Finally I’m writing on this sacred thread. Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who shared his/her story here and inspired me .Please read at your own risk because this may not sound interesting.

Coming to me…..I was always a good student in school. Though I was very active in class, I could never replicate that in the exams. Despite having the ability to be better, I could never breach the 5th position thanks mainly to my laziness. The first jolt came in 10th standard boards when I scored only 84% despite a 100 in Math. Though I was a bit disappointed, like many others I put it down to bad luck. With a lot of enthusiasm, I enrolled for AIEEE coaching in my 12th.I started off well but in typical self-destructive fashion that I was used to, I lost track. Much before the exams, I had given up. And it showed in the results. I royally screwed IITJEE, AIEEE and every other exam. I could not even make it to the top local college. Finally, I had to be content with a little known college.

This was the worst phase of my life. It looked like the world came crashing around me. I became the laughing stock of everyone. There was no proper communication between me and my father for 6 months!!!!!!!!!!! In my B.Tech life, there is little to boast of. I almost became a recluse and got into a shell. I managed a just about decent aggregate.

June 2012- The time I started my introspection

I entered the final year of engineering. At this time, I realized that I had nothing great in my educational profile. And the placement scenario in my college was so dismal that nobody in the entire batch was placed!!!!!I knew that I had to improve myself and go for higher studies if I had to do something worthwhile in life. Most of my friends had written GRE and were flying abroad. But somehow, right from my childhood, I never wanted to go abroad for MS. My father advised me to appear for CAT.I knew very little about MBA. Also, my self-esteem was so low that I wondered if I would be able to crack one of the toughest exams. I decided that I would appear for CAT 2013.

CAT 2012

My father advised me to give CAT 2012 to get an idea about the competition. So, I applied in September. I bought used material and prepared for barely 2 weeks. I gave the exam on October 25, 2013. As expected, I found the QADI section tough and attempted only 13 question. In fact, I didn’t even see questions 21-30 because I ran out of time. In the second section, I attempted 27 questions!!!I assure that it was only because I was a novice. I came out of the exam hall satisfied because there were no expectations on me.

Result Day-I opened the website as soon as I got up QADI-80.57 VALR-93.08 OA-89.84
I could barely believe what I saw. I was so happy because I had scored well without any preparation. It gave me a lot of confidence.

2013-The year all the dots joined

The same day I decided that I would appear for CAT 2013 without trying for a job. I enrolled in TIME as a full time student. I started preparation in February studying exactly 1 hour daily. In the meantime, I finished my B.Tech. The AIMCATs started in June. I gave the first test with a lot of excitement because I was well prepared. However, the result shocked me. I had scored very low. I put it down to lack of exposure to the difficulty and prepared extremely hard, putting in 7-8 hours daily. The marks took a further dip in the next 2 tests. I became very depressed to the point of giving up CAT and focusing only on the relatively easier exams like NMAT and SNAP. It was again my father who spoke to me and motivated me. I did a careful analysis of the mocks and found out that the low marks were due to the high number of attempts with low accuracy. I ironed out this flaw and slowly my performance improved. I started scoring 98+ percentiles consistently and was improving in VA. Soon, I started figuring in the toppers’ list. I continued this performance till the last AIMCAT.

Exam Season Begins…….

The first exam I gave was CMAT followed by NMAT.I knew that I had done well in both these tests but CAT was the one which really counted. There was a gap of exactly 3 weeks between NMAT and CAT. My slot was on October 31, 2013. I dedicated this time only for revision of all the AIMCATs and countless other mocks. I labored to the point that my eyelids shut of their own accord. A lot was at stake for me. The day before the exam, I was very nervous and had butterflies in my stomach. I was restless and many things were going on in my mind. My father called me aside and spoke to me for a long time. He said that he was happy with the way that I had changed and told me to continue with the same commitment in every endeavor of mine. I was very happy because exactly 4 years back (2009), things were so radically different. All the pressure vanished in that instant.

CAT 2013

I was very nervous. But once the exam started, I was in my zone. Thanks to the AIMCAT experience, I found the first section easy and attempted 24 questions. In the second section too I attempted 24 questions thanks to my confidence in LR. Came out of the exam hall with mixed feelings because I was afraid normalization would screw me in VA despite my good performance in QADI.

IIFT

I was confident of this exam since I had devised a strategy of maximizing my score in LR and QA and managing a decent score in the others. It was a success with me achieving 100% accuracy in both these sections.

SNAP

This was a breeze compared to CAT and I was always confident of doing well even before the exam

XAT

Thanks to my CAT preparation, I was confident of all the sections except decision making. Though I practiced countless mocks, I was not consistent in DM. Finally, I decided to follow the same strategy as IIFT. I came out of the exam hall confident of getting a 99+ percentile but a little tense of my sectional score in DM.

