After deciding that I would take the CAT again, I had to come up with a plan to prepare for CAT 2008 which was just over 3 months away. This time aorund,I had the luxury of CAT 2007 and GMAT experience(which I had taken barely few days ago).
I believe every CAT aspirant is weak in some areas and strong in others and so the preparation strategy would change based on the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses.
Two common mistakes which many candidates make while preparing/taking CAT are:
1) Blindly following the approach/strategy of a candidate who has already been successful in cracking the CAT in the past
2) Sticking to a FIXED strategy to solve any format of the CAT exam (CAT conductors change the exam format practically every year which takes majority of CAT takers with surprise .FYI…In GMAT format is fixed )
In CAT 2008 though I did not commit the first mistake, I was not lucky to have not committed the second one. My strategy was to devote equal time to all the 3 sections in the CAT paper irrespective of the number of questions, difficult level of the questions etc. and this cost me 3 IIM calls. Because CAT 2008 had 25, 25 and 40 questions (40 in English); it was needed to devote more time to English section vis-à-vis DI and Quant.
So 2 cents of advice to all the CAT aspirants “Listen to successful CAT candidates but form your own strategy which should be customizable at the run time depending on the format of the paper”
Now coming back to how I prepared for the exam.
Though everyone knows it but still I want to re-iterate the golden rule : The better your preparation is, the better would be the results.
Keeping in mind that I did not have the luxury of ample time, I followed the following approach:
1) I ensured to take mock CAT every Sunday (TIME coaching tests are the best followed by Career Launcher followed by IMS) and analyze the answers of each and every question in the paper irrespective of whether I attempted the question or not. This had helped me in
a) knowing the method to solve a question which I could not solve during the exam time
b) understanding the correct way to solve a question which I had incorrectly solved
c) learning the better /faster way to solve a question which I had correctly solved
d) and most important of all : Designing a strategy to improve the sectional and overall score
2) As I was aware that my weakest area was English and strongest was DI, I spent maximum time preparing English followed by Quant followed by DI
3) Did not do any coaching though used both the Career Launcher’s and TIME material to prepare on my own. I personally feel going to coaching for preparation is a waist of time. These coaching institutes provide very good material and anyone could study on his own.
FYI…. Career Launchers’ material is better than TIME’s in terms of content but TIME’s material is more organized and hence I read some chapters from TIME’s and some from Career Launcher’s books
4) Made sure to study around 6-8 hrs per week initially and then increased the time to 10-12 hrs per week towards closer to the exam date.
I followed the said approach and kept on taking mock CATs. Scores in mock CAT used to vary drastically and I could not see any pattern among the scores of various weeks. My percentile ranged from 89 to 99+ in 3 months but every single time the bottleneck used to be English. Hence I was pretty clear that English would be the deciding factor in the real exam and it turned out to be the same.
On the 3rd Sunday of November, I was yet again face to face with the monster .I came back home after riding the Tiger, in the evening checked the answers of Quant and DI but did not have the courage to check English answers .Still I was pretty sure that I had goofed up big time in English and left everything to destiny.
Now I had 2 mammoth tasks again awaiting me:
1) Long wait till 9th January 2009 when the results of CAT would be out
2) International b-school applications’ preparation
And so I continued once again on my long journey…………….
My Blog Is Given 5 Stars Award
Click on the award logo to read the entire story
Friday, May 29, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
My MBA Journey - Part 4 (Why GMAT or Why CAT)
After I was done with my GMAT, I had 2 options in front of me: either to start preparing applications for international b-schools or to prepare for CAT and after that prepare applications. I went with the former option.
An obvious question that might arise in the minds of readers is why did I take both CAT and GMAT? Now this needs a long explanation and perhaps the most important answer every aspirant needs to have crystal clear before he/she takes any of the said examinations.
During last year I had talked to over 200 people: some CAT/GMAT aspirants, some alumni of B-schools (both Indian and International schools), current students of various B-schools etc. In my discussions I came to know of various reasons why anyone prefers one examination to the other or in other words why does someone not like to take GMAT or CAT.
