Dear all,
The media cell at the Xavier's Institute of Management, Bhubhaneswar (XIMB) brought the school's XAT 2010 99-percentilers together in a video where each speak about their experiences on cracking the XAT and what worked for them. For all those of you who have taken the CAT, here's a video ready reckoner to get started with the XAT.
In raids that stretched for almost 48 hours, the Income Tax (IT) authorities over the November 20 weekend searched the residences and office of Dr Uday Salunkhe, Director of Welingkar Institute of Management, Matunga, Mumbai. While it is learnt not a lot of cash was found, documentary evidence has been seized to help with further investigation.
The raids that started on Saturday were apparently spurred by a lone complaint filed by a student last year, that of being charged illegal capitation fee for a seat in the institute's MBA-equivalent program. However, this complaint was made a year ago during the 2009-10 admission season but for want of time and other pressing matters, no action was taken then. This student was persistent over the months and so the decision to raid was finally taken, said an IT official on the condition of anonymity.
The Income Tax raid was spurred by allegations that Dr Salunkhe, an engineer-MBA and a PhD who holds important positions at the Mumbai University, was charging capitation fees and admitting students through the backdoor instead of through the normal process of entrance exams and interviews. IT officials were not willing to admit or deny that Salunkhes bank lockers in both Pune and Mumbai had been sealed. One IT official told us that the Director had totally denied amassing any ill-gotten wealth and had claimed that whatever wealth was seized from his residence or the Welingkar campus belonged to the trustees of the institute. IT officials have also questioned some more staff of the institute.
According to sources, the board of trustees of Welingkar Institute of Management have been embroiled in bitter rivalry since some time. There is already an issue brewing among the trustees and some licenses were revoked a couple of years ago when similar raids were carried out, added the IT official. In 2004 and in 2008, the IT department had carried out similar raids and discovered irregularities in the trusts functioning.
Both the IT officials as well as sources from Welingkar Institute of Management told PaGaLGuY that the raids were linked to the internal rivalry among the institutes board of trustees. "For years now, there have been factions in the trust and all these raids have happened at a time when elections in the trust are round the corner, said an official from the college, implying that such tipoffs to the IT department were part of the rivals' gameplans against each other.
It is easy to target Dr Salunkhe since Welingkar Institute is the most famous of all the institutes run by this particular board of trustees and nets in the highest revenue. Those who want to gain control will naturally want to target Dr Salunkhe, the official added.
LN Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research is part of the Shikshana Prasaraka Mandali, Pune. The charitable trust SP Mandali manages 43 educational institutions in Maharashtra including the well-known Ruia College and Poddar College in Mumbai.
While media reports have stated that huge sums of money were found in the residences of Dr Salunkhe and some of the other Welingkar staff, IT officials refused to confirm or deny it. We cannot tell you what we have found or its quantity but it is enough for us to investigate further. IT sources told PaGaLGuY that had the raids been carried out during the admissions season, may be the find would have been different.
For now, the IT officials are concentrating on unearthing clues from documents and email correspondences of the institute. Further evidence garnered through such investigation will decide the future course of action.
Emails and other important correspondence is usually stored in servers abroad which make our job difficult. But we have learnt to combat these issues as well, said the IT official. The IT person adds that what they have got as evidence until now could probably be just the tip of the iceberg.
The IT official, from his experience in dealing with such issues, said that in IT violation cases related to education, things get complicated as so many educational institutes are run by politicians or influential people who find it easy to flout the law. And besides, there are those institutes not run by government and do not get government aid. If these want to start something new or advance the existing facilities, they dont see any way out but to charge capitation fees. Since capitation fees are not legal in our country, people find alternative ways to collect them.
Rajasthan-based Atul Bapna, who is a career counsellor and is also in the business of facilitating management quota seats says that except for very few b-schools, most in the country charge capitation fees.
There is a management quota in every b-school and use is made of that quota to get in the revenue for the college. It is a well-known fact. These things become an issue only when some student or parent does not get the admission at the discussed rate and decides to take action. Such raids does not affect the functioning of any institute. Capitation fees are here to stay," he says.
Bapna adds that the process of admission via the capitation fee route is carried out behind closed doors in these colleges. Lack of transparency in b-schools' functioning aids such activities.
The day the raids were carried out, was also the convocation day for Welingkar Institute of Management's 2010 graduates. Apparently, Welingkar officials had discussed this with the IT officials who first agreed to let the convocation happen. However, the institute and the officials could not sustain that agreement and the convocation got cancelled. We had students coming from all over the world. They had to just go back. When we were told that we had to cancel so we sent SMS, called and emailed as many as we could to not come to the institute that evening, but so many still did, said an official from the college.
PaGaLGuY spoke to students on the Welingkar campus at Matunga. One of them said that while there was a concern among the students about the IT raids, it had not affected their lecture schedule or studies. Yes, we are wondering what is happening but we are not directly affected by it. Our lives as students are going on as usual.
There has been no official mail from the institute to the students explaining the current situation. Officials from Welingkar said that any such communication is sent out only by the Director.
When PaGaLGuY visited the campus on Wednesday, it seemed its usual busy self. There were no hushed tones to be heard nor any alarms on the faces of students. Only that the security officials seemed extra cautious and kept me waiting at the security office for a while until the institute gave a green signal for me to enter. Ostensibly, the security guards were given strict instructions post the raids, to not let in unknown faces, lest they turned out unfriendly too.
IIFT managed to surprise everyone this time around by keeping the format almost similar to that of last year. The number of sections remained the same, the number of questions increased slightly and the negative marking was also same as that of last year. The only major change was the absence of a mention of if there would be any sectional cut-offs(it was explicitly mentioned last year).
A review of the paper vis-a-vis last years paper:
General Awareness: 30 questions* 0.4 marks per question=12 marks
Last year, this section was one of the easier ones to have appeared in recent times. This time around, the section was neither overtly easy nor was it undoable. Few intelligent guesses and a basic knowledge of certain hot topics was enough to take care of this section. One of the questions had an option Samaranth Jung which was a typing error. Last year, they had taken care of similar wrong questions in the Data Interpretation section by awarding marks to everyone(including those who hadnt attempted the set). Rest of the GA section focused on Business GA topics as has been the trend with many match the following questions(16 out of the 30 questions in this section). The marking scheme was similar to that of last year with an increase in the number of questions. Someone who had done his homework properly could have attempted around 10 questions confidently. A good score in this section would be around 2 marks and a score of over 3 should be very good.
Quantitative Aptitude: 30 questions*1 mark per question=30 marks
Eerily similar to last year, this section had a similar set of questions(binomial expansion, cutting corners off a square, partnerships, a question on derivatives, a series question, etc.). Someone who had practised the last few year papers would have a better chance of not panicking in this section and doing only what was short and sweet. Few questions were outright undoable and a vigilant aspirant would not have touched them thus saving valuable time. Last year, the cut-off for this section was 3 marks. This time, for a serious aspirant, the benchmark would be raised slightly. A good aspirant could have attempted around 8-10 questions and a good score in this section would hover around 6-7 marks. Any score of above 9 would be a great score.
Logical Reasoning/Data Interpretation: 35 questions*1 mark per question=35 marks
Again, very much similar to last year. The section had a healthy percentage of LR caselets (15 questions) and the remaining were DI questions. The tables and charts were very much like yesteryears IIFT papers with involving intense calculations. There were a few sitters embedded between the difficult DI questions which if picked and nailed would have led to a few bonus marks. The LR caselets were straightforward and should have been right at the top of an aspirant's to-do list. A good aspirant could have easily done around 13-15 questions in this section. A score of around 10 in this section should be good and any score above 14-15 should be a great score.
Reading Comprehension: 15 questions*0.7 marks per question=10.5 marks*
Very much similar to last few years RC sections. Questions requiring choosing a correct/incorrect statement, match the following questions, arranging events in a chronological order questions, this section had all the qualities of an IIFT RC section. The first passage about Kodak was the easiest of the four passages and the questions were pretty easy to do. The passages on Law of small numbers and predictions of individual responses werent that straightforward and required some searching. The last passage about Warren Buffett was again doable and could have been done. The major change here was the fall in the number of marks per question to 0.7 from last years 1 mark per question. This, coupled with no mention of sectional cut-offs would have attracted fewer eyeballs. One could have done around 7-8 questions in around 15 minutes in this sub-section and then gone for greener pastures. A score of around 3 marks would be a good score in this section and any score above 5 marks will be very good.
