2008...June
THE MOCKS

Let me tell you puys I never have looked back(analyzed) any mock other than the 3rd last and 2nd last mock.
Once the mocks started I realised certain topics be it in Quant ,DI or English were not in my comfort zone.
For eg.In quant -- Coordinate geometry,Probability,Modern maths
Di --- Calculation centric DI
English---Grammar part

I started avoiding these topics altogether .
But equally I started working on other topics harder.
It may look silly,but I was happy and was able to get more motivated.

Intially I was getting 80 percentiles in mock with no cut-offs cleared.
I started to work smarter. After coming back from office I would take
one practise exercise from time .Select the exercise which was in my comfort zone and would take a 20 min exercise on that.After that another 10 min break and 20 min exercise. This way it was easy and I could maintain the level of concentration.

More mocks passed and after 10 mocks I have not scored over 95% .
with very very poor accuracy in all sections.

THE BARRIERS AND MOTIVATORS
In the meantime work pressure was getting higher and higher and I
was given more and more responsibility.My boss also came to know
about my work and started discouraging me and told that I am not fit for management.
It only motivated me further.
At all the time at the back of my mind was the girl from NITIE who
has got a job in P&G; and earning a cool 13 lakhs yearly.
I had to beat her and show her my capability.

My room-mates who are and will be very close to me always lead an
easygoing life and I had to devote time to them with one drink-party
in week .They teased me with the girl and the isolated life I have to lead after my mba .But no I was not to be broken down

2008......September
THE REALITY

at this point of time I realized that I was never going to score an envying
percentile in cat.I simply do not have that intelligence or whatever it is.
But I have to come near to that so that I can get call form other good
institutes .I may not be able to beat her but still I would make a good career.

In the 12th mock I scored 96% with 2 cutoffs cleared.
I was happy and practiced the exercises harder.Chatted with my TIME friends a lot more and with the teachers also.
I never missed any time mock.
Even from Calcutta I gave time mock during puja.

My last 3 mocks

Though I was not getting over 97 but I was always getting over 90 percntile.
But the third last mock shattered it.I got 52 % in it.
I thought it was a bad day and I need look what wrong I have done.
for the first time I started analyzing the paper.
I realized that my attempts were low though my accuracy was quite high
and the reason was I was spending too much time to find questions which were in my comfort zone.

I though I will be less choosier next time.I gave the 2nd last attempted many and scored a pathetic 61 percentile.
I was shocked .how could this happen but it happened and after analysis
I told myself that I will practice my old philosophy

Gave the last mock.Surprise 98.9 percentile with all cutoffs cleared.
Performance was at peak and I was happy

To be continued.....

2007.....Bangalore

Started preparation early.Enrolled for Time .
Started reading English books and newspaper .
I started with sidney sheldon and arthur conan doyle.
Was pretty easy and I realized I was enjoying reading also.

Job was pretty challenging .Japanese clients are pretty tough .
Had to sometimes slog for more than 20 hours a day.

From cat point of view I did not go through quants and di at all.
My only preparation at home was english. Very soon I start reading ayan rand ,robert ludlum,avitava ghosh and also biographies.
Was enjoying every bit of it.

2007 April.........Bangalore

My friend from NITIE came to Bangalore for summer training at intel.
she was so proud of herself and her career.She told me to go for it
seriously as she felt I was capable of far better

2007 June.....Bangalore

Gave the first mock of time
scored 94.2 percentile and getting a pathetic 50 % in quant .
I remember it.I realized I had look at holistic picture.

My job was eating me though.every week there were deliveries
and normally I would return around 2 to 3 o clock from office.
My hard work paid..........Surprise surprise

2007....... July 28 Bangalore
It was around 1.30 p.m.We were in a weekly status meeting .
Our team size was 60.
Suddenly the manager called me to meet him personally
client has selected 2 people to work in japan and I was one of the chosen.
I was elated at first.It was a great opportunity.
But then I thought about cat and I became a bit skeptical.
But then I could not throw away that opportunity
I accepted it and abandoned my hope of cat.
Went to japan on august .
Came back on february.

2008 .......April Bangalore

After enjoying for 2 months at bangalore once again my thought went back to cat.I realized this was my last chance to go for it.Also I had already
started missing college days.

Once again enrolled for full course at TIME.Got some reduction.
Attended every classes at weekend and tried to prepare ate least for
1 hour a day.

Met two good friends.
Amod who got at IIML ,Nigam who converted MDI and probably has now conveted FMS

And two good teacher...Our mod Prem.ravi and chandradeep
they were good and outspoken at times but the discussion we used to have was good.

My main objective in the initial days of preparation was only brushing up the
fundamentals.
I did not go through any practise papers of time.
I did the same problems again and again if possible in different ways
It helped me to grasp the fundamentals of all the subjects.

I also tried to go through hindu editorials and economic times

To be continued...

SEASON'08
Unable to sustain the constant onsite assignment threats, I shifted to 'Company B' and this time kept a low profile in my company, finishing off the work quickly and preparing. Motivation from parents, roommates and seniors kept me sane whenever the chips were down. I also became a regular at PG esp. in DI and QQAD threads. This time I had a clearer picture of my strengths and weaknesses and the need to strategize my approach to tests. I was also a regular reader of the UDT'07 thread and had somehow formed a strong conviction that if I join UDT this year I will be able to crack CAT. Again the same sequence of mocks started. This time also the performance varied but the fluctuation was very less compared to last year's scores. Most importantly I spent a good time solving and analyzing each mock. The new job also helped quite a lot as the workload was pretty manageable. The first major breakthrough was making it to THE UDT. This gave me a belief that I can also perform well given my day. Interacting with my fellow UDTians, their constant guidance made the desire to succeed all the more strong. Each and every one of them is an inspiration. But then in my last few mocks, the performance suddenly went downhill steeply. Despite my best efforts I screwed one section or the other. But amidst all this chaos, somewhere deep inside, I knew that I have it in me to crack it.
In the hindsight, pathetic performance in the last 2 mocks had a strange detaching effect on me. I went into the exam hall but this time I was not nervous; I was not worried about the result and the future. The moment I saw the paper where one section had 40 questions (I guessed it was VA - my loyal friend), my confidence levels soared. I started with QA and attempted 12. I knew the accuracy was good and attempts sufficient. Then came DI - my bugbear - solved the easier caselets in a jiffy but lost my concentration mid-way. Read a question wrongly and made a mistake in another one. But still nothing was lost. I was on time for VA. Started with RCs and finding them easy solved all. Moved to the verbal part aiming for full monty but ran out of time and missed the FIB sitters. People say that you know if you have cracked it or not immediately after the test. But frankly speaking, I had no idea how I had fared vis--vis others. I just knew that I had performed close to my best. Only in the evening when keys came out and scores started trickling in that I knew I had a decent chance of securing multiple calls.
The toughest part was to leave the baggage behind and give other exams seriously. I fared reasonably well in others except XAT (somehow I haven't got the hang of it.). This time I had promised myself that I will garner as many calls as possible so that no call becomes a matter of life and death for me. I started the GD/PI preps early this time by joining coaching classes and honing my speaking skills and widening the knowledge base. Decent mock GDs and PIs raised my confidence. On 9th Jan, my friend called me in the morning and told that I had scored 99.78% with calls from IIMs I, K and L. But this time my hands didn't shake with pleasure, I was not overwhelmed with joy. Instead I had a calm sense of purpose. I chalked out different areas of preparation like GK, acads, hobbies etc. and started to work on them. These two months were remarkable in terms of the value-addition I did to myself as a person.
One thing about confidence is that it comes from knowledge. I brushed up everything I could cover and made sure that I can answer whatever questions are thrown at me from these areas, strengthening my self-belief to face the interviews. Another valuable learning was that GD performance matters a lot if the panel is same for PI. I tried to make sure that I sealed the deal in the GDs. My personal experience says that if you do well in GD the PI will be relatively cool. The night before results was one of the longest. I was jittery despite having a feeling that I did well in the interviews. I could not sit still, tried to watch movies, listen songs but to no avail. Finally slept in front of my laptop and when woke up in the morning saw in PG that L results are out. With trembling hands I entered the roll no. and DOB. When the screen flashed "Congratulations" in the pink background I went momentarily numb, then all the pains, efforts, sacrifices for the last 2 years came rushing in. This time I allowed myself to be overwhelmed by them. It felt good. The proud voice of my parents on the phone that morning has got to be one of the best moments of my life.
EPILOGUE'09
As I prepare to join the hallowed portals, I would just like to give my 0.02$ of advice. I feel that the key to crack CAT is by taking it one question at a time without being awed by it. You don't need to co-relate your future with your performance in CAT and you don't need to make it a matter of life and death. (I know I'm being clichd but it is the truth.) Don't get bogged down by failures because eventually something good will come out of it. And MBA is just a means to an end, not an end in itself. In the end of this marathon post, I would like to reiterate that if an average person like me can crack it then anyone of you can.
Cheers.

My journey with CAT is not about any magical turnaround or any fairy tale interspersed with tragedy and ecstasy. It is just about how an average person dared to dream big and went about achieving it. This one is straight from the heart, for all those out here who carry on fighting with hardships and struggles, to achieve what they aspire for.

PROLOGUE05
I was in the final year of my engineering when few of my friends started to whip up the hysteria about this thing CAT. I had read about the attractive salaries notched up by IIM Grads but was not overtly concerned about management education at that time. I was an out-n-out techie whose worries at the time were improving the grades, watching movies and whiling away time. My roomie came back after giving CAT05 and just out of curiosity I picked up the paper but did not find it amusing enough to sustain my interest. The episode was promptly forgotten and I was back to enjoying my last semester in the college.

SEASON06
I landed up a decent job in campus and joined Company A. Meanwhile parents at home started pressurizing about some higher education as they thought a mere B.Tech wont suffice in these times. I thought of gaining some experience first and then go for higher studies (no MBA). I liked the training period a lot in my company and was very enthusiastic about the domain I was allocated. Topped in my batch there and was raring to go for some good project. But the nave me, I did not realize that it is not your interest or performance but requirement. that decides your quality of work. Got a project in a completely different technology which I used to detest even in college. To cap it all, the work was maintenance activity with little scope of applying your brains. A little disillusionment crept in and out of sheer boredom and frustration I sat for CAT. I had not solved even a single mock before that and just had some basic info about CAT. Started the paper with VA (being my favorite). CAT06 VA is by far the toughest one till date. But yours truly did not go there to crack the exam. So I lazed around in the section for an hour, enjoyed the beauty of the questions and members of the fairer sex, did some DI and QA and came back home thinking smugly that the paper aint that tough. I summarily forgot everything about the key, answers et all. When the results came out I had scored a lowly 49.xx percentile failing to clear even a single sectional. The self-confidence took a hit and the feeling of worthlessness started to grow in me. On the job front, despite my acute lack of interest I was clocking long hours to meet deadlines. Along side I was undergoing a quiet period of self-introspection regarding my abilities, my skill sets and my suitability for the IT job. I was beginning to realize that I would use them better in some other avenue and MBA started looking as an interesting proposition.

SEASON07
My performance appraisal for the year was rated M.E. (Meets Expectations) even after my committed efforts and initiatives and no satisfactory reasons were cited for it. This incident introduced me to the arena of petty one-upmanship in the company and spurred me on to go for CAT07 with proper preparation. I joined TIME classes and attended sessions religiously. I even shifted to live with friends who were also preparing for CAT. The mock season started and I debuted with 98.xx which boosted my morale and self-belief. But the flip side was that it gave rise to a little complacency. The subsequent mocks followed a sine curve, with one going good and the next deplorable. After 3 months I started losing interest in the classes and just attended mocks. My biggest mistake in this phase was that I did not analyze them properly. On the job front, things started getting complicated. I was offered an onsite opportunity but I turned it down. Told my manager about my study plans hoping that hell co-operate but things turned otherwise.

Went for CAT07 feeling a tinge of nervousness, as this time it involved a years investment of efforts and some big, some small personal and professional sacrifices. Started the paper with VA to get into the flow. The section was tough but not more than the previous years paper. Moved to DI after 50 minutes and realized that it was the easiest of the three. To increase my number of attempts I spent 10 more minutes than estimated for it. This turned out to be a cardinal sin as QA- my nemesis was the toughest of the three. I had always relied upon geometry to bail me out in mocks but could see very few questions from that. Still, started the section but 10 minutes into it I had not solved even one question. I lost my nerves at that point of time and in panic, made some horrible addition mistakes and missed out on some sitters. The moment I came out I knew that QA had messed up my chances. The misfortune continued in all other exams. Results came out and unsurprisingly I scored 96.45% with 47.xx in QA. After the season was over I sought to pay attention to my so-far neglected job. Through CAT I had an IMT call and another one from SCMHRD but was not too keen to prepare for them. Then suddenly one fine February morning I just decided to scroll through FMS results and couldnt believe my eyes when I saw my name in the list. But the GD-PI was just 10 days away and I couldnt prepare sufficiently for it. Still gave all the 3 interviews. SCMHRD was an unexpected reject, converted IMT but did not take it up. I started treating the FMS interview as a matter of life and death thus putting undue pressure on myself. As a result I was a bundle of nerves and messed it up big time. But one good thing this interview did was to make me realize the importance of knowing myself, my aspirations, my inadequacies and last-but-not-the-least gave me the ability to handle success/failure with equanimity.
CONTD.

The Story Takes a drastic turn now

2006 ...... Bengali New Year's Day ,Calcutta

around 9 o clock in the morning my father received a call from my uncle that
my cousin has suffered a heart attack and has died in a five-star hotel in
Bhubaneswar,orrissa .Doctor's diagnosis --stress took his life.He was very fit
and agile.

Could not believe it.
A guy at 34 with a child 3 years old died because of stress.
Immediately decided I will not go for mba and do a cool IT job and later
try to move to public sector.

2006......June Bangalore
Came for my job immediately after my graduation.
In the meantime my friend had started her classes at NITIE .

But the urge to go for Cat was too much.
Main reason was to prove something to myself that I am capable of doing
much better
Just filled up the form in 2006 .
In the meantime my friend has already started avoiding me

2006......Nov Bangalore
Just chilled out exam with zero preparation
Once again scored around 84% with 42 % in verbal.
Pathetic display puys:banghead:

In the meantime our 6 months training at job was over and we
thrown into projects

2007.....Jan 23 Calcutta

I came back to calcutta with 2 weeks leave.
Went to a professional counselor with telling anybody.
I was not sure of myself and was so confused.
That was an eye-opening day for me.
My simplest question to him was How would I judge myself whether I am fit
for mba or not
Gave me lots of gyaan but he told me one thing which I still practice
BE POSITIVE and NEVER COMPROMISE HAPPINESS:)


To be continued ........

1994 ......September IIM Calcutta.

A little boy 11 years old with parents goes to visit his cousin 5 kms from home
He does'nt understand what his cousin is doing in a small room
cramped with lots of books. But he enjoys thoroughly the atmosphere .

As he grows up and sees his cousin he understands the significance of the room he saw .
1998 ..... Calcutta
He comes to know about the exam which allowed his cousin to enter into that room

Yes that's how I got to know about CAT,at a very early age .
But being an easygoing guy and very very ordinary student I knew it will be difficult for me to crack it.

But still the urge to follow my cousin's footsteps was terrible.

2005 .... january Calcutta
My cousin has already reached dizzying heights in his career .
He became the GM of pepsi India at age of 34 earning a cool 36 lakhs yearly.
Also my longtime friend (girl who still has a special place in my heart.She ) started preparing for cat.She was much better student than me

I decided I will go for it.
In the meantime I got a job after failing in the first 6 on-campus interviews.
Motivation level once again came down but seeing my friend working so hard had to slog through.
Verbal had always bugged me because simple reason I am bad at language.
Never scored not more than 60% in any of vernacular paper all through my life:banghead:
Gave most of the mocks. In all the mocks except one I failed to clear the cutoffs for verbal.

In the meantime my friend was getting 96-98% regularly.

2005........Nov 23,Calcutta
Was so tensed that could not sleep the previous night.
It kept bugging me that my friend will score more than me and I will
once again lose to her.
Gave it as best as I could.

Results were not surprising at all .
99.04 percentile in maths .92 is DI and 51 in english.
overall 82 .
Guess what my friend scored 98.9 .got calls from IIMB and IIML .
Could not convert and went to NITIE.

2006 ...April Calcutta
When she told me that she had converted NITIE.
It was one of the worst days of my life .
Once again I had lost to her as I have all through my school and college days.

One thing I can say looking back at that time.
I was immature .I did not look at myself ,I tried to compare without having
any purpose for my MBA

To be continued.....

CAT -08
I started early this time, realizing that I should not expect anything until I have given my best. Joined the test series of TIME and CL both being conducted on Sundays. In the professional front the job had also started to become hectic. Saturdays, at times, were spent in offices and there was no scope of preparation in weekdays. My marks in mocks also were stuck in 90-95 % range with skewed sectionals. From my past experiences, I had learnt that I need to remain motivated till the very end and tried to keep composure.
Finally,I was able to score 99% in the final TIME test and that too with balanced sectionals.
On the D-day, was at the center half an hour before the scheduled time and tried to remain calm. This time I started with Quants and managed to do it decently. Then came DI, quickly cracked a small set.However I got stuck in few sets. At the end of 50 minutes spent in DI, I realized that I might have missed the bus this time as well. Tried to solve Eng quickly and did return to DI but it did no good to my chance. Came out of the hall feeling that all the efforts put in have gone down the drain.I had not attempted good number of questions in Eng and DI also was doubtful.
When the results came, It was an absolute shocker, one which I could not have imagined in my wildest of wildest of dreams.I got calls from ABCLIK!!!:w00t:
GD-PI
After the initial euphoria died, I was worried about the interviews.And after attending the mock GD-PI sessions, my self-assessment was also confirmed by the faculties of coaching Institutes. At this level u will be kicked out by all, You have got such a golden opportunity and u are wasting it were their comments. Luckily I had filled all the forms, and had got calls from IIFT, NM, SIBM, SJMSOM etc also. I ended up attending 15 interview in a span of 2 months. Managed to screw most of them.In some GDs. I spoke very less, in some whatever I spoke was not heard. If GD was decent then was tortured in PI. All in all an experience which will remain with me forever.
The Results
Slowly the results started coming in. They were on the expected lines.Did not got selected in IIFT. The same was the case with IMT,NITIE and NM. To add to my woes,Job front was equally disastrous.In the last 2 months, I had earned the reputation of a careless person, of no good. I was reprimanded by manager for neglecting professional responsibilities and was kicked out of the Team. I wonder what prevented them from giving me pink-slip.:lookround: These all description given only to give an idea about the state I was in. The night of 9th was spent in preparing myself for the worst. Came to know about the IIMB reject through PDF which was circulating. I had some that night in order to divert my mind. Came back to home by 3 and tried unsuccessfully to sleep.
At 6, I started checking the results. IIML came first and I scraped through. For the first time in my life, I really felt elated. I jumped in joy and there were tears in my eyes. I thanked GOD profusely and had a sense of relief that I was finally going somewhere.I also got selected in IIMC, with waiting in IIMK and I.
Learnings
1) Remain focussed even if situation seems bleak.
2) Have confidence in your abilities and give your maximum effort.
3) GD-PI requires thorugh preparation, keep yourself updated about what
is happening across the world and you should have an opinion about everything under the sun.
4) CAT is just not the end of road; you should always have Plan B in place.

Finally I get to post on this sacred thread, a thread which was the source of inspiration when I felt low, when the marks in mocks did not reflect the effort I was putting in.
Disclaimer: This post is written when I had nothing else to do,
hence may seem loong and boring.
Bit of background
(Pre High-school)
Initial 16 years, till class X, I was in a small town. I had no idea what engineering was all about, forget about CAT. Due to very less competition there, I was the district topper. And poor me, I thought I was doin quite well.
The Preparations for IIT-JEE
All these notions were shattered when my family moved to a tier-2 city, only because coaching facilities for IIT-JEE were present there. There I found out that I had a lot of catching-up to do. Worked really hard, could not get into IIT, however got a good NIT, with branch of my choice.
The College
Did nothing worth mentioning in the initial years. When I realized that itsdifficult to be amongst the toppers, started participating in different sports and won few awards as well , this however led to more decline in academic performance
Things started heating up in final year,it being the yr of placement. Appeared in the first company which visited our campus as I thought I had a decent chance to get selected as most of my batch-mates were skipping it. Expectedly, I got through. Also MegaHard came to our college that year, and when I made it to final round of Interview, I could see disbelief in the eyes of some of my batch-mates. This unexpected performance really gave me a lot of confidence and helped me to get into one of the dream companies. Also I started preparations for CAT 06, joined two test series. But my percentiles were way low, in 70s and seeing that I did not stand a chance, I gradually started losing focus. Finally there was a bit of improvement, and I managed to touch 90s in a couple of them, however it was too late to consolidate.
CAT -06
Went to give CAT with zero expectations.Started with DI, DI being my consistent nemesis, thought to conquer it first. Could not crack first set, attempted 3 sets more, a few questions here and there and moved on to Quants. Found Quants somewhat easy, attempted it with good speed and accuracy. Then came English, I found it a bit dicey, attempted a few questions more to overcome the trickier ones.
When the result came, I managed to get 97.6% OA, with 99% in VA, 97% in Quants. DI turned out the way I was dreading Now I was pulling my hairs coz I had not filled any forms other than CAT. At least this would have given me some exposure to the GD-PI process, which I knew would be more difficult. For now this result helped me in at least becoming more recognized face in college. End College-days and was eager to join the company.
CAT -07
Joined the organization in Pune, and was enjoying time there. The CAT preparation took a back-seat.I did join the test series but the enthu was lacking. By the time I realized, it was the month of October. Gave the exam and as soon as I was out of hall, I knew that I had screwed the paper big time. The result was a meager 90%.I knew I had taken it casually but was not expecting to be massacred like this.:banghead: Also I was able to get calls from some IITs and my performance there was pathetic, to say the least. By now I had realized that GD-PI also will be a tough nut to crack.

