Well. So, here I post.
Deep in 2000:
(July 2000 to August 2002)
Happy go lucky. Is enjoying his eleventh standard - a reward for what he believes - a great result in Standard 10 board examinations; getting admission in the best junior college in the city. His immediate dream is fulfilled and he is on seventh heaven. He is experiencing college life for the first time - the independence, spending time at hangout places, gaming and all that.
In the midst, his more "serious" friends have already started joining tuition classes for standard 12. Now starts the dilemma for him. You see, there is a little twist in his life - his parents, particularly his mother want him to prepare for IIT-JEE. Heeding to this, he buys a book - the fattest book he has ever carried. Now, he browses through the book. Somehow, he feels that he won't be able to cope up with the complex mathematical and chemical structures mentioned in it. He decides that he is not fit for IIT-JEE. He communicates this to his parents. His argument - he doesn't want to be aboard two ships at the same time - jeopardizing his future. He chooses the safer, stabler option of preparing exclusively for 12th standard board examinations. He enrolls himself in a coaching class to pursue this choice.
Meanwhile, he barely manages to pass 11th standard; being in danger of failing in one subject. BTW, he was also attacked by the Hepatitis Virus in the same year. This jaundice affliction weakens his digestion considerably. This point will be of importance later.
Now, he attends the tuition for 12th standard devotedly - but still put-offs studying regularly. It is almost January and he is still performing very poorly in the mock tests being conducted - getting scores in the range of 40-50 percent in chemistry. He is doing very well in mathematics though - scoring well over 90% most of the times. This has a deep impact on him. He resolves to study hard for the last month before exams. However, just as he is getting into the groove, tragedy strikes and he is again attacked by Mr. Hepatitis. He is put on bed rest, has terrible weakness, can't eat anything much other than boiled dal and crushed rice. This period is the most difficult for him. He decides to work smart. He studies hard for the subject he is weak at.
He gives the exams - a very taxing exercise for him to concentrate on. He is fairly confident of doing well in all the subjects - including Chemistry.
Now is the time to relax and unwind. He does give the some entrance exams - AIEEE, Andhra Pradesh Entrance Exam and IIT-JEE. However, he is/was never serious about them, and just goes through the motions.
Finally the results come and as expected, he fails to perform any miracle and ends up getting a rather poor rank in all the entrance exams. He then waits for his 12th standard board exams. They are declared and he scores a very good 93%. (in PCM). Mathematics, as usual is his saviour - 99 marks.
He then gets the option of choosing from either civil in the top college or computer/IT from the second/third best. He chooses to go for computer - listening to what his heart says.
During this phase, I never aimed high. I thought that i wasn't good enough to be among the best.
2002 - 2006
During his first year, he was asked by a cousin of his - what are his future plans. His reply was very firm. "I'll do only an M Tech. " He felt that CAT, MBA and MS, GRE was a horde race. And he didn't like to be a part of it. And plus, he always thought that he'll be some technical geek.
His engineering began with a bang. His overconfidence overcame him - leading to him being inattentive towards studies. As a result, his scores nosedived to unknown waters. This brought about a marked change in him. He started thinking - " After all, technical field is not really for me"
Further, in response to a question posed by his professor with respect to future long term plans - his answer was - being the top notch HR executive in an MNC. His idea of MBA at point was HR and doing it from XLRI, Jamshedpur. It was his first real dream. Yes, there was the glamour of IIMs. But then, that didn't hold as much charm for him.
Now, in third year, all of his classmates were joining coaching institutes for classes on GRE or CAT. Being a low scorer in 1st year made life very difficult for him. He had to fore-go the chance to give CAT in the final year of engineering to ensure that his grades do not fall further. He didn't join any coaching institute. Only worked on his academics. Also, another reason for not preparing for CAT was that he was told by the people he interacted with that he should do an MBA after certain work-ex. (preferably 2 years). It would help understanding the course much better.
He landed a job in a dream company - one which used to recruit only really technical students and toppers. He was, by his own admission, not at all technical and his scores were such that he wasn't even eligible to sit for some of the so called important companies. He was really hurt during this period. However, when he got through the first company he was eligible for, his confidence soared.
Also, during final year, he had to go through a tough time due to some personal issues.
The remaining days were spent in enjoying his last year in college. He didn't even care giving CAT. Only a handful of people gave it from his college and hardly anyone got through any good institute. CAT, MBA was relegated slowly to the back of his mind.
Side note: Sometime during the third year, he went through the NMAT paper published in Competition Success Review. He really enjoyed solving these questions. NMIMS had made an impression on him.
In hindsight, I feel I should have probably given CAT in my final year. Maybe even without preparation. However, being the eldest in the family, i didn't have that kind of guidance.
Deep joined his organization. He quickly also realized that he rather join the weekend coaching classes for CAT. He would require to spend only 2 hours on a sunday morning towards the preparation. He could also concentrate on his job during the first year.
He got involved in a lot of pursuits which fulfilled his creative side - drama, writing, et al. He quickly became popular in his team and was regularly commended for his quick adaptability to work and good communication skills. He gave CAT 2006 - just for the sake of it. The only thing he knew about CAT was - there are three sections in it. He had fun during the exam - ended up getting 81.xx Percentile. Perfectly nice, he thought. With proper preparation, he was sure he would crack the exam(s).
During this time, he religiously attended his weekend classes - he regularly raced ahead of the class in completing assignments given in class - especially in DI and QA. He was rather happy and felt was doing well.
Sometime in Jan. 2007, he started preparing the theoretical concepts for CAT. He used to solve problems from his coaching institute material.
Now, although he had joined pagalguy in Jan 2006. He had never really cared to login and check it. He started doing that now. Started with the threads on the work completion and other RC and SC threads. Slowly, he started posting. Getting involved with the discussions. He became a regular contributor in the mock threads. Started shouting
on the shout box. Made a number of friends who supported and guided him during tough times. Also, the mock season had started. He joined the TIME series. He used to give two mocks every sunday. One - Career Forum and other one was TIME. He started with a bang in CF. Got an AIR 2 once. This really rocketed his confidence. However, in the TIME mocks - which actually are true reflection of your position, he was performing rather poorly. Averaging about 88-90 Percentile. He could almost never clear the QA cut off. However, he cleared the VA cut off with regularity. DI was in between. He was in a fix. He could not understand what was happening. When he used to solve the problems at leisure, he would crack them rather quickly. However, in mocks he was unable to solve them. This was worrying him. He had bet a lot on CAT/MBA. Almost everyone at his work knew that he was preparing for CAT. And although he wasn't really ignored for any work, he was not given too many new opportunities. He did not mind it. He knew he had to sacrifice his work related commitments.
At this time (Aug 2007), during a session on Shout Box, he with some other regulars came up with the idea of BBLT (Bol Bachchan Losers Team). Starting from a concept which was a bit hazy, the team progressed to a bunch a individuals who were highly motivated and determined. There was great sense of camaraderie between them. Everyone encouraged each other. This infused a new spirit in him. He started working harder with a renewed spirit. Solved problems from online resources.
Finally, as a run up to CAT, he took a leave of 4 weeks. He solved the CAT question papers of the last decade during this time. Gave 3-4 sectional mocks every day. Revised his concepts. On the day before CAT, he relaxed. He relaxed a bit too much. As a result, anxiety took over him. He could not sleep till 4 that night. It was easily the most frustrating time in his life. He knew he just need 4-5 hours of sleep to be fresh enough. However, he could hardly sleep. Next morning, reaching the centre early, he could feel the pang of nervousness. Suddenly, he could feel the weight of expectation he had from himself.
The exam pattern was as expected. 75 questions, 25 questions in each section. However, he found quant exceedingly difficult. He realized this was a game of accuracy - his forte. He attempted only those questions he was sure of. Coming out of the examination centre, he felt uneasy. He felt he could have done well. Checking the scores throughout that day left him in no more doubt. He had messed the CAT. There was no probability of getting any calls.
He was sad. However, as is his wont, he quickly recharged himself and braced himself for the other tests. The same story was repeated in every test - IIFT, JMET (he used to regularly do very well in JMET mocks. Had really high hopes from it), SNAP, NMAT, XAT, FMS and CET.
After all the exams, he was confident of atleast getting a call from IIFT, NMIMS and decent percentile in XAT and a good score in SNAP.
However, the results had a separate story to tell.
He missed the IIFT call by a couple of marks.
CAT score was: 94.3 with a low 81.xx in VA and 93.xx in QA. Surprise, his strength turned into an achilles heel. His first love, QA was still loyal as ever.
JMET: Not qualified.
SNAP: A low score of 75.5.
FMS: No call
XAT: 91.94 OA, 96.xx in QA, 93.xx in DI/LR, and 55.xx. Surprise turned into a shock here. He had expected to get at least a XIMB call here.
He was heartbroken after all these results. He had put in so much of hard work and he had nothing to show for it. Then, within a space of 2 days, he got 2 calls - TAPMI and NMIMS. He had scored only 85 marks (cut off marks) in NMAT. However, he was determined to work hard and convert this call.
His final tally of calls included: NMIMS, NIRMA, TAPMI, GIM.
During this time, he met a person who really supported him through all this. She gave him encouragement, helped him overcome the loss of his grandfather, and made him feel good and confident again - all the while grappling with her own bad string of results. He became even closer to pagalguy as a result of this.
He put in fair amount of hard work for the GD/PI. NMIMS was first up. He performed decently in the GD/PI. But, knowing the skewed weightage against the GD/PI, he was sure of not converting this call. Now, he had simply lost the appetite to give the GD/PIs. He was unsure of what to do. He didn't want to give up in his first attempt. He had already started thinking of the next attempt. He even canceled his trip to Manipal at the last moment.
However, he gave the GD/PIs of GIM and Nirma. He had a blast at GIM and was blasted at Nirma. (Or so he thought).
One day in April when he had even bought books for GMAT and started studying for next year, he received a mail from NIRMA. He had been selected in their first list even after a not so great percentile. Even though it was not a college he was sure he wanted to join, he was overjoyed. So much so that there were moist eyes and all that.
However, now started the eternal dilemma. He wasn't sure of joining Nirma. On one hand, he was not confident enough of going on for another year; on the other hand, he really wanted to try again. Give himself another chance. This went on for over a month. He took opinions from various people.
He gave the first AIMCAT of the season - 0920. Got a 83 odd percentile. It was enough to convince him that he may have more of such bad days.
Hence, he finally took the decision to join. He thought that it is the person who makes the life and not just the college. Finally, what tipped it in favour of joining was his parents' advice to join.
He gave in his papers and served just two weeks of notice period. He looked forward to joining MBA and living away from his family for the first time.
I did what i felt was best at that moment of time. It was a difficult decision to take. Many people were disappointed too with it. However, I was relatively happy. Also, my decision to join wasn't based only on my failure in one mock.
He joined Nirma. Life was good there. He already had a certain reputation as a pagalguy user. He quickly built a rapport with his batchmates. Got involved in the activities and the academic rigor there. But, he always felt a certain sadness at not giving himself another chance. Thus, he thought, why not give it another shot. He had read about people leaving after an year of MBA for better places. He joined the TIME test series again. He had absolutely no time to prepare. He just used to give the mocks on Sunday and that's it. Maybe look at the paper for an hour after that. That too wasn't very regular.
