MBA Prep articles

MBA CAT 2024
102

A couple of weeks back, I got this question from an MBA aspirant which read something like this

"I am attempting CAT this year, my Quant is very weak.I don't have time to start from the basics, just give me some tactics so that I can quickly score more percentile."

After reading this question, I had a grin on my face. I remembered my past few years when I gave my IIT-JEE.

I gave IIT-JEE exactly twice and failed miserably both the times. First time by a small margin , second time, it was an absolute and utter FAILURE.

I remembered when I was preparing for IIT-JEE, I had mucho success in the last couple of months using smart tactics I was using to game the whole mock system.I was scoring home runs in last 4-5 of my mock tests at FIIT-JEE.

The good thing happened to me was, I failed. If I hadn't, then I would have failed miserably in the mains(old pattern you know) and even if I would have cleared the mains somehow, I would have messed up somewhere else.(God knows where)

Why I am sharing this with you?

It ultimately boils down to one thing.

Where you are investing your time ?

Are you investing your time in mastering the basics or are you mastering the upcoming gimmick coming out in the market ?

I talk about this to MBA aspirants a lot but people don't listen.

Pretty strange, right ?

They don't wake up until IIMs or other institutes started beating them bloody with a lead pipe.

It requires wisdom to understand this and wisdom doesn't come cheap.

First comes tactics.Second comes strategy.Third comes wisdom.

Wisdom knows using tactics to score more percentile is just a part of the big game.

Tactics give instant results.

Strategies take a bit long.

Wisdom takes the most time.

But once you acquire it, it takes care of tactics and strategies itself. You don't have to rely on them.

Unless you are wise, you won't be able to use all those fancy tactics you learned because you know how to use it but you don't know when to and when not to.

Wisdom takes a path which is initially paved with thorns , tactics is like walking on trap set for catching baby elephants, you don't know when you are going to fall.

The students who consistently score well are interested in no of attempts, accuracy, percentile.

Nos don't lie but most MBA aspirants can't swallow this bitter pill of harsh reality.

Most MBA aspirants hope to solve their problem with a magic pill. They try hard but they fail , miserably, sometime, it costs them a fortune (2-3 years).

My only advice to all the aspirants, get out of this bandwagon and focus on what works and what will work for next 15-20 years, no matter how many times IIMs change their pattern, you will face no problems whatsoever if you focus on acquiring real wisdom.

103

We always approach an exam with a nervous mind and impatience.I would like to share what worked for me.I know that most of you at this stage of preparation have already evaluated your competency level. I also know that many aspirants may have given up even before appearing for MBA Entrance Exams.I have been in similar situations and understand what goes inside when you have an exam lined up and you score low percentiles in Mocks.I have never got any call while preparing even after scoring well in CAT and I always had low Mock score.

I always wanted to teach quant (quant being my strong area) and kept trying till I got a chance to teach in a coaching institute.I almost read all quant books available in market and wanted to give my 100 percent as a teacher.This experience not only changed my perspective about exams but also made me understand what works for an aspirant and what does not.I saw almost all aspirants were wasting their efforts in wrong directions .They were mostly behind questions/solutions/materials but lacked basic understanding of concepts.They always were fascinated about mocks even when their conceptual understanding was almost zero. Their preparation involved solving tough questions without much understanding of concepts.Now, I see most of them panic at this last stage.They are behind materials,mocks,online articles and list goes on and on. This approach not only makes them nervous but also leaves them with a weak mind-state.

I believe that your mind state determines most of the things on the D day. I always felt good while appearing for CAT/XAT and have always enjoyed the challenges these exams throw.I filled XAT Form last year because of the same reason.I always used to be nervous on D day as an aspirant but this time the teacher inside me remained calm and composed.There were many aspirants discussing questions/mocks all around. I could easily see nervous faces all around.But, Deep inside I was calm even after a big fight at home , even after problems at job end. Somewhere I felt detached from the exam in a good way. I felt that I will go there, solve the things I know and will be calm and composed through out.I knew that it is impossible to know everything, impossible to be nervous and still solve questions which require calm mind state.The state of mind not only helped me in choosing right questions but also helped me in leaving one section at the right time.I was able to take right decisions which I would have never taken with a nervous mind state.The efforts paid off well and I was able to get both calls first time .I would advise all of you to be in the best mind-state in this season.Let's be happy,calm,composed,confident this time and let the happiness attract more happiness.

104

I am not a believer of New Year resolutions. For me, those are just gimmicks of weak-willed people. So I refused to categorize my first lecture in Career Launcher on January 1, 2012 as a New Year resolution. I was just happy to be in a classroom, away from my office. People had partied hard the night before, and as a result there were only 2 people in the class of Reading Comprehension that day. Many teachers would have felt inclined to cancel that class, but mine went ahead with it; a clear sign that she respected the two individuals for showing up on 1st January. A good first impression, I must say. She was to go on to become my strongest mentor and supporter in the days to come.

