Please share your experiences and post you suggestions on how you chased your dream and converted it into a reality for all those future aspirants having similar dreams.
Name- PG Name-
Class X-
Class XII-
UG (%age and college)-
PG (%age and college)-
Work-Ex(if any)-
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)-
Dream Company (and why)-
Pre- Exam:
Years of Preparation-
Preparation Strategy-
Favourite subject or topic (if any)-
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing-
Exams taken(CAT/XAT/GRE/GMAT/others)-
Results-
Calls-
Post- Exam:
Interview experiences (in brief)-
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing-
Converts-
Suggestion for future aspirants-
Best of Luck !!! for future......
pls share ur experience & preparation strategy.it will help us a lot.........
Name- PG Name- S..M
Class X-91.80
Class XII-85.80
UG (%age and college)- 8.7 and NIT XXXXXX
PG (%age and college)-
Work-Ex(if any)- 3.5 years ,IT
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)- Co-convenor of Organisation club for college + some general ones
Dream Company (and why)- Non as such . Focus on profile
Pre- Exam:
Years of Preparation- 1
Preparation Strategy- Practice as much as you can without stressing out.
Favourite subject or topic (if any)-
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- Keeping Calm is all you need.
Exams taken(CAT/XAT/GRE/GMAT/others)- CAT,XAT
Results-CAT - 98.xx , XAT - embarrasing 😛
Calls-BLKIS, New IIMS , Sp , FMS, MDI , NITIE
Post- Exam:
Interview experiences (in brief)- One of the best interview process I have ever attended. Everything pipelined, running smoothly. In both G1 and G2 focus was on knowing you better. G1 foccused on knowing you, clarity regarding your specialisation . All 6 were selected from our group.
G 2 was more to know about ethics and views in general. Ques on live in relationships to everyone in detail. A lil bit grilling but seemed like they wanted to selected rather than choose who to weed out.
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing-
They could see through any pretense. Try to be as honest as possible.
Converts- SPJIMR-IM (till date)
Suggestion for future aspirants- I forgot to take my pen drive .. dnt repeat my mistake 😛
Best of Luck !!! for future......
Name- Mihir Sangodkar PG Name- justmihir
Class X- 88 (State Board Goa)
Class XII- 82 (State Board Goa)
UG (%age and college)- 9.01/10 (EEE NITK Surathkal)
PG (%age and college)- NA
Work-Ex(if any)- 35 Months Deloitte
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)- Deloitte corporate cricket and Track and field, Joint Convener -> Indian Society of Technical Education, Electrical and Electronics Committee (Engineer 2012), Volunteer -> Samriddhi Trust and United Way
Dream Company (and why)- P and G / ITC-> Best companies for and SCM and operations related work profile
Pre- Exam:
Years of Preparation- 7 months + 4 months (GDPI)
Preparation Strategy-
Favourite subject or topic (if any)- Quant and LR
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing-
I concentrated on sentence correction and critical reasoning as part of my GMAT prep.
Books: Official GMAT Review.
Mocks: GMAT review+ manhattan + barrons.
CAT/ XAT: 7 months of mocks : TIME + bullseye (free), a couple of CL tests.
a bit of Arun Sharma in the mix
Exams taken(CAT/XAT/GRE/GMAT/others)-
CAT-> 99.03, XAT -> 99.56, GMAT -> 760, TOEFL- > 115, NMAT 217
Results-
Calls- IIM A (ABM), IIM B, ISB, IIM L(PGP/ PGPSM/ PGP ABM), IIM I , IIM K, SPJIMR (OPS), XL BM/ HR/ GLOBAL, NMIMS, NITIE, IITB / D/ KGP, , NITIE, FMS
Post- Exam: Started early with WAT prep, ESSAYSFORIIMs was a big help. Brushed up on college projects, office projects and NGO experiences.
http://www.jagranjosh.com/ helped me stay updated with current happenings in addition to ET and economist apps on my phone. Used Flipboard as the interface is fluid and doesn't stagnate you.
Got in touch with seniors and batch mates now in elite institutes about their experiences and words of wisdom. Visited the IIM Bangalore and ISB campuses for some added inspiration.
Interview experiences (in brief)-
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing-
Converts-
ISB, SPJIMR (OPS), XL BM , IIM L PGP, IIML PGP SM, IIM K
(Skipped the Interviews for IIM I / IIT B/ IIT D/ IIT KGP/ NITIE/ FMS/ XL HR)
Joining: XL BM
Interview experiences (in brief)-
IIML:
SPJIMR (OPERATIONS):XL BM/ GLOBAL:
IIMB
IIMK:
Best of luck to all the aspirants. Hope to see many of you at XL next year 😃
Name- Saransh Shah PG Name- JammY Jumbo
Class X-91.60
Class XII-89.40
UG (%age and college)- 79.80 DA-IICT, Gandhinagar
Work-Ex(if any)- 8 months, Deloitte Consulting India, BTA (Financial Reporting Solutions)
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)-Convener of quite a few events in college fest + part of cricket, football
Dream Company (and why)- Goldman Sachs, MS
Pre- Exam: CAT'13 was a disaster. Started preparations from February, started with basics then picked up a few old papers and later it was all mocks and more mocks, More than solving, analyzing the mocks is more important. As cat arrives near, be more calm then being anxious, after all it's all a game of handling the nerves.