Verbal Ability: 25 questions*0.5 marks per question=12.5 marks*
And as the trend has been till now, again very similar to last year's VA section. The vocabulary questions ate up most of the space in this sub-section(14 out of 25 questions) the rest being occupied by parajumbles and sentence correction questions. The level of difficulty was on the lower side but then, the rewards were less too. A good strategy would have been to rush through this section finishing it in around 15-20 minutes. A score of around 5 would be good in this section and any score of above 8 would be excellent.
*RC and VA were the subsections under a common section.
Overall, as compared to last year, no mention of sectional cut-offs would mean that aspirants would have gone for the kill in the easier sections while getting a bare minimum in the others. If sectional cut-offs are considered, they wont be significantly higher than what they were last time around. The overall cut-off was 37.40 last year (inclusive of the marks awarded for the wrong answers). So, this time around, taking into consideration a serious aspirants familiarity with the paper, a score of above 35 would be a safe score, good enough to fetch a call.
There has, traditionally, been only a single list for the GDPI-Essay call getters and the process after that is also common. The allotment to different campuses(Delhi and Kolkata) is done at the end of the process. So, going by past trends, there shouldn't be different cut-offs for the two campuses.
Bhubhaneswar-based Xavier's Institute of Management (XIMB) is in the process of turning into a university soon, its Director Fr PT Joseph, SJ tells PaGaLGuY. In this interview, he also speaks about the curriculum changes the institute is planning for its Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) and the PGDM Rural Management courses.
What changes can the incoming batch of 2013 look forward to benefitting from at XIMB?
From the point of view of the fulltime programme students, we will be revising the curriculum a little bit next year. Apart from that, although it doesn't directly affect PGDM or PGDM(RM) students, but we have started a 1-year advanced management programme on Resettlement and Rehabilitation and Corporate Social Responsibility for 15 executives of Uttarakhand's Tehri Hydro Development Corporation. This along with our other initiatives in the rural management and social sector will continue to be under focus in the coming year.
Are you looking at an increase in intake for any of the the two-year programmes?
We were looking at expansion in the number of seats but the proposal hasn't gone past AICTE's regulations. But we may become a university soon and therefore increase intake from a university perspective. That process might take one or two months to finalize, but we are in the process of becoming a university.
Would that mean that the PGDM degrees would be offered as full-fledged MBA degrees under the XIMB University?
The PGDM will still remain as an AICTE-approved course, it may not become a university degree for now. But after we get university status we may start some other type of programmes under the university. Right now we have gotten the government sanction of Rs 10 crores and are involved with acquiring the necessary land for the University in Sambalpur. Until land is acquired, which is priority for now, we aren't in a position to share more details.
What is XIMB's faculty strength now and how are you thinking about expanding it?
As of now we are 55 in total. One more is joining in December and another two may join in January 2011. We hire faculty whenever we come across somebody good. For example, one of the faculty joining next is a Cornell University PhD with lots of experience. Another person in the recruitment process has worked in Netherlands and has a PhD from Korea.
What kind of curriculum changes are you going to make in the PGDM and PGDM(RM) courses before the next batch joins?
We have already started a new course on Environment and Sustainability which is mandatory for all the 180 PGDM students. There's another mandatory course on Emotional quotient and Leadership. Next, we are planning a meeting of all the faculty on the January 12, 2011. Before that meeting, a committee is preparing the background papers by looking at changes in the global and Indian economy. Only after the January 12 meeting will a clear picture emerge about the exact changes.
But speaking in general, we've been teaching management that is too bifurcated by specialization in our view. As you know, students choose to go for either marketing or finance or other specializations during the course. We are having a feeling that there should be some integration between these specializations by changing their content and give each course a holistic approach. For example, we know that there is a good market for inkjet printer cartridges. But inkjet cartridge production also generates a large amount of waste and affects the environment. So when we teach either of marketing or production management, we need to also bring awareness of sustainability in and show how both marketing and production are linked. If we can do this, we will not only make better managers but also better human beings. Apart from that, we would like to increase our connection with the bottom of the pyramid. We have a very strong programme in which all 180 PGDM students went and stayed in villages for 3 days. We want to increase their exposure to bottom of the pyramid and to leadership. We would also like to focus on ways to increase mentoring from faculty and senior students.
What are your thoughts on b-schools changing their admission policy to reduce the number of engineers in the batch?
This is something we tried to do last year already. We wanted to bring down the number of engineers and increase the batch diversity by taking in students from other backgrounds. But unfortunately all the students who are getting good grades in XAT were engineers and we could not reduce their number last year. But we'll continue to give quantitative ability lesser weightage compared to verbal and commnication skills and try to reduce the number of engineers.
Looking at the Indian scenario, I would prefer 60% engineers and 40% non-engineers ideally in the XIMB batches. The job market requirements are still such that the engineering background is preferred so we cant reduce it too much.
We have traditionally seen what an engineer-driven MBA job market looks like. But in your view what scope do non-engineers with an MBA degree have in the market?
Only the product marketing, production and manufacturing companies need people to necessarily have engineering backgrounds. But the remaining type of jobs, that is finance, human resources, some types of marketing and market research, advertising are areas that do not really require engineers.
FMS 2010 had no major structural surprises. The pattern was similar to that of last year-200 questions, four sections, 50 questions each and each section having an adequate number of sitters to keep one busy for the entirety of 2 hours.
Here is a brief review of the test vis-a-vis the previous FMS paper.
Reading Comprehension:
FMS stuck to its 4 passage RC section for the second successive year. There wasnt any 24-question RC though. The questions were well-distributed across the RCs and one could pick and solve 2-3 of ones choice to sail through the cut-offs. Almost everything was straightforward and could have been done if one had given more time to this section. Time was the key here and it would have been very tempting for some to leave this section. The Google RC was the longest of the three but the questions were probably the easiest of all. The PI management passage was unattractive but careful selection of questions and quick searching skills would have helped fetch some quick marks here.
The Idea of Justice passage was the trickiest and most time consuming of them all and a careful reading of the passage was required to score marks in this. The article on Delhi was again easy to read and the questions straightforward. If one were to attempt only a few selective questions in this section, the first and the last passages could have been done.
Last year, the cut-off was 35 marks. Last time around, the questions were in the order in which they appeared in the passage. So, searching for the answers did not take much of the time. It was not the case in this paper. But if the overall level of difficulty of the questions were compared, this years section was definitely a couple of notches below last years section. So, the 50%ile mark should hover somewhere around 45 marks.
Verbal Ability:
If FMS 2010 (January) was about synonyms and antonyms, this one was about sentence correction. A lot of questions from previous year FMS papers made an appearance in this section. But even then, the difficulty level was something which could take care of that. No questions were overtly difficult and a basic knowledge of grammar rules would have taken care of this part.
One new addition to this section was the comeback of the parajumbles. The level of difficulty was high and it could have stumped even the most prepared aspirant.
There were a few questions on idioms and their meaning and these were of moderate difficulty.
The last 15 questions in this section were dedicated to fill-in-the-blanks questions. Again, the questions were of moderate difficulty level and even if one didnt know the meaning of words, one could have easily attempted the question by just knowing the tone of the sentence and eliminating options which didnt fit.
Overall, this section was lengthier than last year and one would have needed to spend more time on it so as to maximise the score. Last year, the cut-off for this section was 37, so, owing to the reduced focus on vocabulary and more sitters than last year, the cut-off can be something around 45-50 marks.
Quantitative Aptitude:
A drastic change both in content and in difficulty levels from last years section. If last year there were parabolas, graphs, trigonometry questions, this year saw the comeback of basic math questions. Plenty of questions based on equations, arithmetic, algebra and geometry made up the section. The ones which were easy were a piece of cake and few others required one to be persistent without losing it midway. A few questions were directly lifted from previous year FMS papers and if one were familiar, one could have solved the questions without breaking into a sweat.
