[teesra banda]

Finally thought of writing about my CAT journey. Lotsa old-timers on PG are aware of me but i havent been active for years now but the emotional-connect with PG still remains and will always do so.

Not so much as success but my story will be a saga of missed opportunities and wrong decisions.

CAT 2003:
Was in final year of engineering college at one of NITs. Full of confidence and pretty fearless, as in of situations. Never used to think much about future as i knew i had the capability to do the best. Computer Science & Engg. branch but had no interest in coding/programming so much so that i didnt even learn C language. Due to this reason didnt use to sit in campus placement of all the IT biggies which used to come to campus. Alongside started preparing for CAT and used to score pretty well in Mock Tests. Filled all sorta forms from CAT to MDI, SPJ to IMT. Got 98.18% in cat but calls from all other good institutes like MDI, XLRI, IITs, etc. Appeared in just XLRI and converted it. As the luck would have it towards the end of that year got a “supposedly” (at that time) great placement with a PSU and was pretty happy about that for the fact that i didnt want to work in an IT environment. Rejected XLRI offer – (Mistake no. 1)

CAT 2004:
Joined my organization in the year 2004. The initial screensaver was infront of eyes where things looked all goody-goody with nice posh office, salary and perks and the initial “unreal” treatment by the HR department. Had filled the CAT form but didn’t appear in the exam though heard in news next day that CAT paper was leaked hence it’s been cancelled and will be held again. Few days later after the initial training got my final posting. As the lady-luck would have it, I had been posted to IT (systems) dept of that organization for being an computer science grad. I was crestfallen, landed at the place from which I was running away all along. I used to despise IT-related work for lack of aptitude and attitude (no offence meant to anyone, just a personal dislike). Thought of appearing in to-be-held CAT. Registered with TIME in January and appeared in 4-5 Mock Tests and in none of them got more than 85%. Went with a very cool mind for the CAT which was held on 14th Feb. Got 99.73%ile and 5 calls (BCLIK) and told about them at office openly since had to take leaves etc. (Mistake no. 2). When results were out, I had converted IIM L.

And then insanity struck. Got confused as to join IIM L or not. (Factors for confusion: Parents prodding to continue with well-settled PSU job though they left decision to me, thought that i can work for a year and then will get again with a work ex to boot and yes no story is complete without a GAL factor :wink: ). So in a state of indecision for quite some time and finally on friday decided to send the DD (Monday was last date to accept the offer). The DD reached late and when i spoke to IIM L they said they received it a day late so wouldn’t accept it and my offer stands cancelled. I accepted the verdict and continued my life. Then after a month got a call from IIM L that they are offering me admission and i need to send a fresh DD but till that time i had acccepted the fact that i have left IIM so rejected it again (Mistake no. 3)

CAT 2005:
In the meantime due to the fact that i had already got into IIM once the view developed in office that this guy wont stick to company so there is no need to groom him. So no trainings were imparted to me and mostly bull-shit work for me. Anyway i wasnt interested in IT and this created a vicious cycle with my disinclination towards IT increasing more. Had a horrible time and used to cry at times as to why i left IIM. Though in the end it was my decision so had to face it.

The night before CAT 05 got fever and somehow went to exam centre. Once it was done it was clear that it had gone down the drain and there won’t be any miracle. Went to the seashore and threw away pencils and erasers in the sea. Results proved it with a mere 96.8%ile. Though got a 99.91%ile in XAT and got into XLRI. But again the insanity strikes. Again i get into confused state as to join XLRI or not. The hesitation being for the reason that once having been admitted to an IIM wasn’t feeling like going to XLRI (Not to belittle XLRI, its a great institute). Was so confused and indecisive that went to station 3 times to book the tickets for Home and each time came back when my turn had come to book the ticket. In the end didn’t join (Mistake no. 4)

CAT 2006:
Life at workplace went from bad to worse. Got a boss who was one of the most horrible person in this world. Everbody will say that their boss is worst but believe me he can be accorded the Oscar for that. Extremely rude, unhelpful and sarcastic person. Finding fault in everything i did made me lose my confidence a lot. Somehow prepared for CAT. Used to score pretty good in MOCKs with >95%ile always but as luck wud have it in final CAT got under undue pressure of "non-performance" and again failed with 98.2%ile. Obviously with no calls and this time XAT also ditched me with pathetic 89%ile. Again was down for few days and moved on.

CAT 2007:
Office continued as horrible as it cud be with me now being made a pawn in inter-department politics. No need to elaborate it further. Once again got onto CAT bandwagon as cudnt tolerate office life and this way or that way had to go out. More than getting in IIMs, the desire was to get-away from this workplace. Started appearing in mocks and the performance was great. D-day arrived and managed to do pretty well. Checked with all the institutes analysis and was getting pretty good score on the verge of 99.9%ile by their forecasts. CAT result and the key came out and all the institutes were proved horribly-horrible wrong due to English section. Had got not-so-good percentile in English and that was my strongest section. Wasnt sure if i wud get calls. Had became a bundle of cracked nerves and had to resort to online-professional counselling thru emails (more to share with someone what I was going thru). Finally the calls came out and managed to bag few calls. GD PIs were great and managed to convert few calls. And landed at one of the IIMs.

At times it comes to my mind:
- If i had joined XLRI straight out of college i wud hv been an MBA for over 4 years and might have been at a good position
- if i had joined IIM L it wud hv been 3 years since i wud hv completed my MBA. I would have been senior to a few of guys who are working here at place of my summer internship
- if even i had joined XLRI next time 2 years wud have made a big difference in my career

But unfortunately this "what-if" scenario works only on Excel sheet and never in life.

Mistakes and learnings:
Mistake 1: When u get an opportunity take an informed decision and take it. Instead of waiting for the golden opportunity, take the best one and u can make best out of it. In long term the "tag" doesn’t matter much and its your performance matters more than that.

Mistake 2: Its good to be frank and honest but with judgement. Its always good to confide in few people to help u in troubled times but dont openly declare such stuff in office, moreso in a PSU environment. I always believe that people are inherently good but u will always meet people who are just there to screw u out of jealousy factor or whatever.

Mistake 3: Had left CAT but fortuantely it was cancelled. Had rejected IIML offer but they again gave me chance to join. I was one lucky B****** and i sud hv grabbed the opportunities. By this i dont mean to say that dont have confidence on u. DO have it but make realistic assumtions and go along. Things change in seconds.