Years of Preparation- 7months prep + 3 months GD/PI
Preparation Strategy- The journey of preparation of CAT/XAT is one of introspection. You are not competing against others, you should compete with yourself. It is about knowing your strengths, weaknesses. Also remember work smart, not only hard. A few pointers which are very important to keep in mind:-
. Make a plan and break it, only to make another plan, but stick to something that suits you (based on your job/college). Prioritize your tasks and make sure study isn't lagging much being but it also important once in a while to break away from studies and just relax and rejuvenate
. Give Mocks and analyze them thoroughly. I cannot stress how much you learn when you analyze a mock. Gain from it.
. Don't let success and failures get to your head, if you let it, it'll destroy you. There will be times when you'll just maul the Mocks and there may be times when it's just not your days. Take both in the right spirit.
. Peak at the correct time, don't burn out just before the CAT, the time before the CAT should be the time when you are at your best, physically and mentally.
Favourite subject or topic (if any) Quant (Algebra) and Logical Reasoning.
Exams taken(CAT/XAT/GRE/GMAT/others)- CAT/XAT
Results- CAT:- 98.88 XAT: 99.41
Calls- IIM K, I, S, FMS, XL-BM/HR, SPJain, MDI.
Post- Exam: Once you have the calls and the CAT score, you have it in you to be a part of the Best B-School. Now comes the most important part, which decides whether you'll make or break. This is the time for looking inside you, asking yourself the tough questions, analyzing your whole life till now. Its' just about connecting the dots, making a good story you can sell 😃
Keeping yourself aware of the happenings around you and brace yourself to expect the unexpected, from a normal discussion to a complete stress interview, it can just be anything. This is your litmus test. It is more of a mental test than anything else. Each college is different and unique in their interview process and selection. Make sure you prepare individually for each college.
Interview experiences (in brief)- Already shared, visit the relevant threads. Any suggestion or experience worth sharing-
Converts- SPJ Finance, XL-HR (WL-42) (Awaiting Others)
Suggestion for future aspirants- Best of Luck !!! for future aspirants.
A simple advice. Make sure the journey of cat preparation and interviews is enjoy-able. It'll be something that'll stay with you forever and make some good memories along the road.
There will be times when you will think that CAT is tough.
There will be times when you will think CAT is not worth it.
There will be times when you will think that your life depends on CAT.
There will be times when you will completely drop the plan of ever getting an MBA.
But keep calm, and carry on. T
here will be unforeseen roadblocks but carry on. You'll get through.
In the end, it'll all makes sense. Looking backwards, the dots will always connect. Kudos. : smiley:
P.S. For anything specific, please feel free to PM me 😃
Name- Avinash Kumar PG Name- avinash1400
Class X- 93.2 CBSE
Class XII- 90.6 CBSE
UG (%age and college)- 78.6 BIT Mesra
PG (%age and college)-
Work-Ex(if any)- 44 months (Till April 2015)
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)- None significant
Dream Company (and why)- Government of India Policy making body, I would like to change some industrial policy for a better tomorrow.
Pre- Exam:
Years of Preparation- 2 years (Serious attempt), 2 years (experiencing CAT)
Preparation Strategy- Making VA stronger day by day by reading and analyzing The Economist and The Hindu columns. For QA TIME and CL materials. IMS mocks simulate a better question level for CAT.
Favourite subject or topic (if any)- VA as I used to get very low accuracy and to improve it I fell in love with it.
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- I started from 60 %ile in CAT and ended up on 98+. So there is no one in this world who can say that you are not a CAT talent.
Exams taken(CAT/XAT/GRE/GMAT/others)- CAT14 98.43 (QA 97, VA 97), XAT15 99.35 (QA 99.86), SSC CGL 14(470/600).
Calls- B, L (SM), I, S
Post- Exam:
Interview experiences (in brief)- Almost every interview of mine was on same track. Power sector, Coal Auction, Projects and Maintenance. No hobby question or at max 1.
http://www.pagalguy.com/events/second-stage-gd-ge-pi-wat-shortlist-announcement-for-iim-b-announced-30910631/32649325
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- In B interview I arrived on the conclusion that TATAs are doing business unethically. I had my reasons. The panel was furious and asked whether my comp (Reliance) is ethical. That part still gives me nightmares sometimes. But after the convert I realized may be I was right on that day. God saved me a big time.
Converts- IIMB. Likely converts: I, S and NITIE
Suggestion for future aspirants- For freshers my advice would be to join a class or get in touch wih someone with classroom program. Focus on CAT. Despite a little controversy it offers you the best. For QA you can solve CAT previous year questions. For VA I suggest to read a quality newspaper daily and analyze the Mocks (Especially TIME VA). For practice IMS mocks are the best followed by CL and TIME.