The next 9 months were the actual preparation period for the exam. People suggested that I was risking saturation by starting so early. They were right. It is actually tough to maintain the same intensity throughout and you run the risk of losing interest. This race had to be run as a long distance race. As Dhoni would say- rather than beginning well, it is important to peak at the right time in a long tournament. So I tread at a smooth pace for the first 5 months before steaming up in the months from June to September.

I have been asked this question often whether I felt exhaustion or found it difficult to manage my time between office, weekend classes, two mock test series' and the inevitable cricket which I never gave up. My answer would always be the same –“I am just relieved to be sitting in a classroom.” Indeed I was relieved; relieved because I was proving to be a complete failure at work in my company and the classroom was the only place to relieve my bruised ego and earn some accolades. Classroom became the place to be- every weekend –6 hours. It's not that it was a cakewalk in the classroom. Maths was something I always struggled with, but I always used to look forward to the Reasoning and English class. My English teacher by now had grown fond of me, and she was more like an elder sister to me than a teacher.

And it was not just about the subjects or about the teacher. The classroom gave me two of my best friends – Anshul Utpal and Prateek Chaturvedi. We competed with each other and at the same time derived happiness from each other's success in the tests. Anshul was more consistent of the three when it came to mock tests. I and Prateek had more in common – we struggled with Maths, loved English and swung between excellence and mediocrity in the mock tests. I loved the unique camaraderie that had developed among the three of us. Meanwhile, the D-Day approached.

Link to Part 2 , Part 3 and Final Part

105

Link to Part 1

As the D-Day came closer, I studied harder. I, however, cut myself off from studies 3 days before my exam. I watched movies and sitcoms to lighten myself. The D-Day arrived on October 15. The exam passed smoothly and Anshul was the first person I called after the exam. My words were – “I have attempted 26 questions in English and Reasoning section and I am quite confident of scoring well there (96 percentile). I have attempted only 18 in Maths but that is the most I have attempted ever in a test”. So it was an improvement but there was nothing extraordinary about it. A decent score was expected but nothing flamboyant, not after I had managed an average 88 percentile in my last 'Time' test and a lowly 72 percentile in my last 'Career Launcher' test.

A surprise awaited me when the results came on 9th January, 2013. I had got 99.56 percentile (96.42 in Maths and 99.74 in English). This is the most I had scored in any test and it was a coup of sorts for me. The result was hard to sink in and congratulatory messages flowed from everywhere. The news got leaked in my office as well. This was the best part because the loser from yesterday had suddenly achieved a cult status among peers. There was no one happier than my teacher on hearing this news. What was my reaction to all this? – I just let the moment flow. After a period of mediocrity, this was a welcome change in my life. I did not want to go to sleep that night because I did not want 9th January, 2013 to end. It was that kind of a day, one of the best of my life.

The whole process of CAT and its results can be a very draining experience for a candidate. If all goes well, it takes some time to soak in that feeling of success. Time can slip by quickly, and you suddenly find yourself staring at an interview. I had to make sure I did not fall in that trap. I started my preparation for the interviews the very next day of the result. The ease with which I had prepared till CAT did not replicate itself in this phase. The fact that this was my first experience with CAT and thereafter meant I actually encountered many surprises at this stage. The personality assessment phase is anyways considered tougher than the actual CAT and it lived up to its reputation. I realised scoring a near ton in CAT was not good enough. With a score of 75.2% in CBSE 12th Board, I missed out calls from IIM-A, B, C, K and I. Anshul (94.08 percentile) and Prateek (96.14 percentile) found the going tougher. But withstanding all that, it was time to move forward to the GD-PIs.

Link to Part 3 and Final Part

106

Read Part 1 and Part 2

Filling the forms for the GD-PI stage was a very tedious affair. I had a tough time coming to terms with the current affairs. I did not speak a word in my first 2 mock GD's because I felt irritated at the idea of raising my voice in a fish market where we were actually supposed to make sense. I often wondered what the right approach in an interview was because every faculty who took my interview had a different opinion about the interview procedure. The mock interviews were still crucial because they familiarized me with the basics of what I might face. The mocks also taught me to judge the fine line between being honest and being stupid in an interview.

I had 13 interviews scheduled; 3 in February, 7 in March and 3 in April. I had to travel a lot for the interviews and mentally I started getting so tired that I took the step of resigning without a single convert in my hand. I paid off my notice period and thus gave myself ample time to travel, relax and study.

I have many memories from these interviews. The one which completely caught me in alien territory was my interview for IIM-L (6th March). They would just not let me take the interview towards the area of my strength and kept attacking my weaknesses. Despite coming up with a decent GD and Essay, I failed to convert that call. One instance where I became very nervous was the GD round in FMS (22nd March). They had 14 people sitting there for the GD! FOURTEEN! I was absolutely blown away in that GD, and it was curtains to FMS then and there.