Mistake 4: Don’t b too indecisive. I still think that i went to station, filled form, stood in queue and came back – that’s height of stupidity. I give one advice to CAT aspirants, when u are not sure of any answer and want to choose one; choose one which comes first to ur mind coz even after thinking for 2 mins u will still mark the same answer. Check for urself this fact! Again i missed a chance to reverse my fortunes but i didnt.

Advice:
I dont think i m an xpert to offer any kind of advice to any aspirant but can just share my experience and learnings thereof:

1. Many ppl ask me which coaching institutes to join, X, Y or Z! Choose the one which is close to ur home and has suitable timings and don’t gv it that much importance. They r just stairs and not the floor where u wanu reach. Ultimately its U who has to perform. In last two CAT they have given horrible keys. Ppl who themselves arent sure of answers, what will they teach u. They are good for practice by way of providing mocks and exam environment but certainly not the "gods" so don’t treat them like that.

2. Yes the brand name might matter but not in the long term. Essentially u will find ur workplace to be a mix of all sorts of ppl frm everywhere. And the thnig wch has taken thm there is performance. Statistically higher echelons are filled up with ppl frm top B schools coz thts (generally) where the good stuff goes. So this is no way implies that only brand name can take u there.

3. Don’t trust too much ur supposedly "strong section" and dont shy away from "weak " section. There can be reversal of fortunes many times as CAT is pretty unpredictable.

4. Most important CAT is mainly a mind-game. If u can keep cool, u are half-way through cracking it. U panic and u r half-way down. Though with recent decrease in number of Qs and less emphasis on speed this might not be that important but things change every year

Important lesson: May b after 5-10 years, i will reach the same place i wud hv reachd had i joined IIM L or XLRI so u never know wats in store for us. I don’t believe in god but i do believe that life comes full circle. U screw someone and someone else screws u up (and by this i dont mean to sound goody and say screwing someone is bad, its necessary part and parcel of life). Do each and everythng in life. And one major thng m learning to come to terms is not giving too much importance to one's feelings. They change too frequently. U feel good for no reason and same way u feel bad for no reason at times. So just let them be.

Guess too much gyaan.

REQUEST: To those people who know me are requested not to disclose my identity. Unlike bollywood potboilers, here story and message is more important than the cast.

Disclaimers: All standard disclaimers apply. Personal views blah blah and I am not against any institute (except that eye eye pee m )

[ajithprasadb]

Ever heard of someone who bunked an IIM class to attend another IIM interview..Well, read on .

A bit on profile
-----------------
10 - 93 %
12 - 91.7 %
Grad NIT Calicut CSE - 2004 - 74 %
Working in Oracle Since then.. 47 Months WorkExp. Oracle Financials development team

Other Extra/co-curriculars - An interview of Kapil Dev for college magazine ..
Physics & Chemistry Olympiads- National level ( Which I dont think is anything significant )

Some quizzing prices upto University Level..

A Web Venture ==> BlogPane Welcome to BlogPane ( This helped me a bit, I should admit )

Quite diverse reading habits from technology to history to fiction


-----------------
CAT History
1) CAT - 2003 ( The leaked CAT ) - 87.xx

2) CAT - 2004 -- Dont Ask percentiles
--- The above two were non-serious CATs..But I scored less mainly in Verbal .. Realized that I need to pickup my reading habits..And prepare well

Took IMS correspondence course, plus mock tests.

3) CAT- 2005 - 97.11 ( Breakup QA - 98 , DI - 89 , VA - 88 )
-- An out of the blue IIMB interview call...The soul searching began at this point..Prepared very very hard reading up quite a few things..statistics,economics,ERP... all the stuff that I could.. But I kind of realized another thing at this point..You can't create a good personality overnight..It has to be built up.. So, Ideally an MBA aspirant should start his profile development early itself..Its something that should happen along with CAT preps.
March 23, 2006 - IIMB PGP interview.. A misfortune stuck..Developed a swelling in my cheek due to a wasp bite..The swelling was so bad that I had to undergo a surgery the day after interview.. Attended the GD & interview under painkillers.. GD was good..Interview was decent..though nothing exceptional..

Results on April - 11 .. I'm put in Waiting list - 47 .. CAT- 2004 & CAT-2003 IIMB waiting list stats indicated that I'll get through...But ultimately got kicked out of waiting list.. I was OK with that ..Becoz, getting a call itself at 97.11 was something unimaginable.. But I happened to get into quite a few troubles in job at this point.

Took a move to a team in Oracle B'lore from Hyd'bad ..Better team, great work..I should say I fell in love with the work that I got .

4) CAT - 2006 ..

This time I prepared with all the mock tests..TIME,IMS & CL .
CAT came & went..Checked the keys.. TIME , CL , IMS - all predict six calls with amazing scores in Verbal .

Results - Better than last year.. 98.08 overall
( QA - 90.28 ==> This was the culprit
DI - 98.25 , VA - 96.8 )
-- No calls from IIMs/SPJ .. Didnt apply to MDI.. Misfortune continued to trouble me on the day of XAT ( Venue confusion, non-familiarity with B'lore roads etc etc )
-- Extremely disappointing times..Lost interest in CAT..But, took a backup option at this point..Joined PGSEM @ IIM Bangalore after eking out a nomination from Oracle .. Reasons- I kind of felt a helplessness over CAT..GMAT wasnt in my radar due to quite a few financial & personal reasons.. So, felt it'd be better to join PGSEM.

CAT - 2007
-------------
A last chance to redeem a bruised ego .. Took the test just like that..
Scores - QA - 97.6, DI - 93.17 , VA - 96.4 , Overall - 98.62
Calls - L & K .

L - Good GD, But pathetic interview.. They quizzed me on Economics..And its rare that two economists would agree ..Needless to say, a reject.

K - Fishmarket GD ..I chipped in with just two sound points..Rest were submerged in cacophony.. But great interview..They tried to stress me out with questions from 12th Std Physics & Chemistry..But I could answer almost all .. Converted this. ( Attended this interview bunking a PGSEM class ) .

After quite a few deliberations, dropped PGSEM and joining IIMK PGP 08-10 .. I can't elaborate all the reasons..The reasons for this switch vary from professional to personal reasons..Infact I would have taken K even if L had worked out.. Kozhikode is my hometown .

================
Few suggestions to the aspirants

1. Your PROFILE is extremely important.Its not that you cannot crack IIM if you have an average profile..But, if you have an average GDPI, you can still get in if you have good profile... I'd say, things in my profile - PGSEM, blogpane.com etc would have weighed in a little bit towards the final selection.. Another friend of mine who too was doing PGSEM gave the test just like that , got LACKI calls & LACKI converts..And after hearing his interview experiences, I'd say the difference in his profile - PGSEM after nomination from his company -- weighed in a great deal in his final conversions...So,its important to have some kind of profile building activities- be it NGO work / writing in magazines / organizing events / entrepreneurship / sports / music -- all adds value to your profile..And this would ultimately help you in IIMs too .

