First thing's first : I don't believe I have cracked CAT.
With that out of the way, here's the story of my journey, which completed one of its phases a few days back.
I was never extra-ordinary in anything, and I don't think I'll ever be. Just an average Joe with an above-average ability to cope with the education system that I faced during my school days. Never ambitious, I didn't give much of a thought to crack IIT-JEE and was more or less satisfied with what I got as my graduation college.
4 years went like a breeze where I never studied much, never tried to improve my grades. I had just one aim, to keep that grade point above 7 so that I could sit for placements. Succeeded in getting into one of the "fastest growing" IT companies and thought this would be "the job". I saw a few batchmates of mine studying for CAT and I felt like "Lol, look at these people. Can't they have some fun rather than doing some stupid maths problems?"
CL came to our college for some promotion, took an MCQ test, wrote the test for fun and got a bag as a prize.
But to study for CAT ? No way!
Fast forward a year. I still remember that evening. The first match of IPL1 between KKR and RCB was going on, McCullum was on his way to 158*. I got plenty of calls from my friends about the match to which I had one answer:
"I am in the office,don't bother me". Stayed till 10:30 that night, cleaned up all the mess that my TL from onsite had created, and still received an escalation about this incident the next day.
I made up my mind.
"Screw this, I am getting outta here".
So what were the opions ?
GRE ? Nah, too costly and I didn't have enough information, plus the additional burden of visa and all.
GMAT ? Impossible. Don't have the money.
GATE ? Not possible to study subjects whch I couldn't study in 4 years.
So the only option was CAT.
CAT 2008 : Started looking here and there. Made a profile in Pagalguy, got some info. Enrolled in TIME for the mocks. Classroom coaching was never my cup of tea, cos I always had the confidence (maybe overconfidence) that
I could do it myself. 2 of my friends (same project) joined the bandwagon and we found a new direction in life. My initial target was quite modest : to get into a decent B-school. I didn't dream of IIMs, XLRI etc. I got a
pm from rik_12 to nominate myself in KDT '08 which I found it pretty amusing, and of course i didn't apply.
I had mock scores ranging from 92.xx to 96.xx. Didn't study much, didn't have any strategy. I found that TIME DI is impossible for me, VA I can manage well and in QA I had good days and bad days.Didn't analyse the mocks,
didn't have any idea about basic number system concepts. Basically it was almost "nothing" preperation. I saw the godly scores of DT members in the mock test threads, the 99+ scores flying around, but that didn't inspire
me to study hard. CAT 2008 came and went. It had 40 questions in english. Any sane person who knew that VA was his strength would have jumped up in delight and maximise. But not me. I attempted only 21 , and for some
reason, tried to do qa and di where I couldn't do much. Actually I didn't even know my strengths and weaknesses!
The results came out. I was playing a game online, where one of my friends pm-ed me that results were out.I told I would check it the next morning, let me finish the game first. 
Result : 93.xx with a 93/87/79 in VA/QA/DI.
CAT 2009 : This time I was serious. Now I shifted my focus from a decent insti to the top instis. Conditions at the office got out of hand, and I chose to confront my superiors (thats an epic story) and clearly told them my
commitment towards CAT and made it clear that office priority came after that.Started to prepare hard. Used to rush back from office to home, and impatiently waited for each and every red signal to turn green, so that i can save that precious few seconds to prepare more. 3-4 hours of journey for work didn't help much,but I desperately tried to make it up by doing quants and VA at office. We had this mail chain going among us "Did you know?" where we shared concepts. Actively participated in PG forums this time, followed the quant thread and made some contributions also.Attended quite a few PG meets, made some great friends.Though sometimes I felt, was this all worth it ? But anyway, continued like this. Mock scores were good this time, with mostly 97.5+ and a few 99+, with the occassional drops. Felt confident and felt this would be my year.
The first day in the first online CAT went bizarre to say the least. Problems, confusions everywhere. I booked my slot in the last day. That turned out to be a mistake.I lost my focus and when I went to write CAT, i was almost
sure that this test would get scrapped. Wrote the test, made a good number of attempts but somehow I felt I had screwed it up. XAT went okay, and I thought I had a serious chance at XLRI. In SNAP, looking at the keys I was
certain I would get an SIBM-P call.
The blows came one after the other. Missed SIBM-P by half-a-mark. But the crushing blow was the XAT result.My beloved VA section ditched me and I ended up with a 95.4 (or 94.5, didnt check the result more than once)
overall. I was crushed. I sent a sms to my two comrades that "It is over. I don't deserve anything. I am a complete loser". The next day we had a family picnic. I had to tag along, play with my cousins, but with a heart as heavy
as a mountain.One question was eating up my mind " Is this a true indication of my ability. Is this all that I can achieve" ? CAT results came. I didnt expect anything great, and it wasn't. With all the preparations this year
I had managed to get a lower percentile (93.xx again) with 95+ in QA/VA but with a 58 in DI. I didn't react,the XAT result made me immune. It's almost certain I would have never wrtiiten CAT/XAT again except for a very
special person, Prem bhai. We had all kinds of talks after CAT, we discussed all 20 questions on QA(we shared the same slot), we discussed on cat getting scrapped, etc etc. I had a tremendous respect for him beforehand, that increased many folds after direct interaction.Was really happy for his IIM-L convert, and then the miraculous IIM-C convert. He told me a few simple things about CAT which made sense to me. In short,I decided to write CAT again.
CAT 2010 : I made a switch before preparation. Anyways, didn't prepare much this time. Mocks came and went. Some pretty inconsistent scores. Got into UDT, KDT. Again met some fantastic guys.The same cycle of mocks, results,analysis, discussions on strategies followed. But this time I was kinda indifferent. Just went along with the flow, but wasn't perturbed if the mock scores went low. 2009 had taught me that mock scores mean nothing.
I didn't do things much different, and I didn't go for trying to learn new concepts, cos my thinking was : "if I couldn't learn that in 2009, when I gave it all, most probably I won't learn that this year also." CAT vouchers came out. Like last year, people hurried and scurried to get "that precious slot". I waited for a couple of days and finally bought it. This time I booked my slot in the first weekend(sunday) itself. Went to the exam hall with a cool mind, remembered Ravi's advice that there's always a next year, and started with the QA secion. To my initial horror, I saw a lot of tough geometry problems (tough for me) and could attempt only 6-7 in the first go. This was a bit
shocking cos I always managed to attempt at least 14-15 in the mocks. I made up my mind that whatever happened, I would stick to the 45-45-45 time strategy. This actually helped cos I found enough time to do the VA questions (my strength). After getting out, I realised I had an average outing in QA and DI (I never had much trust on normalisation anyway)compared to people writing in other slots, and if I had any hope of getting the overall beyond 99, I had to score heavily in VA. Wrote JMET/XAT and FMS along with CAT. In JMET I thought I would get a decent enough rank for IIT-B.But XAT made a mockery out of me. Acc. to the keys I was getting 2.5-3.5 in LR, so I thought that was the end of that.
Results : Started with JMET. Got another taste of the competition in India, compounded with my bad luck. I got the lowest possible among all the keys and a rank outside 600. It was another mini shock. But it was just the beginning. Results leaked out on that day itself. I didn't have the nerve to get it checked. My fellow comrades gave me their ids and I got their numbers from another friend of mine (Kaushal). Then, unable to bear the pressure I gave Kaushal my id to check it. Just as I thought, I had an imbalanced score card with 83.13 in DI, 93.38 in QA and 99.86 in VA, overall 98.96. First thought that came up my mind was "what's the sectional for L?"cos I already knew I had missed A and C. Anyways, L ditched me also but managed a B call. That was a sweet surprise.
But bigger surprise awaited. XAT results came out. My friend had a great chance for XLRI call. I rushed home to check his result, and saw the congrats on the screen. Called him up and gave him the good news. Then suddenly I remembered that I didnt even put his id, and just filled the box with the id that was saved in Chrome.I realised i have managed an XLRI HRM call.It almost felt like my destiny. Last year, this result crushed me, destroyed me and made me depressed for the first time in my life. This year, XAT gave me a joy that knew no bounds.
GD-PI : I participated in 5-6 mock GDs in total, out of which in 3 I didn't speak at all. I'll be honest.I found no point in arguing with a bunch of people about union budget or supreme court's ruling on Euthanasia or capital punishment. I felt bored, and felt quite amused looking at people providing outrageous solutions in case studies, and people actually buying them. Maybe I don't have that kind of creativity. In short, I lost interest and gave up.
For PI, I attended just 4 mock interviews, all to the same person. Somehow I always felt I could manage inteviews, this was my forte. I got the feedback that mostly my interviews went okay, though I have to build on the contents. I didn't buy suggestions like " You have to give unique answers", cos my own understanding is honesty is the best policy to pursue in interviews. Attended IIT-KGP GD/PI process, and was surprised to see myself talking quite a lot during the case study analysis. Interview was a breeze. Next up was a big one.I had already heard many stories about the XLRI interviews (specially the PMIR ones).I was eagerly looking forward to that process and it didnt disappoint.GD topic was on budget on which I had a nice discussion on that very morning itself(destiny, again?) with my comrade who had his interview the next day.GD went decent while the interview was a dream. My only concern was my low XAT score which might play a spoilsport. After that attended interviews at NITIE,MDI,IIM-B and IIM-RRT. Was disappointed with IIM-B cos they made up their mind to reject me beforehand. Maybe my profile wasn't suitable for them. I thought I did a decent job in others.
Final Results : Started with NITIE when I got a schock of my life. A 122 WL. The very confidence in me came crashing down. One of my comrades made a direct convert here, so at least some good news for the group. The long wait began for the other results. B's result was scheduled on april 18th and I was sure I would get a reject. On 17th night, while I was browsing through the TV , I got a short message : "XL?". Almost fell off the chair. Called up my friend and I asked him to check his result. A 77 waitlist for him, with a good interview and a 4-percentile-point difference with me. I didn't want him to check my result. On his insistence, I told him my id and silently waited for the verdict. He simply read out the message "Congratulations.You have been........". I didn't feel much joy. The mountain just came off my heart which haunted me for the past 1 year. After a full circle, XAT came to my rescue. My dream has finally started taking its shape.
IIM-B ditched me as expected, but converted MDI, IIM-RRT and got an WL in IIT-KGP. After a bit of pondering (nothing much though) I have decided to pursue HRM from XLRI.
To all the puys, who directly and indirectly inspired me to reach till here,"Thank you all". I don't think it would have been possible for me to go alone. I will continue to follow PG and try to contribute in future. (I am not naming anyone in particular, cos there will be another post in the "Puy Testimonials" thread)
A special mention of two of my comrades, Sayan and Kaushik (leonayas and great_timer respectively). We were like the "The three muskateers" in my previous organisation. We used to walk for hours in the company premises regarding CAT,MBA and life in general. Extremely happy for them that they are going to top institutes this year. Hope the coming hectic B-school schedules don't compromise the hour-long call confernces that we used to have.
There you have it.
This is my story, both humble and true
Take it to pieces, and mend it with glue.(John Lennon)
Ok. Here goes mine...
First of all I don't believe I have cracked CAT(Rito's same). Failed to convert the 7 calls I had over 2 years.
With that stated let's begin...
School
I was one of those guys who used to believe in "study well to succeed" motto. And that's what I did from school days. After Xth the obvious path before me was Engineering - something I took up just because everyone said its good to do engineering.
So it was mad behind IIT for 2 years. But my preparation fizzled out by the time I came to XII. Finally when the results came I had got a decent rank in AIEEE. So I was NIT bound -> but the biggest mistake I made was taking Biotechnology.
Again this was based on my rank (No CSE, EEE, ECE or MECH) and some opinions...
College
At college I decided to follow the same motto since that has always helped me. After first year, I started my tryst with Biotechnology. In second year it looked like I liked it. And thoughts of MS filled my mind.
So in the vacation took up a project at IISC. 2.5 months of research made me realize that MS means lotts hard work and research - something I did not like. I did not find the excitement in research, moreover I found it to be a lazy activity.
3rd year in college the subjects also became boring and I was thinking why study now. All I was doing was talking to seniors, reading lotta arbit stuff and trying to figure out something interesting. Thats when newspapers carried a lotta news about recession, I-Banks and whole lot of Management related stuff. I thought this seems to be interesting, at least reading this made me feel I was gaining something.
So after talking with parents I decided to take up CAT in my final year. In my 3rd vacation I went for a crash course at TIME.
CAT 2009
To be frank when I started preparation, I felt that CAT was actually nothing since the questions were 10th class level. With this in mind, I decided I wouldn't prepare as advised by TIME but let me wait for a mock or 2 and then decide. The first AIMCAT I scored 93.xx and the 2nd one 88.9x. It looked decent but it was not enough. I observed that one major missing in me was proper time management. Other than this I had forgotten quite a lot of mathematics. So the preparation agenda was somewhat clear.
I joined PG in May of 2009. Initially though I found it plain boring, but gradually I started liking it.
The highlight of the season was scoring 98.91(AIR 1xx) in the last mock. This was my highest and a week before CAT. I was pretty confident.