Here is my story....
CAT 2007 : After completing my engineering in May with pathetic grades i really had few options...the Infosys placement seemed fine....so decided to enjoy my vacation....but Infosys had other plans..after 3 months of drinking and merrymaking it was August and still no call from Infy

My father was getting annoyed at my prolonged enjoyment filled routine...."kuch karega life mein..3 mahine ho gaye...infy nahi bula raha hai toh kuch padh...dusra job dhund...kuch toh kar"
OK i said..CAT padhta hun...started studying TIME mocks..home mocks.. everthing.....filled all forms....
Infosys called me on Oct 29th....few days before CAT....
scrwed up VA on D-Day...however got thru SIBM and NM....
NM join kar liya...ghar ke pass tha....
CAT 2008 :
NM was going well....decided to give CFA level 1 in december...was studying hard for it....but dunno why I filled the CAT form...on the last day at 3 o clock just before the bank closes.....

Did not give any mock.....na time tha na ichha thi....FMS in Jan 08 was my last mock..

D-Day
i was in 2 minds whether to go for the exam or not....1 of my friends called and said "exam dede apun dono ka centre pass mein hai uske baad peene chalenge"...so chala gaya

had a no pressure situation...bahar 3 sutta mara and then....

paper dekha....1st page...some problem about road intersection...solved in flat 2 mins solved....after 45 mins i has solved 15 problems in QA....was satisfied....

moved on to DI...saw the problem on houses...damn easy...flat 3 mins 4 questions....sab bahut simple lag raha tha...50 mins 20 questions attempted

then VA...seemed easier than last year...did 31 questions in 45 mins...maza aa raha tha....jo marzi mark kar raha tha....

10 mins remaining....suddenly i start thinking i have an awesome chance this time...if i just do few more QA problems...got under pressure.fought with many problems....in the end i counldnt solve even 1.....

out of the 2.5 hrs i was under pressure for just 10 mins...and in that i couldnt solve any problem....

anyway did not give much thought to CAT afterwards....gave my CFA at kathmandu in december
fir result aaye....
DI-99.9
QA-97.XX
VA-98.XX
OA- 99.83...CIK calls
after that my luck dried away....i only coverted I...dont know if i will continue at NM or join I....
but all said and done...."Waqt se pehle aur kismet se jyada(kam) kuch nahi milta"

Hi All,

First of all a thanks to PG and all of us pagals for making my journey to IIM Lucknow a memorable one!

My story is as follows:

CAT 2006 --> If I have to describe it, I would call it a suicide mission. It wasn`t easy for me, as I had lost my dad and my family and I were still coping with it. I knew I was ok in QA and DI, English was something which would let me down and that is exactly wat happened on 19 November 2006. What a paper! English really kicked my a** with me managing 44%ile. Even DI was screwed up, with my saving grace was Quant. Week after week, I came face to face with a disaster until January 21 2007 - FMS gave me the sole call of the season. However, it seems i was not ready and didn't convert the call. End of season 1.

CAT 2007 --> Now yours truly has been working with Evalueserve. Gr8 start, acing everything, including English. Mocks were going well, except for DI. I didnt give too much heed to it as I wanted to crack English. Come 18 November 2007 and wholla - QA - 98.04%, EU - 97.97%ile but DI - 56%ile. And this marked my season, my luck was not on my side. No calls and end of season 2.

CAT 2008 --> This was the season, yaa toh is paar ya uss paar. Job was becoming mundane and I started to sulk. So the pressure was dugnaa and I had to make it this time. The mocks were going good but in the last month i was screwing up and did not want to complete the trilogy by messing up QA this time. So I asked for advice from experienced PG ites and practised like anything in last two weeks. The end result - 4 calls CLIK, MDI and IMI. Also, I tasted success in other exams as well - IIFT, FMS (again ), JMET - 1294 (did not apply) and NMIMS (gave exam for FMS practise).

Now joined Malay sir's classes. After going to his classes, I came to know that a person like me (INTROVERT, SHY) can dominate a group, influence an outcome and demand respect. Interviews went well with success in IIM L, K (W/L 9), MDI and IMI. In IIM C, I committed the blunder of becoming adamant about a question which I had done wrong.

So I am going to join IIM L.

My advice:

1. Believe in yourself, if you believe you can and you should get it, dont waste time and go for it. It is for you to decide when to say you had enough.
2. Practise un-attempted mocks two weeks prior to the D-day.
3. In case CAT goes online, start reading articles on net.
4. Never become adamant, be patient in an interview and always take hints from the interviewer (trust me, I learnt this point the hardest way)


In the end, just out of the context, I would like to say this to future aspirants, batchmates and seniors - Our country expects something from all of us and she deserves it. She is in need and we must deliver. No matter what we do in the future, we must keep her in our priority list.

This is something I have understood from Malay sir's classes and I hope many of us develop such feeling towards our country.

All the best puys, go get your dreams.

My CAT story

Finally I am writing my story on the thread where I always wanted to write. Its been a year into my B School life at IIM C and its been an amazing experience for me
Well, here's my story.
When I was in my 2nd year I had two choices whether to go for GATE or CAT..Although I was a decent student as far as acads were concerned I decided to go for management since I wanted to prove a point to others that I have it in me to clear the best of the exams. I had this feeling since the time I missed out on IIT JEE and joined Electronics engineering in Government Engineering College Bhopal. In the 3rd year of college I started my preps for CAT 2005 It helped that I had a group of friends and we joined a coaching institute together ..From the beginning I had a belief that I have it in me to clear this exam though I knew nothing about the GD/PI part. In the initial few days in my coaching institute we were given a previous CAT paper to solve. Though we were expecting nothing from that paper but when our tutor gave us the actual cutoffs for the paper I was taken in for a surprise.I had performed fairly well and that paper really boosted my confidence levels and our group really started preparing with full josh for the exam. I would like to point out that I was never an extra-ordinary student but a student who can put in as much hard work as possible.

I was a consistent performer in the test series and everyone including my parents, mentors and friends were expecting a lot from me. I was also confident that I will do well in the exam. However I would like to draw an analogy between performances in mock CATs as analogous to a Cricket player's performance. A player's FORM is temporary but CLASS is permanent .So if ur performance goes up, it goes up rapidly and if it goes down it goes down in a consistent manner too... . Also as one need to conserve his energies to hit in SLOG overs, similarly one has to keep his energies for the D day. So I really consider this a beauty of the exam. It really tests ur patience and perseverance levels

At last the D Day arrived, with the weight of expectations on my back I reached the exam center and after seeing the paper the CAT ghost got on to me..The format was changed and I was taken unawares..I really got nervous and I knew I have performed really poorly..My one yr of hard work has really gone waste..Looking backwards I see that I didn't save my energies till the last leg and was too nervous to give the exam. This performance really upset me and I was really not able to perform to my abilities in any other exam be it IIFT, XAT, or SNAP. The CAT results were as expected. I scored in the 70s which was really shock for everyone as I have not even scored below 90s in any of the mocks. My friends and family really supported me at that moment and I decided to give it my all in the last FMS examand I cleared it!!!!

I knew I cud have cleared CAT so never really was motivated from inside to prepare for GD/PI for FMS and didn't gave it a serious try.

Then started my preps for CAT 2006I knew I had to clear CAT so started preparing again while working in an IT company simultaneously.. This time I knew I had to save my energies till the end and I was ready for the CAT bouncer this time..After the exam I knew it had gone well but had some doubts in the verbal section as did everyone elseEvery coaching institute was giving different answer keys for verbal and I was really confused I considered VA as my forte as I cleared VA cutoffs in almost each of the mocks.But fate has something else for me in store. When the results came I was again on the different side of table having scored 98.7 overall with no IIM calls. Having scored more than 99 percentiles in both QA and DI, luck was really not on my side and the keys came out to be different from the IIMs as compared to coaching institutes. This again dented my hopes and I was really disappointed. I had worked for the last two years and still I have not been able to make it. That year I got a call from XLRI and SP Jain but was not motivated enough for the interviews.

This really was the toughest time for me as I was on ground zero again .With the help of my family and friends I put my failures behind and started again. Though this year I was not really putting in a lot of time and was just giving mocks and analyzing them. In spite of not preparing much I was getting excellent scores in the mocks. In the mean time I got an offer to go to US on a long term from my organization and that too just a day before the CAT exam. My family was really excited with it and I stopped preparing 15 days before the exam. Since CAT was my ultimate dream so I tried my best to postpone my travel dates by one day.Now I was leaving on the day of CAT in the evening.

I got up early that day , packed my stuff since I was to leave in the evening and I just took the CAT exam casually. I even completed my paper 5 mins b4 the scheduled time as I urgently needed to go to the washroom!!! I then left for US..I knew I had done well and when the results came I was one of the happiest man on earth. I secured 99.58 % and got calls from A, C, L, I, K, S. I still don't know what B wanted!!!

But now I had to take the toughest decision of my life: Whether to leave a high paying job in US in one of the best organizations in the world or to go back and pursue my dream. My family supported me but they had an inclination that I stay back. There was a risk associated since I was still to convert my calls. I decided to come back for GD/PI 's and gave my all for the preparations.I converted all my calls being waitlisted at 45 in IIM A. At last I joined IIM C.. J

Now I look back and see that it was possible only because of my belief in me and my perseverance. I believe more than anything else CAT is an exam of one's patience and how much willing a person is to sacrifice. Though I prepared the hardest for CAT 2005 i performed the worst in that and vice versa for CAT 2007.I have noe become an ardent believer of this quote
"It is a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it."

Looking backwards I think that one can really connect the dots looking backwards. If I wud have been selected in CAT 2006 I would have been passing out this year in the current economic scenario.And I thank God that I am not J
My advice to all of you guys is :
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR CAPABILITIES
Always prepare a schedule and work according to it
Analyze your mocks this was the only prep that I did religiously
Believe in almighty
J
In GD/PI don't pretend to be someone else ..I must say honesty really pays. infact I even talked about 'orkutting' being a favourite pastime in one of my interviews' SO always be honest in the interviews.

Cheers
Abhishek
IIM Calcutta

MY CAT Story- Sorry for this long post:lookround:. I thank GOD with all my heart to give me the chance to post in this sacred thread.
My first acquaintance with CAT
I came to hear about this CAT way back in 1997-98(I was in class 9 , I think:) when my brother came home one day with a brochure and paper in his hand- it was a test being conducted by IMS for scholarships for the CAT prep course. I was good in maths. So just went through that paper of IMS but, oh! ,I was unable to solve more than six-seven out of I think 30 questions. Then my brother told me the shortcut to a few difficult ones- and lo , they appeared to be cakewalk after the explanation. I became interested. :

BACKGROUND
Like many making it to top B-schools I am also from an engineering background, but there is a twist. After my class 10, I wanted to study commerce(as my whole family was into that line) but was forced to take science(the typical Indian mentality-science->eng->job) .However, after my 12 board exams I could not give the eng entrance exams(call it my callousness or lack of preparation). I took admission in B.Sc (physics). But people in my locality(including friends) used to taunt me for not making it to engineering(as if it was the end of the world for me). After B.SC I took admission in B.Tech in Jadavpur University(the course was only for B.Sc. degree holders). My acads were pretty good.

The Motivation for taking CAT
During engineering , I became bored with the useless subjects taught and then I decided I want to do something else. I was also seeing my friends(who had taunted me, going for CAT'06) thus giving me the feeling that the job was not satisfactory. It was during this period that the CAT frenzy was catching everyone. I was also one of them . But I did not start studying for it in the final year. I skipped a few offers from PSU's like EIL,ONGC just to sit for CAT(these companies make you stay at sites in remote villages). In 2007 I took up a job in a software company (just to stay in a city as I wanted to prepare fort CAT). However , at that time I was not confident. In the office (though enjoyable in the beginning as you earn ur first salary) , I was just slogging. I was a good programmer(as per college standards) but over here I was just slogging , trying only to save my job. The colleagues were not very helpful ( thinking themselves to be the bonds)and I could not understand the system(nobody helped me ,they were very busy every time ) . It was then that I decided to take CAT seriously, as I found that it was the only way out from this f**king place!
Also, the desire to move away from the technical field resurfaced and the old love-commerce- came back to me. I would specialise in Finance: if I make it to a good B-school( away from this coding shit)

The Preparation
I joined Career Launcher in Gurgaon in Dec'07. I utilised each and every moment I got. In my office i used to carry my study materials and I used to study whenever I got time. I started hating my job as the opprtunities were limited. I used to get up at 7 in the morning and studied for 2 hours. I office I tried completing my work asap and sat down to solve a few QA/LR questions. In the evening, after I reached home, I sat down for 1-2 hours before dinner and then at 11 p.m to solve CAT papers. In my office my peers and colleagues came to know about my prep and soon my position in office deteriorated. It became a hell for me. But still i had just one goal in mind - CAT'08.
In June'08 the mock cat series started. In my first mock I scored 90 %tile. Good enough start for a first timer like me. But soon the situation changed . Instead of improving the scores declined hovering between 85-90 % tile in the subsequent tests. I started feeling less confident and the fear of failure crept in. Added to that the situation in office was killing me. I did not know what to do if I failed in CAT. In August I bought the last years test papers of IMS and TIME. In the night from 11p.m-1.30a.m. I usd to solve the papers . But the performance was not satisfactory:banghead:. QA was my strongest followed by DI/LR and then VA/RC. However, i was constantly scoring poor marks in QA. I still remember that the 3rd mock was my best when I scored a good 120 out of 300. But still the percentiles never improved. I was frustated. I started talking to people who had CAT experience- they told me that you need atleast 95 %tile in your mocks. I was nowhere near. But then , my brother helped me(though he never appeared for CAT:cheerio:). He told me to ignore the performance in MOCKS and just concentrate on the various kind of problems - the variety- as the real CAT is totally different from the MOCKS. This piece of advice worked. I was no longer worried about the 80 odd percentiles that I was scoring - though I was always trying to improve.
During my classes in Career Launcher I met a guy called Pankaj:cheers:. We started discussing about CAT as he too was in the same boat like me - not scoring well in mocks. He joined the TIME test series and gave me the TIME MOCK papers. That was of great help as I found that I was doing well in the TIME papers - which were closer to the actual CAT. It gave me some confidence. I took a break - I did not appear for 2 mocks in September. I worked on a strategy. Initially I was devoting time in the order 40/40/40 for the three sections and then 30 minutes for the section which could maximise my marks. This was not working for me. So simply I put 50 mins for each section. This worked well for me in a few mocks. So I decide that I am going to stick with this strategy in the D-day also. Even after the breaks and strategising I failed in the subsequent mocks to score well . I decide that I am not going to appear for any more mocks. I was still not sure which section was my strongest- as the marks were always varying.I started solving whatever Mock papers I had with me for the next few weeks. I slowly came to realise that accuracy is THE most important in CAT. In the next few tests that I took I attempted a very few questions and aimed for accuracy. This worked.;)
Meanwhile, in office , I was not performing to my potential and my situation was real bad. I did whatever was assigned to me but that vigour was lacking. My one time favourite-coding was like a tasteless thing for me. I just slogged .:sneaky:

The Final Preparations
In October I realised that if I stay in my office I would never be able to give CAT well. So I decided that I would go home -to kolkata. I left for home just before Diwali in October'08 stating jaundice in my office. Once in home I started dedicatedly preparing for CAT. In the morning I used to go through the materials and then from 11 a.m to 1.30p.m I used to solve one paper. In the evening I followed a similar routine. I decided that accuracy is the one that I am going to aim for in QA and DI. In English it was just the opposite- i would aim for speed.:grin:
CAT'99-04- These papers were different. The questions were relatively easy but the no. of questions were 50 in each section. I could solve these papers and scored consistently around 120 out of 300. This gave me some confidence.
But CAT -05 onwards the pattern changed . CAT had become difficult and I also had difficulty scoring well in these papers. But then my strategy was - accuracy in QA and DI and speed in English. I was doing comparitively well. Remeber , at this time I had no way to know my relative standing as i had stopped taking mocks from mid October.:oops:
Just a few days before CAT I stopped all paper solving and just concentrated on brushing up the basics- according to my brother's advice(his advice always helps me:cheerio:). I was prepared for the D-day - I knew that I had to perform otherwise there was no way out for me( I would be ridiculed in office as everyone knew I was preparing for CAT).
I had to do it on 16th Nov 2008.

The D-day-16th Nov'08
I went to the examination hall . Settled down . I brushed up in my mind - accuracy in QA/DI and speed in English. The paper started.
I began with my strongest section Quant. It began well .I progressed well and I knew that I was doing them right. I skipped a few. After 45 minutes I found that I have done only 10. I scanned the Quant section again- Ha there it was -on the lines of a sum in the TIME test series a geometry problem and then another. 50 minutes up I had done 12(got all of them correct. Whew!)
DI/LR- Got the simplest set right at the beginning(lucky !).5 minutes and three done , but then DI was not so easy. 50 minutes gone and I had done 11.
English- Oh! 40 questions. I adjusted . I fixed my target . 2 RC passages and rest EU/VA. 50 minutes gone and i had done 22.
Came out quite contended. Felling good about QA and LR/DI but skeptical about English section.:oops:

The results
Came back to office . Had a brawl with my manager- I just hate this job. Attended the other exams -SNAP,IIFT,NMIMS and XAT. Then came the results season. IIFT (missed by 1 mark). Tension was creeping in for 9th Jan(the CAT results day). Then it came . Wow! I had three calls B,I and L( I thanked GOD heartily). Great! Now I can go the office with pride.On 10th came the Snap results. Managed calls from SIBM(pune & bangalore).,SCMHRD and SIIB. NMIMS(I missed by 8 marks). XAT-disaster. But these did not matter any more.I started my GD/PI prep and ultimately conquerd IIM-Indore.
The hard work payed off. I resigned from office on 10th April itself- the day the IIM results came out. But surprisingly, the peers who had doubted my abilities now congratulate me and look to me with respect. Even my manager! Wow! I love it . Just waiting for my notice period to end and say bye-bye to this office and job.

My tips to CAT aspirants
1)Make a strategy- it is very important. What works for others may not work for you.
2)Identify ur weak areas and strong areas. Work for ur weaknesses but don't ignore ur strong ones- remember ur strong areas will give u the edge.
3)Make a routine and stick to it. Never ever deviate from it - however tired you maybe.
4)Don't let the Mocks rule you- remember doing well in mocks doesn't guarantee you anything. Moreover,mock CAT and CAT are totally different.Performance on your D-day matters.
5) Finally believe in yourself and GOD. You are the best Judge of your abilities and GOD is the best judge of your efforts.

Hi
CAT is most an adventurous thing that happens suddenly in the middle of a boring life for most of the people. Like for many my story is also a similar one. Having decently scored in both 10th n 12th and then securing admission in a Decent Engineering college, I thought now after so many years, life would ease out. My parents always told me that it is the last hurdle clear it. I tried and cleared that realizing that as per their expectation one more needs to be fulfilled and this time people said it was really the last one (God Knows). After completing my engineering got a job in a Decent MNC. I had a profile of Sales and Marketing, company given Ford Ikon, I thought that MBA is not required for me. Many of my friends in the company were preparing but i never thought i will ever prepare for CAT. Many oldies in the company also told me that. In the first year I thought the same way.After around a lil over 2 years I was really sucked up with my job. Really wanted to run away. Then I thought of giving CAT. If I would clear CAT I would be the amongst the last ones from batch to go into MBA. This was infact my last chance coz if I did not, i would ve been a married man .

As per my conversation, I bought the material from CL and joined the test series. But my job kept on haunting me. Regularly I had to travel to other places, and could manage to give one one third of the tests. Self study was not happening. I had almost given up. Then my promotion was delayed by 3 months. Really bugged I thought I had enuf. Had to get some self discipline. But with just 1 month to go, odds were not in my favour. Bringing in some discliline I started giving roughy 1.5 hrs av daily. I tried to brush up formulas for Quant, increase my stamina so that I can sit for three hours and concentrate. I also ensured that I fill all the forms even ICFAI :grin:. Before the CAT took one week off.