2. CAT is an extremely unpredictable test..So, have backup options of some sort ..

3. Mock tests is perhaps the only good thing that coaching institutes would give to you..There is not much need to read through all that complicated formulas that TIME/IMS gives..Just practice the tests..The composure on the CAT-Day is perhaps the most important thing.

4. Verbal you can't prepare by mugging up word lists..Only way to pick up on that front is to develop good reading habits..Read a variety of subjects..Fiction/ economics / current affairs... If you do that for quite sometime, verbal won't be a big problem for you.

5. LUCK matters..No substitute for that . Had I been a little bit less unlucky so as not to be sick on that IIMB interview day 2yrs ago, maybe I would have passed out of an IIM now..But those 'ifs' and 'buts' have no relevance in life..I failed to make it then. I have to accept it whether I like it or not. Thats the fact.

Ajith

[Jaydev Doshi]

CAT 07 had been one hell of a ride for me with my fortunes swinging between the extreme ends.
It all started with the results of CAT 07 and then there was no looking back. The ride had just begun and it had all its share of ups and downs.

After scoring 99.43%ile (A high)
I received calls from only 2 IIM's (A low)
Had a decent outing as far as IIM I interview was concerned (A high)
And a very bad day as far as IIM K interview was concerned (A low)
Results were out and was rejected by IIM K (A low)
But the was still some hope as i was in the waitlist of IIM I (A high)
All hopes got shattered as i got a waitlist no. of 272 (The lowest point)

But then, i have now gathered myself and am preparing in full swing for CAT '08.
Hope i will make it this time around.

[anir-iim2005]

This is continuation of the posts already completed starting from this page –

http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-an...-about-28.html (All I wanted to Speak about CAT)

The first hurdle had been cleared, but not time to rejoice yet. A few days of Fun, then back to work. And it was Hard Work for the GD/PIs. I knew I had nothing great in my profile, and if I had to get through, I had no other choice but to work hard. The focus was mainly on– Current affairs, India (Economic, Political & Historical angles), Work Exp related areas and Acads. I prepared some 15 papers from my B.Tech for the PIs, inspite of the 2.5 yrs work exp. There were wild mood swings throughout, as the GD/PIs of different institutes came and went. I would find fault with every answer of mine after each PI . Each Night, we (me & Nitin) would try to find out what is the meaning of a Good GD/PI . Time flew by, and finally it was all over with the big one, IIMA on 18th March. There was a gap of around 3 weeks till the scheduled date of results (Well, scheduled only) and it was time to relax. First thing I did was to resign from my job . Not that I was super-confident about getting into an IIM, but I couldn’t continue with the burden of continuous lying any more. Having an alternate offer in hand only helped me in taking the decision. So, here I was now, waiting for results and jobless. Gave me ample time for introspection. And here I realized that the entire GD/PI process had made me a more mature person. The effort that went in, the friends I made during the GD/PI process, the decisions I took trying to manage time between office and my Dream, all contributed to this. The Biggest thing I learnt from this whole thing – Nothing is in my Hand. My job is to go on doing what I am supposed to do, nothing more, nothing less.

In spite of all the learning and maturity etc, the wait was killing. To describe the feeling in one sentence – I don’t want it to happen even to my Worst Enemy.

Finally, 1st May. B came out 1st, but I had nothing at stake there. Couldn’t sleep till 4 am. Got up again at 8 am and went back to the task of keeping tab on latest news. Around 9.30 am, Parul pinged – IIMC results out. A Final round of prayer, and then the Keying in of CAT TR No & DoB. Was courageous enough to keep my eyes open while the screen was being refreshed. After what seemed like an eternity (not more than 15 seconds actually), saw that Word – Congratulations. There it was, 4 years of struggle, pain, everything was worth it now. Success tastes best when it is comes after a lot of hard work, and it couldn’t have been sweeter for me. As the day progressed, it kept getting better - with the pinnacle being IIMA Convert.

That was the End of my journey, I had reached my destination. I have tried to tell the story in detail (I hope it's not boring ), but still so many things remain untold. I will finish it with some quotes (Not from Great Men, but my friends - the Would be Great Men ) –

From my Friend in IIMI
“Whoever has sacrificed a lot for CAT, has always ended up as a success”
“Your CAT journey is not destined to stop with a 97.16 %ile”

From Macora
“Only Failure is possible multiple Times, Success comes only once” (Just before CAT, this helped me a lot in removing self doubts originating from previous failures)

Anirban

[mayank105]

Hi guys
i m visiting this thread for past few weeks and noticed that this is the best place on pagalguy.........

I used to wake u early in the morning and after having a cup of tea i used to visit this thread and read some or one story daily....

The posts in this thread inspired me a lot for the whole day and keep me energized for the whole day for my cat preparation ....

I m pretty new to pagalguy but i wanted to gave some suggestion regarding this thread .....


Kindly start a new thread as story of the day as it will inspire many other puys and other to keep them energized for there preparation

As there r many stories in this thread and already a new threat is started as inspiring stories of cat but the new thread as "story of the day" will contain a single story for the day taken from old or recent posts and will be more useful for those who can't gave much time to this thread and visiting all the pages here


If i have posted something wrong here kindly forgive me

But can't stop myself to post this .... after reading some great stories

Thanks

[Surreptitious]