CAT - Cat went pretty fine for me. Attempted 52/53 questions confidently. Finally when the results came I had 97.xx with an 83.xx in VA, 90.xx in QA and 99.x in DI. I was sad, very sad. But when the calls came I had a call from IIM K, in addition to SPJAIN and MDI. Boy I was over the moon. XAT, IIFT were bad.
Interviews - The interview stage was surprisingly good considering the preparation I had done. K interview was the best. SPJain though I had qualified for GI-2, I knew it was not impressive enough. MDI I had skipped.
Results - A reject from both places. I was really devastated. Specially after a wonderful process at K.
Meanwhile at college I had got 2 job offers - both IT. So I had something to look forward to.
CAT 2010
This time I knew I did not have to prepare like last time and it was more of fine tuning my skills. So I took up CL and TIME mocks. The mocks started well with a couple of 98.xx and other 95+ scores. After 4/5 mocks things took a beating. I was scoring 84.xx, 88.xx etc and confidence was low. Also I had to take a call on joining the job. I declined the first offer since I did not want IT. The second offer gave me more time.
In between I took up a part time teaching offer at CL. It helped me brush up topics and make some cash as well.
By October my second company was not calling and I was getting bogged down at home. The teaching was only part time and only few hours. I was feeling really bored at home.
Job finally - In October beginning, I attended the off campus interview process for Mu Sigma and got through that. It came as a huge step forward for me since it was Analytics - a field somewhat related to business.
So I come to Bangalore
I joined by October end - a week before CAT on 7th Nov. Mocks was going good for me. I had an AIR-56 this time as my best score.
CAT - I found CAT to be tougher than last time. I could attempt only 13 in QA and 16 each in DI n VA. But I was confident about the attempts. XAT was one hell of a paper. JMET was pretty easy and FMS too went fine for me.
Results - JMET I had a rank of 169. FMS I was shortlisted. CAT 98.20 with QA spoiling it for me - 86.xx in QA, 97.xx in DI and 96.xx in VA. And XAT 96.50 - VA doing the honors. Surprisingly when the calls came I had a host of calls. In fact had a call from all the exams I gave.
Interviews - This time I was slightly over confident. It was maybe because I believed an interview is where they test how much you know yourselves. But after my 1st interview (IIM -S) I knew I had to brush up lot many things(B.tech and some general gyaan). Interviews weren't as easy as I expected. Though I did not join any coaching I was reading stuff. Interviews were spread over more than a month and I was traveling places. Most of them went okayish. SpJain was easily the best.
Results - First was FMS -> Reject. As expected converted SPJAIN which came next. Next came XL and was WL 62. I was happy since my interview was poor. Then the IIMs came. I had rejects from everywhere. Not even one convert or WL. IIT-B was also WL at 89.
I still dream of getting an IIM convert but I know at times you gotta be practical too. I know now that I want to move to finance. Spending more time in the current industry is not really going to help plus the fact that SPJAIN is a great college.
If I can do this, anyone can. Its just the question of having the right Attitude and not hesitating to take that one last step.
Till my seventh standard, i struggled to pass. I failed in almost all the exams, sneaked through in the annual alone. I started improving myself and entered a decent college if not a IIT or NIT. Various reasons tempted me to prepare and write CAT 2009. The journey began.
College was not very intensive, i got time to prepare, but i didn't make use of it. I didn't prepare well enough and it showed in the results. My CAT 2009 score was way below par. A 88.01 percentile with 79.xx in DI, 83.xx in Quant and 87.xx in Verbal. Ofcourse, the examination wasn't an ideal one. I did not get the timer properly in the screen for almost an hour, after which i was provided a watch. It was too late by then. But, I didn't deserve more. My mock test scores were way below par. To be very specific, i cleared the Verbal cutoff on only 2 occasions out of the 23 mock tests that i attended (TIME mock test series). I was never among the top 500 in any mock. I never saw a 99.xx. The best percentile i had scored was 93.xx. I was as ordinary as you could get. CAT 2009 was done and dusted. Failure. I failed in almost all management entrance test. JMET i had got a rank of somewhere around 1200. FMS, XAT, SNAP, IIFT were all failures. I was stuck. Such a majestic failure meant i was not given any clue how to proceed further.
It was also the final few months in college. Time passed away just like that. Eventually it was over. I had got offer from a good company, took it. Shifted to bangalore. I knew it had to be CAT.
This is when i did a lot of introspection. This is where it all started. I got to know the importance of having the right attitude. I had to learn dedicatedly. I had to enjoy learning. More importantly, I decided on something like this. "I will give my hundred percent while preparing for CAT 2010. If i still can't crack it, it's not the end of the door". Now, how do i develop these inside me? For that, I defined the purpose of my MBA. I imagined what i wanted to do. Etched it deep inside. That gave me this much required Attitude, which i believe, took me all the way.
Strategies changed, preparation was lively, learned to exhibit discipline while attempting a mock. Mocks were enriching. But CAT 2010 was fast approaching. After 4 months of prep, i gave CAT 2010. Started with VA. Did 18. Moved on to QA. Couldn't do the first couple of questions. Tension. Then there was that golden 30 mins. Did 16 of the remaining 18. Then DI. Did 16. I thought i had done okay, but wasn't satisfied especially with QA. Then there were other exams, everything went okay.
Results. JMET rank 298. All IITs call. CAT 99.70 (QA-96.66, DI-98.54, VA-98.99). Call from all IIMs except K. FMS no call. IIFT no call. XLRI BM call.
I was still the same person who gave CAT 2009. The difference was my attitude. I was willing to face failure this time. A failure in mock made me more serious rather than De-motivating me. I was more focussed.
Interviews. There were good ones as well as Bad ones. In interviews, you need luck to be on your side (At least for ordinary people like me).
Converted IIM-A. :)
According to me, CAT is more of a mental thing. You just need to be mentally prepared. It will threaten you. But it cannot eat you. Only you can crack it.
PS : Last year, i was here, searching for some inspiration after so many failures. Will be very happy if the post helps a couple of people.
AIWTSACwell, this sacred thread has been an inspiration for me all along..over two seasons, I've read and reread the stories with awe and admiration and finally, I feel that I've earned the right to post here.this one is likely to be really long, so kindly bear with meit's a story of being deeply passionate about something, daring to follow your heart over practical difficulties and justifying the risks taken in the processit's a story of how dreams do turn into reality
Early days
CATI don't remember when was the first time I came across the term but during my engineering days I kept hearing about the reverence associated with IIMs and the people who manage to crack CAT and get into the hallowed portals (after going through the process, I feel that CAT is a simple examit's the hype around it which makes it so complicated)somewhere down the line I had decided that MBA is what I wanted to dohowever, I was under the impression that CAT is just another exam which had to be cracked for a nice comfy futurehad also heard from some 'wise' souls that it's more beneficial to do your MBA after working for a whiletook their advice a bit too seriously and whiled away my time while most of my batchmates were preparing and appearing for CAT in the final year of college..I couldn't see the point in trying to prepare for an exam I had decided to appear for two years laterI'll enrol in an institute and prepare the year I take CAT-was my nave thinkinglittle did I know then that CAT ain't just an exam, one doesn't mug up for it before taking it..it's a journey which changes one's life!
Background
I was always a good student in terms of results, consistently being among the rankers in a reputed school which churns out toppers year after yearbut for whatever reason, my performance in Boards as well as engineering entrance was good, but certainly not upto expectations-mine or others'...in the process of thinking about the future, I had probably not paid proper attention to the present..when you get less in Boards than in Selections ( the other way being the standard practice out here) and when after your entrance results friends who've known you for long come and tell you "We just can't believe your rank..we were sure you'll get much better"-you can't but help feel that you've messed it up where it really mattered..but more than anything else, I knew myself that I had not performed to my potential..there was a sense of dissatisfaction and unfulfilment..
The journey begins
Fast forward to July '08completed my graduation..but joining was deferred and I had lots of free time in my handswas getting tired of the extended break..had a change of mind and decided to enrol in an institute for some preparation, more to kill boredom than anything elsebut I fell in love with the type of questions, the pattern and the materials from the very beginning and decided to appear for CAT '08 itself.. had very little time in handstill, preparation was quite decent, took a few mocks, where I was scoring well, and went to the centre on C-day feeling goodalas! the next 2.5 hours showed me what CAT was all abouta tweak in the paper pattern immediately swept away my comfort level and provided the initial jittersI couldn't solve the first few questions and here panic began to set inas time passed and I could see the sectional cutoffs slipping away, I couldn't solve the easiest of questionsscrewed up royally in time management between sections and had to leave the sitters, darkened wrong bubbles and made a total hash of things..came out of the exam hall not knowing what hit me
Was disappointed with my performance but deep down I loved the challenge and had decided that this is what I wanted in life and will not rest till I get itas Prem bhai (prem_ravi , for the uninitiated) had once said- "give CAT to feel it"..one couldn't have put it better!
Looking back, I realize where I really faltered in '08 were lack of exposure to different problems one might face, inadequate practice as well as not knowing what my strengths and weaknesses werethe results came out and though I had no IIM calls, I scored a respectable 97.3%ilehaving prepared for only a couple of months and not having been able to give my best in the exam, it was a decent score and gave me confidence that with preparation, I was capable of doing much better next year
Imbibing the essence of CAT
My company joining date came soon and among the people joining with me was rik_12we had been classmates in schoolI knew he had given up Shillong last year for another shot at the biggiesbut it was during this training period that I really saw his passion for CAT and determination for the IIMs..I observed from very close quarters the dedication he put in during his GD/PI preparationsand incidentally, I could see that his entire preps revolved around a certain website called PaGaLGuY.com! this was my introduction to the forumgradually I started browsing through the threads and came across loads of interesting stuff and some amazing peopleso many 100 percentilers, BLACKI call getters at the same place, was simply awe-inspiring..in no time, I was hooked
Meanwhile, rik_12 converted and joined IIMCtill then, I had never researched about the individual IIMs but now I heard and read about the culture in different institutes, the opportunities an MBA degree provides, the specializations, the campus lifes and the parameters which characterize a particular institutethe more I learnt things, the more I was thankful that I had messed up my first attemptthere was so much to learn just by being in the process and I virtually knew nothing the previous yearstories about life @IIMC fascinated me and the first time I saw some official pics and videos of the Joka campus, I decided that this was the place I wanted to beby now, the CAT and IIMC bug had well and truly bitten me
The Game Changes
Just as I was planning about ways to leverage last year's experience and kickstart my preps, came the sudden unexpected announcement that paper-pencil days were over and CAT '09 was going online!
Though this change had been supposed to kick in over the next couple of years, nobody expected it to be so soonall past strategies were to be thrown out of the windowrepeaters had lost any advantage they had since it would be a whole new ballgame for everybodyalso, what will the pattern be, how will questions vary across slots, how to practice RCs on screen, how to take down DI sets from the monitor, whether tests will be adaptivethere were so many questions and hardly any answers
It was disappointing initially but I felt that this was also an opportunityif I could attune my preparation to the new requirements, I'll have a great chance since all past advantages would be nullified by the online CAT...I decided to look at the positive side of things and promised to bell the CAT with the mouse!
Season # 2
I jumped into preparations with full enthusiasmit was around this time that I met DON@IIM... it's hard to find someone more devoted and committed towards the IIMs...this was his second season too and interacting with him, whatever little doubts I had about postponing my attempt to next year was resolvedthis guy was a stud in both QA and DIand he could blast any mock to shredsincidentally, we had our respective offices in the same buildingwe started discussing regularly and made it a routine to find some time out and meet everyday afternoon in the ground floor lobby where we discussed quant problems, strategies and any new tips or tricks we had come acrossI fondly remember those stimulating discussions and the way we collaborated over cups of tea to find out innovative solutions to so called "tough" quant problems are still etched in my memory
Things were going wellthe mocks started and I was doing decentlyI had made two simple promises to myself, first was to try and improve a little every mock from the previous one and the second was not to repeat the same mistakesin office, I made it a habit of delving into the Quant, DI and Verbal threads in PG whenever I had time and understanding any shortcuts or easier solutions I came acrossMoreover, I had shifted my entire preparation online since I felt that familiarity with solving questions online as well as staring long hours into the monitor will only help me condition myself to the new formatI even read story books in PDF just to improve my reading speed onlinealso, I tried to take even the unproctored mocks in the centres to simulate test conditions betterthere were days when I reached the centre by 7:30..took a mock, reached office by 10:30worked for a while , browsed the quant thread, did a bit of analysis and then finished off the remaining work and returned after 10 at night..I knew that once the work pressure increased, I would hardly find time and hence I had to develop a strong base soon which would hold me in good stead in the future
Meanwhile, DON could no longer stand the stupid work assigned to him and quit his job to join TIME as a faculty.this meant an end to our regular meetings and in my office, I didn't find anyone who shared my interest in CAT..so then onwards, it turned into a lone battleI was doing well in mocks but the office work was gradually increasing and I was losing the zeal at timesI badly needed some kind of a boost..luckily, I got twoit was around this time that CL came up with its percentile predictor and in the very next mock, I had scored a 99.99 percentile with projected CAT '09 percentile as 100!...well, I knew better than to attach too much importance to the prediction but the 99.99 obtained was my first really high score and it strengthened my belief that on my day, I had it in me to compete with the very bestthis was followed by selection to the UDT, the team I always identified with and aspired to be a part of but with the quality of people around, never really thought I had a chance..this was a huge confidence-boosterI now felt that I belonged to this stage and at the same time was motivated to justify my selection through my performances
Mock scores improved considerably after this with a string of 99sone thing I decided to do during this time was not take too much stressI had read many stories of burnouts and did not want that to happen to meI took one or two mocks on weekends, always choosing the afternoon slots and spending the evening in outings with friendsthe weekdays were spent in analyzing the mocks in detailI was confident about my preps and was looking forward to my CAT slot on the 2nd of December
An unforeseen roadblockwill it play spoilsport?
