averaged between 50 to 400 otherwise.

I found the feedback sessions awfully frustrating. "Recognizing sitters" was something that I couldn't perfect. The take-home tests were decidedly easier... but somehow, I couldn't carry the form into the SIMs.

November 23rd & After

LeakCAT came and went. I felt I had done decently. But not close enough to the scores posted on PG.

Shut my books till Jan 1st. FMS was around the corner, so I restarted preps. Panicked a bit coz I had no material left to solve. SO I signed up for the CL take-home tests. Suddenly I had a deluge of papers to solve. Went at the rate of a-paper-a-day, till ReCAT. Got calls from FMS & NMIMS meanwhile.

Feb 15th

Felt decently prepared. Did the test. Came out feeling I had messed up DI... I should have attempted more. I was a nervous wreck till the online solutions came out. Then it hit me: DI was okay... it was Quant that I screwed up royally.

Still, I had hopes. But the minute I entered my CAT No. on the IIM-B GD/PI call page, they crashed. IIM-B was my dream-school for a while, but I guess Lady Luck listens only to your first wish

Final position in CAT: Overall a 99.38 %ile. 99.57 in VA/RC, 97.3 in DI. 77.7 in Quant.
Applied: IIMs, SPJain, MICA.
Calls: MICA

Interviews

In hindsight FMS was a sad story. They hated my profile... suspicious about the "BSc in Genetics" background. NMIMS was disgusting too.... last person in panel to be interview in a session where 90 people had GD/PI. Didn't have any hopes.

MICA was far far far better. Profile was appreciated, even respected. Qs were friendly. GD was dull, but still managed to make a point. A "feel-good" experience.

The Wait

Was shocked to find that I was waitlisted at MICA. An excruciating 20-day wait, & I was in.

So, The pre-MBA experience:

It had highs and lows... but it was a wonderful 10 months. Met a lot of people, made some wonderful friends (at IMS, at PG, at interviews), learnt a LOT. There were some sacrifices made too... Had to give up freelance assignments which popped up during cruial prep days; missed out on a lot of college activities, quizzes etc; also went through a break-up.

But those were ten months of my life that I'll always treasure. Getting admission ensured a sweeter end to the pre-MBA process. Because i'm not sure whether I'd have had the will to go through it all again.


Lessons learnt:
I don't have an MBA-call-getter profile: "Life Science grad from Hyderabad" (as opposed to "Engineer" or "Grad-from-swanky-Delhi-college") and no full-time work-ex. Still, no regrets... I can't complain coz I ended up getting to what I initially aimed for - MICA.

All the best to all MBA aspirants 2004. PG is the coolest place to be!

Deepa

[G O V A R]

My story! - Inspiration (??!!) for the late starters

Caveat:
Please don't take these if you are real serious in preparation. If you are lagging in preparation, I guess this post will zap you up. :-)

Starting problem:
I took the first CAT in 2001. I didn't know anything about CAT, the competition prevailing, and the type of questions that can be expected. I didnt know the USP of different institutions either. I took it just because I wanted to do something useful during the last of my college days. I already had a job in Oracle which made me as lax as a guy can be.

I remember taking 5 full time tests, at home, in total. Obviously the test bombed. I wasn't least expecting to get a call. Fortunately the scores weren't disclosed that time. ;-)

Second try:
I was too busy with the work, doing good stuff there. I was also enjoying a good reputation in the company, and most importantly I was enjoying the work along with a good pay. But since coding was something I didn't want to settle with in the long run, I wanted to take CAT in November 2004 with 3 yrs experience. This was in June 2003. Since there was 4 months left for Nov 2003 CAT, I just wanted to give a shot, a serious one.

I enrolled in IMS correspondence. I didn't take the full course because I had a real tight schedule in the company, and I was always thinking in the back of the mind that Nov 2004 CAT is for me. Materials started piling up every week, and didn't even touch. And then, one fine day - the usual enlightenment wake up - made me take the books. Then I joined PG, and closely followed the things here, and suddenly I wanted to give a full try.

I was overconfident about English, and I didn't spend a single minute for English apart from the 40 minutes in exam. This I suspect was a real mistake. I only concentrated (???!!) on Quants, and I was confident that DI will automatically come (Second mistake!)

Ranks:
I was never in the top 100s anytime. My usual IMS ranks were in the range 600 to 1000 kinds, with intermittent trespassing either sides. The highest I got was some 201 once. But take home tests (AIMCAT papers) were the real cushion. After evaluation most of the time I found that I was close to AIR 50s and 100s. Don't ask me why I didn't get such ranks in SIMCATs. I don't know. But then, I must add: SIMCATs really sucked. They were outdated - to say the least.

CAT:
I guess I had a consistent average performance in both the CATs - the leaked one and the next one. I remember getting some 60+ in the leaked CAT. Low by all standards.

The 'real' CAT was equally bad. I remember getting some 50 to 55s, as per the IMS key. But people who claimed 60s and 65s got lesser than me finally. So, I really don't know what my score was. All I know is: I got 98.1 percentile, calls from L and I.

Interviews:
L interview was a nightmare (as posted in PG), the worst one can expect. I interview was cool, and naturally I'm in I now.