For interviews I joined personalized CL program. My convert is dedicated to my mentor assigned to me. As I said earlier all my interviews were more or less same. I had already been asked those questions by him and got a big time help framing good answers.
Best of Luck !!!
Name- Aman Gulati PG Name- am46an
Class X- 91.2%
Class XII- 85.8%
UG (%age and college)- 66.20 (Thapar University)
PG (%age and college)- None
Work-Ex(if any)- 0. Year Gap after Graduation.
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)- Head of Marketing & Resource Generation at 2 College Festivals, Founded the MUN Society of college, Participated in over 25 different MUN Conferences, Winner of several Powerlifting Competitions in College, Year Representative in Literary Society, Treasurer of the Chemical Engineering Society, Participant in several other competitions and organized numerous events in various capacities, Also lots of Social Work, etc etc
Dream Company (and why)- Scuderia Ferrari. A fan of Formula1, would love to manage and head a F1 team one day.
Pre- Exam: Practice as much as you can. And when you think you have done enough, do some more. Take at least 2-3 Mock Tests per week and then few weeks before the CAT double the number. Also do analyse these mocks and workout your preferred strategy.
Years of Preparation- 4 Months
Preparation Strategy- I started preparation in June, after college ended. Finished off my syllabus by July first week, and after that it was all about the Mocks. Did 2-3 mocks per week at first and then increased them to 4-5 before CAT. Also, do a few complete sets of LR+DI+RC daily. Test Gym by CL helped a lot in this regard.
Favourite subject or topic (if any)- Logical Reasoning. I enjoyed the puzzles that were there and almost always would get all the questions right.
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- You don't need to be a hermit to get through. 3-4 Hours daily plus a little more on the weekends is usually sufficient to get you through. Don't be demoralised by any bad result on the Mocks. If the overall trend is on the rise you can ignore the blips.
Exams taken (CAT/XAT/GRE/GMAT/others)- CAT, XAT, IIFT, NMAT, CMAT, MAT, SNAP, SBI AssociatePO
Results- CAT- 97.79%, XAT- 99.72%, IIFT- 99.25%, CMAT- 99.93%, NMAT-220, SNAP- 99.45%, MAT- 99.99%
Calls- SIBM, IIFT, XLRI, NMIMS, New IIMs, IIT-Bombay, Kharagpur, Kanpur, Roorkee, MDI, NITIE
Post- Exam: Read as much as you can, articles, news stories, editorials, etc. You never know what can be asked when.
Interview experiences (in brief)- Expect the unexpected. I attended 8 interviews and none of them were alike. Just do not get nervous, smile if you are. My best results came in from the interviews I was grilled in the most. My Favourite Moment would be, at the XLRI interview, being told the very moment I entered the interview room that I am being rejected as my Graduation Scores are way too low. It was a situation out of the movie 21. I was asked to still justify my claim to the seat in one sentence or else the interview would be over the very moment.
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- Don't ever lose your wit. It can take you a long way ahead.
Converts-XLRI, IIFT, NMIMS, (Converted all interviews I attended- Waiting for other results)
Suggestion for future aspirants- Keep Calm, it is just like any other exam. Also, none of us have the perfect profiles, don't let the fear of being rejected set in, because of the baggage you carry.
Name- J. Ravi Kiran PG Name- ravikiran1993
Class X- 88.xx
Class XII- 87.xx
UG (%age and college)- NIT, Bhopal, 8.5+
PG (%age and college)- None
Work-Ex(if any)- Fresher
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)- Multiple Events Organized at college fests, convener and coordinator in various college societies, Worked at an NGO, Top 30 in various Olympiads.
Dream Company (and why)- TAS
Pre- Exam: As a fresher, I prepared well for CAT and XAT. Solved TIME packages regularly and gave mocks of TIME and any free mocks I could get my hands on. Read the Indian Express and Hindu daily. Give mocks seriously and analyse even more seriously. I was always in top 10 in my city and consistently scored 97-99 percentile in the TIME mocks. However take care at least one month before the exam. Eat properly and walk around for 5-10 minutes.
Years of Preparation- 1
Preparation Strategy- Solving and analyzing mocks.
Favourite subject or topic (if any)- none 😛
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- A week prior to the CAT, I was admitted in the ICU due to acute pancreatitis. CAT was on Sunday and I was released against advice on Tuesday. Despite not eating solid food and severe headaches and body pains, I still scored 97.xx percentile in CAT with almost same percentiles in QA and VA. Then came IIFT which went better and finally XAT which went the best. XAT was the only exam I gave in my top condition. So the lesson is no matter how bad the circumstances might seem, it's important to give your best. Think of it this way; as bad your situation might seem, there's always someone who's in a even worse situation 😛
Exams taken(CAT/XAT/GRE/GMAT/others)- NMAT, CAT, IIFT, XAT
Results- NMAT- 214, CAT- 97.xx, IIFT- 98.4x, XAT- 98.8x
Calls- IIFT, NM, SP Jain(Fin), New IIMS, XL, IIT- Kharagpur, Madras, MDI, NITIE.