Compared to last year, the section was on the easier side and would have attracted even the non-serious aspirants towards itself. This might lead to a slight increase in the sectional cut-off from the 41 of last year to something around 50.
Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation:
Very much similar to the last FMS test. The section was heavily bent in favour of the logical reasoning questions and there was only a single set on DI which consisted of 8 questions. The LR sets were similar to last year with the focus being on arrangements, an alphanumeric caselet, sets on blood relations, a Venn diagram based caselet and data arrangement sets. Three questions were based on the unscrambling of letters to form a meaningful word and then choosing an antonym of the constructed word.
Compared to the previous FMS test, there was not much of a difference in the difficulty level. The questions were time-consuming and if one were to cash in on this section, one would be required to spend a good amount of time in this section. Last time around, the cut-off was 64, so it might be similar or might go a bit on the lower side this time. A score of above 70 in this section should be a safe score.
The overall picture:
The difficulty level was definitely a bit on the lower side as compared to last time. The repeat questions even if present should not make much of a difference to the serious aspirant. The paper was purely a speed test with the emphasis being on how quick one could solve questions. All the sections were of moderate difficulty level and leaving a section at the right time is the key in this type of paper. It was very easy to get lured into allotting more time to a particular section thus neglecting the last section. Last year saw the cut-offs shot up, belying all the predictions. This year, with people being more prepared mentally for an easier paper and FMS dishing out an easy paper, the cut-offs are expected to go higher than last year. According to me, the overall cut-off can be something around 370-380. Any score of above 400 should be good enough to get a call.
Traditionally, the JMET is divided into four sections, namely verbal communication, logical reasoning, quantitative ability and the data interpretation section. A short review on each of the question types and a few strategies below:
Verbal Communication:
Reading comprehension traditionally consists of short, crisp passages followed by 3-4 questions. The questions are a mix of factual and inferential ones and a good reading of the passage is enough to get through. The questions might include those asking about the tone/title of the passage, the author's probable stance about a subject and his profession as well in some cases. Last year saw a good number of questions asking for the gist/central idea of the passage. Also, there were some questions pertaining to the meaning of a word in the context of the passage. The key word here is the context of the passage. The word might mean something different but 'the use to which it is put to' in the passage should be the answer.
Verbal ability focuses almost equally on the grammar and vocabulary part. Grammar questions include traditional grammar questions which involve picking the grammatically correct statement. In addition to these questions, there were questions on punctuation which made an appearance a few years back. The normally asked questions involve conversion of voices from active to passive or vice versa and also, changing a statement from direct to indirect speech. A few questions also included rephrasing a short statement/paragraph without altering its essence.
The Vocabulary part consists of fill-in-the-blanks questions, analogies and also a few questions on correct spelling of commonly-used words. The fill-in-the-blanks questions can be solved by eliminating options taking into consideration the tone and flow of the sentence even if one is not comfortable with the words in the options. Analogies might get a bit difficult if one doesn't know the words in the question. Also, last year's paper saw a few direct questions on synonyms and antonyms. The questions vary from being straightforward to extremely difficult and attempting those which one is sure of and moving ahead is the best way to go.
Quantitative Aptitude:
A couple of years back, this section was a nightmare for the average aspirant with all kinds of higher maths involved and with almost no contribution from conventional maths which appears in other entrance tests. But over the last couple of JMETs, this section has evolved into a much easier version. The basic thing would be to give the section some time and do the questions steadily thus avoiding silly errors. The common topics which are focused on predominantly include:
Percentages
Probability and permutations-combinations
Derivatives and integration
Simple equations
Logical Reasoning:
The section can be divided into the following few subtopics:
Data Interpretation:
This is like the traditional DI section found in almost all other management tests with plenty of tables, graphs, charts and data. The DI section of yesteryears has been doable with the exception of JMET 2008 which was nothing short of a nightmare. Last couple of years have seen the section become easier and even though the questions might seem a bit intimidating to look at, at the beginning, they are pretty much easy to crack if one is persistent. In this section too an aspirant needs to be aware of the wrong/slightly off-track options and avoid getting stuck in the process. The common types of presentation of data include-bar diagrams, percentage bar charts, pie-charts, line graphs and tabular data presentations.
Aspirants can also go through some of the seniors' views and experiences from past two years in the JMET Ready Reckoner.
All the best for the test.
If someone wants to share his/her JMET 2011 experiences you can write to us at [email protected] after your test.
New Ventures
Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai is all set to open a university in Orissa, besides another b-school in Delhi. This is after taking Mumbai Business School, Mumbai under its wings a few months ago. Disclosing this, Founder and Dean of Great Lakes, Dr Bala V. Balachandran told Pagalguy that the university in Bhubhaneshwar, Orissa will be modelled differently and not like other universities.
This university will cater to different subjects like engineering, law, schools of art, science, economics, math, said Dr Balachandran. This university may not be called Great Lakes but could be called the University of Corporate Excellence. When asked why, Dr Balachandran replied that Great Lakes already has an identity of a b-school. Would be confusing to name the university with the same name.
With regards to the b-school in Delhi, it would be called Great Lakes, like the one in Chennai. While the Great Lakes in Delhi is expected to come up in the next six months, the university is Bhubhaneshwar will come up in a years time. In a way, Great Lakes has taken over the Mumbai Business School. Whether to rename Mumbai Business School as Great Lakes is still a point of debate since Mumbai Business School is already two years old.
Bill Clinton an MBA?
Dr Balachandran was in Mumbai on Saturday to address prospective students. In his trademark style, he had the audience in splits most of the time, especially when he described former US president Bill Clinton as the one of the best MBA graduates ever. Pointing out that Clinton never did an MBA, Dr Balachandran said that he fit the tag Married But Available - which in short is MBA. Besides, Clinton is one guy who has learnt the art of disaster management like no one else. He not only survived the Monica Lewinsky crisis and saved his marriage but he was also the most sought after person at a global summit just days after the scandal broke. Now, that kind of disaster management is what MBAs are supposed to know, chuckled Dr Balachandran. Talking about the acronym MBA, he added that the degree should actually mean Master of Business Readiness because that is what MBAs should really be good at.
Dr Bala Balachandran
Good Morning
The Great Lakes Founder began his speech by wishing everybody a Good Morning. Hearing a lukewarm response from the audience, the Dean narrated a few of his global experiences with students when he began lectures with a Good Morning. While in a school in Asia, he had students copying down notes after he wished them Good Morning, thinking it to be some kind of instructions from the CEO, at Kellogg School, at the executive programme lecture, the response was stark different. This was in 2008 and post-recession and the students were 35 years old with many years of work experience. They told me that I was far from reality and that there was nothing good in the morning. They said the morning really sucked so it was not after all a good morning. Dr Balachandran went on to add that the audience response to his Good Morning wish, usually tells him the state of mind and mood of the audience.
Campus and Shivaji Ganesan
Speaking about the campus, the CEO informed that the idea to have a sprawling campus came about after seeing Tamil actor Shivaji Ganesans movies. There was this one movie, the script for which was written by Karunanidhi where Shivaji Ganesan acted like Socrates and there were these huge building sets and lots of space. I built the Great Lakes campus after seeing those sets. Talking on films, Dr Balachandran asked why and how the younger generation could like Rajanikant. Okay, may be because in his films, he controls technology and he can hit a six wherever you want him to.
Mahatama Gandhi
Recalling his inspiration to build Great Lakes, Dr Balachandran said that as a child of four, he once had an opportunity to meet Mahatama Gandhi near his village in Tamil Nadu. I sat on his lap and Gandhi asked me what I would like to become as an adult. As a child of four, I could not think of anything else, so I said I would die for the country. That made Mahatama Gandhi cry and I realised the importance of what I had said. Thats when I decided that I had to do something with my life. Considering that Dr Balachandran was the eldest of seven children and born to a poor family, and ate a single meal a day till that age of 15, he has indeed done something with his life.
