In today’s Topper Mantras series of MBAUniverse.com, we
will share with you the success story of Aditya Agar, who scored 99.89
percentile in CAT 2011 and converted calls of IIM Bangalore, Lucknow,
Indore, Kozhikode, Shillong, Raipur, Rohtak, Kashipur, Udaipur and
Trichy. He chose IIM Bangalore as his next two year’s address.
As
Aditya started his preparation from the year 2009, it gave him a huge
insight on the core content of the exam and enough scope to experiment
for his exam taking strategy.
An Electrical Engineer graduate
from NIT Bhopal, Aditya passed out in the year 2011 and worked for a
major FMCG company for seven months thereafter.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: Why and when did you decide to do MBA? What is your plan after you complete your MBA?
A:
The reason for zeroing down on PGP was based on perceptions and college
seniors’ inputs to begin with. As thoughts took shape and matured, I
understood that I wanted to do an MBA because I have a keen interest in
Human Resource Management. A formal education, thus, becomes
quintessential to help me pursue this interest.
Q: What is your CAT 2011 percentile?
A: I scored 99.89 percentile in CAT 2011.
Q: Please share your WAT/PI experience in detail.
A:
At IIM Bangalore’s WAT/PI process, I was asked to first write an essay
on ‘Foreign coaches are a waste of money in Indian sports.’
My
interview was centred on my experience at work and I was asked a lot of
questions on the contributions I made to the organization. All in all,
the interview was a big test of finding out what I gave to the
organization I worked for and to the college I came from, which, trust
me is very difficult to comprehend.
Q: Which institutes offered you final admission? Why did you choose IIM Bangalore?
A:
Apart from IIM Bangalore I had final admission offers from IIM Lucknow,
IIM Indore, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Shillong, IIM Raipur, IIM Rohtak, IIM
Kashipur, IIM Udaipur and IIM Trichy. I was waitlisted at number 26
initially at IIM Calcutta which did not yield a final convert.
Choosing
IIM Bangalore was not really a tough decision, however, I think I chose
IIM Bangalore as it is a confluence of hard work and fun, studies and
non-academic activities and most importantly, the eminent professors and
other faculty members and exceptionally challenging peer group!
Q: How did you start the preparation and what was your overall strategy?
A: CAT
preparation, for me, started way back in 2009 when I moved to the 5th
semester in my undergrad course. I absolutely loved English and reading
newspapers and it all began with my urge to make myself better at the
knowledge of the language and that of the world. Mathematics and DI were
the rather sweet distractions from my main goals.
I think I had only
one strategy and that was to review my tests and exams in great detail.
It is perfectly fine to not know some things in the exam and I wish to
assert that I made many blunders and grave mistakes in my mock CATs, but
the strategy was to review everything and strive to not repeat any
mistake!
Q: Do you think it is
possible to crack CAT without taking formal coaching? What would you
suggest the CAT 2012 aspirants who would like to prepare by themselves?
A:
Cracking CAT Without coaching is possible, but it is not possible to do
that without mock CATs. If you are preparing for CAT 2012 without the
help of a coaching institute, please make good use of your limited time
and learn to identify your mistakes and weaknesses and don’t deny their
presence. Most importantly, relax your mind if you’re in a fix in an
exam or in mock CATs, after all it is Mathematics and English!
Q:
CAT saw a major change in the format & pattern in 2011. How did you
prepare for it? Did this new pattern cause any hindrance in your
preparation or exam taking strategy?
A:
I don’t think we had a great idea as to what the finer pattern within
the two broad heads could be and everybody indulged in speculations.
Even today, when people call the pattern as ‘changed’, the method of
preparation remains the same as was for the last 3 CATs. When you have a
countdown timer on your screen, your approach, however, might change.
But all in all, the basic preparation structure has not changed since
2009.
My approach was to first eliminate step by step all of my
woes in English-Language and Grammar and RC. Once this was done, I tried
to balance a week’s study in the three areas. Also, one learning I wish
to share is that aspirants should treat mock CATs as mock CATs; please
don’t lose heart if things don’t work out in mocks. I have seen people
giving up on CAT citing their bad performance in two or three mocks.
Please take success and failure in your stride, it equips you with
skills you’ll need once you enter your dream college.
Q: What was your strategy for time management?
A: However
difficult people make it appear, I think that CAT preparation is about
mind management. Just remember to evenly spread all the three topics’
studies over the number of days left for the CAT from now and stick to
it.
Q: What is your message for the MBA aspirants who will take CAT 2012 and other exams of the season?
A: Be
sincere but not extremely serious! Believe me, CAT preparation can be
fun, but there is life outside the CAT prep books as well. Try and keep
yourself updated on the things happening around the world and
particularly in our country. Also, please figure out why you want to get
a degree in management and what your aims are because every institute
would want to know this answer in their interview rounds. And yes, be
receptive!
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more Topper Mantras.
There are around 10 MBA entrance exams of national
stature which are held every year. These entrance exams open the way to
your dream career in Management. Unless you cross this stage, you cannot
reach the next levels - GD, PI and WAT.
Though the final
admission depends on how you perform at different stages of the
admission and the overall score, the written examination is of utmost
importance.
For an MBA aspirant, it is important to evaluate
himself and select the right entrance exam for their entry to the
B-school of their choice. As it is not compulsory to take each and every
exam, you must choose carefully which MBA entrance exam to take as all
have some different uniqueness which may work for you, or may not work.
You must select the exams on the basis of certain factors such as the
advantage of taking the exam, participating B-schools, cost of
application to name a few.
Let us have a look at the exams of the year and their typical features.
CAT 2012
Important Dates:
CAT 2012 was announced on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 and the CAT bulletin
was announced in the newspapers on Sunday, July 22, 2012. The computer
based test will be held in a window of 21 days from Thursday, October
11, 2012 to Tuesday, November 6, 2012.
The Registration process
is going on at present, which started from Monday, July 30, 2012 and the
last date of registration is Wednesday, September 19, 2012.
Registration fee:
The registration fee for CAT 2012 is Rs. 1600. You do not have to apply
separately for the IIMs, but for the non-IIM B-schools, separate
application is required.
B-schools accepting CAT 2012 scores: As
on August 1, 2012, the number of non-IIM participant B-schools was 115.
According to CAT 2012 Convenor Prof. SSS Kumar, the list is getting
updated as many top B-schools including IITs are yet to be added.
Number of takers: CAT 2011 was taken by 1.85 lakh candidates whereas the number of registered candidates was 2.05 lakh.
CAT advantage:
CAT is the biggest MBA entrance exam taken by the majority of the MBA
aspirants for the admission in the 13 prestigious IIMs and around 150
B-schools. Since last year, the Department of Management Studies of IITs
and NITs and FMS, University of Delhi has also started accepting CAT
scores.
XAT 2013
After
CAT, the most sought after MBA entrance exam is XAT, which is conducted
by XLRI Jamshedpur. XAT is one of the toughest nuts to crack as the
difficulty level is pretty high in this exam.
Important Dates:
XAT is traditionally held in the first Sunday of January. XAT 2013 is
scheduled for Sunday, January 6, 2013. The official announcement would
be made on Wednesday, August 8, 2012.
Registration fee:
The application fee for XAT is Rs. 950. You do not have to apply
separately for XLRI, the institute conducting the exam, but you have to
apply separately for the participating B-schools.