Post- Exam: Start GDPI prep immediately after exams. Revise your Grad concepts. Form opinions supported by facts in case of current affairs. While facts are important, the panels value your opinions more. I converted every call I've got as of now. Awaiting 3-4 results. This is because I took each interview as a learning experience and avoided repeating any mistakes of previous interviews.
Interview experiences (in brief)- All were on grads and current affairs. XL was the most different as you had to think on your feet J Detailed posts on the experiences thread of each.
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- Be honest and be diplomatic. Half the battle is won if you present yourself properly. In all the calls I've converted, from the top 1000 or so on percentile basis, I'm in the top 200-300 or so after GDPI process. J
Converts- NM(not joining), IIFT, XL, SP Jain(WL), NITIE and MDI awaited.
Suggestion for future aspirants- Don't give up after disappointments. Everyone falls but it's those who get up that go onto win.
Best of Luck !!! for future......
On behalf of @raj1597
OA : 97.33 ; NC-OBC;
9 Months work Ex, Manufacturing Petro-chem;
Went into the room
Three people; Lady:L; Old Prof who looked tough to impress:M1; another old Prof who is comparatively cool:M2;
>exchanged pleasantries,
>P1: So Mr.xxx, Please say something about yourself.
>Me: started from born and brought up, place Visakhapatnam, IIT, Pre-placement offer (I'm not showing off. There were follow up questions regarding this). Worked for 9 months & realized this isn't the career for me.
>P1 interrupts. what do you do. tell me about the kind of instruments you deal with. what are the different instruments to control flow in a pipe.
I start again with my framed why MBA answer hoping they would ask some thing from that. Nope, no luck there.
> L:Ok Mr.xxx, Visakhapatnam, Andhra, South. talk about Rajanikanth. That is your extempore topic.
I started blurting stuff. Again interrupted by P1 who suggested that I could use 10 seconds to think and smirked at P2 saying,''not that it would help''.
>By this time I was like I've had it up to here with these senile guys, after I got the go, I spoke about how big of a star he is in south, why his movies have that concept of making hero a super human,omnipotent guy, audience identifying themselves with the hero in theaters,talked about north people making fun of his movies, talked about incoherence between movies in Bollywood and south; and his personal qualities like being simple, generous, talked about him, adopting a old person as his dad, wearing flip flops at home and some more general stuff stopped just a couple of seconds before the time ran out.
P1: So, did he launch his son in movies?
Me: Sir, he has a couple of daughters, but doesn't have a son and his daughter soundarya Rajanikanth is more into directing.
P2 nodded and reiterated the same to P1.
Lady prof is just silent and noticing stuff from this point on.
P2: What's your cat percentile. . So, what all calls did you have?. Didn't convert A but have a decent waitlist in C. less than 15.
Me: I would like to join FMS though, I spilled.
P2: So you are assuming you got into FMS even before we gave out the results and smiled.
Me: I chuckled as well.
P2: So, why do you want to join FMS even though you would obviously get into C?
Me: Talked about FMS being at par with all A,B,C. Told a broader outlook after MBA might change my goals and in FMS I wouldn't have a loan hanging on my head. I ll be free to pursue my goals.
P2: how much do you think it would incur in the process of MBA at FMS
Lady: financially???
Me: 30K for fee, staying outside and food that would be 2.5L to 3L.
P2: Ok then what about C?
Me: approx. 18L. which incudes everything but mess. may be it ll be close to 20L in all.
P2: okay. You may leave.
me : thanks for having me here! it was nice talking to you all.
P2: It's been a pleasure.
I left to grab a free coke from FMS canteen that we all get for going to the interview
@ferlonso @shashwatdgr8 @christianbale @a-jay and mony other DT,UDT and non DT udt people.kindly post ur experiences here too !!
Name- Mukul Jain
Category- General
Class X- 88.00
Class XII- 90.00
UG (%age and college)- IIT, Roorkee, 8.38
PG (%age and college)- None
Work-Ex- 22 months
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)- Nothing significant
Pre- Exam:
In college, I joined a local coaching (Arete) and attended lectures and mock tests but not regularly. I managed 99.46 but did not get calls from the older IIMs. The reason seemed to be lack of work ex. Decided to give it one more shot after 2 years. This time, I had the material and the lecture notes from before. So I just purchased Test Series from Career Launcher. Gave mock tests regularly this time and more importantly, did a follow up this time. i.e. On the topics where I was repeatedly getting answers wrong,I referred to the notes and practiced specifically on those. Focussed more on QA since that was my weak point. Had a habit of reading The Hindu as well as novels, so English was not much of a problem.
Years of Preparation- 4 months twice
Preparation Strategy- Solving and analyzing mocks.
