Imperfect Me I try too hard to fit in When I'm born to stand-out I'm not comfortable in my own skin My mind is in doubt
I wish I was invisible Or that my love was blind My emotions are visible They're what I hide behind
It's hard to speak my mind Because I know who I'm pretending to be Maybe it's time to leave behind The mask that's hiding me
My act only works on an crowd And it's time for me to reveal So I'll take off my mask and be proud The real me, imperfect, and surreal CAT Season I (2004)
Friends,
My CAT story starts in August 2004, when I was in 7th sem of my undergraduation. I got my placement and was chilling out.
Suddenly, one day I became aware that everybody else is giving cat and I must also give it ( Why MBA # Reason 1). I also filled up the form, bought the CAT material. But due to lack of focus and laziness didn't even opened the material once. CAT day arrived, I got up and went to give the test and as expected there was no miracle.
CAT Season II (2006)
After college, I joined my job(present company) and did focussed on office work (2005). In 2006, when Life @ Office was monotonous and parents were pressuring me to study further or they would marry me ( WHY MBA # Reason # 2), I decided it is time to do something. I looked at various options and decieded to give CAT a good shot. So, I got hold of my sealed material and ripped open its seal. Then joined some quant brush up classes in Alchemist (Thanks Prashant and Ashu Sir), joined TIME test series and after umpteen hours of study and mocks, I sat for CAT. It was nothing great and I was hoping to see some calls.
Twist in the story (bollywood style):
After CAT, I planned to go some outstation trip with friends. But it was not to be. I met with a serious accident on 300th november (bike hitting road divider while saving a direct hit with auto that was taking a U turn wihtout giving any indicator). Well, I was in near- comma situation for 6 days ( don't remember anything of those days). Doctor's did some serious face bone surgery ( Faceoff :happy:movie style). Well I was back after some days at hospital. Wasn't able to walk of talk for first 15 days, then was on liquid diet for 1.5 months and semi solid for another 1.5 months. Back to story:
When I was taking rest at home, CAT result came and I had call form B and I. It was time to gear up. I collected all newspapers and magzines of last two months and started revising all that I could do. I gave interviews my best effort but it wasn't good enough. I was sad because my I's interview was very good. B's interview was a disaster and main question they asked me was, " You have good acedemics, branch topper and all that, but here every student is like you. What is your speciality. How are you different."
PI process was a learning experience and eye opener.
CAT Season III (2007) 27th April (when result came) - 4th may:
I was sad and was trying to find a way out of my miseries. After accident, It was the time when I was able to think about myself and my future.Here I would like to thank my friends and especially Dr. Savleen, Anshul and Vaneet for their help, support and guidance.Well I have to be back and I was.
All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
5th May: I was back and started doing all things that I wanted to do and that I need to do. Gave GMAT in August: score 700 (nothing GREAT). Decided to focus only in India. Used Internet and prepared again for CAT. I would like to mention a name "TG: TotalGadha" here, they have some good material. C-DAY came and it was okayish..nothing great.
was going thorugh GK and newspapers side by side, so no issues. For GD/PI joined TG: kumar sir and sanjeev sir.
update uptil now: Final Rejects: SPJAIN, XLRI-BM, NMIMS, SCMHRD Final Converts and not joining: SIBM (bang), IMT Gzb (FT), IMI, GIM, XIMB, FORE, SIMSR Waitlisted/borderline case: MDI PGPM (WL 365), PGPIM (WL 48 ) Fee submitted: NITIE Waiting: L (fingers crossed)
Have resigned from the job and is enjoying my notice period.
Learnings: C-Day:
The most important part of CAT story (before GD/ PI) is how you perform on the actual day. In mocks, my percentile varied from 43.57 to 99.98, and out of 50 odd mocks, I missed cutoff in 70% of them. So, don't focus too much on mock score. Give it, analyse it and then MOVE ON. At C-day, maintain your cool, pass smiles at people who are revising last minute farmulae at the centre and comeout with flying colors.
GD/PI:
About 3 lakh students give CAT test and out of them around 50K just give it (Season I) and another 50K don't put ample effort. So, competition reduces by 33% without you doing anything. (source: Vikasopedia) But in GD/PI process, story is altogether different. Out of around 5K calls to about 3.5 K people, 3499 are fully capable and very serious ( 1 might have an accident after CAT: Season II). So, competition is cut throat and you can't rest and leave anything for chance. Don't grab 2 months newspapers and magzines after 8th Jan but do it daily. It takes only about an hour and mind you (TOI, HT and Delhi Times reading souls) reading and understanding Hindu and ET in last 15 days will be a difficult task.
PG and other Internet Resourses:
There are plenty of good site on net to help at every step of the process and PG name is the biggest of them all. But, I would like to say that don't spread clutter on it and don't post for the sake of posting. It will irritate others in the same way it is irritating you finding a good post. Besides it saves time and energy of our overloaded administrators:happy:.
Best features of PG: Thanks -- posts and persons (applicable only for females) you like. Groans -- posts you don't like PM -- If you need some serious and urgent help.
If you notice, I am member of PG since March 2005 and my post count has touched double digit this month. (though my sister alleges that I am too lazy for such things)
Utilise this awsome resource site in a better way. Thanks PG and fellow Pgites for all the data, information that is here.
Balance: you might have read it in many self-help books that one must find balance in his/her life. I am telling you from my personal experience that forget about next year, next month, next day or after cat, after interviews you don't even have next second. Do things that you like and do them now. CAT is important, but not the most important thing of your life.
Best of luck to everybody. Cheers.:cheers:
New Beginning:
Now that pressure of early marriage is off and I will start my studies in another two month's time. I will be away from my friends (will make new ones), out of my comfort zone, competing fiercely against the best of this country. I don't know what else is in store for me. But definately, It would be totally different, much better than previous and exciting. AMEN. Standing on the brink of a bright new beginning I can feel the fresh new breeze coming to me and I long to set myself free....
I see the river that I have to cross and I see the bridge that can take me across...
I wish to climb,run and jump to the other side leaving burden of my big bag behind.....
The bag in which I collected flowers, stones and some broken dreams.. Though it is dear but now it seems..
It is too heavy to take along.. as my destination is far and the way too long....
It has given me so many scars.. my shoulders cant bear pain of bleeding wounds any more...
I know for me its difficult to part.. but now my life needs a new start....
So here I drop my bag, flowers and my broken dreams... and I wash my wounds with water of the stream
I see the sun shining and hear the birds singing... standing on the brink of a bright new beginning........
I can feel the fresh new breeze coming to me... and I long to set myself free... free...free....
Delayed results, dirty politics in education and the sweltering heat of Kharagpur had taken away the last few bits of my resolution to study for my forthcoming semester examinations. So, on a saturday morning, with books open on my lap, but hardly even noticing it, I was browsing through the threads of PG when I came across this sacred thread. Impressed by the inspiring stories of many fellow puys, I thought I would write mine too. (Sorry for the long post.)
Thanks to the constant nagging of my parents, academics had always been my first priority. I had scored 91% in 10th boards, 95% in 12th boards. My devotion to academics, combined with the tremendous pressure from my surroundings, and a fair bit of luck placed me in the top 250 in IITJEE 2004. I took up Electronics in IIT Kharagpur.
Now that I had my future safe and secure, the pressure revived itself, and came back to me in the form of yet further studies. Of the options were a PhD and an MBA. Frankly speaking, I neither had any interest towards Electronics, nor did I have any reason for MBA other than fat paychecks. Then again, thanks to my parental demands, I had to seriously consider a further study.
I had been a pathetic student in IIT. I had this crazy aversion towards studies. I would bunk classes, study only on nights before exams, and quite expectedly, would end up with only average grades. So, I had to bid adieu to my PhD plan. Left was my job, or CAT.
Again, its very hard to study when you have given up the habit. I had enrolled myself in TIME, but would hardly attend any classes. I did try to attend some classes in the beginning, but the childish profit and loss and time and distance problems turned me off. I noticed that the problems practiced in class had hardly any resemblance to the problems in the actual CAT paper.
Only when the mocks begun did I start taking an active interest in CAT preparation. Active interest included going to the TIME center on Sunday morning and trying half heartedly to solve an AIMCAT paper. My initial mocks were pathetic, securing hardly 80 percentiles. I would fail to clear VA cutoff in one, DI cutoff in another, or both in some cases. To my utter surprise, I failed to clear QA cutoff once! Its really a matter of shame for an IITian.
My efforts improved in the later mocks. Not that I actually studied anything, its just that I solved the paper with some more effort. Still, DI and VA were causing problems. The DI questions were too tough to even touch, and I failed miserably in RCs. I couldn't even attempt the non-RC questions in VA, as all options would seem equally correct. At that point of time, CAT seemed to glide further away from me.
Then, finally, I started studying. I would go through countless newspaper editorials a day, timing my reading speed, and would try to summarize the passage with my own views and inferences. I would stay up late at night trying to learn new words. I would brush up my grammar. I would take the RC booklet and try to solve the questions. I would check the answers and would try to identify exactly where I went wrong. Similarly, in DI, I would solve problems, initially taking more time in the beginning, but improved gradually. I would try solving previous CAT papers.................
Blah blah blah .. STOP !!
I did not do any of these things. I was too lazy for them! My devotion to CAT would still be giving mocks on Sundays, and checking results on Tuesdays, hoping for an improvement.
Finally, in the second last mock, I cracked it all! I solved the RCs first, then DI and lastly quant. Don't know why, but as I walked out of the center, things seemed to have gone well. And they did, I got an AIR 1 in VA, AIR 5 overall! And for the first time, I cleared all the three cutoffs. Don't ask me how, its still grey to me.
So, amidst these ups and downs, it was finally 18th November. I walked in the exam hall with my predetermined strategy - 45 min each for VA, DI and QA, in the same order. As I browsed through the paper, I discovered the RCs were pretty short. But then, as I started solving them, I realized that I could not understand a word of them. More importantly, my concentration was failing. The exam pressure, the disturbances, the invigilators strolling up and down, asking people to sign and stuff - these all distracted me.
Nevertheless, I attempted 22 questions in VA, and left the rest to luck. Then DI, which seemed utterly easy, and I solved 19 questions. Lastly, quant went OK.
Finally, on the results day, I discovered that I obtained 95.34 percentile in VA, 99.3 percentile in quant and 99.97 percentile in DI. My overall percentile was 99.95. I had missed out on the A call by a margin of 0.26 percentile in VA.
Now, here I am, awaiting eagerly for the results, hoping to see something positive. What started as a casual routine stuff for me has now become so important that I spend my days glued to my PC, searching the news sites, forums and IIM portals for the slightest bit of information about the results.
I know that I am not the ideal person to advise any one about CAT. But I would like to state what I felt.