B-schools accepting XAT scores:
This year, XAT 2012 scores were accepted by 101 B-schools. Some of the
prominent names are XIMB, XIME Bangalore, SPJIMR, Loyola Institute of
Business Administration, Great Lakes Institute of Management, Goa
Institute of Management to name a few.
Number of takers: XAT 2012 was taken by approximately 80, 000 candidates.
XAT advantage:
XAT scores are accepted by over 100 prestigious B-schools across India.
Cracking XAT can give you entry to the top B-schools of premier league
like XLRI and others.
CMAT 2013
CMAT
or Common Management Aptitude Test conducted by AICTE was first
conducted in February 2012. It is a computer based exam. CMAT would be
conducted twice, once on September-October and January-February. The
CMAT for September-October for the academic year 2013-14 has been
announced.
Important Dates: CMAT September exam was announced on Tuesday, July 31, 2012. The exam will
be held from Thursday, September 27 to Monday, October 1, 2012. The
registration process will start from Friday, August 3, 2012. The last
date for registration is Sunday, September 2, 2012.
Registration fee: The registration fee is Rs. 1200 for the General and SC/ST candidates.
B-schools
accepting CMAT scores: All the B-schools which are AICTE approved can
accept CMAT scores. CMAT 2012 scores were taken by around 2000
B-schools. Some of the noted B-schools include Great Lakes Institute of
Management Chennai, Goa Institute of Management, We School Mumbai and
Bangalore, IFIM Business School Bangalore, Jaipuria Institute of
Management Noida, Lucknow & Jaipur, Asia Pacific Institute of
Management Delhi, ITM Navi Mumbai and Bangalore, IILM New Delhi and
Gurgaon to name a few.
Number of takers: CMAT 2012 was taken by 70, 000 candidates.
CMAT advantage: The candidates are allowed to take the exam twice and the best of the scores would be considered for the admission.
MAT 2012
MAT
is the MBA entrance exam conducted by AIMA. The exam is held four times
a year. The next MAT is on September 2012. MAT is held in two formats,
paper pencil based as well as computer based.
Important Dates: MAT September 2012 will be held on Sunday, September 2, 2012 for the paper
pencil based format. The computer based exam will be held from Saturday,
September 8, 2012 onwards. The registration process is going on at
present and the last day to register is Thursday, August 16, 2012.
Registration fee: The application fee is Rs. 1200.
B-schools accepting MAT scores: MAT September 2012 would be accepted by 195 B-schools across India.
Number of takers: MAT May 2012 exam was taken by around 32, 000 candidates.
MAT Advantage:
MAT exam is held four times a year which gives you enough chance to
crack the exam. The difficulty level of the exam is of uniform
difficulty and it does not throw any surprises. The difficulty level is
easy to moderate. If you are aiming for a mid tier B-School, MAT is a
good option for you.
NMAT 2013
NMAT
is the entrance exam for NMIMS University. The computer based exam is
held in a window of a month and a half. The candidates can take the test
thrice and the best of the scores would be accepted. The NMAT 2013 exam
has been recently announced.
Important Dates:
NMAT 2013 will be held from Thursday, October 11, 2012 to Monday,
December 19, 2012. The registration process has started from July 11,
2012. The last date for registration is Tuesday, September 25, 2012.
Registration
fee: The registration fee is Rs. 1650 or Rs. 2000, depending on the
number of courses you are applying for. The late registration fee is Rs.
2150 and Rs. 2500. The rescheduling fee is Rs. 800.
B-schools accepting NMAT scores: NMAT scores are accepted by NMIMS University, which has its campuses in Mumbai and Bangalore.
Number of takers: NMAT 2012 exam was taken by 56, 000 candidates.
NMAT Advantage:
NMIMS University is one of the most prestigious private universities of
India. You can take the exam thrice and the best of your scores would
be accepted, which makes a pretty good chance for getting a call. There
is no negative marking scheme in the exam. However, the application fee
is high compared to the other exams and for each retake and GD PI, you
have to register separately.
IIFT 2012
IIFT
or Indian Institute of Foreign Trade Delhi & Kolkata conducts its
own MBA entrance exam for the flagship course of MBA Foreign Trade (FT).
The exam is a paper pencil based test.
Important Dates:
IIFT 2012 will be held on Sunday, November 25, 2012. The registration
process is going on at present and the last date is Monday, September 3,
2012.
Registration fee: The registration fee for IIFT entrance exam is Rs. 1500.
B-schools accepting IIFT scores:
IIFT entrance exam scores are accepted by IIFT Dehi and Kolkata and
other institutes which offer course on Foreign Trade such as IFIM
Business School, Bangalore.
Number of takers: Number of test takers for IIFT 2011 exam was 56, 000.
IIFT Advantage:
IIFT is a premiere B-School under Government of India, which offers MBA
in Foreign Trade. But you should take the exam only if you are
absolutely sure about your interest in foreign trade and your
performance as the institute has high cut off and has 281 seats only.
SNAP 2012
SNAP
is the entrance exam for the institutes under Symbiosis International
University. The paper pencil based exam is conducted every third Sunday
of December. This year, SNAP has not been announced as of yet.
Important
dates: Going by the general timeline, SNAP 2012 is tentatively
scheduled for Sunday, December 16, 2012. The exam has not been announced
yet.
Registration fee: The registration fee for SNAP exam is Rs. 1550.
B-schools accepting SNAP scores: All
the institutes which are affiliated to Symbiosis International
University accept the SNAP scores. The prominent B-schools under
Symbiosis International University are Symbiosis Institute of Business
Management (SIBM) Pune, Symbiosis Institute of International Business
(SIIB) Pune and Bangalore, Symbiosis Center for Management & Human
Resource Development (SCMHRD) Pune, Symbiosis Institute of Telecom
Management (SITM) Pune to name a few.
SNAP Advantage:
SNAP scores are accepted by the institutes under Symbiosis
International University. The B-schools under the university offer
specializations such as International Business, Telecom Management, HRD,
Computer Science to name a few. If you are interested in a specialized
MBA, taking SNAP is a good option for you.
IRMA 2012
IRMA
or Institute of Rural Management Anand conducts IRMA entrance exam for
the admission to the institute. It is a paper pencil based exam.
Important Dates:
IRMA 2011 was held on November 13. Given by the regular timeline, this
year IRMA is tentatively scheduled for November 11, 2012.
Registration fee: The registration fee of IRMA is Rs. 1000 or Rs. 1500 depending on the number of courses you are applying for.
B-schools accepting IRMA scores: IRMA entrance exam scores are accepted by IRMA and some other B-schools which offer a course on Rural Management like XIMB.
IRMA Advantage:
If you are really passionate about Rural Management, you must take
IRMA. But if you are more interested in general MBA program or placement
in a high paying job, you may choose not to take the exam for this
specialized field.
Hence, make a wise choice of which MBA
entrance exams to take as it would help you focus on your preparation
and prevent the clash of dates of the different exams.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more news and updates on MBA entrance exams.
XLRI Jamshedpur has finalized the date for the XAT 2013
and is all set to announce it soon. XAT 2013 exam will be held on
Sunday, January 6, 2013.
Fr. E Abraham, Director, XLRI
Jamshedpur confirmed the dates with MBAUniverse.com. Fr. E Abraham said,
“XAT 2013 will be held on Sunday, January 6, 2013. We are following the
usual schedule of holding the exam on first Sunday of January. The
official announcement of XAT 2013 will be made on next Sunday.”