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- After CAT, I was relaxed and did not take XAT too seriously, thinking it was the same thing. Badly messed up the Decision Making section in XAT and it cost me an interview call. Do remember to prepare for this section if you are appearing in XAT.
Exams taken(CAT/XAT/GRE/GMAT/others)- CAT, XAT
Results- CAT- 99.78, XAT- 99.5
Calls- IIMs-A,C,L,K,I,S,New IIMs,FMS
Post- Exam: Did a recap of the the engineering concepts. Followed the news on the print as well as digital media. Wrote more than 10 essays before the first interview.Prepared well on the work-ex front. Unless you are a fresher, you will get several questions on work ex (of course, there are exceptions).
Interview experiences (in brief)- Mostly focussed on Work Ex and current affairs. And there are always follow up questions, they keep you on your toes all the time. K interview was the hardest and the only stress interview I had. A,C,L and FMS were chilled out interviews but it mostly depends on your panel. Also, if there is something not so common in your profile, you might get questions about it ( I was asked the meaning of my name in 2 interviews).
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- Be confident but not rigid in your opinion.Its more of a conversation than an interview really.
Converts- IIML, FMS, IIMC (currently waitlisted), K awaited
Suggestion for future aspirants- Do not be disheartened if you don't get through the first time. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. And remember, it is not the end of the world if you are rejected.
Name- Siddhartha Biswas PG
Name- ferlonso
Class X- 93.3% (ICSE)
Class XII- 89.2% (CBSE)
UG (%age and college)- 8.51, IIT Kharagpur, 2013
PG (%age and college)- None yet. To be WIMWIan 😃
Work-Ex(if any)- 21 months in Tata Steel
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)- Featured Writer at Sportskeeda, Formal training in Vocal Music and Painting
Dream Company (and why)- JP Morgan Chase (world's largest IB...umm, that's it 😛 )
Pre- Exam: Had taken CAT in 2012 when TIME used to conduct classes inside our campus. That year it didn't go as per planned, landed up with 99.12...no calls apart from K and I, decided to skip the interviews.
Next year, I planned against taking CAT to build some substantial work-ex. So, finally in 2014, the journey started again. This time I joined test series of both TIME and CL but no classes because it was not feasible to travel 100kms one way for the nearest centre. Infact, even if the centre would have been near, I would have opted against going for classes because I personally feel that having taken CAT once before, this time it was more important to revise the concepts given there won't be many new ones.
My superior was very considerate of the fact that I was preparing for CAT and he never put me under undue pressure and especially never on the weekends...I really really consider myself lucky with that.
After the news for the new format came, I enrolled for SIMCATs too and ultimately it turned out to be a very good decision given they were the closest to actual CAT. Towards the end, I concentrated on only IMS and CL mocks.
Years of Preparation- 4 months (2014) and around 6 months (2012)
Preparation Strategy- [I took almost all mocks from my room]
July-Sep:
Weekdays- maybe a few office hours and the evenings were spent mainly in analysing the mocks- 3-4 hours analysis including even those questions which I got correct because the solutions might contain some trick which will help me save those crucial seconds during the actual CAT. Apart from analysis, I used the evenings to solve the CL sectionals which in my opinion were the best across all institutes.
Weekends- Generally, 2 mocks per weekend (1 on Sat, 1 on Sun) (again lucky to have a 5-day working week)...followed by the similar 3-4 hours analysis. Any analysis I missed on the weekends, I would do them on the weekdays.
Oct-D-day:
Weekdays: Generally took 1 day off per 2 weeks so as to adjust to the CAT morning slot timings and accordingly chose the slots for the proctored mocks. Apart from that, I took around 1 mock per 3 days...but not cutting down on the analysis.
Weekends: Continued a similar strategy throughout.
Favourite subject or topic (if any)- Everything about Quant and rarely anything about VA 😁
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- Although it may sound clichéd, I would repeat it- Very important to not cut down on the analysis part(including the correct ones)...attempt less mocks but make sure each and every one is analysed thoroughly.
Exams taken(CAT/XAT/GRE/GMAT/others)- CAT, XAT
Results- CAT: 99.83, XAT: 99.88
Calls- All IIMs, FMS, XLRI BM, HRM
Post- Exam: Initial few days after the interview schedules very announced, I got busy with preparing the SOP for IIMB (turned out to be futile in the end 😒 ). Although I was working in Odisha, I chose almost all my interview centres as Delhi/NCR so that I could prepare from the comfort of my home. Having my C interview as an outlier compared to the rest bunched up together, I took leave for around 1.5 months to prepare at home.
I was always (and still am) weak in GK, so put extra effort in following current affairs rigorously. Apart from that the normal preparation regarding literally every word I mentioned in the forms...sadly, the profs always found something out to screw me on 😛
Interview experiences (in brief)- Have shared almost all my interview experiences on the DT thread except the Big One...will do that very soon
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- Just be brutally honest about everything in front of the panelists
Converts- IIM A,C,L, XLRI BM (Didn't attend S, XLRI HRM and FMS interviews)
Suggestion for future aspirants- CAT is no rocket science. Just believe in yourself and the Holy Trinity are waiting to take you!