Cracking CAT is not the end of life, neither is failing to do so. Life is a long journey, and CAT is just a step. No one should feel too elated having got a IIM convert, and neither should one feel dejected to have missed out on it. There is always a tomorrow, a second chance.
And please don't follow my footsteps. CAT is a serious thing, and definitely deserves more attention than what I paid to it. Now if I convert a call, thats shear luck. But that should not be the target of any one. Hard work, perseverance and dedication are bound to pay. Luck, on the other hand, is a tricky thing. It could desert you twenty times as easily as it had embraced you.
Cheers, and All The Best to the CAT aspirants.
An update: I have converted my calls from C,L,K and would be joining C. Guess all's well that ends well :)
TO THINK IS EASY.. TO ACT IS DIFFICULT .TO THINK AND ACT IS THE MOST DIFFICULT
I was really skeptic about posting in this revered thread as I feel I am no where to the likes of people who post here. I don't know if my story would be an inspiration for someone. But for me many of the stories here made me what I am today.
Before JAN 2007
As part of my background I hail from a medium class family. I was always good at science and maths which prompted me to take science. Nobody in my family was from science background and I suffered a lot from this as no one was there to guide me. I didn't join any coaching insti for my IIT prep and prepared on my own. I was pretty naive and did all kind of blunders hence I ended up repeating the year. I joined a local coaching institute and to my bad luck they also turned up to be fraud. This I came to know just after my screening results. I was able to clear the screening but no one was there to tell me how to proceed. Wherever I went they discouraged me. On 15th March 2001 I cried and gave up all hope for IITs and started preparing for other entrance exams. That was first year of AIEEE. I took all exams and did fairly well also the state exam through which we get into NITs I got a very decent rank in that and was pretty sure to get into any one of the NITs . Apart from that I was offered civil at DCE. I left the civil seat as I was keen to do electronics engg. To my bad luck that year they scrapped of state exam for NITs and took admits through AIEEE. AIEEE was the first to give results and hence I submitted the fees in a deemed university I got admit. After further up gradation they were not ready to return my money also I was not much aware about how second counseling used to happen for other entrance exams. Hence I ended up giving up seats of great colleges like BIT Mesra, IIIT Hyderabad etc. and ended up with a not much known college.
However after this phase I put all my energy into my studies and was topper of the university. All the time I used to think may be sometime in life I will get what I deserve. Placements started and I ended up with a great US based company which many people desired of and I being one of lucky few getting in core Electronics Company.
During my college days I always saw people more keen towards GRE but I had something else in mind. There were few guys who used to prepare for CAT. They had made a group and used to discuss and do GDs I came to know about CAT through them. It really fired me from inside as I found out more and more about CAT.
However I couldn't take CAT that year due to family pressure. MY brother had died last year and I was in total shock. I decided to take CAT after I join the firm.
Year passed I bought all materials needed for prep. My job started and I came to Chennai. The life changed totally after that. The time I joined it was end of July 2006. I was to appear for cat 2006. I couldn't join any mocks because of my training schedule. It was pretty intensive also I was directly involved in customer projects due to sudden requirements. I was occupied with three things at one time training, project and flat hunting. In august. due to some reason in chennai people don't give house on rent. Faced lot of problem and couldn't find any flat for a month I had to share room in a lodge with three other guys. It was 1.30 hrs away from my job place. I couldn't find any time to study. This went on and the D-day came. Same time I lost a very special person. I went under depression and as expected results came I scored 75%ile. I lost all faith in me.
Jan2007-Nov 2007
I finally decided to join CL. But I was not able to conc. much due to work pressure and the mental agony I was going through. I just used to attend class .never interacted with anyone. It was at that time I read prem_ravi post. It was that day I cried and promised I won't let myself down. I deserve something and won't let myself down I need all the things I lost to be back. Many times my 75%ile used to haunt me also my past used to let me down. I used to come and read this thread to take inspiration. My wok was still very hectic. It used to start at 8 in the morning and go on till 10-11 at night. By 12:00 AM I used to start my studies and till 3:00 am used to go on. It was getting tough for me as I was not able to study early morning and at night I used to feel sleepy. However I used to fight back by trying all sort of techniques which used to be like using amrutanjan on forehead and tying wet towel. My health started falling down but I never lost the hope. Mock started and I attended time open mock and CL mock same day. I got around 50%ile in Time and 82%ile in CL I was shocked to core. I felt all my hard work has gone down the drain. Only good thing was VA was still my strength and I cleared VA cutoff of CL mock. I read here that we should not be down by seeing mock scores. I carried on with my work. And every time I was getting better. I used to take two mocks and analyze them properly. I learnt a lot by analyzing and how to move forward. However still I was not able to clear all sections. This was continuously nagging me. Finally I decided to take leave from job. I made a false medical certificate and went home for prep two months before actual day. While surfing PG I got this Rocky balboa quote which kept me going all the time
The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't how hard you hit; it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep moving forward. How much you can take, and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. Now, if you know what you're worth, then go out and get what you're worth. But you gotta be willing to take the hit, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you are because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that and that ain't you. You're better than that
I used to do daily one test and used to take one section. My mock scores shot up. And I got my confidence back. My mocks were varying from 95-99%ile. But suddenly before last mock I scored 70%ile. This was a show down I started having second thoughts what if same will happen on the D-day. That was first time I came on SB and that day grondmaster and Harsharocks were online. They helped me out through that. HR gave me the links of previous year IIM call getters mock scores. It really boosted my spirits and I felt a new energy inside me. With all my energy I revised everything last mock I got 98%ile all sections cleared
I was filled with joy but somehow was getting restless each day. The night before D-day couldn't sleep. I guess it was an emotional affair. Paper came. It was on last year pattern. I started with my strength VA which as never let me down (always scoring around 95-99 %ile in that). This time per RC questions were less. One hour went I managed to do only 17 questions which were very less as per my performance. I was really disheartened took up DI and started solving. Easiest of all I couldn't get in terms with paper. Half an hr was left and full quants was left. I felt I have lost it just managed to do 8 questions. Came out no feelings.. nothing. Was just lost.
Dec 2007- Present
After this I came back to Chennai and met utsavmamoria through SB. And then the Chennai meet started that was my first outing in the year. I met many wonderful puys. The kind of enrgy and zest I felt it was never like that before. I used to personally loathe the place. But after meeting these people I found a new reason to stay there.Also to mention rajat (rmbt) one of the finest and balanced person I have ever met here. I got to learn a lot from him specially how to be cool. And crack GDs
Results came 96.65%ile with 95.34 in va, di-93.89 qa-88.72%ile .IIMs dreams was lost However after a long time I got one single IIM call IIM Shillong. Today was its interview and I felt this is the time I should write my story. I have converted few other colleges and would be taking one of them. I owe all my GD/PI preparation to utsavmamoria and his GTalk sessions.
What I learnt
CAT: U gotta be cold .One should kill all his feelings towards it while attending it
DOnt burn urself out. I believe in the end i faltered coz of working more than needed and in the end i felt saturated. It should be a balanced act
CAT is not the end. CAT is the means of achieving an end. We often miss bigger picture
While preparing for GD/PI I learned and realized it's very important to know yourself. We should not be egoist one should fully acknowledge his strength and weaknesses
Analyzing the mocks is the most important thing to do
x-x-x-x-x-x
While concluding, I would like to share a mail I got when I used to have self doubts. Hope it will help someone as it helped me. It was from utsav only
Hi
This is all i want to say
I believe that what you are going through we all go through at some point in life, albeit at some different levels.
It all boils down to the debate of Ends v/s means .The end can always justify the means. But each and everything you do may not be focused towards achieving the means.
Achieving the End is like the Tour de France. You may not win every stage, you may not always wear the yellow jersey, but in the end the one who endures and comes out on top collectively is the Winner.
Hi all, My story of CAT begins in Jun-July 2006, during my 7th Semesters....Me and my friend Bala(the.bombardier on PG) both enrolled for IMS. Till the time SimCats began I was not so serious about CAT and thought it was an aptitude exam with Class Xth level problems, how tough it can be. Then came the first SimCat, bala topped the centre. That was like a revelation to me, if CAT is easy for me it is easy for everybody, so the difference is just about who does the questions faster with more accuracy. and that was what schooling does not teach you. That is what you learn by practice and thats what Bala has been doing all along. I went into it, trying to make up for the lost time. I gave up attending classes(they were all free attendance), just studying one night b4 the exams and all that. I just tore into the BRMs, the Part Bs and the Part Cs. 2nd SimCat, bala again tops the batch, but this time I am second and not much difference. Now it was his time to buckle up and off we went, preparing as if there's noone else in this world ,if one beats the other he is guaranteed a seat in the IIMs and so on. We were constantly 1st or 2nd(I was 1st for 3 times in 8 SimCats and bala for the rest). We would work hard the whole day and then party in the night along with other friends. Nov 19th: D-day, CAT felt good, easy paper. QA was easy so forgot about the time and went on doing it for 70 mins...Attempted English for 25 mins and DI for the rest. I was feeling pretty good about myself, Bala said he had f***ed up english, but was hoping he could make the cutoff. The day of the results, we were at our homes(semester was over) I was not able to access any of the IIM sites, called up bala...he had scored 99.2%ile with 82 in eng, so he wasn't getting any IIM calls. I asked him to check out mine. 10 mins later, he called back. I had scored 100% in Maths, 95 in eng and a dismal 78 in DI with 98.7% overall. I couldnt believe it. There had to be a mistake, I asked him to check again. He said he'll mail me the screen shot. I saw it with my own eyes. It was a dismal performance. I didn't even get a call from MDI. and that was it. My stint with CAT 2006 was over. Bala went on to join MDI while I weighed in my options, decided to have a go at CAT 2007, and took up a job with Infosys.
CAT 2007 I started again July, this time took up a correspondence with IMS. I was in Mysore at that time undergoing my training. The first thing I did was take my previous year's paper and noticed my mistakes. They were stupid calculation errors in DI, and that too 5 of them. I felt like banging my head on the wall. Now what was done was done, I had to look ahead. I startted again. I would study for CAT only in the weekends and this time it was no more concept building, it was only accuracy and speed. I wasn't able to give any SimCats this year because of the hectic schedule. I just prepared myself, ignored all advice. Just went in knowing my goal and my way of achieving it. This was my goal and I knew better than anyone else how to achieve it, with the experience of the previous year under my belt. I got posted to Chandigarh 3 days before CAT and thus could go on a leave. I came Home and just looked at my mistakes. All I was thinking of was that I will not make any more calculation errors this time. It had to be perfect. I went and wrote CAT. Came back home, threw the question paper in my almirah, had lunch and came to Chandigarh. That was it. I was not going to brood over what I did or how did it go. Replied monotonously to all questions of how it went with 'good' and all questions of 'How much are you expecting' with 'don't know, I am not checking because I am superstitious'. Finally the day of the result. I had scored a whopping 99.90%ile with 5 calls.