A GMAT aspirant has one or more of these factors in mind because of which he prefers GMAT to CAT:
1) Opportunity for international exposure which has a strong demand in industry and which you will not get in IIMs and other Indian colleges (exchange programs in Indian colleges are for only 3-4 months and I personally feel that does not do significant addition towards increasing international management effectiveness)
2) Heavy pay package after MBA which would be in dollars in Uncle Sam’s state and in pounds in UK (and we Indians are very good at saving a lot of money. Indian IT engineers who have had the chance to go onsite would grasp my point easily :))
3) Strong acceptance of US/UK MBAs in almost every nook and corner of the world( very few people outside India know about IIMs and those who know there understanding is limited mostly to IIM Ahmedabd .Many people would feel shell-shocked reading this but this is the truth. Even in other Asian countries such as Singapore, industry would prefer graduates from global b-schools (having ranked in top 100 b-schools of the world) which might stand no where against IIMs and where admission is also relatively easier vis-à-vis cracking CAT)
4) Easier to gain an admission to international b-schools (for most US and European b-schools acceptance rate varies from 8% to 40% with top 10 colleges having the rate toward the lower side of the range. Even the likes of Harvard/Columbia/Wharton/Insead/LBS (top 5 colleges in the world (Source: http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings ) have acceptance rate of around 9-10%. And now consider IIMs. In 2008, around 2 lakh 50 thousand students took the exam for 1800 total seats in 7 IIMs i.e. acceptance rate of less than 1%. Pheewwwwww)
And these are the factors a CAT (or shall I say an IIM) aspirant has in his/her mind:
1) Dynamite brand value of IIMs in India (I have talked to HRs/industry professionals of various organizations and the revelation was mind-boggling. In India in more often than not cases an IIM pass-out would be preferred over pass-outs of say world’s top 15+ colleges. Even a graduate of world’s top 10 colleges would not be considered too high when compared to IIMs graduates)
2) You need only peanuts to do an MBA from IIMs (tuition fee of IIMs lie in the range of 7-12 lakhs whereas tuition fess of top 10 US two year MBA programs lie in the range of 40 to 60 lakhs .Add to this living expenses + other expenses and you would be required to shell out some 70 to 80 lakhs only. I believe compared to this figure IIMs are charging only peanuts :). Taking GMAT exam itself would cost around 12000 INR (CAT costs around 1500 INR))
3) People with less experience (0 – 2 years) can not get an admission in international b-schools easily (Most of the foreign b-schools have set the minimum work experience limit as 2 years. IIMs would not mind if you are a fresher though some IIMs such as IIM Lucknow and IIM Bangalore have of late started to build work experience requirement into the selection procedure. But still percentage of students with 0-2 years of experience in IIMs is pretty high)
4) And finally if you are coming from the worst cohort in the world, Indian IT Male, you are doomed. Every foreign b-school and even ISB have a strong averseness for this privileged community and some colleges have even placed a limit on the maximum number of students they will hire from this elite community. So safe haven for members of this group is IIMs where majority of the students are from this group only. (Btw if you were thinking about the most sought after candidates in phoren b-schools and even in Indian b-schools: your guess is as good as mine:))
Now after so much gyan, I can answer why I chose to give both GMAT and CAT. Because
1) I wanted to do an MBA desperately this year as I had already got an ultimatum from my family that I would be sentenced for life ( I am referring to marriage) if I don’t get an admission in a b-school this year
2) I wanted to stay and work in India (so GMAT could work as my back-up if I don’t get into IIMs)
3) This reason is personal :)
And so I started my CAT preparation.
An obvious question that might arise in the minds of readers is why did I take both CAT and GMAT? Now this needs a long explanation and perhaps the most important answer every aspirant needs to have crystal clear before he/she takes any of the said examinations.
During last year I had talked to over 200 people: some CAT/GMAT aspirants, some alumni of B-schools (both Indian and International schools), current students of various B-schools etc. In my discussions I came to know of various reasons why anyone prefers one examination to the other or in other words why does someone not like to take GMAT or CAT.