Looking forward to seeing some of you at WIMWI next year 😁
Name- Avishek Biswas PG Name- Greatavi
Class X- 87.6 (CBSE)
Class XII- 93.0(CBSE)
UG (%age and college)- 84.35(BESU,Shibpur)
PG (%age and college)-
Work-Ex(if any)- 4 years in NOMURA
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)- Absolutely nothing
Dream Company (and why)- Goldman Sachs ( i mean they are the boss )
Years of Preparation- 6 months in 2012, 6 months in 2013, 4 months in 2014
Preparation Strategy- I used to give regular CL and TIME mocks in 2014. Needless to say, thorough analysis was very important. Used to read newspapers to improve my VA section ( though did not see much improvement compared to where i stood in 2012 😛 )
Favourite subject or topic (if any)- QA - Probability and Perm-Comb.
Exams taken(CAT/XAT/GRE/GMAT/others)- CAT,XAT
Results- CAT - 99.19%ile, XAT - 99.46%ile
Calls- IIM B, IIM L, IIM K, IIM I , XL-BM
Post- Exam: Mostly chilled out untill the results came after which i started preparing for the interviews.
Interview experiences (in brief)-
IIM B - quite good (actually the best one i gave)
XLRI - very smooth ( though not exceptional)
IIM L - this interview will forever remain a mystery to me
Did not appear - IIM K, IIM I
Any suggestion or experience worth sharing- Be as calm as you can during interviews. This always has a big impact on the impact that you create.
Converts- IIM B ,IIM L , XLRI-BM
Suggestion for future aspirants- Keep on chasing and chasing your dream untill you succeed. Nothing is impossible.
Best of Luck !!! for future......
On Behalf of our IIM B, L, I, K, S convertee Atul Kumar Jha,
Hello Guys
Sorry for being so late but I hope this post find some use for itself and helps future cat aspirants.
Well I will be sharing my cat journey as well as strategy for cat prep here. To be honest I have done at least 70% of my cat prep from CAT Preparation group (FB) https://www.facebook.com/groups/Rockthecat/ itself.
So in December 2013 when results of CAT 13 started pouring in, I was kind of frustrated cause I could score only 92%ile and had 0 calls. So I joined this group in Jan 14 and hence began my cat prep. I had given no mocks before this and had literally no prior cat knowledge. CAT 13 was just an assessment test of the CAT quotient in me.
I knew I had very good profile so all I needed was 99+ to get B,L,I,K,S ( and I converted all of them as well :D) calls and even A (had they not changed their criteria. ) Nevertheless I was targeting for ABC right from beginning, still B somehow remained close to me due to the fact that I had connections with the Bangalore city.
Well from Jan, 4-5 of us guys including indrajeet and I started doing cat prep seriously in the group. And as Inder has mentioned earlier the key to prep was the competitive environment we created. We always had the fight to get our answers first, no matter what. Even if it's wrong, doesn't matters. But be quick and try to compete. CAT is all about speed and accuracy in those 170 minutes. 150 questions needs to be tackled and time is less. This is what my friends and I did in the CAT group and trust me I could see the difference in myself. I knew nothing of PnC, Algebra and Geo when I started but due to this strategy I improved a lot.
Secondly Quant was my strength and I sucked at VA. First I will share my strategy on quant. For Quant I completed S.K.Verma religiously. This is the best quant book IN MY OPINION. My Pnc, Geo and arithmetic became quite strong after solving it. Quant has five main sections: No system, Algebra, Arithmetic, Geo, and Modern Maths. Might have missed few, but these are the important ones.
No. system: Arun Sharma gives u the basics but is definitely not sufficient. Solve Total Gadha Pdf as well. Also Inder used to share various new concepts on this topic like remainder theorem in different ways, no of ways of writing product of three nos. etc. which u won't find in any book. Well he has shared it in his site I QAUNTA. You'll get it there. And those who are fresher and haven't started prep till now can choose to join his course as well. I guarantee u will gain a lot.
Arithmetic: S.K.Verma , Solve total gadha PDF on TSD.
Geo: S.K.Verma, Total gadha PDf. Very important topic in Cat. The more u solve the better u will get at it. CL mocks have good qusn on Geo.
Modern maths: S.K.Verma (Best for Pnc. For those who are new at this should definitely solve this), N.K Sinha.
Beside above mentioned books I used to be lot of active in the group. And since I was jobless for 6 months I would roughly solve almost all the questions that came in the group. This way I could solve abundance of questions from other books as well. Remember key to perfection is PRACTISE. The more u practise it the better u become at it. Solve, solve and only solve until u become master of that topic. Start a new one but don't leave the old one unless u feel confident about that topic. If quant is your strength then use it wisely. Aim for 99.5+ in QA and nothing less than that. Cause for ppl like me who suck at VA, a good score in QA is the only shot for overall 99+.