If I were to thank any person on this earth for this result, it would have to be Bala. The healthy competition that he provided me the previous year had proven to be a boon. That competition had helped me make strong concepts and helped me enjoy every moment of my preparation. So every time I prepared it was like having fun.
Thats my CAT story folks, Hope you could find a cue for yourself.
It all started with Yamaha R1 Being not very original, I will stick to the "this is my life story" format. I guess my first 15 years of life wont be of relevance here...you wont be interested in my childhood crushes or breaking the window panes in my school Lets wrap up the boring acads portion first On class 10th I scored slightly above average and got into a particular college (pre degree in Kerala-read 11th-12th) which most of my friends were joining. Surprisingly, inspite of my efforts in studies going down, my marks esp. in science subjects shot up without explanation. The only option that made sense to me was engineering because of easier job prospects. Hence gave JEE 2001. The screening test was a total fiasco when I fell asleep and the concerned invigilator thought that I had fainted. Naturally IITs didnt want me to get anywhere near them. State entrance was the next and this was the only time when I really studied hard (which for me was putting six hours a day). The resulting results (!) gave me a seat in mechanical engineering at NIT Calicut, which also happened to be near my home. Four years went past in a hurry.. Armed with the knowledge that placement companies keep a cutoff of around 65%, I spared no effort in ensuring that my semester marks never exceeded 70% I could convince a automobile company to take me and July 2005 saw yet another engineering student turn to an engineer. After doing some introspection and discovering that the financial incentives were not worth the efforts in getting anything more than average grade (B in our case), I decided to be an average employee (this was rewarded with three back-to-back Bs ) Discovered orkut and pagalguy, managed to get a job with computer access and three years again went in a jiffy. But I digress CAT was all thanks (?) to some friends One of my roommates in Pune got an admission in Penn State for MS in 2006.This inspired me to give GRE in Feb 2006. A not so bad score (600+800) made me decide to apply to some universities for Fall 2007 A few months before applications started in 2007,I discovered the glamour of MBA abroad thanks to another friend who had given his GMAT. Took his GMAT book (Kaplan I think) immediately after his exams and read mainly RC. Two weeks (and four hours of numbing cold in the exam center in Mumbai) later I had a decent 720 GMAT score. I was all set to apply for 2008 admission season. That was when yet another friend got a call from IIM C. This inspired me to, no awards for guessing, write CAT 2007. Joined CL because at 1000 INR, it was the cheapest option, Was able to cross 95% once in the 5-6 mocks that I gave. (The DI and QA was super tough for me. CAT 07 quant questions were more like a joke compared to the fiendish problems of CL) November 18th came. My only concern at the end of the exam was the long line in the mens loo The results surprised me with a 99.64% and LIK calls. Interview preparations consisted of buying Hindu. After a few days discovered that the paper that I get was one day old and chucked it. L interview was horrible, After three years of cerebral rot, had forgotten the skills which made me convert my last interview at college K interview was good thanks to the interest of the panel in Tata-Nano project, which I was "working" on I interview was decent considering I was under a hangover with 30 mins of sleep and half a bottle cheap whisky the previous night. To be updated after results announcement Thats about it.. If you had read the stuff above, you might judge me as lazy, aimless etc. Guess what, You wont be that far off from the mark! I have read through some really inspiring posts from people who had overcome many adversities and the worst of them all self doubt Hats off to you guys! A good percentage of people here will be quite focused and WANT an MBA from XYZ college, and I am sure it is just a matter of time before they attain the goal For the lazy guys and procrastinators like me out there (and only for them)... relax guys. Ultimately its just a degree and a bunch of colleges If you want it badly, decide on the strategy that YOU think will get it there, suggestions from others will help, but ultimately you are the best person to decide the tactics for you Think hard on why you WANT an MBA. Very few people out there will NEED an MBA And life will go on. Whether or not you will get an MBA.. This may not be the best of "All I wanted to speak about CAT" but hey, this is my take :-) Oops..forgot about the yamaha One of my rare dreams in life is to get this bike. Which require a spare million rupees in cash Which require a high paying job.. Need I say more? :D
hello puys, i posted some time back about how i am here in for MBA due to that one girl who has been fighting CAT since the past 3 years. Well today i am proud to write that i have converted or am waitlisted in every single institute that i appeared for in GD/PI.
I had been waiting for my SP Jain result, and with the 1st list out today I am at wl-12 in finance, and being a fresher i am quite happy to have got through amidst the more experienced people. I am joining IIFT however.
This performance has taught me one thing. Perseverance. Hold ON. SRk's recent dialogue comes to mind buddies. Picture abhi khatam nahin hui hai, picture to abhi baaki hai. Well dear puys, i dont know how tough the journey in this MBA is going to be, and how i will get through, but i will fare well in the end, that i am sure of.
For all those people, who have ever been to this thread and have regained the strength to give CAT or other exams, buddies, dont go for belling the cat, run the CAT down. And hold on. The days you would have spent preparing wont go waste. Study hard, study with a plan, and study constructively.
You will see through CAT and any other exams that you ever give. Give the exams, and give it hell before you leave that exam hall. best of luck puys, all the time, all the while.
I was one of the 2.3 Lakh aspirants who aspired for CAT this year. I started my "so called" preparation way back in January 2007. I remember the ironic date 23rd January, 2007 when i landed up at IMS,Barakhambha Road & enrolled for the Catapult Course. They said that why not join the APEX batch as your basics are clear enough. I said "Are u going to give me any concession in fees". My first Mgmt lesson.
The classes began with a big boom. My batch was like a mixture of all the indegredients. There were people from IIT's, from DCE's, english gurus from St. Stephens & it also contained me : an avg. Jack. Our faculty was pretty decent. The Maths teacher was too great with his humour & The English faculty had a demanding accent. Well she was a goddess for me as i was a sucker at vocabulary.
The first gyaan i got in class was in Maths remember squares of numbers till 100 & in English remember 1000+words of vocab. The first task was easy enough while the second was next to impossible for me. I was dreaded with oxymorons & stuff like that which became a nightmare for me. As for my vocab it was still :P
With my CAT bandwagon going steadily it was time for summer break for a month due to Semester Exams & etc reasons. I was happy that i was free. When i returned my whole batch had dispersed. Some had shifted to Mumbai, sme joined other batches & i was like a loner.
So, i joined a batch which had a couple of friends from my class of B.Tech. Now the party had begun. The month early July. Every Saturday & Sunday proved to be party days for us. After the pathetic class on Geometry & lessons on Game Theory & all crap on The Alchemist & The Fountainhead i found some respite in the Coffee we had. Sometimes we headed out for a dinner after classes & we were really enjoyin life.
Suddenly, one day it was declared that the course is over. you will now be having your Mock CATS(SIMCATS). I was struck by grief. My moments of pleasure had disappeared. I was awe struck that what have i learnt during these last 5 months or so. But as they say "Once Bad, always Bad". So i thought let the tests come.
They began & i scored. I thought first time lucky. Got 97%ile in First Mock. The next mock a bit low. slowly & steadily the D-Day was approachin. It was 18th nov, 2007. The venue had been decided at Hari Nagar, New Delhi. But rite now mocks were my priority. Though i was scoring in bulk in DI/LR, avg. in QA(Maths) but i was outrite poor in VA. I never managed to score above 70%ile in VA in my entire mock span of 16 Mocks. & my lowest was 40%ile.
The date 11th Nov, 2007. Last Mock , Lst Week bfore CAT. I said Bring it on. I was bambbozled by the paper. It was a shocker. I got just 88%ile. My trust in me was on thin ice. But i never stopped. Enjoyed a few movies that week. One of them "CINDRELLA MAN". I suggest everyone to watch the movie to regain confidence if u think u hv lost it.
THE D-Day. It was a grand day. Since morning i had received tens of messages of Best of Luck wishes. After responding to them & hearing some advice from my parents, i left home for the battleground. On reaching there, my legs were shaking. I was having goosebumps. But on witnessing the other warriors there my fears of defeat disappeared. I just memorised the good ol' days of my life & entered the arena. The test began. The seals broken. Now it was time for my pencil to do the talking. I started with my strength LR/DI. I realised that something was wrong wid me. 45 mins gone & i have just marked 2 questions. I lost my nerve. I closed my eyes for a min & took some deep breaths. Took the Quant portion & one by one the questions were getting solved. Solved 13 questions in 40 mins. Now took to the most dreaded part of VA. I was actually finding VA easy today. Solved 16 questions in 40 mins. I still had another 25 mins with me. Now i started with the back portion of DI. Man! they were like a piece of cake. I was flying through the questions & managed to solve about 11 of them in those precious 25 mins. But i knew the effort wasn't enough. I had fallen short. I reached home & told my dad that Maths was easy, english doable & LR tough cookie. My dad pressed on the power button of the TV & news flashed in the QA was difficult, Eng above avg & LR damn easy. I was in tears & i knew that battleground was lost. But still, i felt that i might make it. By evening the solutions were pouring in. Thru various institutes my scores were like this: QA: 37 DI: 27-32 VA: 19-34 OA: 83-103 The cut-offs were being projected as 100+ for a single call but i had lost out in DI bcoz the cut-offs were way over 40.
I had to forget it quickly as the next paper was line that was IIFT. I gave the paper & i knew of my fate instantly that i won't b clearin it. The results too confirmed this in the next 15 days itself.
On 8th Dec, 2007 was the date scheduled for JMET. I took to it keenly but the paper was too much for my might & i ended up getting a rank of 3246. Didn't apply to any IIT as it was futile.
The next week was SYMBIOSIS which i don't know why i had filled up. The paper was awesome & i thrashed it. The score which came about was 82.5. I filled up SCMHRD but damn didn't get a call. I was loosing heart.
On 30th Dec, 2007 the last paper of the year was NMAT(Narsee Monjee, Mumbai). Another soft chewy paper & i expected something from it. I got 87 marks & a rank of 1616. I was called for GD/PI but yesterday after the final results i wasnt able to convert it too.
Now came XAT. The toughest paper. It was a disaster for me. With Verbal screwing me again & i getting a meagre 92.97%ile.
After just 2 days was the D-Day for CAT's result. I reached home by 3 & sat on the computer. But it was too cumbersome as the servers had crashed. Then, i received a msg from a buddy who asked me to get my score via SMS. did it & got this: QA: 97.50%ile Score: 37 DI: 82.22%ile Score: 32 VA: 99.61%ile Score: 44 OA: 98.98%ile Score : 113
I was overjoyed but the thing is i knew that i had lost out on the most prestigious clg i.e. IIMs. Till evening i was trying to witness my result on the net but to no avail. Then, suddenly i got the way thru. The website opened at a snail's pace. I was cursing my service provider that whether he had provided me a Broadband or a Dial-Up cxn. I entered the details & pressed Submit. The next page had an enchanting moment. It stated that i had got a call from IIM-Indore. Though i missed out on the other 5 IIMs but i was overjoyed with this solitary call.