XAT
2012 scores were accepted by over 101 B-schools in India. Some of the
prominent B-schools are XLRI Jamshedpur, Xavier Institute of Management
Bhubaneswar (XIMB), S P Jain Institute of Management Research (SPJIMR)
Mumbai, Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA) Chennai to
name a few.
XAT 2012 was held on Sunday, January 8, 2012. XAT is
a paper pencil based test. The duration of the paper is two hours and
twenty minutes. The paper has three sections, Data Interpretation &
Quantitative Ability, Analytical Reasoning & Decision Making, Verbal
& Logical Ability. XAT also has a question on Essay Writing whose
duration is 20 minutes.
XAT 2012 had 85 questions with
comparatively easier difficulty level. January 8, 2012. The exam paper
had a lot of changes compared to the previous years’ papers. The
difficulty level of the exam was easier compared to previous years. The
number of questions reduced from 101 to 85. The duration of the paper
was two hours. The Decision Making Section had no Analytical Reasoning
question. This year, instead of marking with pencil, the test takers had
to mark with pen in the OMR sheet. This means, the marked answers could
not be changed later and the test takers had to be very careful while
choosing the answer options. So the sections of the exam were
Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation, English Language Ability
& Logical Reasoning, Decision Making and Essay Writing. Instead of
one topic, candidates were given a choice of two topics for the Essay
Writing.
The total mark of the paper was 100. XAT continued the
pattern of differential marking this year. There was 25 per cent
negative marking for each wrong answer.
MBAUniverse.com will keep you updated on the exam pattern of XAT 2013 in coming days.
MBAUniverse.com
was the first media to break the other MBA entrance exams of the year,
CAT 2012, IIFT 2012, NMAT 2013 and CMAT 2013.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on MBA entrance exams 2012-13.
The number of non IIM B-schools which are accepting CAT
scores is further increased to 115 as on Wednesday, August 1, 2012. In
the earlier report of MBAUniverse.com, it was noted that the number of
B-schools enlisted under the non-IIM institutes in the CAT IIM website
was 109, which was a slight increase from 106, which was counted on the
day of the CAT 2012 announcement on Sunday, July 22, 2012.
Some
of the B-schools which have been added in the list include SPJIMR
Mumbai, Indus Business Academy Bangalore, Department of Business
Administration, Tezpur University, Assam, School of Business Studies,
Sharda University, Department of Business Management, University of
Calcutta among others.
But the other top B-schools which accept
CAT scores such as NITIE Mumbai, Great Lakes Institute of Management
Chennai, XIME Bangalore, XIM Jabalpur, the Department of Management of
the IITs among many other B-schools are yet to appear in the list.
When
MBAUniverse.com approached these B-schools, they confirmed their
acceptance of CAT 2012 scores for the admission of the academic year
2013-15.
MBAUniverse.com was unable to reach Prof. SSS Kumar, CAT 2012 Convenor for his comments. But earlier he had told
MBAUniverse.com that the B-schools are still being updated in the CAT IIM website. Though the closing date of registration is over, there are
institutes like IITs, for which some exemptions have been done.
Talking
about the reason on why some of the top B-School names are not yet
there in the list at the CAT IIM website, Dr. R Sesha Iyer, Director,
SPJIMR Mumbai stated, “IIMs would add the names as and when they receive
the registration fee of Rs. 2 lakh.”
To read the previous report on the non-IIM participating institutes for CAT 2012, click on the following links:
Why the number of B-schools accepting CAT 2012 scores has gone down
Number of B-schools registered for CAT 2012 goes down
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more news and updates on CAT 2012.
For some, MBA happens by chance, while some aim for the
top B-schools since childhood and work towards it in a focused manner.
In today’s MBAUniverse.com Topper Mantras series, we present to you the
success story of Prabhu Dheva Ravi, who aimed for only IIM Ahmedabad so
as to carry on the family legacy of studying in the apex B-School of the
country.
Prabhu, who plans to become a sports broadcaster after
completing his MBA, had scored 99.99 percentile in CAT 2011. He pursued
his graduation in Chemical Engineering from IIT Madras. He was placed
in Deutsche Bank & ITC. Prabhu is a State Level cricketer and was
the captain of the Cricket Team at IIT Madras which pretty much sums up
his passion for sports and his future career plan. He also enjoys
dancing and playing guitar.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: Why and when did you decide to do MBA? What is your plan after you complete your MBA?
A:
My father is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and I grew up watching him and
his co-alumni. This ingrained in me an interest to do an MBA,
especially from IIM Ahmedabad. My long-term plan is to become a sports
broadcaster.
Q: What is your CAT 2011 percentile?
A: I scored 99.99 percentile in CAT 2011.
Q: How was your WAT/PI experience?
A: The
PI was very smooth. I talked about my final project in IIT, my hobbies
and instances where I exhibited leadership, which came through in the
form of my experiences as the cricket captain of IIT Madras.
Q: Which institutes offered you final admission? Why did you choose IIM Ahmedabad?
A: I had aimed only IIM Ahmedabad and concentrated only on making it to the premiere MBA institute in India.
Q: How did you start the preparation and what was your overall strategy?
A: I
started my preparation in January 2011. I attended coaching classes
till April. After that, I solved a lot of section-wise tests, reverting
to full tests two months before CAT.
Q:
Do you think it is possible to crack CAT without taking formal
coaching? What would you suggest the CAT 2012 aspirants who would like
to prepare by themselves?
A:
Without coaching, it is possible but difficult. Coaching basically
gives you a direction. The amount of practice you put in is up to you,
and is what probably decides the outcome.
Q:
CAT saw a major change in the format & pattern in 2011. How did you
prepare for it? Did this new pattern cause any hindrance in your
preparation or exam taking strategy?
A:
To be frank, it caused no change whatsoever in my preparation. Three
sections were compressed into two. Other than that, there was no change
in the exam.
Q: What was your
preparation strategy for the Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning?
A:
For Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation, I practiced a lot
and revised formulae whenever possible. For the Verbal Ability &
Logical Reasoning section, I followed Cue cards, took online sectional
tests, read novels and the newspapers.
Q: What was your strategy for time management?
A: In
my penultimate semester, I had my academics, placement preparations,
CAT preparations and the responsibility of leading the cricket team. I
managed by prioritizing my activities through the day and making sure I
was focused on the task currently at hand.
Q: What is your message for the MBA aspirants who will take CAT 2012 and other exams of the season?
A:
Be sure you want an MBA, and know what it entails. Prepare hard for the
exams, but realize that luck plays a major role, at least in CAT. So,
have back-up options. Speed and accuracy are the differentiators in CAT.
Try to peak on the D-day of CAT 2012.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more Topper Mantras.
Most big things happen by chance. This popular saying
holds absolutely true for Mohit Srivastava, a first year student of IIM
Bangalore, who scored 99.93 percentile in CAT 2011. Unlike 99 per cent
of the CAT takers, who are generally sure of why they want to pursue MBA
or prepare for months, for Mohit, MBA happened by chance.
Not
only was it a sudden decision to take CAT but in spite of facing several
obstacles which left him with hardly a month for preparation, Mohit
secured a high score of 99.93 percentile in CAT 2011.