Two weeks before the test and I suddenly felt a terrible pain in my lower backwhen the pain did not subside, the doctor was consulted and he said it was a case of sciatica which required complete bed rest for some days this was a real setback since I had booked the slot for the last 2/3 mocks during this period and now I would be missing out on the final thrust in my prepsplus there would be no reading on the computer since I was told that sitting on the chair might aggravate the problemI was apprehensive that not practising for 2 weeks will affect my performanceso I decided that I'll maybe look through a few formulae, do a few sums and puzzles while lying downnext morning I woke up with viral fever, and of a very bad kind.I had temperatures of 104-105 and even with strong antibiotics, it didn't come down below 102I felt very weak and any kind of studying was out of question since I was having a dreadful headache even if I tried reading just the newspaper headlinesmy parents asked me to forget CAT for the time being since travelling to a centre and spending 4/5 hours there wasn't feasible at all when I could hardly sit up in bedbut I was adamant that whatever happens, I would not miss my CAT slotstill the thought about the entire year's preparation going to waste was a real dampenerall the effort that I had put in over the past year flashed before my eyes and though I was sure I would appear for CAT, I wasn't at all confident about how my performance would bewith 3 days left for CAT, I received a phone call one evening
" Hello, am I talking to skr?"
"Yes"
"This is prem_ravi calling from Pagalguy............"
The next 5 minutes passed by with an absolute motivational monologue..all I could do was nod in approvalhe had heard about my illness from rik_12 and called me up to boost my confidencethat was the first time I was interacting with such an iconic figure in PG whereas I was little more than a newbieit was a heart-to-heart conversation and by the end of it, I felt renewed vigour within meall I did the day before CAT was solve 3 sectional tests back to back despite still being in painI knew that I had prepared well and at that point of time, the fact that I hadn't done anything for the last two weeks was irrelevantonly the performance in those 2 hours 15 mins would matter and I felt confident about doing wellI was absolutely calm during the test despite a few wrong questions and invalid options and came out of the centre knowing I had done decentlybut with so many slots and 'normalization' coming in, nobody could predict the resultsall one could do was wait and watch
Results timeelation or desolation?
All the chaos of servers crashing, questions not loading and CAT retests taking place for some meant that the results were delayed indefinitelyfinally they were scheduled to come out on the 28th of Feb, more than a month after the initial scheduled datethe results came out in the afternoon and as usual, all sites crashed soonbut A had come out with a PDF of shortlisted candidates and I could see my Reg No. in itI was extremely happy and felt that whatever their criteria was, an A shortlist meant I had definitely done wellonly question was whether it was good enough for the high sectional and overall cutoffs in C-the call I always wantedfor people finding this strange, let me provide you with an insight- I had been so enamoured by C over the course of the season that at times I visualized the C auditorium to calm myself down before a mock and to remind me of what I was targetingI respected A, but I desperately wanted C
cntd......
An alternative link put up in PG helped me access my scorecard.I typed in my credentials and was overjoyed to see my results99.83 overall with balanced sectionalsI jumped in joy that I would finally manage the C call and with C and A in the bag, I expected a few others too
Sadly, as the shortlists came out one by one with increased weightage on profile(read: past marks) every other IIM didn't even find my score worthy of a shortlist and I ended up with only C and A callsyes, MDI was also there but I never wanted to pick up that form and had done it only on my parents' insistence...nevertheless, I had big calls and my entire focus was on converting themonly problem was I had not done a single GD/PI in my life till then and I had less than 3 weeks to the two most important interviews in my life, scheduled on back to back days
Counting my chickens before they hatched
I attended two workshops where I got the basic idea of how to proceed with my prepsincidentally, my study partner during this stage turned out to be Prem bhai, who himself had bagged C,A,L calls..every evening, we had long conversations over phone where we discussed current affairs, ways to tackle PI questions and planned about what all to do when we would get into Cwe became good friends and the philosophical conversations with a drunk prem_ravi are certainly memorable!it was an enjoyable preparation phaseand it gave me a wonderful mentor and friend, who has been a constant source of support and motivation since then
Two days before my A interview, I got a shocker from office.I had been allocated to another project and had to report to Chennai the very next dayI looked at all possible ways to defer it a bit but nothing worked and I had no other choice than to inform my manager about my upcoming interviews and stating that immediate relocation won't be possible for me at that pointthis worked in the sense that they sent someone else in my place..but though I had worked diligently throughout the year, this one incident ensured that I became marked!
22nd March was my A interviewit hardly gets bigger than this as your first PI ever!....the essay went decent which was followed by an absolutely dream-like interviewI could answer virtually everything they asked meI came out of the room smiling and was almost sure of a convert..the next 24 hours defined my seasonfor the only time in these two years, I turned complacentfirst ever interview, that too in WIMWI and I was sure of a convert..this feeling got to mefor the only time during my entire preparation period I had a feeling that next day's C interview could be taken lightly since I already had A in the bag23rd was C GD/PI date..I hardly managed to speak in the GD and couldn't come out with any new point due to my lack of focusno sooner had I exited from the GD room that I came back to my sensesI was letting my dream call slip away due to my stupiditytried making it up in the interview which went much better but since the PI was short, the GD impression must have got carried over and once more, I returned with a feeling of not having given my best
Just before results were to come out, another announcement made the headlinesfor the first time in the history of the institute, seats in IIMC-which were supposed to go up-were to be reduced for the season due to accommodation issueswith my performance and after this new development, I expected at best a waitlist
C was out with its results soon and as expected, I had been waitlistedI had nobody else to blame but myself for the resultthough all was not lost yet, the chances were quite slimhowever, since a decent performance got me a waitlist I became more sure about my A convertI felt really bad about missing C but gradually reconciled myself to the fact that A will be my destination for the next two years and waited eagerly for the A final results
It was a long wait and I was in office when it was finally declared on a Monday eveningI couldn't wait to return home and decided to check then and therewith eager anticipation I typed in my Reg No. and was greeted with the message:
"Your name does not figure in the list of selected or waitlisted candidates for admission into IIMA PGP 2010-12"
The end?or a new beginning?
I was shellshocked...this was a devastating blowhowever hard I tried, I couldn't come up with a reason for a straight reject..no matter how many times I relived the PI in my head, I doubted whether I could've given a better interviewbut here I was..rejected outright, not even a waitlist!
Suddenly everything had turned upside downit was a feeling of utter hopelessness...having the two most coveted IIM calls, I had never considered this scenario where I wouldn't be able to convert even one..was I really that bad?..whereas I had planned to celebrate my A convert, the next morning I reported to work in the same office..everybody knew about my CAT preps and my percentile and wanted to know which IIM converts I eventually hadquite embarrassingly, I had none to show for
MDI came out two days later and I saw my name 75th on the merit listbut instead of feeling happy about the convert and high rank, I was engulfed with sadness thinking about the fact that even a part of this performance in the places that mattered could've made my current situation so very differentI knew right there what my decision should bePrem called up and the first thing I told him was "I am not joining MDIit's either IIMC this year or CAT '10"...we had a long conversation in which he rebuked me for being silly and emotionalhere was a person who had seen it all about CAT and hence his advice had a different weight compared to others'but I had already made up my mind and hence was adamant..I still remember the part when he advised me not to take so big a risk since I couldn't better my written percentile and I contradicted himfor me, it was an additional challenge to live upto now
Amidst all this, I and DON (who, due to the vagaries of 'normalization', had got a percentile much less than what he deserved and did not have IIM calls but had converted MDI) met one day and had a long discussion, he trying to convince me to join MDI and I trying to convince him about another attemptit was a tug-of-war between dreams and practicality..heart and mindnaturally, no logical conclusion could be reached and neither of us managed to convince the other and went away with what each of us had decided earlierwhen someone of his calibre wasn't risking another attempt, what was I thinking of myself?
It was ironic that I was waitlisted in the institute I most wanted, was rejected in the one I most expected and converted the one I was least interested in...the previous year's trends showed that I still had a chance at IIMC but I somehow had the feeling that it would be a very borderline caseI prepared myself for the worst...pressure was also mounting on me from different sources to take up MDI, considering the uncertainties associated with online CATpeople tried to coax, cajole and make me see reason.. but comments like ".stupid mistake", "..you'll regret the enormity of your blunder later", "..you're missing the chance of a lifetime" only helped strengthen my resolve people called it foolishness, arrogance, obstinacy and what not...all I had against it was my self-belief...this phase also showed me how the reaction of people changes-both in positive/negative sense-based on your successes/failures
When all was said and done, my waitlist had not converteda season which promised so much had ultimately ended in major disappointment..there was no point discussing what if seats had not been reduced, what if results for all IIMs had come out together as always, what if waitlist movement trends had been followed...there was no place for ifs and buts...the bottomline was I could not convert and that was the only thing that mattered...I realised that nobody remembers what percentile or calls you had...the only thing that counts is where you ended up..I had no regrets about not joining MDI but felt gutted about getting calls from arguably the two best MBA institutes in our country and converting neithermost worrying part was the feasibility of another attempt..the only reason for the A reject could've been my past profile and I couldn't change that nowwith the increasing weightage on past acads, other calls were virtually out of considerationmy only option was C, and with high sectional and overall cutoffs, one minor slip and I might end up with zero calls, however high the overall percentile...was all the risk worth it only for one institutebut then, hadn't that institute been the dream all along?
I will admit though that what sealed it for me at this stage was my egonot ego in terms of boasting or looking down upon others..I believe anyone who has interacted with me will agree with thatbut ego in terms of the expectations I have from myself...I hate to lose and never give up when faced with a challenge, especially when others think I cannot do itthere were certain personal issues..plus the reactions and comments from my managers in office when they learnt about my results were pricking to say the least and they gave me the example of another girl from the dept who had scored a "great percentile while also doing her work sincerely" and was going to pursue her MBA from *** B-school she was a "role model" whereas I "had not been serious in my work", "showed inflexibility by not deputing to another city when there was urgent project requirements" and despite this, had not managed to convert my callincidentally that "role model" had a percentile in lower nineties and was a reserved category candidate, which I got to know only by checking the final results PDF of that instituteI had nothing against her, but the comparison hurt badI chose not to reply anythingand though I knew that things were going to get worse from then on, I vowed to myself that I would not quit..I will fight once more and if I had to leave, I will convert IIMC and then leave on my own terms
The season was over but the dream was still unfulfilled...I had a lot to prove, to myself and to certain others and signed off with a promise that I shall be back!
The season of reckoningredemption or downfall?
Season '10 startedand it was a feeling of dj-vu..same routine of mocks, analysis , percentiles began all over againthe toughest part about this period was getting last season out of my mindevery mock I took, the thoughts about the same one in the previous season resurfacedwith every percentile, comparisons with what I had got in that mock one year back came up subconsciouslyI knew however that I'll never be able to replicate last year's prep schedule againthe basic knowledge was already there and I needed practice to keep in touch but much more important would be the mental aspectthis time it was all in the mind!
As expected, I was allocated to a project with far too much of work and extended timelines12-14 hours in office became the normthis left hardly any time for preparations..I solved a few puzzles sent via chain mails in office, read articles online whenever I had the time and reduced duration of lunch to accommodate reading the daily newspaperat times, I wondered whether all this was worth it, but then the desire to prove myself and the dream of 'the land of the seven lakes' kept me going..one good thing about my company was some stalwarts in PG also worked here, albeit in different citiesI had the privilege to have periodic group chats over office communicator with legendary puys like Naga and sarcastix
I also started attending PG meets regularlymet some amazing people like first_timer, ashish13dec, Leonayas, AnandJJ, subhakimi, abhishek_sharma, 2010target, pk_gt1 and others and this is where I realized the reason behind so much hoopla about peer-groups in MBA and life in generalsome of the brightest minds in the country helping you, inspiring you and motivating you to better yourself while sharing great friendships all along makes the journey so much more specialgot selected as a PG Madcapz and then was chosen to lead UDTlittle more than a year back, I used to look at this team in aweand now I had been chosen as its captainlife does come full circle!...but then, the responsibility had also increased manifoldthis had to be the season
cntd......