Most of the other calls I converted. The one that I enjoyed most was the experience of IIT-Delhi. After the terrible experience of GD in a group of 14 in FMS, here I was sitting in a Board-Room type of set up in IIT Delhi, on a huge round table, with 14 people in the group. Yes, that dreaded number 14 again! I decided that there was only one way to tackle this GD. Instead of getting lost among the voices somewhere in between, I thought that the best way to tackle such a situation was to start the GD come what may! As soon the buzzer went off, I spoke. I spoke as if my life depended on how much I speak at that moment. I was soon cut short by another participant and I did not speak again in the entire GD. A flawless interview followed and I converted IIT-Delhi in the first list.

(Next is the final part where I talk about the interview of the college I finally got into along with an overall perspective of the journey)

107

Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

The college I finally joined was Shailesh Jain Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay. It was the only interview (8th March) in which I was asked the question- “Why MBA." It was the first interview where they took interest in the fact that I loved cricket. So a barrage of questions followed from cricket; and I answered them all. It looked like one of those days when everything I knew would get asked in the interview. I was at my happiest after this interview. It was also a very pleasant experience being in the IIT Campus and the chance to become a part of that campus was exciting to say the least.

There were two ways to look at this eventual result. The first way to look at it said- “I succeeded in making it to a college like SJMSOM, IIT Bombay and I should be proud of that”. The second way said- “In spite of getting 99.56 percentile, I could not make it to a big IIM and I should be sad about it”. It is then that I thought of the words spoken by my teacher- “There are no good colleges or bad colleges around here for MBA. What we eventually get into should be the 'Right College'.” In some ways, SJMSOM, IIT Bombay felt like the right place for me. The cut off score in SJMSOM, IIT Bombay was 99.08 percentile. All my to-be batch mates, after a score of 99 plus percentile, must have dreamt of making it big into an IIM. The fact that they could not and instead ended up being there in IIT meant that they were all imperfect in their own ways. This gave me a chance to be one among equals. So instead of being unhappy about not making it to an IIM, I was happy and thankful to God for what I had got. Ever since joining IIT, I must say it has been a unique and enriching experience here and I intend to make the most of my time here.

P.S:- The teacher who I have talked about often in this series is Miss Shreeleena Bakshi, currently in Career Launcher, Pune. She is still a constant source of guidance for me. Anshul meanwhile made it to XIM, Bhubaneswar with his XAT Score while Prateek made it to IMT- Ghaziabad with his CAT Score. Sometimes I really wish how good it would have been had Anshul and Prateek been here with me in IIT. I remain in touch with them regularly and we hope to continue this friendship for a long time to come. Touchwood!

108

This is when the battle hymns begin.

"Half a league, half a league,  Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death,  Rode the six hundred.
'Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns' he said,
Into the valley of Death  Rode the six hundred. "
- Alfred , Lord Tennyson

I quoted "The Charge of the Light Brigade" because it still ignites the same passion in me, the first time I heard it.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the great battle. Many of you have been gearing up solely for this day. Some of you are fully prepared, and armed to the teeth. Many of you are doubtful and jittery about your level. And then there are those who have lost hope.

What I iterate is ; March forward, all guns blazing. Give it ALL that you got. This may not be the end, but this is all you need to concern yourself with right now. The convoluted criterion of B-schools, The GD-PI preparations, your Parents aspirations, your immediate future; everything needs to be put to sleep for a while. You got to be short sighted for now, and steamroll ahead.

Do not go quietly into the night.

Do not prepare for the worst. Do not name excuses. Do not let the fatigue set-in. You wanted your chance? Well , here it is! Pummel it to the ground! Don't let go , don't fall back; keep the play going till you are breathing. You have been preparing, lying low in attack, this is the time to pounce!

You want to lie back, and get it over with? Or you wanna make it a story worth telling? You know you have it in you, so what's stopping you? Past failures haunting you? Or misfortune mocking you? Well here's your retribution. Show them what stuff legends are made of.

Unleash a blitzkrieg you never thought you were capable of. And when the dust clears, the world will witness what the birth of a star looks like.

And people will know.

You will know.

That a Phoenix, only rises from its ashes.

When can their glory fade ?
O the wild charge they made! 
All the world wonder'd.
Honour the charge they made!
Honour the Light Brigade,  Noble six hundred!

-Dark-Phoenix

109

This is where the main content of your article should be. Try keeping it within 500 words in total. Go ahead then. Happy writing.

110

Male. Engineer. Non-IITian. General category. That's my profile. And I still ended up in an IIM. For all the pessimists out there, it is possible! Read on..

The first time I ever thought about giving CAT was in the third year of engineering. Before that, I was a regular student, enjoying student life, without a care in the world about my future. I did decently well in academics (nothing to write home about) and participated in a few competitions here and there in college. Just the usual profile. Till the third year of engineering, I was not sure if I wanted to do Masters (MSc) or MBA. I even went to a career consultant to help make a choice. But to make matters worse, as I read more on these two areas, I got even more confused. But coming from a business family, I wanted to do business. Hence, I picked MBA over MSc, and joined a coaching institute on campus itself.