A Varanasi
boy, who lived in several places in India courtesy his IAS officer
father’s job, Mohit did his Computer Science Engineering from IIIT
Hyderabad and worked for about two years in Amazon Hyderabad as a
Software Development Engineer.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: Why and when did you decide to do MBA? What is your plan after you complete your MBA?
A: For
me MBA was never on my cards. Just like most big things happen by
chance, this also happened to me by chance. In a sense I was happy
working for Amazon.com as a Software Development Engineer and was
looking at moving into bigger tech giants such as Google or Facebook.
Till August I was completely point blank as to my MBA plans.
I
had applied to Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S.
After two rounds of phone screen and 5 onsites at the Google MTV campus,
as luck would have its way, I got a rejection from Google MTV in
mid-August.
During the same time my flatmate who was also from
IIIT-Hyderabad and was working with Factset, was filling in the form for
CAT, whose vouchers were supposed to go on sale from the 17th of
August, 2011. Since he was preparing, I joined along in a bandwagon
effect, and filled in the forms for CAT 2011.
My plan as of now is to not to follow the herd and do something different and big in this world.
Q: What is your CAT 2011 percentile?
A: My CAT 2011 percentile was 99.93 overall. The sectionals were QA/DI 99.93 and VA & LR 97.56.
Q: How was your WAT/PI experience?
A:
The interview experience was very different at all the four IIMs. IIM
Lucknow was focussed more on general affairs. IIM Bangalore was mostly
academics and SOP based (they actually asked me an algorithm) IIM
Calcutta was purely quant based in terms that the first five questions
were based on Permutations and Combinations. After I satisfactorily
answered them the interviews started asking me questions on Seattle and
where all I had been in Seattle. IIM Ahmedabad was very unpredictable in
terms that most of the questions were not from my strength. It was
somewhat less academic.
Q: Which institutes offered you final admission? Why did you choose IIM Bangalore?
A: I
attended the interviews for IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow
and converted calls from IIM Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow and the new
IIMs. I chose IIM Bangalore because it had grown by leaps and bounds in
the past decade and also because it had a locational advantage over IIM
Calcutta – Bangalore being the IT capital of India and growing at a
tremendous pace. Another factor that played a part was peer learning.
Since Bangalore, focuses more on the profile of a candidate rather than
on CAT score, I thought I would learn a lot more being in Bangalore than
in other IIMs. Having said that, there is hardly any difference between
Bangalore and Calcutta or for that matter Ahmedabad, Bangalore or
Calcutta and you would not regret joining any of these schools.
Q: How did you start the preparation and what was your overall strategy?
A: Since I was working and MBA never was on my radar, I started a bit late.
As
soon as I joined a mock CAT test series and started giving mock tests, I
met a serious road accident which left me badly wounded and I could not
prepare much for almost a month and a week as I had high fever after I
recovered from my injuries. After I recovered from my injuries I fell
victim to high fever and was down for another week. So in a way my real
preparation started in October while I took CAT on November 14, 2011.
For
me the key to cracking CAT 2011 was taking a lot of mocks and analyzing
them thoroughly. Analyzing mocks can be tricky because there is a right
way and a wrong way to do the same. The wrong way for instance would be
you doing some mistakes in some vocab question and you going back to
Barron’s Word List to increase your vocabulary (Realize that this
strategy can really bomb because CAT doesn’t really test how many words
you know, it rather tests your understanding of English and your logical
comprehension).
Another aspect of the preparation was since I
was working, it was critically important to balance my work with my
preparation as well. I deleted my FB account and worked in the office
only from 10-4:30. I tried to wrap up most of my work by that time. I
made sure that I reach home by 5 and take a mock/practise test from
5:30-8:00; have my dinner and start analyzing the mock for the next two
days.
In terms of my overall strategy after taking a few mocks I
had realized that I would be able to make the cut for Quant and English
was my Achilles heel and it could hurt me badly. Since I had an
abundance of mocks and there was no chance I was going to finish taking
all the mocks by 14th November (I was taking a mock every three days
including the time for analysing it for two days – which means a maximum
of 15 mocks by November 14 – and I had somewhere around 30+20 mocks in
total), for the other series that I had joined I started skipping the
Quant section and only taking and analyzing the VA section. This
strategy worked wonders because towards the end of October I started
showing a systematic improvement in my VA scores.
I also took a
strategic leave from my office two weeks before my D-Day. This was my
marathon week, wherein I started taking three mocks for every two days.
This week I had also decided to work on some of my weaker topics such as
Combinatorics and Number Theory in QA and some caselets in DI apart
from VA.
The last week was mostly revising what I had done over
the past month and a half (the correct strategies and the wrong ones
too), going through my book of analysis of mocks, making sure I do not
repeat the same mistakes (such as leaving out on easy questions etc) and
praying to God!
Q: Do you think
it is possible to crack CAT without taking formal coaching? What would
you suggest the CAT 2012 aspirants who would like to prepare by
themselves?
A: Yes
it is definitely possible to crack CAT 2012 without a formal coaching.
In fact I would say that it is best not to join a coaching. The guys in
coaching teach at the pace of the class, and if you are a fast learner
you would often find it difficult to move at their slow pace.
One
thing however I would recommend for sure is that you must and must join
a national level mock test series. In my opinion mocks are the one
mantra you should be looking towards for cracking CAT 2012. They give
you a real view of where you stand among your contemporaries. They also
prepare you for all the nitties and gritties that might surface up when
you take the actual CAT.
More than anything else, they would help
you devise a strategy that best suits you (because only you are the
best judge of yourself and your potential). Make sure that you analyze
mocks thoroughly (this is really important). Typical ratio should be 1:6
(if you spend one unit of time giving mock tests, you must spend six
units of time analysing it). If you believe in yourself you could
actually bring it down to 1:3.
The other important piece of
mantra is perseverance. Do not lose heart when you get low scores in
mocks. It happens and it happens with everyone (the difference is
everyone doesn’t tell you about it). Quite often failures and low scores
are the events from which you end up learning a lot. Do not run away
from them, in fact have the courage to face them and learn from them.
Q:
CAT saw a major change in the format & pattern in 2011. How did you
prepare for it? Did this new pattern cause any hindrance in your
preparation or exam taking strategy?
A:
It is important to analyze the pros and cons of pattern change if and
when they happen in CAT (and they do make these changes rather quickly).
One advantage CAT 2011 provided me was that I was earlier spending less
than 40 minutes time on English (when the sections were open) and was
trying to use up that time to maximize my score in QA and DI. Since CAT
2011 had a restriction on spending a fixed amount of time on VA and LR I
actually was able to spend more time on my VA section which helped me
improve my accuracy in VA. The other side effect of this change was
obviously that the QA and DI section had to be finished in the 70
minutes and hence I had to increase my speed in Quant.
Another
important thing that needed to be kept in mind was that since VA was
often very unpredictable for me it was critical that I had to correctly
attempt all the 9 to 10 questions of LR in my VALR section (so I had to
be more careful while doing those questions and had to ensure that I
reach 100% accuracy in LR which is quite possible)
Q:
What was your preparation strategy for the Quantitative Ability &
Data Interpretation and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning?
A: My
strategy in QA and DI was to pick and attack the QA questions first
since this was my forte. The ideal mix of time for me was to give
somewhere around 40 to 45 minutes for QA and some 25 to 30 minutes for
DI.