Surprisingly, when the scores started to pour in, he was doing well. He was consistent getting decent percentiles of 96-97. He had never crossed 92 in the previous year even with all the hard work. He regularly featured in the toppers list and was among the top students in his city.
Following is the scoring pattern for his mocks.
No._____QA_____DI_____VA_____OA
901___ 87.41__ 95.21__ 98.94__ 98.95
903___ 80.18__ 93.11__ 98.98__ 98.09
904___ 61.18__ 90.50__ 94.36__ 91.35
905___ 86.75__ 97.71__ 99.75__ 99.59
906___ 76.63__ 69.97__ 86.72__ 84.63
909___ 76.02__ 97.91__ 85.55__ 95.89
910___ 80.01__ 92.46__ 70.65__ 88.09
913___ 55.89__ 96.66__ 97.57__ 96.36
915___ 70.46__ 82.03__ 69.25__ 78.45
916___ 70.44__ 87.42__ 53.89__ 76.4
917___ 94.74__ 98.23__ 87.17__ 98.07
As can be seen, except for an occasional blip, DI was emerging as a strong point. Va had really rocketed in the last few mocks and QA remained a point of concern.
Looking at these scores, he felt quite confident. He used to give these mocks without any expectation - just for the fun element.
Now, with these scores, he again started expecting himself to do well. He even started dreaming of getting into IIM-A - an institute he used to cross every week to give his mocks. As a result, he again lost his sleep on the night before CAT. Result - another mess up. And this time it was DI. He ended up with a percentile of 95.xx.
He had filled two other forms this year - NMAT and XAT.
A couple of weeks prior to XAT, his paternal grandfather expired. This left him shattered as he was really close to him.
Cut to the night before XAT. He was having a horribly upset stomach. Was not able to stand even. He simply took a medicine and slept - he didn't even realize that he was to give XAT the next day. However, next morning he woke up with a start. He pushed himself out of the bed. He realized that he didn't have the print out for the XAT ID. He thought he would finally reach the venue in time. But fate had other things planned for him. His bike simple refused to start. He reached the centre somehow with just a few min to spare - huffing all the way and not having an iota of strength left. He started solving the paper - his regular pattern, QA,DI and then VA. Just at the end of the exam, he got stuck at a QA puzzle for 10 mins. He simply could not solve it. However, just as he had submitted his OMR and was waiting for the essay to begin, he solved the puzzle. He cursed himself as he knew that 2 marks matter a lot in XAT. Anyway, he moved on and completed the essay.
After coming out, he realized that he had attempted too many questions in DI/LR and very few in QA and VA. He had attempts of 15 in VA, 20-21 in DI, and 10 in QA. On checking the solutions, he found that he was getting all questions in DI right and 4/5 wrong in VA with one being wrong in QA. He knew that he would clear QA and DI but wasn't confident of VA. Consequently, he wasn't very hopeful of a call.
However, when the results came - he was pleasantly surprised.
He had scored
99.54 OA, 94.9 in QA, 91.xx in VA and 99.86 in DI. It was like a dream scorecard for him. He got the call from the BM program. (QA was right at the cut off).
He had also got calls from NMIMS (Written Rank 406) and XIMB.
He prepared for the GD/PI earnestly and with all sincerity. He tried to cover as many points as possible, spoke to people who had given GD/PIs after being in MBA already.
I would not delve into the details of the GD/PIs. The final result was:
XLRI - Reject.
NMIMS - Final rank 308
XIMB - Convert After a WL
I felt the worst ever after looking at the XLRI result. It was always a dream institute for me. It was the worst moment for me.
Anyway, I had to move on. Now, the biggest dilemma was whether it was worth leaving NIRMA for NMIMS/ XIMB after an year. I took opinions from a lot of people - alumni, current students, friends from non MBA background, mentors, PG members, family members. I was in a crazy situation for over 2 months. It was like an eternal dilemma for me. At one moment I felt staying at Nirma was better, at other I felt like joining NMIMS. (I had already given up XIMB - personal reasons).
Everyday was a challenge for me. Every moment was spent thinking about this. The pros and cons were almost equal. Would not enumerate them here. What really made me take the decision of joining NMIMS was the recession. I have basically bought an year against it. Nothing else. And yes, I heard everyone's opinions, but finally went with what my heart said.
Leaving Nirma was the toughest decision of my life. I had a good life there, a certain reputation, great friends - giving that all up wasn't too easy. The day I vacated my room from Nirma, I almost wanted to reverse my decision.
I don't know if this is a motivating story - but it certainly is unusual. I knew I owed this to pagalguy - a place which has given me so much recognition and respect, a place which has given me a very special person and some of closest friends, my roomies here at NM.
I would like to thank anyone and everyone who helped me during my entire journey. I have learnt that it is not only the preparation that matters, but also the state of mind you are in while writing the exam. I would advice everyone not to make CAT, MBA as the end all and be all of life. Make it a part of your life - enjoy it.
PS: I would also like to say that Nirma is an amazing institute. Please do join it. I spent some of my best times there. Please PM me in case of any queries. Please don't clutter this thread.
I also do not wish to malign or disrespect any institute. I admire every institute, exam for its specialty.
Should have posted this way back, anyway doing it now. Its about my preparation for CAT.
My first attempt was in 2006 during the final year of engineering. Preparation started of in May with an intense 5 day study of quant and di from a Career Launcher book for MBA entrance exams which i found in the Fort area of Mumbai. Those 5 days were my first and last serious attempt of preparation for CAT that year. After hols i was back in college and there was a free all india mock in july and i got 98+%, while a year ago in a similar free mock i had scored 90%. So i got a 50% discount and joined the aimcat series. I used to write the mocks very seriously till i got placed in September; always scoring 96%+ with the best rank of air 48. But i rarely used to clear DI cutoffs and never reviewed my mistakes or attempted the unanswered questions. After placement, i lost interest and could never get into the 'zone' in exam and mock % started declining to 93%+. Finally in the real CAT, i basically screwed up with a 90% overall and a shocking 75% in both di and quant and 98% in verbal.Then i joined a software company in 2007, and focused on doing well in my role and learning about programming and embedded systems and was enjoying the work. I wasn't sure what future path to take and hence did not apply anywhere for higher education.
In July 2008, after 1 year of thinking about gre\mba\better job in MS,Amazon etc i decided to give CAT with the aim of getting into iima or iimc. Wrote a free mock with the hope of discount but scored only 96%, so had to pay full amount for the aimcats. I started reading The Economist magazine: contents page | The Economist, The New Yorker and practiced atleast 1 puzzle daily. The main difference this time was that i used to review each mock cat for atleast 10 hrs (includes time for revising 2-3 times). So i was improving with each test and started gaining confidence that this would be the first and last serious attempt on CAT. Another major difference was i used to follow mock cat review discussions on PaGaLGuY.com - India's biggest CAT 2009, MBA website by spending at least 1 hr after each test reading strategies and mistakes of the forum members.
Though on average i spent less than 45 min daily for the preparation, i was doing very well with scores >98%. But the DI scores were pathetic again; i just hated the section and found it painful to spend time in it; the lowest di score being a 57%. Slowly through the mock cat reviews i was gaining confidence as i could solve problems after spending lot of time for each one. But even in September scores in DI were always
To lose the DI fear, i took xerox of all previous year aimcat tests and started off in earnest, putting in 2 hours daily. But in mid september i had to go to S.Korea for 1.5 months for the final stage of a project i was working on. Luckily i had more spare time in Korea than in India, but was unable to motivate myself to prepare due to various distractions.
Only in the last week of my stay, i got scared and started DI again and surprisingly after the 5 week break from studies, i was easily able to solve the DI sets. I also realized that my order of VA,QA,DI may not be the right one; so i decided that first i have to attempt the 2nd strongest section QA first, then weakest section of DI and finally my strength - VA (Never got
D-Day - The centre was hard to find and very far away, but as i started early at 7 am i reached the centre 1 hour before the exam. It was a school and my room was a class for 4 th class students; so the seating was very uncomfortable. As we were waiting for the papers, I started to focus only on the exam and did not think about external disturbances (entering the zone :-P...in every other exam i would have a random topic at the back of my mind). Gave 35 minutes for QA and did 8 questions, then gave 55 min for DI and attempted 13, got a feeling that each one of my attempts was right. Then spent 45 minutes on VA and did 24 questions. Now comes the most critical part; in the last 30 minutes i was a bit distracted and was slow. I had 15 minutes left after VA and knew that only if i attempt 3-4 questions more in QA, i could clear the cutoff. I tried 4-5 which seemed easy but could do only 2 of them (Damn, was getting out of the 'zone' :shocked:). The time was up and the invigilator started collecting the papers and i was in the 3rd last bench; i knew i had to attempt 1 more question at least. It was a geometry question, and 2 options were eliminated by quick substitution and one of the remaining options felt like it was the right one; so i circled it.
Result -
QA - 10C, 1W - 39 - 96.02 - A cut off - 37 -geometry question was correct
DI - 13 C, 0 W - 52 - 99.64
VA - 18C, 6 W - 66 - 98.72
Overall - 157 - 99.76% - BLACKI calls - AIK converts
Hello everybody,
Never thought of cracking the CAT:splat:........But as all of my friends were joining TIME so I did too.The weekend classes were just a formality for me as faculty used to come from Kolkata(as I was studying at NIT jamshedpur) nd I was never too serious though I had my ambitions at the back of my mind.So, hurridly came the september of 2009 and I started thinking to be a little serious.I filled CAT,IIFT nd JMET skipping XAT nd FMS thinking of my incompetency.I had my mock percentiles in the range of 94 which prompted me to become a little more serious as I was performing beyond my own expectation.I had my only target set on IMT so I filled IMT form.The doomsday arrived and I knew that I hadn't done that bad.I checked out my score nd it was going to be around 125:w00t:.So, I started thinking that I had good enough chance for SP jain call too so, I filled in that after the CAT xam.This way around I had already missed MDI nd NITIE forms which I was really repenting on.The result came nd I had scored 98.37%ile :-Pwith quant-95.1 DI-84.92 Verbal-97.74 with no IIM calls which was expected.Then came the SP jain nd IMT calls nd of course IITM call....(not through JMET as my rank was around 3000).At one place I wasnt expecting a single call nd suddenly I had 3.I was really repenting hard on not filling the MDI nd NITIE forms.My confidence went high nd I planned to skip
the IITM interview as I had to attend it in Chennai.So, I attended the IMT nd SP jain interviews but could convert onli IMT-G.As my confidence was high enough I took a brave decision of not joining IMT-G nd give one more try at better colleges.This way I thought of writing CAT,XAT nd FMS 2010 seriously with 2 yrs of work-ex which would give me a fair chance.By the way I changed my mind nd writing CAT 2009,XAT,FMS nd JMET (strange choices....forms updated) though without much prep..Lets see wat the destiny has in its bag for me.Wish me luck.................
I am presently working in John Deere (Manufacturing Services) at pune.
One truly realises the strength of Indian population when he/she gives some of the most mind crackling entrance exams like JEE, CAT etc..
Now, there are some who make it
and some who dont make it
But then there are also those who seem to nearly make it or perhaps nearly fail to make it...