For the third consecutive year, the TISS test clashed with another biggie, this time JMET . How was the test? How did it stand in comparison to last year's entrance. We interviewed Akanksha Sharma, Avneet Sethi, Kapil Sangvikar, Neha Seth and Dr. Sushrut Joshi who took the test today. They spoke to Pagalguy about the about the pattern, analysis and possible cut-off. Here are a few excerpts:
Part 1:
Traditionally, Part 1 of the test has been easy and the trend continued this time. The section had 50 questions distributed in three sub-sections Quantitative Ability (15 questions), Language Ability (20 questions) and General Awareness (15 questions). The time provided to solve this section was 45 minutes and for a serious aspirant, this much was more than enough to sail through the section.
The easy nature of the section coupled with the significantly lesser weightage this part of the test has in the calculation of the final score, should not affect an aspirants chances to a great extent either positively or negatively.
Quantitative ability, according to Neha, had a data interpretation set with the data provided in the form of a pie-chart. The questions were very much straightforward and could be done by observation and minimal calculations. There were questions from areas varying from profit and loss, time and work, ratios and also visual reasoning. One visual reasoning question had two identical options. It was announced at the center that marks would be awarded irrespective of the candidates response for the question.
Language ability was also very easy with one Reading Comprehension passage (6- 7 questions), a couple of parajumbles, fill-in-the-blanks questions, a set of five questions, where, missing words from a paragraph had to be filled., a question on sentence correction, questions involving converting statements from active to passive voice and vice-versa and questions involving multiple usage of a word.
General Awareness was very straightforward and a well-read candidate would be able to answer almost all the questions confidently. A few of the questions were:
Part 2 : (For HRM&LR; candidates)
On the whole, this part didnt see any major change as compared to last year. The only difference was the slight increase in the length of the paper and the reduced weightage to the data sufficiency questions compared to that of the last edition of TISS.
The section consisted of 75 questions which had to be solved in one hour. The overall level of difficulty was moderate and with the absence of any negative marking or sectional cut-offs, one should have attempted all the questions.
This part was divided into the following sub-sections:
Data Sufficiency:
The number of questions came down from 18 last year to around 10 in this edition. The questions were pretty much straightforward and a good aspirant could have easily attempted all of them.
Data Interpretation:
The sets were more difficult than those in part 1. Again, most of the questions did not involve lengthy calculations and could be done by observation and basic calculations. One set had a slight amount of ambiguity as it was not specified if one had to take the absolute difference or the percentage difference.
Reading Comprehension:
This was the big difference from last year. The passages were longer and the questions were a bit more difficult. There were three passages and 19 questions. More than half the questions were factual in nature and could be attempted. The only thing was that the sub-section was time consuming in nature and so, this could pull down the number of genuine attempts and hence the scores in this section. Also, few questions had five answer options and few had four answer options.
General Awareness:
This was again more difficult than that in part 1. The surprise was that, there was a data interpretation caselet amidst the GK questions. There were 15 questions in this sub-section(inclusive of the DI set).
Foundations of management:
This sub-section made up the rest of the part. The questions required a fair bit of thinking and one should have attempted these questions only after one was done with all the questions one was confident about.
Calculation of total marks:
The questions were of 1 mark each in both the parts and there were no negatives. Now, Part 1 contributes to 25% of the candidates final score and Part 2 contributes the remaining 75%. The total marks are scaled down to out of 70.
So, the number of marks contributed out of 70 will be:
Part 1: 50*0.5*0.7=17.5 out of 70
Part 2: 75*1*0.7=52.5 out of 70
Cut-off:
The overall cut-off was 41/70 last time around. This year, the general perception is that the paper was lengthier and a bit more difficult as well. So, the cut-offs can be pegged to be somewhere around 38-39 marks out of 70.
The first thought which came to an aspirant's mind having finished the Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET 2011) was that it was easier compared to last time. But, with the various coaching institutes coming out with their keys, aspirants realised that it was not significantly easier than last year and the cut-offs wont shoot up by a huge margin. We spoke to Kinjal Das, Abhishek Mandliya and Priyabrata Bisoi, who took the paper today. Below is what they said about the paper.
Verbal Communication (30 questions):
Over the last few years, the vocabulary part has had a heavy part allotted to it but this time, it went slightly beyond that. There were 3 questions on synonyms, 2 on antonyms, a couple of questions on idioms, couple of questions on analogies, fill-in-the-blanks questions (both word and phrase ones) and a question on identifying the incorrect spelling made the vocabulary part. There was one parajumble which was a must attempt question. One with a decent vocabulary could have easily cracked the fill-in-the-blanks questions. The idioms were tough. There was a question on conversion of a part of sentence from active voice to passive voice.
There were four Reading Comprehension passages. There was a good mix of both factual and inferential questions. One of the passages(Buchanans constitutional economics) was tougher than the others. The passages were the regular crisp, dense passages one has come to associate with JMET.
One could have easily attempted around 20 questions with a good accuracy in this section in around 30 minutes owing to the short nature of the Reading Comprehension passages. One could have easily scored around 15 marks if one were prepared.
Quantitative Aptitude:
As Abhishek put it, this section had approximately 10 easy questions, 10 moderate questions and 10 tough questions. A good candidate could have easily done 18-20 questions in this section with just about a few errors. The difficulty level was moderate to difficult and the questions covered many areas ranging from trigonometry to ratios to geometric progressions to functions and a couple of time-speed-distance questions. There was a caselet on linear programming of two questions, typical of JMET papers. There were a significant number of questions on permutations and combinations and probability. The easier questions were interspersed between others requiring knowledge of higher maths and selecting them and solving these questions was of paramount importance.
Logical Reasoning:
One question on syllogisms, two on assumptions and a critical reasoning question were a small part of what was largely a section dominated, for the lack of a stronger word, by the logical reasoning caselets. Almost everything in this section was doable and upto a third of the total marks could have been scored from this section. Only one caselet (the murderer one) could have caused bit of a confusion if one had assumed that the murderer was devoid of a profession.
Overall a very 'doable' section considering the huge amount of time available on disposition. A number of people have scored 30/30 as this story gets published and there will be more people achieving the feat. 20-25 and above was definitely gettable in this section for a good aspirant.
Data Interpretation:
Again not that difficult. Short caselets which didnt require much interpretation but calculations. The section was similar to last year. A couple of caselets were a bit heavy on calculations. The Venn diagram caselet was easy and should have been attempted. The set on Indias imports and exports was also easy and could be done. The six questions on pie-charts were also easy and could be done.
A good candidate could have attempted around 20-25 questions with a very good accuracy.
Overall, even though earlier reports said that the paper was significantly easier than JMET 2010, as the dust settled, it became apparent that the cut-off might rise but not by a big deal. The cut-off for IIT-Bombay can be somewhere around 80-82 marks and DMS IIT-Delhis cut-off can be projected somewhere in the higher 70s.
The SNAP test conducted by the Symbiosis International University (SIU) is going to be conducted on Sunday, the 19th of December. A few tips on the test and an analysis of the previous editions of the test below.
The Overall Picture:
The SNAP Test as mentioned on the official website is reported to be consisting of 180 marks. How these marks will be distributed this time will be interesting. While the 2007 and 2009 versions of the test had 150 questions, SNAP 2008 managed to spring a surprise by including two-markers across all the sections thereby reducing the number of questions to 135.
The paper is traditionally easy and the overall cut-off used to hover around the 45% mark (81 out of 180) in the pre-2009 era. This could be attributed to a fewer number of serious aspirants taking the test and the presence of a General Awareness Section for which very few strong aspirants 'prepare'. Last year saw a rise in the overall cut-off to an unlikely 107/180 which surpassed all the institutes' predictions. This was probably due to an easier paper and also due to the CAT fiasco to a certain extent as students might have been interested in securing a few calls. What happens this year will be interesting to see.
Quantitative and Data Interpretation & Sufficiency Section:
This section is nowhere near the typically feared quantitative section of the various entrance tests. Full of sitters, the key here is to attempt as many questions as possible in around 25-30 minutes and then move over to the other sections. A good hold on the basics is the only thing required to crack this section. If one is comfortable with the basic formulae and concepts, one can easily sail through the quantitative part of the section.