So it is precisely 26th May 2008 which has turned the tide for me, Something I will never forget because this is when my intense preparation for some of the most sought after B-Schools has ended or can I say finally culminated and bore fruit with only a single but formidable B-School convert. So puys here goes a story of another engineering moron who wanted to pursue management as a post-graduate course.
I can still vividly recollect life after my second year in engineering. Unusal jargon/language began to flow around in my friends circle. "GRE" screamed one of them, "MS" the other.., some of them said "M.Tech" and the newspapers said "MBA". "What the hell is going on..!" I wondered.. :confused: From then on trickled down the notions of a post-graduate course. Some of my friends were already on the hunt for M.Tech in IIT's and NIT's by joining the usual coaching centers. I used to tell them or shall I say soothe them by asking whether such hardwork was required. "I need to try" said one and "My goal is that" said the other. I thought that a technical-knowledge oriented course was not my cup of tea..!
I passed some days in the summer doing nothing great and due to some unusual circumstances landed myself at a coaching center out of nowhere. "What am I doing here..?" I wondered. During the one month GRE coaching I got to know about the basics of Quant and Verbal sections. I was pretty good at Quant but complex english words were something I was never used to in my previous life. I completed reading the famous 'Norman Lewis' book which has all the fundamental words of complex english usage. Slowly I became obsessed with these words and an uncanny feeling for devouring more words took center stage for me. I completed all words given in the institute material. So now was the time to test what I had learnt. Time to book a slot on the internet for GRE..! College reopened after summer and I was into my usual preparation of exams. I got diverted so much that I never found time to write GRE..ya..you read it right..! Somehow the auspicious day never arrived for me to book a slot and write GRE..!
Fast forward six months and once again I find myself at the cross-roads of my career. It was december '06 and I was running out of time. I had to take a decision fast and this time I again find myself at a coaching center.., albiet a different one, for CAT. So began my chase for a B-School convert.
Fast forward another 5 months and mock and AIMCAT's started and from then on almost every sunday I ended up writing a Mock or an AIMCAT. I considered an AIMCAT to be a platform for testing what I had learnt in that week. I knew that AIMCAT performances mattered because they reflect your All India standings every week. Starting with AIMCAT 0820 I tried to improve my performance with each AIMCAT. For the first three AIMCAT's my percentile was hovering around 85-90 percentile range. When I first crossed the 90 percentile range I felt that I had the ability in myself to do more. I was able to score consistently well in Quant and Verbal. From AIMCAT's 0820 to 0814 I scored the highest of 96.xx percentile. Then one sunday followed an AIMCAT performance that was a quintessence of time mismanagement. I spent unusually high time on verbal section and spent very less time on DI, the section I feared the most. When I checked the AIMCAT scores I was shocked to say the least, I got a 99.xx percentile in VA which took me to heaven and when I saw my DI score I was back on earth, I scored a 1 out of 100. Yes..one single mark out of a hundred marks. I don't lucidly remember the AIMCAT but it was for 300 marks. I got a 42 out of 100 in verbal which fetched me 99.xx percentile and a 1 out of 100 in DI fetched me some horrible percentile in DI. I knew that DI was the section in which I needed to perform well if I had to do well in CAT. My scores were dipping from AIMCAT 0811 to 0807 and I got a very low percentile of 68.xx in one AIMCAT. "Where am I heading..?" I wondered. But I kept myself egging on. AIMCAT 0804 was conducted and I felt that I had done reasonably well after writing the paper. When I checked the key after coming out from the center I was getting 102 out of 300. When I checked the results later that week I got 108 out of 300 and a percentile of 98.xx. During the whole CAT preparation this was the highest score I got in any AIMCAT. But I could not keep up the same performance for the next three AIMCAT's. When I completed all my AIMCAT's I checked my AIMCAT scores again. I got a percentile of above 90 only for only 10 times out of 20.
All the while I was doing this I needed to concentrate on my semester exams so that my percentage wouldn't dip. I also prepared for campus placements and my CAT preparation slightly worked to my advantage here and I ended up with two job offers in my lap. November 18th was the D-day and from the start of Nov. I could not concentrate on CAT because of practical and theory exams etc. which hampered my performance. The D-day finally arrived and I completed my paper and handed it over to the invigilator. I couldn't make out anything of what I had written. I started with my strongest section, Quant, but it was supposedly the toughest section of CAT-07 paper. Then I shifted to Verbal and then to DI randomly. I wasn't able to answer a particular question when I picked it up which made me threw my strategy (that I built up during the AIMCAT's) to the winds. I knew that accuracy was more important than attempts during the exam. Half an hour was still remaining when I browsed through the entire paper again to see if I could answer any more questions. This half an hour was the crucial time because I was able to answer 4-5 questions correctly and these were from different sections. My attempts were like this.. Quant-10 DI-11 Verbal-12. So in a paper of 75 questions I just attempted 33 questions. "Very Low" I thought. But I knew that good accuracy could surely push me up the ladder.
One of the better things that happened to me during the last few days of CAT preparation was PagalGuy. When I joined PG I was literally shocked to see so many aspirants discussing each and every mock extensively. After extensive discussion of CAT-07 paper and all permutations and combinations of scores and institute cut-off's I was reasonably satisfied with QA but a bit apprehensive with my DI,VA scores. I thought I would end up with a score of 92. December '07 was one hectic month coz on almost all Sundays I wrote an exam.
Cometh second week of Jan and CAT results were announced. I didn't dare to see my scores through any other means except internet. But one of my friends called up and said that SMS was working fine. So I typed my TR no. and sent an SMS. Result came the next instant and voila..!
QA-96.76 VA-97.67 DI-77.23 OA-97.24
I was nothing short of a mixed bag of emotions. IIM key yet again proved leading coaching center key's wrong and I ended up with a score of 98.21. I scored my highest in VA and that made me happy. The smiley after my DI score above summed up my emotions then. DI yet again proved to be my nemesis.
Meanwhile a disaster performance in XAT showed up. got an SCMHRD call through SNAP and an NMIMS call through NMAT. Got kicked out from both the institutes at final stages and that is a different story all together..!
My DI score had not crossed the 80 percentile benchmark due to which I was out of reckoning for MDI and IIM-Shillong. NITIE's cut-off was 98.22 and so my hopes went for a toss. So it was either IMT-G for me or nothing..After my GD-PI for IMT-G I started to come more frequently on SB where I made some of my best friends on PG. "All is Well" I thought. Controversy strikes and I receive a jolt. I do not want to raise the issue again and tell you puys as to what actually happened and who was responsible. But I would like to say Thank You to all the puys who stood by me when I wasn't there on PG.
Fast Forward 2 weeks and I am back on PG. Meanwhile IMT results are announced and I find myself waitlisted.. "This is the last thing I wanted" I thought. Problems compounded and the situation exacerbated when our apex court delivered its judgement on the OBC issue. So it took 3 waiting lists during a period of 2 months to see a convert for myself. So I finally saw light at the end of a tunnel.!

Some of the key features of my preparation were..

- Summarising the editorials of THE HINDU.
- Mugging up the words given on cards given by the coaching center.
- Practising extensively problems of Quant although I left topics like P & C which always appear Greek and Latin to me..(They still do.. )
- Thoroughly practising VA section.
- Catching up on Current Affairs and writing an author's views on some particular article in my own words.
- Solving 70% Institute material. (70% constituted Key Areas)
_ Practising Mock papers and reviewing my performance.

Some things that I have observed...