I didn't stretch myself in terms of preps and kept the weekend-mocks-followed-by-outings-in-the-evenings strategy intactI believe it's extremely important not to cut yourself off from your normal activitiesas it is, CAT has a lot of pressure associated with itso enjoying the preparation phase is very essentialat the same time, I wanted to leave no stone unturned in terms of being prepared for any unpredictable conditions I might encounter during the test..so at times, I simulated crazy situationstook mocks with reduced timings, did RCs when I was extremely sleepy and could hardly comprehend anything, wasted 15-20 mins intentionally during a mock and let the pressure mount, read articles while listening to my i-pod so that noises ceased to be a distraction, took 2/3 mocks back to backthe percentiles definitely reduced in these cases, but that didn't matter, the exposure to these situations didI was never a believer in too much of strategy, strict time distributions, categorizing questions, buffer times et alI used to keep things simple and solved questions as they came and hence often during the test, things didn't go as expectedtherefore, my aim was to simulate such situations during prep stage so that the pressure did not end up spoiling my C-day
Office was becoming more hectic and there were a couple of occasions when I attended for an hour PG meets held near my workplace and as everybody else left, I went back inside office at 9:30 in the night to finish off pending workmy project was having delivery scheduled two days prior to my CAT slot and I could barely touch any papers during this periodbut somehow, this did not bother me at all..I had the experience of scoring well after being through a much worse prior-to-CAT period last year and when I ran a slight temperature the night before CAT, I almost looked upon it as a good omen!
A fight to the finish
3rd Novemberthe test started well, first I tackled QA- in which I usually used to do well and was confident about clearing cutoffsnext up was DI which had been my weak point, especially calculation-intensive questions, and I took a longer time in it, crosschecking answersI usually used to do VA in the end and finish off the entire section in 30-35 minutes and it had more often than not provided me maximum returns in minimum timehere also, I had around 32-33 minutes for my VA sectioncompleted all standalone questions and had 21 minutes left for the 3 RCsah, it was going to be so comfortable!I started off with one RC, couldn't make head or tail out of it, reread it many times and the next moment I saw the timer on the screen12 minutes left and not a single RC question answered yet!for a moment I panicked, one slip in the sectionals and the C call would be out of the pictureI knew it was make or break time, the negative thoughts could wait..and this is where the crazy practice schedules came to the rescue..I could absorb the pressure and use it to concentrate more..everything fell in place and just before the timer ran out, I had completed what I had to..Prem had told me after last year that I tend to perform well under pressurewell, if someone had said that to me after my first CAT, I would've reacted ROFLafter this performance, I felt he might just have had a valid point
Results once moreGame Over or Game On?
3rd Janwas in office when I received a call from Sharmaji that CAT results were out..I couldn't believe that it would be out so much earlier than the scheduled datemoreover, I heard the results of some of the most consistent performers, including him, and they had got nowhere near what was expected..this surely couldn't be itnevertheless, I needed to check my resultbut for me, far too much depended on this one resultand I decided to wait till I return home..unfortunately, by then the 'leaked' link had disappeared and 12th had been put as the official results day, as initially scheduled...the next 9 days were simply agonizing..all the effort, all the sacrifices, all that I dreamt of depended on this one scorecardadded to this was the apprehension from the shockingly low scores seen by so many who deserved morewere the percentiles for real?...if yes, there was every reason I might also become a victim of normalizationdid I have it in me to fight another season?
12th midnight and the results were outthe servers crashed as usual and it was more than 2 hours before I finally managed to get throughfirst attempt-timed outsecond attempt-loading, loading
99.88 overall with good balance across all sectionsYES!..I had cracked CAT once again and had managed to justify the faith reposed on meheck, I had even managed to improve my percentile, by whatever margin it might be..so, that small challenge had also been wonI was elated and there was also a feeling of relief at the results...last time, I was a relative newbie and nobody had expected much from me.this time, the expectations had been enormous and it felt good to live upto themone minor slip and the knives would have been out from all sides..plus it would have been termed a case of misplaced overconfidence.however, only the battle was over..the GD/PI war still had to be won..and I knew the difference between calls and converts far too well!
The most important part of the results was that for the second year in a row, I had managed the call I wantedI had a few other IIM calls, but somehow, the others didn't matterI had a gut feeling that nothing was going to stop me from getting into Joka this time around!
The lull before the stormor maybe, the other way round!
Preparations started in earnestI attended a couple of bootcamps and achievers' workshops but other than that, decided on self-preparationI didn't want stereotyped answers and also did not have enough time to attend classesby now, I had been posted to another office in the outskirts of the city..it was 25 Kms from my place and poorly connectedthe long hours in office, coupled with the 3 to 4 hours of travelling time daily made it extremely difficultI concentrated on utilizing the smallest of times I managed to eke out in reading whatever I could in current affairs, from different sources, and also preparing all kinds of questions on my personals
Meanwhile, my managers had come to know about my results before I had told them anything (I wonder how!) and called me over to know about my plansI talked about the upcoming GD/PI stage and that I would be requiring a few leaves in between during the prep phasethey readily agreed, a little to my surprisea few days later, during the very the first leave I had takenI got a call from office in the morning, followed by many more during the day from my vertical manager, allocation manager, supervisor, where the tone of the conversations was harsh, to say the least, and the content unmentionable.bottomline, I could hardly study anythingI went back to office and decided to take no more leaves in return for a one week leave just before and during my interviewsthis was agreed over mailthe workload continued to increase..a resizing of the team was done in which another person willing to work was released and sent to bench whereas I was chosen to continuea few days before the planned leave, suddenly I was told that no leaves could be sanctioned and I had to report to work even on my interview datesand if I had to attend PIs, I needed to travel 25 Kms to reach office in the mornings, travel 50 Kms to reach the interview centre in the afternoon and after completing it, return to the office to stay back till late nightall this despite having informed two months back, having ensured all upcoming deliverables and identified who all was to look after my workwhen senior managers in an organization expect you to actually skip your IIM interviews and stay in office, you don't see any point in arguingthe next couple of days were disastrousthey employed all kinds of tactics to pressurize me, including personal attacks over phone, escalations to the HR and almost forcing me to resignthis undoubtedly was the toughest phase for me, it really became a test of how much I could take and still have the courage to keep fightingI could've taken the easy way out and resignedit might sound silly, but once again, what held me back was my egoI had promised to myself that I will quit only on my own terms..it was the will to win and prove others wrong which kept me going
What I read and studied in the the last 5 days was probably more than what I had during the last few years combinedit had become an obsessive desire to succeedI had one chanceit was all or nothingI had no backup plans, in MBA or professional lifeI hadn't applied to any other institute under CAT and with the condition in office, continuation for another year had become almost impossibleit was absolute stupidity but I only was responsible for getting myself into this situationthankfully, getting out of it was also entirely in my handsit was a simple equation-perform or perishand I had to succeed at any cost
A date with destiny
24th Marchmy IIMC interview..a second date with my dream, a second chance to convince the Joka panel about my worth as a candidate and about my passion for C.the pressure was immense but one stroll around the campus soothed methat is the beauty of Joka..some institutes intimidate you, Joka welcomes you into its armsthe process started.there was a 5 minutes essay, I was happy with what I wrotethis was followed by the best GD I've ever hadthe ghosts of last year had been exorcised, the PI was the final barrier which needed to be overcomeand I wasn't going to miss this chance for anythingthe interview was a breeze..I felt in a different zone altogether, and was actually surprised later at some of the answers I had managed to come up with on-spotloved the entire process and came out satisfied that I had given my best-a feeling which I didn't have after my last year's PIbut experience had taught me that interviews are highly unpredictable and nothing was certain till the final result comes out
The final countdown
Again it was a long waitC had come up with its results around the 10th of April for the last few yearsthis increased the anticipation with periodic F5s but nothing materialisedA and B had mentioned 18th as their results day and since C hadn't come out earlier, that had to be the dayit was a sleepless night on the 18th..results were expected anytimeit was the most anxious and tense few hours I've ever experiencedthis was the moment of reckoning..will I finally get to achieve the dream?..will all the pain, suffering and hardships finally bear fruit?what if I miss out again?...a thousand doubts and as many dreams it was afternoon when I received a call saying results were outI checked for my name and voila!..I had a straight convert and was finally going to my dream instituteI was elated, ecstatic, overjoyedbut more than anything else, it was the satisfaction of proving to myself what I always believed in, despite all the odds and against almost everyone's advicefor me, it had always been C the dream, C the destinyafter missing it by a whisker last year, finally it was going to be C the destinationI would be a Jokar from June!..the feeling was sheer bliss!
Parting words
This story is not about heroicsrather, it has problems a lot of people have faced and will face during their preparation phaseand I have seen many deserving people give up and settle for much less than what they are capable offor me also, some of these issues tested my limits of endurancebut I persevered and stuck to my dreammy passion for CAT and IIMC and desire to prove myself helped me overcome all the obstaclesand if I could do it, anybody canso, never ever compromisenever settle for anything less than what you feel you deserve..you can't be denied every timeand believe me, success after having experienced failure feels so much better!
Amidst all the ups and downs of the journey, Pagalguy has been the one source of constant support and motivation for mewhen mock scores plummeted, the AIWTSAC posts reenergised mewhen I did well, the mind-boggling scores by puys reminded me of the competition and how much better I needed to becomewhen I felt totally down, the encouraging PMs from puys I had never interacted with provided solace..that is the magic of Pagalguyand of course, being a part of UDT, I had to do justice to its spirit.. huge thanks to UDT, KDT and all puys from the bottom of my heartwithout you all, I would never have managed to reach here todayand even after entering IIMC, I shall try my best to repay the help and support I obtained herelast but not the least, I would like to thank my parents for supporting me despite not approving of my choices..and the special person in my life who has been there by my side through all the zeniths and nadirs and who believed, trusted and showed faith in me all through
A simple advicedon't stop enjoying life because of CATCAT does not require slogging..and never look upon it as some exam to be crackedfor me, CAT was far from being the most important thing in life, but it had surely become a part of my life!...there will be setbacks, there will be failuresbut don't lose the self-belief, the will to fight and never let anybody else tell you what you can or cannot doyou haven't lost anything till you actually quit..persevere, make some great friends in the process and just give your best without putting unnecessary pressure on yourselfbe passionate about your goal, chillax, enjoy the journeyand nothing can stop you from achieving your dream..because CAT is a different game altogether, a game where passion has a strange way of trumping logicit's won in the mind!
ATB!
This writing consists of three sections
Why MBA?
About CAT as such as an exam?
My tryst with CAT.
There are 4-5 paragraphs in each section. There is no time limit to complete the reading.Each section can be done independently. In distributing your interest over the three sections, please bear in mind that you need not read each and every section. If you lose interest and it makes you feel soporific you can skip.
Section 1 :
I want to do MBA from IIMs. Why?
I do not like the current job I am doing.
The word "Management" sounds majestic.
Girls will be spellbound behind me if I am a MBA from IIM?
The media reveres the MBA degree.
Fat packages.
I can make my whole relative and friends' agape with envy at me!!!!
Believe me if you are pursuing CAT for any one of the above reasons, I feel extremely sorry for you. You may still succeed but it will be without purpose. Please speak to as many RELEVANT persons ,with the required credentials, as possible to understand what an MBA means and check whether this is what you really want to do in life.
Among the factors aforementioned let me elaborate only the package part. Most of the IIMs do not disclose the median of the salary offered to their students. This clearly indicates that some few students influence heavily on the average package. I have come across many of my colleagues and friends mentioning that they might have earned more if they had continued in the technical domain itself rather the managerial one.
Many studies have pointed out that the 2nd and 3rd grade jobs in engineering (I am an engineer) have better quality index than their counterparts in management and some students even from IIMs end up in 2nd and 3rd grade jobs in management.
Pursue an MBA with an intention that it will bring in the needed satisfaction in both your work life and personal life. Do it for a cause.
About CAT as such as an exam?
A junk exam where a group of guys make it without any preparation whereas another group, despite having good aptitude, fail to make it.
A funny exam where throughout the mock CATs you score way better(around 95%).But on that day things do not work for you and end up for one more attempt.
A stupid exam where your sectionals (after exam being computerized ) go down by around 20% for a single question mistake and end up missing the sectionals.
A weird exam where different yard sticks are used (based on the slot) yet they say 99.xx % above are only eligible. How in this world it is possible for them to eliminate a person with 99.58% and accept a 99.59% despite two taking their exams on different slots?
The supposedly perceived as ridiculous criteria of some IIMs - Heavy weightage to academics, treating CAT score near to naught, belying the requirement of CAT to perform well across all the sectionals(some IIMs had sectional criteria of 55%) etc.
Some of these thoughts were running in me for the past 4 years which is one of the reasons for me not clearing CAT earlier.
Please have the trust in the exam. I have given CAT 2006,2007,2008,2009,2010. I have seen all that the deserving candidates always get selected, may be with some delay. Don't even have a speck of doubt about the integrity of this exam. This exam is devised with the best possible. Can you do anything to change it? Not at all.
My tryst with CAT
I am a kind of person who works very hard and fail big time during exams and my exam scores were never a mirror of neither my hard work nor to my satisfaction. I had been trying for CAT for the past 5 years and hence got so much to write.
CAT 2006:
Everybody in my hostel wing gives GRE or CAT. Why not me? Planned a trip to Ooty and gave CAT' 06 in Coimbatore(on the way to Ooty) just like that. I saw many beautiful girls and we friends were discussing the same before the exam. The exam was more of another semester exam. The noteworthy things about CAT'06 are the shift from 4 options to 5, reduction in the no: of questions and extension of exam duration to 2.5 hrs. But I was unaware about all these. People said the English section was the toughest in the history of CAT. (English section was framed by an economics professor rather an English professor in CAT'06-this is what I heard).Again for a guy who have not read anything will never be able to guess whether the paper is tough or not (Like some college sem exams). Missed my hall ticket. Checked the result through the score card kept in our indoor letter bag kept unopened till March 2006 and it was around 82% with 45% in verbal.