For DI my preparation mostly revolved around getting a sense of familiarity with most data sets and some common caselets.
QA was more of strengthening my strong points and working on my weak points which included combinatorics and number theory.
LR
again was more of getting used to the various types of caselets and
questions and getting used to them. LR was trickier in the sense that
time had to be managed more smartly. I made sure that I wasn’t getting
stuck on a question for more than four minutes of my time.
VA was
the toughest part for me. I had to do a lot to improve my VA. First and
the foremost I had to work on improving my reading and comprehension
speed which included a lot of stuff including getting the tone of the
author and un-weaving close set of options. Then I had to work a lot on
parajumbles and also inference based questions. Mostly it was practise
and practise.
Q: What was your strategy for time management?
A: My
strategy for time management was simple. Attack all the questions that
were easy (irrespective of the fact that they were from my strength or
not). You should not focus too much on a question if it takes more than
two minutes to solve and trust your ability that if it takes more than
two minutes for you to solve it is difficult for almost 90 per cent of
the CAT takers.
Next attack all the questions that I regarded as my strengths. Again leave the ones that are taking more than say 2.5 minutes.
For
the last iteration, go for everything. My ideal exam used to be the
ones in which I used to finish my paper a good five minutes before the
end of the time, take some 2.5 minutes to see if I can solve anymore
question and for the last 2.5 minutes revise my answers. Quite often
this strategy used to work wonders to maximize my score as there used to
be at least some 1-2 questions wherein I had done some or the other
silly mistake.
Q: What is your message for the MBA aspirants who will take CAT 2012 and other exams of the season?
A:
CAT/MBA is not the be all and end all of everything in this world. You
do not need an MBA to become Sunil Mittal. Prepare well, persevere and
put in your hard work and the results would follow.
Beyond everything
don’t lose heart. Failures do happen. Learn to accept them. Success is
nothing but going from failures to failures without loss of enthusiasm.
So if you fail, be rest assured that you are on the right track.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more Topper Mantras.
The Common Management Admission Test (CMAT), the national
MBA entrance exam conducted by AICTE has been announced for the year
2013-14. This is the first CMAT for the year 2013-14, which will be held
from Thursday, September 27, 2012 to Monday, October 1, 2012.
Let s have a look at the important aspects of the CMAT September-October 2013-14 Notification.
Important Dates
The Registration window opens on Friday, August 3, 2012.
The last date for Online Registration is Sunday, September 2, 2012.
The print of the Hall Tickets would be available from Saturday, September 15, 2012.
The computer based CMAT exam will be held on Thursday, September 27, 2012 to Monday, October 1, 2012.
The result will be declared on Wednesday, October 17, 2012.
The Score Cards can be printed from Wednesday, October 17, 2012 to Saturday, November 17, 2012.
Eligibility
The candidates who have graduated from a recognized University in any discipline or Final Year students can also apply.
Registration Process
The
registration fee for CMAT exam is Rs. 1200 for the General and OBC
category candidates and Rs. 600 for the SC/ST/PD candidates along with
the Bank charges.
The candidates have to give three cities in order
of preference. According to AICTE, “Allotment will be based on first
come first served. Actual allotment however will be subject to
availability of the slots in a particular city.”
Test Cities
CMAT 2013-14 exam for September-October would be held in 64 cities across
India. These cities are Agartala, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Amravati,
Amritsar, Ananthapur, Aurangabad, Bangalore, Bareily, Bhopal,
Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Delhi, Dhanbad,
Dharwad, Durgapur, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Gwalior, Hyderabad,
Indore, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Jammu, Jamshedpur, Jhansi, Jodhpur, Kanpur,
Kochi, Kolhapur, Kolkata, Kota, Kozhikode, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Madurai,
Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur, Nasik, Noida, Panaji, Patna, Prakasam,
Pondicherry, Pune, Rajkot, Raipur, Ranchi, Shimla, Siliguri, Srinagar,
Surat, Trichurapalli, Trivandrum, Udaipur, Vadodara, Varanasi,
Visakhapatnam and Warangal.
Admission Process
The
detailed merit list will be provided to the respective State
Governments for allotting the students through central counseling In
case there is no central counseling Scores awarded will be used for
admission in the AICTE approved Institutes or University Departments.
CMAT Pattern
CMAT
is a test of 180 minutes duration. There are four sections, which are
Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning,
Language Comprehension and General Awareness. The total number of
questions is 100, with 25 questions in each section. There is no
negative marking scheme and for each correct answer, there is four
marks.
CMAT 2012 exam was held in a nine day window from Monday, February 20, 2012 to Tuesday, February 28, 2012.
As
mentioned by Dr. SS Mantha, Chairman, AICTE in an exclusive interview
with MBAUniverse.com, CMAT would be held twice a year from now on, this
being the first test of the year. The next exam would be held in
January-February, 2013. The candidates would be eligible to take both
the tests and the best of the two scores will be used for the admission
in the academic year 2013-14.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more news on CMAT 2013-14 exam.
If you are focussed enough, then even three months of
preparation can help you in cracking CAT 2012. Sai Ganesh B, a 99.99
percentiler in CAT 2011 and a first year student of IIM Ahmedabad is an
example. In today’s Topper Mantras, he will share with you his secret of
getting the high score and making it to the hallowed portals of the top
three IIMs.
Sai is a B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT
Madras. He has 30 months of work experience in Beroe as Senior Research
Analyst and HSBC as Analyst. He is currently pursuing Level 3 CFA. He
was rated 10 per cent of the HSBC Employees worldwide and received the
HSBC Sport Award. Apart from studies and work, he also has his cultural
cells on toes. He coordinated the Publicity cell in Saarang, IIT
Madhras’s cultural fest and he also enjoys playing violin.
Q: Why and when did you decide to do MBA? What is your plan after you complete your MBA?
A:
I had been working for HSBC for the past two years and wanted to make a
career in finance. MBA was the best option to put my growth and
development on a fast track. I decided to do MBA last year itself.
I intend to work in a financial institution on completing my MBA.
Q: What is your CAT 2011 percentile?
A: I secured 99.99 percentile in CAT.
Q: Please share your WAT/PI experience in detail.
A:
In all the three interviews, the panel put me at comfort even while
thoroughly challenging me. The interviews were highly personalized and
questions were asked based on the direction I was giving to the
interviews.
The focus was primarily on my work experience with
HSBC and my knowledge of finance as I am pursuing the CFA. They also
asked me about my hobbies.
Q: Which institutes offered you final admission? Why did you choose IIM Ahmedabad?
A:
I got the final admission calls from IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore and
Calcutta. All three are just as good. I preferred Ahmedabad for its
Harvard style of case based pedagogy.
Q: How did you start the preparation and what was your overall strategy?
A:
My strategy was to primarily prepare by self. I prepared for about
three months. Momentum and speed is key for cracking CAT so it is
important to set aside at least half an hour everyday for the last month
before CAT.
I also took mock tests from a well known institute
and spent much time on analyzing my strengths and weaknesses based on my
test performance. This helped me to concentrate on improving my weak
areas in the early part of the preparation and sharpening my strengths
in the later stage of my preparation.
Q:
Do you think it is possible to crack CAT without taking formal
coaching? What would you suggest the CAT 2012 aspirants who would like
to prepare by themselves?