My Stints with CAT Can't remember exactly, since when I nurture a yearning to pursue management! My first sincere attempt in this direction was when I was in Third Year of my engineering studies, I wrote the First Free SimCAT conducted by IMS. Laga ki Sunday morning ka isse acchha kya utilisation hoga(Of course apart from sleeping!) Aisi watt lagi ki kya bataoon! Got the signal that lot of preparation is needed to make it to a good B-School. Asked Sapru(Siddhartha Sapru - a niece friend fondly called Bhalu ) to get me the cheap Xerox material from Chandni Chowk and it was really nice of him to agree. And thus began my journey towards CAT. I used to take the material and study as per my convinience. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience! Then in March, 2005 just went to PT Education to take a Scholarship Test (just apne aap ko test karne ke liye,... ki 6 mahine mein kuch seekha hai ya ....) Eventually, ended up joining PT Education with a topper's scholarship and headed on toawards 20 November, 2005 the D-Day. Sach kahoon to usse pehle kabhi nahin socha tha ki CAT'05 results ke aage bhi duniya hogi, with the results of Mock Tests I was assured ki I will make it to a premier B-school. But, then "Expect the unexpected" as they say of CAT... and I fell for the trap of Pattern surprise and ended up with a deplorable 95.15%ile in CAT'05 with no calls. Finally, got a call from SP Jain Mumbai for Marketing.. tried for it but couldn't make it. Hence, ab majboori hai .... job hi join karna padega... CAT'2006 was not a very sincere attempt, but yes I had tried and had expectations out of it. I remember what Vinay Sir told me over phone that evening before D-Day, "Dhruv, koi pre-determined notions pe mat jaana. Cut offs ki fikar kiye bina, paper ko uske merit par lena aur ..." Bas ek yehi nahin kar paaya , and CAT'2006 remains a harsh memory. Now, I knew ki aise toh nahin chalega! I had to take things seriously... I wanted to perform like Mehul Agarwal( a Commerce graduate from St. Xavier's College, Kolkata now at IIM, Calcutta and a PHODU of highest level.) Toh, I started working part time as a trainer for Quants and DI for CL, Chennai. A month later, got a call from TIME, Chennai for the same and then, I started teaching at both CL and TIME simultaneously. I did so for 7 months and how... Khali main hi jaanta hoon!... I am sure this would be really rare for someone to be employed with an IT company(Accenture) and at the same time work for two coaching institutes.... Those dreary Sunday noons and 3 consecutive classes at TIME, Adyar.... But, there was a lot to learn. And I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it... To break ice with the students in class.. Some were elder to me and were not very comfortable with me being a faculty.. As, I was gearing up for the final round of my CAT'07 preps, got an offer from PwC, Kolkata to join them as a Consultant. Tried to negotiate my joining after CAT, but couldn't make it.. So, I just joined... Jo Hoga Dekha Jaayega! Aise bhi CAT is all about those 2 - 2.5 hrs...
And here comes 18 November, 2007 .... Kabhi nahin socha tha... Kabhi nahin chaha tha... But, Life always reserves the best for you... Now, 15 mins into the CAT 2007 paper and the invigilator came to get the attendance signature and found that my Question paper no. and the paper form no. didn't match the ones in seating plan... Confused.. she tried to see the question papers of neighbouring students and concluded that the question papers were mistakenly swapped by her between me and the person sitting behibd me.. She asked, "How much have you attempted?" Both of us said, "Quiet a few questions, Mam!" She said, "You write! I will enquire from IIM contact person.." 10 minutes later... she came and asked me and the other guy to swap our seats and proceed with the paper... 20 mins into the paper and such a nuisance,.. really irritated and annoyed me like anything... tried hard to concentrate, but could do only 15 mins later... The results came... 97.7%ile overall with 92+%ile in all sections ... No IIM Calls.... I have converted my lone call from IIFT.. wanted to retry for IIMs and ISB, but, really not willing to anymore... Will try to make the best for me at IIFT... Tab tak ke liye........
Ek Zindagi hai... Bas Ek Baar Jeeni Hai .... Toh, .......................................................... .......................................
This word ventured into my life long two years back.
May-2006
I was in Mumbai working in IT sector in big MNC.I joined TIME in Pune coz every weekend I was use to go to Pune.VA, DI and QA were three new friends in my life at that time.Prepared my level best.Then started with ever desired MOCK test series.I never scored gr8 but was in early 90`s range. To prepare more efficiently, I took transfer to Mumbai centre coz travelling every weekend started taking toll on me.Prepared night days for dream of b-skool.
Nov-2006
I took CAT scored 90 percentile.I cleared IIFT and JMET. I was waitlisted for IIFT-Kolkata and I kept on praying for that convert but it never happened.May be destiny wanted me to give another shot at CAT.:frown:
May-2007
I joined Time + CL test series in Mumbai.This time I scored quite good in both test series.
Sep-2007
I took transfer of my job to my hometown DELHI.Prepared diligently.
Nov-2007
Scored 97.1 in CAT.VA did me, but now I have no qualms for it.I prepared rigrously for GD/PI.
APR-2008
Now finally I am heading to IMT-G(Fin) for next two years of my life.I am very happy to get into dis coveted b-skool, which will be alma matr.
So race is finally over for me.If I see 2 years back from today, I am very happy where I stand now.
Things which I have learned during my prep has made me realized that failures can be as good teacher as is success.
Keep working hard, leave rest on destiny.
Karmadiye waadhikar ste, maa phalechoo kadatin.- said by Sri Krishna
PG Rocks and I would give most of my credit to ardent pagals of PG, who were always ready to help for any doubts during my prep.
I failed,,,, I failed again.... CAT 06-97.94 ...07 -95.50,,,, after the results,,,, i was sitting all alone on the roadside smoking ....and thinking....." maybe i'll never achieve my dream , maybe this is the end to it " .
Then suddenly I saw an old man across the street trying to cross the road. The road was heavy with traffic, every time he tried...he failed. It went on for almost half an hour....I still dont know why I didnt go to help him,,,,maybe I just wanted to see something.....At last,,,he crossed the road ,,though putting his life in danger..... I was happy ,,,,,happy to see that he succeeded..happy to see his will to achieve what he wanted....
I was never a very ambitious guy....always craved for small things of happiness.....I did my engg from NIT Bhopal,,,enjoyed every second of it,,,,,studying came naturally to me,,,,,and never lost a moment to enjoy ,to the max ,with my frnds..... MBA didnt come to me as an option wherein I could gain lucrative salaries or posts.....I knew I will be good in it.....
I have always believed that one should do what one can do....
But why it happens that when one wants something so badly....he has to suffer to get it,, I have lost many a things in the path ......lost many frnds,,,lost many moments,,,,,but I dont regret,,,,because I know ,,,, they are with me, and will always be.....
Every night I stare at the star studded sky and in each star I see someone near and dear,,,,saying to me....." You can do it....... You have to rise....You cannot compromise.....it will hit you, make you pain, make you cry.. but still you have to win for us"
Even if it takes years to get to my destination,,,i'll wait,,, I'll rise.....I'll have to prove me to myself ....
When things seemed dark and hard and difficult to face, The memory of some moments - helps me in my race. For all of life is like that race, with ups and down and all, And all you have to do to win - is rise each time you fall. "Quit!" "GIVE UP, YOU'RE BEATEN." They still shout in my face. But another voice within me says, "GET UP AND WIN THERACE!"
I thought of sharing my CAT preparation experience.
Well it all started by following the crowd. I never planned to do any higher studies, but having seen my friends preparing for CAT, I also developed an interest to solve problems. I used to like only maths and each problem was like a new challenge and I used to fight hard to solve them. Came 2005, and I enrolled for the mock CATs with IMS. I never worried about DI and Verbal. I used to spend 1 hour for quant and 1 hour for the other two sections and always felt I was good in CAT. Little did I realize how to approach a Cat paper. And in some of the mocks, I used to spend 15mins for a quant problem, thinking that how can I not get the solution. My preparation never deviated out of quant, and ofcourse the results anyone can say, I screwed up big time in CAT2005 with an overall percentile of 89. I was more sad for the fact that I made only 93 percentile in Quant.
I slowly started to feel that I should prove to myself that I am really good. I used to study well till my 12th, then never took any interest in studies and life was a smooth sail from then, no major achievements and more important, no failures. And suddenly CAT seemed to be a failure for me. I wanted to clear CAT and I was determined to do it in 2006. I started my preparation from April 2006 and spend almost 12-14 hrs a week. And this time I enrolled for TIME and IMS mock cats, and Sundays I used to enjoy writing two tests and this time I focussed on the other sections also. I realized that I was good in DI and used to consistently make high percentiles in DI, and quant was not bad. But I always screwed up verbal. I dont know how to clear verbal cutoffs. I tried everything, attempting all questions, doing all rcs, not touching rcs, everything I tried, nothing worked out. And I never cleared verbal cutoff till the last but one mock cat. I was sure that I was doing well in the other sections, but was really down because of my verbal scores. In the last mockcat, everything was favourable for me, I cleared all the cutoffs and got a good AIR. I felt ok, now I can clear CAT. The paper , with all formats changed, seemed to help me a lot. I thought I cracked quant and di, and was doubtful in verbal, as the paper was ambiguous. The results shocked me, I made only 95 percentile overall. I saw that my scores were ok , In verbal I made 38, that should be great score. Twist in the story, I made 38 percentile in Verbal, not 38 marks. 98 in quant and 97 in DI was of no use now. I was shattered, I had hopes, even though I was not sure of the verbal solutions, I thought I will get calls , but gone 2006.
I decided that 2007 would be my last attempt.I have almost 4 years of work exp and next year, I dont want to try and fight with the kids. Saying that one last time, I started the preparation. Nothing great this time. I used to write the time mock cats on Sundays and check the solution for 2 hours and thats it. My percentiles started with the mid 90s, then 80s and finally dropped to 70s. Ok, I have decided last time CAT, so started taking up some more mocks from Career forum and IMS at home, seemed to do those well. As usual, I never cleared the Verbal cutoffs and this time clearing DI was also a problem, I thought, its all over. Wanted some confidence before the D-day and took the last Time Mock Cat, saw the score and was shocked. My percentile was 54, with verbal being the highest at 72. No hopes, just write and come back. But I felt I had a point to prove by clearing CAT, and I went with no fear, determined to crack the test. I adopted my usual strategy of 45min quant, 40mins verbal , 45 mins di , and finally 15mins for quant and di. Like 2006, I felt I cracked quant and di , but not sure of verbal. I checked the solutions posted in different sites and had a verbal score between 31 and 41. Finally checked the results, and my verbal score was 31. Phew, what a relief. I made overall 99.71 , with 99.13 in quant ,98.53 in di and 96.97 in verbal. Yes, I got calls from all the 6 IIMs.