To be frank, I disliked going for coaching classes. Not because they were not good, but because I thought that other students were way better than me, and I often felt belittled in the classroom. But it was the peer pressure, more than anything else, that made me go to the class on a regular basis. Also the fact that I had paid thousands to join the class. Beyond that, I had no motivation. I did not aim to get a 95+ percentile, nor did I know which college I wanted to join. At that time, I went to the coaching class just because everyone did.

So there I was – in coaching, struggling to solve math and doing okay in English. I bought a CAT guide to help me solve quant questions. But I still found maths difficult, whereas others in my class solved them quickly and accurately. I was dreading my chance at CAT already. I registered for mock exams. The first few exams were a disaster, and I scored in the mid 70s. Due to these performances, I started losing interest in CAT, and the coaching classes quickly became a pass-time activity for me. However, I continued making notes in class and kept collecting the additional sheets that I got from the coaching class.

Year 2009. One month away from CAT. I was concentrating on my engineering studies. Placements were around the corner, and took centre stage. I somehow managed to get a good placement in college. Anyway, I knew that CAT was a month away. But I had no confidence, no motivation to do well. The CAT day came. There was news about some servers failing. I did not care. I knew I was not a sincere CAT aspirant anyway. Whats the worse that could have happened? So I gave CAT 2009.. and got a dismal 86 percentile!

To be continued..

111

Being underprepared, I had not applied for any other exam. After the CAT results, I was dejected and decided to get back to engineering studies, something that I was confident about. I was, however, pleasantly surprised when I got a call from IIM Shillong. At 86 percentile? I was not sure how this happened. But I was happy. This was my first IIM call. Not that I wanted to join IIM Shillong, just the fact that I had the call made me happy.

I wanted to give the IIMS call a go. Just for the experience of an IIM GDPI. It was January now and the GDPI was scheduled for May. Having enough time on my hands, I forgot about the interview call for the time being and got back to concentrating on my last semester of engineering, wherein I had to avail compulsory 4-6 months internship. Luckily, I got an internship offer from the same company that I had got placed in. So, I joined the company in Bangalore and shifted base.

Over the course of the next few months, my preparation for the interview went about slowly and I went into the GDPI underprepared. The GD went pretty smoothly. I spoke in bits and pieces, and felt happy. Then came the interview. Without getting into the details, it suffices to say that it was a complete disaster. They did not ask me anything that I had prepare for. Instead, the questions were based completely from my engineering courses. It had been 6 months since I had last touched my books on Electronics, and I floundered on every question that they asked. I knew then and there that I would not convert the call. I went home, shaken, low on confidence. The fact that I zoned out completely in the interview was troubling me. What if it happened again in future interviews?

My internship ended. I got a 2 month break before I had to join the company again, this time as a full-time employee. I took the time off to relax and enjoy my time with friends.

Once I joined back, I got almost no time to start preparing since I had to undergo rigorous 3-month training. I knew that I would not be able to prepare for CAT 2010, and hence took a break from CAT, as I focused on my work and training.

Soon enough, I started enjoying work. The pay was good, I started loving Bangalore as a city and I made a good friend circle in office. Again, the thought of doing Masters came back to haunt me. Was CAT not my cup of tea? I was not sure. My lack of interest in CAT 2009 had inflicted me with self-doubt. I often found work to be a good excuse to move away from this dilemma..

To be continued..

112

Soon, it was time to start preparing for CAT2011. I was enjoying my work, and felt no pressure at office as I prepared at home. This time I was serious. I had started preparing around May and joined a test series. I also purchased some GMAT books to help me with the verbal section and bought a few practise books for quant.

The CAT pattern changed that year. There were to be only two sections now, 70 minutes each. I was very glad since I had often found it difficult to manage time effectively. Now, I did not have to bother about that.

To begin with, I did not do well in the test series. Primarily due to bad performances in quant. I regularly averaged around 70-80 percentile in that section, and about 85-90 percentile in verbal. But I made sure to go through the entire solution set thoroughly after every exam to see what I was doing wrong. I also saw the solution to the questions that I had done right, just to find a shorter, quicker way of doing those questions. In the long run, this analysis helped me a lot.

I dedicated my entire evenings to preparing for CAT. Work would drain me out during the day, but I would often stay awake till 2am to finish studies. I started getting better marks in the mocks, and my confidence started growing. D-day was arriving soon. I had booked my exam after Diwali. Towards the end, I started getting good percentiles and peaked at the right time. I went home for Diwali, quietly confident of doing well.

A week before D-Day, I stopped studying. On that day, I remember vividly going to the test centre with Sachin batting on 40* in a test match against WI. He already had 99 centuries and I did not want to miss seeing his 100th one. I knew that if he batted for 2 hours he would get there, and I would be writing CAT at the time. I was following the match on my mobile at the test centre. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he got out on 40-something just as I was about to enter the test room. I grinned and went in, fingers crossed.

I found the exam to be very easy. I attempted a total of 56/60 questions, came out, went home and forgot all about CAT as I went back to work. CAT results came and I scored 99.82 percentile. I was overjoyed. Due to my good acads, I got calls from all 13 IIMs. I prepared like crazy for the top 3 IIMs. I even took a 20-day off at work. I joined coaching for mock GDPIs and read a lot of blogs, news and Wikipedia.