My focus was on two things- 1. SHould know all formulas and fundas 2. Tried to get my speed right and that I can hold it for 2.5 hrs. Finally the D day came CAT 2008. Not very hopeful went for the test. Had always practice on a strategy. I started with Quant. Did well in attemping arnd 20 questions. People found it difficult but I found it pretty chill. Then DI. handled it well too. same arnd 20 questions. It was easy for all but DI has always been my strength. Finally came the most Dicy section VA. It was the section that could swing the things. ANd it really did. I saw the watch. I clearly rem that moment 12.58. Just 32 min and a bloody whole section left. My plans were hay wire. My real life quant was shattered. Such a big mistake. In the hurry started answering but could not focus. So it was guess work all the way. I knew I was screwing it up, but the urge in me forced to keep guessing. CAT was gone, then started giving other exams. But again job kept coming in. With great lies, setting, jugad was able to give the other tests. Mostly it was like Sat night I come back and Sunday I gave the tests.

After all the tests then was the time for results. CAT was the first to come. I din ve the time and guts to calculate my score. On the DAY was not able to check the result online. SOmeone told me to send an sms. With that you can check your percentile but cannot check your calls. I asked my frnd to do that. I was told my percentile 80 in VA :oops:, 99.77 in QA & 99.81 in DI, Overall 99.77. I was shattered. I knew that I would have no IIM calls. That was confiormed next day. So waited for other resutls. Similar near misses. 97.9 in FMS (98 was the cut off), 84 in NMIMS (85 Cut off), arnd 30 in IIFT ( Cut off 32). Managed to score decently in SNAP. Screwed in XAT & JMET. After a long wait finally managed to get calls from some CAT colleges also. My total calls were NITIE, MDI, IMT, SIBM, SCMHRD, Great Lakes and yea ICFAI too.

Started the interview season with SCMHRD. Was confidant on my GD skills. Did not do any preparation. Got kicked out in the GD itself. It was a real shock for me. Then again did all my consulting, a lil self practice. Finally in the end convertered all the calls except SCMHRD. Fianlly I decided jo join the best of the these institutes NITIE.

Now life has started out here but the hurdles are still not over. First came summers. Doing that in P&G.; now the next big hurdle would be a job and then after that the hurdles will keep coming. Guess will have to make these hurdles a habbit
Regards
Jashan

Well ,Every Dog has its Day , and today people its mine .

CAT well this three letter word has become more of an over hyped phenomenon ( truly just in my honest opinion ) . My tryst with destiny began ages ago in 2005 the first year i gave CAT. Yes i did the usual things , i went to IMS , I gave the mocks , I was never bad , but I dare say I was also never great ,if there was one thing that got me 99+ percentiles it was verbal . Well as I said I did the usual things , with the exception that things with the sort of unusual person I am , dont always stay very usual. I lost my mind in between and started believing DI would be my nemesis , I was horribily bad at calculation based DI though logic was my strength. On CAT day the IIMs seemed to have guessed my aptitude and 2005 was the year when the pattern for DI changed completely and CAT DI became less calculation based and more logic based , I got a 97+ in DI and a 92 overall.

I had a job from campus ( A Chinese product based company ) , with a Chinese way of life. I did my internship and started working with them , my days and nights comprised of one thing code , code and more code ( for the uninitiated , code , is an abstruce language developed by human beings to keep themselves busy and occupied on lifeless but more intelligent forms of machinery(popularly known as computers) ) . Anyway , never gave CAT 2006 , while two of my best friends got kickass percentiles and went to MDI and IIM C , one went on to win the Aditya birla scholarship . Well what is its relation to me , well you can imagine rock bottom that my self esteem hit at that point , in case you cant , well I really cant help you can I .

That was that , I prepared (yes again for CAT 2007 ) , again the same story , I would sometimes wake up at 3:00 in the morning and wonder what the hell am I going to do . That was that , CAT 2007 was another disastor. I realised one thing PREPARATION IS NOT FOR ME. I realised (or rather was made to realise by some friends whom I am now indebted to) that on any given day , given paper I can solve the number of questions i need to clear the cutoffs in each section all I need is the right ATTITUDE. I got depressed and managed to move around like a zombie. To beat it I got one call and one reject from SP Jain , I had no idea what was wrong.

Hence come 2008 I gave the GRE applied for MS and decided to end this obsession with an arbitrary exam which lakhs of people give each year,I wanted to do a Post grad, have a university life, live in a different country, experience, make my life interesting. The dollar surged against the rupee , the world economy was tumultuous , and the rest as they say is history. But sometime in between Yours Truly decided to fill the CAT form ( by this time I was programmed to do so : ) ).

I attended horse riding classes at palace grounds , went to one of my friends places to vegetate, went to an NGO to work on weekends , filled MS apps when thousands of people were taking and analyzing the mocks, I was living my life .

On Sat November 16th I was thinking hard if i should bunk a horse riding class and waste 5 hours of my time to give an exam I have given twice. Finally I decided to go , my room mate was at the same center as mine and didn't know the location well , I said what the hell , I will go with her. Again ,The rest as they say is history. This year of all , I got calls from IIM B,L,K,S with a 98.73 (OA) and 94+ sectional in all. Yes the one year I did nothing except relax and not take it to heart.

I got a MS accept, I got a promotion at work, I converted my B and K calls ,though L was a straight reject and one of my funniest interviews, I resigned from work ,all in chronological order.

And guess what I got to know about both my calls and my convert at IIM B through PG.

People can make all the difference ...
I owe a pair of JOSE headphones (originally it was BOSE that i had promised but then what the heck 350 $ no chance), a pair of chaddis ( not the pink ones ) to my friends that I had promised if I get through B.

For me this line sums it up ...

"A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long supressed, finds utterance. "

One friend told me that we can never know the bigger scheme of things , and maybe even if we did we would never change it, though we think we would. Chew on it. Read about chaos theory, read albert camus, read marcel proust, Maybe the universe is meant to be in a state of chaos and any attempt to bring it to order is futile.

Cheers and God bless !

For one week after the results were announced I did nothing but party and relax - GD/PI prep will come but for the time being I had to live the moment. I was at my hometown, relaxing with my cousins and family members - that provided me the fuel to take a leap into the GD/PI prep. The next week, I came to know about the CL bootcamp and braced myself for that. Now, the bootcamp is something I would recommend to any puy thinking of converting his/her IIM calls. It was one helluva experience - it went for two days and I would say I almost matched a strict Bschool regimen. We did nothing but GDs, Funda gaining session, Mock PIs, GK overhaul etc. I also met some great people out there - bootcamp is something I am not going to forget for quite some time to come. I came to know about my weaknesses (soft voice, need to have enough knowledge of my hobbies etc.) and worked towards filling the gaps. I took the TIME material and went through the various PI experiences. This helped me a lot in knowing the kind of questions that are normally asked. Apart from that, used to attend weekend GD drills at TIME. I knew I am not a great performer in GD - all I needed to make sure was to make 2-3 valid points. Ah, the next thing was acads - I made a word doc about my syllabus from my insti site and started mugging up that I started to learn some 7 years earlier. It was nothing short of a rediscovery. By the time my first interview (IIMB) came, I was mostly ready.

Each IIM interview was unique in its own way. However, I liked the IIMA and IIMC interviews a lot. The former was more of a kind of discussion and we even discussed Hindi Grammar for some time. The latter was a stress interview, but I somehow enjoyed being massacred there.

And again came the wait for results. As the days were nearing I was getting more and more anxious. On 9th afternoon, IIML put up a test link and it said I was through. But then I wanted an official confirmation, and more importantly about the BIG 3 - A,B,C. At night, I came to know that I am not in the list released by B. My anxiety acquired a new dimension - couldn't sleep the whole night. At around 6, woke up from bed knowing there is no use of trying to sleep. Came to know that L had put its official link - my convert was retained there. A sigh of relief - I am heading to an IIM atleast. But needed to know what happened with A,C desperately. Then came the C result - I gathered myself, entered my TR No. and DOB and then came the message - "Congratulations...." - it felt like I had attained nirvana. Waited for A result and I had converted that as well.

Now I was in a dilemma between A and C. I had to make that choice - called up my friends and after a lot of thought, I have almost decided to head for WIMWI. :)

Now I have entered the world of MBA and my next concern is interns. As you see, problems in life never end, and that's what makes it so exciting. :)

Tips to CAT Aspirants:

i) Always keep up your confidence levels, and that doesn't mean assuring yourself that you can do it. It should come from within, it should based on some things which you have achieved through your hard work. Fake confidence doesn't help anytime. Neither does over-confidence.

ii) Get over the "Ego" factor. If you are not able to solve a DI Puzzle Set or a QA problem amidst a test, leave it at that. You probably have the clout to solve the others. And let me assure you - there is never a dearth of questions.

iii) Practice. Practice. Practice. And practice doesn't mean doing some from the basic study material. Practice means solving quality questions from previous (and recent) CAT papers, Mock CATs etc. I would advise you to get the last two years' TIME Mock papers and try to solve each QA and DI question from them. And resort to aid, only if you are convinced that the question is beyond you. Never try to get over the "Ego" factor while practicing. But make sure that you are able to solve questions of similar pattern fast if they reappear.

iv) Read. Read. Read. Read anything you can lay your hands on. It may be the newspaper (esp. the editorials. Would strongly recommend The Hindu), Magazines (would strongly recommend Businessworld), Fiction (would strongly recommend books by Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Ayn Rand & Jhumpa Lahiri) and Non-Fiction (there are a hell lot of topics you can pick from, including Philosophy). Apart from that, somewhat lesser fun to do is to solving the RCs from previous CATs/Mock CATs.

v) Follow PG regularly. But not to the extent that it turns out to be an addiction. Subscribe to mailing lists like QQAD (Quant Question A Day) and DI question a day. Keep updating your mock scores in the thread meant for it and keep assuring yourself. If possible, do track what actually went wrong with a specific mock, so that you can fill in the gaps.

v) CAT is not the end of the world. Allocate a good quantity of your time to your regular activities (acads if you are studying & work if your working). Note that a good percentage in graduation is the requirement of any good college - don't spoil your chances by spoiling your grades. CAT will come many times, but a bad GPA/percentage in your college is going to haunt your profile forever.

i am deletinmg this post..sorrry

I guess I can lay claim ...to writing here ... although I am gonna Join XLRI.

The day I could not get into IIT's and my claim to do so ...after dropping one year..( as is the usual fare in Bihar ...my native place) ..was successfully vetoed by my family ....

I had to get into IIM's ...That is the freaking way my mind perceives things!!

(I still maintain...that I was and am good enough for both the institutions( as so many of fellow puys and my peers are) ...People ..the way I see it is that.. this country of ours ...has such a large talent pool ...that we cannot afford to ..give IIx education to all the deserving people...so ...D day matters ...and a section of people get in ...and the rest ..are left ..back ...to pay ..what I call the "cost" that the bearers ...of a "developing" nation have to pay .. I am not complaining .. I love India.)

Well.. joined ..NIT Surathkal.(engg folks ..know about this better than "good" college )..after a fair enough performance in AIEEE 2004.
Turned out to be best decision of my life till date.
All other great things like ...an international size swimming pool, a private college beach ...a cosmopolitan culture ..and awesome placements apart ...this college is the best ..launching pad for higher studies. Consider this .. of my class of 34 students ...passing out ....15 straightaway went for MS in USA/Canada etc.

So after ... reading novels .... playing CS .. wasting time for 3 years in college ... CAT 2007 was in sight ...and I was damn confident.
Gave some initial mocks...and all.. performed very well...and worked really hard ...like practised and all....
My college has a history kind of ..of sending 12-15 people to IIM's every year ...and all my friends believed I would also ...get in .

The biggest mistake around this time that I did was ... ignored ..my almost ...constant failure to ...cross sectional percentiles ..in any one section ...throughout the mocks season ..!!!

I thought ...ek din ki baat hai ..it will come good on the good day !!
I used to get good enough overall scores( 99 +- 0.1 percentiles ) ...so that was also fair enough!!

Screwed up DI in CAT 2008 big time. And it was the easiest section.
percentile : 96.57
I never got less than ..98.5 in mocks... but i was disappointed ...only with myself !!
I remember my Mom said to me the day results were out ...only this much ..
"
Does it matter ?? You know ..that you are good enough ...I know that you are good enough ?? Your friends know that ?? what else ?? How many times they will refuse ?? you have 4 months of final year ..enjoy karo "

I tried to forget ....enjoyed my last few days in college to the limit ...went home before joining my company.
It was around July 2008. CAT was again back to my mind. Still I did nothing. I dint want to overwork...I had a fair idea of things ...I was not so to say " weak" in any of the sections ..like ...none of the sections were like pulling me down ...I knew it was the day that mattered !!

So around August .. I joined ...IMS ..(decide to change ..it was...TIME in college) ... decent enough i felt .. but felt like more practice... So took Career launcher ...also..on saturday ... I must thank my two flatmates ...they r friends bk from college ...and they joined with me ..!!

IMS gives a good all around ... competition ...and Carrer Launcher's individual questions are really good.....sometime CL goofs up on setting a nice paper overall...too tough or too easy ...!!

Was performing well ....never below 98.5 .. in the later stages ...also ...came in below AIR 100 also many times.

I also realised three things :

1. Any student, however brilliant and balanced HAS to surrender himself to the demands of the exam pattern in front of him. You just cant be egoistic and hard headed.

2. Self analysis is the key. You can't survive such immense competition if you dont understand how does your mind behaves during a test. When does it need rest ?? When should you stop attempting a DI set ...and go back to a chilled out VA questions ?? Things like that !!

3. Accuracy In Quant and DI is the key. It serves you immensely if you can get the feel of balancing your attempts and their accuracy as per the needs of the paper ! Period !!

just went and gave CAT 2008. I knew as soon as I came out ki ...I had screwed it up ...As a principle, I never check my scores with online results and all...But pata tha ki ...Quant was screwed up ...again the easiest one !!

Had a call from IIFT meanwhile ... but heart was not there ... would not have joined even ...if I had got it..at least this year !!

So went home ...10 days .. came back ...Lots of work in office .. dint touch pen for one month ..till XAT ...4th Jan ..

Decided on 3rd jan after seeing last year's actual XAT paper of mine ..

Only one strategy ... forget it was XAT ... Convert XAT to CAT .. ignore all special types of questions ....choose CAT tyoe questions and solve them !!

The minute I came outta XAT, i knew ...it was good ....I would surely get a call!!

Finally got ...99.7
My mom was happier than I was ...hehe ...coz she had seen ...that ..I had screwed up quant again !! I just kept telling her .ki ..mummy ..luck bhi chahiye ...kaafi logon ke saath hota hai !! Its a one-day thing !!


Interviews...and all...no special preparation..

rejects from IIFT .. expected ... very bad interview ...because I was brutally honest ..all throughout the intrvw.

FMS .. god only knos ..why they rejected me .. 99.75 .. and a good gd/PI ...

xlri .. CONVERTED ...jOINING ..NTHNG SPECIAL ...they asked me ..some different questions ..which I could manage !!

Not IIM's but XLRI ..Fair deal ...considering ...how unlucky ..you can be ...on the basis ...of 3 hrs .. or ..one bad day at GD/ PI.

Pagalguy .. has been awesome throughout
.. I cant thank ....puys enough !!

The net result is
" Always ask yourself ...Do you want it that bad ??? "

and

"it" always listens and responds !!

I cannot thank the Almighty enough for giving me a chance to post on this sacred thread. This one is straight from the heart for God, for him, for you all.
I think I am special out of lots of people who clear CAT because I have a unique "quant-phobia" (like many arts/ commerce girls) but despite that I got through IIML.
From the begining I despised maths That's why I had chosen the commerce stream after 10th (despite being a 'National Science Olympiad' winner...). In 12th I got 82 in maths. Yet my other papers managed to fetch me a 92% and I got through Economics (Hons.) in SRCC, my dream college.
Maths didn't desert me in SRCC. The story continued since Economics is a maths-heavy course. I became a mediocre in SRCC because I scored badly in maths, stats and related papers.
Maths didn't desert me after SRCC also. It started haunting me with a new name - QUANT - in my dream paper, CAT. And now I have to go for maths foundation course at IIML. Life is such a bitch!
_____________________________________________________________
My tryst with the CAT began in 2006 Novemeber when I planned to write this over hyped exam
CAT 2006 - CAT threw a big surprise - 75 questions- 25 in all 3 sections! I got into the trap. I think I did 20-22 questions in VA (why! Why! Why!)and 10 each in DI & QA. When the result came I realized I had 35 each in DI & QA (both the sections fetched me close to a 90%ile) and a hopeless 12 marks in VA - that gave me a 72%ile in VA. I was shattered not coz of a low score but because my strength - VA dinged me! No calls of course.:|
Finally in the 2006 season I got a lone TISS call. I thought I had a great GD (I started the GD) & a decent PI (except for the why HR question, about which I had no clue, being a fresher). But TISS rejected me. I was not very sad because I wanted to give the CAT again. I joined Hewitt and started working in 2007.
Lessons Learned: Do not underestimate any section or the GDPI process:nono:. Any section or any stage of the process could be your nemesis, even your perceived strength area.
______________________________________________________________
Thankfully I got through a good company, a consulting firm in September 2007 (again because of their verbal based written paper). I was enjoying my work and prepared a little bit for CAT 2007. I also realized about GMAT sametime & this gave me the hope that I need not settle for a bad B-school since I can always go to Amrika if not IIM
CAT 2007: A replica of CAT 2006. I gave the paper without serious prep. Still VA & DI were good. Both sections fetched me a 95+. But my under-preparation in quant was my nemesis. CAT 2007 Qaunt was much tougher than CAT 2006 quant. & I got a BIG ZERO with 25%ile in QA in CAT 2007!!!!!!
This scared me big time. I knew that quant was the problem area. I could do fairly ok in an easy SNAP or NMAT type quant paper but for a CAT & XAT my quant needed major work. CAT 2007 did not do anything to me except that it further developed my quanto-phobia.
Lessons Learned: QUANT / QUANT / QUANT / QUANT
_______________________________________________________________
I was doing fairly well in my job. & Simultaneously I decided to 'give-it-all' to CAT in 2008. I joined TIME mocks. From May 2008 onwards I studied for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the eve after office, daily. Left every worldly pleasure for 6 months and only concentrated on CAT.
But I continued to score miserably in TIME in QA section. :|
Meanwhile God sent an angel for me. A dear friend of mine, and a gem of a person helped me out with QA. He patiently made me understand fundamentals of quant. We studied together & that greatly helped me. I cant thank him enuf ever :)
And yes this time my hard work bore fruits. This is how my score card looked on 9th Jan 2009:
Test Section Score Percentile
Section - I Quantitative 28.00 (out of 100) 88.40 (just managed :p)
Section - II Logic & Data Interpretation 43.00 (out of 96) 98.11
Section - III Verbal 89.00 (out of 160) 99.87
Total 160.00 (out of 356) 99.81
You have been shortlisted by the following IIM's for their PGP interviews. Details available on the individual institute's website (candidates for IIMC should check whether they are shortlisted for PGDM or PGDCM or both):
Indore Lucknow
And then began the GDPI prep - a journey of self introspection, lots of fun, learning & unlearning.
Finally on April 10th I came to know that I had converted both IIML & IIMI (WL, but should convert). I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The feeling is awesome!
So I am off to helL!!!!
____________________________________________________
My 7 cents for all future CAT aspirants:

1. Have faith in your abilities. If you believe you can, you will. (Clich but true)
   
2. If you fail, don't give up. Try again. (Clich but true)
   
3. Analysis of mocks is the most important part of your preparation. (key to CAT)
   
4. Work regularly in all sections (any section can ding you, trust me).
   
5. To improve in your weak area, study with some one who is good at that and probably bad in the section that is your strength. (this helps immensely):thumbsup:
   
6. Total Gadha number system book, QQAD & Arun Sharma material is great for scoring in QA (I am not advertising but only sharing what helped me in QA).
   
7. Pagalguy is a great place and a must for all CAT aspirants. Period.
   

Rock on!!