So sometimes you just get that score but know for sure that you are not going to study in any of those coveted instis
Why?
Because:
(1) You found out there are thousands of others who have same score as yours
(2) and there are even more who are 0.5 marks ahead of you and 0.5 marks behind you
Well, 'thode ke liye reh gaya' is a very common phrase among us
I am yet to give CAT and there is indeed a lot of time remaining(2011). I havent started any prep yet but I keep myself updated through PG.
I am writing this post for all those who "just" got in, but others may anuway read it. It's 'muh se niwala cheen liya gaya'. and this comes in the wake of my tryst with another kind of suicide bomber called JEE.
Pardon me because CAT and JEE are complete different realms of competition and style of prep but they do indeed have something in common. Like:
1. Those who worked harded but could not make it.
2. Those who failed because they were mesmerised by the hype of 'the toughest exam' in India
3. Those who just got blown away and never understood what happened
4. Those who feel ' thoda aur padh liya hota'
5. And those who say "ek aur question attempt kar liya hota"
Lastly those who get ranks and percentiles good enuf to say they cracked it but not good enuf to say they got in
I fall in the same league atleat for now as I had got a JEE rank of 7629 in '08 but did not get admission. There are few lessons I have learned from my experience of an entrance test and also from friends who got in with some mind boggling ranks.
(1) Always remember that the exam is not bigger than you
(2) Discipline is very important. If you are studying 2 hrs a day make sure that you do it in the same time frame everday
(3) Dont think about ur prep 24X7. It will make you too anxious.
(4) All of us have tendency to avoid topics that we hate. Just make sure you do them.
These are just small observations which I think really work. But of'course its a personal opinion.
Entrance exams are something which are to be given parallely to ur boards so jus give them that much importance
I never gave JEE in the next year again . Of'course I had worked hard and failure was emotionally hurting. There are many ppl who go thru this be it CAT or JEE. And then everybody keeps asking you - "Aree you were giving cat na? kya hua?" But trust me puys years down the line you'll realise that it's not as big a deal as it seemed.
Consider CAT like an aptitude test you gave in ur 10th to select ur field of interest.
I have learned that you should never take your defeat in an entrance test at a personal level
2 years after my JEE disaster I am rejuvinated and kicked up for CAT
Ultimately you should live your life and not just go through it
Acad is just a part of life, not way of life. Accepting this has eased of a lot of pressure and stress of performance from my mind.
So now if someone looks at my JEE rank and CET score and exclaims - "tu to na ghar ka raha na ghat ka" , I dont feel bad because I got a chance to learn a lot which the other person has no idea how much it's gonna help me for my CAT prep
What a successful failure!!
Its rightly said that experience makes you wiser....this is not about those who clear entrances at one go...this abt the others who learn from their mistakes and finally make it......
2004 : IIT JEE - Screening : AIR 6000
Mains : AIR 5102
AIEEE - AIR 6200
It was at this time my father, who is a tough taskmaster, told me seems thats your level....around the top 6000 in the country...as all your ranks are in that range...
Come 2007, and in college started writing mocks....abysmal performance ..missed half of the mocks and never scored above 85 %ile..
Wrote CAT 2007 fearing I will surpass my previous records and fall even down...
CAT 2007 : Full of tension hardly could sleep the night before.....had a splitting head ache....started QA and got nowhere and my lack of practice showed... Finally gained momentum and at the end was quite satisfied with my performance
Results...97.9 %ile..
..although not good for the IIMs...gave me immense confidence...by far the best including my mocks......
But again my rank was around 5000....which my father was quick to point out....
CAT 2008: Not letting that stop me...I started preparing for CAT 2008...this time I had some idea what to expect and my performances in the mocks improved....used to get around 95%ile in the AIMCATs......did a lot of quant and DI cause m good in it.......
D Day : same story of tension and no sleep the previous night...got the paper and started with QA and then DI.....after that realized had only 35 mins for 40 VA qs......did as much as I could..
Results : was ecstatic and depressed at the same time..99.56 %ile but a lone IIMK call....because of my poor VA score.... finally came in the top 1200 ...which I pointed out to my father this time around
But again screwed up my GDPI due to sheer lack of preparation....
2009 season: With all the experience of the last two years...I started off the mocks on a good note consistently in the 99+%ile range....CAT went online and kind off threw my PP strategies out of the window but attempted 56....no clue about the accuracy.....
XAT 2010 scored 99.88 which brought me in the top 150 .....which again I pointed out to my father 
Awaiting CAT results now......
The lesson what I learnt was that all it takes to ace CAT, XAT, FMS etc...is a lot of dedication, practice and common sense.....which sadly for people like me comes in stages and takes a bit of time sometimes years.......
So, all those appearing for the first , even the second time don't lose hope if you don't clear it right away....also in the meantime the experience you gain in your workplace will only make you more mature....
Don't know how this year CAT results are going to pan out.....but I always keep hoping that I would get better with time....
ATB to all puys......on a lighter note this time around the IIMs seems to be also trying to test the patience levels of the candidates....
Read my blog for my CAT experience.
Richa_Ritwika_Bloggers_World: The Cat Story
Its a little long story so have patience while reading. :-)
Once upon a time, there was a young boy, who like most other boys in their early teens thought that there is nothing in this world that he can't do; he tried his hands at playing cricket, cricket commentary, poetry, debate and he wanted to be an engineer, a cricketer, a writer, a farmer, a politician and god knows what not.
Then the boy learned about a certain thing called NDA, he being a son of an army-man, always knew the pride that only an Indian army-man can afford; as all his friend were appearing for the written exam he did the same, when the results came the boy was one of the very few who got calls for the Interview or as they say SSB Interview, the boy was glittering with confidence, flying high on the clouds of hope but then some-how he couldn't clear the interview; the dreams shattered, the hopes devastated, this was the first taste of real life for the young boy.
The journey continued for 4 more times, and every-time the results were the same, SSB not cleared; somehow the boy never thought that may be he is not made for this job, or that may be lacks something needed for the job, he just went back more determined to come back harder and failed again, while among these failures the boy managed to get between 80-85 percentage in 10'th and 12'th which were supposedly good enough for his parents et al, and though he couldn't clear IIT JEE, he did get an okeyish rank in AIEEE and a decent rank in UPTU. To have some time for living alone, and to run from the constant expectations of doing good, the boy decided to chuck UPTU colleges and join an almost unknown engineering college in Bhubaneswar.
This boy was never really very talented, nor very hard-working; rather he was, one of the laziest and careless person you will ever come across. But he had a few good qualities, the ability to think smart and the ability to back himself no matter what.
Based on these qualities, the boy managed to clear his semesters with okeyish grades, somehow in the mind the boy realized that somehow he actually enjoyed that burden of expectations and hence he started searching for avenues where he can show his mettle, and as luck would have it, it was just around the corner; in the form of CAT and other management entrance exams, when he came to know that there is some place where in even the so-called-talented IITians strive to enter, he only became more determined to do it, or as they say make it to one of those coveted colleges.
He appeared in the mock-Cat cum scholarship tests of various institutes and with-out exception secured a city rank 1 in all, decided to join the class-room coaching of TIME - because it gave maximum discount and because he didn't like the attitude of another coaching's director. Somewhere in the mean-time he heard about a few forums for CAT aspirants with crazy but captivating names forums like Totalgadha, pagalguy, crazyustad, testfunda and a lot more he joined all of them, stayed there for some time and finally decided to settle on the most active of them all (yes this is PG - a no brainer -).
The mocks (aimcats) started, the boy started doing fair enough, scoring mostly in 99.xx percentile range with all cut-offs cleared, the not so talented, lazy and dreamy eyed the boy was, he always thought this " I am doing good as of now, so no need to think about strategy or time allocation, with time I will read everything I need - as I've enough time for that - and then I will score better than what I am scoring now without preparation; that the mentioned preparation thing never came is a different story.
In the mean-while there came an e-book called " ALL I wanted to say about CAT" by PG, the guy read it and thought that may be even my story will be published like this (you see, I've told you the boy dreamed a lot :P). Among all the all-so-tough AIMCATs, there came an AIMCAT which was very simple and high-scoring, so confident and arrogant this boy was that he decided to give the paper a ditch 27 mintues before the finish time and went ahead to criticize the paper on PG; a newbie that he was, quite expectedly he was thrashed by people - this boy always tried to help people, just because he loved doing so, as long as they recognized and appreciated his efforts - and the boy, unable to take all this thrashing decided to call "I quit" to the forum.
Then as the boy thought more on it, and as his friends told him (special mention to Abhishek Sharma) he came to realize that he was at some fault in the whole and that quitting is not the solution, meanwhile in came a call from estranged_gnrs, out went the ego and there was a return of the boy, this time more active, more cautious and more mature.
Meanwhile the boy was nominated for the dream team of PG by many people, and the boy felt he finally achieved the thing he loved to have, the burden of expectations but then this perhaps was just one sweet part of an otherwise bitter and testing year including a long, bad and hurting cold-war with the roomies and best friends(at one time, the boy actually considered either committing a murder or a suicide), demise of first his bhabhi(she was very young with just a girl of 2 years) and then his father followed by a sine die in the college and subsequent college suspension for 1 month and many more incidents which would have broken his young heart had it not been strengthened by the earlier blows.
Then came the news which gave a ray of hope in the dark night, the selection into PGDT and into KDT. The zeal had returned and it showed in various forms, with more aimcats and a few other mocks following that boy heard a lot about why and how he was wrong, he heard a lot of advice on emphasizing more on accuracy than on speed, mug up the vocab lists and formulae and the tables and what not.
The boy did give them a serious thought -though he never showed so -but he somehow realized that they were all complicating the things too much, the boy read the books on vedic maths and the likes but never applied them in exam as he found that he could do well without them and hence thought the best way to do things is "to keep things simple and have fun". The idea basically never changed, except for a short time when he decided to do like others, thinking and implementing various time allocation strategies etc and attained the new lows in his percentiles ranging from lower 99s to 96.xx; soon he realized that this isn't what he loves doing and came back to his philosophy -"to keep things simple and have fun".- and started getting the same upper 99 percentiles.
The dreams once again started growing, so much so that the boy started hoping to join only one of the two institutes WIMWI (IIM A) or FMS (DU, New Delhi) -for reasons PM me -the boy first decided to appear only for two exams CAT and FMS (with no affiliate colleges) -what arrogance, eh -but then filled XAT(for XLRI, Jamshedpur).
Soon the mock phase ended, and the second phase "the real game" started, as the all so famous Mr. Murphy would have it, the XAT paper started 15 mintues late at the poor boy's center, the boy was still hope-full for a good enough overall percentile and was only worried a little for his sectional in LR -rest two he was sure to clear - in FMS exam the boy decided to go all out and attempt all the 200 questions -this ended up with the boy being known for his 200 attempts in his college and on PG for some days to come -the papers ended and the wait for results started. Every-one told the boy, he is gonna rock but then the fate had slightly different plans, he scored a 99.7x in XAT but missed out on VA cut-off (at 83.xx). When the phase of written results ended the boy had two calls in his hand, both from his second favorite institute -FMS.
The end of the story -for now -is the boy is joining FMS, New Delhi.