Hey puys, just thought i'd share with you the experiences of one of the unluckiest guy on that BIG DAY....18th Nov...08 Its been almost 4 years in Kolkata. I came here in July 2004 for my Graduation which I completed under amazing circumstances (that's another story altogether) last year ..abt 7 months ago.maybe 8. Had a Post Graduate Degree in Philosophy all lined up infront of me, but I went in search of greener pastures (read an MBA degree). Big Bucks, City Life and all that. So I gave up a career as a Professor of Philosophy in my hometown in Kalimpong, no I wasn't offered the jobbut just pipe dreaming my way if I had taken a PG Degree in Philosophyfeels good. Anyway, I got my self enrolled in one of the institutes that imparts packaged training modules for preparation for the MBA Admission Tests. I slogged my way through - doing Math after 5 years (I started from Fractions man), reading 'The Economic Times' (which seemed like French at the beginning), giving up my weekly schedule of playing football in Sunday morning's to guess whether 'Bus A will take 5.7s , 8.7 or 6.6 seconds to reach Kya Kya Island' in the elusive Quant section of the weekly Mock Cats. Scavenging through newspapers for admission notices and test registration details, trying to figure out the 'n'th power of 'whatever' and after countless sharpening of pencils. The Big Day had arrived - CAT Nov. 18th 2007 - the mother of all entrance exams. The night before the Big Day.I was up till 3 A.M. in the morning twisting and turning in my bed since 10 P.M.(About 5 hrs of mental caused by the most ill-timed bout of anxiety attack)..talk about shit happening. Woke up around 8 A.M. and left for the centre which wasn't really that far an hour early..( second big mistake). I reached an HOUR earlier as planned but didn't know what to do outside the gate, felt really nervous especially after a horrible night of sleep. For some inexplicable reason I felt my throat dry up and bought some water and with it the curse of the Urinary God..if there ever was one. 15 mins into my exam I felt the pressure, which had assumed tremendous proportions by the time I was 30 mins into my exam. By the time I got excused after 1 hr of the exam had finished, I could almost feel piss running through my entire body instead of blood. The feeling that I had at the rest room (which was most 'conveniently' placed a FLOOR below my examination hall) was as close to an oxymoron that I'll ever experience. With my mind thinking that I've my exam to the lower part of my body experiencing what they say is 'the best feeling in the world'.I was nervously relieved (don't care if the oxymoron doesn't stand). I felt the pain in my heart every time I friken pissed for almost a month after the CATastrophe. TO BE CONTINUED...
Bear with me because you might not find this post really relevant. So I was this guy next door who managed to do well in school, had IIT dreams in my eyes since I was like 15. Hardwork in 11th, indolence in 12th and an average JEE later, I couldn't get what I wanted in any IIT, so I joined NIT Surathkal in '04 (and how I enjoyed). Coz of family background, MS in USA was my ultimate goal. I think I had it in my DNA or something. I'm 11 yrs old and a neighbour is asking what I want study. MS in the US of A was my answer always. After studying for about 3 months, i gave GRE (1500/1600) in Jul '07 and a month later also got a hardware job in Bangalore in a good company. I was so happy, I decided to work for a year, 2 at max and then go for MS. I didnt even apply to any university this year. I don't even remember why i chose to write CAT, because MBA was never my intention. I had a friend in college who had taken TIME classes but never wrote even a single mock test. So I replaced his photo on the id with mine and went for about 3 mock tests just to find out how it is. Those AIMCATs really finished all hope in me, in the sense I was above 97 %ile all times but never managed to clear cutoff in all 3 sections together. Bangalore was my centre and I reached on Nov 17th. Us friends hit a couple of pubs, slept well and got up fresh for the exam, no tensions at all. I found the test to be enjoyable, all I remember is that DI was easy, GRE helped in my verbal a lot (gave patience) and that i was never stuck anywhere except a few Qs in verbal. I hadn't marked any answers on the paper, so I couldn't find out roughly how much i would score, and honestly, I didn't care at that time. Results came out jan 9th (i was home then), but i had forgotten my admit card in my hostel room. Next day a friend of mine broke my lock and after checking the results (all this without my knowledge), asked me to get at least 5k back to college for treat. After much pleading I found out my reg no. and was really really dumbstruck when i checked the score. Since then my life has been totally MBA centric. You might call me an opportunist, but that works for me. QA-96.01%ile, DI-99.84%ile, VA-99.93%ile
Hello Puys!!... I really dopnt know why I am writing this.. Been thru with all the posts... all the words which are reflecting the zeal and hardwork to bell the Cat. I am always an average guy. Scored always between 50% to 60%. Never thought that i want to do or want to be something. I am happy in what ever ways, life is turning up and down. Somehow cleared class 12th. I somehow tried to get admission in a private engg college in noida. Due to some personal reasons, not able to join it. Then I somehow managed to get a job in a BPO in noida. Life is all going smooth. When we use our brain then we think.. but what abt a guy who is just living a mechanical life. Salary in that BPO was good and i am spening it. Drives.. dates... drinks and discs.. these are the four most imp D's in my life. As stated in the post of Sumit Bhai... a girl can make a life and break also. A girl came and start taking care of my.. why.. i even don't know. She shattered all my four D's and making a hell out of me and keep on saying.. "Do something".......... Then I still remember the ironic date 18th feb when I resigned my job and start thinking for MBA. ......... I know I am still a slow starter... a guy who hardly study... how can that guy suddenly transform into a brilliant guy and study 16 hours a day.... This site rocks.... I met with sumit bhai.. he supported me a lot... he inspired me and said that you have to try.. what ever happened.. don't think abt it.... Few days back, I have joined TIME.... the one in CP. I am trying to make the basics strong.. the grammer and the vocab.... I am confident abt the DI but quant... hmmm.. in the middle... let's c./.. what is in my destinty but i understand one thing............. give your 100%.. coz there is nothing like 110%.......:-:-:-|:-|:-:-........... All the best for allwho are waiting for CAT'08.................. Good luck...
Usually people who have successfully cracked CAT post on this thread. Mine is not a CAT success story but still wanted to post on a thread that gave me immense inspiration whenever I needed it. Title of this thread is 'all I wanted to speak about CAT'so thought this thread is not necessarily only for success stories
I will start with a brief background becauseI don't know about others but it(background) always play the partthe social environmentfinancial needsfamily needs etc etc really matters for mein a way they r always in back of my mindI love my family (my mom and my sis) and for me they always come first and then rest of things.My background nd my environment is always wid me infact dey wer wid me wen I was preparing for CATResponsibilities on my shoulders r lil more .:satisfie:
Brief Background: When I was 6 yrs old God needed my father more than my family so he took him away from us via a car accident. Since then life took a different turn, after this only I realized who are your true relatives and friendsI realized the power of money. We came to Calcutta to stay @ my maternal grandparent's house. Since then my mom has only one dream and that is to build our own homehome which we can call ourshome which is our dream. her dream slowly became my dream and still its an unfulfilled dream. I have fought life very hardStudied hardalways topped my class during my B.Tech course my priority was to get a decent JobTill my third year (beginning) only thought in my mind was getting a job and try build my dream home and take some responsibilities off my mom's shoulder @ the end of the 3rd year I found that most of my friends were preparing for CAT. I too started preparing for the CAT.so that I can have a better futureaccelerated growth and of course the money which I really need
CAT 2005: Preparation:
Joined Erudite in Nov 2004. Campus interviews started in Feb 2005and had to struggle a bit for the job that I wanted badly Finally got the best jobgot placed in a MNC as an SAP consultantin Aug 2005between Feb and Augit was a tough timewas in two minds whether to try for jobs, study technical, more technical projectsetc etc or try with full force for CATbut as I mentioned because of my need and dream I chose to work hard to get a jobbecause of this my CAT prep went for a tossI started preparing again in Aug 2005by then it was too lateI joined AIMCATSdidn't do well herepercentiles ranging from 30-90. but still I thought if I can keep my cool I still have a chance.
C-DAY: Didn't do well here. Started with English then went to QA and the DI.was getting a decent score.then a thought struck me that my attempts wouldn't be enough and went for lot of tukkas (that too in 2 markers..) and with that gone were my chances of getting calls even from NITIE and MDI (which I mite hav got widout flukes)final result came and I knew I did a disaster OA: 85.XXmaximum in English (87.XX). was expecting it.
Only other Xam form I filled was NMAT..got a call from there but I knew I deserved better place than NM..so chucked my NM call.I wanted to give another try.a try where I am fully preparedI don't have to go for flukesa whole hearted try
A lesson was learned there is no place for flukes in CAT..
CAT 2006:
Started my job in Junewanted to be best in the companiactually succeeded in doing that topped the xams for frehsersgot the best project of the company.won my managers confidencebecame key member of award winning projectI did all these as I needed promotion and lil more money got promoted in 1 yearbut in my effort to be best in my company my CAT preparations took back seatI knew that I will not fare well but still gave CAT because this year it was the first time that CAT was of 2.5 hrswanted to take a feel so that it would help me in 2007I still rue this fact that y the hell I didn't prep in 2006.now I don't want to speak much about it!!!! My good work @office in 2006 was rewarded in 2007...i was offered onsite twice but 2 months br CAT 2007....
CAT 2007:
Ahh. big yeardecided to give more than 100% this timeI knew that I cant put 1 more year so this was my last attemptI really worked hard.after office ( use to reach home @ 9 pm)I use to sit @ 10 and study till..12.den use to get up 5.30 in the morning and studied till 7.30this was my weekday scheduleon weekends I used to slog even harder...first AIMCAT...then analysis and then study for about two hour..in the meantime I ignored everything that came between me and CATgained 12 kgs in 9 months.. ( I was a regular gym going person)the thing which gave me the utmost peace of mind that is talking to my mom.went for a tossdidn't even have timeI cud see that on her face.she always wanted to talk to meI started getting irritated very easilycoz every time in my mind I was doing some CAT problem or the other and when if any one disturbed me @ tat time..invited my furyeven on dinning table.once my mom told me aajkal tere ko itna gussa kyon aata hai Preparation: Figured out my weaknessnd I found tat my weakest section is QA(this is an example for people who think QA is easy for engineers so engineers have advantage hereinfact every one has to work hard and who puts effort finally succeed) I needed to work on my QAcoz m not the person who is a QA champ but I understand QA easily.i knew for doing well in CAT I needed hell lot of practice started with Arun Sharma .completed it in 2 monthsden solved AIMCTAS of previous yearsTIME materialCAT papers..and always figured out 2/3 methods for a problemsolving a problem is imp but even more imp is attacking it wid diff approaches and find the best method for solving itand my hard work really paid offmost of the time got 95 %+ in QA( in AMIMCAT). My overall %ile fluctuated in AIMCTAS.usually they were in early 90sand sometimes I managed 98once I got 60%ilebut I had the confidence of performing well on the C-day.