- Try to work double hard in your weaker sections
(Easier said than done, this is crucial if you want to make it to top-10 B-Schools..!)
- Be clear as to why do you want to do an MBA.
(Although for most of us, the primary motive is better career prospects, be prepared with an interesting answer and allot the lowest priority for placements in YOUR answer to the panel in PI.)
- Some of the toppers say that they just did smart work and some of them say that they toiled for this many hours a day.., YOU are the best judge of your capabilities and you need to work accordingly.
- Don't think that CAT is the end of the road. Other exams like NMAT, IIFT, SNAP, FMS, XAT can be cracked as well. Even if you haven't cracked these you can try again next year.
- Don't get bogged down by some bad performances in AIMCAT's.
(AIMCAT's are a reflection of the areas in which you need to concentrate)
- Don't go into the test room with a mindset that you are going to stick to a particular strategy no matter what happens. It might not work.
- Last but not the least BELIEVE IN YOURSLEVES that you will do well in CAT. ;-)

Let the MBA-PAGALPAN prevail..!

[mysticwind8]

Hi puys, this is one thread in which, for a long period of time(to be precise ..from 1st march'07 to 5th june'07), i really wanted to write something...
but i was really pissed at my performance..and was just reading the other posts...

well, today i have the cause to write..today i can say that hardwork do pay..and iim is a dream that ANY SOUL(really any 1)..with the courage and determination ..can achieve..

well here is my story:-

I am a graduate in Chinese language from J.N.U..after doing my graduation ..rather say from my 4RTH SEM...i started earning money through freelance interpretations....but then after seeing the business world..i thought that i can achieve something big in this life..and then i seriously gave a thought to CAT...i just wanted to use my Chinese skills so that i can use the sino-india business boom...but that thought couldn't be transformed into reality and i fell into the thought that ...iim walas are really bond..and i they are nxt to god whose intellect level is hard to match..sorry can't be matched..so i set my target low..and started thinking of imt.imi. league of colleges...mind you all that these are also one of the premier league colleges in India...for the realization of my dream i joined a coaching institute so that there could be a "danda" on my head constantly..and i could study..but i couldn't carry on the classes and keep bunking classes on a regular basis so that i can earn money through interpretations and other works...this was the situation until 1st week of september'07.

i had given all the mocks and had never performed well..on a serious note i ahd never cleared the cut-off of all the three segments ..and never cleared the va cut-off...my percentile varied in the range of 67-90..this was a real issue..and my performance was also not consistent..

came sep'15..and i realized that i am not at all in the race..ans was scolded very badly by someone very near to me..that time i realized that i had done a blunder and i really need to rectify it...so i started doing a strange thing...for the first 15 days ..i made it a point that i will be in my room ..come what may..and in the mean process i watched about 20 movies...and studied for 2-3 hours daily...1 hr. each..
then from 1st oct. i arranged the mock papers of the other reputed institute and of previous year..and directly started doing that...daily 1 set..and then revise it for 4 hrs..really 4 long hours ..revising a paper..that what mistakes i have done..and what was going in my mind while solving the question...

then came nov'18..that day i woke up early..reached the center early..and was just watching ppl...they were really into a "action mode"..most of the ppl had some notes or books and they were reading that...as if the exam is going to be of subjective type..i really took a long breath and went inside..I JUST WANT TO GIVE THE BEST OF ME...COME WHAT MAY...so i started the paper and solved only 10 ques of qa...11 of v.a ..and 20 of v.a...
i came out satisfied,coz the nxt best thing which i could have done is to give 40 min to d.s(i gave 30)..and less time to v.a....but as for that time my v.a was the worst and needed enough time...

after my paper..everybody said that 10 in q.a 11 in di is not sufficient...
i too realized that 11 in d.a could be increased ..coz i could have solved more ..but i never bothered and overlooked the paper(although it was the easiest a/c to me)..and gave full time to v.a.

well...the result came in jan..and i came to know that i had got 45+ in d.a(all 11 right+ extra marks for the wrong ques.)...36 in q.a (all 10 right but i guess i double marked the 10th one so that marks was nt counted.)..and 25 in v.a...it was good for me...98.33 total..nice score...but i could have done better..and yes, no iim call to me...
but 1 day later..to my surprise..i had a iim-k call under obc quota..
i was delighted...
UNTIL NOW....

MY WEAKNESS:-
1) I was a chinese lang. graduate,so for me quant was tough..but only some sections..i really liked arithmetic though.
2) so was v.a ...as i was more into hindi and chinese...
3) i couldn't sit to study for a long period of time...i usually can't focus for a longer period of time..
4)i was not aiming for the highest goal...and thought that i am not an iim material...
5)i can't do faster calculations.

STRENGTHS:-
1)I was good at arithmetic(only)..
2) i practised many mocks ...as to say..daily a mock..so the exam fear was gone..
3)as usual i pick certain portion and attack it...so in the CAT..i picked only a few questions and solved them ALL correctly...
4)i always wanted to give my best..and i did so..(at least i gave my 2nd best)

MISTAKES:_
1)not hoping for good.so never filled the MDI form..
2) after cat..didn't filled the fms,tiss,du forms
3)was in holiday mood after cat ..from Nov-18 to Jan-8.

after the results came out.. i started preparing for the 2nd round..

MY WORST PART OF LIFE:-

The 2nd round of selection is very crucial one..and take my words ..never overlook that part...i joined pg fully..and started reading the posts made by other puys..they were really motivating and inspiring also added my knowledge base..I really don't have any contacts in IIm..or other top MBA colleges ..so was ignorant of the happenings there....so for me..that was just a interview..
but..in symbi...all my thoughts proved wrong...and then i realised that the interview is more of judging you as a person rather than cross checking ur knowledge...then came the bad interview at IMT..there i was asked that what"RADICAL" change i will bring into the campus(mind it i am from jnu and the question was after the prof. said that "o.k so you are from j.n.u"where everything is supposed to be changed radically")..in the whole interview..i wasn't given a chance to speak...i was interrupted like hell..and i was really upset...after this i came to know what a stress interview is....then came the worst interview of s.p jian...in the first round itself..i was said"how can you dare to change your fiels from chinese to finance"..i just opened my mouth and said "sir, i want.."...the prof. said" don't tell me what you want..i also can want anything..tell me in few words that until now what have you done in finance ..."i said "sir...." prof. said .."ok ok..u are a fresher ..." and then NEVER aske d me any question...in that round we were 6 ppl..and every1 apart from me were asked 4-5 ques...that day also i realised that i really need to prove myself..i need to show them who i am and what can i do...so the next imi interview was awesome..they really listened my business plan..listened my answer..and then gave me opportunity to speak...then came my biggest call....iim-k..that day i prepared my best..was ready to deliver also...but my panel had 2 prof..and i was hell bent on asking math question..i gave satisfactory answers to the first prof. but when he asked the 2nd prof. to question me..he directly gave an integration prblem...mind you all.. for the past 5 years i have never seen that sign...so was unable..i politly refused..then another calculus prob..i said sorry..then a puzzle..which i solved and then another one..which i solved half..and another calculus..for which i had no clue...
all in all..i was shattered..i thought that it was over...
but somewhere in my heart it was there that..i can make it..and i had given some good answers..