The topics commonly focused on are:
Ratio, proportion and variation
Averages, mixtures and alligations
Time, speed, distance
Basic questions on probability and permutations and combinations
Basic geometry
Percentages
The Data Interpretation part, last year consisted of simple table and pie-chart based caselets which involved a few calculations. There was also a simple set on Venn diagrams. This part was also very do-able with a bit of application.
There were also a few puzzles/visual reasoning questions which made an appearance in this section. Again, easy-moderate difficulty level.
There wasn't even a single data sufficiency question which made an appearance in SNAP 2009. But in the preceding years, there have been a couple of questions from this area.
Also, last year saw a couple of questions with incorrect options. Marks were awarded for these questions irrespective of the response and if one does encounter such errors in the paper, it would be advisable not to waste much time over such questions and move over to the next question.
General English Section:
This section consists of Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension. However, the weightage given to the Reading Comprehension part has gradually reduced over the past few years. In 2007 what contributed to 4 passages and 19 questions came down to 3 passages with 12 questions in 2008 and last year's edition had a solitary RC passage with 3 accompanying questions. This year might see a rise in the number of questions dedicated to the RC part. But then, even when it had a significant weightage, the passages were easy to read and the questions, barring a few which focused on the central idea and interpretation, were quite straightforward.
The Verbal Ability part, again focuses on the basic rules of English usage and basic vocabulary. A good reader would be in a good position to answer all the questions from this area. Last year, there were a few questions which required one to know the spellings of commonly used words. The fill-in-the-blanks questions require a basic knowledge of conjunctions, pronouns and verbs. There were a couple of questions which required one to spot the missing punctuations in a sentence. Also, there were a couple of questions each on synonyms, idioms and phrases, antonyms and match-the-following. A significant part was devoted to the sentence correction questions which were again, easy-moderate in nature. A few questions required knowledge about the basic figures of speech and were again easy for a prepared candidate.
But in the years before that, the verbal ability section used to have a fair share of moderate-difficult questions which could be cracked only by a few candidates. Also, there were a couple of parajumbles which appeared in both 2007 and 2008 versions of the test.
General Awareness Section:
Supposedly a nightmarish section, this section used to be the make or break section for many when sectional cut-offs were considered. But with the sectional cut-offs scrapped this time, as will be described later, one need not worry about this section anymore. But still, picking a few sitters and doing them correctly will surely fetch a few bonus marks thus boosting the overall score. This section has always had a good mix of both static general knowledge questions and current affairs and a well read candidate can hope to score 10+ marks in this section in almost no time.
Few of the areas which have been focused on in the past few years are:
Abbreviations and names of the various branches of science
Brands
Government Projects
Sobriquets
Sports events winners/record holders
World Organizations
Prizes
World's largest/smallest/tallest/shortest
Popular inventors
Analytical & Logical Reasoning:
This section, which traditionally has had two-mark questions contributes to nearly half of the total score. The section does not vary much with respect to the difficulty levels as compared to the other sections but, the rewards definitely do. So, the most commonly used strategy is allocating a disproportionately high amount of time to this section and scoring heavily. Maybe due this reason, last year saw the sectional cut-off rising to a staggering 65% (39 out of 60).
The section had a few critical reasoning questions, a few questions on syllogisms, a few on alpha-numeric reasoning, a couple of visual reasoning questions, four DI sets and the rest being simple reasoning based questions. One of the sets was calculation intensive but the other questions were quite doable. One has to keep an eye on which blanks are missing in the syllogism questions. The options might be confusing and under pressure, one can go for the incorrect option. Also, for the critical reasoning questions, if the inference/conclusion of a paragraph is asked, it cannot be a sentence directly quoted from the paragraph.
Sectional Cut-offs:
The University has reportedly communicated to the associated institutes not to have any sectional cut-offs for their courses. Previously, SIBM-Pune used to have sectional cut-offs. But, this time they have made it clear that there won't be any sectional cut-offs in the 'Coffee with SIBM' event, on their forum and as is evident from this query which is answered on the Directors' Forum.
OMR marking:
Although a very negligible aspect of the test, it is very important to remember that the OMR sheet has to be marked with a ball-point pen and once marked, one cannot change the response, so one has to be a bit careful while marking the answers.
Also, in case one marks a wrong answer and becomes aware of it during the test, it is advised to mark another random option so that the response to the question is not considered and one doesn't end up losing any marks.
Announcing the opening of the PaGaLGuY B-school Rankings 2010-11 survey of What India thinks about Indian b-schools.
Over the last three years, these Rankings of Indias Most Preferred b-schools have taken center-stage as the most credible and referenced Rankings among those looking to join an MBA program in India, or recruit from a business school. With a sample size of nearly 5,500 respondents in each of its previous editions, the PaGaLGuY B-school Rankings are also the most data-intensive B-school Rankings in India.
We invite academicians, corporates, aspirants, students and alumni of b-schools to participate in the survey.
Start Voting: The PaGaLGuY 2010-2011 survey, click here to start
1) In the 2010 - 11 survey, the no. of business schools being polled is 104. Our goal is to continuously improve the size and scope of the rankings so that people can make more informed choices regarding their education. Secondly, not everyone aims for the top 30 business schools and there is hardly a good indicator of public perception for the rest of the schools - we would like to help to make the rankings more accessible and useful to people who are not necessarily aiming at the top 30 schools as well.
2) Our methodology is the battle tried and tested CommunityRank System that helps us statistically compare every school to every other so that you have the most accurate results.
3) The ranking can be answered using your facebook logins only. Two reasons: Ease of use and Security. We will be using multiple techniques, both algorithmic and statistical (along with human checks) to ensure people aren't double voting or trying to rig the rankings for their schools of choice. In previous years, we have publicly removed certain schools from rankings due to the students trying to rig them.
We invite you all to start answering the survey and discuss your experience here. This rankings will be stronger and more accurate as the number of people voting in it increases. So please ask all your friends, relatives who are MBA aspirants/students/alumni to take this survey!
Start Voting: The PaGaLGuY 2010-2011 survey, click here to start
The WHARTON school has just announced huge changes in its MBA programme design. Coming after a long gap of about 17 years and at a cost of $1 million, these changes are expected to eventually spark off a series of radical changes in business education world over.
Among others, these changes, offer for the first time, an extra-ordinary flexibility to students to make education choices, a new series of global modular courses to be offered in eight countries and a commitment to deliver life-long education to its MBA graduates.
Wharton which has campuses in Philadelphia and San Francisco, enrolls about 2000 students jointly for its full-time MBA Programme and its MBA Executive Programme. About 220 expert faculty members and 200 affiliated faculty teach at Wharton and it is they who voted to bring about the new design in the school.
Pagalguy spoke to Whartons dean Thomas S Robertson, Professor G. Richard Shell, Chair of the MBA Review Committee and Jason Wingard, Vice Dean of Executive Education for more information on these radical changes.
Considering that the free education will cost Wharton $ 1 million, will it be a viable option in the long run?
Jason Wingard, Vice Dean of Executive Education: We do not see this as an issue of cost, but rather one of value. Our mission is to design and deliver in-depth learning experiences to our students and executives to create global economic and social value. We urge our executives, and our MBA alumni, to develop a commitment to life-long learning and to take on new personal and professional challenges.
How much time and research went into bringing about these changes? How many people were involved?
Professor G. Richard Shell, Chair of the MBA Review Committee: The last change in architecture was done 17 years ago, though the curriculum has been changed intermittently. In May 2009, Dean Thomas Robertson asked a committee to conduct a comprehensive review of the entire MBA programme, including its curriculum. It was the culmination of a process that began in 2006. A Strategic Planning Committee and an MBA Experience Committee were set up. In addition, a comprehensive faculty survey was conducted in 2008-2009.
Was there a need for so many committees?
The MBA Review Committee surveyed alumni, recruiters and business leaders, consulted with our boards, studied what the peer schools had done in recent years, and formulated ideas on how to enhance the overall MBA programme for Wharton. The committee considered as many as 10-12 different programme designs before settling on the basic design. Students and faculty were consulted again in Spring 2010 and final design ideas gelled in the summer of 2010.
Finally, faculty were re-surveyed in early September 2010, the final design ideas were presented at the end of September, and faculty, departments, and staff were consulted in the fall of 2010 to validate the feasibility of the programme ideas and consider implementation. The proposal was voted on December 3, 2010.