A GMAT aspirant has one or more of these factors in mind because of which he prefers GMAT to CAT:
1) Opportunity for international exposure which has a strong demand in industry and which you will not get in IIMs and other Indian colleges (exchange programs in Indian colleges are for only 3-4 months and I personally feel that does not do significant addition towards increasing international management effectiveness)
2) Heavy pay package after MBA which would be in dollars in Uncle Sam’s state and in pounds in UK (and we Indians are very good at saving a lot of money. Indian IT engineers who have had the chance to go onsite would grasp my point easily :))
3) Strong acceptance of US/UK MBAs in almost every nook and corner of the world( very few people outside India know about IIMs and those who know there understanding is limited mostly to IIM Ahmedabd .Many people would feel shell-shocked reading this but this is the truth. Even in other Asian countries such as Singapore, industry would prefer graduates from global b-schools (having ranked in top 100 b-schools of the world) which might stand no where against IIMs and where admission is also relatively easier vis-à-vis cracking CAT)
4) Easier to gain an admission to international b-schools (for most US and European b-schools acceptance rate varies from 8% to 40% with top 10 colleges having the rate toward the lower side of the range. Even the likes of Harvard/Columbia/Wharton/Insead/LBS (top 5 colleges in the world (Source: http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings ) have acceptance rate of around 9-10%. And now consider IIMs. In 2008, around 2 lakh 50 thousand students took the exam for 1800 total seats in 7 IIMs i.e. acceptance rate of less than 1%. Pheewwwwww)
And these are the factors a CAT (or shall I say an IIM) aspirant has in his/her mind:
1) Dynamite brand value of IIMs in India (I have talked to HRs/industry professionals of various organizations and the revelation was mind-boggling. In India in more often than not cases an IIM pass-out would be preferred over pass-outs of say world’s top 15+ colleges. Even a graduate of world’s top 10 colleges would not be considered too high when compared to IIMs graduates)
2) You need only peanuts to do an MBA from IIMs (tuition fee of IIMs lie in the range of 7-12 lakhs whereas tuition fess of top 10 US two year MBA programs lie in the range of 40 to 60 lakhs .Add to this living expenses + other expenses and you would be required to shell out some 70 to 80 lakhs only. I believe compared to this figure IIMs are charging only peanuts :). Taking GMAT exam itself would cost around 12000 INR (CAT costs around 1500 INR))
3) People with less experience (0 – 2 years) can not get an admission in international b-schools easily (Most of the foreign b-schools have set the minimum work experience limit as 2 years. IIMs would not mind if you are a fresher though some IIMs such as IIM Lucknow and IIM Bangalore have of late started to build work experience requirement into the selection procedure. But still percentage of students with 0-2 years of experience in IIMs is pretty high)
4) And finally if you are coming from the worst cohort in the world, Indian IT Male, you are doomed. Every foreign b-school and even ISB have a strong averseness for this privileged community and some colleges have even placed a limit on the maximum number of students they will hire from this elite community. So safe haven for members of this group is IIMs where majority of the students are from this group only. (Btw if you were thinking about the most sought after candidates in phoren b-schools and even in Indian b-schools: your guess is as good as mine:))
Now after so much gyan, I can answer why I chose to give both GMAT and CAT. Because
1) I wanted to do an MBA desperately this year as I had already got an ultimatum from my family that I would be sentenced for life ( I am referring to marriage) if I don’t get an admission in a b-school this year
2) I wanted to stay and work in India (so GMAT could work as my back-up if I don’t get into IIMs)
3) This reason is personal :)
And so I started my CAT preparation.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
My MBA Journey -Part 3 (GMAT strategy)
Having bitten by the desi “Billi”, I moved on to tame the phoren “Billi”: GMAT (I wonder what is so sacrosanct about the usage of “AT” in every MBA exam such as XAT, CAT, NMAT, GMAT…..)
Before I move on, I would like to clear some of the myths doing the rounds among MBA aspirants regarding GMAT.
Myth 1: GMAT is an entirely different exam from CAT
AA: GMAT and CAT test patterns do differ but the preparation done for CAT is always useful for GMAT and vice-versa.
Myth 2: GMAT English is tougher than CAT's
AA: English section in GMAT is tough but Verbal Ability section in CAT is the real BAAP.
Myth 3: In general GMAT is a very tough exam and scoring 700+ is one hell of a task.
AA: GMAT is very easy vis-à-vis CAT .If you could score 99+ in CAT, you could definitely score 750+ in GMAT but not the other way round.
GMAT is a timed test based on Computer Adaptive Test technology (For more information visit http://www.mba.com/mba/thegmat/teststructureandoverview). For this very reason, approach taken to crack the test is different from CAT’s approach. However, GMAT is a very student friendly exam unlike CAT. Best thing about GMAT is that the test format is fixed hence you could work out on a strategy easily .Upfront knowledge of number of questions , type of questions , allotted time etc. makes this exam considerable easy to score high.
In addition to the 3 tools (mentioned in my earlier post) to tame the CAT, one more thing is needed for GMAT and indeed a very important one: STAMINA to sit in front of the computer screen for 4 hrs .Being an IT chap really helped me here as I was already accustomed to sitting in front of the computer screen for hours (that is a different matter that I just used to keep on sitting and doing nothing).