2008

After the results came for CAT 2007, I decided that CAT 2008 would be the last CAT I would be giving and that I would put in my 100%. Two of my room-mates made it to A & C and that indeed inspired me. But still, I didn't hurry it up - I was waiting for the mock season to start. I came to know about the utilities of PG through a colleague of mine. I subscribed to the QQAD mailing list and I would say that it took my Quant skills to the next level. I would strongly recommend it to anyone preparing for CAT. The questions are no doubt tougher than CAT, but once you start solving them, CAT questions just seem like cake-walk. I also picked up previous AIMCATs and started solving various DI sets. I came to know about many tips for solving puzzle based LR questions and various patterns involved. This segregation helped me in seeing through the clutter and provided me a solid framework for handling the dreaded LR questions. It was during the same time that the pagalguy premiere league was formed - and I became part of the Bangalore DT - I saw some awesome people there. This motivated me even more to perform well in the mocks. This time I joined two series - one of CL and one of TIME. Used to give CL mocks on Saturdays and TIME mocks on Sundays. That made sure that I was kept busy for most of the next week. When the mocks started, I started with a bang (99.85) partly because of the lack of prepared junta joining the mocks and partly due to the efforts that I had put in for around 1 month before that. I tried to keep maintaining my percentiles about 99 trying to clear all cutoffs. The more important thing I did was to not get bogged down by an occasionally low score. Such scores helped me in filling gaps and handling situations not encountered before. Plus, I made it a point to analyze each mock and solve each of the problem I left unattempted (Especially the DI sets). I continued with QQAD and started reading lots of stuff over internet and I picked up some good books like Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. Load on the work front was lesser than the last year, so was able to dedicate some time of mine to these activities. I thought I was all set for the BIG one (the last Mock at TIME was indeed a confidence booster in this respect). One more good thing I did was to take a leave from work starting Wednesday (CAT was on Sunday). I gave some mocks during the time, and gave the easiest of the lot I had preserved for myself just the day before the exam. As expected I had blasted the Mock and that gave me the required confidence. I slept early and surprisingly was able to get at least around 7 hrs of sleep. Now all set for the exam - reached exam center about half an hour before - and braced myself for the MAINCAT0900.

Found 160 marks for VA, 100 each for DI&QA; - thought of giving more time to VA but ended up giving equal time to all three sections. Started with QA and found it easier than the last time and was smoothly going along without any speed-breakers. I wanted to maximize my score through Quant so decided to persist and attempted it for full 50 minutes. Then DI. DI was the toughest section in CAT 2008 and it did take a toll on me, given that DI is my weakest section. It was calculation intensive as well. Just managed to do 12 questions and hoped to get most of them correct. Started with the verbal part of VA - found it a bit difficult, but attempted some nevertheless. Then to RCs. RCs were a welcome development this time. The passages were easier to comprehend and there was lesser ambiguity in answer choices. This helped me gain the confidence and I did all except one RC. In the last 5 minutes and solved some questions in another VA set. Overall, I had committed some mistakes in all sections but the damage was limited.

I started worrying about DI after the dust settled. I had got two questions wrong for sure and that put my score at 38 - which turned out to be borderline case. Now began the excruciating wait for the results. But I would say that wait was worth it! Meanwhile the JMET results came and I was AIR 3. Now I was sure of making it to at least one good bschool (SJMSOM). On 8th Jan, the site was opening for some puys and I gave my TR. No. to enstranged_gnrs. I would be thankful to him for ever for posting that result. It was a dream come true. I had got all of the coveted BLACKI calls, and a whopping percentile of 99.88
Finally, I cracked CAT, and that too in a bang. Now was the time to pass the next hurdle - the GD/PI round.

(GD/PI Process aka the after-effects of CAT cracking)

The emotion that I attach with this thread cannot be put in words. Finally, the time has come for me to become the part of a legacy, and I have become a part of it with a bang! My first post will be just about my failures in the three CATs I gave earlier - its only through the failures does one gain motivation to succeed. It all started in 2004.

2004

After having been placed in an MNC (I was in final year then), a friend of mine at IIT Kharagpur informed me of this discount available on Mocks by TIME. I was in no interest to do an MBA at that point of time, but my friend just convinced me to join the test series. I gave tests with a complete lack of seriousness - I didn't even used to look at the papers after coming back from test. I used to score in 80-90 range in the mocks - not that I cared, I just gave them to boost my ego. Had to go to Calcutta to give CAT - the pattern had changed. 123 questions in all, with differential marking. I started with Quant and was taking my own sweet time, then went to VA, then in the end to DI. I had very less time left for DI and screwed it on a colossal scale.

2005

The final result was 95.88 with Quant and VA in 96s and DI 82 odd. Anyway, I forgot about CAT for a lot of time after that, and started working my ass off on my B.Tech project (mostly an IT project based on Java). I tried to increase my CG, and managed to make it 8.42 by the end of my degree. Later joined the MNC and was put in Mainframes. I just hated Mainframes as it was so outdated, but yet continued working in the MNC so that it doesn't leave a blot on my resume. Even the thought of CAT didn't appear in my mind, so didn't give CAT 2005

2006

Around August, I quit IBM and I joined a mid-sized product company with primarliy telecom companies as clients. The work environment changed for good and was much more informal than the suffocation I faced in the MNC. This is the time I met two of my colleagues who were preparing for CAT and giving the Mocks. But still, I wasn't really "ready" for an MBA - just kept up with business as usual, but convinced by room-mates to give CAT just for the heck of it. I remember trying to solve a very hard DI set from an AIMCAT paper with my friend the day before the exam. That was the only preparation I did for the exam. Went to exam hall and saw that QA was a piece of cake. But lack of preparation led to me taking quite a lot of time - did it for 1 hr. Then came VA - it was the most arbit VA paper that I ever saw. My reading speed was pathetic then and I took my own time solving the paper - but the time I spent in office reading wikipedia articles did help me a bit. Again 1hr gone. 1/2 hr left for DI. The time I came to DI, it was literally a blackout - I had not practiced even a bit, and everyone knows how important practice is for DI. As I had to do it fast, I wasn't actually confident of even one question. I knew that I won't be able to clear DI cutoff anyway. The results came - Overall 96.xx, QA was 99.8x, VA was 99.3x (given that VA had been the the nemesis of many, this was a welcome development) and DI was 10.xx! (I actually scored ZERO in DI). I didn't feel so bad as I didn't prepare at all, but I thought of it as a lost oppurtunity as QA was not going to be as easy as it was in this CAT anymore. But then I was getting into the "MBA mode" - my work at office actually helped in realize the need for an MBA to boost my career.

2007

I had caught up with my work at office, and was recognized by everyone for my contributions. Working in a mid-sized company gave lot of responsibility and independence to me with respect to my work. So I caught on with work, and was fairly busy everytime. The mock season came and I joined the TIME series. But I still repeated the same mistakes that I did back in college. I didn't use to do enough practice and nothing apart from a quick perusal of the mock paper after coming back. My scores always used to range in the 90s (the highest it once touched was 98 something). Apart fromt that work in the office was getting hectic. So at some point of time, I completely lost touch and there began a downward spiral in my scores. That led to a greater loss in confidence and quickly started losing hope. I clearly lacked information on those CAT crackers who had scored really less in their mocks. In short, I really missed pagalguy - although I had an id here, I rarely used to visit, mostly to post just my mock scores. CAT came and went - amidst my hectic work. I had a hard time convincing my manager for taking a leave on the Saturday before CAT. I was even thinking about my work stuff while writing CAT. My strategy was anyway screwed up. I attempted my weakest section - DI first - was able to score averagely there. Then moved on to verbal - I found it equally arbit, if not more, as 2006 - I took a full hr for this. I was left with just 45 mins for QA. Now the blackout had to happen with QA - I found it really tough - after not being able to solve 2-3 questions, pressure increased and I ended up making really bad mistakes. Anyway, result was worse than the last time - 95.xx with 89.xx in QA, 92.xx in VA, 89.xx in DI - I expected it. But I got a promotion at work and that kind of compensated for my grief of not cracking CAT.

After many attempts, I have finally been able to write this post. So here goes my story
I have never been an extraordinary student. I consider my self bright, but extremely lazy .Scored around 80% in 10th and 12th , with minimal efforts. Had a lucky day on AIEEE exam and managed to get into a decent engineering college. Managed to score 8.00 CGPA, thanks to the lenient marking system. Wasnt sure about what I wanted to do in life. Filled the CAT form, as all my friends were filling it. But one fine day, I saw one of my friends studying for the GATE, and decided to go for it. Filled the form, bought a book, only to realize that I could not handle so much of technical stuff. So, I ended up achieving new heights in computer gaming and sidelining the plans for higher education. Meanwhile, I managed to get 71%ile in CAT and 88%ile in GATE. Having no other option left, I joined an IT firm with the plan of working very hard and to become a geek (It sounds kewl). But destiny had other plans for me. I got a role where there was no work for me. Literally. In the first six months ,I hardly worked for a day or two. So I decided to give CAT another shot. Joined the TIME classes and started with vigor. But within two months, I had burned out. So, I spent the next six months going to the classes (Coz I had paid the fees) but making little efforts at home. But still I was quite optimistic of making it to a decent college. Managed 94%ile in CAT and calls from XLRI,SIBM,SCMHRD,XIMB. I was so confident of converting at least one of these that I didnt even prepare for the GDPI. The result : rejection from all. Meanwhile, some of my friends, who had performed no better than me in the mocks, have converted IIM calls.
I now feel happy that I have been rejected from these colleges. At least I know what I can achieve and more importantly ,what I want to achieve. I will not live my whole life with the regret that , I could have done better".

I'm sharing with all of you advise that I got from someone who's well placed in the industry....... I had mailed him after my CAT and this is what he sent me, i feel there's enough wisdom in his words for it to be shared with all of you....

Dear Shoaib,

We are doing great and am sure same your end. Good to hear that you have cleared the CAT / will be clearing the CAT with good marks. I am also honoured that you have given me the priviledge to advice you in this moment of your career decision. That put the niceties to one side so we can get to hard facts .

Shoaib, it is very necessary in life that you decide what you want and when you want. You can have choices in a thread i.e this takes priority, if not this then this and the list goes on. But end of the day - You make your own choices based on a informed future oriented basis.

First the colleges - frankly what makes a difference is you. The better college gives you a 1 year head-start at the most. You need to decide what you want to do not do what is available. So what is your personality, temperament, aptitude and interest suited to. Analyze that - FAST. Pay packages do not matter (They have all dropped) (CTC is different from take home) (INR 10 lac CTC could give you 35-45K take home max - if lucky) - what matters is that do you have a good foundation in your subject of choice and more have you assimilated the theory and can you utilize it practically with common sense. Sounds Scary! But thats what separates the men from the boys and the butter from the buttermilk.

Good courses - top of line are - IIMs - Generalist / FMS - Marketing / XLRI - HR / MICA - Media / IIFT - Foreign trade. Then come MDI etc.

As regards studying overseas - once again what are your objectives in life. Live Life Kingsize overseas on DAD's MONEY! Shoaib, I may seem rough and rude but thats how you will get treated once in the real world. You need to build your foundations - yourself and then build your dreams. But dont forget to dream because if you dont you will not have a target in life and without that you will not have a sense of achievement.

My advice:

(1) Reach Higher, Hit Harder, Grow faster. (2) Success seems to be connected to action, Successful people keep moving, They make mistakes but never quit. (3) Your attitude makes altitude and lastly and the most important (4) "I CAN, I WILL".

Do a SWOT on yourself. Identify your core points - positive and negative. Identify your personality, temperment, aptitude and interest. FAST. Then select the course you wish to do. Where does not matter other than a ego issue. You do not see too many IIM guys heading successful organisations. Why, What happened. What has happend to the high flyers with super pay pack at start up. How come they did not get successful finally. So keep a gap to grow. Plan. Stragically and most importent IMPLEMENT.

Shoaib, all this sounds rough and bad. But " The rocky path you will tread on now will lead you to the rainbow" provided you keep your head on your shoulders and feet on the ground.

Wish you all the best and success. Any query to email in and I will be glad to advice within my limited knowledge of courses gone past. Take care and I await your reply.

I will soon write my story on cat, i do feel its worth a read, but right now just grasping the moment and just praying that this feeling won't fade.....

Contddd****
had done a lot of questions. I was happy. But just then it struck me that I had committed silly mistakes in 2 sets or 8 questions. You must be wondering by now does thus guy never learn from the past. I would say LEOs are slow learners. :). Bas poora mood off ho gaya. Coz I knew even if I aced the other 2 sections I would never do well enough to get through. I dragged myself for 2 and half hours and all those memories came flooding back. I came out of the exam hall and went home
Results... 40%tile in DI, 90 odd in maths and 70 odd in VA. Overall 81 odd. Yes you are reading right. It was just 81. As usual the heroes anir_iim(my ideal for the season. He is in IIMA now.), prasant_iit_iim, basilsk, parulbajaj made great in CAT and deservedly went to the places they wanted. I was dejected. Special thanks to Prashant from IIT KGP here. He is one of the best guys I have ever seen in my association with PG.
I had calls from IIFT and SPJAIN this season and even after a fantastic PI (my thoughts) I could not convert IIFT. My GD was very bad though. Was asked to summarize at the end. In my ignorance I thought I had spoken the best that's why I am being asked to summarize. Poor screw head Srinibas.
Life in between CAT2007 and CAT2008
So 3 attempts and 3 botches. I decided that I won't take CAT ever again since a person with 81%tile cannot ever clear CAT. I told the same to my parents. They were dumbstruck by my decision and did not tell anything. By this time I was staying alone in Kolkata. CAT had taken out a lot of things from my life. I decided by now that all insanity (yeah that's what I call my obsession with the exam) must have an end. I had to stop. Come on Srini this cannot go on for ever. What more do you want to loose. Then I was asked to go on business work to Switzerland and Germany. Wow Germany my favorite soccer team. I readily agreed. Before that just to make more fun of myself I went to take the first TIME free AIMCAT. Yeah guys that was the aim. Just to see how lower I had fallen in aptitude. I was just relaxed. Went through the paper and came out. Never bothered to look at the solution and I just flew off to Europe and my dream country (Germany).
It was EURO2008 time. This was held in Switzerland only. My flat was a stone's throw from the French and the Dutch team hotels. Germany reached the finals yet again in a major tournament and it was due to sheer grit and tenacity. I was so impressed that I read all of German football history in Wikipedia. Then I thought of taking a look at the AIMCAT scores. Surprise of surprises I had scored 98.**. A first in any exam related to CAT. Thought it was a fluke and went back to work. After some days one of my friends told me on a separate context of course 'People quit when they do not realize how close they were to winning'. On the same day we had a discussion on 'When the going gets tough the tough gets going'. One of my very close friends also told me 'To take a longer jump you need to take 2 steps backward'. All these were healthy discussions and happened within a span of a day. Maybe fate was taking me for a ride. Then I thought maybe I am a ****head not to catch the hint. I said to me 'You don't have any right to be a German team fan if this is your attitude'. But hell yeah I am true German fan. I have the spirit. Come on Srini you can't just quit. That will so UNGERMAN.
The fire started burning again and I was longing to get back home to take AIMCATs. I came back but I had missed 5 AIMCATs by then. Yes I was also given a waiver in the AIMCAT fee coz of my decent score in the first AIMCAT. First real profitable venture of a wannabe MBA.I told my parents of my decision and they were dancing in the isles. Slowly but steadily I aced one AIMCAT after other. DI was a gray area though. I could never solve DI properly in the mocks . I had a sub 90 score in 2 AIMCATS and 96+ in the rest and 4 top rankers list. Well it's not great as a karanmaroo, sahilbansal, kamalaandi, varung, implex, anilgora to name a few but I was happy. Kisko phodu banna hai yaar. Ek seat hi to chahiye. I am happy if I am given the last seat.
I had also joined Carrer Launcher for a second series of MOCK CATs. People say that its stupid to join 2 AIMCAT series but I beg to differ. I think it is absolutely fine to join two and practise from diverse resources. Yaar proper analysis karne main 3 din se zyada kya lagega. Baki 3 din hai week main to analayse the second MOCK as well. So if you are serious you will find time for everything. Remember a busy man find time for everything that is important. Bahut funde ho gaye.Lets get back to the plot.
D Day (CAT 200 -- My most relaxed CAT. Went to the centre calmly in tracks and a loose T shirt and sandals. People were staring at me. I was looking like a fool. Paper was handed out.
First section -- Maths -- 17 questions done in 50 minutes. I was sure I had attempted 13 correctly.
Second Section -- DI -- My bete noire -- First 10 minutes were wasted. Could not solve a single question. Then all thoughts started creeping in. Again I said to me 'Not a worthy German soccer fan'. There was a miracle. Next 50 minutes was like knife through butter. 15 questions done. I was sure about 12. DI was tough this year. I knew it was a 98+ score. Time to move on.
VA -- I always was pretty confident about my English and thought that I will easily clear 96 percentile here within 40 minutes and my QA and DI will boost my overall. VA had 40 questions this year compared to 25 each in QA, DI. I attempted 25 questions in 40 minutes and was happy by the time the paper was over.
Came back and checked the solutions. Had committed some silly mistakes in QA, DI. But my decent number of attempts saved me. VA was different though. I was scoring somewhere between 45 and 50 from various keys. 50 was safe but I would definitely have missed out A and C with 45. Fingers crossed I waited for the results.
Finally some hours before the results were due they came out with the official keys. I got a rude shock that I had scored only 35 in VA. That meant a sub 90 %tile and all IIM dreams out of the window. Fate had other ideas this time around :)
My score card read QA -- 98.72, DI -- 98.66, VA -- 87. ** OA 98.66
I had been called by my dream college along with IIM Lucknow and IIM Shillong. The dream college was IIM Bangalore (I would have joined B even if I had an A or C convert). Well so far so good ain't it.
Started preparing or the GD/Interview processes. Each one came and went. But you know what I always had the low CAT score at the back of my mind. How can a person with 98.66 get into IIMB?
Special thanks to karanamroo who was the person I used to look up to for comparing DI scores. Alas on the D Day meri hi sayad nazar lag gayi usko. He did not do well in his strength area (DI). But don't worry Karan you are damn good and will make big in life.
The day of the results:-
I had an XIMB and NITIE (merit list number 2) convert by this time (2/2). Hoped to make it 4/4 on April the 10.
Moral from NITIE experience. -- In NITIE my rank was somewhere around 480 after the CAT scores. But when the final merit list was announced I was 2 (A senior had confirmed that the merit list was actually in order of our merit standings). So you see the importance of a good GD/PI. Don't ever loose heart after a poor written score. Just remember if you are good enough to be called you are better still to convert. So give your best shot.
April the 10 2009
First I went to IIML website. Typed in the registration number and my DOB. The message appeared
'Sorry you are *******'
I could not believe it was happening all over again. It seems like I am not ever going to an IIM. Then I rechecked my TR number and found that I had typed the wrong one. Typed in the corrected one again and I got the best message of my life.
'Congratulations. You have been --------------'.
I sat down; hands numb and read the message again and again. Seems like an eternity had passed and I started to pinch myself to believe that it was all happening. How could it be true? Was I being drafted into IIM Lucknow. Well heck I was, and wow I was, and yes I was, and truly I was. Phew. Thanked everyone from birds in the sky to the fish in the deepest parts of oceans and moved on to the real biggie. Yes my dream college IIM Bangalore. So now its 3/3. How it wanted it to be 4/4 which will ensure that I will move into IIMB.
Fate had another twist here too. Could not make it to my dream college. On hindsight theek hai I got a call from them right. Can't wait to go to HELL (For those of you who are unaware that is what they call IIML affectionately).

If you are not into GERMAN soccer one can take inspiration from Goran Ivanesevic and his quest for Wimbledon or Lance Armstrong and tour de france.

For all lesser mortals like me grit and tenacity can win you any battle under the sun and over the planet.
Bye and fell free to PM me for any help.

So my dear fellow puys here we go. Bas gali mat dena lambi post ke liye. I am writing my heart out as I would do to my best friend. Wish this thread was made of paper. This is also my 100 post and I have stopped posting in PG for some days to make this my 100th post.

Prologue/Epilogue (whatever it is called) --- I scored a decent 90.67 in X and got admitted to the best junior college in Orissa. I was on top of the world in terms of arrogance and trust me I did not even speak with people below this percentage of marks. Yeah I was that arrogant. 2 years went by and my arrogance only swelled up.
Come my 12 standard and I hit a rock bottom. Scored a meager 78.9. But the greatest frustration was that I did not even clear IIT JEE screening.

Took a drop of one year and prepared hard with FITJEE. Aced the screening with a rank of 876 and then I lost focus. I got overconfident and chilled out. Started getting into wrong kind of movies (yeah u guessed right. Forum rules don't allow me to be explicit). The inevitable happened. Got booted out of mains. My rank was 8076. Nothing much just a zero changed its position in my rank from the screening rank. 0876 to 8076. Now I knew how imp the value of zero can be.

My parents whose support I could have expected said the following to my younger brother's friends "I am wasting money on an idiot who is a liability and can't get a single act together". Well he is my hero and a great man. He must have been very frustrated to say this. This was one of many instances though. I could not take this mental trauma anymore. I was just hounded around and was the black sheep of the family. For two days I thought of ending my life. Then as if manna from heaven I got an NIT Silchar Electrical Engg seat. I was happy that I will not see any of my family members for 4 years. This feeling was like the one I had when I had my first candy in mouth.

Lessons Learnt -- 1. Never ever be arrogant. 2. Never ever be complacent. 3. Never be frustrated

Fast forward 4 years and those were the best days of my life. One particular incident of note was en route from college to home once I saw a particular school friend of mine who was in IIT KGP in a restaurant. I still had a lingering low self esteem and hence I could not even think of talking to him. So I avoided contact and moved on. The scar was fresh wasn't it?

CAT2005 --

I was still in college. I was placed in IBM.I was on course for the silver medal and I was committed to a gal. Don't think a lot puys. She is happily married to some one else and yours truly has moved on.
Some people from college were preparing for the exam and I too joined the bandwagon. After all I had something to prove right. I did not prepare much. 10, 12 ka maths kya padhna yaar. I am an engineer right. You see complacency again but on a milder form.