At the end, it all paid off as I joined IIMA two months later.

113


Belling

So there I was, staring at my CAT result – 99.82 percentile with 99.63 and 98.72 in both sections. It was 5 am. I was still groggy. I thought it was a mistake. It had to be! So I logged out and logged back in. Still 99.82. It took a minute to sink in. I called up home to give them the good news. Soon enough, congratulatory messages started flowing in from the family. And more importantly, IIMs started releasing their GDPI calls. I still remember seeing the calls from IIMs ABC for the first time. My happiness knew no bounds.

I took a day or two off to let the feeling sink in. Then I went to the coaching institutes to find out what to do next. Join our GDPI sessions, they said. Sure, I'll do whatever it takes to get into an IIM. So I joined one institute, and started attending classes. There were also several one-day intensive sessions taken by some institutes which I attended diligently. They were really helpful. Specially the mock PIs.

The GDPIs were scheduled for a month later, starting with the top 3 IIMs. I made a study plan, read online blogs on what to prepare, went through previous year GDPI experiences on PG and read business newspapers. The coaching classes taught all sorts of things – stock markets, history, etc. I didn't know how relevant this was. From what I had read on PG, the interviews focused on only the candidate's profile. Since I had nothing to do with stock markets and history, I decided to stop going for the classes and went only for the mock GDPIs.

The interviews came. First was IIMC. After a long wait outside the interview room, I was called in. As soon as I sat down, they asked me “Please tell us an algorithm to create a Sudoku puzzle”.. What?!! Algorithm? Where did this come from? I am not even a computer engineer, for god's sake! What happened to the usual 'Why MBA' stuff? As you probably guessed, the interview went all downhill from there.

IIMA was a much better experience. All questions were from my profile. I managed them quite confidently. IIMB was a stress interview. They grilled me on the Why IIMB question. To be fair to them, I didn't defend my stance well and was finally rejected. IIMK focused on my work experience, which I was pretty confident about. But the best interviews by far were that of IIMI and IIMS. They asked me questions on my areas of strength (cricket, work experience). I was confident of converting right after the interviews itself.

It was a terrifying 2.5-months wait after that. I was nervous. Finally, the results came, and as expected, I had converted all calls except IIMB and IIMC. I obviously joined A.

114

All exams have different myths surrounding them. In the case of the XAT exam there is a very popular one that it is a tougher exam than CAT.! Let us analyse some of these myths!

1. XAT is tougher than CAT: Like CAT , XAT also matches the performance of a student against the performance of all other students and presents the result in percentiles. So the difficulty level of the.exam itself is irrelevant. The aspirant must outperform his/her peers

2. XAT VA is very tough : Another common demotivating factor for students is that XAT requires a high degree of Verbal Ability. While it is true to some extent that the XAT requires an excellent vocabulary – we must keep in mind that in recent years - just like the CAT – the XAT has started clubbing VA with LR. So students can hedge their shortcomings in VA by an excellent performance in the LR questions. In fact, sometimes even the RC questions in XAT are LR questions.

3. XAT QA is too complicated: It has happened in certain years that the XAT QA has been a little above average (notably in XAT 2011) .Do keep in mind that it is a scaled exam and it is equally tough for everybody and by identifying 6-8 easy questions you can easily clear the cut off of QA !

4. Decision Making section does not need extra focus:This is is one of the biggest mistakes that any XAT aspirant can make . This section is made up of different case studies – current affairs and business related which require the aspirant to take acall on how he would handle the situation as a manager. No Black and White answers. Choose from Shades of Gray!

5. XLRI is only for those who want to take up HR: Without doubt - PMIR - is the flagship course of XLRI . However XLRI also has other excellent courses such as Business Management (BM) and a General Management Program ( GMP) (for those aspirants with five plus years of experience).

6. Only people with excellent academics can get a call from XLRI : While it is more than obvious that somebody with a superior academic track record enjoys an edge over other candidates - in terms of issuing calls - XLRI has a very transparent policy with the XAT cut offs of BM and PMIR courses displayed on the website after the results' declaration.

7. You cannot clear XAT if your GK is weak: GK may not even be considered while issuing calls . The role of GK may come in play once the candidate is to get final calls .XAT GK questions are focussed on Business and Current Affairs and a serious aspirant would be conversant with some of the topics quizzed.

All the Best for XAT 2014!

The author is an MBA Entrance Expert associated with T.I.M.E. For all queries relating to XAT 2014 preparation, please reach out on [email protected]

115

With multiple posts regarding CMAT cutoffs, people are still uncertain on what to apply for or what can be done with current scores, let me take a step by step approach to as many queries as I can get,

1. Let you score be 300, likes of colleges likes of top colleges are still uncertain and depend a lot on FEB CMAT/CET. I won't be pessimistic but just a word of caution for the ones who feel a rank of 20-30 is enough that it may be the best for now but charts can turn...