Some more Gyan :
1.) For people like me(neither very talented, nor hard-working still aspiring to make it big) the key is to keep things simple and have fun.
2.) Try to learn; whatever people suggest you, think about them -if possible try them -but accept them only when you are convinced with them.
3.) Life is long -one college, one exam, one degree, one accident or one misfortune can't define it -one always gets a chance to prove his worth, provided he carries on.
4.) Fate may delay one's success but it can't deter it.
Hope it helps to some ....
1. This post is a little longer than usual and you could get yourself bored to death
2. Its been a crazy 3 months for me, the post may get a wee bit touchy.
3. If you are looking for advice on how to bell the CAT, go get yourself a beer and read this post.
My journey with CAT began in 2002 when I was in 10th (although I was least aware of the term MBA and even lesser aware of the IIMs) . I had scored close to 90 percent in the pre boards and was quite confident before the big ones.
28th February 2002 : Godhra Carnage , CBSE announces delay in exams for Gujarat.
I was heartbroken and more sad witnessing the bloodshed in the aftermath to the riots. Ultimately got myself back to my feet for the exams again which were held in April but of course I was a distracted mind and the performance was not going to be the same. To my displeasure, the papers were tougher and ended with 80.6 % which was a very decent score in that year for Gujarat, a state well known for whopping scores of 90+ in Ajmer region of CBSE.
2004 : Big year , 12th Boards , decided to pursue engineering for my future and like every 12th standard student in India does appeared for IIT Jee and AIEEE.
The marks for my boards were gonna suffer but still managed a 87% in 12th despite a very unexpected 74 in my favorite subject- physics. Applied for rechecking but I guess its just re evaluation that happens and there was no change in my score.
Couldnt clear JEE but got through NIT Allahabad and was fairly happy.
4 years in college had it all : love , rock , lust , poor grades , subject backs, poor attendance, crazy joints and of course, OLD MONK. The experience had been a dissapointment for me to say the least. (apart from the friends that I made there)
And thats when I met r11gupta (DT Member '10) in college just before my placements . Appeared for my summers before placements and just touched the CPI of 6.00 which is the criterion for most companies.
CPI Score after 6 semesters : 6.00 Exact .. A grade low in any of the subjects in the 6th sem and I wont be eligible for placements.
Sat for TCS , the first company to visit the campus, flirted with the HR and got through. Finally life seemed to move on track after 3 chaotic years in college (of course, only I was to blame for that)
r11gupta and myself learnt about the IIMs and we decided to settle our scores after having missed out on an IIT seat . We dedicated our lives to revising 10th standard maths, solving logical questions using crazy methods, memorizing numbers like crazy and reading the dullest of passages that we could find for each other.
We had joined classes of a premier institute and mocks preparation seemed much like preparation for a war.
Verdict : CAT 2007 : 93.xx Converts : FORE, NIRMA
Didnt join either, joined TCS, the IIM dream was still on ! Fared very well in TCS, won the Technical Excellence award, Star of the Quarter and many appreciation for my work. Life was moving on track and the SAP experience was going to act a boon for MBA as well. Didnt join any classes, but gave the mocks very seriously and was all geared up for CAT 2008.
Verdict : CAT 2008: 94.xx
Thats wen I realized CAT isnt about how good you can solve maths problems or how many words do you know in the English language. It was about something else: confidence, exam temperament and the belief that you are meant to be there right in the best of B schools ....
Didnt join any classes, appeared for 4 mocks, scores of which were dismal to say the least and gave CAT 2009 on my 23rd birthday with virtually zero bookish preparation but total mental preparation that this was the year that was meant to be.
Verdict :
XAT 2010 : 98.xx with no calls from XL.. missed Verbal cutoff for PMIR by 0.5 percentile.....
CAT 2009 : 99.68
QA : 99.05
DI : 99.85
VA : 89.77 with 67 marks
The experience CAT 2009 is
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/47017-cat-2009-5th-dec-day-14.html#post1758790
Considering the fact that I scored the least in the section I was most confident about was a shocker to say the least. I didnt crib as I was confident of earning the IIM tag and didnt care that I would be missing A and C.
In the last 3 months :
A/C rejected me for my verbal score
B rejected me because of my graduation score.
I L K rejected me because probably they thought I cheated in CAT and that a guy with 80 percent in 10th can never be good enough for them. (Pity them for not knowing the entire story)
Shillong .. I didnt even bother checking the shortlist .. because if you get good placements by having a super studious batch ... it defies logic of being an IIM .. a C grade B school could also get good placements if they are given that sort of a batch.
I still didnt give up hope. IMT called and I was happy.. SP jain didnt which came as a shocker to me to say the least .. I believe even a 100 percentile in CAT would satisfy their appetite ! I was still hopeful for an IIM call.. ranchi that is .. the tag was all that mattered.
And today when r11gupta ... got through Joka even IIM Ranchi ditched me for I missed the verbal cutoff by 1 mark .. they wanted a whopping 99.68 overall and 68 marks in english (and 67 I was)
Advice to aspirants:
CAT is a big tamasha to say the least and coaching classes are just looking for people like you to continue the story. Every guy has an aptitude and it cant be changed by those lewd lectures and weird problems. English is the only subject that could be improved but being a 22+ year old, you dont need a teacher for that, do you ? In a nutshell, have the right temperament, solve a few problems / mocks before the big day and read the paper regularly just to get your brain cells working and that would be your best attempt at the CAT. The formulas which they try to teach you wont strike you anyways in those chaotic 135 minutes so avoid paying big bucks to teachers who dont deserve it. Stay good, stay positive and yes not everyone is made for an IIM, the sooner you realize this, the better.
Advice to IIMs:
This may sound like a sob story, but how would you ever normalize my 10th marks (given its a totally incomparable scenario). I still believe Bangalore has the best selection criteria and that half the IIMs should be laying emphasis on acads and other half on CAT score. It gives an opportunity to everyone and it makes sense also ! Isnt it a tad ironic that a guy who screws up CAT gets a call from an IIM but another with decent acads and a great CAT score doesnt. Doesnt it defy the purpose of having a CAT afterall ?
For the puys:
The pagalguy forum is for fun and meeting new compatriots, dont get too serious and devote your life to the tamasha that the CAT is. Its upto you to make a succesful life, an IIM degree is just a catalyst and nothing more. Sorry if this demotivates anyone, but the exam has taken its toll on me and I just had to write this.
I dont know if I will get an admit to IMT this year and whether I would join it. But yes, I may give the exams another shot next year as I respect XAT and FMS. IIMs yes, another shot next year but CAT seems more of a joke to me now !
@ fanaticsin ... sirjee .. your scores have been a source of constant inspiration. You deserve big and trust me you would achieve it one day.
@ srivastavvaibhav.... Thanks for being there always although I wish you didnt clear IIFT this year so that we could have a INGLORIOUS BASTARDS team in PG for CAT 2010 ( Puys with 99.5+ and no IIM calls ) :biggrin:
Would edit this post when I get to learn more about the TAMASHA that is called CAT
EDIT 1: Hopefully the last one :)
19th May 2010 : Puys here on PG were discussing and meeting people in their to-be B-schools and I stared at all this drama for the third consecutive year. Mindlessly went through the "Class of 2012" thread and wondered I could have been part of the glory.
Around 12 noon that day, received a mail from IIM Ranchi, who for some reason wanted me to come for GD PI and I was more than pleased.
I was scheduled for June 2 that meant I hardly had anytime for any preparations and thats when r11gupta, who had come to visit at my place before his WIMWI session, came to my rescue. The perfectionist, that he is, he sat with me, illustrating and bombarding me with material that he had accumalated over the year. Life had come a full circle. I was back with my study partner again just that this time, only I was the aspirant and he, the demi-god (having converted IIM A) :D
I realized aint too much of a hard worker, just brushed through the topics and tried my best memorizing the stats in the crazy PPTs that he had given me, but it wont work. 😞 I have a very volatile memory. I decided to trust my instinct and form an original opinion on things / answers !
2nd June 2010 : GD PI was strange ! I was very frank with all my answers. More of my experience at IIM Calcutta is here :
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/52627-iim-ranchi-2010-2012-shortlist-17.html#post2144551
and my tips for GD PI go here :
http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/3321-profile-people-who-have-converted-67.html#post2161588
11th June 2010 : The list comes out and I find my name ! I have been absolutely ecstatic about. I really think that a college is made great by the efforts of its students and I trust myself to make IIM RAUNCHY big !!!!
Its been a really crazy journey for me .. and its not been a slogging one too but my self belief and instinct got me through. Thats how I would love to put it 😃
this is a freshers post, somebody who gave the mba exams the first time and by gods grace cleared one of them, it is by no means as inspiring as some other stories( all of which i read in this thread and the ebook by pagalguy at 3:00 in the morning when i just wanted some pushing), but it is my story nonetheless...
joined an engg college and by the second year was disenchanted with evrything 'technical', i knew i dint have a future in it and knew that there was only one thing left...joined an mba prep insti pretty early(1 anda half years prior to the exam) and slogged...i was a decent student , was never a master of anything but i had it in me to do well in all the three put together...i know i slogged as hell in this , there was nothing that i prioritised more than this, solved packages, asked doubts, evrything...i pretty much became the ghissu ppl referred to usually...many said i will make it big, they started saying it so frequently that i believed in it myself, by no means a bad thing, but it increased to the point where i believed an iim for me is a right that i deserve...
as i said i did evrything right, toppers list in cl mocks, all sorts of weird papers in wierder books and still would clear cutoffs(i wouldnt recommend them now though)...meanwhile got placed at ZS associates with 9 lpa, purely becuase they tested what ppl call analytical skills combined with gd and interview(in short mba stuff),and thus i knew an iim was coming...at last the day came...6th december, almost all of my college was giving it that day, there were some pretty decent fellows,all toppers of their respective instis...plus iims dint help matters by technical problems and question repeats, still on that day the former did not happen and the paper was smooth sailing for me, knew i had to attempt 55 odd in this outa 60 cause evrybdy who gave the paper before me did the same...the paper was easy ,maths i could manage ,english too, lrdi somehow my mind switched off, i did what i could, still did those questions and my arrogance of my prep made me feel confident...gave me false hope, also gave xlri and fms with a feeling that i had a decent chance of getting thru in both...
the result came, 97.87 with a 89.xx in lrdi, i was devastated...i dint know how could it happen to me, me who prepared so hard, i dint deserve it...i moped around for days when evrybody said to me u still have calls convert them they are damn good etc etc...finally some of that did go into my brain and i said what the heck i will give what i have left to the best of my ability ( trust me it isnt easy, to be down in the dumps and then get up to do it again, i salute all those guys who give CAT the second time becuase i dont think i have it in me to pick up the pieces after giving it your all,all those who can, kudos)had iift and fms calls, soon spjain and mdi also came in, now started the gdpi prep, many guys joined some classes specifically for this purpose , i dint, just stayed at home and used google...made word docs of evry news or issue, soon i had a folder worth 30 Mb of word docs(more like 100+) and i was ready now...used to go to cl for my gd practice classes, my public schooling came in handy as i was able to converse comfortably in english...was a good speaker, would always write the suggestions the guys there said...they told me sites to get info from,some forums i should visit and some ppl i shuld read upon...lots of stuff, pagalguys gdpi thread here helped too (thank god for pagalguy!) and now while writing this post, i have filled my first years fee at FMS after being selected for both their courses and with the realease of marks i got to know that i had the highest marks among all candidates ( written +gdpi combined)!
i just want to say that somewhere down the line we should know when to give up an obsession, but also how to give it your all while following it...
hope all of you achieve what you set out to do...
cheers guys!
this post is being deleted.