Apart from these I also used to solve TIME MATERIAL and CL material. Like I said Practise and practise. These materials have numerous questions and solving them all will increase ur level altogether.
I ignored VA completely and I had to pay for it. Realised its importance way too late and hence suffered badly in CAT. So guys don't ignore VA. It's equally important. QA: 99+, VA: 90-95: U won't get overall 99+. So u see VA is damn important for CAT.
I am not an expert at VA still I could give my two cents on it.
CR PJ PC: I used to solve all of them in mocks and practised them from Arun sharma, time material and past mocks. I was weak in RC so I had to be strong in other area. And yes these three sections along with LR helped me to fetch a decent %ile in mocks.
However Rcs are very important and score fetching. In fact they make or break your chance. Practise them as well. For Rcs CL past mocks are best. Time and CL study materials are also good. Cat will have 5 RC. One needs to solve at least 3 with 80% accuracy to get a good score. SO guys don't skip RC at all.
I used to depend on LR for my VA score. 18 questions + CR + PJ + PC + vocab and I was almost at 30/50 questions done. One easy RC and I was done with VA. This was my strategy for CAT. But my strategy failed during CAT. I could solve only 2 out of 4 LRs. Remaining two were very difficult to comprehend. This was a blow to my strategy to get good score at VA. And hence I had to move on to RC. Had I practised RC sufficiently I could have done well at it.
Anyway the point is never rely on any one single topic. Try to cover all topics. You can choose to leave 2-3 if u are really bad at it. But try to make up for it by getting stronger in other topics.
Also Pls solve past CL, TIME mocks (at least 5 years) completely, especially for those who are repeaters. That will help u a lot. Both QA and VA become fine-tuned by this.
And take mocks, as many as u can. I took TIME, CL and IMS-take home Mocks. I recommend take at least two. CL is must I think because they have large no of students taking it, so u can gauge your position in a very good manner. Apart from this u can take Cracku/Bullseye/Testfunda etc. TIME mocks are absurd and way above CAT level. But it was my favourite mock, probably because I scored higher in this mock. SIMCATS are the closest to CAT so u can take this one too.
At the end this is your call. Whatever mocks u take just be honest to it completely. Take them on scheduled time in their centres only to get the feel of CAT beforehand. Don't just give mocks, analyse them as well, else they are of no use. Spend 2-3 hours on mock analysis and figure out where you are lacking. Only then u can improve.
At the end I would wind up by saying this was my strategy and suited me. Don't use this if it doesn't fits u. This might not be a perfect strategy for u and hence u should find and plan your own road map for cat prep.
I hope it wasn't boring read and it helps even a teeny bit to the future cat aspirants.
ALL THE BEST FOR CAT
Sharing the link to my interview experience at IIM, Bangalore
Name- Sameera puli
Class X- 91
Class XII- 97.8
UG(B.Tech ECE) - 89.2
PG(M.Tech) - 91.4
Work-Ex(if any)-
Extra-Curricular Achievements (if any)- Absolutely nothing
Results- CAT - 94.4 OBC
Calls- IIM B,IIM C, IIM L, IIM K, IIM I , 6 new IIMs
Converts - IIM B ,IIM C, IIM L , 6 new IIMS,
Interview experiences (in brief)-
IIM B - interview was mostly about my project work which i am doing at DRDO. not so great just an average performance
IIM C - Every ball is a bouncy ball. whatever i said it was counter attacked. Really coverting IIM C is unbelievable for me.
IIM L - Though GD and WAT are not so good interview was a nice experience. General HR questions like what u want to be after five years.....
IIM K - some math and academic related questions
Name: Neil Merchant
Class X: 95.57
Class XII: 84.17
CGPA: 5.59
College: BITS Pilani K.K. Birla Goa Campus (Math+Electronics)
Work-Ex: None
Percentile: 99.88 (QA:97.57/Verbal:99.98)
Extra-curricular activities: Did a lot of things in college and otherwise, covered most of it on this link: http://goo.gl/YrWYDx
CAT Prep: Started mid-June, nothing fruitful till first week of October. Then the tables turned. Started analyzing the mocks and the rest of the story is here: http://goo.gl/30hfHP
Recommended: Career Launcher and Hitbullseye.com (Free)
Calls: IIM A/C/L/I/K, FMS, XL-HR/GM, IIFT, NMIMS, MDI
Attended: IIM A/C/L/I/K, FMS, XL-HR/GM
Converted: IIM C/L, FMS, XL-HR/GM
Rejects: IIM A/I/K
Joining: IIM Calcutta
Interview Ex:
IIM A: (02/02/2015)
1. An average WAT
2. A few questions on electronics. Answered 4/5 questions correctly
3. A question on current affairs. Answered correctly, my opinion could have been better
4. Spoke about hobbies, recited one of my better poems. Seemed impressed
5. Overall experience was decent, but not surprised by the verdict
Verdict: Reject
IIM C: (21/03/2015)