2. If you have scores of 220+ in Sept CMAT, apply for PGDBM courses at KJ, Welingkar and GIM (Great Lakes i am unaware of so won't comment on its cutoff)...Good colleges and you may get calls from all 3 at this score but a lot depends on their GDPI so have to toil a lot to crack it...but atleast fill up the forms and hope for the best to get secured admission...

3. Occurrence of GDPI for final placements for colleges under DTE (JB, SIMSREE, KJ MMS etc.) is eminent but still nothing can be assured with CET into picture...My call would be to give FEB CMAT/CET for all who have attempted SEPT CMAT so as to leave no stones unturned

4. For GK - nobel prize winners, sportsmen and their game, politicians (of india, pakistan, UK and US), brand ambassadors and their brands, current affairs (read newspapers), all national level award winners (bharat ratna and similar awards)...Many more can be added to it but the most important thing is luck and it may get you anything....Try your best is all I can say and be at your toes with all quant formulaes, logical understanding and verbal reading...

5. Don't rely on the rules currently set or heard, rules are made to be changed...Last year's batch was a classic example of the sufferers...Just that you lads don't end up in the same mess, my call would be to be ready for the worst possible rules to be set and announced...

6. Try attempting other exams and don't rely on CMAT...Now with rumors that many more scores would be accepted in the DTE process, nothing can be guaranteed till the final verdict is out...but giving other exams increases the possibility of a better college so keep trying at different entrances

7. Last but not the least, it is luck and you need to trust it...give in your complete effort to anything and everything that's available and trust me you would get the best...keep patience and look out for the perfect move...Finally all the very best for your future

Regards,

Abhijeet.

[Feel free to write/ping me for CMAT queries or preparations...You can also message me on FB at https://www.facebook.com/Gladi1111]

116

About MAH CET 2014: Maharashtra Common Entrance Test or MAH CET 2014 is the state level MBA entrance exam for Maharashtra. MAH CET exam was last held in the year 2012 after which the exam was discontinued by DTE and the admission of the MAH CET participating institutes was conducted through AICTE CMAT exam.

Exam Name: Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MAH CET)

Commonly Known As: MAH CET

Exam Type: State level

Exam Category: PG exam

Conducting Body: Directorate of Technical Education (DTE)

MAH CET 2014 Eligibility Criteria: The candidates should be graduates in any discipline from a recognized institute recognized by Association of Indian Universities (AIU) with minimum 50% marks in aggregate and 45% for reserved category candidates.

MAH CET 2014 Selection Criteria: The final selection takes place through counseling process where DTE conducts a common Group Discussion and Personal Interview rounds for the shortlisted candidates.

MAH CET 2014 Exam Pattern: The MAH CET 2014 will be held in a paper pencil based format. The duration is 150 minutes or 2.5 hours. There are 200 questions asked from 5 different areas including Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability, Data Interpretation/Data Sufficiency and Reasoning.

MAH CET 2014 Application Procedure: You can apply online by visiting the DTE website when the application procedure starts. Before that, you have to buy the application kit from the listed post offices of Maharashtra. You have to submit the application online itself by following the instructions given in the application kit.

MAH CET 2014 Application Fee: To be announced later. MAH CET 2014 Important Dates: The dates for MAH CET 2014 have not been declared yet. However, on the basis of the last exam trends, we can expect the following to be the important dates:

MAH CET 2014 Announcement: November 2013

MAH CET 2014 Exam: February 2014

Last date of MAH CET 2014 Registration: January 2014

MAH CET 2014 Result: April 2014

MAH CET 2014 Result: April 2014

MAH CET 2014 Participating Institutes: Some of the top B-schools in Maharashtra which accepts the MAH CET 2014 scores are as follows:

Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai

K J Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research (KJSIMSR), Mumbai

Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Research and Entrepreneurship Education (SIMSREE), Mumbai

University of Pune – DMS (PUMBA)

Prin. LN Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research

Institute for Technology & Management (ITM)

Bharati Vidyapeeth's Institute of Management Studies & Research

Balaji Institute of Management & HRD (BIMHRD)

Balaji Institute of Telecom & Management

Institute of Business Studiesand Research

Address: Directorate of Technical Education, Maharashtra State, 3, Mahapalika Marg, Dhobi Talao, Mumbai - 400 001

EPABX: 91-022-22641150/51, 22620601, 2269 0602

Fax: 91-022-2269 2012, 2269 0007

Email: [email protected]

[source : http://www.bschool.careers360.com/mah-cet-2014]

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About CMAT 2014-15: The CMAT 2014-15 (Second Test) which will be held in February 2014 is the second of the two CMAT exams held in a year for the academic year 2014-15. The MBA entrance exam conducted by AICTE is held in computer based format over a window of 5 days in 2 slots. It is a national MBA entrance exam whose scores are accepted by over 1500 AICTE approved B-schools across India.