Results

The first result was IIFT. I was happy to get a call with a good score of 58.74.Since IIFT gives 60% weightage to entrance test score, I knew that I had almost nailed it.
SNAP was next and I scored 99.73 percentile. Now I knew that I was assured of at least 1 decent college.

Jan 14, CAT results

The result was to be declared at 9 AM. I woke up at 7 AM. The next 2 hours seemed like ages. I couldn’t control my anxiety. I had a habit of reading the editorial of The Hindu and rewriting it in my own words (more on this later). Usually, it would take me 20 to 25 minutes to do this. But, that day it took me nearly an hour. My hand was trembling with anxiety!!! At 9 AM, I tried to check the results, but the server was slow. In the meantime, my friends kept calling me with their respective results which only increased my anxiety. Finally, the result appeared on the screen QADI-99.79 VALR-96.32 OA-99.73
I could barely believe what I saw. I was thrilled to bits. It was the first time that I had lived up to my potential. Immediately, I called my father. After what seemed like an eternity, he answered the call. The happiness in his voice when I told the result can’t be described. Words failed us. Slowly, congratulatory calls started pouring in from all quarters.

        Waited eagerly for the calls to start coming. Didn’t expect A, B and I due to my acads. But the real shock came when I was not shortlisted for Lucknow. It was a huge blow to me. But I had a call from Calcutta, my dream B School the next day.
Meanwhile, I scored 99.38 in XAT and 99.81 in NMAT.

GDPI Phase

Immediately, I began my preparation in earnest for the interviews. From June 2013, I started reading the editorial of The Hindu and rewriting it in my own words in a book. I did this to improve my GK and also vocabulary. It helped me immensely in my interviews. By the time the interviews ended, I had 2 thick fat books. Let me tell you that this book helped me immensely and I was able to answer about 10 questions on figures in my IIM K interview because of this.

             
The first was IIFT. And I had the worst possible start………..The GD was closed in 10 minutes because the moderators were annoyed by the fish market our group made. However, the PI was very good and I came out believing that I could make it to the Kolkata campus at least. NMIMS was next and it was a breeze thanks to my NMAT score. IIM Calcutta followed. This was the one for which I was dreaming for years. It was my dream b school. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I would have chosen Joka ahead of WIMWI. However, right from the start, the PI was a disaster. I was completely responsible for my pathetic performance. I came out of the interview highly demoralized. Later, I shut myself in my room and cried till the tears had dried. I knew that it was the end of the dream as I could not afford to take one more year and give CAT again.

         A week later, it was XLRI. At this time, I was terribly sick that I could barely think anything. However, I forced myself and went to Bangalore for the interview. HR was the first interview followed by BM the next day. I had a pretty average GD in HR. And since I was the last to be interviewed, I had to wait for 3.5 hours. The panel tried to stress me out in the beginning. But, once I handled that part well, they became extremely friendly and allowed me to express my views without any interruption. I came out convinced that I had nailed it, though I didn’t admit it to anyone. The BM interviewed followed the next day. Though it went well, there was something missing right throughout which I couldn’t point at.

        
Later, I had MDI and IIT B interviews which went very well. I didn’t doubt for an instant my result in these cases. The final one was IIM K. After a lot of deliberation, I decided to attend the interview. It was a stress interview right from the word go. I felt that I had handled it decently.

Admission Results

The results started pouring in with NMIMS followed by IIFT and XIMB….converted all these while getting IIFT Delhi campus which made me relax. On April 7th, XLRI results were declared. Quickly I logged in and saw that it was a reject in BM. A little apprehensive, I checked HR and saw that it was a direct convert. I had made it to a top 5 B school!!!! Finally, I had the last laugh with a cry of delight. It was the culmination of all the hard work and the transformation that I had undergone in the last 1 year. Subsequently, I cleared IIM K, MDI, and every other institute for which I had given GDPI save Joka.

           After a lot of deliberation and thought, I joined IIM K. XLRI will always be close to my heart…….but it is a classic case of the top not being the best for you.

             
From being ridiculed and taunted endlessly by everybody around to being quoted as a person to emulate, life has come full circle for me. I dedicate this victory to the thousands of underachievers who could not achieve their goals and could not make it to the institution of their choice in under-graduation and are waiting for a chance to prove themselves. I would like to tell all of you that YOU CAN MAKE IT if a mediocre person like me without any determination or willpower could.

             “When fate deserts you, determination answers the call”

Signing off for now,

Anubhav Kunnel,

PGP 18(2014-16)

IIM Kozhikode