then came the biggest prob..the quota issue..i am from a N.C O.B.C...and i had filled that also in my form...the whole quota issue you all know very well..that WE are snatching the seats..WE are lowering the standard of education ..and blah blah...
well i really need to say...that we had a decent percentile in CAT if not good...and personally i had crossed the general cutoff for L,I,K..but i was lagged behind in the 10% work ex thing...is it my fault that interpretation is not considered a full time job??
well,after the quota issue the seats of general has increased ...so y are u blaming us??

well..no fight..but after that issue got resolved ..i ahd the call from iim-c and b also..in iim-c i was once again asked many maths question ..which can seem helluva easy for u ppl..but for a chinese graduate ..it was tough...so i wasn't selected...

but my every nightmare has ended today..as i have been selected for iim-k ...and i am really happy to notify all you ppl out here,whose posts had inspired me..and made me realise that any 1 can get into iims..if i can..any 1 have a fair chance..and really its the battle won in the mind...so just prepare your heart..and do feel that you are an iim material....just like me..who is feeling the same ..right now...

thank you
all...

[KIMSTER]

Here goes my story :

CAT 2005:
In my 6th semester of engineering I decide to join a coaching class(IMS) for taking CAT 2005. QA and DI was my strongest point,thanks to my pretty decent calculation speed.
I had a problem with VA,especially RC but was good in VR(verbal reasoning). Come the
First Simcat and I am thrilled to get a AIR in 160s,next I take a free CL test and my rank is in the 50s.Except for two Simcats where my rank was a 800 and a 1000(sumthing) I was lucky enough to be in the first 300 consistently(including a number of two digit rank in SIMCATs and free AIMCATs) So I keep my expectations really high and decide to apply only to MDI apart from IIMs under Cat. Had also applied to JMET and XAT(cus my mentor insisted on it,was never comfortable with XAT pattern).

On the day of CAT, I am all tensed and nervous cus of few personal things,had slept only for 6 hours(tat too thanx to a sleeping pill ,which I am using for the first time in my life).When I receive the paper I see that it’s the 2mark&1 mark pattern with only 90 questions(change from the 1mark for all ques pattern). The first 10mins of the exam was the toughest…I am hardly able to concentrate and I was sweating a lot..i jump to the 2mark of VA directly and do the questions like logical ending of a sentence and picking the correct/incorrect statements etc…gives only 35 mins for VA and jump to my strongest sections DI and QA.

Coming out of the exam,I have a pretty bad feeling that the performance wasn’t satisfactory.
I go back to the hotel room to know that I had screwed up pretty bad, as for VA they had to asked to identify the Correct statements and I went for the in-correct ones , ther wer 4 questions of that sort… I am devastated as I had answered only few questions in VA and was counting on the grammar part and all of a sudden I have -2.66(4 negatives) to cover.

When the results comes out I am not shocked to knw that my VA is only 90.xx and a measly overall of 97.xx(had only 94%ntile for QA) so overall I am very disappointed to say the least..

Important lesson : Just relax the day before and the time you take the exam..very easy for me to preach. The important thing is a cool head.

Calls 2005: IIT-B&D(Din convert either.)

CAT 2006:
I had got into a leading Indian software company but had postponed the joining date to the week after cat. That gave me 4 dedicated months to prepare for cat. The performance in Mock-tests were realy pleasing with a worst rank of 600 for one Simcat and rest in first 250 consistently for other Simcats and the free tests of other institute.

Day of CAT : This was like a do-die situation for me(i had taken a 4month sabatical only for CAT ) the pattern had changed to 4marks per question…as usual I answer VA first,situation is the same as first cat…not at all surprisingly I am unable to concentrate,the RCs were just not making ne sense… was just watchin wat my neighbour ws doing for sumtime(not copying ). Then somehow manage to continue to other 2 sections.
Result : A pathetic -3 Marks (!!!!) for VA…had pretty gud score in other two…but wats d use wen u have 40%ntile in VA L.

Important lesson : Keep a cool head… Dont bother abt the stakes

2006 Calls: IIFT,IIT-B&D (Din convert ne)

2007 CAT:
Working professional now, so hardly anytime for preparation.. was a part-time faculty for QA …preparing for the classes i was taking was the only preparation I had. Time was passing for me and I dint want to give cat one more year,so decided to give all exams…SNAP,NMIMS,JMET,CAT,XAT, IIFT. (Missed FMS sumhow)….by this time I had a reputation of not being able to handle pressure, so I had decided not to carry ne dream about IIMs.
Takes Aimcats nd Simcats this year…very happy with my performance, had AIR 12 in Sims and AIR 22 in Aims as my highest and a 600 for an Aims my lowest.

CAT : The same old story… the first 15 mins, I am totally blank…again VA is the first section..found DI pretty easy..

Result: VA 76.76 L…overall:98+%ntile with a 99.xx in DI.
I am surprised to see an IIM-K call through OBC (80%ntile-1more mark- in VA would have given me a few more IIM calls-under OBC though), IIM-K in the end I din attend the interview as my interview was on March 12th and IIFT result was announced on March 11th. Decided to giveIIM-K the skip cus of personal preference/reasons.

Calls:IIFT,IIM-K,SIBM,SCMHRD,NMIMS,IMT-G,IIT-B&D.
Din Attend: IIM-K, IIT-B&D.
Reject:SCMHRD
Converts: IIFT,SIBM, NMIMS,IMT-G.

Important Lesson:
In my 3yrs of CAT experience i have come across more than a dozen pepl whom i have consistently and comfortably outperformed in Mock-tests,but who eventually ended up getting d coveted calls.I can argue all day,tat my prepration was better than theirs,but who said cat is only about hw gud ur in Va or Qa, its more importantly also about presence of mind/Pressure handling.

Kindly keep a cool head…don let your personal worries affect you during that 2.5 hrs(I knw, I am not the right person to give advice on this…but hopefully some1 will pick a cue from my experience.) Clearing CAT definitely takes a bit of luck…but most importantly u need a very cool/calm head on your shoulders.