A: The
syllabus for CAT is primarily based on what we learnt at school (Class
8-10). CAT can be aced without coaching, assuming your fundamentals are
very strong. Coaching will only help give direction to the preparation
and in defining an approach to specific types of problems. Much of the
result depends on how much time one spends working on problems and in
building up momentum before the exam.
Q:
CAT saw a major change in the format & pattern in 2011. How did you
prepare for it? Did this new pattern cause any hindrance in your
preparation or exam taking strategy?
A:
Pattern required no change when it came to preparation as the syllabus
was the same. In the earlier case when there was only one paper, one had
to ensure attempting enough questions in each section. As per the
current format, this challenge has been relaxed as the two sections are
in different slots and one need not keep track of time too much. Also,
most of the questions are considerably easy and can be answered in the
given time.
Q: What was your
preparation strategy for the Quantitative Ability & Data
Interpretation and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning?
A: In
the Quantitative Ability area, I had just refreshed the fundamental
methods and formulae. For Data Interpretation, I spent much time on
solving different kinds of problems so as to gain speed and accuracy. I
did not prepare much for Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning section.
Q: What was your strategy for time management?
A:
My focus during the exam was on attempting as many problems as possible
as the questions were not very hard. I had enough time to attempt all
questions during the exam.
Q: What is your message for the MBA aspirants who will take CAT 2012 and other exams of the season?
A: Focussed preparation for three months is all that is necessary for cracking CAT 2012. Good Luck.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more Topper Mantras.
The IIMs have opened the gates for CAT 2012 registration from Monday, July 30, 2012. The rainy Monday morning
in North India could not deter the spirits of the aspirants which
was evident from the long queue in front of Axis Bank, Noida Sector
18 branch.
After a long wait outside the bank, when
the candidates were finally allowed inside, there was yet another
round of waiting in a queue in front of the counter which gave away
the CAT vouchers after filling up the voucher forms. The
application fee is Rs. 1600.
While waiting for her
turn, Shikha Sharma, a CAT 2012 aspirant, who has just finished her
B.Tech said, “I did not want to delay the process of CAT 2012 registration and came to buy the voucher today itself. I want to take
CAT 2012 in early November and to ensure I get the date of my choice,
I have come on the very first day of the CAT 2012 registration.”
Another CAT 2012 aspirant, Sushant Surana, who is a working
professional also did not want to take any chances of getting the
CAT 2012 voucher. “Generally Mondays are the busiest day of the
week but still I took special permission from my office to come and
buy my CAT 2012 voucher. Delaying the process may cause extra rush
and I might not get the date of my choice. I am also taking IIFT,
so did not want to take any chances.”
If you have
already bought your CAT Voucher, your registration and scheduling
of your CAT 2012 exam is just few steps away. If you are yet to buy
the voucher, remember that the last date of CAT 2012 voucher sale is
Monday, September 17, 2012.
You have to logon to CAT IIM website, www.catiim.in.
Before you start filling up the fields under the heading ‘I am
ready to register’, when you click the bright green tab, Register
for CAT 2012, look at the right side and thoroughly read the ‘CAT
2012 Registration Guide’. You can also go through the Registration
Video.
On visiting the page, you will get two options,
New Users and Existing Users. Being the first time user, you have
to click on New Users. Start by entering your CAT Voucher number,
which you can obtain by scrating the silver area on the voucher.
Enter your voucher number followed by the captcha to start the
process.
Now let us have a look at the procedure you
have to follow for CAT 2012 registration. There are three steps to
follow before you complete the process.
Create your profile
The first time users have to create their profile by which you can
login later to edit and make necessary changes in the information
you have provided during registration. You have to create an userid
and password which has to be a combination of alphanumeic
characters (letters and numbers). You must retain the username and
password which is of dire importance for your future login purpose.
The maximum length of the userid should be 50 characters. The password
should be of seven to 20 characters and contain at least one alpha
and one numeric character.
To save yourself from
forgetting your username or password or both, you have to choose
and answer a secret reminder question. The other personal information
you have to fill in are name and contact details. After entering the
necessary details, you have to click ‘Save & Continue’ to
move to the next section, which is CAT Application.
Apply for CAT 2012
In this stage, you will have to provide your personal information
like name, address, Gender, Nationality, Category and Date of
Birth. You will also have to answer questions regarding disability
which you will have to answer by clicking ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. In case
you are a candidate with physical disability, you will need to
complete three additional questions on the type of disability,
whether you need a support and the kind of support you would need.
The next set of questions is about selecting the programs of the
IIMs. You must click on the box (es) of the IIM program (s) to
which you are applying. You should choose all Programs to which you
are applying, and you must choose at least one.
For each program applied, you must choose the city where you prefer to
do your follow-up interview with IIM. Be sure to click on “Save
& Continue” to go on to the next screen.
You
have to enter the education details and marks of SSC, HSC, Bachelor’s
Degree, Master’s Degree and Professional Course. If your Bachelor’s
or Master’s Degree is incomplete, you have to enter the percentage
of marks obtained for the years/semesters of the degree course
completed to date.
The next section is about Work
Experience where you have to enter your work experience in months
and the sector or sectors in which you have worked.
Make sure you enter correct and accurate information for all the fields.
If the information provided by you are found wrong, your
application can be disqualified by the IIMs. Hence, we advise you
to keep your mark sheets and other important documents handy during
the time of registration.
Schedule test
The next and final step is to schedule your test at the date, time
slot and test center of your convenience. CAT 2012 will be held in a
window of 21 days, from Thursday, October 11, 2012 to Tuesday,
November 6, 2012. The two slots are scheduled from 10 am and 3.15
pm onwards. You will only be able to select dates highlighted in
blue. If a date in the test window is not shown, it means that all
available testing sessions at that site for that date have already
been filled. Once you choose the date, you will need to choose the 10
a.m. session or the 3.15 p.m. session. If either of these two times
does not appear, it means all available testing seats for that
time have already been filled. Once you have made your site, date
and time selections, you must click the “Save & Finish” button
at the bottom of the screen.
After you put all the
information, you will see a confirmation screen. Be sure you review
the page to make sure there are no red ‘Pending’ buttons. A
‘Pending’ button means you still need to enter some information.
Click on the ‘Finish my registration’ button to complete your
registration and scheduling process.
If all information
is correct, click on the ‘I am done (exit)’ button to end your
scheduling session. You will receive an email Admit Card and
Application Summary to the email address specified by you within 24
hours.
Admit Card
Once you receive the Admit Card through email, check thoroughly so
that there is no information gap or incorrect information. In case
there are some errors, login to the CAT IIM website and make the
necessary changes. Once it is done, take a print out and keep it
carefully as without the Admit Card you will not be allowed to take
the test.
To get detailed information on the registration process, click on the following link:
Few hours to go and the registration window for CAT 2012
will open. As announced by IIM Kozhikode, the registration process for
CAT 2012 will start from Monday, July 30, 2012 as the Voucher Sale will
start from that very day in select Axis Bank branches. Though the last
date for Voucher Sale is Monday, September 17, 2012 and that of the
registration is Wednesday, September 19, 2012, you must not wait for the
last moment and delay things which may pose hindrance in choosing the
right date for CAT 2012. The cost of the CAT 2012 Voucher is Rs. 1600.