First, both students and faculty told us that they desired for a more flexible, innovative approach to the required curriculum. This had five aspects a slightly smaller total number of required credit units, more courses taught in non-traditional (intensive) week-long formats, more opportunities for students to mix required and elective classes throughout the programme (freeing space to take more electives in the first year), greater degrees of flexibility for faculty to innovate in the required courses, and greater flexibility for departments in adding (and removing) courses to the required set.
So what do these five aspects translate into
They translate, among other things, into somewhat reduction of cohort-based required classes and introduction of the concept of six required Content Areas (as opposed to six required courses) within which students will be able to choose from a short menu of options, the courses that will satisfy the demands of the required curriculum.
Will the new design also allow moving courses outside the curriculum easily? Will faculty have the flexibility to do so?
Yes, Innovation is the new freedom for departments to move existing courses into and out of the required curriculum without having to seek a vote of the entire faculty. Under our proposal, a department may recommend a change to a Content Area (by, for example, moving an existing, well-received elective into the required Content Area) by simply seeking permission to do so from a new school-wide Curriculum Innovation and Review Committee which is charged with reviewing these requests.
The change can go forward with the agreement of this committee. This committee will also be conducting periodic reviews of all courses in the required curriculum and overseeing departmental policies on waivers, majors, and prerequisites to assure that the programme meets the needs of the students in particular and those of the School as a whole.
Where does the stress for analysis fit into the changes
Our recruiters, alumni and faculty were very clear that we needed to maintain the emphasis on the hard, analytical skills for which Wharton is renowned. In this regard, our review suggested to us that there was room for us to expand from requiring 6-week classes in statistics and microeconomics in the first semester to requiring full-semester, 12-week courses in these two foundational areas.
Finally, our recruiters, alumni and existing students told us to expand our emphasis on the soft skills of leadership, teamwork, and communications in a more emphatic way. Our new design thus increases from 6 to 12 classes the amount of oral communication training in the required curriculum and adds a writing requirement for the first time. These classes are taught in very small sub-cohort sections of 10-12 students to allow for individualised coaching and focused practice.
What will be the role of the alumni?
Wharton needed to think more outside the box in structuring its relationship with graduates in the next generation seeking meaningful, ongoing ways to create a knowledge community beyond the usual reunions, alumni clubs, and other traditional alumni activities. Our world-class executive education operation is a natural focus for this and we are looking forward to welcoming many more of our graduates back to campus to re-engage with faculty and with one another in our numerous specialized open-enrollment programmes on topics such as negotiations, leadership, and critical thinking. Executives need different kinds of knowledge at different points in their careers which we think this aspect of the programme design will enable.
Which alumni are eligible? And would they have to cough up any money at all?
We estimate demand for executive education courses to be about 20% per year of total class, or about $1M annually in value to our MBA alums. The marginal costs for Wharton may not be substantial since many of the courses will already be offered as part of our open enrollment executive education program. The average cost for a one week open enrollment course is $7000, exclusive of room and board which will be paid by the alum. MBA alums starting with the Class of 2010 are eligible.
Alumni may take one course seven years after they graduate (Class of 2010 may register in 2017) and then again seven years later. They may register for 3-5 day courses from the open enrolment portfolio of nearly 50 programs, space permitting. Learn more about open enrolment programs here:
Explain Wharton's international design?
The Dean, Tom Robertson: There will be opportunities for Global Studies. There are new modular courses in eight countries this year including India, China, Israel, UK, Brazil, South Africa. There will also be study abroad and international exchange programmes. There will be the Wharton-INSEAD Alliance, one with Indian School of Business (ISB), Guanghua School of Management and Singapore Management University and China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).
Institute of Rural Management results are out. The 2011-13 results can be accessed by entering their form number and date of birth on this page. The Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) welcomes freshers as well as those with work experience but some amount of work ex always helps.
IRMA 2010 Written test results
The cut-off have been mentioned on the site to be:
Section | General Category | OBC | Female | SC/ST & PWD | Sponsored |
Analytical Reasoning | 85.607 | 82.910 | 82.910 | 79.684 | 79.684 |
Quantitative Ability | 69.707 | 65.821 | 65.821 | 61.608 | 61.608 |
English Comprehension | 67.240 | 63.247 | 63.247 | 59.175 | 59.175 |
Issues of Social Concern | 70.430 | 65.891 | 65.891 | 60.823 | 60.823 |
Total* | 89.203 | 86.004 | 86.004 | 75.189 | 75.189 |
Note: In order to be selected for GD & PI, a candidate should meet the sectional cut-off percentile as well as overall cut-off percentile requirements.
*All the figures mentioned are in terms of percentiles.
We talked to a senior, Pritesh Kumar Lal from the IRMA PRM Batch of 2010-12 on how the next stage of the process will be like. Here is what he had to say:
IRMA is well known for its rigorous GD/PI that involves group discussion, group task and personal interview.
Here is the weightage of different components in selection process:
Written 50%
Group task and Group discussion 10%
Personal interview 40%
IRMA welcomes people with work experience as well as freshers. There is no clear-cut weightage for work experience, but having a certain amount of work-ex always helps. Candidates should keep in mind that now, the final converts will be purely on the basis of performance in written test, group discussion, group task and personal interview.
The shortlisted candidates will now be sent a personal information form in which they need to provide information about their past academics, extracurricular activities, awards won, hobbies and interests etc. All relevant information in this section should be filled with utmost care and should not be superficial as interviewers can very well see through it.
The Group Discussion lasts for around 20 minutes. Topics could be from economy, events of national importance, international affairs, rural India or anything abstract. The panelists look for content, clarity of ideas and thoughts. Just making too many entries just for the heck of it wont lead you anywhere.
In the Group Task, the aspirants have to rank a list of 10 points regarding any topic and then come to a consensus on the overall sequencing of those points as a group.
The Personal Interview of IRMA carries 40% weightage and it could last from 15 to 45 minutes. An individual must have a strong reason as to why he/she wants to join this course. Questions can be from academics, extracurricular activities, work experience, knowledge about self, hobbies and interests. They dont expect aspirants to be experts in rural India and its economy but basic knowledge always helps.
Apart from this one should be regular reader of newspapers and magazines like Yojna and Kurukshetra, Indian economy special issue of Pratyogita Darpan can be referred so as to be well-versed with latest facts and figures.
The thread for the discussions of results has been opened here. Please continue on that thread for discussing about what to do, what not to do for the next stage and advice from seniors about the remainder of the process.
Best of luck to all the aspirants.
In an interview with PaGaLGuY, Goa Institute of Management (GIM) Director Mr Peter FX D'Lima and Associate Professor of Marketing Prof Ajit Parulekar describe changes in admission policy and curriculum at the institute which has just moved to its new campus at Sanquelim, in the interiors of Goa.
What new things can the incoming batch of 2013 look forward to at the Goa Institute of Management?
One of the things that they can look forward to is that the new campus of GIM will be ready in entirety. Although the current batch has moved to the new campus, they have to grapple with some incomplete facilities and no-extra curricular activities. But by the time the new batch comes in, they will have a state of the art auditorium, an amphitheater, tennis courts, basketball court, a football field and more. Beside, all the hostel blocks will be ready for moving in and the campus landscaping will also be complete.
Apart from that, we are updating our curriculum with 2-3 new courses every year depending on new happenings in the business world.
How is the new campus different from your older campus?
The new campus is spread across 50 acres land amidst hilly surroundings and is about 50 kms from the Goa airport. It has all the basic necessary facilities such as wi-fi connectivity over a 10 mbps connection, centrally air-conditioned academic blocks and classrooms and housing for faculty.
Besides that, it is a very high-tech campus wherein the student ID cards are RFID Smart Cards. All the facilities they use like copying, library or canteen are all recorded in the card automatically. Whenever they walk into the classroom, the RFID automatically records it in the attendance records. Using this system we have also implemented controlled access to both students and the faculty to various parts of the campus.
Why has GIM started accepting ATMA scores apart from XAT this year during admissions?