For CAT the stakes are high...3 awesome colegs(A,B,C) and 3 more top-ten colegs(L,I,K) are on line so the need to perform well on that particular day is amplified.


The regret of not getting an IIM call - through general merit still lingers , but its time to move on.. :-)


All the Best for future CAT takers..

[ashish abraham]

I started my CAT preparation in December 2005 during my third year of Engineering (CSE) in NIT Trichy. I enrolled for classroom coaching with TIME Madurai. I attended the classes regularly but did not prepare much during the rest of the time. And then I went to Chennai to do a project during the third year vacation (May, June). AIMCATs started and my performance was not great. I always did well in DI. I did okay in QA but I was horrible in VA. Once college reopened in July, I had a lot of time to prepare for CAT. Placement season had started and I did not want to spend time on placement preparation. I attended the interview process of about 4 companies and got rejected. I informed the placement representative that I will not attend any more interviews till I am done with the CAT written exam. That way, I could spend maximum time on CAT preparation. I did not study my college subjects either and got a GPA of only 6.2 that semester!

AIMCATs ’06 season:

The AIMCATs ended. I had attended only 14 out of the 20 AIMCATs. And among those 14 AIMCATs, I had missed the DI cutoff twice, QA cutoff five times and VA cutoff… believe it or not 11 times!! I had no confidence that I will clear the VA cutoff in CAT either. I was good only in Deleted sentences and okay in RCs. My accuracy was pathetic in the rest of the VA part.

CAT’06:

I did not have high hopes of doing well. I knew that my performance in VA will be the deciding factor. I used my usual strategy of DI-QA-VA. But I found the DI section so simple that I felt that I will have to attempt a lot of questions. I ended up spending 1 hour in DI section itself. I attempted 20 questions and got 17 correct. Net score 65 with a percentile of 99.80

I spent the next 50 minutes on QA. I attempted 12 questions in the first 40 minutes and got all the 12 correct. I spent the next 10 minutes on that luggage problem and did not mark the answer for both the questions! Next score: 48/96 = 50 % with a percentile of 95.27

I had only 40 minutes left for VA. I attended 2 out of the 3 RCs. Luckily one of the RC questions was not printed completely. I attended all the 5 questions on Deleted Sentences and 4 out of the 5 FIJs. I attended 17 questions and got 8 questions correct. Net score: 23/96 = 23.96% with a percentile of 93.90

My overall percentile was 99.41

My biggest mistake:

The final result was a big shock to me. After the CAT exam, I checked my answers with all the institutes. I got only 8 marks in VA according to the keys of TIME and IMS. The maximum that I got was 18 according to CL key. I didn’t give myself any chance of getting even a single call. I used to post on MDI thread asking whether the VA cutoff will be low for MDI and whether I will get a call. My TIME director asked me to prepare for gd/pi without worrying about my VA score. But I was too pessimistic. I wasted the one and a half months that I had (nov and dec). I prepared for XAT seriously. But I couldn’t clear the VA cutoff in XAT.

Gd/pi:-

I got calls from CLIK and MDI. Three of the 4 IIM interviews were over by Feb 17th. I had not done any preparation till the results were out. And I had no clue where to start with just one month left for my first IIM interview (feb 5th IIM K). Only 3 of us from TIME Madurai had got IIM calls and it was not possible to have mock gds. The TIME workshop that I attended on Jan 27, 28th in Bangalore was the only coaching that I attended. And it turned out to be a rude shock to me. I could hardly speak in any of the mock gds that I attended. And everyone seemed to know much more than me! I attended a mock interview and I was rated 3 on 10!

My performance was not any better in the IIM gd/pi. I hardly spoke in the gds of CLK. My gd performance was decent in I gd. And because the gd performance was bad, my interviews started off on a bad note more often than not. I was asked about my bad gd performance. And another big mistake I made was that I flaunted my computer engineering knowledge and certifications to make up for my almost nil extra curricular achievement. The question that naturally arose was “Why do you have to do an MBA when you are interested in computers and have a good job in hand?” I couldn’t answer that question convincingly either.

Final Results:-

I had submitted my OBC certificate during my interviews and there was supposed to be OBC reservation that year. Just before the results were to be announced, a stay was imposed on the implementation of OBC reservation. There was a delay in the results because of it thanks to the HRD ministry. And during that period, I felt bad at times that I am a part of PG. When I applied for CAT written exam, the category was asked. I had OBC certificate and I shaded that option and sent a copy of my OBC certificate along. I had no hope that there would be reservations that year. It was only when I saw the IIM A gd/pi shortlist details that I knew that there will be reservation for OBCs. I did not make any mistake by mentioning that I belong to the OBC community and I knew that this was the case with most of the others as well. The delay in the results was a pain to every one of us. Unfortunately there were quite a few posts which caused a lot of hurt.

Anyways… The results were out in the end of April. And it was like this… IIM C rejected; IIM I waitlist; IIM K rejected; IIM L rejected. I had been rejected by MDI earlier itself. I felt devastated though I had done badly in the gd/pi! I saw that a lot of people had been put on the IIM I waitlist. So I didn’t think I have a chance of making it.

Twist of fate:-

I was waitlist #73. I was elated. Everyone I spoke to told me that it will surely clear. I was very confident that it will clear. I felt that I am going to an IIM finally. I used to visit the IIM Indore website everyday and see the IIM I virtual tour! Alas, only 20 cleared after the first deadline. All was lost again. I made up my mind that I will have to head to Hyderabad to work. Another 24 cleared after the next deadline. But it was not good enough. I ended up at around WL #25 I guess. Anyways… I decided to take up the job.

Gains:-

All was not lost actually. I got a few really good friends on PG and during my interviews. Murari (Pg id muraricito) who is in IIM C and Prahalad (PG id not required :happy: ) gave me a lot of support. They gave me a lot of confidence and told me that I just have to speak in the gds to get through. I spoke to Prahalad and asked him for tips. He told me how the Career Launcher materials (especially the sprint tests) had helped him. I ordered it online and got them. I found them very useful too. And more importantly, Prahalad told me the importance of getting questions like Parajumbles right in VA. He told me that it is impossible to be sure about getting an RC question right but questions like Parajumbles are not ambiguous. That was the time I started believing that it is possible to get PJs right! Thanks for your help guys. And I will forever be thankful.

I learnt the importance of gd performance. And I also felt that I needed to have something to talk about in the interviews. Something I can speak about confidently. And not my IT certifications for sure!