D day --- Reached the venue in Guwahati and saw some people from IIT Guwahati also joining in. All the memories came flooding back about my failures with IIT JEE. The words of my father. How worthless a creature I am? How can I compete with IITians. I was worthless wasn't I?
I started getting nervous and with this feeling I entered the exam hall. By the way I had my end semester exams in another week and I had not studied anything for that either. The paper was given to us and on opening it I went to mathematics straightaway. There comes the bouncer. The quant section was not that easy for the unprepared people that year and I did not know that there would be variable marking. So screwed up quant royally. Only did decently in some geometry questions and started thinking after all my father was right. I could not do mathematics decently considering that it used to be one of my favorite subjects. I jumped to the DI section and found that it was tough too. Yeah everything was tough for me that year. But I was not perturbed as I was in maths because I had an open mind. Aced the section and moved to English. Huh I will never understand the section ever. I did well I thought.

Result --- OA 96.5 with a meager 88 in QA and a 90 odd in VA

I did not care much. It was enough to impress my girl and who wants to do an MBA anyways just after passing out.

CAT2006

Nicely settled into a job. I still had a feeling of proving something to myself and that is when it seriously started. I was staying as a Paying Guest and was very busy in office. After office I used to meet my girl so had a happy life. But I had one eye on CAT. One fine day enrolled myself in IMS test series and started to prepare. Staying as a Paying Guest did not help much though since I had to study in all kinds of disturbances.

Mocks came and went and my scores went from great to worse and worst. I had serious problems on the personal front as well. You guessed right. Parents having problems with their children's relations etc. I was really in doldrums.

Only one thing remained constant. My mock scores always dipped from the last one. Sometimes it as VA. At other times it was QA, DI. I could not analyze what my problem was. Was I mentally disturbed or was I just plain stupid. Or was I not adjusting well to exam conditions. All these analyses were done mentally. I never came back and alaysed the mock papers. This was a serious problem I had. So you see I was not doing my homework seriously although I was serious about CAT. Therefore there is a difference between commitment and directed commitment. I had commitment but I lacked in direction. This is where a forum like PG or a study group or your favorite teacher from your coaching institute can help you with.

D-Day

Reached the venue on time and was quite relaxed. Don't know why. Booklet was handed over to us and I skimmed through the pages. Overview gave me the knowledge that QA, DI was easy and VA was dicey. I was very confident that I would do well. Went through QA and solved 13 odd. Moved to DI and got stuck after some time. Ruminated a lot and then it struck like a matchbox. Wow solved the set I was stuck up in. By then I had just 30 minutes of my time left for English. Now anyone will tell you VA in 2006 was damn dicey. Still I thought I did well in the last 30 minutes and hoped to clear the cutoff. This CAT also had a wrong question in Maths as all other subsequent CATs and I wasted a hell lot of time there as it seemed to be one of the easier ones.

After coming out I was happy about it and then suddenly something came to my mind. I thought about a couple of silly mistakes in my Maths and then a third and fourth. So I lost 20 marks starightaway. I cursed the question setter for the wrong question although I was the only one to be blamed. In DI I had also committed silly mistakes of 20 marks and now I had lost all hope. Huh. Yet another failure. How many more do I have in my share? There was a silver lining in all this though. I had converted XIMB.

Result: OA 95.4. Ideally had I not committed silly mistakes this should have been my last CAT. I had an XIMB convert this season. Decided not to join and take one more shot.

I consulted my parents and decided to take one more shot at CAT. I asked her 'I am not that bad am I'? My gal said NO. Well at least one soul still believed in my abilities when even I didn't.

CAT 2007

I had no friends in Kolkata. I could not interact much with my office colleagues since I used to rush out either to study or to meet her. So I was a stranger there too. I could not visit my parents often coz I had this mocks every Sunday. So all in all a pathetic existence sans the preparations time which I used to enjoy. I had joined TIME this time for the AIMCATS. So preparations started all over again. All this while I had quite a fractious personal life. U must be guessing why. Yes girlfriend and the parents. The mocks started all over again. MY first mock score was the best one and after that I reached one nadir after another.

My personal life took one rough turn to encounter another. She found some one else and I was quite in the dark till one day when I was let known that I was unwanted. Huh One more. No issues bring them on I am used to it. I don't blame anyone but I had taken her permission before preparing for CAT. Maybe she did not know the road was so rough. Anyways it is her life and she is free to do whatever she wants. I wished her all the best from my heart and we broke of after 2 and half years.
End of an era for me. Needless to say my parents were over cloud number 9. This happened some 2 months before CAT.

I was desultory now in Kolkata with a very bad shape as far as preparations were concerned. But all these and many more failures had taught me to be strong. So I dived head along into preparations forgetting what had happened. But the incident took place at a very inopportune time. I kept on doing badly in MOCKS.

This time the reason was something different. TIME DI was so tough for me that I could never succeed in solving 2 sets correctly in any given AIMCAT. This led me to allot more and more time to DI and that killed my other sections as well. Whatever I tried I could never master TIME DI. My confidence took a real battering. Probably the worst battering ever. I remember scoring 40, 60, 54, 67, 87, 63 %tile in lots of mocks with only one 90%tiler. This was my state of affairs

D-DAY
As usual I reached the venue on time and entered the hall. Paper was handed over and I went to the DI section and thought about finishing it off for once and for all. This section was just a cakewalk for everyone in 2007. Well almost everyone not me. I thought I was doing well and after an hour I

Before I begin my Cat story. This is my profile
X: 93.44 (Karnataka State Board)
XII:90.16(Karnataka State Board)

B.E: 77.8 (VTU, SJCE Eand C)
CAT 08:
DI 98.11
Quant 97.84
Verbal 99.09
Aggregate 99.76

2005: I barely knew anything about CAT. I was wondering what's the fuzz about MBA?I was thinking well when we finished XII none of us were (IMHO) interested in joining B.Com, then why do some of my friends now want to study MBA? There was one guy, Spandan, who was regarded as the most brainy guy in our branch, he started this. I did not know what do I do after finishing Engineering. I simply bought the CAT application form. Then I came to know even though CAT is a kind of aptitude test we need some prep. I blindly subscribed to Brilliant-tutorials. Never got interested in studying those materials and did not study anything. CAT 2005 came(I was in 7th Sem). I attended the test and got an overall percentile of around 65.6 . Hmmm now I kind of got interested in cracking this test which embarrassed me (Again there was no direction and determination apart from this)

2006: This time around Time were conducting a scholarship test. I simply attended the test and got a scholarship . Three of us attended it Spandan,Sharath, and I. Sharath, who was our EC branch topper and who had no inclination whatsoever came second in this mysore district level test. I was kind of schoked at how this guy who hasn't solved any apti questions get this? He idea was simple, you don't need to solve every problem to arrive at the ans. You assume the ans and see whether it comes correct, and have a clear and calm mind. I had not warmed up to this concept yet. Anyway I got 50 % discount for coming in at 8th and joined time. Did not attend classes because I thought they were too boring. Tried to solve a few questions. But got bored the questions in the basic material were too easy. Still it had not occured to me that to ace CAT u need a plan and work hard to execute it. Later in July 2006 I joined Lucent as a software engineer and started learning all new languages like JAVA, XML, XSD, etc etc and stopped preparing for cat, but hey I had bought the application form again. I gave CAT 2006 but as expected failed to clear any of the sectional cut-offs. Got around 89 percentile. But it increased my confidence. I told to myself with some amount of preparation I should be through in 2007.

2007: Around August I really started thinking interms of what do I want to do? I did not like the job I was doing. Just coding something wasn't challeging enough for me. Then it dawned to me decision making is something that I enjoy, CAT gives me an opportunity. So i should be serious about it. I got IMS material now (was clueless about materials by this time ). Still was lacking in effort. So there it went another spineless performance. Surprise of surprises it was quant which spoiled it I had scored only 2 marks in quant (Shamed all the Engineers ) but I had 98.5 in verbal and cleared DI cut-off. So I thought I must be doing something right in these at least.

2008: This is the year I told myself that I need to study MBA if I think so whether in an IIM or another college. One of my friends at office, Kapil, who got into IIM B advised me to give as many different tests (apart from cat ) as possible. I decided to write GMAT. Then I came to know about PG. Had never entered PG before that (the name was not appealing ). But decision to take GMAT was not planned well. I applied in march and fixed april 18th as the date. Then I underwent an ear operation and hoped to study while on medical leave. But the tablets I was taking and that bulky bandage around my ear were such a nuisance.So when I took the test finally I scored just 670 ( QA-51, and VA-2 was dissapointed . But GMAT proved I was not hopeless in quant. In fit of rage I booked another date June 6th but again there was no plan in place.This time I started contributing in GMAT sentence correction and critical reasoning thread. I wanted to test myself. It helped a lot. I got to know a lot from the explanations of other successful PGs.
June 6th came my second GMAT attempt scored an ok score of 700 this time (QA-50, VA-34) . Decided to try my luck with ISB. Spent a month on writing essays and getting it reviewed by my friends( Pradeep and Spandan). Had hopes on ISB (don't know why but I had a feeling that I would go to study MBA this time my best bet was institutes other then IIMs). But got rejected in ISB just two weeks before CAT 2008. November 16 th came. I was having fever couldn't sleep all night was almost on the verge of skipping cat (I am glad that I didn't ;)).I was alone in the room and was very tired But somehow mustered enough strength to reach the test center. Got my adrenaline going by looking at some pretty faces there . The rest is history. Now I will stop boring you and take you through my strategy which may be of great help to you.
Strategy 1: Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Write different tests and be ready to consider other good universities apart from IIMs. This gives you a fall back option and keeps your mind relaxed and calm. This is needed in CAT
Strategy 2: Write GMAT. The tests help you to manage time. The verbal part is very good you can easily ace cat VA if you prepare for GMAT VA. I was confident in VA because of this (I used to clear cut offs in mocks most of the time in VA while I failed in others don't know my mind may be designed for this kind of VA questions). In actual CAT I was confident of doing well in RC, Sentence correction and critical reasoning kind of questions. I am also a great fan of short stories. May be analysing them helped me inadvertently in RC. I got 3 out of 4 sentence correction things right and many RC questions.
Strategy 3: Attend Mock cats people. It is the training ground. I did not attend Mocks prior to 2008 with any sincerity and it cost me. I faired poorly in 12 of the 14 mocks that I took in 2008. only in 2 of them I had over 97 percentile rest were pretty bad ranging from 60-90. But never cleared all the cut-offs in any mock (joined time Mock). But mocks are not about scoring they are about experimenting, I experimented different strategies and finally settled on this format. 50 mins for each section. Start with the section in which I was good (VA). 40 mins of quant then 50 mins of DI (because I couldn't fix 50 mins always for DI ,as it is sometimes more n sometimes less time consuming). Then I would come back and finish QA
Strategy 4: Cat is a diligence test more than an intelligence test. You need to work towards it. I realised my forte was not hard work. I usually got serious about cat only in the months of August or september. The questions in basic materials were not Mock cat or CAT worthy. So I decided in solving previous mocks. Wrote in a book all questions that were different, in the sense that these questions required me to know a particulat concept or a formula without which I couldn't solve them. I used to come back home after Mocks and solve questions again ( I usually experimented during mocks so would to solve it again at home). Solving Mocks is fun and more helpful than basic materials. The notes I prepared help me solve 6 -8 CAT quesions in 2008 within a reasonable time. Make your own strategy solve as many mocks as u can.
I solved questions in CAT that were to my strength (not the ones the institutes said easy)
The real cat has many common sense questions. In the last week I solved previous CAT papers and what I found out was I could really solve them. This gave me the confidence. Also compare real cat papers. There is always some similarity when it comes to the kind of answers they pick for questions I identified a lot of them.
Puzzle kind of things were what I liked in DI so I solved those kind og questions I think IMS basic material gives a good explanation in these kind of questions . The basic material on methods to solve puzzles like arranging something matching a profession with a person, city etc is better described there. Also para jumble quesstions are well explained in it.
Now let me tell you what happened after writing CAT. I got the results and came to know I had BLACKI calls. Now I searched through PG threads and made a list of maths and E and C related questions (particulary telecom , my domain) in PG. Also made a list of other why MBA and osuch general questions. Prepared answers for them asked my friends to conduct mock interviews. Attended 2 time mock GD classes. The PG questions were a great help especially I got Maths questions in A that were there in my prepared list . Thanks PGs, without it I wouldn't have made it to IIMs today.
April 10th : By now I was suffering from Insomnia. Had seen the leaked list of IIM B PGP list. My name was not there. I was greatly disappointed as I thought it was one of my better interviews. Didn't sleep all night. Then came L shock (this I considered my best interview) I was rejected there too. Not even waitlisted. Then around 8.30 came C results. Again a reject (expected it was a bad interview). Was totally depressed by now. Came to know around 10 that IIM A results were being announced didn't wanto open it as I feared the worst. Didn't want another reject. But somehow mustered enough courage to open it. To my disbelief I had made it That was it for me. I am still in disbelief. Later came to know I got rejected in K and selected in I from one of friends.To all of you my suggestion is write cat for youself not for your GF or for others but for you yourself. Remeber emotions simply put pressure on you and make you weak. I would like to end it by quoting a dialogue from Shawshank Redemption (something that I always used to keep saying to myslef whenever I needed inspiration)

Hope is a good thing,may be the best of things and no good thing ever dies.
Excuse me for any grammatical error. I am writing this post half asleep
Feel free to PM me.

Interview Exp :
IIM B : http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/37585-2009-2011-iimb-gd-pi-8.html#post1486130

IIM L : http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/37587-2009-2011-iiml-essay-gd-9.html#post1486134

IIM A : http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/37584-2009-2011-iima-pgp-essay-7.html

IIM C : http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/37586-2009-2011-iimc-pgdm-gd-9.html#post1486141

IIM K : http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/37408-2009-2011-iimk-gd-pi-11.html

IIM I : http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/37548-2009-2011-iimi-gd-pi-10.html#post1486144

Well, this is my first post on pagalguy. Never thought that I would be writing my first post with such a grim face and a remorse and grief-stricken heart. But then thats life. Not everything comes out the way we want it to... But frnz r frnz, and I dnt have any left as of now. May be only successful people get friends and "losers" are not entitled to any companions, especially in tuf times...

Hope to get sum support from whoever possible, it will be very welcome. Thanks.....

To b continued for a happys endingssss

Don't want to spam but it was necessary. Sorry prem bhai.. Please forgive me.


Sir, I appreciate the courage you have displayed in your post. But, i strongly disagree with the part mentioned above. (Highlighted in bold).

Kindly remember that you, as on 10/04/2009, have 298,273 friends. Friends who don't judge each other by 'wins' or 'losses', who don't get influenced by labels like 'winners' or 'losers'... These are people who might meet each other on the pretext of their goal of an MBA but become friends united by the spirit of this sanctum sanctorum called PG...

Friends who will always be there.. whenever you need them.. whether you are an IIM or not.. Whether you have a GF or not ...

And we people don't share a goal.. we share a journey... A journey through ups and downs.. fun and misery.. anxiety and desperation... converts and rejects

Always remember sir.. you have us PUYS...

God bless our disgruntled and wicked souls...

Amen.


For people who don't know what or whom i am referring to, click below:

http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/2933-all-i-wanted-speak-about-39.html#post1337658

IF U THINK U CAN, U CAN ...
I had a decent profile throughout.. maintained 80+ record throughout 10th and 12th , and managed to get into an NIT... but was never too ambitious or so I thought...
Dec 05- I was in the final yr of my college when I decided with a few other friends to give CAT 05.. joined IMS for coaching during my project training and decided to give it my best shot.. I knew from the start that I lacked in maths, but I decided to turn a blind eye to it... I trudged on with the coaching and after August started taking mocks...at that time we had just about 8 tests or so... I used to get a city rank of 2/3 , but considering that the city was Jalandhar it hardly used to mean much as the test taking population there might have been very less... my percentiles used to range b/w 75-85 and I was actually not getting anywhere... I got this CTS job offer at the same time, but despite that it didn't do much to ease the pressure.

I thought of CAT as a matter of life and death, and before the D'day didn't sleep at all.. was downright nervous and `unable to think clearly. CAT came and went and it was clearly a disaster..I went home with the belief that I had screwed it up big time,and shed copious tears when I saw my results in jan..I had ended up with a meagre 78%ile . I was ashamed to say the least... XAT was even worse with only 70%ile....
Now that I look back I realize that CAT is such an exam where we sacrifice a lot-our sleep, movies, fun,peace of mind...just to make sure we get that coveted IIM seat, so it tends to rule our mind, becomes our master and we get emotionally involved with something that is just an exam.Another mistake I did was not concentrating on my weak points..ignoring maths only made it worse..

Anyway, coming back to my story, I decided that I really was not interested in an MBA and took up my job with CTS in 2006.. was happy and excited the way people generally are with a new job. In 2007, many of friends who were taking CAT ,coerced me to take CAT again.. I visualized that i didn't have enough conviction or time to prepare as it was already sep..so I just let it go, but bought the XAT form nevertheless... I started preparing for XAT in december , and as a part of prep took NMAT and SNAP exams too.. In xat 2008, I ended up with 83%ile..not much , but still a vast improvement considering the efforts I had put in which were negligible..
Here , the one thing which helped me was my less prep... since I hadn't prepared well, I expected less of myself , and thus was under lesser pressure to deliver..the other thing was PG ..I followed all threads relentlessly, don't know why but something just kept pulling me back to where I thought , I belonged..

Come 2008 may and I decided I wanted to take CAT one last time,I decided that this would be my last try as my parents back home were contemplating my marriage.I had to fight and convince at home that I really wanted to take the exams this season..It was difficult, but I managed.. I decided not to join any coaching as I believed that I could do good on my own if I tried hard.. I joined the TIME test series and IMS series as well.. it was difficult to give both tests the same day,... I usually ended up doing good in the first test i took and fared poorly in the second due to lack on concentration or mental fatigue.

I always heard people saying 'dream comes true' and wondered why it never happened with me.
My CAT story started in 2006. Common frustrations after working for a couple of years in IT industry gave me the first impetus of preparing for CAT. Did not get enough time to prepare but fared decently on the D-day. Just after taking the CAT, I got the coveted onsite opportunity. Thanks to the keys released by the coaching institutes. I was getting 5 in VA so did not bother to stay back and went to the UK. One month later CAT came up with the result and I had 97 percentile in VA. Got call from B and I. After a lot of fight with my PM, I got a leave for 5 days just to attend these two interviews. Unfortunately I flunked on both.
Back to normal life again. This time I was not that averse to my work. Did my work very sincerely for the next one year. Could not get release from my onsite engagement in 2007 as well and finally after another round of fight with my manager, managed to come back home in the mid 2008. As expected my manager paid me back with a poor appraisal.
Started preparing for CAT again. This time much more seriously. Now, I'm not taking CAT just because I don't like my work. The long journey towards CAT has now taught me exactly why I want to do an MBA from a premier institute. Now, I also have the confidence and I know I can achieve what I want. So, any new onsite opportunity or a better job offer will not be able to lure me. I know that because of this, I've come back early from onsite, I've got a poor rating and more importantly I did not get the growth in my job which I would have got otherwise. All these sacrifices have to be worth now.
Prepared for CAT really well this time. Finally the D-Day comes. Again coaching institutes are showing a poor score in VA. But this time I know how to ignore them and concentrate for the next exams. CAT result came up with a 99.53 percentile and 4 IIM calls for me. The rest of the path was comparatively easy. I had my longest interview in IIMB. The panelists asked me almost all kind of possible questions. I had a good feeling after the interview and have been waiting eagerly for the verdict. Finally, IIMB came out with the list today with my name in it.
Now I know that dream just does not come true for nothing. I now truly believe what Paulo Coelho said. 'If you desperately want something, the whole world conspires in helping you achieve it'. Dream comes true only when we really want to make it true and give our best effort for it.