CAT 2007:
I liked my R&D; job very much. Faced with numerous challenges and was totally obsessed with it. Gave CAT'07 just to maintain the repo with my friends and relatives that I am there for the CAT hunt. Ended up with 70% with negative scoring in English. The mere negative marks in English instilled a bothering-Am I actually capable for clearing the verbal section?
CAT 2008:
Started the preparation for CAT 08 with my friends, a group of 6. We all joined TIME Aimcat series. I used to get around 90% in quant and DI but in verbal never crossed 80% even once. I made the biggest mistake of competing with my friends just in overall by which I spend less time in verbal (around 20 min) with the notion that even if I spend 50 min I will not cross 80%. This is the first time I am appearing for CAT with so called serious preparation. I did not sleep the night before CAT. The wrong things started just with this.
During the exam I made all the possible goof ups. Attempted all the wrong questions, did not go through the questions first before answering, and made a whole lot of careless mistakes. I knew that the game is over the moment I stepped out of the exam hall. 3 of my friends got into IIMs.
CAT 2009:
I just need to answer this one question: What am I actually doing? I was way low in morale and was having the lowest confidence possible in me. I spoke to my company seniors who are pass outs from IIMs and understood the actual roles and responsibilities of an MBA and collected the needed words from them. I was outright told by my parents that this is going to be my last attempt and words got spread to all of my close relatives thereby adding a lot of emotional tension to my preparation. One of my remaining 3 friends got married and gave up and now the league started with just me and my friend. We joined full time weekend classes and enrolled for mock exams. I started reading economist, editorials, novels and whatever my hands get on. This time focus was only on clearing the verbal. I completed all the 20 novels by Sidney in this year alone including "The Other Side Of Me" thinking that it will help me. I enrolled for the first day, first slot in the new avatar of CAT 09.I received calls (phone calls) from almost all my close relatives and friends wishing all the best days before my CAT which aggravated the fear "What If I don't clear".
Totally fumbled on the exam and did not know which section is Quant and which is DI since there were no sectional de limiters and to add to this there were more Data sufficiency questions in both the sections. The mere thought of the poor decision to book the first day first slot brought down the confidence during the exam itself. Ended up with 88% but with 96% in English but an all time low of 60.xx% in quant. Was openly humiliated by my friends and relatives and I was left with only one option - Accept that I am not worth for IIMs. Told to my parents that I am done with the exams and they can continue with what they want. My friend joined ISB with his GMAT score.
CAT 2010:
It was around May I thought why not one more time with not even mentioning to friends, parents and relatives. This mere feeling that nobody will know my failure gave me the comfort to prepare for this. But in what way I can prepare? I still remember that I almost cried on the day when I opened my quant material and this time I was the only one left. I slowly increased my preparation hours. Moved from few minutes to few hours and then to 4-5 hours regularly. I always liked preparing for the competitive exams. The exam went and came. In our slot quant was the toughest and I attempted just 9 questions and was quite contended that I need not wait for my result and nobody will know my failure this time.
I checked my result and you know what- I obtained a 98.16% with 91.16% in quant and instantly had a feeling that I am going to get calls from BLIK since I had already done the permutation and combination in 2009 itself based my acads and profile. As expected got calls from BLIK along with Rohtak, Raipur and Trichy. Now I know that I am going to make it up. Did not join any coaching institutes for I just want to present me as an individual without any bias. Gave the interviews and the result came one after the other. As expected converted BLIK and Rohtak,Trichy,Raipur.
The damn feeling of not achieving something which you truly want will haunt you throughout your life. Never ever give up. Perseverance is more important than anything for cracking the CAT. Just focus on the controllables.
Was an average kid in my days at school. People around me always said that you have amazing potential. However, throughout my school life was a rank average performer. Never very serious about my acads. Then came the big turnaround, lost my beloved uncle in the beginning of 2005. I was going into my standard 12th, suddenly a huge change took over me. Became very serious about my studies. Tried hard to prepare for CBSE-PMT, however it was always a race against time. Did not make it. Thought about taking a drop, however the conditions in my family forced me to go against it. Joined a local college, enrolled in B.Sc course in Biotechnology there.When I came into the college, I was like a highflying hotshot. Excelled in everything from acads to sports. Fell for someone & got into a relationship, life was going on so happy. However towards the end of my 1st year in college this confidence became arrogance. Basically stopped working hard & wasted all my time hanging out with friends. In the meanwhile, gave my second attempt to clear the medical exams. Cleared CBSE Preliminary, however again in overconfidence relaxed a bit too much before the Mains paper.The result was expected, non selection in Mains. Then few of my classmates told me to prepare for MBA. Completely ignored their advice & prepared again. However,just 2 months before my entrance, there was my sister's marriage . Tried in vain, but again the same fate awaited me. So my dreams of becoming a doctor were over.
So, here I was sitting with my scorecard, knowing there was no chance for me to get into medicine. But I thought that I still have my love to count on. I went out for a vacation for 2 weeks to get over the hangover of not being able to make it.I happily returned from my vacation, just to get the rudest shock of my life. She had dumped me & started going out with my classmate. And just to make sure I was screwed, the results of 4th sem were out. My personal life was wrecked, my professional aspirations were wrecked & my graduation was wrecked. Now,I did not know what to do
End of Part 1
When i started preparing for MBA , I was in my 2nd year Engg . I was told by my faculties that you are here to learn skills which would help you to get a seat in the best B-Schools of the Country . Throughout my student life i was an above average student who always wanted to find some shortcuts to success because of laziness . My Parents wanted me to take up Science and i agreed for them . Did quite well in boards 2006 . But I was never hopeful to get through a good engineering college in my first attempt so took admission for Eco( Hons) in Kirori Mal College , DU . Luckily i got call from VIT, Vellore and changed my plan again because my parents wanted me to do that . I could never figure out what i wanted to do so i stuck with my parents decision . The day i took admission in engineering my father told me ' Beta , This is just the first step of your career . MBA is the next thing we want from you . Start preparing for atleast 1 hour from today ' .
I was confused whether i was doing Engineering or an MBA . I started my Engineering journey on 29th july 2006 and cleared all my exams in 1st attempt with a CGPA - 8.86 in 2010 .
Never wanted to do Science ; Got a good %age in boards for Eco(Hons) in DU .
Never wanted to do Engineering ; Got a core engineering job ( TVS Motors ) .
Not interested in MBA ; But wanted to do that for future growth ( yeh meine 1st cheez seekhi thi life mein). tab tak meri life clay jaisi thi ki kaise bhi Mold kardo .. 😞 .
Prepared well for MBA as saw many serious aspirants preparing around me . Some of them didn't even sit for placements 
. I took help from my friends around me and prepared well for the exams . My first exam was JMET and did quite well in that . Then came CAT , XAT and FMS . All were fine . Happily i waited for results . 1st came JMET and i got a dream rank - 122 . Would have got all the calls but opted for only B and D . Well , this was the only call this season . Only IMT-G was my call through CAT . No XAT , No FMS . Cleared IMT -G of those 3 and planned to drop an year . chalo bhai tab tak naukri karte hai.. thode paise kama ke bhi toh dekh le.. ... I was in my training period where i was made to take various tests so that HR can come to know our strengths and weaknesses . People with good technical skills got Rnd , Operations and people with good analytical skills got Quality , production . And the left outs whom they thought are useless in terms of Engineering were put into marketing . I was one of them. Then i realised that Engineering was not my cup of tea . Chalo bhai Marketing karenge .. Sales badhayenge.. 😃 😃 😃 . Then came an another surprise 4 were put into Sales and 1 in Service . I was the odd man out . I fought with HR as to why Service and not sales ? I have not come here to wash bikes .. After all these fights they gave me Sales and Service and i walked out happily .
I would never forget what that lady in HR told me ' You are good with people and so you can handle our customers and dealers ' .
Thought a lot after that . Made a thought for HR as my company took 4 months to know our strengths and weaknesses and hence i respected its decision . 2010-11 Planned to appear for CAT , XAT , FMS , TISS . 1st 3 were horrible scores would be posted later on . Got a call from TISS and was happy for something in this season . Gave its interview and was confident for a convert . Then came results and i got a WL-6 and going by last year trend my dream was shattered as last year only 3 students cleared . I had made up my mind for HR in october'10 when that lady told me . And finally after 23 years i could realize my goals .
On 4th May , 2011 my dream turned into reality and i cleared my Dream college - TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES - HRM & LR .
People would be thinking that this persons ID reads IIM-A but his dream college is TISS . Strange ?
I would just like to share my learnings which most of you must be knowing . Its not about doing something which gives you success but its about doing something which gives you satisfaction and even a small success would mean a lot then . You will feel much more happier if you do what you want to do and that would give you a complete feeling of satisfaction . Just remember one thing " 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 . "
These lines have changed the way i looked at my life . These lines are by the famous aka The Bmr ( Ranjeet Pratap Singh) . Wishing all of you the best in life . Hope you all do well in your future endeavors .
Never Give up ! Either you achieve what you want or you try till the date you change your mind .
PG has helped me a lot in my preparation . Lots of material is available here . I have always loved posting on pursuit of happiness . Paagalguy rocks ! 😃 Really happy to have such a forum and would love to be a part of it throughout .
I am soooo happy today that i could be the part of this thread .
Thats all i wanted to speak about CAT . Phewwww !!!! I am sorry if some bragging was there but thats my life on page . Few more things are there but that would make it too lengthy . Abhi MBA college mein bhi jaake sheets bharni hai.. :lookround:
.
Season'09 - JMET -83( Rank -122) Season' 10- TISS -(53.2 Written)
CAT -95.4 CAT - 96.xx ( DI-60.xx)
XAT - 99.2 ( VA-7
Regards ,
Jatin Gulabani
Tata Institute of Social Science
HRM & LR - Class of 2011-13
Part 2
So here I was. My life was in a total standstill. I was not sure, what I wanted to do with my life. Then, one day my sister came from Pune (she was studying there). She told me she was going to have a crack @ cat 2008. She had come with her IMS study material, so that she could be regular with her studies. I glanced a look @ the books.Saw that there were questions on a topic called para jumbles. Solved, 25 questions from that particular exercise. MY sister came & asked me what am I doing. I showed her what I was doing. Then she started to check how many I had got correct. With a jaw-dropped look she came back to me & told me it was a Level-2 exercise of the workbook. I had cracked 25 correct out of 25. She told me to give it a shot at MBA this year. However, I ignored her advice, probably I was still in love with medicine. At this moment the CAT notification was out. My friends in college had bought the form, they were very keen on MBA. Seeing them, I decided to buy the Application form. Then, one friend told me to enroll in CL's Test Series, did so. Then one by one the mocks went by. The scores were usually pathetic, from as low as 34%ile to occasionally getting 80's. However, in 1 mock I was able to manage a 93 %ile.
However, my prep was very poor. Never really worked hard to deserve even an 80 %ile. Hence, when the results came out for CAT 2008, I was actually satisfied to see my score @ 80.56 %ile. It was the only exam in which I had appeared in that year. Considering, that my preparation was of zero level I had made up my kind. I was going to appear again for Cat 2009.An endeavour had begun.
Joined full time class room coaching @ CL. Initially, getting on equal terms with engineers particularly in QA was a real challenge. There were classes when when I would just have no clue, as to what was going on. However, slowly I was able to make myself comfortable with the classes. Then came the mocks, this time my performance was much better. Quite a few mocks, my %ile was in high ninties, with highest in Proc Mock5, scoring 96.78%ile.
Then came the exam season, I gave only CAT,XAT,NMAT,SNAP. The last exam was XAT on 3rd of Jan. Then, the results started to pour in. Initially, expected things to turn out good. The first result was ICFAI, I got a call from it. Then, came SNAP in which I got a score of 98.75. Seeing it @ first I was very happy, I thought I have sureshot call from SIBM-Pune. Filled forms of SIIB, SCMHRD as well. First out was SIBM-Pune, did not get the call. Still, I was not disheartened I thought that still SIIB, SCMHRD shortlist was remaining. However, I will never forget that particular day of 22nd January, 2010. This is how it went, morning SCMHRD came out with the results. Status read "not selected for 2nd phase."
Still i try to calm myself, hoping for the best in SIIB. However in the evening the same results are out.I do not make it again. And just when I thought, this the worst that can happen XAT results come out. A measly 83.45 %ile. I tell myself that this is all over, sad & dejected I start to work for my NMAT exam, only 7 days away.Gave my NMAT on 2nd Feb.After, recieving so many shocks I decided to change my strategy, now I would go all out over the paper & leave my conservative approach aside. The paper went well, then the CAT results were out on 28th Feb. Came another shocker 80.88 %ile.:shocked:
And then the very next day, came out NMAT. Initially, I did not even bother to look at the score, I thought that one more reject is on it's way. Then, my friend called me up to tell me what I had done, scored a shocking 268 (99%ile). Managed to get 91 correct out of 96 attempts.