I guess I can write here now :)
I will keep it simple as my story is not as dramatic as other posts here. Writing the events and motivation chronologically:
Year 2006
======
Motivation was to go to a top notch US university for MS in comp science. I have always liked my engineering branch and that is why there was zero interest in writing CAT.
Wrote GRE, scored 1430, much below expectation. Average score, average GPA and family pressure to stay in India took away the motivation to pursue MS!
Meanwhile, as everyone was filling it up, I also filled up CAT form. By mid Oct it was clear that I am not going for MS, so, decided to spend some time on CAT. Went for a CL mock with friends ID :), cleared the overall cutoff, max marks in VA 😃 and missed quant cutoff!! (and I always thought my quant was very good)
Anyway, gave 2 more dismal mocks and barely cleared all cutoffs.
CAT2006 score was ~98%ile with ~88%ile in DI, ~98%ile in QA, ~95%ile in VA.
Reasons:
- CL mocks taught me that cracking just 2 sets in DI was enough to clear cutoffs!!
- I was expecting too much
- The center was pathetic, at times I had to use my watch light to read questions
Year 2007
======
In Bangalore, happy with the good job in software products development wasn't planning on giving CAT 2007. Then, found some friends from college going for free mocks 😃 went with them. Surprisingly, percentile was ~98. Enrolled for mock series and filled CAT. Gave around 5-6 mocks with zero preparation!! ( None of us studied 😃 and still scored above 97%ile in all of them. 10 days before the exams, I felt may be I can crack it... studied those 10 days religiously... and gave the paper
CAT2007: Overall ~95%ile with ~99.x in VA, ~88% in DI and QA
Reasons:
- Too much expectation
- Pathetic attempt sequence, so pathetic that every question I picked initially in each set, turned out to be controversial!
- Super unlucky!
Year 2008 I PREPARED!!!!!
======
Joined Time classes, gave all the mocks, and two months before the CAT also enrolled for CL and IMS mocks.
Hardly attended 5-6 classes of TIME. Found QA boring, VA unhelpful but DI teacher was good and hence loved his classes and the DI caselets :)
Scored decently in mocks with very fluctuating scores in VA. But I was confident about my VA (c'mon I cleared it! twice before). Also became regular PG user and part of the BBBT
CAT2008: Scored ~99.2 with ~87 in VA and ~99.5 in both QA DI.
Reasons:
- Expectations, I was desperate for change... my job wasn't challenging anymore!
- Poor number of attempts in VA (partly, because I was over prepared. My strategy wasn't good for 40 quests in VA!)
Year 2009
======
I was really low! and also clear that giving CAT year after year is not going to solve anything.
It was a big blow but a great learning
------------------------------------------
- Look for things you love and spend time on those. Guitar, chess, programming etc
- Carry on and perform your best in what you are doing, instead of compromising everything for one DAY
- Introspect and analyse all the available options. There are 100 ways to realize your destiny and IIT/IIM is just one of them!!!
Thought, may be I am not going to meet my destiny thru the CAT route. I had learnt from 2008 that putting all eggs in the same basket is highly risky... Wrote GMAT for MBA. Also wrote TOEFL to apply for MBA & MS outside (GRE score is still valid)...
My family, again, didn't want me to go out of India So, didn't apply for MS again 😛 and applied only to ISB. Between all this, my mom made me fill up CAT AGAIN!!, in fact, she bought the voucher in Jaipur and mailed it to Bangalore. So, I had to fill it up :)
Meanwhile, I looked for job change, so interviewed with a lot of companies (start-ups only). I had job interviews on 5th Dec, 8th Dec and CAT on 7th :D
CAT2009: Scored 99.95 OA with great scores in all the sections... notably, 99.89 in VA (look at the last year's score )
Reasons:
- Zero expectations, I finished the paper before time... and still wasn't expecting anything (left 3 questions in QA which I felt were wrong and 2 in DI out of sheer laziness!!)
- My friends kept cribbing about results getting delayed etc... I never bothered
- Super-duper Lucky!
I have already converted the IIM Calcutta call and looking forward to other results too. Do not have any preferences, will make an informed choice...
Edit:
===
Converted A,B,C,L and joining IIM A ...
NOTE TO ASPIRANTS:
=============
1. Coaching institutes create a lot of hoopla about CAT. In 4 years, none of the CATs was any close to a random AIM, MOCK or SIM CAT! Believe in yourself and not in the Mock scores
2. Try Sentence correction of GMAT (Manhattan), it is very logical and makes grammar very easy
3. Coaching instis are not good for GD/PI as well. Do attend them for practice but don't entirely go by their feedback.
4. If not CAT, you will get A,B,C,D......Z other ways to reach where you want to... you have to put sincere effort... insincere students fail to make their mark even after passing out from IIT, IIM, Stanford, MIT etc!
All the best...
Wont call this tale inspiring or anything but as far as I see it, its a great caveat for anyone who wants to go down the CAT prep road and belongs to the category of people like who fall into the so called "good but good enough??" category.
This story goes out to all who have been told by everybody around them that they are good,they are cut out to do something big,but apparently doubt it.
Doubt it to an extent that they curb and smother that little voice within them which tells them that they are good.
They like me,take great troubles by first making attempts to prove to themselves that they deserve the best and like a darn internecine emotion , make sure they develop the anti agent to kill that belief.
All they want to hear is one voice,just one,their own, which stops berating them and says,hey,that was good.
Alas,even after hearing it sometime,they choose to neglect it.
May be coz they want something even bigger,or probably coz they are not ready for it.
Crazy monologue,I know,but then its my story :)
This was my first CAT season and by any stretch cannot be termed as extraordinary.
The motivation was pretty simple.
"I JUST DON'T WANT TO BE ANOTHER HEADCOUNT".
Cat prep,what started as a result of disillusion from the workplace initially,somehow got transformed into a receptacle,a dumpster where I grappled with my weaknesses and discovered a few of my strengths (that was much later in the journey,weaknesses were all I found for most of the time).
It was all I could think of.
But there was this darkest weakness of mine which i refused to acknowledge during most part of the journey.
My Negativity!!!
And I cannot stress enough on what havoc it played with me at a personal level,leave apart what result it had on my CAT aspirations.
Years of nurturing of some deep seated failure after school would take this form was something that I had never thought.
It was as if I was running a race,knowing that I would lose,with each question i couldn't solve and with each cutoff that i failed to clear,the demon of pessimism just kept growing and gnawing.
I was doing everything,everything possible,putting in 10-12 hours of work,and putting my efforts early in the morning,late at nights and any time i could find,be it office or anywhere else.
In fact there was no situation externally which I think was putting my dedication to test,and at the risk of sounding immodest,I thought my perseverence was good.
Even during those 6 months when I was deputed to Hyderabad for a project where I had to put in crazy hrs,7 days a week,I never felt that my prep was slipping from my hands.
But what actually was slipping was my self belief,my voice that sometime used to tell me that I am good was pretty much but dead.
And believe me when i say that,it went on and on till pretty much till aimcat 18-19,and which anyone seriously preparing will tell you,was a pretty sorry state of affairs.
I do think i pulled my self back in the last few mocks but my best didn't seem to be "The best".
It was as if i knew that would botch my whole year of efforts with the just 3 letters,"CAT"!!!
Last month was just my focus on trying to keep the rubbish out of my mind and step up to whatever level I could.
Took IIFT and went back home to take up CAT.
Desperately trying to focus on just the preps and avoiding any thoughts of the exam as such,took CAT and gave a rather limited sort of performance.
Disappointed with the average number of attempts i knew that I was staring at some ordinary 90-95 range which even though sounds okay,is pretty much a worthless number,especially when I take in the kind of effort I had put in.
Meanwhile filled up a few forms,XAT (I was brimming with so much confidence that I didnt even fill up XLRI form,for something was already sitting in me saying,you can never make it to XL,look how you have done CAT) SP JAIN,Narsee and a few others.
I know it was going to be bad...but this BAD!!!!
First let me talk about my cat results,with exceptional VA and what I pegged reasonable accuracy to touch 90tile types in Quants and DI,CAT was like a heavy ball which hits you hard and leaves you gasping for breath.
The score sheet stood like this...QA - 88.xx,VA-99.7x and LR - 20.xx!!!
20%tile!!!! "YOU GOT TO BE BLEEDY KIDDING ME"
And it was as if I was there again,right after 12th,revisiting and living that time when I knew that it was not my fault,but then having no words to justify myself,no matter how much I shout and cry (and believe me I wanted to do both) claiming that this was not me.
How desperately I wanted to say,"I haven't even screwed my mocks LR section this bad ( and I have had some pretty rotten mocks)".
Indeed I didn't say that to anyone,all I could manage was to put up a strong front and say,I GOT ROYALLY ______ in LR,
and just look at those faces which seemed to say...dude...what were you doing the whole year.
I wrote this because first I wanted this part to end as soon as possible,that time and today.
Meanwhile i had a call from IIFT where LR was one of the component which helped to clear the cutoff,which gave me some
sort of confidence that yes,I can still get to the top schools in the country.
Along with 94.xx in XAT and NMAT,I had calls from SP Jain ( which was dinged eventually ) and Narsee monjee which I chose
not to attend.
With a low written score in IIFT (39.xx) and with an awesome grp of people who were with me during GD/PI prep (needless to say with exceptional scores,I was pretty much on the verge of losing the race again without even running.
But this time I chose to run,and run to win.
With a 65% weight-age for written I had to have a great GD/PI/essay.
And in this sad story till now,this is probably the good part.I did a really good job in all the 3.
In fact,I was so satisfied with my performance that I thought I might even get to Delhi list for IIFT.
I did make it to IIFT-K list and probably would make it to Delhi looking at the waitlist,but I am all for joining Kolkata too in case the list doesnt move.
This story probably defies the way a decent narration is supposed to be presented but I have reached till here without taking a second to halt and go over what I have written till now.
Its pretty much how I would like you puys to read it.
Before I wrap it up,a few pointers,not pertaining to DI et al,coz there are puys who are much better at that it than I am.
1) Cliched,may be,but start your prep with a positive frame of mind.
This positive frame may be different for everyone,but you know you are going the wrong way when you do not see the difference between being practical/aware of your strengths and weakness/underachieving.
2) Talk to people.
Really difficult for people like me,I just don't open up that easy,even with my closest friends.But I did with one of my friend and yes that did help.
3) The most difficult part,find out for what you are,its stupidity to join the race without understanding what you do bad and equally important,what you do good.
This year was crazy and there is just one thing which still hurts as I move on to another phase of CAT prep,ie,the actual school journey.
I just want to take cat another year and just prove to myself again,that LR score,that was just not me
Following this post is a crummy poem I wrote just after I came back that day...