For a couple of years, we've been contemplating taking another score than just XAT. We wanted to try XAT plus CAT, but running both XAT and CAT simultaneously brings in a lot of complexity and issues of score equivalence to grapple with. Last year, we received 13,000 applications with XAT alone. Had we gone with CAT this year, our applications would have increased to at least 20,000 which was too large a number for us to grapple with in one single jump because of the complexity issues. So we decided to experiment with a smaller exam like ATMA and use it to gain comfort with equalizing percentiles of two different exams. But eventually we will move to accepting CAT plus XAT in the near future.
The fact that the current ATMA head Fr RD D'souza is the Founder Director of GIM gives us greater freedom and access to the ATMA data for the purpose of accurately finding out the equivalent percentiles between ATMA and XAT.
ATMA isn't as rigorous or popular an exam as the XAT. Why will this not lead to a drop in the quality of students entering GIM?
What will happen is that I don't expect a large number of student applications from the ATMA. Compared to a huge exam like XAT which has over a lakh takers, ATMA had just 10,000 last year. So I expect that maybe 5% of the applications will be coming from ATMA which is good enough for us as a test to see how scores of two exams should be equalized. Once the scores come, we will go through the percentiles of both XAT and ATMA applicants. Since ATMA is not as tough an exam as XAT, the exercise will be about finding what the equivalent percentile cutoff for ATMA should be compared to our existing standards for XAT. We will only admit those students from ATMA that match the equivalent percentiles of the XAT.
What parameters do you use for admissions and how is each weighed?
For the final admission, we are allotting 50% weight for XAT score, 30% for both the Group Discussion and Personal Interview combined, 10% for consistency of academic performance and 10% for quality and quantity of work experience. Our interview calls are not on the basis of XAT alone, but they are profile-based calls where we take into consideration the quality of work experience and past academic performance. We test both these attributes during the interview again and adjust the weights for work experience and academics again if we learn something new about the applicants.
Do you strive for a particular kind of class composition during the admissions stage?
For us the gender balance has been good. We've had 37-45% women in class since years now. We're happy with it and it is better than the average balance in Indian b-schools.
However what we've found in the last couple of years is that lately too many people with engineering, IT or BPO background are applying and getting through. We made a conscious effort to modify this. Last year was the first time when we looked at industry and past academics while giving interview calls and tried to give higher weightage to those with diverse profile backgrounds. What happened of course was that the result wasn't as we wanted. The reason why it didn't work was that while we gave extra weightage to those from commerce, pharma or arts background, we were also giving weightage to work experience and it is the engineers who apply with work experience with an overwhelming majority. That work-experience weightage compensated for whatever extra weightage we had given to the diverse backgrounds and so we couldn't reduce the number of engineers or IT professionals in the batch. So this year we'll further skew the weightage for those with engineering, IT or BPO backgrounds on the negative side.
How will this work behind the scenes?
The XAT cutoff remains the same for everyone. The ones from IIT, NITs or other top engineering colleges will not get either a positive or a negative weightage. Those from other lower ranked engineering colleges will get a negative score while those from BCom, arts, science, medical, pharma or other diverse background will get an additional weightage. Similarly on the work experience parameter, we'll give the lowest score for BPO or software work. Whereas someone from the shop floor or sales will get higher weightage.
That a diverse classroom makes for a better classroom experience especially in the case study method is well known. But why is it only now that Indian b-schools are suddenly waking up to the virtues of diversity?
You see, 10 yrs back when I joined GIM, we used to get 45% engineers in the batch which was a pretty good balance. What has happened in the last few years is that the number of engineering colleges has grown by a larger margin than the number of colleges for arts, science or commerce. So if you want an engineering seat, it is easy to get it today. As a result the number of people getting into engineering too has grown by a huge margin. So as a result we find that the number of people applying to MBA from non-engineering backgrounds too is less, because fewer ambitious people are going into such schools. Realizing this skewed balance, schools are taking corrective measures to have a diverse classrooms.
Does the industry also believe so? Will a diverse classroom also stand the test of the job market during placements?
Yes of course. Maybe five years ago when GIM had mostly IT companies recruiting, diversity would have been a problem. But now we've got a reasonably good spread of companies from all sectors, so there is no problem with placing people from diverse backgrounds.
Will there be an increase in the fees for the incoming batch of 2013?
The fees will increase by about 7%. It was a little lower than Rs 5 lakhs but for the batch joining in 2011 it will be about Rs 5.35 lakhs. The hostel charges for the two years will be about Rs 30,000 in total, so a total fees of Rs 5.65 lakhs approximately.
What changes in the curriculum or new electives are you adding before the new batch joins?
For the current year, we've introduced electives such as Technical analysis, Balanced scorecards, an organizational behaviour elective on self-discovery called 'Understanding self'. There's an elective called 'Lyrics and management' which is about drawing parallels between poetry or musical lyrics and management principles. Then there's also a new elective in behavioral finance, and so on.
How many faculty members do you have and how are you planning to expand that number?
We are about to grow by almost 50% in terms of faculty strength. We had 24 faculty members last year and now we will have 36 or 37 faculty members after everybody joins, before the next session starts. Another new thing is that the faculty will now be housed on the new campus, so students will get better access to their professors. In the older campus we had that limitation because the faculty didn't live on campus.
B-schools are struggling to recruit even one or two faculty. How have you managed to recruit 10?
We have the same problems that the industry has when it comes to getting faculty. Getting and retaining faculty are both tough. I think what is working for us is that all through the year we are doing faculty seminars, resulting in a lot of referrals.
Are you having to recruit a lot of inexperienced faculty to meet your target? What are the qualifications of the new faculty you've hired?
The faculty are coming from two categories. There are the young faculty who are young PhDs with one or two years of academic experience. The other type are those with a huge amount of industry experience. These typically tend to be 50 years or more in age and carrying 20 to 30 years of work experience. Goa is a lovely place to come and settle down at and the quality of life is great, which works for them. But the faculty that is in shortage and toughest to get for any Indian b-schools are those with 5 to 20 years of academic experience.
The Department of Management Studies, IIT Delhi, which conducted this year's JMET
The result of the Joint Management Entrace Test (JMET) conducted by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) for admissions to their management schools was out late night on Sunday, January 2, 2011. You can access the results at JMET 2011 Result.
The discussion thread about the JMET results has been put up here. You can browse the thread to discuss your scores, and ask around stuff related to application and admission to IIT b-schools.
We've compiled a few excerpts from the posts of current IIT b-school students from the previous admission season below.
SJMSOM, IIT Bombay
The lowest all India Rank (AIR) called for SJMSoM GDPI in JMET 2010 was Rank 418, and it generally remains around 400+ 20
DMS, IIT Delhi
Last year, the last rank called for IIT Delhi GDPI was around 500.
VGSoM, IIT Kharagpur
The brochure says,
"Selection will be based on application rating, performance in JMET or CAT and performance in group discussion and personal interview."
The candidates are called on the basis of their profile and the JMET score.
DoMS IIT Roorkee
The least rank called for the next stage was somewhere between 1,700-1,800.
IIT Kanpur
The least rank to be called for the GDPI process was around 1,000. The least rank (General category) to convert a call was 969. Some people with ranks in the range of 200 couldn't convert.
DoMS, IIT Madras
The two posts linked below paint a fairly detailed picture,
Eligibility criteria
Selection Procedure
The various threads for queries related to admissions have been put up on the follwing links,
SJMSOM, IIT Bombay | DMS, IIT Delhi | VGSOM, IIT Kharagpur
The results for the written test conducted by the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi have been declared on its site. The list of shortlisted candidates sorted by their respective categories can be accessed from the following link.
A total of 1043 candidates have been called for the 226 seats after the two courses were merged. The distribution of the calls category-wise is as follows:
Category | Number of calls | Number of seats |
General | 513 | 101 |
OBC | 273 | 54 |
SC | 151 | 30 |
ST | 74 | 15 |
PH1 | 5 | 6 |
PH2 | 1 | |
PH3 | 10 | |
CW | 16 | 10 |
The next stage:
The next stage will be held sometime in March/April, 2011 according to the FAQ section on its website. Traditionally, the process is held only in Delhi at the FMS campus for about a week or so. Candidates will be divided into groups, with every group having candidates from a single category.