Exam Name: Common Management Aptitude Test (CMAT) 2014-15 (Second Test) or CMAT February 2014Conducting Body: All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

Note the B-schools accepting CMAT scores whose application process is going on at present:Click here to download Application Form of Siva Sivani Institute of ManagementClick here to download Application Form of ITM Business SchoolClick here to download Application Form of Bharath University School of Management Studies

Eligibility: The candidates should be graduates in any discipline from a recognized university. Final year graduation students can also apply. Those who have taken the CMAT September 2013 or the CMAT 2014-15 first test can also register for the exam.Exam Dates: The CMAT February 2014 or CMAT 2014-15 (Second Exam) will be held in a window of 5 days from Thursday, February 20, 2014 to Monday, February 24, 2014. The slots will start from 9.30 am and 2.30 pm.

Important Dates: The important dates for CMAT February 2014 or CMAT 2014-15 (Second Exam) are as follows:

EventImportant DatesRegistration Window StartsFriday, November 1, 2013Last date for online registrationThursday, January 2, 2014Print out of Hall TicketWednesday, February 5, 2014 onwardsTest DatesThursday, February 20, 2014 to Monday, February 24, 2014ResultFriday, March 14, 2014Print out of score cardsFriday, March 14, 2014 to Sunday, April 13, 2014

Application Procedure: The candidates will have to visit the AICTE CMAT website for the registration on Friday, November 1, 2013. The new users have to create an account and login in order to register. You need to upload 2 scanned photographs and your signature during the registration process. There are 3 modes of payment, Net Banking, Credit Card/Debit Card and Cash payment. The application fee is Rs. 1200 + Bank charges as applicable for General category candidates and Rs. 600 + Bank charges as applicable for SC, ST and PD category candidates.

Test Centers: CMAT February 2014 be held across 62 cities of India. Though in the CMAT 2014-15 first test held in September 2013 it was announced that the exam will be held in international locations, this time there is no such mention.

Address: All India Council For Technical Education (AICTE)7th Floor, Chanderlok BuildingJanpathNew Delhi-110 001IndiaPhone: 022-40679404Fax: 022-25814283Email: [email protected]Website: www.aicte-cmat.in

Source : http://www.bschool.careers360.com/cmat-february-2014-be-held-february-20-24

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Today, a day before my CAT Exam, when my heart is beating at more than its normal pace, I am writing my first article about Fortune. In the CAT exam luck is also considered as a determining factor of your success. But How far is it true?

Luck can be seen either in difficulty level of exam or in selection of questions or in the unsolved mystery “The Normalization” or in the combination of the above mentioned situation or in any other case like sickness, drowsiness etc. Luck may or may not favor you in one or the other situation. Yesterday night I was analyzing the commonly used buzzword 'Luck' and I found something interesting.

In general, there are two possibilities regarding luck. First, it exists. Second, it doesn't. If the first case is true, we need not to worry about luck. But, What if the second possibility is true? Again, we need not to worry about it. Because,Fate is inevitable.

Can we do anything?

Yes! We Can. Here the master of all proverbs regarding luck comes into picture and that is : “Fortune Favors the brave”.

As Fortune favors the brave, we can become brave and control our fortune. Being brave is in our own hands. So only it is said in Hindi “manushya apne bhagya ka nirmata swayam hai” (Man determines his destiny by himself)

So Let us become the brave and face the CAT.

The Bottom-line of my article is:

Be brave, as being brave helps in both the cases whether luck exists or it doesn't.

I request readers to put their views on fortune/luck/fate/destiny.

Thank You!

Note:

I strongly believe “Man determines his destiny by himself”.

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Well considering another season of C.A.T. ( Common Admission Test ) is currently underway it may seem too late to read this article. But for people who are yet to give or for others to come I would like to share my experience from my past tryst with C.A.T.

Any exam after schooling that you face becomes more about smart work then hard work. Many people feel that smart work is wrong way of doing the work, it is not so. Smart Work is doing something in more efficient manner without wasting effort in futile resources. For example: If you were asked to push a large and heavy box there are 2 ways to do it. One, push it with all your strength and hope for Hail Mary that you may be strong enough to push it. Second approach could be put some ball bearing kind of mechanism beneath the box and easily push it around. The second approach would be the smart work and would do the trick with efficient use of resources i.e. you physical strength.

In context of C.A.T. I would like say that this exam is not just about attempting large number of questions or being master of every topic in QA/DI. Many people like me are not very gifted in QA/DI. Once you acknowledge this how does one counter if he has already done his utmost best preparation for this section yet it is still not enough to reach that 90%ile mark in this section? The solution to this is attempt only limited number of questions. In current pattern out of 30 QA/DI questions in Section I attempting only 13-15 questions with 100% accuracy can land one in 90-95%ile range in this section.

Now you will wonder and say this is not possible, it actually is. You can easily verify this fact by looking at results from past mocks that you have currently given. With 15/15 correct questions you get 45 marks (assuming +3 and -1 marking scheme), check how much %ile does it roughly convert to in Section I for each past mock and therein you will get your answer. If you still need more proof, I myself followed this method in C.A.T. 2012 and scored a decent %ile in Section I. My C.A.T. 2012 experience is here and I have attached a copy of my scorecard. I didn't have 100% accuracy in my attempts and I don't want to dwell on my past and tell how many wrong questions I did, but there were some.