Then that confidence acted as a boost for MICAT. Got a call from MICA too. However, all that good work was undone by my lack of prep for interviews got rejects from both NMIMS & MICA. At NMIMS I was told by d interviewer I was not fit for MBA.:shocked: Hence, a frustrating season came to an end.
End of part 2
This is a very sacred thread, which I only read till now, and never dared to post . Before I proceed, let me tell you folks that I'm not a CAT Cracker till now and won't ever be one, but nevertheless, I'm happy with season 2011 and wanted to share my MBA journey.
Background:
I landed up in engg(in 2005), like many the others - just another degree with no particular love for the subject. Passed time in the 1st and 2nd year with not much of serious prep stuff but occasional fiction and non-ficition books.
2007:
I enrolled in CAT coaching in IMS, during my engg.2nd year and took the classes. Back in those days, I was in Bhubaneswar and used to juggle between engg, college placements prep and CAT Prep(which wasnt very tough!).
2008:
In Feb, Infosys had come to our college and I was selected in its placement drive. I was taking mocks and was preparing for OMETs as well. However, the preps were lacking the heat required to crack CAT. I could hardly touch 90 percentiles. Towards sept, I had completely lost heat and wasn't sure If I should continue with preps or not. In between, semester exams came and went and I was still clueless. Finally, the C-Day was on 16th Nov, the last pen and paper CAT was held. I gave couple of other exams as well.
2009:
The results came one after the other. Little did I know that 2009 was the worst ever year in my CAT Journey. FIrst came JMET - AIR 2118(not enough for any call). CAT was a fiasco with no IIM Calls. Didnt apply other Non CAT instis(didnt wanna waste money seeing my performance in mocks!) 
.
IRMA gave me a call with 99.5 pcntile and NMAT also gave me one with my initial rank before GD-PI being around 1800.
I wasn't really sure about IRMA and the rural mgmt thing and I was also fighting NMAT with a low score and no work-ex. After thousands of debates over whether I should attend IRMA and NMIMS GD-PIs, I decided to attend.
I converted IRMA and was offered a Management quota seat in NM. I never wanted to join Infy in the first place and Infy had offered a Date of Joining in Nov 2009. So I was weighing my options of should I or shouldn't I join IRMA. It was the most difficult and most changing decision I've ever made. I consulted many many folks from IMS, other seniors, PG etc, and finally made up my mind to join IRMA .
IRMA started college from June 8th 2009 and before that I had taken a loan for 1 lakh for the first year fee. I started attending college and the classes. Went to the initial field work and induction stuff. I was never however convinced that rural mgmt was my calling (I've highest regards to IRMA and nowhere do I intend to question its quality. It is just that I run after certain different things in life, which the institute was not offering).
I was confused as to what should I be doing. I had a loan riding on me and the prospect of going back home and waiting to join Infy till Nov and then work in Infy was very intimidating. But rural mgmt was clearly not in my mind 
. I discussed matters with my folks, and close friends but was still very very confused.
Finally on arnd July 17th, after some 1 month of classes, I made my decision to quit IRMA, and came back to home in bhubaneswar.
July - Nov 2009:
When I look back, this was one such phase which I never ever wanna recall.Everything bad that could possibly happen, heppened. The loan was no longer classified as a study loan, and so the interest rates shot up to 16%. My decision was not an economical one. Folks were visibly freaked out and there was a lot of depression. The fact of joining Infy again with college folks was insulting. People mostly never understood my reason for coming back and everyone thoguht there would be somethign more to it.
I kind of shut myself out from all friends except for few close ones and wiled time doing all the paperwork for joining Infy and stuff. I wanted to take up some job before I joined in Infy, but got stiff resistance from folks. Dropped the idea of everything. Didnt feel like preparing for CATor OMETs again and was worried about the 1.2 lakh loan even before having a job.
Nov-Dec 2009:
Joined Infy much to my chagrin and disappointment and went through their training. People claimed it to be tough and stuff but honestly speaking I used to wind up everyday by 5.30 and used to read the tonnes of non-fiction books in the Mysore lib. I was still in refusal of society and friends.
In the the Mysore Library,I read a couple of very good biographies and books which inspired a lot!1 Looking back I must say good books and good friends have a lot of importance in life! Am really thankful for getting hold of such a good library 
.
2010:
I got posted to Pune in May 2010 and worked there for 3 weeks. For some urgent project requirement, I was transferred from Pune to Bangalore permanently and joined Bang in June. Life was changing quite rapidly and I still had no plans of giving CAT or OMETs. My managment dream was almost over and parents were insiting on marriage plans.
It was my bnglr roomie and another close friend of mine who spoke to me to take up preps once more. I clearly lacked a goal/purpose in life, back then. I gave it a thought initially but wan'st much inclined. However, I used to get a lot of free time. In spite of being in a full time project I managed to wind up by 5.30 and was getting bored already. My friend again spoke to me about having a purpose in life and realizing dreams.
So, I finally decided to take up prep again and by 15th june, was searching all coaching instis again. I joined TIME test series and started taking tests seriously. I scored much better in this season with averaging around 95pcntile. I never touched the coveted 99 pcntile though :shocked:. I gave other OMETs as well.
It was tough to prepare this time around without the comforts of home. The office pressure, and other pressures were there and it was tough to study everyday after winding up in offyc. Literally all weekends were hectic. It was a tough saying no to friends when they insisted for movies, eating out etc . Had to control .
Finally the C-Day arrived and I gave CAT. I walked out quite confidently, and this time around I applied to other Non-Cat exams keeping in mind my good performance in mocks. But destiny had other plans for me.
In OMETs I gave NMAT, FMS, and JMET.
2011:
The first result of the season was again JMET. I got an AIR of 1359 this time around. It wasn't what I was expecting, but who said u get what u expect in MBA results 
. I knew that IIT B,D and KGP are chucked with this rank. But I was okay to consider IITM,K and R as well. The congrats calls started coming and folks were happy, but I was waiting for 11th. Then came 5th Jan with FMS results and I was elated to see my name in the list. My close friends, roomies and folks were happy for FMS and I was truly ecstatic. Then came CAT. Now this was the disaster of all results and again I got no call from any IIM. I dunno the vague normalization ka jhol, but then losers cant complain :splat:!
Finally NMAT came with the result and I was called for the GD-PI.
So much for the calls. Then came the frantic 2 months of GD-PI preps and workshops and newspaper reading and opinion forming and knowing-anything-under-the-sun quest!
My GD-PI season started with IIT R , followed my NMIMS, IITK, FMS and IIT KGP. I wasnt very much worried about this stage coz of the relatively okish feedback that I used to get in the gd-pi workshops etc.
Then came the time for results, starting first with FMS! The day was 18th of March and the next day was Holi. It was a convert and my first and most coveted convert!! All the results came after FMS and I converted all the 5 calls I had for the season .
Folks were and are still very very happy! It has been celebration since then.
My Learnings:
Not being philosophical but life has its share of ups and downs. The ups teach you many good things, but the downs show who really matter to you the most!!
Also, I'm indebted to PG for all the gyaan and prep tips that I got from this wonderful site.
Regards,
Divya.
The purpose of this post is not to motivate people but to warn them what never to do while preparing for CAT. My experience with Indian MBA industry (Yes it is an industry going by the money making) has not been pleasant at all and all I wish is that others do take the precautions I never took.
Declaration: It would be my conscious effort not to reveal names and places. As my intention is not to degrade any region people or place but just to warn others.
It all started in 2007 when the economy was gung ho and things were rosy in IT industry. I was an average engineer in an average college where the Infy, TCS and the likes recruited regularly. Got a decent job but dad was adamant on me being an MBA. (yes I come from a small town where parents reign supreme). So started the MBA dream. Joined CL and was a sincere with an on and off note.
Things started rolling to 2008, where I tool CAT, JMET, XAT and what not. In those weekly tests I was usually not the brightest bulb but many times was in 96-97%ile.
With this kinda performance CAT was a dream but still with full gusto went ahead and got 80%ile.
Here I would like to make a special mention to all those administrators in B-Schools who keep the last date of form submission just a day before the actual exam to cash in on the rat race frenzy. Hats Off to them as they amply demonstrate Nobility and Profitability are opposing ends.
Anyways continued with the razzmatazz and gave XAT and NMIMS. Funny, thing about NMIMS missed the cut off by a narrow margin. (But did not blame the luck even once, I blamed my performance).
Then came XAT, where I without any hopes (Legend has it, its tougher than CAT) went ahead. Expected a good performance, and pleasantly shocked I got 97%ile , I don't know how,but now started a bigger pain. All venerable names had closed submission a day before exam (included GIM, XIMB etc.) and I was left standing with filling up XLRI- which had been filled much earlier due to dad's insistence.
People ask me why fill XLRI and not GIM at-least , and I tell them logic is not available when you need it most.
So found out this supposedly great institution accepting XAT score. Made big promises and showed high ethical standards like not disclosing average packages and all that.
Managed by an ex-IIM director it looked to be on the path of becoming great soon. So, without wasting a moment did the due-diligence on:
1. Contacted seniors.
2. Checked out companies coming for recruitment.
3. Unofficial data on Average package in past.
4. and some other thing....
It shone bright and as soon as I cleared GD, PI decided to join it up. This was 2008.
To my horror it became clear the very first day that the ex-IIM dude who was the president was an autocrat leading the entire gamut to naught. The college prided itself to be the fairest of all in selection and having no quotas yet I found more than 40% of students from a particular state. Almost all seniors rued theri decision to come but I foolishly concluded that it was too late to change course.
The college had a disproportionately high no. of non-hindus (I put on record that my intention is not to offend anyone) and hence, holi, diwali celebrations were not permitted in open even though some of the Sunday mornings the rule was forgotten. What was even more shocking was the pure lies in hostel accommodation. We were shoved in small rooms in numbers higher than what was promised in the brochure. And the cherry on the cake people getting high not on alcohol but cannabis. The allegations of bungling with answer sheets to favor a few were always present too. Most profs had little industry experience with the exception of a few highly talented ones. And the kind of personal control exerted there on every part of life reminded me of the Orwellian 1984 horror.
Placement season 2010 came and me being an engineer tried in IT. To my horror only one of then came and that I could not get through.
So, was left jobless. But thanks to a banking giant went in sales. Things have been just a little less than OK ever since. I am paid less than industry average. Get abused regularly by boss (Everyone is the target so its a part of life now.) Lot of field work is there so have lost a lot of weight in this north-Indian heat.
Someone might ask why wait 1 year and post, the reason is now I find my engineering buddies earning almost equal or more than me being only graduates. THey work in plush iT offices while scrounge the roads for leads and a question keeps popping up in my head "What if?????"
My advise to all aspirants:
1. Take CAT if you want to be an MBA not because somebody wants you to. I was not even aware that Sales and Marketing are different functions uptill the course beginning.
2. Be resourceful and summon all your energy to find about the college you intend to join. Use PG contact seniors etc.
3. Don;t rush into this decision it can make or break your life.
4. Losing the first time is not the end of life.
5. But most importantly if at any point you feel you won't get what you want, cut your losses and move. Chuck the course for a better opportunity or trying to create one, because sentimental remorse and guilt take you nowhere.
I have a lot of other complaints and a lot more advise but I think this would do good to forewarn others and i don't want to dirty this sacred thread as people refer to it with my litany of woes.
However, what I can say every morning I dread the heat work and abuse and just wonder "What If???"
P.S.: The college I am talking is not **** kinda college. It is well respected and if I remember correctly PG had its first perception based rankings in 2008. Its rank was in double digits and a good one. On a healthy side.
Part 3
So here I was sitting with all these rejects. Also, my ego used to get badly hurt. Most of my friends had made it big to a top B-School. Some made it to IIFT, some to NM. They were all celeberating while I was just attending them, not having a single worthwhile convert in my hand. Initially I had made up my mind to go to ICFAI Hyderabad, but I remember on the bus trip of MICA when I met fellow puy akshay.vannery. He told me to try hard for next year & that ICFAI does not justify my abilities. I took his advice
To be conitnued..........................
Its amazing to be writing on this thread. I have found great inspiration from the stories told here and it is time I thank all puys who helped me thus far to be able to share my experience here.
I
It started, as it always does, during the engineering days. My wing-mates and I, as early enthusiasts, joined the coaching classes for CAT 2008 in the 3rd year. After attending a few classes and although I found them useful, I decided to discontinue the classes as I figured it interfered with my Sunday morning sleep. The only section, I learned, that needed more preparation for me was English and I quietly started preparing for it by improving my reading speed, enhancing my vocabulary etc.
It was not until later next year when the AIMCAT season started in July that I really got into CAT preparation. I was scoring around 95 percentile in these tests and had a fair amount of confidence early on. I took a lot of tests and did some analysing and found my skills in VA were poor. My DI was no good either and I had developed a fear of DI in my mind. I continued my CAT preparation along with regular college work, but as the AIMCAT season progressed my performance didnt improve much and my scores never crossed 98 pc. Still I was under some sort of delusion that I would crack CAT. On the C-Day, 16 Nov, I messed up a little by spending a lot of time in VA, as the test format was 40-25-25 questions in favour of VA rather than the normal 25-25-25 distribution. Otherwise I thought I had done decently.