1. Perfect WAT
2. Asked to to talk about anything I wanted to, started with Jagriti Yatra
3. Then was asked a few questions on fests and placement team. Handled perfectly
4. Was asked to make an elevator pitch for my candidature
5. Was asked to think of a name for a hair wigs company, spontaneously gave an answer. Were impressed.
6. The best interview. Had to convert.
Verdict: Convert
IIM L: (22/01/2015)
1. Perfect WAT and GD (I had practiced the topic before)
2. Interview was basically 8 current affair questions, answered 5 out of them (Couldn't answer a question on Land Ordinance as I had very less time for prep)
3. Interview was average, they seemed to be unhappy with my undergrad grades
Verdict: Convert
IIM K: (10/04/2015)
1. Decent GD
2. Was asked about a management elective and then a philosophy elective
3. Was grilled a lot on philosophy (Existentialism and Bertrand Russell), in the end they said they liked my thinking
4. Was expecting a convert as the interviewers seemed really happy
Verdict: Reject
IIM I: (08/04/2015)
1. Decent WAT
2. Was asked about my advertising startup
3. Was cornered a lot at different points, wriggled out using wit. They were left in splits on multiple occasions
4. I hadn't answered a probability question, the interviewer asked to give it when I'm in Indore campus. The verdict surprised me
Verdict: Reject
FMS: (15/03/2015)
1. Extempore on Placements, was good
2. Asked my learning from the Jagriti Yatra
3. A few questions on placements
4. Short and sweet
Verdict: Convert
XL-HR: (22/02/2015)
1. GD was excellent
2. Was given 3 circumstances on leadership, handled it well
Verdict: WL-34 and then convert
XL-GM: (23/02/2015)
1. GD was decent
2. They were in the mood to grill, undergrad grades
3. Couldn't handled it well
Verdict: WL in 200s and then convert
Gyaan in a nutshell:
1. Get into the Mock-Analysis-Practice-Repeat cycle, the blog post shared above will give the idea on how to do it
2. Make sure you have 5 solid points to talk about (trust me, everybody has it. One has to keep looking) in the interview and look for occasions to fit in the answers. Direct you interviews
3. Try getting as many calls as you can, at least a few will convert. This is especially for people with really poor undergrads grades 😃
Profile- 10th:92.2 12th: 82.4 BTech:8.24/10 CAT percentile - 97.92 (OBC)
Work Ex : 31 Months
Name of the B-school: IIM Ahmedabad
Venue : Lucknow
WAT
"Your school is planning to replace all books in library with digital library. Write a letter to your alma matter expressing your opinion"
Time allocated for WAT- 30 min
Interview:
No. of Penalists: 2 ( one male prof M and one lady prof F)
Panel-1
M: Opening the door, so Uttam kaise hai aap?
A: Wished them and a bit confused whether to answer in English or Hindi :P. Answered in English.
M: What is the meaning of your name.
A: told
M: So, would you like to answer in hindi.
A: Chalega ( the panel could sense my anxiety)
M: So tell us .about yourself
A: Told ( the prepared one)
M: So, What you do basically in your job.
A: Explained
M: A few more questions from work ex.
A: Told
Now came the turn of female prof.
F:Why MBA ?
A: Bla.. Bla... bla...
F : If social service, change and higher job responsibility why not IAS
A: More gyan.....
M interrupted in between
M : So, tell me how will measure the height of building... atleast 3..
A : Explained ( seemed satisfied)
M: Compare IIM A with any third grade MBA college.
A: Tried to be diplomatic ( the panel was smiling all the time)
M: Any questions from your side ???
A : Sir, wanted to know about you both ( WTF.. I should had asked something else )
M: Not required
Overall exp : Chill but I thought the last question just screwed everything........
Verdict : Converted 😃
Profile- 10th:92.2 12th:82.4 BTech:8.24/10 CAT percentile - 97.92 (OBC)
Work Ex : 31 Months
Name of the B-school: IIM Bangalore
Venue : Delhi
WAT
Don't remember exactly but something about Entrepreneurship.
Time allocated for WAT- 15 min
Interview:
No. of Penalists: 3 ( two male prosf M1 & M2 and one lady prof F)
Panel-3
Wished them and took my seat.
M1(in a stern voice): Tell me about yourself
A: told ( not satisfied)
M1: Asked a few questions about my hometown and state
A: Told
M1: Why MBA ?
A: Told
M1: Why entrepreneurship ? ( My SOP had a mention about it)
A: Explained
M1: But we produce managers, we don't produce entrepreneurship
A: tried to convince but.. M1 interrupted again
M1: OK tell 10 Entrepreneurs having MBA degree from IIM B or for that sake from anywhere in world.
A : could only mention 5... L My bad
F: So, why don't you start rightaway, why want to take a loan of 20 Lacks when you could invest the same in business.
A: Explained ... ( but not convinced )
M1 : Any questions ??
How this could end so soon, baffled.. The other two panelists remained almost silent..
Verdict : Not converted as expected.