English (RC being my strongest sectionused to read 2 RCs daily)..was decent enoughI read a lot of books esp diff subject books. Psychology, history, literature, science, philosophy, fiction, self help etcReading books help immensely and according to me reading is the best preparation for Englishfor VA I followed threads of PG and materials of diff coaching intis
I always enjoyed LRmy weakness was calculation intensive DIhere also I practiced hard but cudnt raise myself to a satisfactory levelbut used to do well in logical DIs
Meanwhile when I started my preparation I asked my frend (now in IIMA, he had alredy cracked CAT in 2006) how he preparedhe told me join PG its very helpfulthis is how my relationship with PG began. and boy it's a great placeppl helping each otheralways encouraging. and this place is gr8 place if one needs inspiration. so many inspiring stories.this is the place which give ur all India standing.It's the only place where I found ppl so passionate abt IIMs..ppl leving LIK for ABC.Its after joining PG that I became absolutely passionate abt IIMsI wanted only IIMs nowstarted to put in more effort
'The' CAT Day (18th Nov 2007):
Frankly speakin I was a lil nervous n that dayI was trying to look very cool but inside I was nervous:nervous:
Paper was again a 75 ques paperfelt that this will b the day for mebeing my last attempt I was under pressurewhen invigilator asked me to sign on a sheet it took me nearly a min to find my name:nervous:
Started with Eng as usual..gave 45 mins to it..it was smooth ridedid all RCs xcept 1nd felt goodwas confident that I will clear cut off easily Then went to DI cudnt find a single LR type DI.(my strength)solved couple of setsThen came the easiest of DI (veg, non-veg DI)..and I made a mess of itI knew that it is easiest of the lot...it played on my mind that y I m not able to solve it..?? why?? And then because of this I messed up my papergave 55 mins to DI..finally solved 12 questions(in DS marked couple of questions incorrectly in OMR..). Finally came to QA..but DI was always on my mind and I knew I will not clear cut off in DIended up messing my QA alsoin all did 11 question in QA
Came out..feeling disgusted..nd knew its all over for mefew of my frends told me that QA was tuf..but I dint think so..it was not tough but it was decent.b4 deeming it as tough one must always remember that this is a paper which will give you a seat in IIMsif one consider that it was not tough at allcame back homeeveryone asked me how was itI felt like shouting that don't ask me.but then realized they are just asking how it wentand its their rite to askcalmed myself down and said pathetic its all overwanted to cryand cry a lotbut then if thought if I will break down so easily(just because I didn't do well in CAT) then who will take care of my family(in times which will be much tufer than this)I remained upset for about a weekAppeared for other xams but my heart was never there(this was a big mistake..shud have given my 100% for other xams..)
Finally results came outI knew CAT was disasterended up getting QA:95%ile, Eng 96.XX %ile and DI 77.XX%ile..OA 96.XX %ile
got calls from NMIMS and IMT,Gmissed FMS and IIFT by a whiskerit was really closeFound it really diff to prepare for GD PI of NMIMS and IMT,Gbut couple of my frends (@IIMA) and Buck_was (thanks Salil Bhai)advided me to at least convert my calls.appeared for GD PI and converted my callsI wanted to join only IIMs but when I calmed down , I realized I have other responsibilitiesI have some targets to achieve in next 8 - 10 yearsm alredy 25and I need to fulfill some targets very sooncant wait for another yearFinally m heading to NMIMSI know that I didn't get what I wantedbut then I have seen such tough times and learned so much from life that I have learned to utilize the resources (that r there with me) to maxI bliv in myself and I know that I will do well in life
One thing which life has taught me is that most imp thing is wether u r happy wid ur life or notI have seen ppl in IIMs and still unhappyI realized that I will only b happy when I can see a broad smile on my mom's face..when she is happywhen I will fulfill her dreamHats off to the fighting spirit of my mom..i want to take off all the burdens from her shoulders. I will continue to fight wid life as I have done always.i will surely b a winnereven from NMIMS.and the day I fulfill my mom's dream I will be the happiest person on this earthThoda jada ho gaya bas yahi stop..
Why I love CAT: I wrote so many bschool entrance xamsbut I love only CATwhy? CAT is not merely a test of Aptitude but its tests ur ability to perform under pressure..it tests ur temperamentit tests how tuf u r emotionallyur passionur mental strengthCAT out thinks you...however good strategy one mite b4 CATthe best strategy is the one which u devise during those 2.5 hrsits here that CAT tests ur decision taking abilityno other exam can match CATi njoyed it the most.
A lot has been said on this thread abt the lessons learned from CATabt how to preparelot of advices so I will not get into these thingsBut what I wud like to say is if u work hardif u give ur bestsooner or later u r going to succeedDo whatever makes u happyIf u come out of the xam hall wid the feeling that I have done my bestthan tats the best thingso always prepare for giving ur best and never prepare for Resultsresults will follow ur good workIf u believe in urselfthen u r always a winnernever lose self confidence..Do what u think is best and not what is best for others.this is the lesson which I have learned from my personal experience.
Frends please pardon me if I have ritten something which is irrelevant to this thread..if I got too emotionalactually I wanted to pour my heart outand that's exactly what I have done
Finally after much deliberation and much coaxing from my fellow puys whom I love so much now, I am posting in the most sacred thread in pg Mine is not a success story but its one hell of a story! Puys, hold on to your seats and read this journey of mine Its been a great experience and one that I would cherish for my lifetime!
Now lets see, how did it all start? My father is an MBA himself and I guess that is one big reason why this CAT seed was sown into me . So, in my third year of engg , I decided to start preparing for cat. The moment I looked at the pattern of the previous years I knew it was to my liking ( have always been quick to grasp things u see 😛 ) .
CAT 2004 That was the year I joined the IMS classroom course (Yeah, I am quite an oldie with CAT ). As the year rolled on I realised that I was good in QA and DI but lacked a bit in VA. I was shocked at that realisation. Here I was, an ICSE pass out where english is like god types and struggling to clear the VA cutoff . I just couldnt figure out what was going wrong. But I must admit , i never gave it my 100% as I had the college work to juggle with. It was in the holy month of October that we(me and my friend) decided that what would start burning the midnight oil One month of serious prep and we really made some grounds. I was good at QA and DI and my friend was an absolute rockstar in VA. This was a great learning as we realised that the reason we were having our respective weaknesses was that we never attempted enough in those weak sections. We started attempting more (just to remind u ppl that prior to 2004 cat was a bang bang! ) and lo and behold our overall scores started to sky rocket. So by D-day we felt quite confident of doing well.
D-Day --> As cat would have it, it was the first time that differential marking was introduced and I became one of the many victims of cat. DI which was my strong section did not go too well. I got stuck in the 2 markers and that was it! Final percentile - 95.12 with 88 something in VA(still my nemisis ha! ). Wont even mention DI CAT - 2005 This feeling of so close yet so far always hurts! Now that I knew I was close and not that bad , I started with renewed vigour again in July. I thought the best way to prepare for CAT was by doing mocks and trying to minimize the weaknesses by analysing the mocks. But as fate would have it, I had joined a company by then and since I wanted to do well in my first company as well, my cat prep took a real beating. I felt that I was out of steam come november and then the results proved me right.It was my worst performance in cat. Percentile - 91 odd...
CAT - 2006 I felt that this would be my year as I had persisted for so long now. My work had fallen into place now and I could finally concentrate on cat. Oh. and I forgot to mention, my friend whom I had mentioned about earlier had got an IIMB call in the 2004 cat with a 97.3 percentile (No, he was not a school topper or anything like that but this just reminded me of rpradeephere's satire ). He couldnt convert it and so here we were two big hopefuls again trying CAT for one more time . I thought the prep was going pretty smoothly with both of us consistently hitting the 98+ percentiles in the mocks with decent scores in all the sections.
D-Day - What a shocker of a VA section!! This time though I mixed caution with aggression and since the paper did not have too many questions, one could afford to do that. Did whatever I could in the paper and came out. Checked the solutions and hell I could figure that VA was going to be dicey. I did not do great in QA - 45 marks(cant remember the percentile), DI - 50 marks and VA -15 marks!! All hopes dashed! The coaching instis were predicting 30-35 for me. Oh, and my friend screwed up his DI with 35 marks in that section.
Percentile - 96.6 odd. Got a lone SPJ call with that which I couldnt convert!
CAT - 2007 Now, this was now or never for me. By this time I had decided to apply to all the Top B-schools in the country as I was getting desperate. Before this year I had written only CAT and XAT as the two exams. :gunsmilie: Now, I was still wondering about my performance that was lacking and I realised that the culprit was not me getting overwhelmed by the occasion but it was taking too many mocks and getting used some set sort of a routine. I cut down on my mocks and focused more on analysis and sharing of thoughts. I again did reasonably well in the mocks. 98+ or even 99+ was becoming a regular affair now. I felt extremely confident this time and along with a hoard of other exams to write , I thought this time i wont be left without any options.
D-Day came - I realised that if I had to get all 6 calls (which was the sole aim) I had to go with all that my heart could offer and see what happened then. I knew maths wasnt as easy it was last year but I backed myself to playing the big game. VA was dicey as usual but slightly lesser so. I did all I could in the 2.5 hrs and came out reasonably satisfied. My attempts were QA - 16, DI -19, VA - 21 . This was good number of attempts and I finally thought I had done well. Then, I checked the solutions and it was the worst moment of my life! I had missed most of the tricks the QA paper had to offer and ended up with a measly 34 marks! DI went very avg with just 46 and VA was languishing in the late 20s . I ended up with and overall of 97 percentile.
There it was, 4 attempts and not once I had managed to crack it! I was inconsolable for a week. Then my father told me something I shall never forget. He said - 'Why is your thinking so myopic? Why dont you look at the bigger picture son. What do you want, only an IIM degree or an MBA? You have equally good options to choose from, now dont waste your life trying only for an IIM degree. You have hit a ceiling and you have to move on if you want to become a better person' . Man, I shall never forget these words. It came to me at the time when I needed it the most. Thanks dad!
My father's words are all that I have to say for all you puys. Try your best at CAT but dont be a fool and just keep at it year after year. After all, its the bigger picture thats imp right?
And from my signature you can possibly make out how I feel after all this. The crownless shall be king , no doubt about it!!
Once upon a time, there was a boy. The boy was considered a prodigy because of his mental sharpness and good scores. One day the boy happily decided to go out and play. But the boy was ignored and ridiculed by his friends as he got more marks than them. The boy cried, pleaded with them to let him play with them; but to no avail. With tearful eyes and a heavy heart, the boy trudged back home, and buried himself in his own world of stories and books. He started to change. He didnt even want to go out anymore.