Advantages of early registration
There
are certain advantages of registering early. Going by the past years’
trends, the bank sees more rush of the candidates in the later days
compared to the early days. Going by the popular proverb, early bird
gets the worm, you must be one of the first CAT 2012 takers to by the
voucher. This will ensure you much lesser rush and reduce your duration
of wait in the cues.
Registering early also gives you the
liberty to choose a date, slot and center of your convenience. If you
delay the process for the last moment, chances would be such that you
will not get any one or all the three factors namely date, slot and test
center of your choice.
Once you are done with this big task of
buying the CAT 2012 voucher and registration, you can be more focused
and put more concentration on your preparation. Also, since you will
have your confirmed test date with you, you can make a proper study plan
based on the number of days left for your CAT 2012.
CAT 2012 Registration Process
After
you buy the CAT 2012 voucher from your nearest Axis Bank branch, the
next step is to register yourself. Watch the Registration video at the
CAT IIM website to get the step by step guidance on the process.
CAT
2012 will be held in a window of 21 days between Thursday, October 11,
2012 and Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Unlike the last two years, when CAT
was held in a 20 day window, this year CAT will have an extra day for
the exam, conducting the test over three weeks.
MBAUniverse.com will keep you updated on the registration process for CAT 2012.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on CAT 2012.
Being a working professional, preparing for CAT can seem
to be a tedious task and difficult to achieve success. But if you find
out the right strategy for yourself, nothing can bog you down. Take the
instance of Tanishq Goyal, who scored 99.97 percentile in CAT 2011 and
secured a seat in top IIMs like, IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Lucknow and
some of the new IIMs. In today’s Topper Mantras, we will share the
success mantras of Tanishq.
Tanishq has done B.E (Hons.) in
Computer Science from BITS Pilani. He has 17 months of work experience.
He has worked in the Bing Team of Microsoft India for 10 months and
Amazon for seven months before joining IIM Ahmedabad.
Q: Why and when did you decide to do MBA? What is your plan after you complete your MBA?
A:
During my engineering days, I realized that working on projects where I
got good insight into the project or in which I could see the impact of
the project motivated me. Getting such a deep insight required moving
up the corporate ladder which is very slow without an MBA. Also, I
wanted to do an MBA to attain the requisite skill set which will enable
me to make business decisions at the executive level of an organization.
I want to go into Investment Banking after I finish my MBA.
Q: What is your CAT 2011 percentile? Which other MBA entrance exams did you take?
A: My CAT 2011 percentile is 99.97. CAT was the only MBA entrance exam that I took.
Q: Please share your WAT/PI experience in detail.
A:
I got calls from all 13 IIMs, but I gave interviews for the top four
only. In IIM Ahmedabad, the WAT topic was In today’s world, business and
ethics don’t go hand in hand. The questions ranged from my work
experience, solving math problem, my hobby tennis to politics. The
entire interview was like a candid conversation with learned men on some
random topics. There was no stress at all.
Q: Which institutes offered you final admission? Why did you choose IIM Ahmedabad?
A: I had final offer from IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Lucknow and three of the new IIMs.
There
are many things about IIM Ahmedabad which make it the most sought after
MBA institute in India. Naturally, it attracts the best talent in the
country. Also, IIM Ahmedabad follows case based pedagogy where we learn
from our peers too. The main reason why I chose IIM Ahmedabad was to
learn from and grow with the best of the best in the country.
Q: How did you start the CAT preparation and what was your overall strategy?
A:
I started my preparation in late July. My overall strategy was to get a
balanced score in both the sections so that I do not miss out on any
IIM calls because of sectional cut-offs. VA was my weakness and thus I
devoted considerably more time to it. Under each section, I made a chart
of all the topics which helped me primarily in two ways. Firstly, I
knew what all broad topics I needed to study to cover my entire
syllabus. Secondly, given the usual number of questions asked in CAT and
my comfort level with each of them, I could come up with a priority
order which decided how much time I had to devote to each topic.
I
used to have cycles of doing only theory for some days and doing only
practice for the next few days. This helped me in keeping a balance
between basics and practice. Also, I used to give mock CATs regularly
during my preparation. After the results of a mock CAT were out, I used
to spend good amount of time in analyzing my performance in the test.
This helped in learning new fundas with which I could solve questions
faster and developing an insight to avoid lengthy questions and to
prevent calculation errors.
Being consistent and working hard on
my schedule, I did three revisions of the entire theory and solved a lot
of practice questions which eventually helped me crack the real CAT.
Q:
Do you think it is possible to crack CAT without taking formal
coaching? What would you suggest the CAT 2012 aspirants who would like
to prepare by themselves?
A: Yes,
I think that it is very much possible to crack CAT without any formal
coaching. A formal coaching can only act as a facilitator towards one’s
preparation, but, at the end of the day, one’s hard work and diligence
is what matters the most.
I would suggest such aspirants to join a
mock CAT series so that they can judge themselves against the rest of
the aspirants throughout the country. This helps one in gauging his/her
preparation and make timely changes in preparation strategy if needed.
Q:
CAT saw a major change in the format & pattern in 2011. How did you
prepare for it? Did this new pattern cause any hindrance in your
preparation or exam taking strategy?
A:
Though the change in the format was major, it did not impact my
preparation much. Since, there was no change in sectional areas; I did
not make any changes in my preparation strategy. But since the format of
the exam changed significantly, I devoted sufficient time to make
myself comfortable with the new format. Giving mock CATs with the new
format helped a lot in this part.
Q:
What was your preparation strategy for the Quantitative Ability &
Data Interpretation and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning?
A: As
I said before, VA was my weakest section, so it had the majority of my
attention. I studied cue cards, practiced a lot of RCs and did a lot of
grammar practice for VA. I did speed mathematics exercises to increase
my speed in solving DI questions. Being an engineer, QA was a strong
area for me, and I just used to practice sufficient questions on this to
ensure a decent score.
Reiterating my other point, maintaining a
decent balance between theory and problem solving is important for all
the three sections. Keeping a formula copy having all the formulas and
techniques in a crisp manner for easy lookup also helps.
Q: What was your strategy for time management?
A:
At times it was difficult to maintain a regular pace towards CAT preparation along with the hassles of a working life. Office used to be
tiring and I did not feel like studying after going back home. This is a
common problem with many people and I tackled it by experimenting with
my sleep and study schedules and then arrived at the one that suited me
the most. This is the best CAT preparation tip for the working
candidates. Though the experimenting took some time, it was worth the
effort because once having decided the best schedule, I was able to
dedicate study hours to my preparation regularly.
Q: What is your message for the MBA aspirants who will take CAT 2012 and other exams of the season?
A: Punctuality
is important while preparing for your exams. Make sure that you put in
some effort towards your preparation daily and increase the study hours
gradually. Join a mock CAT series if you haven’t already done so and
NEVER miss a mock. Analyze your performance in the tests thoroughly and
learn from both your failures and successes.
Lastly, as with
life, there will be ups and downs during your preparation. So it is
important that you do not lose your confidence and stick to your
ultimate goal. Hoping to see you on the other side soon!
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more Topper Mantras.
With CAT 2012 bulletin released on Sunday, July 22, 2012,
the list of the non IIM B-schools accepting the CAT 2012 scores was
also released. But the number of the B-schools in the list, when counted
was only 106 as on July 22. Several top names like Xavier Institute of
Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB); University School of Management,
Kurukshetra University; The Business School, University of Jammu;
University Business School, Punjab University; University of Lucknow;
Institute of Management Science and University of Calcutta, Department
of Commerce, West Bengal were absent from the list.