With the prestigious tag of CAT taker :) behind me, I started my GMAT preparation after a good long break (as though I was going on a battle) in 2008. My preparation went for 2.5 months for around 6-7 hrs of study per week .90% of my preparation was devoted to English section as this was the section which tortured me like anything (Maths in GMAT is halua .All engineers just mug up the formulae and are good to go).
During these 2.5 months, I gave innumerable mock-tests with the scores varying from 570 to 760 .In the second last test that I took 5 days before the actual exam date; I scored 570 and as a consequence lost all my confidence and was nearly sure of adding another feather to my cap 5 days down the line.
I was so disappointed that I even thought of cancelling my appointment. But numerous posts on GMATclub (forum for GMAT preparation) suggested not going by the scores of just any online test, rather relying on the GMATprep (official mock-test from GMAT authorities) which is considered to be the most accurate indicator of one's performance. 4 days before the actual exam, I took GMAT Prep and scored 760 .Once again, my faith was restored, brain muscles got stronger, blood started flowing rapidly and once again I was back in confidence.
Finally, the D-day came and I waited nervously after the exam ended for the score (Yes, your score comes in GMAT as soon as you finish the exam). And finally I could return home peacefully with a paper in my hands with 750 printed on it.
Before I move on, I would like to clear some of the myths doing the rounds among MBA aspirants regarding GMAT.
Myth 1: GMAT is an entirely different exam from CAT
AA: GMAT and CAT test patterns do differ but the preparation done for CAT is always useful for GMAT and vice-versa.
Myth 2: GMAT English is tougher than CAT's
AA: English section in GMAT is tough but Verbal Ability section in CAT is the real BAAP.
Myth 3: In general GMAT is a very tough exam and scoring 700+ is one hell of a task.
AA: GMAT is very easy vis-à-vis CAT .If you could score 99+ in CAT, you could definitely score 750+ in GMAT but not the other way round.
GMAT is a timed test based on Computer Adaptive Test technology (For more information visit http://www.mba.com/mba/thegmat/teststructureandoverview). For this very reason, approach taken to crack the test is different from CAT’s approach. However, GMAT is a very student friendly exam unlike CAT. Best thing about GMAT is that the test format is fixed hence you could work out on a strategy easily .Upfront knowledge of number of questions , type of questions , allotted time etc. makes this exam considerable easy to score high.
In addition to the 3 tools (mentioned in my earlier post) to tame the CAT, one more thing is needed for GMAT and indeed a very important one: STAMINA to sit in front of the computer screen for 4 hrs .Being an IT chap really helped me here as I was already accustomed to sitting in front of the computer screen for hours (that is a different matter that I just used to keep on sitting and doing nothing).
With the prestigious tag of CAT taker :) behind me, I started my GMAT preparation after a good long break (as though I was going on a battle) in 2008. My preparation went for 2.5 months for around 6-7 hrs of study per week .90% of my preparation was devoted to English section as this was the section which tortured me like anything (Maths in GMAT is halua .All engineers just mug up the formulae and are good to go).
During these 2.5 months, I gave innumerable mock-tests with the scores varying from 570 to 760 .In the second last test that I took 5 days before the actual exam date; I scored 570 and as a consequence lost all my confidence and was nearly sure of adding another feather to my cap 5 days down the line.
I was so disappointed that I even thought of cancelling my appointment. But numerous posts on GMATclub (forum for GMAT preparation) suggested not going by the scores of just any online test, rather relying on the GMATprep (official mock-test from GMAT authorities) which is considered to be the most accurate indicator of one's performance. 4 days before the actual exam, I took GMAT Prep and scored 760 .Once again, my faith was restored, brain muscles got stronger, blood started flowing rapidly and once again I was back in confidence.
Finally, the D-day came and I waited nervously after the exam ended for the score (Yes, your score comes in GMAT as soon as you finish the exam). And finally I could return home peacefully with a paper in my hands with 750 printed on it.
Monday, May 4, 2009
My MBA Journey - Part 2 (Mistakes made and learning from the 1st CAT attempt)
With the goal clear in my mind that I needed to increase my market value :), the next big challenge was to decide on the exam: GMAT or CAT or in other terms whether phoren MBA or desi? Again this proved to be a mammoth task (though realized later that this difficulty was nothing vis-à-vis selecting phoren b-schools and making their applications. After doing my research I decided that I will be taking both the exams as pattern is similar for both CAT and GMAT (again I was wrong :)).