Wanted to post this for a long time, and got the time now - tomorrow is a holiday for us here. Some friends say I must have went according to my original plans and should have taken CAT seriously next year to get into A/B/C. But I'm in IIM-I, what the heck? Feeling satisfied.

[FreakazoiD]

What I wanted to speak about CAT :

well my CAT story has been one full of up's and down's...

It started in april 2003 when one of my seniors (whom I considered my mentor) made it to IIMA. All I knew about CAT then (infact, till july) was that it was an exam you had to crack to make it to the IIMs. The IIM placement figures (which are definitely bloated - I have seen ridiculous placements figures reported for IITs and IIT-SOM by the media and IIMs would be no different) made me along with my friends sign up for the IMS correspondence course.

And the beginning to my CAT journey was pretty rosy. I scored a %ile of 99.87 in the open simcat given by 40K people. In the 10 simcats I gave, only once did I score below 99.3 %ile. And according to IMS people, your final CAT %ile would always be greater than your simcat %ile.

Well not always. I scored 98.84 %ile in CAT. I knew it was the end to my IIM dream (for this yr atleast). I had a scholarship from UIUC for a PhD, but somehow at the back of my mind, I knew that was not what I intended to do. Overconfident about cracking CAT (thanks to my simcat scores), I had stayed away from the placements till february. After CAT, I decided it was time to hunt for a job and give CAT again the next year (failing to crack CAT had hurt my ego). I did manage to bag a job through the placements soon enough, and decided this was where I would be for one year, before heading to an IIM. The job was something to do with CRM consultancy - greek to an engg geek like me !!

About a month back I started thinking - would an MBA really help me (a fresher) at this juncture ? I would be doing a stop-gap job for a year in a field I had no clue about, then ditch it for an MBA (again something I have no clue about ) - would it help me in the long run ? What about my 5 yr engineering post-grad degree ? It was then that I made my decision - no CAT for this year atleast. and I decided to look around for a job that would atleast help me professionally. Miraculously I found one (though its in chennai )

So now I have decided that I will not let an exam - CAT - dictate my career plans and objectives. And I have also realised that its not necessary to do an MBA to be successful in life (something I strongly believed until sometime back)

whether I want to give CAT or not will now depend ONLY on what value addition an MBA will have to offer me, and the time, if it comes, shall only be later.

thats about it. Sorry for sounding so "sermonious" or "hypocritical" if I do so, but I just wanted to express my feelings about CAT, and MBA in general.

cheers

the freak

[cooldude]

nice inspiring articles by the been there,done that crowd.but i dont have nethin to offer in terms of inspiration.instead,i remember the dayz just after the final IIM results were out(i got into IIM CLIK).twas time when i didnt have much to do,n one of the things which struck me was that i had got into an IIM without really knowing wat n MBA is.n i feel that this is a kinda wierd thing.n in this ironical state of mind,i made the following post in my blog.retrieved it frm the archives--

do u really want n MBA ??

why is there such a rush for doin mba these days.some 6-7 years back,not many wanted to do it but these days even iitians are desperate to get into an iim.what brought about this?is it that suddenly the world has started being managed ? wasnt it managed earlier ?i think to find the reason for this,i need to look at the people who want to do it.The biggest snag in the whole situation is that guys are deciding to try for an mba too fast.straight into your pre final year at graduation college ,and u find every second person in the class talking of TIME n CL n IMS.You hear of the iims,read about them in the papers,remember your cousion who passed out of iim lucknow some years back but is still remembered as the sole guy deserving a place in the family,find ur parents asking questions like " beta,iim ka try karega ?",see the cold and proud faces of the brilliant acheivers in the coaching instis ads on the third page and suddenly you feel -"if there is anything called success,it cant be got without an iim".and it gets an all consuming passionate chase once you fall in the cycle of the mock cats,the scores,the ranks,the comparisons,the analysis and so on.the class begins to know about ur burning chahat for an iim and some even name u "catman" or "caterer".all the while,ur experience at the campus placements is serving to give u one more reason to run away frm the coding jobs.you think of iims all day,graduation looks necessary only to be eligble for an iim.come march,and the front page of your daily paper declares that the mncs just made kings out of 1000 odd iim students at the placements yesterday--you feel all the more pumped up.this single minded hot chase lands you the seat in your dream institute,you feel like you have just beaten mike tyson to pulp.the classmates who looked down at you as if you didnt know hot to sign wave down ur bike at college and admiringly congratulate you.you see ur name on the college bulettin board and suddenly everyone at college wants ur email id.ppl call u at home n ask fr tips fr their kid whooz been hitting his head against cat for the last three years.u scan
tha papers expecting ur photo to whip out frm the next page.feels good.but like everything,the aura begins to fade over days.u kinda seek to move forward.cat done,admission done,adulations done.NOW WHAT????now what.....now for the mba!!!wait a minute,what am i supposed to do here?an mba,what does he do?watz his job like?wat sorta companies hire them?will i have to go to some other city after my mba?n here lies the greatest stupidity.you have cracked cat not bcos u wanted to do an mba but bcos u wanted to crack wat the world sees as a really hard nut .u dont even know much abt an mba.but bcos people are so myopic ,n ur one of them,u have given it ur all without pausing and looking at the place u r heading to.

this may not turn out to be bad at all,infact,most probably it will go on to make ur life better and richer,but still,i believe a momentous decision as this deserves a lil more thought .