However, as
on Friday, July 27, 2012, the number of B-schools accepting CAT 2012 was
109. The names which were not present on Sunday, such as XIMB, The
Business School, University of Jammu, University Business School, Punjab
University, Department of Business Administration, University of
Lucknow and University of Calcutta, Department of Commerce, West Bengal
were added in the list.
When Prof. SSS Kumar, CAT 2012 Convenor
from IIM Kozhikode was contacted regarding his view on the drop of the
number B-schools, he mentioned that it is too early to assume that there
is a slump in the number of participating institutes. He said, “It
would not be justified to come to any kind of conclusion regarding the
numbers of institutes registered under CAT 2012 at this point of time as
it is still under process. Even though the closing date of the
registration is over, there are still institutes such as IITs for which
some exemptions have been done.”
MBAUniverse.com contacted the
top B-schools like NITIE Mumbai, Great Lakes Institute of Management
Chennai, XIME Bangalore and SPJIMR Mumbai, who accept CAT scores over
the years but whose names aare not appearing in the list. All the
B-schools have mentioned that they will be accepting CAT 2012 scores as
well, like previous years.
Clarifying the reason of why their
names are not appearing in the list, Dr. R Sesha Iyer, Director, SPJIMR
Mumbai stated, “IIMs would add the names as and when they receive the
registration fee of Rs. 2 lakh. We have already paid and I believe the
process of updating the list is going on.”
Some B-schools do not
register for CAT scores with IIMs, the registration fee of which is Rs. 2
lakh as they can access the scores and other details of the CAT takers
from other sources. Dr. J K Das, Director, FORE School of Management
says, “Some B-schools are gradually realizing that there is no
additional advantage in registering with CAT officially. CAT scores can
be checked online if the candidate’s name and registration number is
available to them. Therefore, apart from nominal advantage of being
mentioned on CAT’s official website and the permission to advertise that
the B-school is registered with CAT, there is no significant advantage
of this.”
CAT 2011 was accepted by 136 B-schools.
MBAUniverse.com will keep you updated on the B-schools accepting the scores of CAT 2012 and further analysis.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on CAT 2012.
Getting 100 percentile in CAT exam is not a child’s play.
The major national MBA entrance exam, which is taken by around two lakh
MBA aspirants, needs rigorous preparation and a systematic methodology.
In today’s Topper Mantras, we will tell you the success saga of Ajinkya
Deshmukh, who scored a perfect 100 percentile in CAT 2011 and has
joined IIM Bangalore.
Ajinkya has done his B.Tech and M.Tech in
Computer Science from IIT Madras. He has 23 months of work experience in
Credit Suisse Business Analytics (India) Pvt. Ltd. In this interview he
will share his preparation strategy which led him to success and
preparation tips for CAT 2012 aspirants.
Excerpts from the interview:
Q: Why and when did you decide to do MBA? What is your plan after you complete your MBA?
A:
I decided to do MBA around the time when I had completed 8 months in
Credit Suisse. I was in functional role in the company and felt the
requirement to get a holistic view of business and enhance my skill sets
to solve much diverse problems in the industry.
I plan to join the consulting industry after my MBA.
Q: What is your CAT 2011 percentile? Which other MBA entrance exams did you take?
A: It was 100 percentile. I did not take any other MBA entrance exams.
Q: Please share your WAT/PI experience in detail.
A:
The primary focus after the short listing was to convert the calls from
IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta. Only IIM Calcutta had Group
Discussion round while the other two had only Written Ability Test. I
laid more focus on written ability with respect to time management as it
was very essential to finish on time and not finish abruptly. The
workshops in T.I.M.E. Mumbai helped me develop a structured approach to
the WAT. The quality of essays got better with practice and more reading
about current affairs and some common contemporary issues.
For
PI, I was keen to focus on the subject of my choice in my undergrad and
be thorough with it while having a general idea of some other subjects
to present an opinion if asked. It was important to be thorough with
some of the current issues at that time like the 2G verdict to hold a
discussion at length in the interview. I prepared myself for questions
about my work experience with clear explanation about my role in the
company, the business I am working for etc. I found the mirror test
extremely useful for PI. You time your answers and sit in front of
mirror and answer the questions.
Q: Which institutes offered you final admission? Why did you choose IIM Bangalore?
A:
I converted the calls of IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta and IIM Lucknow. I
chose IIM Bangalore for the variety in the batch which is very unique
at IIM B. Also IIM B is known for its consulting placements. The
beautiful weather in Bangalore is the least but an important factor too.
Q: How did you start the preparation and what was your overall strategy?
A:
I started my preparation by first understanding where I stood. My CAT preparation strategy included solving a couple of previous years’ papers
and realized the areas of improvement and my strong points. I joined
the T.I.M.E. AIMCAT test series for more practice exams and
benchmarking. The simple strategy was to solve one test daily be it part
test, chapter test or a full time test and to work on one area of
improvement over the weekend.
Q:
Do you think it is possible to crack CAT without taking formal
coaching? What would you suggest the CAT 2012 aspirants who would like
to prepare by themselves?
A:
I had only enrolled myself for the T.I.M.E. test series for CAT 2011. I
definitely think it is possible to crack CAT without formal coaching.
To do well in CAT, one needs speed and accuracy which I believe needs to
be internally developed through rigorous practice. The preparation tip I
would give to the CAT 2012 aspirants is to not spend too much time
attending coaching and not doing self study instead.
Q:
CAT saw a major change in the format and pattern in 2011. How did you
prepare for it? Did this new pattern cause any hindrance in your
preparation or exam taking strategy?
A:
Since I come from Engineering background, the change in format worked
to my advantage. I was also confident with the Quant section but had
difficulties doing well in the Verbal Ability section. The change in
format added Logical Reasoning to Verbal Ability section making it easy
to clear the cut off for that section.
Q:
What was your preparation strategy for the Quantitative Ability &
Data Interpretation and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning?
A:
For Quantitative Ability and Data Interpretation, I practised as many
problems as I could. It does help to remember a few results in Quant. It
saves a lot of time rather than trying to arrive at a particular
formula in the exam. I was relatively weak in the Verbal Ability section
and hence I started preparing for it much before the exam. One of the
important CAT preparation tips is reading articles and editorials in
newspapers on a variety of topics helped a lot to get familiar with
different domains from where the reading comprehension passage could
come from.
Q: What was your strategy for time management?
A:
It was a challenging task to manage time for preparation while working.
I made it a point to find time everyday to solve a small set of
practice problems. I reserved the weekends for working on my areas of
improvement like reading comprehension, vocabulary building.
For
managing time between sections and in it, the strategy was to attempt as
many questions from areas I was more comfortable in and then moving on
to other questions. Time management is not a major problem in verbal
section but can pose problems in Quant section. I focussed on keeping
higher accuracy over the number of questions attempted in the quant
section.
Q: What is your message for the MBA aspirants who will take CAT 2012 and other exams of the season?
A:
The CAT preparation tips I would like to share with the MBA aspirants
is, they should concentrate on self study rather than attending many
coaching sessions. But at the same time, it is important to keep solving
practice exams conducted by test series of coaching institutes.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more Topper Mantras.