I decided to go for CAT first. By the time I made up mind, it was already August 2007 and I noticed that only 1 day was left to buy the CAT 2007 form. Panicking, I rushed to the nearest bank but to my bad luck the forms had been all sold. Thereafter I rushed to Delhi and finally after 4 long hrs in a queue I won the battle and emerged with the CAT form as if I had won an Olympic gold. Believe me the feeling was unparalleled
Now the next task was to join a coaching institute for the CAT preparation which was a fairly simple task .There are only 2 reputed coaching centers in Noida and around: TIME and Career Launcher and I joined the test series of one of them (it really doesn’t matter which centre you join. All give you pretty much the same material).
Next 1 month saw me giving a mock-CAT test every Sunday and saw my percentile hovering between 85 and 99.There I made a discovery (and indeed a right one) that CAT is a very treacherous exam and it can ditch you any day. You can score 99+ one day and next day you might end up in 80s.This is in direct contrast with GMAT (which I will discuss in my next blog(s)).
Demoralized that CAT was not my cup of tea and no matter how much I studied I would not get through, I spent my next 2 months only taking tests on Sundays, analyzing the solutions and studying roughly only around 3-4 hrs per week and that too without any enthusiasm .And hence on 3rd Sunday of November 2007 (I went with a free mind) and the result as guessed was positive. I didn’t get through.
One of my biggest mistakes here was that though I discovered the erratic nature of CAT pretty early in my preparation, I interpreted it wrongly. CAT obviously is very unpredictable and no amount of preparation can ensure an IIM call .But there has to be something to Bell The CAT .And indeed , the answer is yes .There are 3 things which are needed and slogging out and burning the midnight oil is definitely not one of them (this I understood only after September 2008 when I started preparing for the CAT the second time).
So the 3 magical (or alteast understood to be so) things needed are:
1)Right aptitude
2)Wise strategy
3)Decent amount of preparation (spanning 3-4 months) to come to terms with the different types of questions in CAT and most importantly to devise a useful and customized strategy.
Yes , this is true in about 4 months of preparation anyone and I repeat anyone could crack the most feared of the MBA exams in the world. And believe me, this I am saying from my experience.
Those who don’t believe me watch out this space for my next post.
I decided to go for CAT first. By the time I made up mind, it was already August 2007 and I noticed that only 1 day was left to buy the CAT 2007 form. Panicking, I rushed to the nearest bank but to my bad luck the forms had been all sold. Thereafter I rushed to Delhi and finally after 4 long hrs in a queue I won the battle and emerged with the CAT form as if I had won an Olympic gold. Believe me the feeling was unparalleled
Now the next task was to join a coaching institute for the CAT preparation which was a fairly simple task .There are only 2 reputed coaching centers in Noida and around: TIME and Career Launcher and I joined the test series of one of them (it really doesn’t matter which centre you join. All give you pretty much the same material).
Next 1 month saw me giving a mock-CAT test every Sunday and saw my percentile hovering between 85 and 99.There I made a discovery (and indeed a right one) that CAT is a very treacherous exam and it can ditch you any day. You can score 99+ one day and next day you might end up in 80s.This is in direct contrast with GMAT (which I will discuss in my next blog(s)).
Demoralized that CAT was not my cup of tea and no matter how much I studied I would not get through, I spent my next 2 months only taking tests on Sundays, analyzing the solutions and studying roughly only around 3-4 hrs per week and that too without any enthusiasm .And hence on 3rd Sunday of November 2007 (I went with a free mind) and the result as guessed was positive. I didn’t get through.
One of my biggest mistakes here was that though I discovered the erratic nature of CAT pretty early in my preparation, I interpreted it wrongly. CAT obviously is very unpredictable and no amount of preparation can ensure an IIM call .But there has to be something to Bell The CAT .And indeed , the answer is yes .There are 3 things which are needed and slogging out and burning the midnight oil is definitely not one of them (this I understood only after September 2008 when I started preparing for the CAT the second time).
So the 3 magical (or alteast understood to be so) things needed are:
1)Right aptitude
2)Wise strategy
3)Decent amount of preparation (spanning 3-4 months) to come to terms with the different types of questions in CAT and most importantly to devise a useful and customized strategy.
Yes , this is true in about 4 months of preparation anyone and I repeat anyone could crack the most feared of the MBA exams in the world. And believe me, this I am saying from my experience.
Those who don’t believe me watch out this space for my next post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