PS : Final verdict IIFT Delhi..
And this completes my "All I wanted to Speak about CAT"
Is this itthe proverbial end i ask myself?
lots and lots of yes,they scoff,this thyself.
How dare thou jumped,and dared to look beyond ye?
even though scared of those who said nay.
A dream,so vast,encompassing,distorting the comfort,to
find the meaning
was it just a chandelier,hanging on nothing but false ceiling?
Those ups,those downs,those smiles,those frowns
were they all (mis)directed,only to crash on this hard ground?
Was this all just a big,fragile facade,
nothing,nothing but a camouflage entry to area,for me,barred?
Why dont ye let it go,why not just bow down
accept,ye have lost,dont resist,sink and drown?
Isnt the opponent too strong,and you,Oh so weak
odds,immensly stacked ,and chances,bleak?
Thou want to hear me say YES,and say it out loud
accept the defeat,throw towel,mid-bout?
Thou want to see me crack,like a brittle figurine
go back to the shell,resign,not to be heard,nor seen?
I refuse!! to evince pain and suffering,outside,and shout
instead,I make them my allies,as i wear them inside out
Yes,I wear them inside out,and there is my fortress,
which shall never succumb,never recede the slightest
As I wear them inside out,
As I wear them inside out..
Hi,
It seems its been ages since Ive been waiting to write on this thread...but thankfully that day has arrived.....before starting I want to see how dejected and hopeless i was excatly one year back. You can read it here Insatiable Desires.. n a Perpetual Journey...: Screwed!!!
Season 1
--------
I was in second year of engg, I was thinking over should I go for MBA or MS.Since I wasnt sure which
way to go so I decided to work on my english and hence I started reading novels,mugging words....
In third year, I joined a coaching institue and started studying religiously for CAT or IIMs :P.
At the end of third year I got placed in *** and I got devaited from my studies.I was kindda surprised by my new behaviour, coz getting into IIMs was my dream, my last 2 yrs were dedicated to
that.When others used to enjoy themselves in canteen , I used to solve test papers in class. During lectures I used to read or mug words. But I started getting the feeling that I have everythig which
I need. So I got satisfied and hence start of season 2 seemded imminent.Just six months before CAT, I stopped studying and understanble I got the scores i deserved ..94.5 perentile. I did got calls from NMIMS and SCMHRD but I didn`t even attend them.
Season2
-------
I dint do anything in this season...i was undergoing training at *** and life was pretty cool So i was enjoying my life. I gave only one exam i.e.cat and again scored 94 somthing..
Season 3
--------
By this time I was pretty much pissed of by the kindda work that happens in IT. I started hating my job and company. And as anthony robbins says "In life you either need inspiration or desperation".
So I got bigger driving force ...desperation. i was desperate to get out of IT and get into FMS( yes FMS became my dream college) ... So I started my prepation with full force in FEB. Evryday I used
to comeback home at 11...used to study till 1-2 and amid all this my roommate used to have sleepless night. But he never complained against it and suprisingly he also became part of my plan ( he still
resent for this). JUly came and I joined IMS test series, my rommie joined TIME and we both got PT test series for 100 bucks so we both joined it. Every sunday we used to take our test and on next
Saturday I used to give time tests and he used to give IMS tests. Life went by like this, all our weekends wer about taking these test and weekdays we about analysis these tests. So when season
ended I had taken around 40 mock tests. In addition to this I had two notebooks and 6 sheets filled by analysis of these 40 tests.
Then D day arrived, I was a bundle of nerves. I started writing CAT and got stuck at 1-2 ques and I got completely unnerved and rest is history. As all the serial cat takers at pagalguy have said, CAT
is a game of holding your nerves and I learn it a hard way. In the evening i checked my scores and the world came crashing down on me. I just couldn't`t believe that I used to score 99+ regularly , I even scores AIR 7 once and when D day came I just floundered. I just couldn't`t believe that due to my anxiety I have wasted one of the best prepartion I have ever done in my life. But that was it... it
ended out of my stupidity.
Anyways, days went by and so did exam. I wrote IIFT,SNAP,XAT,NMIMS, MAT& ATMA (for JB)...
Days of gloominess eneded with IIFt result, I got a call from IIFt and subequently i scored 99.44 in XAT hence got a call from XLRI as well. I scored 93 marks in SNAP and SIBM also called me and in the
end SPJAIN also decided to evalalute me. So with 3 great calls with me , I thought finally I`ll be able to leave IT and join a B school. But it didn`t turned out to be so. IIFt was the first one to reject me, I thought my low score of 27 was the reason. Next one to reject
me was SIBM( I am still clueless as to why they rejected me) , and then it was XL and in the end SPJAIN. And on 21st april whole world came crashing around.... I haveno word to describe what I felt then. I was completely numb for the next three months. i just coudln`t belive that I have not cashed on opportunity like this . Calls like XL and IIFt is like a once in a life time opportunity....and I
had no strength to move forward and take all those mock tests again...and go though that complete process...giving away my weekends for next 6 months...this was not supossed to be...
I find it difficult to accept that after such a great mock season ....and nice scores...and my profile...my undergrad scores,my coll, my hobbies ( i have read more than 80 books) and ... I just felt like I am seeing a bad dream....
BUt as time went by reality started to sink in.... spending one more year in IT seemed as an herculean task... all my friends we saying just give it one more shot we belive that you`l make it... and giving it one more shot was the only way out....coz making carreer in It was certainly not an option for me.....and though I didn`t want to but I had to continue ....
Season 4
--------
Cat went online and hence all the preparation which i had done so far went for a toss.It was a completely new ball game... This time I din`t started in Feb infact I feel I never started in this season...I was just drifting along doing few things here and there... this time my heart was not in prepartion... When mourning subsided in august I joined Time test series .... this time total no of test was I took was 15 as against 40... analysis was not at all good....and mock scores were bad....
But this time all I wanted to work on was anxiety level..so this time I stopped studying 2-3 days before cat.... and then D day arrived...though I was nervous but i kept my nerves under control...i
attempetd 51 questions...and I felt i have a good chance of belling cat this time...
after that i wrote xams on every Sunday.... first result came our and yipee I got call from IIFT with a score of 44.6 .... i was on the top of the world I felt finally this time my agonising and seemingly perpetual journey will end... then came XAT result I scored 99.74 ( Sometimes you are more worried when you compete with urself...I scored 99.44 last year and while giving XAT I thought I would not be able to hit that mark again)...but I did....and Can`t tell you people How happy I was on that day....and then I scored 116 in snap....and I got call from FMS....i got call from my dream college....it was like I was again living a dream..this time it was a pleasant one....i was on cloud number 9...90...90k ....
Then started interview season...Having not converted 3 big calls puts u under an immense pressure... i tried alot to disentangle myself from that...but my efforts didn`t fructify...and this time my
desperation level was so high that I filled forms of IMT,SCHMRD,XIMB( its not like that these are not good colleges ...but i never thought of going to these collgs) ...so to summarize i was under immense pressure.... ...my first GD/PI was of SCMHRD....and they rejected me....and I was like WTF...how can they do that...but then I forgot about it in few hours but giving a convincing reasoning :P... its wsnt tough...
then came IIFT GD/PI......there IIFT profs royally screwed me on my engg fundas...... so with every interview pressure was increasing and the bone-chilling thought of continuing in IT for a lifetime
used to give me sleepless nights....
Then came XL interview...BM interview went ok ok.... PMIR was good... and when I came back after PMIR interview cat result was awaiting me.... I checked that and it gave me shock of a life time... i scored 92 percentile..... 68 perctile in eng.... I just coun`t belive how they can do that... I got or they gave me 68 perc in english..... english was my strongest section...my English scores of various exams are
XAT -99.2
IIFT- 22/30
NMIMS 92/96... 100 percentile
and I got a call from FMS...which certainly a 68 percentile getter can`t get....
But that was CAT.... I was shocked but i wasn`t sad....and may be that was because of FMS(my dream coll)...
since XL interview are very detail oriented so I has pretty much prepared about all the topics..so I decided to take care of my anxiety level...which was rising ans prepare lil bit for Extempore... a
And just when I thought things are ok....then came a shocker...i was rejected by IIFT... though I had bad PI but I with ok GD and goof score I was really hopeful of converting IIFT....
and the timing couldn`t have been more treacherous.... FMS..my dream college`s interview was stone throw`s away and here I was sitting,cryin and anticiapting that history might repeat itself....After
3 days I thought even if I am going down...at least I should put up a brave fight and on that note I started preparing myself mentally for FMS GD/PI..
In the evening of 26th march a day before FMS interview , i got a msg saying that XL results are out, I was not prepared for one more reject just a day before most important day of my life...so I switched off my mobile phone .... on 27th morning when I was in the bathroom ...getting ready for FMS interview..my friends came knocking on the door askig me to come out immediately...i came out
,went into the room and on the laptop screen was opened stating "Congratulations" ...tht was from XLRI..... that morning i finally broke the jinx...finally all my prayers were answered...all my hardwork paid off.....after that I gave all my interviews went absolutely amazing.... so till now convert count is XLRI,XIMB,FMS(wl),NMIMS...and I hope to add spjain also to it.... so that was my story...
It was treacherous,emotional,joyous,diffcult,harrasing, desperating, and at times it seemed perpetual....but I am gald it ended and it ended in a style..... M going to jampot...yipee...i wish this party never ends.....
These 4 seasons changed me completely as a person. I have learnt:-
-to trust myself
-to move forward exp when you think you don`t have strength to do so
-to ignore critics
-that it is wrong to ignore your work at hand ( my IT work..)
-the power of beliefs
But the most important gain from this seemingly perpetual journey is that i have finally gained TRUST in My abilities......
PS:- Converted Spjain also ....which acc to me was the toughtest to crack since conversion ratio was 1:11....... it proves hardwork does pay off..... its the timing which creates the problems
I guess it's about time I put in my 2 pence worth of CAT wisdom.
Prologue - Once upon a time in Nashik... and Pune
Most of my schooling was done in Nashik. It was there that I gave my 10th and 12th Standard exams. After my 12th, I desperately wanted to get out of Nashik. Thankfully I got into College of Engineering, Pune and immediately took admission in the Electronics and Telecommunication department there.
I was decent at academics, with a CGPA of 8.13. However I was never really that interested in electronics, so an electronics or software related job wasn't something that I really wanted. An M.S. was out of question, so I decided to go for an MBA. Quite honestly, the amazing packages that IIM grads were getting was the major reason for this. Also, after visiting IIT B during Mood Indigo, I always felt bad that I did not make it to an IIT. It was then that I decided that I would do my MBA from an IIM and nowhere else.
Chapter 1 - Fear Proof
I joined IMS Pune for CAT 2008. This was because they had a special Apex batch where they would club together the best of students who would be taught by the best of faculties. I really learned a lot here. The faculty was pretty good and the classes were very useful as the level of questions was pretty high as compared to the ordinary classes. I was also performing well in my Mocks and was pretty confident of cracking CAT. Maybe I was over confident. Hence after getting a job in a software company, I did not give the entrance test of any other high paying 'core electronics' company, as I was very sure that I would be joining an IIM the next year. I wasn't even planning on writing any other MBA entrance test. Heh.