Now that I couldn't get through" L"..One obvious question woud be..Iam I joining XL or not..
My answer is a big "NO"I cant risk my life for a 1 year program
What's my next plan of action: Now my focus will be to ensure my Students at Spurti getting into an IIM this year
:-)

What did I do for the preparation?
If some one has to ask me, what was the difference between the yester years & now, I would say, I had a controlled emotion this year, I started believing that CAT is just an exam, I started treating Mocks seriously (only in terms of the learnings- After every Mock, I used to store the mistakes, learnings, good things etc in an XL sheet), I started enjoying Life & I took the exam with the minimal possible emotions..Rather I have understood the art of cracking CAT..
So no hardwork only smart work
Having read this story, now you know what it takes to hold nerves..
Today I agree completely with HARSHAROCKS that CAT is not an emotion , its an examLet it be that way, that's when you wont feel bad when you loose
Dreaming about doing an MBA is always good, but don't make dreams your master
In this journey I have learnt so many things, which I have been sharing with all of you whenever possible. Will keep doing that but without an MBA J
In this time, I want to thank couple of people here
Bengali Bhondhus
I always share a good rapport with Bhabhumoshais...My best in college was a Bong bhai..CAT 2007 gave me Anirban Das & 2008 gave me 2 Bong friends..
Soham:My driving force this year has been Soham & Soham only....Every moment he keeps saying "Bhai CAL aajavo"......Every day keeps calling me to check, whether I have read my Newspaper or not....
Sinchan (rik_12): This guy has been my Guru at times..Happy that he is joining JOKA
Kamalaandi: Cribbing but a nice soul.Joining JOKA again
Live2Die: My Interviewer J..Joining JOKA again
Amrutesh666: My Financier, who sponsored for my CAT form..Joining JOKA again
Karanmaroo: Marooo, whenever you say "Prem Bhai"..I feel so good
Greenspan:Mera Bhai, Hum dononko Naukri jaada fit hotha hae J
People from IIML
Eshnil
Viggy123
VIKAS Malik
People from IIMB
Justlikethat
Prahalad85
All these guys have played a Major role in my Life as such (sorry If I have missed out some names)..
Now you know IIM is a means and not the end..CAT is a beautiful journey..agonising though, but worth traversing..So if you feel you can, keep trying..Nothing will stop you..
May GOD bless you all & give the Patience, enery, emotions, strength, aptitude and attitude to get through your dream institute, one day or the other in Life..
All the Best Guys

NOVEMBER 16: My Birthday/ CAT.
Reached the Centre just on time due to traffic Jam. Sat in my seat, was allocated with the first seat in the hall. So no diversions. Till the last minute tried recollecting, what my mentors have told me throughout the yearThe Five Rules:
1.Its just an exam ie AIMCAT 900
2.Dont look at the fielders , look at the gaps
3.Strick to basics ie 45-45-45, 15 minutes buffer
4.try attempting more if the paper is easy else if its tough go for accuracy
5. Try solving questions individually without emotions.
I just recollected this 1 minute before the paper was handed over.
10:15: Paper was givenChange in pattern, with which my point no 3 had to be tweaked..
Decided to start with QA (40 Mins), followed by DI (40 Mins) , Verbal (55 Mins) & 15 Mins buffer.
Started the exam.
QA: wasn't appearing easy, hence it has to be a low attempt-high accuracy game..40 Mins over & I had shaded 9 ovalsFor a minute tension started creeping..Tried remembering point 4 & 5 of my rule book..decided to move on to DI..
DI: Set 1 - cannot touch, Set 2- Don't even look, Set 3 - What was that..15 mins over , 0 ovals shaded. Surprising wasn't tensed..Moved to LR 11 attempts 15 minutes..then tried Set 3 of DI..40 minutes up with 14 attempts.
VA- what was that Crap. 40 questions should have been like CAT 02-03.But it was more like CAT 06/07 with more questions. VA took 25 minutes with 13 attempts & RC took 35 minutes with 13 attempts.
1 hour over with 26 attempts..
Last 10 minutes: was sure about where to go..Obviously QA..2 more questions & time up was the call
Came out with a neutral feel..Knew that Paper wasn't that great but wasn't that bad as well
QA-11 attempts
DI-14 attempts
VA-26 attempts
Total-51 attempts
Everybody said QA was easy & DI was tough..I had a neutral feel..Went for the PG meet to celebrate my Birthday .
Nov ember 17: 3*5*5*5= 500 L
Couple of mistakes like the one above had made my QA to be in the border & it turned out as if it is going to be the decider
DI was safe with a score of 51 & VA was dangling between 44-59..
Next 15 days there were lots of predictions & every institute assured atleast one call with my score
Was in touch with every other fellow competitor whom I know & my buddies in IIMs..Everyone felt that Iam safe.
So the next phase started with the expected frustration
Meanwhile the tought of opening a coaching class for the special kids started eating my head & I finally jorted down a plan to roll it(With the help of PG/Career Launcher)
December 23, 2008: Passion Vs Reality
The question ie what if I get or convert only calls from L or I or K started eating my head..More than IK (which I might reject), the question about L becoming extremely confusing. Infact had a lengthy talk with many who are in the IIMs..Whenever I spoke about this, I also remembered that my Passion can turn the table completely down inspite of people saying not to Join
Januar y 8, 2009: Nervous Minutes
By 3 PM, Shabad pinged me saying that the link published in PG is the actual one & he has got CLIK..
Now, now I was really nervous..Mind kept on praying..GOD, don't force me into a situation which will confuse me yet again & was praying hard that I should see C, when I get my results
Wanted to check the results of my friends so that I can see where Iam going to land??
Gave one registration No after the other to Shabad
Rik_12: Lone C
Kamalaandi: BLACKI
Yogsconnect: LI
By now I started feeling that Shabad is the angel in disguise as whosever results he is checking, they have callsGave my number now & was waiting (literally tensed ) with phone in one hand & cigarette on the other..After few seconds Shabad said "Bhai, L sae call hai".I said thank u & it took 10 minutes & 2 more cigarettes to accept the reality..For a minute I thought, look at this, I could predict my result almost 15-20 days back & GOD has given me to analyse it & get mentally prepared rather than me getting shocked at the result
As I said my passion helped me to decide what should be done..Whatelse, convert it & Join J

January 9, 2009: Hard Facts - Sad Memories for a Life time
In 1995, when I missed my MBBS seat by 3 marks or 0.3 %ile..It hurt & its hurting even today..
But today I got a new episode to erase the old one
Came to know that through Live2Die I missed out my dream institute this year, IIMC by 1 mark & that too in QA
Also it was a shocker when I learnt that I have cleared all the cutoffs given by IIMK & had a good workex too..Still no call
January 12, 2009: It tooks 3 days to come to terms with the reality that yet again I have got a lone call..But this year the resolution was to convert it..I was all set to gooooo
Joined TIME as well as CL and was very irregular in the beginning..Reason: Lots my Students got > 4 calls.I was feeling bad & the memories of loosing C by 1 mark started hitting me hard. That's when Soham said "Be proud bhai. It proves that you are a good teacher". The actual realization came, only after the CL boot camp, when I realized, where & what Iam lacking from converting a call..
February 1 -10: Yet again I went to US and from there to Mexico. Zero preps during this period & was enjoying every single minute.
Jan 17: SPURTI takes her first step..
Finally I decided to go ahead with opening an institute to help the people who with little support can Crack CAT. This institute is for people who have disabilities & economically weak. This was the happiest day in my life as I started it after a lot of struggle (see the link attached in my signature to know the details)

March2: XLRI PI.
I would say that it is one of my best interviews...
Meanwhile I started focusing more & more on work as well & every week I was travelling for atleast 2 days (Out of Bangalore)
March 12-25
Four rounds of Mock Interviews with Live2Die..
PI 1: 1.5 hours, result- zero in current affairs, stammering when cornered..Got 5.5/10 from Live2Die
PI 2: 1.5 hours, ok current affairs, fine tune why MBA..Got 6.5/10 from Live2Die
PI3: 1.5 hours, Good Current affairs & Voice Modulation..Got 7.5/10 from Live2Die
PI4: 1.5 hours, Excellent PI-ready for the Interview..Got 9.5 from Live2Die
Infact I became so good at current affairs that I went about telling this which L2D, Sinchan didn't know
March 25: IIML PI & XL results
The greatest MBA Interview..Everything went wellPI was solid
XL results out : I converted my firstever MBA call - GMP programme..
March25-April 9: I wasn't nervous this time around, I was enjoying everyday
April 9: Journey ends with a Shocker..
Around 1.30 got to know from L2D that L results are out & he also checked my results and said "Sorry Bhai"

September 12: Lehman brothers declares bankcruptcy & My company declares the Layoff of a huge number of people..
I met my Boss accidently in the Cafeteria & he projected that they were sending me out as a part of this Layoff..
They could have saved me, IF THEY WANTED..But, as I said, Politics finds Justifications rather than reasons..
September 15: AIMCAT 907
With all these things happening, I went to give the AIMCAT 908...The results were astounding..
I could see myself keeping the Bad/Sad feelings out of my mind for 2.5 hours & the result
AIMCAT 907: 99.04% clearing all three Sections
This exam is worth mentioning, reason I got a new feel that I can do well under pressure..
The following few (sleepless) nights, I was worried about my future (Jobwise)...Sent my CV to loads of companies & contacts...Every alternate day, there was only one question from my TL, " Could you get a Job?". This was not out of concern. This was because, my company had started thinking that Iam a liability.
September 20, 2008 Competitor comes for Rescue
I called up an Account Manager at Company X (an Indian Major), who knew me as a competitor. I told him that I was looking out for a Job & that guy actually helped out by speak to his boss immediately & fixing an interview meeting in the afternoon.
September 21,2008: With Company X showing some positive signs & couple of coaching institutes offering me some role or the other, I started getting the so called positive feel towards life, but still there were lots of ifs & buts.
An Uncertain mind questions a lot: Yes I had loads of questions appearing in my mind. If I get into the Coaching Institutes (worst Case), I will have to forfeit my 8 years of Sales/IT experience & convincing people during the B-School interview or the next interview in an IT firm is going to be extremely difficult.
If I convert Company X, then I will be happy to an extend that I will be in the IT industry, but my brand value goes for a toss.
I was confused, scared , worried & what notI said to myself, "Beggars don't have Choice"
That night I went out for a drink. Over the drink, I started thinking as to how to make this worst situation into a better / best situation. Now getting a dream Job or even the rescue Job is not in my hands. But CAT is definitely in my Hands.
Something flashed in my mind, "Anyways my Current employer is not going to look at my performance, so why to worry about performance in the office at all?".
So the next day I called up my TL & told him that I need time for searching a Job & will be irregular to office. Even he said Ok. From that day, I started being irregular to office ie 1 day in a week to office & 4 days at home preparing for Cat, 2 days part time teaching..This was my life for the next one month or so..
October 12: miracles do happen
This I never believed in. But, it actually happened. I never trusted consultants. But a consultant actually fixed an Interview call with one of the world famous Engineering Software Company. Interview went well & mind started dropping Company X/Coaching Institutes & started praying/expecting this Job.
Four rounds of Interviews. Every interview lasted for 2-3 hours. With every Interview, I had to hide my feelings, learnt the art of hiding my desperation. Except but Hopes & Prayers, I wasn't sure about the next sunrise ie what is in store, the next day.
October 23: First Offer-Company X released its preliminary offer which was humiliating as they gave a 2% hike over my Last salary . In a way I was happy that I got a reason to reject Company X's offer as the other company's offer was expected by next day morning..
Mock Results till then:
AIM906: 91.74%ile
AIM905: 95.61%ile
AIM904:97.19%ile
AIM903:93.07%ile
CL
MOCk1: 66.36
M0CK2:96.06
MOCK3:90.32
MOCK 4 idnt appear
MOCK5: 80.13
MOCK6: 99.30
MOCK7:95.73
MOCK8:97.02
MOCK9:93.77
MOCK10: 99.73
October 24: One of the Happiest days of my Life
Received the Offer of the other company with a 70% hike & a better role. Also they had a plan to send me to the US on Dec 7th for a training followed by a trip to Mexico on January 31.
Resigned my Job that day.
Night 8 PM: The joy & happiness were yet to sink, I got the next heart attack.
The Company X HR called me & started blasting me left right centre, saying that there were some obscene mails, which have come from my ID & she is going to escalate the same. I tried convincing her saying that Iam a genuine person & someone has hacked my email account , also having sort an opportunity with Company X, no person with common sense will do such a third rated thing & that too given my marital status & my responsibilities. I tried hard to prove my innocence. Even she hanged the phone down as ifshe has understood that Iam genuine & did as she said.
October 30:I came back to office after the Diwali vacation. Saw a mail from Company X saying that the offer has been withdrawn. I was feeling "OK. Now I needn't have to feel sorry for saying a No to the people who came for my rescue by offering me a role"
My Manager called me over a coffee & told me that Company X's legal has asked my Company's legal to take some action against me else they wanted to take route 2, which was filling an FIR with the Police.
The Earth under me had slipped by then. My legal cell replied saying that they cant take any action against me as the next day was my last working day.
Whole night I couldn't sleep. So many things came into my mind. With just 16 days to go for the exam. Mind was screwed up totally.Mind was totally Void & thoughts of CAT had disappeared by then.
October 31: Met the Legal Cell head & he knew me personally.Had a lengthy talk & he told me what can be Company X's next move & the repercussions. It was scarifying to say the least.Heart was throbbing at 100+ beats a minute.
Sat at the smoking zone, thinking what needs to be done. Garnered all my courage & energy to prove my innocence. Called up the DGM legal of Company X. He was reluctant to talk to me in the beginning, but I pleaded him to hear my version. He started hearing & as we spoke for about 20 minutes, he appreciated my courage & admitted that I might be innocent & he said he will try his level best to protect me & will recommend to the HR not to proceed any further.
The emotions were evident from the results
AIMCAT 902: 87%ile
MocKCAT11: 76%ile
November 2: Truth always wins
My friend who recommended me at company X called me up to say that the HR had decided to drop the case.
That minute I was happy/relieved to say the least.
The 2 by gone months had thought me so many things & had made me much more stronger.Before every CAT something had to happen & for this year, this is what has happened, but this time I could handle it..
There was a period, when I had lost my Job. Almost for 2 months I was at home with out proper salary. I had learnt cooking by then. I was blamed for something, which I would not even have thought in my weirdest dreams. Still I could survive that 2 months with Just one feel,"Even this will change, I need to believe that its all passing clouds". Rather I told this to rik_12, Soham & Greenspan that if everything goes well this situation would be a blessing in disguise.
On September 12th I told rik exactly these words & , " I should get an offer after Oct 16, so that I can join by Nov 17th after CAT".
Except but the spine chilling experience with Company X, everything happened as planned.
Started waiting for my Birthday errrrr my D-Day.
Soham/ rik were there for me in this period to ensure that I come out of the shocks & get ready for the D-day. My mentor (Soham) helped me to keep my mind away from CAT & rik prepared my mind ensuring that I treat CAT 2008 as AIMCAT 900.
AIMCAT 901: 96.19%ile
MOCK12: 99.81%ile
The season ended with an AIR 12. So it was all set.
November 15, 2008
One of my ex-colleagues called me to say that he has a friend who is physically challenged, who has difficulty in talking, walking, writing & what not L. He also added that, he is trying to crack CAT for the past 3 years & needs some motivation as it is D Day the next day, & asked if I can please talk to him. I said "OK".
His friend called me. His voice was shacking, for sometime it was very difficult for me to comprehend, but his emotions, yes I could understand even the unsaid.
Whenever he said, 3-4 of us (Physically challenged) prepared together, tears started rolling down . I motivated him to the extend I knew, but to be frank I was motivated looking at his determination.
We are nothing infront of these special children rather the GOD's own kids.
These feelings have been haunting me since then..

This Post is not to gain any sympathy J.The Incidences mentioned here were all written on the same dates on which they happened..
This post is all about some facts which many of us would have faced. This is just a post for people who want to say Let me give up. Things around me are bad. I cannot focus on one more struggle called CAT. This CAT has ruined my Life badly.
Some of us might also think, why this guy is writing all personal stuff here. Believe me, this is just to let some of our friends help themselves with handling all other issues in life along with CAT.
Well, there was a movie which got released in 2000, the theme of the movie is that, the hero tries to become a music director & till the climax he keeps trying...
One classic dialogue, which I liked in that movie is as follows:-
Heroine's Dad: Mr.Hero, Decide between my daughter & your Music Director dream..
Hero: When somebody offers a toffee, a kid will go to him/her, but 2 minutes later, the kid will search for its mom & starts crying if the other person stops...
Where am I directing you now using the above dialogue....You will understand by the end of this post...
XLRI chucked me without offering me a seat, 10 minutes I was speechless as my arrogance of a sure shot convert was thrashed...But there was this usual stupid feel, CAT 2008.....here I come...
But what the heck...How many more years..No No No..No more CAT...This is the end of the so called emotion, dream, exam called CAT...
5th April:The day we had the south India PG meet..After couple of drinks, Soham, Hameed & Raghu (Obsessed about MBA), took me aside & started asking "Why not CAT again?".I was thoroughly confused, I kept on saying " no no..Not anymore ...Soham didnt leave me, till evening he was talking only about this..I drove back with a heavy heart...Heart saying Yes for CAT & mind saying "No"
May 1 2008:CAT final results were out and I was in Mumbai, when the results were declared, Soham was desperate reaching me....SMS, SMS , SMS.."Bhai kahaan ho, mera C convert hogaya..hurray"..This is what it read, as soon as I switched on my phone after the flight landed at the Mumbai Airport..Second SMS from Mac..C converted..Immediately called up everyone, I could feel their happiness actually getting transferred to my heart.
By end of the day, I was happy to know that my best buddies have converted one call or the other IIM calls they had,
Soham: CLIK
Anir: ACLIK
Nithin: K
Mac: CLIK
JustLikethat (Manish): BLIK
Eshnil: L
Viggy123: LIK
most importantly
Harshad: LIK...
I was very very happy, at the same time there was this uneasy feeling of me loosing out & it started spreading inside my mind & heart..Yet again, heart started saying "CAT, CAT,CAT"...Couldnt decide, kept quite....
End of May 2008: This is the same time I was working on the Laptop deal for the fresh batch, so I had to meet the IIM student council guys repeatedly & most of the times at IIMB..This time mind along with heart started saying CAT CAT CAT...Every now & then this feel started eating me & every phone call from my friend updating me about their admission status, fee payment, laptop, train reservation etc etc..started dragging me towards CAT ......
Soham on the day he reached Calcutta, called me to say how he was feeling travelling towards IIMC (Anir too was with him"..For whatever he said, I replied "I can understand that", but out of the blue one line came out of my mouth.."Will I ever get this feel, Soham"..Soham caught this line & said " Bhai, Between Will I ? & I will its just one shuffling which is needed & its in the faith you carry..You are giving CAT"...
I was 100% convinced..I DECIDED TO Go on..
Now, I didnt want to reveal it to any one,...One clear thing, I understood was more than Hardwork CAT requires luck, more than an exam CAT has become an unpredictable game & so on..So I really didnt had enough reasons to give CAT except but the fact that it is an unfullfilled dream...
But eventually told about my decision to my best buddies...From there the Journey started...
Joined the mock series (TIME) along with amrutesh..
Mock History so far;
920-96.5%
919-98.5
918-99.54
917-95.32
916-75 :-(
915-97.3
914-88.98
913-99.75
August 10, 2008:
This was the most crucial day, when I went about screwing a Mock very badly...Concentration went for a toss, Time management went for a toss..Did every possible thing to screw this Mock.
I was humiliated, when I came to know that my students have beaten me comfortably by miles.
I was hurt to say the least.Soham called me & enquired about the mock..After listening to the comedy, he started laughing sarcasstically..Sinchan was screaming..
August 11, 2008:
Got up with a fresh mind. Decided to go the 2006 way..Preparing hard..
Sat down & jorted a plan...
Percentiles were out & it hit the lowest of this season
912: 69%ile
Had a decent Mocks from here on with scores moving out of the MAC graph
911: 93.5%ile
910: 96.5%ile
909:98.97%ile
September 9, 2008: Dad's Birthday & my Death Day...
I was very happy on September 9th morning, It was my Dad's Birthday. The person whom I admire the most in the world. The happiness just existed for a while, before I reached the office. The moment I stepped in my TL called me & said, " lets sit down for a meeting". It was pretty unusual for me because, every half an hour I keep updating him about the developments though in an informal way. My mind started hinting that something is horribly wrong.
We sat for the so called meeting at 7.30 PM..
My TL started asking for the performance report & then he started the long speech which shook the earth below me..
"Well Prem, Report is OK, but we feel that you lack the passion in life. We are actually surprised, how come a person with your experience can lack the Multitasking Capabilities. You dont fit into this transaction business rather you might shine in the presales role/ Software Sales role. You are a Cultural Mismatch"
I asked directly, "Is there something, you wanted to communicate, if so, say it straight"
My TL replied with a stiff voice, "Look out for a Job & do let me know, if you need any help in that"
I dont know what was passing through my heart, was it the uncertainity about the future or the humiliation, I didnt know..
With a feel of a death blow I said, " Shall we end the meeting?"
That night, I was totally drunk..I called up Greenspan at 12.00 which was very unusual. He said " haan bhai, bhol, kya hua?" I said "Dont talk, I wanna cry'..I didnt allowed him to talk & I kept on crying .After 1o minutes , I told him what has happened..He tried consoling me, but I was beyond the stage of getting consoled..Yet again, the feel about Life going to be screwed started haunting me..
September 10, 2008: Boss says "Bye Bye"
I couldnt believe what I heard was true. I wanted to speak to my Boss on this & my Boss too parroted the samething..He started talking to me as if it was my last working day, wishing me all the best for my next job.
I didnt had an option except but saying "Thank You Sir'.
Politics has did what could do to me. My TL was due for a promotion & my TL wanted me to learn all the skills (in 7 months) which he had learnt in the past 7 years of his stay. When I couldnt do so, they wanted to look at somebody else and oust me out though I had acheived 97% of my target in 4 months & with balance 3% in 2 months to go...
908: 80.78%ile..