The next stage consists of a Group Discussion and a Personal Interview. The one-minute Extempore which is a unique feature of the FMS process, is a part of the interview.
The verification of the documents is done before the GDPI process. However, the panellists do not always have a look at the file/documents.
For the Group Discussion, the topic is given by the panel and the candidates are given a minute or so to gather their thoughts. Then there is an open discussion for around 10 minutes. The topics aren't 'heavy' and knowledge about recent national and international happenings and statistical data on the country's economy should suffice.
The same set of panellists conduct the Interview as well. So, you can expect a few questions about your performance in the group discussion, during the interview. A feature of the interview is the 'extempore' in which, the candidate is asked to speak on a given topic, impromptu. The topic can be related to the candidate's name, profession, attire, something mentioned in the SOP or totally abstract. Depending on the panel, one might be given 10-15 seconds to gather one's thoughts and then you will be asked to proceed. The extempore can be right at the start of the interview, in the middle or at the end.
The results are generally declared a day after the process ends. Last year, the process was done with on the 31st of March and results were out late into the night.
The thread to discuss all the queries related to scores and the further preparation process has been put up here:
All the best to all the call getters.
With just a few hours to go before CAT 2010 results are announced, stress levels among CAT candidates are like never before. If technical glitches, normalisation and psychometric analysis were the terms, aspirants came to associate with CAT 2009, the latest CAT will be known for the 'leaked' results which were out a good ten days before the actual one. Whether CAT 10 lives up to the expectation of the 2 lakh aspirants is the question which will be answered real soon.
We at PaGaLGuY.com had a chat with three candidates who are expecting a good score being a part on the Dream Team, having performed consistently well throughout the mock season as to what they are doing to combat anxiety at this stage.
According to Roopak Bhartee, On the day before the big day, there are indeed anxious thoughts in every aspirant's mind, but looking back at the journey to this year's CAT lessens the chunk of brain wasted thinking about the result. Looking back, this season started with a couple of awesome mocks, which instilled my faith after the last season. The journey along with many other like-minded people surely instilled enough confidence. I had an awesome time preparing with some really awesome minds, super awesome team mates and super super awesome friends! Always kept faith, did bakar, and enjoyed the process!! Hence looking back, results seem to be a very small part of the process! Results are always in 'Boolean' terms, and hence incomplete! I know I gave it my best shot and I've always believed in the maxim that whatever happens is for the good.
Arshdeep Kaur says, A day before the CAT results, I feel somewhat excited and somewhat tense. I keep recalling the day I took the CAT and remember being satisfied afterwards. The fact that I've given it my best shot keeps me from feeling over-stressed. Obviously, the fact that one doesnt know how normalisation is done, how the wrong questions are dealt with (if at all), etc. does give me sleepless nights, but then frankly there isnt anything that one can do about it. Those are the rules and everyone has got to play by them. I truly hope and wish that all my friends come out with flying colours. I hope everyone gets what they truly deserve.
According to Tarun Tiwari, Last year, it was like, CAT had gone computer-based for the first time. So, I was not aware of the complications involved in scaling of scores and all the normalisation procedures. As I had scored decently throughout the mock season and also because my CAT had gone well, I was real hopeful about my result. But as it turned out, I had performed badly in one of the sections. But this time, things are different. I know that I can get any score. May be just a slip of 1-2 %ile can cause enough damage. So I'm not really thinking about the result. I'm nervous but not really stressed out. Apart from that, this year I had my job to focus on. So I can divert my attention from the results. The real feeling of nervousness will start after 11-11:30 tonight. These days I'm reading the autobiography of Steve Waugh 'Out of my comfort zone' to stay relaxed.
The general feeling amongst all CAT takers is that of anxiety. However hard they try to refute it, there will still be a certain part of the mind focused on the catiim site and the forum. Those who 'know' their results will be hoping that they change if they fall short of their expectations and those who have scored well will be praying that they remain unchanged. If there are any changes, only tomorrow will tell. The thing is to not make it larger than life and take it as it comes. If there are other calls, focus on converting them even if one is sceptical about joining the institutes. One can always decide whether to join an institute or not after converting the call.
The results were out last year at around 12 noon. Only IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Shillong had come up with their shortlists along with the results last year. Others came out later.
Wishing all aspirants good luck.
IIM A : http://115.111.80.206/catselio2inxla3c2010tsk.php , IIM A's shortlisting criteria: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/users/admission/files/Shorcriteria11-13.pdf
IIM C PGDM: http://www.iimcal.ac.in/f10/pgdm.htm
IIM C PGDCM : http://www.iimcal.ac.in/f10/pgdcm.htm
IIM L both PGP and PGP ABM: http://www.iiml.ac.in/cat2010_Shortlist.htm
IIM Ranchi Shortlist: http://www.iimranchi.ac.in/result.php
Many of this year's CAT toppers - namely Gaurav Malpani, Shashank Samant (both from IIT Bombay), Deepak Mehta from Bits Pilani and Vidit Agarwal from BIT Mesra say that they did not expect to top CAT 2010. All were pleasantly surprised to know that they were among the 8 toppers declared with 100 percentile by CAT.
Gaurav Malpani
Gaurav Malpani from IIT B said that while he was expecting a good score, topping was totally out of his mind. Yes, I had put in the hard work and worked on my English etc but to top is something else, he told Pagalguy. Talking about his prep work, Gaurav said that he had regularly practised on problem solving and kept going with the preparation, not once taking it easy.
Gaurav saw his results this morning around 1.00am. As soon as I saw that I had topped I called my family back home in Kolkata and they were began rejoicing, he said. Gaurav has already got calls from IIM A,C B and is looking forward to joining the grand league of IIMs.
Though Gaurav wants to do a lot with his MBA degree, he definitely wants to bring about changes in society and the world at large. There are lots of things that need change and I hope I can help bring them about. Society needs to change and if I get a platform like the government to do so, I will, he told Pagalguy emphatically.
Deepak Mehta
Deepak Mehta was hanging out with friends last night when news about CAT results came to him. I check and after about half hour got my results. I could not believe myself at all. What a pleasant surprise, he told Pagalguy.
Immediately I called my father and mother and also spoke to my younger sister who were simply delighted, he said.
Eversince then, Deepak has only been attending to calls and emaisl from friends and relatives congratulating him. This despite the fact that most of today Deepak attended classes as he is still on his internship.
So far the Bits Pilani student has got calls from IIM A, C, L, R, but will take a final call only after he knows which he has converted.
So what did he do so right that he became a topper this year? I dont know. I did not study too hard since I did not have time. I was on internship the same time that CAT prep was on so I got just a few hours late at night to do any kind of preparation work. But I worked on my concepts well and that helped. Besides, in my mocks I scored a maximum of 99.88 so I never thought I would actually top, Deepak added.
The Bits Pilani student added that the topper news shocked him even more snce all through college, he was not among the top in class, though he was a topper right through his school life.
The topper has not charted out his future academically but expect his MBA degree to give him the confidence to go right ahead. I want to start something on my own, like may be start my own firm and I hope this is the start to that, he said.
Meanwhile, Bits Pilani Goa is celebrating Deepak's victory. Suddenly everybody knows Deepak and the topper is busy basking in every bit of the adulation. Adding to the celebration is the fact that the college has a huge list of 99.99 percentilers. Vineet Dhanawat, one of the students is maintaining a list of all students of BITS Pilani Goa Campus score and calls at http://www.vineetdhanawat.com/cat "
Shashank Samant
For Shashank Samant, the other IIT-B topper, the thought has still not sunk in. I still cant believe it totally. I really wasnt expecting to top, he said. As soon as Shashank saw his results last night post 11.30 pm, he called his mother and family in Borivali (Mumbai) and gave them the news. There is no looking back since then. Everybody is just so happy around me, he said.
Shashank was a topper all his life, be it school or college and so topping this time was not a totally new experience. But he gave CAT 2010 only for kicks. I gave only about two mocks tests and did not really put in so many hours of study since I work the whole day,said Shashank who works for Morgan Stanley.
Shashank actually only studies for a day before his exam !
Like Deepak, Shashank too wants to start his venture and some day own a rocking business.