The boys family shifted places. He tried to make friends, but it was only a half-hearted attempt. The boy had lost faith in friends. He continued to engross himself in his studies and books, and became a full-fledged introvert. Life continued on the same pattern for many years. One day, the boys board results came. He was 7th in his class. The boy was devastated. He almost decided to quit on this first tryst with truth. Somehow he dragged himself back. But the fight had gone out of him. He was just going through the motions.
The boy got into an engineering college. He liked it there. Somehow, he felt part of the crowd. He made friends as well. But rather than using this to his benefit, he got lost in the revelry. He ignored his studies, and flunked a few papers. But just as he was about to go into his old mode of sulking, his friends pulled him out of it. They supported him, and gave him self-belief that he could do it, he could fight back. And he did get something back: the desire, that had died a long time ago; the need to excel that had taken a back seat.
It was way too far to come back regarding his college studies. But in the end, he managed decently there. He had two options in his life: to take up a job and start working, or go in for an MBA. He took up MBA as a challenge, as it seemed to him that his life seemed to be a little mismanaged. He promised himself, that he would finally achieve what was expected of him. He would finally break the shackles of mediocrity and rise to excellence. He promised to get into one of the top management colleges in the country. Along with some other friends, he prepared for the entrance exams. But as everyone must face a few problems before success really feels sweet, he didnt receive his CAT admit card. But this time, there was no sulking. He had changed. He took the blow on his chin and moved on. He appeared for SNAP and XAT, and performed decently. He failed at the final stage at SIBM, but the self-belief that he had instilled in himself made sure that he didnt give up.
After his college got over, he decided to wait and achieve the goal he had set for himself. For once, he was willing to fight one and all for his aim. He practiced, enrolled in a test series, and put his mind to it. The exam season arrived. He gave all the exams his best shot. He was satisfied with his performance. When the results came out, he got his first taste of real success. He had got 99.55%ile in CAT and 99.84 in XAT. Some of the countrys best B-schools, including IIM-Ahmedabad, had short listed him. It drove him on, like a mad-man, towards his goal. He prepared for the stage where he had tasted defeat last time around, the GD/PI, and gave it his all. When he reached that stage, he found himself in seriously good company. Most of the other candidates were from the best colleges and schools all over the country. Just competing with these elite, gave him a high that he had never felt before. He gave it his best shot and waited for the results.
Today, that boy is waiting on the cusp of achieving something really good for the first time in his life. As he looks back at all that has transpired to get to this point, he asks himself a question: Was all that worth it? Was all that worth its commensurations? And with a smile, he answers himself: You bet it was.
I have written my story in the third person because when I look back at that phase of my life, I find myself learning from the mistakes made then, but I dont find myself connecting with that person anymore. I have moved on, learned from my mistakes, picked myself up from the bottom. I am extremely grateful that I was given this opportunity to excel and make up for all those lost chances of earlier times. CAT gave me that opportunity.
I want to tell everyone who has a dream in their eyes: Dont let anyone, I repeat, anyone bring you down. There will always be a few stupid people who will try to do so because you have something in you. We all have. Its our spirit. Dont let that spirit get broken. Cheers!! :thumbsup:
finally even i get a chance to post on this revered thread.............. the very fact tht i am writin this post at 530 in da morning n hvnt had a wink of sleep wud tell u tht it still hasnt sunk in............the fact tht i made it to IIM B!!
am a marine engineer by profession, always been a gud student being a school n college topper bt thn hamesha hi gaali khata raha hoon frm every1 includin my parents, friends n seniors fr ditching IIT Delhi to go for Marine Engineering!!! no it wsnt passion fr marine engg as such jst the fact i wsnt sure wt i wantd to do n thn i got an option which wud provide me an opportunity to see the places most ppl includin me cud only think of n also pay better!! anyways realised in final year tht my interest ws in management n nt engg bt thn decided to experience sailing fr a short while b4 jumpin on the CAT bandwagon..............litle did i realise tht "short while" wud turn into 4 years b4 i cud appear fr CAT n take a step towards my dream of gettin into IIM Bangalore..............factors were many n wudnt get into thm bt thn wen i finally got off my last ship in jan end n decided tht its gonna be NOW or NEVER, my decision ws followed by the worst possible things...........things i cudnt hv even dreamed of...... certainly the worst period of my life.............wen i look bk i dnt even kno hw i endured so much!!
joined CL fr prep jst fr the fact tht i dint hv anyth to do n CL wud at least gimme a chance to get out of my home ............ started in May wid da classes n thn joined TIME test series as well bt thn wid all the things happening i was findin it hard to maintain my sanity leave alone preparin..... the classes did hv an effect on me n it ws to at least get me into a bit of thinkin as in using my mind which had gone dormant over the past years.... started scorin pretty well in mocks even widout any prep n even i ws amazed by the kind of scores i ws getn......... they were gud mostly above 95-96 and never went below 90 percentile even though i got a whoopin 6.xx percentile!!!
lost my will to do anyth around october n thn it took a gud friend of mine to convince me to stay in da hunt........ "jst keep on appearin fr mocks, jst do tht n we all kno wt u r capable of" tht ws wt he said n fr sm reason i did listen to him............i remember tht day today n thn thank him fr convincing me to hold on smhw tried to prepare as much as i cud bt i always had 1 thing in my mind tht its nt the prep thts goin to matter fr me, its goin to b my mental state......... as even widout preparin i smtms got 99+scores in TIME as wella s CL mocks come D-DAY nd i jst wanted to get done wid it............ started wid quant.....first 7 mins or so did 2 questions n thn fr the next 30-35 minutes i almost attempted whole of quant section widout even being able to solve 1 question and all tht i thot abt quant being my strength!!! anyways thn it ws smthn strange tht hapnd...........suddenly remembered smth tht i had dne in past........ appearin fr IIT JEE n thn inspite of doin gud in physics n chemistry papers i left the examination hall during maths paper in jst 1 n half hrs wen the stipulated time ws 3 hrs!!........n cm the results day......i got an AIR 2444..........jst wanted to kick my *** n still feel doin the same smtms though dnt regret goin fr marine engg ever, it gave me a lot............. comin bk to D DAY .......smhw calmed myself down aftr realisin 40 odd mins down wid just 2 answers ticked........ tried few more again n thn aftr 1 hr i had attempted sm 6-7 questions........jumped on to VA made a mess of things there fr sm 35 mins n thn moved on to DI tht ws the turning point of the exam fr me......never really had any confidence solvin the DI section given the kind of question sets we used to get in mocks bt thn ......... smhw managed to do arnd 17 questions in jst half an hr!!! thn felt tht if i wanted to hv any chance had to clear quant cutoffs n again went to quant....managed to solve 11 questions in total dedicatin More than Half of stipulated 2 nd a half hrs to quant!!
jst wrote my whole exam experience so tht if sm future aspirant smday finds himself/herself in similar situation........DNT LOSE HEART.......jst believe in urself, nt tht u cn do it bt tht u HAV to do it!!
aftr tht appeared fr othr exams as well IIFT,JMET,XAT n FMS bt smhw it ws all kind of goin thru the motions........... (smhw managed to get calls frm IIFT,XLRI n a JMET AIR of 38 )
i knew i had almost screwed up CAT bt thn smth inside me wsnt ready to accept it....come the day of CAT results i was pleased to find tht i had scored 98.99 percentile n the call frm my dream institute IIMB besides L nd K interviews...........dunno wt to say ......not asked much anywhere performed well in GDs though bt thn cudnt make anyth out of less than 10 mi interviews where i wsnt asked any questions...... thats all a thinkg of past AM HAPPY NOW..............aftr convertin my dream insti after havin an interview where i mst hv given sm of the most weird answers the panelists may hv ever heard frm interviewes....bt thn i guess doesnt matter............they saw smthn in me n thts y i m there today!!!
BEST THINGS HAPPEN TO PPL IN WORST OF TIMES!!! cudnt b more true fr me!!! nw the only thing i cn think of is whether this is the beginning of end of my troubles or start of new ones!!! hopefully its the former!!!
Well, I thought I'd complete this tradition before I know where I am headed to this year - And truly, what a tradition it has been! I don't really know how much of a place this post will find here, but here goes...
I have now taken CAT thrice. Each time, there has been a tale to go along with it....
CAT 2005
Jaipur. A naive engineering student in his final year, who reads up on newspapers and is seduced by the massive salaries drawn by management graduates from the best in India. Having a massive ego himself, decides, " hey, if they can do it, I can do it too"...and decided to go give CAT a shot.
Around this time,I was having trouble with my academics - trouble, which wasn't very visible. I was a brash, lazy individual ( still am, actually 😃 ) who thought all that life had to give was his to take.
Job interviews were scarce at my college. However, I managed to secure a job with HCL in my final year, and a sense of relief set in. With around 2 weeks to go for CAT at this time, and me doing well at mocks ( albeit, still flunking in quant a lot - something that haunts me to this date )...I became rather circumspect.
Come D-Day, I took CAT, and was mighty pleased with myself - until the keys came out. When I checked my score, key after key told me I had failed. I decided to give up the dream and pursue my fortunes at HCL.
Then, fate took another turn. I checked the CAT result casually at a friend's place around a week after the result...and had managed 96.38%. I hadn't applied anywhere, so I was a little taken aback. I sent emails, frantic ones, to IMT, NITIE and the like, but none would consider me. ( told you i was naive 😃 ) - Eventually, gave interviews at Welingkar and KJS, but did not join.
CAT 2006
The naive student, is now working. The result last year has given new hope, and he has joined Career Launcher at Kolkata. New developments on the personal front give a fillip to life. But he is still complacent, and does not apply to XLRI.
At this point, I was doing very well on mocks at CL.Despite my centre manager's constant reminders to work on my quant, my scores used to help me keep my ego going. Also, I was in a sort of a relationship ( one that eventually ended, and pulled my scores down too...), so things did get busy. I had friends and had a lot of fun in life. Kolkata was probably one of the happiest phases of life for me, if you discount CAT and my missing my parents....It helped me grow both personally and professionally.
Eventually, I took CAT 2006 - what is deemed to be the Waterloo for most verbal enthusiasts like me. Was a real pain in the you-know-what on PG, with my constantly inane pretensions, advice and fervent hope I'll get a call from an IIM because I was 'scoring' 60 on verbal according to some key - ah, how naive i was.