Its "success" (maybe after meticulous preparation or rise from ashes type) which has been the theme of inspirational stories
all thorugh this "sacred thread".I feel my failure (although on this day , I am yet to have confirmed any admission offer -
with final results to be declared although I am almost sure of making through the waitlists (thanks again to the domicile
quota for Orissa candidates in XIMB) can be even more inspiring about what all can go wrong - to the point of frustration and
even desperation.
I know this is "save it for blog" stuff - but PG - rather this "holy thread"...i simply could not stop myself :D...here it
goes...

Story before -

Decent enough grades till graduation (84.4% in CBSE Xth, 80.2% in 10+2), and joined Mechanical Engg in the "elite" "pedigree"
"Oldest Engineering College" of Orissa - UCE, Burla (inception year 1956) , I thought it was quite an achievement. Although
I joined Mechanical stream(year 2002), still the appeal of "MIT phenomena" (Male - IT engineer - this was and even today is
predominant phenomenon in Orissa prompted me to be sincere enough to keep my "MIT" option open by changing my branch to
either Electrical or Electronics. I did that with my scores in 1st & 2nd sems (again achievement no.2 - actually those who
had changed our streams on the basis of sem scores had a sort of 'rockstar' aura around them - and I was no exception, I
clung to that feeling). Planned for GATE exams , thought it would be a cakewalk.When 3rd sem i realised how much depth i had
about my courses. I didnt ever cross the 70% mark barrier after 3rd sem till 8th (consistently scoring in 63-68% range
whatever be my approach).These semester results provoked me to rethink about GATE plans, by 5th sem I had shunned the GATE
idea completly...so what to do now then (i didnt knew since when, but that had been a subconscious urge in me that atleast I
will definitely have a Master's degree, maybe family was the main motivator here, but it had been assumed and inherent all
through)

Prep Stage -

Started off with CAT preparations by end of 4th semester, purchased those Abhijit Guha, Arun Sharma, M K Pandey (Banking
Reasoning book) and subscribed to B&M; chronicle . Looks picture perfect. Now comes the loopholes - it was full time
residential college, so hostel life is pretty cluttered (although the best enriching phase of anyone's career - same for me
too). Make a routine, follow it for a day and flunk it the very next. Smoke and booze sessions fill up most of the timetables
- bunking course classes, messing up assignments, additional memory devices - everything that can be expected from hosteliers
(many puys would concur with me on this).
But whatever be the 'masti' factor, I was determined to bell the CAT - atleast more determined than many of my batchmates
with whom I shared those booze and smoke sessions. Scattered look at those chapters of the books (it was sort of a 'nobel
prize' to solve couple of LOD 3 problems chosen by someone else after a booze/smoke session) , casual reading of magazines,
even at times I was addicted to novels (thinking it would improve my RC skills), thought freecell & solitaire to be better at
improving reasoning skills than any book - I had my own way of preparing - nothing systematic - no regularity - but I was to
'bell the CAT'.Seniors making through the IIMs were 'demigods' to me. I simply dreamt about myself in the same status
(sometimes these were day dreams, sometimes hallucinations under 'smoky' influence).
By start of 2005, I was almost done with my prep books (I thought it so). Purchased some old second hand TIME & IMS materials
by Jan- Feb and showed the same sincerity level with my huge collection of materials (I was proud that I had the whole prep
material at my disposal - and this was enough to push me into the IIMs - forgetting completely how messy was my sincerity
with all those prep books).July- Aug 2005 CAT notifications out - bells started ringing - now I carried these TIME/IMS stuff
to classroom and started rather showed off solving them there - escaping our prof's eyes. Naturally I shouldnt be hoping my
sem scores to improve, rather thought CAT to compensate all my disgrace.

"Goof-Ups"

Here I missed another interesting mis-preparation aspect - TIME people were conducting Mock tests in college classrooms, I
made it a point not to attend them ever (I did save some 3000 bucks - but I was of the belief that I can score more than
anyone else who appeared for those Mocks) - this I would now say was my biggest mistake rather cardinal sin - but then I used
to think this as my "confidence".
Nov - CAT 2005 - around 60 attempts - I didnt know then there was something like section cut offs - overall cutoffs -
nothing. I had been preparing my own CAT. When I came out one of my friends Somesh (he was another CAT..err MBA fanatic - he
was determined ,of course not my type determination but in real sense, to join a b-school in 2006) talked to me about the
sectional attempts, what could be the possible cut -offs - it was like I was listening to 'rocket science stuff in Chinese'.
Further prodding revealed the facts about sectional /overall cutoffs.Then I realised the importance of prospectus' details.
Still I had fared well enough by my standards. Although didnt expect any IIM calls still expected it to be around 96-97 odd.
I had applied to MDI, NITIE, IMT & SPJIMR by then (next best insti to IIMs). CAT result out - final score 95.36 % - pathetic
in VA section though(something around 40s-50s). QA & DI were decent (around 95 in each section). I thought I scored in my
strength Quant Section (this was actually a self created demon which would destroy me later).
I got GD/PI calls from IMT, but could just crawl through - confirmed HR.But I had a strong bias against HRs (maybe repeated
rejection in campus selection interviews ignited this bias) - whatever be the reason I didnt join IMT- HR.

"Catch up period"

April-May 2006 - My engineering honeymoon period was over (mandatory 4 years with no back papers - thanks to my booze/smoke
sessions that destroyed all my sincerity with studies - helped India increase its unemployed 'qualified' youth poulation) -
but I knew that I had to crack CAT - maybe the magical thought itself kept the hopes alive in me. Till June 2006 - I thought
to stay back at home, prepare hard for a year and get through the ivy league insti. but then who would accept a engineer who
had been doing nothing for a year but just preparing for stuff that he had learnt during school days - but those answers i
would seek once i get the GD/PI calls - i thought so then. I was into serious preparation - May - June 2006 - joined coaching
institute at Bhubaneswar itself, got myself completely into CAT prep mode - then I realised what all I had goofed in those
prep books that I thought I had completed earlier. I hadnt even had a complete look of all varieties that a lesson posed.
Anyway better late than never I thought. By June end 2006 I was done with all those prep books purchased two years earlier
(this time i had a real feel of the lessons). But now what? The coaching inst materials neednt be read all day - I realised I
was wasting my time - literally wastage of time devoting whole day for CAT.
July 2006 - I moved out to Bangalore - to atleast try for job, i neednt make any excuses atleast in PI stage.CAT 2006 being
the target - again joined full time classroom course with TIME (not sure what affinity with TIME folks) in Bangalore and
started applying for Job interviews.By september I was through - got a job in an Indian IT company "Wipro Technologies"- my
plan of MIT was successful now - but there was a catch - my joining date got delayed by 3 months - December mid . CAT 2006 in
Nov. With having secured something - I went back to my messy ways - same hanging around, boozing, missing the TIME coaching
classes (but religiously collecting TIME materials on schedule).
Expectedly CAT 2006 - pathetic 78.XX percentile - but atleast something paid off this time - XAT 2007 - made it through for
XIMB (Orissa domicile after all) & GIM...could convert none of them. But thought that picture isnt as bad - I still have a
job , can try it once more

"CAT 2007"

Did quite well enough in job - couple of awards, customer appreciations - onsite assignment - it was all happening for me.
"But I had to crack CAT" - only Mock Tests - AIMCATs (same TIME folks - they have earned quite few bucks from my failures).
Same project pressure, meetings, code issues, incident /problem tickets (run-of-the-mill excuses , I never fell short of
them) - in spite of these excuses - MOCK TESTS. Regular in attending AIMCATs (used to score around 90-95 range whichever
tactic I tried) - but "consistently fickle" in analysing the Mocks. I never used to give a second look at the mock tests
after those 2.5 hrs. But it was sort of a 'ego' issue now - "I had to make into the ivy league inst.".
CAT 2007 was bound to be no different with such messy effort, in fact left for the onsite assignment on C-Day itself (Nov
18. Excitement of first overseas trip, 3rd shot at CAT - all happening on the same day. I thought I did well enough - even
had no ime to discuss the paper with friends - finally by the time I was back after 2.5 mnths CAT was out - I had no idea
till then about my expected percentile range - absolute blank. Hadnt applied anywhere else - only IIMs. Results finally out -
94.36 percentile.
Thought that "providence has something huge in store for me" - I am meant for IIMs - maybe next time - even I have a couple
of colourful feathers of Onsite work-experience up my sleeves, should be a cakewalk if I give another sigh at CAT 2008

"CAT 2008"

From Feb I had made up my mind, that this year (for 2009-2011) I "will" make it through. But same story again - AIMCATS with
TIME . 5 days of work 9 AM to 8 PM at office, 8:30 PM to 11 PM TV,complete sleep, friday night
booze, saturday - magazine, movies (or occasional look at lessons/formulae - whatever came in my grip) - this was in brief
summary of the routine I had been following.
But "I will crack CAT" - whatever be my activities, I will make it big on C-Day , I will perform couple of notches better
than I do with Mock tests.
All through the Mock Tests and even in the exam hall, I always start off with QA (i feel its a disgrace as engineer to have
something else as strength section) - but due to the same "mental block" I fare pretty awful in QA section, while perform
exceptionally well in VA section (be it CAT, XAT - all through I have never scored less than 90 percentile in any VA section
in CAT or XAT - prompting me to believe that first attempt CAT 2005 VA score maybe was an aberration) . Now not that VA is my strength, even till date I think QA is my strength - but performance shows something
else. There has been simply no resurrection till date - I consistently repeat same mistakes each time, I appear each exam
with the same bias/prejudice.
Finally Nov 16 2008, my performance was no different from the mocks - but with the "mock effort" i wasnt cracking CAT, I
tried something different "guesswork". I attempted 5 VA questions with "blind guesses" - 'RAM, LAKHAN, SITA type' - all 5 of
them were wrong. Checked performance with few tutorials' , I was getting in the range of same 90-95 percentiles "wondered the
story might have been bit brighter, had I not tried "something different""...but I was strong willed - its enough now,
whichever inst i get through, I am definitely going for it this time. Enough is enough. This was my fourth attempt, I was
getting impatient at the same CAT stuff (well words arent enough to describe impatience - many puys would have gone hrough
the same themselves)
Applied for a couple of inst in the 90-95 percentile range (final score CAT 2008 93.66 percentile). Screwed up IIFT big time,
thought JMET went well enough (until results said I had not qualified), thanks to Orissa domicile quota in XIMB - XAT score
of 91.66 percentile also gave me a GD/PI call.
Finally gd/pi calls from IMT (nagpur), TAPMI, MICA, SIMSR and XIMB - nothing spectacular performance in any of them - but
neither bad ones.
Now confirmed with IMT (N), Waitlisted with XIMB , rest results awaited.
Almost confident of getting through XIMB, i value this much much more- it means a lot to me. I couldnot correct my
flaws/habits - inspite of which I made it through, i certainly feel I have acheived something "finally got rid of this CAT
stuff" - my routines are my own "no more section bias, no further mocks" - its all over this time - finally.

Guys after so much of "pakaoing" strict no-no 'learning from my failures' , all this shouldnt be done ever -

1)Never mess up your schedules - fun is part of life - not the complete picture - right word would be "DISCIPLINE"
2)Too much preparatory material isnt an asset - rather practising whatever one has is the most important
3)Never take the Mocks lightly - these are actual confidence builders, and its where the real preparation bears fruit
(atleast it gives one a chance to 'fail' - which the real CAT doesnt)
4)Regarding CAT sections, never have any prejudice/bias for any section - all sections can be equally rewarding, equally easy
- never does one get kudos for proving one to be strong - its bottomline "CAT score" which matters
5)Never flunk your priorities - setting and identification of priorities is the foremost aspect
6)Its never late, impatience isnt going to help - work out what you want, rather than compromising what you get
7)Finally never never never evr make any wild guesses , calculated guesses after elimination of options is fine (but that
wont work with CAT now coming with 5 options per Q).

Enough of "bakar" now PUYs...do PM me your comments/groans whatever you feel...

Post deleted

Well!
That was a terrific post Chandoo.....
But..er........that raises the BIGGEST question!
Is it really necessary to prepare for CAT?
Am no kidding here guys.......
Its been my belief that CAT is just an aptitude test and it requires no preparation!

All CAT does is test your 'basic' language and analytical skills.A majority of us would be able to answer most of the questions if given infinite time.So CAT just puts one under 'pressure' because you have 150 questions to answer in 120 mins.In a way,CAT just simulates the working condition one might face when he/she becomes a manager.So CAT does nothing but assess an individual's potential to work as a manager!So why prepare for it?

Again,look what happens when you prepare....(There are people who prepare for 2 years or even more!Please!Am not trying to demean their efforts in anyway!).......When you prepare for an aptitude test like CAT,you are continuously pushing youself to become something that you are actually not. You might even crack CAT.......but believe me!its not the 'real you' who has cracked it......you may not be able to reproduce such a result at all times!For those 2 hours you had 2 years of preparation.......you WILL NOT have 2 years to prepare for every two hours in your work as a manager!Preparation can only create a pseudo-aptitude to crack CAT on that day.....nothing more!It infact spoils the chance to assess ones 'real' aptitude!

So.......DONT PREPARE!

Btw,..... I got calls from ACLIK.........n i did not prepare for CAT.Absolutely nothing more than the 2 hours i spent taking the test.

Well!I would love to read the responses!

Rajesh

i agree.. just quoting this post, bcos this has some truth it...

DONT prepare might be a misleading advice.. but i feel that if our basics in maths and english are good, then we need not prepare to crack the CAT ...


IIMs are conducting CAT to pick those candidates with good aptitude and emotional quotient.. only if our preparation helps us to improve our aptitude and thinking ability, it will help..

i see a lot of ppl just putting loads of hours in solving Qs .. they say they want to increase their speed or accuracy.. i think thats immaterial.. what matters is the improvement in their thought process.. inspite of so much preparation, whats the use in getting damn tensed during the exam?? cant those nerds PREPARE TO STAY COOL AND CALM?? being too serious abt "preparing" for cat, only leads to disasters in most cases.. IMHO, our basic ability and character influences our CAT scores more than the "preparation" for it..

Hello ppl..
Not sure how much of this post will help people but I wanted to put forward my view so be it :D
My Journey towards an MBA degree began with CAT 2006 and ended with CAT 2008. No i wasnt successful in securing an IIM seat and yes I did get into a tier 2 B School (as they call it). Yes I am NOT going to NMIMS Mumbai which conducts an exam which can be called a light hearted imitation of a math textbook and wren n martin put together ...(it really is puys so dont laugh) . And yes after having got 97.56 % in CAT 2008 and converted IMT G and IMI D i am taking up IMT G and not NMIMS...

But there my friend...the story ends. And here's where my 'All i wanted to say about CAT' begins..
As a person who is now out of the race, I can tell u quite accurately tell u what happened and how i did it. Lets begin objectively.

What i Did :
- I studied too much. I mean I had office for about 10 hrs everyday and den i used to come home and hit the material for 4 - 5 hrs. ALso, during the busrides to and fro, I used to solve papers. This went on pretty much for 4 months.
- I started expecting too much. Some of this prep paid off in the mocks and I started getting 98 above regularly. Quant i used to ace along with DI. VA wud be variable. On an average 85% above wud be my VA %ile.
- I started getting tense. WIth Great Expectations came tension. Killer in this situation.
- I wanted to finish too much too fast. I had finished 90% of the TIME material (except the test papers at the last). And i kept on goin till september. Fallacy - Revision and coolin of nerves not done :(

Result - DI screwed in CAT. 73.4x %. No IIM, MDI, NITIE SPJAIN etc etc etc....
Well, this is where i guess i start the real part of this so called essay.

Puys - remember 1 thing very carefully. A school doesnt make u or break u. Yes it does give u an 'initial' edge over others by the brand image, but then that is all. Having been in the industry for measly 18 months but having interacted with ppl from IIM C grad working in Hong Kong, IIMA grad workin in Mumbai, NM grad workin in Mumbai, IMT senior frm my college (NIT Allahabad btw) I reached a conclusion - derived from all what they said. At the end of the day, all that matters is whether ur able to deliver the goods. If ur a Product manager, r u able to meet the demands of the customer frm the product and incorporate it in the product for better sales ? If a financial manager, r u able to crunch those numbers and come up with good assesments of investment opportunities for ur clients (just one of the thousand jobs)..
the answer to these questions is of paramount importance. the brand, image and all that, cease to exist.
Cuz, just think about it - the books r the same, the content the same, the principles taught the same, the problems t solve in the industry - same.....
Hence the only thing that matters is how well u grasp the situation and act accordingly - how well u manage. And believe me puys, at this age (average age of 23 of all MBA aspiants and 1st yrs) its pretty difficult to un learn and relearn anything. By this age, ur thinking process and analytical thnking and reasoning have matured. U r what u r mentall by 23 or 24. SO from now its WHO U R that matters.....the MOST.

yes it does matter where ur from...cuz lets face it. If half of indian industry is from IIT/IIM or both then they wud certainly go for their juniors - cuz they knw that if they were gud their juniors wud be good too...
But then, that is where it ends. After that, after the 'creamy layer' has been recruited and the 'tier 2' ones r recruited too, there begins that fight - for which ONE HAS TO BE PREPARED. this test is even more difficult than any exam (CAT is like child'splay if u think of it). Cuz in this test, u r tested on ur ability to slog ur ass off, ability to think and analyze, and ability to present and communicate - OVER A PERIOD OF TIME.

This is what we shud be prepared for. the exams ? naaaaah. they come n go....like the rain every year.
But eventual success - that eventual seat as the CEO, MD, Chairman. - that wud remain longer.....the memory wud last longer....the sweet taste of success wud last longer....

Here's wishing that all PUYS reading this and the ones not reading this turn out to be the next bright face of the Indian Industry.
All the best !!!
U better be good.....cuz am competing

The theory of asymmetric information in economics hinges on the fact that economic transactions are often carried out between parties where one party is better informed than the other.

A person applying for a job knows exactly what his capabilities are and how intelligent he is but in order to make sure that his employer has the same information as he does he has to provide a credible signal of his intelligence, dedication and perseverance. The ability to sit through three years of lectures embodied in a degree is a signal of endurance even if it doesnt actually increase your productivity or intelligence it signals to a company that you have the ability to work hard.

Only those who find it easiest to give up an extra hour of TV and devote their time to their books get the higher grades and hence convey to the interviewer their ability of working hard.

The best known signal in todays day and age is an MBA. To obtain this stamp of an MBA one has to take the CAT. This is where my question lies: is it necessary that those who find it easiest to tick the right answers in CAT are those who should be recruited by firms as they are good managers?

My story is not one of hard work but one of luck. CAT was a rather easy deal for me given that I have an engineer from IIT for a father (and thus maths flows through my blood) and a gold medalist in English for a mother (VA came naturally too).This does not mean that I did not need to work at all for CAT- I worked and I worked hard its just that it was easier for me.

So, this brings me to a question I was asked in a mock interview: You were well prepared for CAT but are you well prepared for an MBA? The answer is I really dont know.

Which brings me to the other aspects of luck which have helped me get this far:

1. A nice addition of 5 marks to my DI score from God only knows where..attempted 9 questions with one mistake for sure and got 36 marks-just enough for an A call.
   
2. A man who was sitting next to me on the metro while I was solving a geometry question who snatched the paper from me coz he was frustrated that I was not being able to crack the question he solved the question explained it to me and got off at the next stop-without me being able to say thank you. The important point here is that something conceptually very similar appeared in the actual CAT paper.
   
3. A lady I met on the bus who looking at the CAT material in my hand started asking about the exam, my college, etc. and finally ended up telling me that her son went to IIM-A, was from the same college as me and that IIM-A was the best place ever. Her exact words were beta wahaan jaa kar life ban jaati hai.This did not help me per se but it sure was a sign.
   
4. The fact that the IIM-A crieteria changed to incorporate school marks-would have never made it had his not happened.
   

The point I am trying to make here is that I was plain lucky and that I am well aware that in exchange for this happiness I will have to pay a price later on in life.

Even after I gave it my best shot, some amount of tweaking up there has definitely helped. For those of you who have been hurt by similar tweaking I want to say that some other tweaking some other day will definitely work in your favour.

Coming back to what I started with, I have seen a large number of people on this site and this thread treating CAT as an end in itself. My perspective differs greatly from most of you (perhaps because I am too young) and for me CAT is just one stepping stone. If I fumble on this route I am sure there is another route to get to the same place though that route may be tougher and more painful but it exists.

My luck may wear out now and I may not get through A but the journey has been an interesting one. To those who make it : remember that on some other day you may not have and to those who dont : on some other day you may have got through. J

Well Abhisekh,
For people who think & feel that its easy to advice than to follow, read my earlier posts in the same thread & wait for my this year's all I want to speak about CAT post to understand
Believe me, you haven't lost anything till you are alive.