Chapter 2 - From Dreams till Dust
I took the CAT on November 16, 2008 - what turned out to be the last paper based CAT. I thought I had done pretty well and went to my class looking for answers to the questions. It was there that I realised that I had screwed up DI. Not a major screw-up, but bad enough to ensure that I wouldn't get a call from IIM A or IIM C. Realising this, I took the XAT just to have more choice. And sure enough my predictions came true. I had just 1 call - IIM K. And yeah, I also had an IIM L-ABM call. XAT went well and I had an XLRI BM call as well. Things were starting to look up.
My CAT 2008 score:
VA: 99.8 %ile QA: 96.5 %ile DI: 93.67%ile Overall : 99.59%ile
XAT: 99.97%ile
Chapter 3 - Interviewer B.....ds
My IIM K interview was bad. I barely answered anything and was out in no time. However my IIM L ABM interview went well. It was a bit of a joke really, I convinced the interviewers that I had an uncle who owned a winery in Nashik because of which I wanted to study ABM. My XLRI interview was good, and I was hoping to get through. Then came the results: XLRI reject followed by IIM K reject. I was stunned. I felt like a complete failure. I still remember that day- my dad had called to console me and I was about to cry in the middle of the street. For the first time in my life I had failed at something that I had worked so hard for. I didn't check my IIM L ABM result till a few days later. And I had made it, I had converted my call! However, by then I had decided that I would take the CAT again. A lot of people advised me to join IIM L - arguing that the placements were similar to the main course. But an MBA is like a marriage - you do it only once. And I didn't want my MBA to be in Agri Business Management. My Sir tried to talk me out of it - saying that there's no guarantee that I could crack the CAT again. However, deep inside I knew for sure that I would crack it the next time. After all, the CAT & I had some unfinished business.
Chapter 4 - Grindhouse
I started studying for CAT 2010 in all earnestness. I joined Byju Sir's classes. I really had fun in the classes and they helped boost my confidence. I also started working. Thankfully, the rigours of the job were never such that I didn't get time for my studies. However, I skipped everything else - the million parties, movies etc etc that my office gang would go for. I had just one goal - cracking the CAT. The best part about studying for CAT was that I loved doing it. Therefore I rarely felt bored by studying, this helped me study more and helped increase my confidence. I was confident about myself this time and nothing could shake my confidence - not the shift to an online pattern, not my moderate Mock CAT scores and not even the fact that a lot might depend on the type of questions that I would get. I knew I would get through irrespective of that. So I wrote my CAT on 7th December 2009. It went well and I was hoping for the best.
Chapter 5 - True Brilliance
28th February, 2010: I was home. The result was declared! But I couldn't access the site. Finally my friend got through, and he mailed me my result. I saw it - 99.99 %ile. I had done it! I was rolling on the floor, laughing in disbelief and joy. I had nailed the CAT!
My CAT 2009 score:
VA: 99.80 %ile QA: 96.95%ile DI: 100 %ile
Chapter 6 - Natural Born (IIM)Student
I had 5 IIM calls - BLACK. Also had 2 FMS calls. Hence I was roaming all over for my GDs and PIs. Some went well (C,K) some were ok (L) while some were bad (A,B,FMS). But all this while, I felt good. I knew I was going to make it. Also, I had learned a lot more about an MBA. It was not just a means to obtain a fat package - it was much, much more than that. I came to know more about what students actually do at the IIMs, how their life is and how an MBA makes an impact on their lives. And I really wanted to be a part of it. And I knew that I deserved to be a part of it. Almost as if it was meant to be.
Epilogue - Joka Crown:
April 25, 2010: I have converted both my IIM C calls. No other results have been declared, but I am more than happy with what I have. I will be starting my MBA journey soon at one of India's best colleges - the dream has finally come true. The year long wait, the efforts put in, the countless Mocks, my rejecting IIM L ABM - it was all worth it. I have finally done it. All it needed was a strong self-belief, sharp focus, great will power and a lot of fun while studying.
Update: I have converted my IIM Ahmedabad call and have decided to study there and not at IIM Calcutta.
-Aniket Khasgiwale
college, cricket and crap
It is said "Some people are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them"
My version for the same would be "Some people are told that they can never be great, but they keep on striving and beating the odds every chance they get"
Im your average guy next door with a small-town heart. As a school-going kid i was never exceptionally brilliant. For all i remember, i never scored more than 70% in mathematics right uptil standard 11. Std 12 arrived and i had no big hopes. Little did i know it was to be my life's 1st big turning point as i was to get tutored by a Mathematics wizard by the name of Prof. N.M.Kulkarni. One year of rigorous training under him and i ended up topping the school with 99/100 in maths and a city merit rank of 31. But the success was to no avail since the govt scrapped the 12th std scores and instead brought into place an MCQ-based CET at the last moment. With no prior 'competitive' exam experience, i messed up the exam completely and landed up in a nondescript engg college.
Here's where the harsh reality bit me. My parents simply could not afford to pay for my engg studies. I had applied for BCS through my HSC score as a backup just in case. It is beyond me to describe the pain that my parents must have felt when even with all they had, they could not provide enough for their son. But as it so happens, in the toughest of times, a little ray of light eventually shines through the dark clouds. An angel in the form of my uncle got to know of my situation and offered to pay my engg fees. ( i am forever indebted to him)
Engg 3rd year came around and brought with it the placement season. Most of the intelligent 'hotshots' in my class frowned upon me as someone who won't land a single placement because of my poor engg grades. 3 companies came on consecutive days for recruitment. When the results were announced, i was one of 27(out of 550) people who had offers from all 3 companies. It was the 2nd time after my HSC results that i felt the rush of having proved my detractors wrong and achieving way more than was expected of me.
The thought of an MBA started budding in my mind in my engg final year. I came across PG in Feb-09 but finally joined in september. 4 months of preparation saw me land a 95%ile in a rather controversial CAT 2009. No calls. The surprise came in the form of a call from NMIMS with 97%ile. The final GDPI results came on 15th april and i had my life's 1st convert......any normal MBA aspirant would have been elated at this. Want to know what i did? I cried like hell knowing that another opportunity is going to pass me by for the same reason - finances . ( you may argue that i can take a loan but in my case even that is not an option)
What can i say....i nearly missed a chance to be an engineer and i have already missed one chance to be an MBA.......i wonder how many more twists and turns life has to offer? :lookround:
The last 8 months as a PG member have been wonderful. I have made some great friends in the form of anshul_mechie(he pinged me after my worst AIMCAT performance and offered me words of support, god bless you friend),doodlums, daniket, akshay.vannery, aashishsuneja23, P@GALGUY and many others. I have seen a bunch of immensely talented yet supremely grounded people in the form of shashank3012,The bmr,r11gupta, Sammael,naga25french.....
Puys have occassionally asked me why i chose a name like 'uglyduckling'. The reason is simple. Just like the fairytale of its namesake,it is symbolic of what i've been made to believe as a kid by cousins and relatives - that i just don't measure up.....
Pagalguy and CAT-2009 have made me realise that i'm not half as smart as the best guys around........but i do have a big heart. The journey of life has just begun and i have to keep fighting with all i've got
Will this uglyduckling ever metamorphose into a majestic swan?...........
This is going to be a long short story.
Shuruat (2008 )
I am an Electronics engineering graduate from IT-BHU, and I spent all 4 years of my college life doing everything apart from studying. It is much less cool than it actually sounds. By the beginning of the fourth year I knew that landing a good job would be a near impossible task for me. I did get a job in a big software firm (like 10,000 or so others like me), but I didn't want to join it, especially after the tales of horrors my friends already employed in such firms told me. I wasn't ready to slave myself for a meager pay, not yet.
Of course I wasn't ready to do much hard work either.
Enter my brother, who was at that time studying in IIM C, he said that going for CAT is a good way out.
Yes, initially that was what CAT was all about to me, a good job, good money, etc etc.
I enrolled myself in a T.I.M.E test series and bought the ridiculously over-priced but highly useful study material. When I gave my first mock in August-2008 I was very naive to the ways of the exam, I didn't even know what sort of questions would be asked.
Also, I forgot to read on the front page that there is negative marking
. The guy sitting next to me furiously wiped the sweat of his brow as he saw that I attempted all the 90 questions.
AIMCATs of Season 2008 were a nightmare for me, the blasted exams were ALWAYS on Sunday mornings as early as 9 AM, and I went with a sleep deficiency hangover to the papers. There was one Mock Test in which I left the DI section completely blank . And it was during this season that I started having an aversion for DI, the same way that Vampires have an aversion for Garlic or Sunlight 
. I trembled at the sight of charts and tables. Compared to that English and QA were a breeze.
Shuruat ka ant AKA CAT 2008 AKA The Last Paper-Pencil CAT AKA The Last CAT Exam That Made Sense (The future of CAT exams doesn't seem bright to me)
When the day finally came, surprisingly my paper went well. It was all due to the conditioning that my body had recieved, giving exams in a state of headache and half-sleep. Also, 40 questions in english helped.
After the exam the speculations about percentiles and other things started, and my friends checked up the answer-keys and the news items etc. I on my part was happy the exam was over and celebrated like any school-kid would after the end of exams. Results were something that I had learned to not care about, attaining this Zen state had taken me (till then) three years of 'E' grades on my College marksheets.
I gave only two other exams in that season, FMS and XAT.
When the results finally came, (without delays that year) I had scored a decent 99.40 percentile. However, bad acads and low sectional in Quant meant that I had only one call, from the good people at IIM K.
Now that year I had given CAT without any preparation and without even knowing why I wished to to do MBA (apart from a vague idea about good jobs etc), so when people in Mock interviews asked me Why MBA, I would say 'Good jobs etc', and they would mock me. It was kind of a trage-comedy.
With the help of my brother I fine tuned an answer for this question and more or less memorized it. Two days before Valentine's Day, I had my interview for IIM K. As soon as I walked in through the door, the first question they asked me was 'Why management, and tell me something apart from what you have written in the CV form'.
Things went pretty downhill from there.
My CAT-2008 written score was unexpected, but the interview result was pretty much expected. I didn't get through. And in XAT, I got 99.08, but 77.8 in LR. No calls. FMS also couldn't clear.
Ant ki Shuruat
After college ended, I got a mail from my prospective employers that the joining date would be sometime in 2010. I decided to utilize the time to start preparing for CAT again, I joined a class-room program this time. And thanks to my previous year's score I got a 90 percent discount on fees in TIME Church Gate. This year my mock CATs went well, and I scored consistently in the 98+ region.
Also this season I decided to go all-out and filled more forms, namely IIFT and MDI. Didn't fill up SP Jain, NITIE and a couple of other good colleges which I should have. considering I had decided to go for MBA this year in any case.
The first exam of the season was IIFT, which went well for me, and a week after IIFT I had my CAT. The paper was surprisingly easy, and I attempted 54/60 with a 20/20 in Quant. I was happy with my attempt and thought of a score of the 99.80+ variety. My XAT and FMS papers too went like a breeze. I clicked my fingers, took a deep breath and waited for results.
The first result of the season was IIFT. I qualified it easily with a good written score of 51.33, this gave me much needed confidence. I decided to take a risk and not join the job offer I had, because the joining date for it had been in late janurary. I didn't want the training period of the job to clash with my interviews.