[ashish abraham]

AIMCATs ’07 season:

I enrolled for the TIME AIMCATs alone. I could take up all the 20 AIMCATs since I was a classroom student the previous year. I also got a discount thanks to my CAT percentile (big consolation ). I took up a mock CAT at home a day before the first AIMCAT (0820) which was on May 27th, 2007. I didn’t do any other preparation. The first deadline for the IIM I waitlist was May 15th. So I had just recovered from that disappointment :happy: I found the AIMCAT to be easy; mainly because it was the same pattern as last year’s CAT. But I was shocked by the result though. I got AIR 22 out of 11777 students. The turnout was not much but it gave such a huge boost to my confidence. I believed that somehow, I had actually got better.

I was very happy with my performance in the mock CATs. I attended 19 out of the 20 AIMCATs. I scored above 99 percentile 8 times; 3 times in 98-99 %ile range; 5 times in 97-98 %ile range; twice in 95-96 %ile range and my lowest was 94.45 percentile.

I missed DI cutoff once; QA cutoff twice and VA cutoff five times. DI was clearly my strength with 9 scores above 99 percentile and only two scores less than 96 percentile. I was okay in QA. I was more confident about VA this time. I had got a couple of scores above 99 percentile in VA. But I was inconsistent. And I felt that VA will be the deciding factor this year too in CAT.

When the AIMCATs started I wanted to make it to the Dream Team. But my performance was not good enough. I was very happy that I made it to the Underdogs Team. Logging on to PG was the first thing on my mind everytime I completed an AIMCAT. I could judge how good/bad my performance is from the scores posted by my UDT mates and DT members.

CAT ’07:

I had changed my strategy to DI – VA – QA 45-45-45 and then a buffer of 15 minutes.

I started with DI and found it to be easy. I solved 13 questions in 40 minutes. I switched to VA and spent 55 minutes continuously on it! I attempted 18 questions spending a lot of time on PJs and deleted sentences because they were my strengths. I had 55 minutes left now. I decided to do Quants for 50 minutes and spend the remaining 5 minutes on DI. But I found QA to be tough and could never get back to DI!

I was getting 42 in DI ; 38 in QA and 32 in VA according to the keys of TIME, IMS, CL… Somehow I was getting the same score in VA though I was getting different questions correct. I knew my DI score may not be good enough. But most worrying was my total score of 112. I knew that it wont be 99 percentile. I posted on PG saying that I will never realize my dream of studying in an IIM. Not even an hour had passed and when I checked PG, manish (justlikethat) and anirbhan (anir_iim) had replied to my post saying that I will surely get calls. I can’t express how nice I felt when I got such support. I have a treat pending :happy:

CAT ’07 results:-

I scored the same 38 in QA (97.73 percentile) ; 43.75% in DI (42/96) which fetched me only 93.13 percentile and… 52 in VA 99.91 percentile!!! I had got 14 out of the 18 questions correct in VA :happy: I got all 3 correct in both PJs and deleted sentences which I expected. But I certainly didn’t expect that I will get 5/6 RC questions right :happy:

I got 99.74 percentile overall when I had been wondering whether I will get 99 percentile! I got calls from LIK in general and A in OBC.

Other exams:-

XAT:- I missed the LR cutoff in XAT but got 96 percentile in VA this time :unhappy:

SNAP:- I got 90.75/180 in SNAP and cleared the sectionals. I got a call from SIBM.

FMS:- I cleared FMS as well with 99.39 percentile in MBA FT and 99.50 percentile in MBA MS.

I was very happy with the results. I had cleared 3 out of the 4 exams. And more importantly I had cleared VA cutoff in all. I felt good that I had made a lot of improvement compared to the previous year.

Gd/pi:-

Though I was not expecting any IIM call this year as well, I knew I will get a call from MDI. I didn’t do much preparation during Nov-Dec but I had developed an interest in reading books on Communism, World War during my CAT preparation and I utilized the free time I had to read a few books on those topics. The TIME gd/pi coaching in Hyderabad was excellent. I attended the workshop and the regular gd/pi coaching as well. I was much more confident this time.

I made good contribution in all the IIM gds. And except that of IIM K, the remaining IIM interviews were also good. I mentioned reading books on history as my hobby in all the interview forms and I was questioned on the same in all my interviews except in that of IIM K. In fact, I was questioned on history for half the duration of each interview. I felt more at ease. I mentioned playing foosball as my number 1 hobby. Unfortunately I was not questioned on it at all :unhappy:

I spoke only once in MDI gd. And my interview lasted for about 10 minutes, of which we spoke about Napolean and Hitler for a majority of the time.

Final results:-

I was waiting anxiously for the results like everyone else :happy: Results were just 1 day away and OBC reservation was the last thing on my mind. I knew that my IIM A interview was just an experience. And then the SC did it again OBC reservation was to be implemented but excluding the creamy layer among the OBCs.

Again there was a delay in the final results… And again there was a backlash on PG :happy: I didn’t visit PG for a couple of weeks.

Thankfully MDI announced its results on April 16th… And what a surprise! I had made it to the first list itself :happy: My overall percentile had a huge role to play in this though. But I felt so relieved that I am going to do my MBA this year and that I won’t have to go through the whole process again :P

May 1, 2008: IIM K rejected; IIM L converted in OBC quota. IIM A had asked me a week earlier itself whether I belong to creamy layer or not. My OBC certificate states that I do not belong to the creamy layer. Technically, I do not belong to the creamy layer. My salary alone is enough to exceed the limit of 2.5 lpa but then my salary wouldn’t be taken into consideration. Morally though, it would have been wrong on my part to avail the reservation. I replied to IIM A that I belong to creamy layer. And I made up my mind that I will be heading to MDI.

IIM I was the last to announce the results. I entered my reg no. and date of birth thinking that this is the last time I will have check the results. I was praying that this last one should prove lucky. And the page said “Congratulations!” But I couldn’t come to any conclusion. I wanted to make sure that this was not in OBC quota and called up the IIM I office to confirm. The person on the phone explained to me patiently and I could finally believe that I had made it :happy:

Comments:

As I head to IIM I, I am excited that my dream has finally come true. After the CAT written exam, I was distraught that I will never get to study in an IIM. But God has blessed me abundantly.

Surprisingly, quite a few asked me whether I am going to join IIM Indore! Well… I sure know how hard it has been for me to get this. And I want to make the best use of it :happy:

And PG will always be special to me. PG sure made my CAT preparation so much more interesting :happy:

Here are the details of how I prepared for CAT'07