So my parting pointer to all aspirants, work smart for C.A.T. and for future. You aspire to be managers in big companies then start acting like one.

Regards,

Khagesh Batra

Master of Business Economics (2013-15)


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Mergers and acquisitions (M&A;) and corporate restructuring are an important part of business. More often than not they make big headlines across the globe and are often featured in General and Business Awareness section of exams like IIFT, SNAP and XAT. More often than not, the questions are based on big deals that took place during the last 6 months to 1 year. When one of my students asked me to send him a list of important deals from 2013, I told him to Google it. I was pretty sure that someone would have made a list and the student was just being lazy. When he replied back saying that he couldn't find one, to be honest - I was mildly irritated.

Then I hit Google myself to find out some such list but unfortunately wasn't able to do so. There were a few lists which were given by value but it doesn't work that way. I don't think that Perrigo acquiring Elan for 8.6 B $ has a higher chance of being asked than Jeff Bezos (of Amazon) acquiring Washington Post for 0.25 B $. So, I decided to create one, thinking it would hardly take 10 minutes. Boy! I was wrong. It has taken me a lot longer than that and hopefully you will find useful.

I hope you found this post useful. If you have any suggestions to add to the list, please let me know via the comments section. I know that the cover image isn't exactly great - suggestions for that are also welcome.

I have an online course on General and Business Awareness for XAT, IIFT and other Management Exams. You can use coupon code PUB25 for a 25% discount.


Ravi Handa, an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur, is the founder of HandaKaFunda. He teaches an Online CAT Coaching Course for CAT Preparation.

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The GK section of various entrance tests like IIFT, SNAP and XAT have enough number of questions on Static GK. As a start, Let me try to summarize some important facts regarding the UNO.

Prior to the UNO, there was an organization called as The League of Nations. This was formed as a result of the Paris Peace Conference. At its greatest extent it had 58 members.

The term 'United Nations' was first coined by Franklin D.Roosevelt and it was first used officially on 1st January 1945 when 50 nations signed the Atlantic Charter.The 'UN Charter' was adopted at the San Francisco Conference on 25th June 1945. The United Nations Organization came into existence officially from 24th October 1945.

Currently UNO has 193 member nations. The 193rd member nation was South Sudan. India was a founding member of the UNO and joined the same in October 1945.

The UNO has the following five major organs with it's headquarters at New York, USA.

1. The General Assembly [193 members. Current President(68th session): John.W.Ashe. India's Vijayalakshmi Pandit headed the 8th session ]

2. The Security Council [5 Permanent Members (USA, UK, France, China, Russia) and 10 Non-permanent members(for a 2 year period)]

3. The Economic and Social Council [54 members. President : Nester Osorio Londono]

4. The Secretariat

5. The International Court of Justice[15 judges elected by General Assembly. HQ : Hague]

A sixth organization, Trusteeship Council had suspended its operations in 1994 since the independence of Palau

Ban-Ki-moon(South Korea) is the current Secretary General of the UNO. The First Secretary General was Trygvie Lie (Norway).

Specialized Organs of the UNO (Location-wise with their respective heads)

Geneva, Switzerland

1. International Labor Organization. (Guy Ryder (UK))

2. International Telecommunication Union (Hamadoun Toure (Mali))

3. World Health Organization (Margaret Chan (Hong Kong))

4. World Intellectual Property Organization (Francis Gurry (Australia))

5. World Meteorological Organization(Michel Jarraud(France))

6. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Mukhisa Kituyi(Kenya))

Rome, Italy

1. Food and Agricultural Organization (Jose Graziano De Silva (Brazil))

2. International Fund for Agricultural Development (Kanayo.F.Nwanze(Nigeria))

3. World Food Programme (Ertharin Cousin (USA))

Washington D.C, USA

1. International Monetary Fund (Christine Lagarde(France))

2.World Bank (Jim Yong Kim(USA))

Vienna, Austria

1. International Atomic Energy Agency( Yukiya Amano (Japan))

2. United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Kandeh Yumkella (Sierra-Leone)

Paris, France

United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization(Irina Bokova (Bulgaria)

New York, USA

United Nations Children's Fund (Anthony Lake(USA))

London, UK

International Maritime Organization (Koji Sekimizu(Japan))

Madrid, Spain

World Tourism Organization (Taleb Rifai (Jordan)

Bern, Switzerland

Universal Postal Union (Eduoard Dayan(France))

Montreal, Canada

International Civil Aviation Organization (Raymond Benjamin(France))

UNO has designated 2013 as International Year of Water Cooperation and International Year of Quinoa.

UNO has designated 2014 as International Year of Small Island Developing States , International Year of Crystallography and International Year of Family Farming

I hope this article covered pretty much ab0ut the UNO. Good luck for IIFT !