Soon I was to discover that it was not good enough. On the day of the results, 9th Jan, I was extremely disappointed to see a 98.53 percentile score and no calls. Many of my friends from college got admits in IIMs the same year which only reinforced my wish to appear for CAT next year.
II
This time I thought I will do everything it takes. I started my preparations early. I practised a lot; my VA improved considerably and reading became lightning fast. But still the improvement was not as much visible in the mock test scores as I expected. The test was online this time around, though this fact didnt bother me. On the day of the exam, I found the paper to be quite easy. I had attempted a decent number of questions and thought I may get a few calls. This time I wrote XAT as well and scored a very good 99.83 which I thought was a good prelude to a similarly high score in CAT. Due to CAT fiasco that year, results were declared quite late. To my utter dismay, the result was a mere 98.01 percentile. Boy, was that frustrating. Even lesser than my previous CAT score and all the hours of preparation seemed a waste. I had an interview call from XLRI and although I wasnt very keen on it, I decided to appear for the interview. The interview was quite a routine one I thought and I did decently. As a relief, after the miserable performance in CAT, I found that Id converted my XLRI call.
III
I disappointed a lot of folks, especially my family, by not joining XLRI. The stakes were higher this time and the pressure was enormous. I was tired of getting the shorter end of the stick all the time and I really wanted a win. Only the odds were stacked against me.
I had been in the job for quite a while now, and the work load was slowly increasing. I was doing well there, in fact I was enjoying what I was doing at work so that part was good. There were days during my CAT prep when I felt low and it seemed like dj vu but I kept my morale up. I scored quite a few 99+ percentiles in the mock tests which cheered me up. Also I ensured not to feel down by the occasional low scores.
On the C-Day, I noticed that I was particularly calm. The paper was easy and I attempted all the questions except a couple of them. The feeling I had after the exam was a good one but that is the same feeling I had after my previous CATs too. Meanwhile, I won a few rewards at work which was a good diversion after long months of CAT preparation and I let myself to some enjoyment.
Come the day of the result- 12th Jan, I could scarcely believe what I saw in my laptop screen when I entered my CAT registration number- a 99.99 pc overall with 99.97-QA, 99.85-DI, 98.75-VA. It was a dream come true. I dont think I had tears of happiness ever before in my life. Later in the day the shortlists started to come out, and as I had known by then, they always come together- happiness and sadness. I didnt get calls from IIM A and B. After the initial disappointment (of not getting a call from the dream b-school IIMA) passed I didnt worry as much as there wasnt anything I couldve done about it.
I focused my energies to convert the calls I had. I had a great time preparing for the GD-PI phase. Be it attending mock GDs, interacting with old pals for advice, or the actuals, I learned a lot from the experience. Although by the time of the first couple of interviews, I was not completely prepared, it got better with time, ending with the final interview for IIMC. I have briefly shared the GDPI experience in my other post.
On the day the final results came out, 18th April, I was ecstatic to get the final admit call from IIMC. It was one of the best feelings you ever had. I had waited for so long for it and imagined in my head endless times how it would feel, yet the feeling at that time couldnt have been better. It also felt like the end of an era in my life and a beginning of a new one.
Unless you are a born-intelligent types guy or girl, it takes a lot of hard work to crack CAT and an inspiration. For me it was about living a dream, or maybe impressing a girl who used to sit next to me, but more than anything it was about keeping a promise I made to a very special person. If you look around you will find your inspiration too. And as the saying goes, It aint over until you win.
All the best!
Cheers
Yash
I never ever imagined that someday I'll be writing in this thread. Not because i didn't believe in myself but because i was unsure of treading the path of the corporate world in the first place. I did my 5yr integrated MS in chemistry from IISER kol (one in a set of 5 new institutes established by MHRD to promote science in India), and a research based job or a P.hD. would have been a natural extension. I was planning to take GRE and go abroad for a PhD at one stage. But there were few factors which changed the course of my career and as it turned out, my life.
During my 3rd yr at college, I met a beautiful girl and in 3 months we fell in love. As we got serious into our relationship, I realized I need to stay in India and get myself a settled and successful career. MBA was always in the back of my mind because I felt MBA as a course suits my character and personality, but i never gave serious thought about it. But then during the spring of 2010, i made up my mind to go for an MBA. My father didn't like my decision; he wanted me to go for PhD. But i was adamant.
I joined AIMCAT and started studying. I did not study for hours but I was regular. Though my initial percentiles were disappointing, i was gradually improving with every test. I hit 97 percentile once but mostly my scores were in the range of 85-90. In the meantime, I kept in touch with vocab for GRE till June, which was in October, thinking of it as a backup. But after June, I focussed fully on CAT. 'She' always motivated me, supported me and even discussed with me about my preparation and studies. I even once hit a terrible bad patch but she took my studies out of that shit.
I took GRE and TOEFL and scored reasonably well (1390/1600 and 109/120) considering my lack of preparation. On the D-day, i was satisfied with my exams but a bit worried about DI sectional as i only attempted 12/20. I spent too much time on quant(attempted all). After CAT, i screwed up IIFT (coz of GK section). FMS and XAT were not satisfactory either (96 and 94 %iles respectively). So, finally all my hopes were pinned on CAT results. I was expecting 99+ but i knew CAT can be a bitch sometimes. In the meantime, I applied to 2 universities abroad for PhD, coz of my father's pressure.
Finally the night came when results were declared. My friend came and told results are out and he got 98.75. I almost ran to his laptop and entered my SR number with 5 people behind my back, all gazing at the screen. I saw, 99.71 it was, with 99.86 in quant, 98.49 in verbal and 93.36 in DI. Everyone picked me up and after 5 mins, I realised I could barely walk because of the pain 😁 ...
In few days time, i received the following calls- C, I, Ranchi, MDI and ABM calls from A and L. So it was now down to GDPI. I joined TIME GDPI classes but the pressure of thesis submission was enormous at college. It became tough for me to manage the two things at one time. But I tried my best to take as many GD and PI sessions as possible. At this time, I got an offer for PhD at National University of Singapore with a handsome stipend. But my eyes were stuck on IIM. I had two advantages prior to the GDPI stage- the advantage of having a different background (pure science graduates are not many in any campus) and the advantage of being from an Institute like IISER (I came to know it was very famous among professors)
After the marathon GDPI season in which i had 7 interviews, it was the time for final results. Though initially wait-listed in few, I converted all finally (except C where I was wait-listed at 24). It was like a dream come true. Everyone was so ecstatic. Even though I feel I had blessings from my elders but I have no hesitation in saying that without my girlfriend, IIM would only have remained a dream for me. She has the biggest hand in my success and I can never forget that. I can also never forget my friends who have supported me throughout the preparation period.
From my experience, i can tell u one thing for sure. Success is nothing if u don't have someone to celebrate it with- Friends or family who care about your success. Therein lies the joy of success. So don't get yourself so much involved in studies that you miss out on the real charm of life. CAT doesn't need that, study smartly and enjoy relationships, parties and above all, the Life.
While preparing for CAT, like any other aspirant, I also wanted to write on this thread as an IIM student. But things didn't work out as expected. Still I would fulfill my dream and write here as I have been able to get into a decent b-school. This is not to inspire anyone because my story is not worthy of that. Rather I just want to look back on my journey to relive and share some moments. It has not been a very long journey with no major setbacks. Rather it was a journey full of anxiety, with feelings of satisfaction and uncertainity playing a game of musical chairs in my mind every other day.
Right from my childhood I have been able to secure the top rank in my class. Everyone around me considered me as the next big thing. Their expectations from me rose sky-high. But I remained down to earth, knowing that all these achievements do not matter much in the long run. I believed that until and unless I don't get into a decent grad college, these scores are useless. While I was in class 10, I wanted to be an engineer. At those times, an engineer for me was the one who wore helmets and build roads. That was the kind of knowledge that I had about engineering and still I went for it and took science in class 11. But then I don't know what happened, my focus started shifting from studies. I wasted my 2 years, which could have been the 2 most important years of my life had I prepared for IIT-JEE. I just joined a crash course of 2 months for the entrance exams preparation. No wonder, I could not get into any of the IIT's, NIT's or DCE. But still managed to get into IP University with Computer Science stream.
Life went on the same way like it did in school- scoring high marks and still knowing nothing about what was being taught. 2.5 years just went by with no value addition. One day I was sitting with one of my friends in college. He was preparing for CAT for 6 months. That day, we talked about CAT for about 3-4 hours. He told me about everything- entrance exams, gdpi's, IIM's, FMS, XAT, and of course the salaries earned after a MBA degree. When I returned home that day, I was all pumped up and ready to jump into the madness of CAT. One thought that pushed me was that I didn't want to regret again for not preparing for the entrance exams.
I enrolled for the Career Launcher's One Year Classroom Program the very next day. I enjoyed all the classes because everything seemed quite doable. I also enrolled for the TIME test series. I had the feeling that I can crack CAT at the very first go. But all my over confidence started to shatter once the mocks started. In the initial few mocks, I was not even able to cross 85 percentile mark. There were mocks which broke me completely. I used to get shattered and even thoughts of quitting came across my mind a few times. But I kept working hard. I worked on my weakness, which was 'Verbal' section. I was still scoring decent in Quant and LRDI sections, but in verbal my scores even dipped to single digits. I decided to completely focus on the section and I spent the next 15 days just solving verbal questions. Gradually the improvement started to show. I started getting percentiles in the range of 92-95. By the end of the mock season, I even got a 98.5 percentile. I knew on a given day, I can very well secure all the IIM calls.
But the destiny had something else planned for me. I got 4 wrong Quant questions in the 18th Nov, morning slot. That wasted my crucial LRDI section time, due to which I got screwed.
After CAT, the next 5 exams came and went like a breeze. Scored decent enough in NMAT, IIFT, FMS, JMET and SNAP. But the luck again ditched me in XAT. So the final report Card was like-
CAT - 95.31 percentile(with 78.xx in LRDI)
NMAT - 259
IIFT - 43.69
FMS - 437
JMET - AIR 252
SNAP - 130.25
XAT - 95.51 percentile(with 65.xx in ARDM)
And the calls that I got were-
NMIMS, IIFT, FMS, IIT-D, IIT-B, SIBM-P, SCMHRD, IMT, IMI, FORE
Now came the most dreaded part for me- GDPI'S. I have always been kind of an introvert person. I had not spoken in public very often. Also I don't have a strong voice. I started attending CL Group Discussion classes. In the initial few classes, I could not speak much. But the FMS call kept pushing me to keep trying. I badly wanted to convert this call. For the interviews, I knew I must have something to talk about and indulge the panelists. So I decided to make 'Current Affairs' as my strong point. I used to read newspaper for about 2-3 hours daily. I used to read the news, and then analyze it from different perspective. This helped me in bringing new points in the Group Discussion too.
The series of GDPI started. First it was the SIBM-P and SCMHRD one. They went below average for me and I didn't had much expectations from them. But I didn't get de-motivated as I had my eyes set on FMS whose process was still a month away. I kept preparing and in the meanwhile, kept giving other college's GDPI's. In the IIFT interview, whole discussion just went about the prime minister's press conference that happened just a day before. And my strategy to keep my current affairs updated worked there. But my GD didn't go too well in IIFT. So it was just a wait and watch situation. Meanwhile, I was rejected by SIBM-P and SCMHRD.
Then came the day for which I was waiting for. It was 16th March. But the day wasn't mine and I screwed up my FMS process. Was really down after coming back. But the very next day, IIFT came up with their final merit list and I was selected for the Delhi campus. I was ecstatic to see all the hard work finally paying off. But FMS was due to come up with its list the next day. Though I had very little hope there, but still I hoped for a miracle to take place. Obviously that didn't happen. Results kept pouring, converts and rejects kept knocking at the door.
Coverts- IIFT, NMIMS, IIT-D, IMT, FORE
It is going to be IIFT-D for me. Though it was my second best call(according to me), the pain of not been able to get into FMS was still there a few days back.
But now I have decided to let it go and do my best as I have got the opportunity to get into one of the best b-school of the country. Because at the end of the day, it is us who can make or break our career, not our college. Even an IIM degree doesn't guarantee you a flawless career.
Campus Life of IIFT - here I come!!!:D:D
:-As advised by Raghav sir to write my story about my experience of life (till now) and my struggle for MBA :-
(And puys ,you may or may not find it as inspiring as the_hate or sumitrocks or Raghav sirs or Spurthis story but at least Its my story so plz dont laugh on it.)
And plz , dont think that I have personality disorder as my PG id may force u to think so. Actually the title Mishra is my surname and Singh is the surname of my best friend whom I lost when we were in class 10th .i miss him so much that I dont wanted to forget him in any single day of my life.so the id mishrasingh (and many other things) .will always miss you my friend..
Now my story:
as i am one of the those guys who come from remotest parts of the country [ me from Dist. Bhojpur of Bihar which is infamous for mass murders aka narsanhars, I have seen 25-26 beheaded bodies at one place (started imagining dont do that, I mean, u cant imagine a 2 yr old baby sitting btwn dead bodies of his/her whole family members ) ] and who find themselves in such a miserable position when they come to know about these IIMs-CAT thing in such a period of life when there is no way to prepare for this THINGS bcoz of there avg Academics ,not so fluent in English ,no good work- ex, etc that they lose hope and confidence that they will not get a good and reputed job in any MNCs or other Big companies.