It also gave me not-needed over confidence. A week before my IIFT interview the XAT results came out, I expected both calls. I got none.
My XAT score was 97.xx with Quant score being 52.xx. What the XAT ! Ironically, I had 99.80 in DI-LR, the section because of which last year I had missed out on XL calls.
With shaken-confidence, I prepared for my IIFT interview, almost regretting that I had not joined the job.
Ant (recommended background score - The End by The Doors)
The positive thing that happened with me was that in the year off I did some introspection, read books and articles and realized how to join MBA with the ambition that I had. That worked for me in the IIFT interview, the first question that I was asked was 'What is your passion?' And upon answering it I was able to easily justify how an MBA would help me in it.
My IIFT interview went well, and I recieved further good news in the form of FMS results.
The whole month of Feb passed in speculation and counter-speculation of when the CAT results would finally be out. Like last year, this year too I was unfazed by the build up to the results, albeit for a different reason.
And then on the last day of Feb, I got a shocker.
I scored 99.65 in CAT, with 89.77 in VA. Meri VAt lag gayi thi. As soon as I read the individual scores, I knew I was screwed.
(And this is the point where we reach the climax of the post, this is where after a long and boring monologue, I finally share my two-pence about CAT and its after effects.)
This time the people at IIMs devised an iron clad system, and it seemed that the universe conspired (with each IIM contributing in its own way) that I did not get a single IIM call.
My academic past (read : bachpan mein ki hui galtiyan) is 88 % in 10th, 78% in 12th and 67% in Graduation, no marks for anyone seeing a trend here.
Combining with the 89.77 in VA and you have a recipe for disaster. I accepted my fate, not because I believe in predestination and Karma and God's will (I hope God is not reading this post 
) but because to me the system of selection in most of the IIMs is imperfect. And it saddened me to see people saying 'Not fair! Not fair! Fir se karao!' They have to understand that until and unless the IIMs change their criteria for giving Calls, those affected by this year's CAT would continue to be affected.
Let me give you an example, suppose there is a club with a line for people going in and a big burly bouncer standing in front of the door deciding who gets entry and who doesn't. The bouncer tells you 'I can let you go through the door, but all you have to do is invent a time machine, go back in time, correct your 10th, 12th and Grad scores, and come back and apply again. Of course even after that it's a maybe. A definite maybe.'
I would rather go to a place where my present skills are appreciated and I get a call if I score good marks in written. IIFT Director Mr. Chacko said in an interview 'No one who is bad academically would be able to clear our written exams' and THAT I guess should be the logic. I mean, why have a written exam in the first place if it's going to constitute only a minor part on the criteria on which you give calls, let alone selection.
For those who have a profile similar to mine, I would advise (in fact I would advise this to anyone) CAT is not the end, it is not even the beginning. It is just another option. There is no dearth of good colleges in the country, and more than half of them won't judge you too harshly on why you have less marks in 12th etc.
My story ended on a happy note, I have converted IIFT-Delhi and have a w/l of 39 in FMS, both these colleges do not look for blazing acads, in fact I wasn't even grilled on why I had less numbers in Graduation. It doesn't mean that they won't ask you technical questions. One can always prepare for that, it is easier than inventing a time machine.
If there is anything that I learned while my one and a half year tryst with CAT and other exams lasted, it is that getting into a good MBA college is not very difficult (trust me), all you need is the right temperament, I would recommend joining a good coaching institute because that helps in regular studies as well as tips and tricks.
And I would wish you luck, because bad days are something that you can't always do anything about.
PS- A special mention to @bkd.exe, he's stood by me the whole time but has unfortunately had an amazing stroke of bad luck this year. Don't worry bro, as Bruce Dickinson said 'Your Time Will Come!'
1) I am no 99.xx%iler.
2) I am a below average guy, no born genius.
3) I don't have any IIM calls, nor did I expect.
4) Finally, I am going to join an Ok-Ok types college, which may be not-so-good for some of CAT Gods here, but this was also unachievable for me few years back.
5) Despite of above 4 points, mine is a success story in my terms.
I am writing my story here, as most of the post in this thread are of those guys who used to get 98+%ile in mocks, 95%ile is very bad performance for those and those who scored more than 98%ile in actual CAT. We have to accept this fact that everybody is not made for IIMs, everyone can't make it. Still, those who get less than 98%ile are equally special. There are thousands guys who take CAT every year for colleges other than IIMs. My story will definitely motivate those, who believe in never-say-die attitude and those, who liked the main theme of "The Alchemist" written by Paulo Coehlo, that is "if you really want something, the whole world conspires you to achieve that." Here it goes;
My life's first failure came in the form of result of IIT-JEE, couldn't make it and didn't have courage to prepare for it another year. So took admission in a state-wise recognized college in CS branch. Did well in college and had some GFs, neither I was serious, nor were they. In second year, heard about CAT from fellow student and I was surprised to know that even IITians want to get into something called IIMs. My JEE failure was still fresh in my mind, so immediately got prepared that CAT is the thing for me. Still didn't know anything about CAT.
CAT 2005 (look, since then I have this dream):
In third year, joined on coaching institute for preparation, but the faculty was so bad, that I was able to crack the quant problems before him. Competition was better than me, so never reached even 85%ile in Mocks. Companies started coming to campus and somehow I was clearing aptitude tests of all companies, but getting rejected in all interviews. Felt dejected at that time, so left CAT preparation aside and started preparing for jobs only. Gave just CAT and SNAP that year. And scored pathetically, 74%ile in CAT. That was too bad, all dreams shattered. Finally got placed in one good IT company thru off-campus and started my professional journey.
Till now, you must have got the idea how much below average I was, am I still the same, let's find out.
I started enjoying my job, got work in data-warehousing and I was liking it. Apart from work related fun, I was having fun in my life as well. Had some more GFs at workplace, but still no serious love thing. As I was enjoying my job, so didn't attempt CAT in 2006 and 2007, as I don't believe in doing things just for the sake of it.
CAT 2008:
Now life started changing, I took transfer to a location near to my home place, my work no longer remained same and suddenly I started hating my work and work environment. I felt saturated with it, so felt like again realizing my dream and started preparing for CAT. One more important thing happened this year. I fall in love with a girl (yes, it is important to write "a girl") and circumstances became such that both of us and our families decided that we should get married. I was having no reason to say no. Only reason could be my age (which was 23 then), but don't know why I didn't refuse to marry, after all I was in love. I know many would say that you could have asked for time to settle down in life, but I want to ask them that in this world of cut-throat competition, will you ever feel settled? I feel, no.
So I got married, just 11 days after CAT 2008. But when the result came, I didn't believe my eyes. It was 60%ile. Mann, that was pathetic. There couldn't be anything worse than this. But I still don't blame my marriage for this, as I did some basic mistakes in preparation, which were:
1. Started with Quant in may, and when the CAT was about to come, I was so much saturated with quant that I didn't even feel like solving any quant problem.
2. Marriage was not the culprit, but how I perceived it, was. I was feeling overburdened by the fact that I was going to marry within very few days.
3. Apart from that, I was never good in VA, and even then I overlooked it. So had to fail.
I failed, because I was un(der)-prepared and as I said earlier, I wasn't a born genius either.
CAT 2009:
It was January,09 when I discussed seriously about my career with my wife and I also told her that I always wanted to do MBA, but I was a failure till now in CAT. I don't know why, but she showed faith in me, and believed that I could do it. She also suggested that she would stay with my parents when I would start my preparations. It was a tough decision for me as well, but we did it. In April end, she went to stay with my parents. I stayed alone and joined a coaching institute. I joined it not to study basic things, I joined so that I can be regular with my studies. Started my preparations with VA, completed the whole book "Word power made easy". I know you guys may be smiling, but vocabulary was the main hurdle for me, so had to do it. started reading newspaper online, as CAT was online this year. I was working hard in office till june and then 2 hours study at home. I had decided not to overdo with my preparations.
By my luck, I came on bench in July (For non-IT guys, Bench means no work at office), as my client was hurt by recession. That was the time when I did my best to utilize my time. Read every type of novels online in office and prepared quant and DI at home. Side by side, I became active at PaGaLGuY. This time, I was regular, and determined to crack it. Though I was not doing great in mocks, but sometimes I was touching 95+ %iles in mocks, which never happened earlier.
One motivation came in the form of selection of Shout Boxers Team at PG. It gave me immense pleasure and confidence to crack CAT. SBT had some very good mentors and team mates like SUPER XERO, VishalV, justtj, divishth, AFC, the_hate, naga25french, navneet023, vyomconfused, vinayfantastic (pardon me if I am missing some names). I couldn't attend any conference, but there were some teammates who gave all summary of the conference in a single post, yes divishth its you. Thanks mate. SBT really helped a lot.
Slowly, exams were coming near. This time, I applied for all exams barring IBSAT,MHCET and NMAT. First, IIFT came and believe me that IIFT kick on my a** was necessary for me to take exams seriously. I scored pathetically in this. After 10 days, I had my CAT (yes, it was different for everybody.). I did analysis of my preparation, what I am strong with, had a long discussion with naga25french 2 days before CAT. And finally attempted 48 in CAT. Attempted JMET, SNAP, XAT and FMS with good feeling. Let's talk about the results:
CAT: 95.64%ile
JMET: 1105 AIR
XAT: 92%ile
SNAP, FMS: leave it J
So finally in 3 exams, I did far better than my previous record. Had several calls like IIT-KGP, IMT-G, IMI, TAPMI, NIRMA, IIT-Roorkee, LBSIM, FORE, GIM, LIBA,UBS etc. I was happy because these were the colleges which I really aimed for. I never was in the race for IIMs.
Results of most these calls are still awaited, so let's see what is in store for me. Will update it once all results are out.
These are something which I noticed/learnt about this whole CAT thing:
1. Hard work is not required, smart work is.
2. If you are a born genius, then keep it simple. CAT is not a rocket science. But if you are an average guy, be ready to face it and prepare for it sincerely, not seriously.
3. Be regular with your studies. Studying 2 hours daily is much better than studying whole day in a week.
4. CAT is not the end of life, take it easy. You can do good in life without it also. CAT is the most hyped exam in India, thanks to coaching institutes and placement statistics.
5. Joining a coaching institute is not necessary, if you can be regular with your studies. They don't teach anything special for exams, not even for GD/PI. For GD/PI, they tell very funny things, believe me, like cut your nails, wear clean shirt, wear a tie, stand like this and thathehehe
6. You can do great in life even without the tag name of IIMs. In corporate world, how well you perform matters more than your college name. Yes, you may get a fatter salary package, if you are passed out from IIM, but you will still have to work hard.
7. And for those who think that life/career is finished once you are married, believe me, your spouse will never become (nor she/he ever wants to become) an obstacle in your growth if your state of mind is positive. It's us who take marriage as a burden. Only problem is the mindset in India, no studies after marriage. Why??? In US, people study until they die. This mindset really needs to be changed in India.
Result Update: Joining IIT-Roorkee.
My Converts: IIT-Roorkee, IIT-KGP, IMT, TAPMI, NIRMA, LBSIM, FORE, UBS, BIMTECH, NIT-Trichy.