Hi Prem bhai thanks for such a wonderful and inspiring reply.
i am also undergoing the same situation as abhishek.....i am sick of my job want to get out of it.. i screwed the calls which i had got this year..and also the girl i like is leaving the company as she got admit in FMS...I was really depressed..but my friends helped me come to terms....... but i believe that i have what it takes to be a BLACKI and have decided to give CAT another shot... Next year i will surely write my success story on this thread.


p.s Sorry i may have violated the rules by posting here .But just wanted to share some of my feelings.

I had always dream to convert a biggy and post here...the sacred thread....but here is a total failure story of an idiot...why I'm posting here then? to motivate myself to go for one more try...to recollect myself and give my 100% one more time...
So here it goes:
now here I sit infront of you...waiting for IIT-B...I have given so many sleepless nights to my family...to all my friends....am jobless...don't know if I should go for it 1 more time? start hunting for job that seems to be a painful process? What if IIT-B accepts? It's no doubt a great b-school...But should i give 1 more shot? What if IIT-B rejects? What will I say to my girl's parents who are ringing her everyday with new offers of guys having 10L packages? If I've messed up my life so badly do I deserve to be a manager? I'm just an emotional fool who had fought really hard...can I do it 1 more time? I am totally clueless at this moment...crahed yet again....
I wish to thanks Banglaore dream team(esp shabadp and rssriram84) for supporting me...and BBBT...it was a pleasure being a part of the team...

I'll update my post with the final result and the final decision I take...

Well Abhisekh,
Let me just remind you of a few instances from your life which may help you in deciding, what is best for you...
Hope you remember those mock CATs in which you scored 99.9X scores when most of us fumbled & struggled to cross 95%ile. Hope you remember the day, when you left your ex organisation & still told me with conviction that,"Bhaiya, I have full faith that situation (life) will change".
Hope you remember the day, when you gave CAT, you know that you havent done well. From then, till you got your IIFT results, you were very sure about giving CAT 2009.
Hope you remember, what you told me/planned regarding the Job front. You deciding to take up part time/full time teaching Job..
Now coming to the part, I have underlined..
Do you really think that "you played a role in messing up your life". No my friend, not at all.
When your employer wanted you to leave, was it your mistake?.No dear..its a mistake of someone else which you are bearing.
When you didn't do well in the exam after having prepared so hard, do you think its your mistake... No, if you haven't prepared hard, then you must blame yourself. But having prepared so hard & having inculcated such a vast knowledge, today did you forget that you are already teaching a person with some disability?
Now coming to your personal life, Iam no one to comment. But as an elder brother, I hope its my responsibility to suggest/advice you something here. Now, for sure, your girl friend would also know what you are undergoing, she would also know, it will take sometime for you to reshape your own life. Having understood this, even you need understand that, in a marriage, two souls decide together. If she feels, she can wait for you, support you, help you by convincing her parents, and feel yourself as a blessed soul as you have got an understanding partner. If she doesn't, don't blame her. End of the day its her life, she has 100% rights to decide her life.Inspite she deciding to support you, GOD forbid if you cant marry her, just believe that its not written in your fate. Iam sure, everyone on this earth in his/her lifetime would have gone through atleast one love failure. That's life, accept it.
Having read the above lines, tell me where did you go wrong. Failures are a part of life. At times, we are so blessed, yes I repeat we are so blessed, that we face adversities, we get too many problems to solve at a time. That's when, we need to thank GOD for having given us such situations. If not these problems, what will help us to understand ourselves better.Thats when our mind works faster and better, always pushing us to find solutions to the problems. Once you successfully come out, look back at your past, you feel the sense of satisfaction, that you could handle even such worst things, the true sense of living.
You are not a fool my dear. Like any winner, you are tested, whether you can travel that extra mile to become extraordinary.There are so many, here in PAGALGUY, who have travelled that extramile, to achieve success & thereby setting example. You would have also met people, who struggle & strive for the so called success in life. Let me bring SUMANTH as an example here. Even with physical disability, how strog he is, in terms of dreaming about an IIM. You very well know, he is appearing for the 4th time...
As far as IIT results go, I pray GOD that you clear it and accept it. Even after you join IIT, if you heart longs for an IIM admission, go give CAT 2009. GOD forbid if you don't make it, You have your road clear in front of you, CAT 2009. For your survival, as you yourself told me, take up a part time/ full time teaching job & also start searching for a job in your domain.
I could have PMed abhisekh, but I wrote this post keeping some 10s of our friends/ younger brothers who would in a similar situation.
Whenever you face such problems, don't be dejected. Life is all about choices. Its easy to give up. Though its tough to hang on, the success when you meet after sometime would essentially prove you, how strong you are
Believe me, you haven't lost anything till you are alive.

I had always dream to convert a biggy and post here...the sacred thread...

...don't know if I should go for it 1 more time? start hunting for job that seems to be a painful process? What if IIT-B accepts? It's no doubt a great b-school...But should i give 1 more shot? What if IIT-B rejects? What will I say to my girl's parents who are ringing her everyday with new offers of guys having 10L packages? If I've messed up my life so badly do I deserve to be a manager? I'm just an emotional fool who had fought really hard...can I do it 1 more time? I am totally clueless at this ....

You have asked a lot of questions to which no one has the answers. You have also called this a sacred thread. I suggest you give this thread another reading. Then make a decision and put it across to your loved ones.

Ideally I would have PMed you, but I know for sure there are many who are asking the same questions as you. This is for them too.


Rock on!
hameed

I had always dream to convert a biggy and post here...the sacred thread....but here is a total failure story of an idiot...why I'm posting here then? to motivate myself to go for one more try...to recollect myself and give my 100% one more time...
So here it goes:
Cat-06: Was in final year of my college...Had given GRE and had an admit from Denmark university...was ready to pack my bag and leave to denmark...was laughing at my friends who were part of this insane rat race....went to examination hall without even knowing CAT had maths and english in q's...did some timepass...thought to myself that maths was a joke...and verbal was something out of the world....didn't care to even check my results....after all i was flying out of this country....who cares for an MBA? but there was a hitch...i really liked a girl....had proposed...turned down....was trying to just hear a magical YES(she was still my good friend)...tried to convince her to say yes till March-07...before the college would be over...come May-07...i somehow got the reason for denial...she wouldn't consider someone who would be out of India...as her parents, family were here(it's all emotional stuff...but she had a valid point)...i had to decide...to stay back in India...take up a job in a s/w company that I had been placed into...or go to denmark and say bye-bye to my love....i chose the 1st one..
So now i could be considered...but all my career plans had crashed...I had to find a new one....didn't feel like pursuing technical studies in India...so CAT it was....

CAT-07: Serious preps started....
I delayed my joining of company from june to november....Maths seemed easy(yet again failed IIT attempt but strong in maths case)...In Sep-07...I got the YES....the most precious moment of my life.....everything seemed to be working good...scores started improving from 85%ile to 92%ile to 95 to 97 and finally to 99%ile in last 2 mocks....i was pretty confident to have a decent attempt....but finally my weakness...VA...had destroyed me...
QA-99.3, DI-96.x, VA-69.x, OA-98.45%ile
no calls even from MDI or NITIE because of low VA....
Had IIFT call which couldn't convert and rest exams were horrible....

In the mean time I had joined the s/w firm in Nov...Didn't like my job in first place...knew it was CAT-08....my final attempt....

CAT-08: I once again started working hard....analysing mocks properly.....made some friends in banglore who were really good...did group studies...mocks scores were sky rocketing high...even i was surprised to see my scoes...had maintained line of 99.x %iles...it was a flawless performance from my side....the parents of my girl had been pressurising her to marry...which sort of had made this attempt real crucial for me...I was dreaming of asking her hand as an IIM guy(I know it's geeting little bollywood style senti)...Come CAT...everyone...my family,friends had loads of expectations....but final day....i still don't know what happened....VA had very high weightage and it got to my mind...i crashed yet again....i knew this coming out of examination hall....and from my past performance....i knew I won't convert any other exam...had no hopes...
didn't know what to do...plus my job was becoming a nightmare...I hated every moment of it...finally I could bear no more...decided to resign from the job in december....
I fanatically searched for a new job and parallely wrote other exams as well...But there was no one looking for me in a time of recession....Got kicked from many interviews or the jobs were totally useless and I didn't join them...Then results started pouring in...I got IIFT, then NM, then JMET-372 and two biggies XL(99.51 %ile) and FMS both calls...I knew with so many calls..I will convert atleast one good one....stopped hunting for job and started preparing for the interviews..interviews went average with XL-BM going extremely well...
Results came...got dinged from IIFT...was expected...NM waitlisted at a low rank...FMS reject(both MBA and MBA-MS rejects)...but I knew XL was still there...
then came the bomb....XL reject(both BM and PMIR rejects)...not even waitlisted...

now here I sit infront of you...waiting for IIT-B...I have given so many sleepless nights to my family...to all my friends....am jobless...don't know if I should go for it 1 more time? start hunting for job that seems to be a painful process? What if IIT-B accepts? It's no doubt a great b-school...But should i give 1 more shot? What if IIT-B rejects? What will I say to my girl's parents who are ringing her everyday with new offers of guys having 10L packages? If I've messed up my life so badly do I deserve to be a manager? I'm just an emotional fool who had fought really hard...can I do it 1 more time? I am totally clueless at this moment...crahed yet again....
I wish to thanks Banglaore dream team(esp shabadp and rssriram84) for supporting me...and BBBT...it was a pleasure being a part of the team...

I'll update my post with the final result and the final decision I take...

------------------------------------------------------------

updated on 13 May(2009) -
9 calls - 9 rejects. Still hunting for job...seems like won't get one...
am planning to join my family business....let's see...
these are really interesting times...behavior of people has changed a lot(both in +ve sense coz of calls and in -ve sense coz of rejects)...
but most importantly people(my family and friends) close to me have been great support....they have not changed..
and yeah...my girl has given me great support and courage...(she has convinced her parents somehow to wait for one more year..reason given - want to concentrate on career )
I thank God for showing me this day....It has been wonderful(ironic but true!)....
Next update will be in 2010 when results pour in...
Hoping and praying I end my "story" on positive note...
------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick edit on 1st July(2009):
got 2 converts...NM and IIFT-K...good to have some converts finally :D
got a decent job...
it's going to be next yr CAT for me..as promised next update after 2010 season results...
best of luck to all!

Part 2 updated- http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/2933-all-i-wanted-speak-about-58.html#post2675264

Well, my season is officially over now, and i needed some space to vent my reactions. My CAT dreams started when i was in the finishing stages of my second year in college. I don't know what made me decide to pursue CAT. What i remember is that my friend and I started looking at a few CAT problems all of a sudden, and we felt it was our kind of exam. Well, then coaching classes started, my prep started slowly, and as AIMCATs started, and the D-day neared, it got more and more vigorous. My performance in AIMCATs was inconsistent. I had scores ranging from 70s to 99+. I kept putting in more and more work, but was just not able to get the consistency in my performances. At a point, I had to make a decision about whether or not I should apply to top non-IIM institutes(read MDI and NITIE). At that point, I felt that my performance was inconsistent, and I was not confident enough to apply for any of those institutes, for fear that it might go waste. When I look back now, I feel that was a foolish decision and one that i many times regret.
November 16, 2008 was an unforgettable day. It was a day I was restlessly looking forward to for about a week. I was all pumped up, and raring to go. I wrote CAT 2008 calmly and confidently, and the end of the exam, I felt I had done well, though I wasn't confident about my VA answers. I still remember how I went home, waited restlessly for the answer keys, and checked eagerly with every key that was released. On an average, I was expecting 126/360, with a decent spread, and I was expecting about 98.5%le, and a call or 2 from the IIMs.
The evening of January 8, 2009 was unforgettable as well, though it wasn't exactly memorable. CAT results came out. I got 141, 15 marks more than I had expected to get, and an impressive percentile of 99.36, with a lowest sectional of 91.84, and 97+ in the other two sections. The twist was that I had no IIM calls.
It was unbelievable. I had spent two months in hope, anticipation and dreams, only to see them shattered in the end. I could not understand why I had not got even one call. I surely had not missed out any sectional cutoff(as was obvious from the fact that people with lower sectionals than me had got calls), and my overall was big(well atleast I think so). It was hard to take, and it caused me a lot of disappointment and agony.
Eventually, I came to terms with my failure. I realized that my lack of workex and my average CGPA had done me in. Later, I got a call from XIMB, an institute I had applied to through XAT, and wasn't planning to join. But I did want to convert it. But yesterday, the results came out, and I discovered that I had been rejected. That ended a most disappointing first MBA season for me.
Well, CAT means a lot to me. It has given me a clear short term goal, and also taught me a lot of lessons. I have kickstarted my prep for this year's CAT, and hopefully, by the grace of God, I will get into an IIM next year, and write another CAT story, this time with a happy ending.

Hey fellas...I dont know where this thread should go. Moderators, if you think it should be going to another place, please feel free to move it.

Tyrst with CAT.

Well my tyrst with CAT began sometime in July 2003 when my dad went and bought the CAT form and asked me to fill it up. I really did not think there was any chance that I could crack CAT (esp when I had no interest of putting even 1 hour to study) and told him that it was waste of 1000 bucks which I could have put to good use if he had just given it to me.

After my BE, I was placed with TCS in June 2003. By October 2003, I had not opened a single book on CAT preparation. When there was exactly 20 days left to CAT, my roomie suggested "dude, why dont you give it a serious shot. Your dad paid the money. Atleast for his sake....". Next day I xeroxed some IMS CAT test papers from a friend of my mine who was preparing seriously for CAT. She was generous enough to share it. I gave about 20 Mock CATs in the 20 days running upto CAT with my roomie keeping the time for the test and also scoring the marks. This is with no preparation of any addional material.

The D-Day finally arrived. I came out of the exam hall absolutely disgusted that I botched it up so badly. I think I would have scored something like 40 out of whatever no of questions there were there (180 ?). Then I saw the news: "CAT cancelled". I couldnt believe it. Never before and yet it was like God was giving me another chance.

That really spurred me and I decided to prepare seriously. Preparing serioulsy only meant giving 2 mocks a day. In the Feb retest I think I scored 75 correct answers which I knew was enough to get me A. My 10th and 12th were at 90 and 95 % and I was a state Tennis player.

I also confided to my friends, that I am not ready to go to any other B-School but A. Otherwise I would prefer to go abroad and work for a few years and take a US MBA.
When the results were declared, I got just one call. Guess which one ? IIM-A.
It was unbelievable.

I went to the nearest TIME GD center for the next 7 days, I hour a day, to quickly brush up my ability to speak in a group. The one instruction given to me for the next 7 days: "Never speak for more than 30-60 sec and not more than 3 times in a 20 min GD and always speak with a voice which has an authority to it. If need be, start by speaking louder than the rest but bring it down once you have attention". a.Make your point, b.reinforce your point with an exmaple, c.conclude your point. Those were three golden rules to the crack GD. I did exactly that during my IIM-A GD. I think they loved it. The rest of the group just kept on speaking and shouting, literally bursting their lungs,trying to score their points. It was unbelievable how people could miss such a simple trick. Infact one of the GD evaluator was simling at the foolishness of the group in speaking the way they were speaking.

My intereview went ok. I was surpirsingly nervous as earlier I did not even care. But now, I had come this far. One call and no backstops. CAT cancelled, Retaken CAT got me the single call, Great GD and it all boiled to one last hour of un-berable torture. My interviewers (3 profs whom I would come to respect even today) asked some really good questions on economy, financial matters and some critical quesitons on my personality and goals. I think that was the first time I was really tested. I was dead clear on what I wanted. Needless to say the goals and aspiration change once you enter A. You start aiming bigger. This is a fact. The place will transform you. My suggestion: Be prepared on your goals and personal questions as that is what can get you A or send you home. It doesnt matter how much knowledge you have. Infact I clearly remember a blunder I made, when they asked me:"which were the worlds top 3 economies in dollar terms".
They are looking about how much you know about yourself.

Anyways, I cleared it. Infact as I came out, I knew I had cleared it even though I was stressed. It has been 3 years and I cannot believe the contribution that life@A has made to my thinking. Will always remember the day when I told my Dad it is a waste of time.

Hope this helped in you prep and run up to the D-Day.

jatschhabra Says

Well, this is my first post on pagalguy. Never thought that I would be writing my first post with such a grim face and a remorse and grief-stricken heart. But then thats life.

Friend, it needs a strong heart and determination to speak about your grief. Only real men can do that. I believe that even when u were so depressed about your loss and managed 92, its a big deal in itself. That you are passionate about your relationships is an admirable quality and is sure to get you somebody equally good, if not better ahead in life.

That you have posted all about it in a public forum, shows that you have gotten over it and are ready to take all of life's challenges. You have ur parents' blessings.


All the best, bro. and wish you a wonderful life ahead !!! :

People reading: The original post by jats is here : http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/2933-all-i-wanted-speak-about-39.html#post1337658

I dont really know wen my CAT story begins. I had already spent 9 yrs in the Navy. Had always wanted to join the defence forces, so joined immediately after school. But any scope of moving ahead in that career came to an end after an accident in Visakhapatnam in early2008. Woke up with a paralysed right arm and shattered dreams. In May it became clear that my condition is not likely to improve so thought about lookin for another career. Decided to give CAT but the hospital refused to issue a disability certificate. ( some rule that it can only be issued 52 week after the accident in cases of severe neurological trauma). Filled the form anyway. Started practicing writing with my left hand. Was still in the hospital as I had to undergo multiple surgeries. Bought second hand preparation material of TIME. Studying maths after so many years was like trying to learn German. Both my writing and my quant improved steadily. Had always been good in studies so it was just a matter of time. Came out of the hospital in september. Was transfered to a desk job in Delhi. ( could no longer serve on ships ).
Reached the exam venue 2 hours in advance. Had three icecreams and a large pack of wafers. Tried to shut off my mind from the crowd and the noise. When I entered the room I realised that I had made a blunder by always practicing on the large table in the hospital dining hall. Here I was faced with a small school chair with an extension of the armrest acting as the writing area. And on top that all these chairs are made for right handers....which I no longer was. Tried to shut off my mind from my own despair too.
Dont know how many questions I answered. Have not looked at the question paper since then. Never tried to find out the key or compare notes with others that had given the paper. Was holidaying in Manali, celebrating the first anniversary of the day that changed my life when I got the news that I had four calls. BILK. Interviews are over. Went well. Dekhte hain zindagi aage kahan le jaati hai.
Have not really been active on PG so dont know anyone here, but some of you might have been in my group in the GDs. I am the guy with his right arm in the blue sling. Best of luck to every one for the results. And those who couldnt make it this year.........there's always next time.

My story

The beginning : Right from my childhood, my peers, my elders, everybody believed that I was an extremely bright boy with an exceptional IQ. I was very good at maths, physics, and english. When I reached Class XI, I came to believe that people with good IQ are supposed to crack IIT.:nervous:
So I gave a shot at IITJEE without any preparations ... (I was unsure of what I really wanted...and I was very lazy too...) Got an AIR of 4404..wasn't good enough....
I tried 2 more times ...(with better preparation)...my AIR slipped to around 6000 and then to around 9000. I dont know what happened !!! Probably I lost interest in studies !!!:confused:
Engg days: I took admission in Bharati Vidyapeeth...and somehow dragged through my B.Tech IT course.....with just 57%:downwards: I got a job in Cognizant(first company at our campus) I was selected because of my excellent performance in aptitude test...although I didn't had 1st class.

CAT time: Most of my friends were appearing for CAT during my final year engg. They said CAT is THE toughest exam of the world and supposed to be cracked by the brainiest of people. I almost had a sense of deja vu...I felt exactly like my IITJEE days. Although I had no clue about MBA or CAT, I still decided to appear for CAT (CAT '06 OA 96.97 QA 95.27 DI 93.93 VA 90.71). Of couse, I was over-welmed at my performance. Without any preparation at all...I secured a good score, with 90+ in all sections. Most of my friends (who had done full 1 year class room course) couldn't even manage a 90 overall percentile. (Some of friends cursed me for not applying to other non-IIM intitutes or other MBA exams etc)
So I decided ...next time I'll crack CAT for good. I thought ...that with some practice I'd easily score a 99 perecntile and get in IIMA. Next year though, I was totally engrossed in my new environment at Cognizant...but I took some time to get enrolled with Career Launcher's correspondence course. I found the study material very easy....and I felt very confident about CAT. (CAT '07 OA 94.86 QA 87.72 DI 91.54 VA 90.93) I slipped up again...it was as if the ghosts of IIT were haunting me...I dont know what happened..instead of stepping up 2 percentile...i went down from my last attempt. I had lost hope(& was thinking to abandon the idea of any competitive exams for the rest of my life) but one of my friends urged me to give it one more try.(CAT '08 OA 98.85 QA 96.02 DI 87.92 VA 98.23). But no IIM calls (made some horrendous silly mistakes in DI....also really petrified by change in IIM admission policy). I have just 2 calls IMT and MDI...Totally screwed up IMT GD/PI. Waiting for my MDI GD/PI now.....God only knows what is there in store for me....