Eventually, things panned out in a way that made me eat my own shoe - 89.66, with 98.98 on verbal and next to nothing on the rest. I was sufficiently humbled. Decided to leave it for another year, got crowned Bored Housewife 2 on the CAT thread and moved to Noida :)
Eventually, we come to this year... CAT 2007
I was now very much over the ego issues. I knew now that I must temper my expectations, and learn to maximize potential and work on m grey areas - I prepared harder than ever before, even woke up at 6 in the morning for classes ( well, the number of girls in class helped ;)...) and constantly annoyed my centre staff. I had to manage to absolve myself this year...also, I was lucky yo get to Noida because it afforded me the best competition in the country so far as verbal ability was concerned. But Quant was still a major issue...My friends at work found my excitement contagious, and they took up CAT too - and they are now headed to b-schools around the country themselves 😃 I am glad I helped them further their career interests.
I had become a veteran and a CAT adviser by now. Did pretty well on mocks, but quant still annoyed me. People like prashant, basilisk and Anirban know of my plight. Eventually, CAT came along - and to my utter surprise, I did pretty well for once. Mathematics, however, came back to haunt me again. Despite a 99.31%, I only had one I call. - I was lucky to get that too, by one mark.
But I look at it as providence, that I only got this one call, by just that one mark ( which counts for MDI too, where I am through in all probability )....I hope I have more good news to report soon, with the IIM Indore result just minutes away....but I felt this had to be done beforehand. To all those I have conferred, argued and debated with....this is my salute, to them, and to the spirit of PG.
I've read through this forum many many times, & this post is not an attempt at an inspiring story like most of them, but just a fulfillment of a promise I had made to myself while reading the posts here during my preparations, that one day...I will be posting here... & I am happy I am doing it after Abhishek's post, one of the best friends I made during my preparations..
2004(The Background)
Predictably, my story starts with the engineering entrance exams as well. I had been just an above average student all through my school life, my interest always lying in sports & not studies. But as is the case with lakhs of students across india I too gave up everything else & started preparing for the mother of all exams ..IITJEE.. 11th & 12th were hell for me...finally ended up with an aieee rank of 65000+...forget iit :)... decided(again...as thousands in india do)to drop a year for iit...not thinking that I wasn't as academically brilliant as the students who actually crack this exam.Worked as hard as it was possible in that year but ended with an aieee rank of 54000+.Got into a college called JIIT, in Noida, about which even I hadnt heard of. That was probably the last time that I've actually cried in my life.My parents had never ever put any pressure on me to study all through school, but the disappointment on their faces was evident.Maybe it was because of the pressure, I used to choke at crunch time...but at that time I knew...that I had done all that I could & it still wasn't good enough...
Jan 2007(why MBA?)
Soon I had forgotten it all in 2.5 years of college life.Sports & Gaming had taken over.In my 3rd year,my closest friend...who had gone to NIT hamirpur, & was a year ahead of me, gave cat06 , got 97.36%ile in it (& eventually got into HR at MDI).That was the 1st time I heard of cat.I had heard of the iims, my dad is from fms,& xlri & imt finished the list of colleges that I knew about.
Found out that almost the entire year at my college was preparing for cat & most had already joined coaching.But companies were about to come to campus & the first preference was a job.Infosys was the 1st at our camus, & last year they had changed their test pattern to something closer to cat.That started my preparation.Took up my roommate's IMS packages & finished basic quant & di in about a month along with all the puzzle books available in the market.Though this kind of preparation wasnt needed for IT companies it ensured that I blasted the papers of all the companies that came to college .I took up 3 companies finally by the end of the semester.But what was important was that it gave me some much needed confidence to think about cat.
I decided to give up gaming altogether(it is a sacrifice if its something one does for 10+ hours a day :))...borrowed packages from friends to start preparing.I didnt have the courage to ask my father for 25000 bucks for the coaching even though money didnt matter.I also had absolutely no confidence on coaching centers after the JEE fiasco.My friend had joined a 1.5 month crash course from TIME & I had decided that I would join it if I felt like preparing in June.Spent that semester till may sporadically solving maths from packages of CL as I knew that I was weak in it.
June 2007
After the sem got over I decided to go ahead with my preparations & join the course in TIME as I had absolutely no idea about the exam apart from what comes in it. I remember going straight to the TIME office on a saturday with the 14000 fee in hand. The lady at the office asked me about the colleges & I got only Calcutta correct out of all the IIMs(other answers included Allahabad & Bombay). She smilingly enrolled me & told me about a test the next day.Went to give it & immidiately the familiar feeling of crowds in entrance exams returned. That was the last sunday of May & the test was aimcat0820.I started from left to right in linear order & left the entire last section.Got 95.9 in that test, which made me think "Hang on....I can actually do this".Also Got a 3000 Rs scholarship from time, which I used to enroll for CL's test series.
Classes started in the 1st week of june & were held 5 days a week for 4 hours a day(for 6 weeks).There were just 15 students in the class but there was such a shortage of time that things were taught at the speed of light.Moreover nobody had the time to discuss aimcats. My %iles were from 89-93 odd in the next three aimcats & I still treated sectionals as an extra statistic on the TIME site. PG.com
One day I heard the word 'pagalguy' uttered by one of the teachers in class in response to a question posed by a student from the site & I thought "what a weird name for a site".Was idling around at home that day so got to the site....eventually reached the threads for aimcats.I couldn't close my jaw for the first 10 mins.Firstly I found out about something known as sectional cutoffs, but more importantly, I saw guys here who were scoring 99+ in each paper.Somehow "seeing" such people in person brought me down to earth.Since I had no peer group to study with, being at home most of the time, people like MFI,JLT, Basilisk,Anirban,Rohan,Prashant & many many others here became the group I compared my marks against. At first it was very frustrating, I used to tear my hair apart thinking that these guys are here only to show off, they used to ace these papers without breaking into a sweat. But soon I saw how hard they worked to achieve the high standards they had set for themselves & how they helped others like me on the threads. Seeing the strategies & ways of attempting the aimcats of guys from the UDT & DT teams helped me the most. I never had the guts to post my weak scores though.
I had found out early enough that VA was my strength.Many years of reading had ensured that I was good in it.But more importantly I had an extremely fast reading speed.As expected I had 2 weak sections.So I used to bunk english classes to keep up with the pace of study(not that it helped). The only good thing I did in that period was that I used to solve the entire quant chapter from the package which was going to be taught the next day even if it meant being awake for the entire night.This was a mistake I had made during the engineering days which I wanted to make sure I didn't repeat. This made me better than the other 14 students in the class & also gave me some confidence on my weaker section.
The all india open mock cat 0816 was on the same day as the 1st CL mock cat.That was the 1st time I crossed 97 in an aimcat.My classes along with the june-july holidays got over & I left hostel & came home to prepare for the next semester.
August 2007
Had to study almost all the course by myself as chapters such as number systems had been taught in 2 classes, but in those 1.5 months of classes I had got an idea about cat which I didn't have before.The numerous threads at PG (& totalgadha) helped, most of all the concepts thread from which I learned the entire number systems from maximus.
By 0809 I had scored above 98 twice with my other scores hovering between 82 to 94 odd. I had never been able to clear both quant & di in a single aimcat but atleast my strategy was set...DI-VA-QA. Even this I had decided upon after reading Basilisk post his strategy once :)
DI of aimcats gave me nightmares(CL was a tad easier for me)...I was able to do better in CL's mockcats, partly because of lesser competition. I had managed to clear quant's cutoff(albeit by a small margin) 3-4 times.I was only good at geometry,& my question selection was usually good, giving me a 90-100% accuracy most papers, but the attempts were never enough. VA was the only section that kept my percentiles up.I was able to attempt all the questions(if The most important thing I did during that period was that I managed to find aimcats of last year & started giving quant & di as sectional tests.To compare my performances with someone I opened up the aimcat threads of last year & compared with posts from last year. This improved my quant & DI greatly along with fine tuning of my strategies & question selection, but what was to prove decisive on the final day were the DS questions which were ever present in the 07 aimcat series & rarely in the 08 ones.I had never posted in all this time on the threads as I felt my scores werent up to it. But after reading a post by buck_was I even started posting.
October 2007
One day I was called for a counselling session by TIME, which included all the toppers, where I was told that I actually had a chance of getting a good score in cat.Before that, I had never thought seriously about cracking cat. My focus used to be from aimcat to aimcat, always trying to improve my performance there instead of thinking about november. I also had 2 guys who were counselled with me,both from dce, both of whom had the problem that they used to get nervous during the paper. By that time I had gotten over that problem of mine completely & I saw firsthand what I had read countless times on pg that how cool you are on the final day matters a lot. Seeing these 2 toppers tensed at exams made me decide that no matter what, this time I am not going to make the same mistake I made in my engineering exams, I am not going to crack or buckle under pressure.
Slowly as my quant course finished & with practice, I was able to cross 97 %ile 4 times in the last 8 aimcats,my average was always between 92-94(last 2 aimcats were 93 & 91 odd).I had cleared all 3 sectionals only once & had never made the toppers' list (though I had managed it a few times in CL).But I always had the same thought in my mind, that this is only my first attempt,I can give cat again, no one expects anything from me, & I am going to turn my weakness into my strength & be as cool on the final day as possible.The maximum I hoped for was a 98 %ile so I could get calls from mdi & nitie. November 2007
I had heard a lot about "burning out" at pg...so had decided not to study in november come what may.I had attended college just enough to maintain my attendance to a bare minimum so decided to go there for 2 weeks.Celebrated my birthday by playing counter-strike for 2 whole weeks.One thing that I used to continually think about those days was whether to continue to do DI as my 1st section. Since DI is a case of nerves (my personal opinion) I was apprehensive about what would happen on D-day.Finally decided to face it head-on & keep the same strategy of di-va-qa.Came back home for the last 2-3 days, revised formulas & slept for a whole day before cat.
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...Attempted English for 25 mins and DI for the rest. I was feeling pretty good about myself, Bala said he had f***ed up english, but was hoping he could make the cutoff. The day of the results, we were at our homes(semester was over) I was not able to access any of the IIM sites, called up bala...he had scored 99.2%ile with 82 in eng, so he wasn't getting any IIM calls. I asked him to check out mine. 10 mins later, he called back. I had scored 100% in Maths, 95 in eng and a dismal 78 in DI with 98.7% overall. I couldnt believe it. There had to be a mistake, I asked him to check again. He said he'll mail me the screen shot. I saw it with my own eyes. It was a dismal performance. I didn't even get a call from MDI. and that was it. My stint with CAT 2006 was over. Bala went on to join MDI while I weighed in my options, decided to have a go at CAT 2007, and took up a job with Infosys. 
Mine is not a success story but its one hell of a story! Puys, hold on to your seats and read this journey of mine 
. I just couldnt figure out what was going wrong. But I must admit , i never gave it my 100% as I had the college work to juggle with. It was in the holy month of October that we(me and my friend) decided that what would start burning the midnight oil 
). He couldnt convert it and so here we were two big hopefuls again trying CAT for one more time