Ill tell you firstly about my school, +2 and my Grad. college experience :- i have done my schooling( 1st standard onward) from the best school of my town a DAV but the school was like this; our English subject teacher used to teach us English in Hindi ( I hope you all understand what i m saying) and other teachers dont teach us enough or WHOLLY so that they can get enough students for their HOME TUTIONS. Now about my family background ; My father (manager in PNB was on a post above clerk back then) is the sole earning source of my family but the burden on his shoulder included my grandpa & grandma living in my village ,my mother, 3 brothers(incl. myself) and 1 sister and my two cousin brothers . My home was a rented 2BHK. Now again on my studies me and my elder brother were in DAV, my Eldest bro and Sister in a Mission School and my 2 cousins in a Govt. school. so bcoz of quality of our school ,my father provided us the luxurious SEPARATE home tuitions .separate not in the sense each student one teacher but in the sense 2 teacher for 2 subject ( maths & Science, the most CAREER oriented subjects). We all ,6 brother and sisters, have to study, ask our doubts ,of different Standards, from the same teacher, and that too in one hour .The same teacher remained till we all passed our 10th Board exam. So Dear Puys, as u can understand what was the Quality of education we have got till our 10th Board exam. The results was except me and my elder brother (not eldest) ,who passed with 1st div, we all passed with 2nd Division or below 60 % marks. Dont think that we werent hard working. (How hard working students we were actually, Ill tell this in the last.)
I have seen kids/students of class 9th or 10th or +2 in Delhi,Mumbai, etc ,fighting/arguing with their parents for X-Box ,PSP and for High End mobiles and I used to remember our days when we brothers fight for who will fill the oil in our Kerosene oil Lamp today ,wholl clear the glass of that lamp with ash so that it can sine properly ,wholl go to the market to bring Vegetables and wholl wash the terrace with hand-pump water to study in the evenings and nights of summer. I still have cut marks in my hand which I got while clearing the Glasses. (Fights to choose the easiest of the above said tasks!!)
We often have to study in our room bcoz on terrace the Insects of the entire world used to rover around our lamp and bite us and if we kill them, they smell like Dirtiest Male goats or Bucks can smell. Have any of u have traveled through a pack DTC bus or Mumbai Local trains , the fresh air through the windows used to be the only relief for the people packed inside .true na. Now Imagine 6 kids in a small room, with a Kerosene lamp and that too in a temperature as high as 42-45 degree and those kids have to study for their exams sweating, suffocating and studying hard for 60% marks so that their Maa and papa can feel proud of their Kids. Why 60 % , bcoz a school can be declared the best School if 30 or 40 % of its student gets 60% or more . Such was the marking system of Bihar Board School back then. ( X-Box 360 ,Sony PS .. hahaha , I could have demanded a separate English teacher for myself. Lol.)
After my Board exam, I opted for commerce for +2 as my marks in Maths and Science were below avg and I also got the option of commerce, a totally different subject from subjects till board exams. In short I wanted to run away from my past failures and start afresh. And to my surprise, the commerce was not an option available in all the CBSE board schools in my District. So at last I have to get Admission in a Bihar board college. Taken. I and three more students were the only English medium student in approx. 400 students.so no college for me as could not understand the terms in HINDI ( MY PROBLEM WITH ENGLISH IS THAT ,I CAN COMPREHEND ENGLISH VERY WELL BUT I CAN NOT SPEAK ENGLISH FLUENTLY.) The subject of account suited me like designer suits fit on any person. My best years of study till date, those two years I studied like any IAS aspirant study.. 12+ hours almost every day. joined a STARTUP coaching with only 6 batch mates for Accounts only ,but i have to study 8 more subjects .i was such a good student in Accounts that I finished 2years syllabus in 4 months . my teacher used to left the batch to me to teach when some visitors come. but poor me ,I have to manage others 8 subj. so 12+ hour of study. The result , I got 66 % percent (hurray) my college toper 71 % and the State toper 76% .i got distinction in 3 subjects but I got 67 in Accounts and 60 in English ,why, bcoz they do Average marking meaning allocating numbers to students in a RANGE in some subjects ..the benefit goes to weak students. (The student whom I used to help got 69 in Accounts.)
The same story goes with my Graduation.. I tried everything to get a seat in DU and few other Universities, but (technically) my state topper cant take admission in commerce stream in DU so how could I ? Did Graduation from the same college and got 70 % mark, missed the rank with 4 % . Got into C.A. and cleared the 1st level in 2nd attempt and that too without any coaching. Managed the Graduation final year exam and side by side handled my Sisters wedding all on my own. Lucky me, got 74 % in Final year exams.
Now came the hardest part, WHAT TO DO NOW? Doing C.A. will take at least 4 years more and I was not in the situation to wait for 4 years. So I decided that I will DO MBA.. My fathers friends son was doing MBA from IMT Ghaziabad and my Father also wanted me to go for MBA. Came to Delhi with my Father and Joined CL on advice of my Uncle. The fee was around Rs. 40,000 and the monthly expenses were around Rs. 7,000. (The coaching at CL was meant for those guys who were prepared beforehand to an extent.) First time in my life Ive spoken in English in introducing myself to the Batch. I fumbled and stuttered and all the batch mates burst into laughter. And When I said I am from Bhojpur, Bihar the reaction was something like I was the most unwanted thing on this planet. Coaching was just like, I prayed every day that teachers dont ask me to answer any Questions; I didnt want to get humiliated again. Well the mocks started and the first mock exam shocked not only me but other students also when i told our English mam that i got 94 percentile in English and this continues till the main CAT where i got 98.8 %tile in English. the two guys from St. Stephenss English (Hons) got something in 70s %tile and they used to ask me that how i got such good %ile in Eng. and i used to joke " how you managed to get in ST. STEPHEN'S ", "you are currently in the "position" to help me."
(and i got only 60 % marks in English in my +2 exam.)
I managed to clear some exams ( Not CAT though, got poor to Avg. %ile bcoz frankly speaking, my Maths is not of CAT level, why, start reading from top again . lol. ) .i cleared the written of ICFAI and SNAP and got calls from BIMM and one college in Bangalore(cant recall it now) through MAT score. I prepared very well for GD ,covered almost 60-70 topics of that time and for Personal Interview ,I prepared almost 250+ questions covering all the areas told by our CL teachers bcoz I wanted to not to reveal my level of English Speaking and got humiliated again and most of all ,to waste my fathers hard earned money. I was good in the GD round of BIMM. But when the interview of BIMM happened and the first ques. asked was why do you have such a poor marks in 10th exam? and I replied my well-rehearsed answer that included was very unfocused and used to take studies not seriously but realized my mistake and got more serious with studies later as my 12th and graduation marks can show. and after 5th successful answers ,I was asked a question of which the answer Ive known but was not able to speak it in English .. The panel members said that how come youve scored 70% mark in B.COM and you are unable to answer this question and then I replied the complete answer in HINDI .and as expected they started to laugh when I had tears in my eyes.. They asked that why you replied in Hindi, then I said that, sir Im not good with Speaking English. And after some unusual Qs. they said thank u and have a great future ahead and told me to leave..
In ICFAI, i managed to clear the presentation on topics given in the Kit and answered 3 ques. asked on it as I was well prepared for it. And then came the PI Round and I was nervous bcoz of the BIMM interview .i was only able to reply 3 questions before that ques. which put the STOP sign to my further interview. . i left the room before there telling me to leave and wishing me a GREAT FUTURE. I cried for about 30 minutes or so on that greenish lawn of the Campus and cursed my fate.. I cant forget that day and I Dont want to forget that day ever in my life.. and I decided to not to attend my last interviews of SIIB and that Bangalore based college.
cont.. .
i got rejected in ICFAI Hyderabads interview and BIMM also and the reasons were my below avg. and poor English speaking .. I was not given a single chance not bcoz of whether I was a deserving candidate or not or do I have that skills what it takes to be good manager. . I s being a good manger somehow is related to your fluency in speaking English? I admire the peoples of China very much in one prospect..they value there tradition very much , I mean .. even the President of America has to keep a translator when the Premier of China speaks in Chinese and look at the puppets here in India ,if China can progress without adopting English as official language then why cant us (lets forget it) .
after the rejections and humility which I received at the interviews, i lost my confidence in such an extent that i decided to never ever take this exams and Ill not be in a part of system where your Acads and your fluency in English is a fixed parameter to get a seat in a Good college.
Whether you score 99.9 percentile in CAT , XAT,SNAP or whatever ..u will not be selected if you dont have the above said prerequisite .they will not think about how this kid has managed to score 65% in +2 exam where a student tops the STATE if he is able to get 75-80% marks ..how difficult it is to study in kerosene oil lighted lamp with 4-5 brothers and sisters in room with temperature as high as 42-45 degree.. were the school teachers didnt teach you enough so that youll take home tuitions from them and were even in the home tuitions ,you study some part of 8th grade some part of 10th grade and some part of your own grade and in the process of all these ,you can even get wounded ( imagine a student getting wounded so that he can study ) and all these continues year on year basis ; that these kids are doing their best where a DPS RK Puram, Doon School, etc kids will piss in their pants after only seeing the conditions there..
But these so called TOP B-SCHOOLS IN INDIA board/interview panel members will ignore them in such a manner like they never ever have existed .they will shatter there confidence in pieces .
And after the rejections in the interviews i lost all the hopes that what will I do with my life ( after spending 60-70 thousand rupee for coaching for CAT in CL and not even getting a single convert from a good college, it forced me to think.) I remained out of touch with all the modes of communication, friends, career reminding things and stayed with my grandmother for about 4 months in my native village.
Finally I started preparing for Bank PO exams when I heard about good no. of vacancies are coming in PSU banks through an ALL INDIA RADIO broadcasted news (was still in my village at that time ) and thought about giving it a try as the fee was only of Rs. 300 . and for the first time in 4 months I moved out of my village and from that time i never thought about my past and never looked back. I failed in the written test in almost 10-12 different Banks exam but I remained in the battle thinking I must have been lagging somewhere and also to compete among lakhs of candidates for 400 -500 seats is not going to be cake walk. But today i saw the tiny name of mine in the selected candidates list for Final Selection of Allahabad Bank and I started to cry and cried for more than an hour or so. Its the moment of PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS for me. It has given me a new meaning to my existence. And whether Ill join the oldest joint stock bank in India is a matter of time but Ill never ever forget the humility which I have faced bcoz of this TOP B-SCHOOLS OF INDIA..
I was crying in the night around 3 am on the date of my interview remembering my past experience in interviews of B-schools and was unable to get a sleep for even 5 minutes and my eyes were red like a vampire.. I was shaking outside the door of interview board waiting to get screwed again, and after my introduction only, the AGM asked the question which I was not prepared to answer in English at that time I closed my eyes for 4-5 seconds and felt my eyes getting moist but as a man without any option, I asked the panel that sir can I answer this in Hindi as I am not very much comfortable with English and to my surprise the AGM said why not Mr. Anupam and at that time I knew that this is the chance I cannot miss and I answered every question asked In Hindi and English mixed..and as the result has been declared today ,I am going to be asst. manager in the oldest joint-stock bank of India.. the bank has kept faith in a candidate like me bcoz they know the actual situation in our country and bcoz they care that why this candidate is asking the permission to answer in Hindi
I respect the IIMs and other inst. Very much but what about candidates like me .. I have read or heard in news about a girls suicide in Mumbai or Delhi (I cant remember exactly) ,the reason was not passing with good marks in his +2 exam. And I was shocked to see her marks in 80 + percent. How can be this happening to students? I think if this case get normalized then ALL THE STUDENTS OF MY STATE HAVE TO COMMIT SUICIDE..
NOW THE PART HOW HARD WORKING WE WERE :-
1.) Eldest bro after doing MBA from Singhad coll. Pune ,is working right now as TL in a FMCG company.
2.) Sister did English hons. And is happily married and going to US with my Jiju (SDBA in Wipro) on H1B visa in the end of this year .
3.) Elder bro. failed in his +2 exam and in second attempt passed with 47% marks in science stream. But he is a God gifted painter/sculpture, won almost all the competition in my DAV school and 8-10 State level prizes in painting . Gave the exam of NIFT, got selected but not joined bcoz he wanted only to do his UG from NID, Ahmedabad. well in his 2nd attempt cleared the 6 stage process of selection in NID and yes HIS INTERVIEW WAS IN HINDI . ( this is called the respect of talent ). Currently pursuing Graphics design and is in 3rd year.
4.) My maternal cousin did his BCA from IGNOUE patna and MCA from BMS ,Bangalore ,securing 10th rank in Karnataka combined. Currently working in Aricent and is Cambridge, London right now for software testing for 4G techn. for AT&T.;
5.) My paternal cousin did his B.TECH from a college under VTU and has joined a company last month.
6.) And lastly me a clerks son is going to join as an Asst. Manager in a PSU bank. (That doesnt sound very bad to me .lol. )