hi chandu bhai i usually come to this thread when i feel down or when i need a mental support but today i read ur post must say great write up u really gave a great fight this was my first attempt to cat and why iw ent for cat??the reason are almost same as urs money mental peace etc but above all it was my dream to study in iim i had tht aim since i was in 11th but after my cat i landed up at 93.13 and now i have lost my confidence tht i would be able to crack the cat06 so now im aiming at other bschools i knows its not fair to give up ur dreams so easily but thts life i have seen so many persons getting lower percentile in second attempt and i dont want to fall again so thts why im aiming at second and third tier school but after seeing ur post im sure i would be taking a drop if i dont get thr mica thankx a lot may be i deseerve iim may be some day i will proudly say tht im a IIMIAN
Hi all,
Truly impressed by chandoo's post, like I guess everyone on this thread is.
Thought I would share my CAT experience with all of yu. I finished my engineering in 2004, so in my final year when I gave the CAT, we were the lucky batch who got to give the CAT twice( one in Nov 2003 then in Feb 2004). I knew I was good with the verb section, worked hard on quant and DI. That year had one of the easiest DI's of all time. Hardly any calculations and very little in terms of logical analysis. It was more about just going through some tables and solving some very easy questions. And i made soo many silly errors in that. my percentile slipped to a 98.18 with a split as follows:
Quant : 99.91
Verba : 99.48
DI : 31.47 ( That is not my percentage score, thats my percentile!!!! )
And if you thought that would be the end of my stupid oversights....well...you are wrong.
After college, I joined Infosys, and planned to give the CAT again . Only CAT, didnt apply for any other colleges, thought pushing a 98.18%ile to a 99+ shudnt be too tuff. Submitted the form ( for CAT Nov-2004), and on the first week of november logged into their site to check the status. My form was rejected because I hadnt signed anywhere on it. The whole form is to be filled using a Pencil, except the disclaimers and the signature next to the Address Box with a Black ball pen. In Both places I hadnt signed! They rejected my form. I called up my elder sister who was in IIM-A that time, asked her if anything could be done. Well she tried, but it was only 12 days to the CAT. It was wayyyy too late to do anything. So that was it, second attempt at CAT and what an anti-climactic no show!!!
Didnt want to lose touch with my preperations, so gave the XAT, the only exams whose forms were available at that time. Cleared the XAT. Didnt get through the interview, simply because I didnt even prepare, something that I will avoid this time around.
This year, for CAT- Nov-2005, bought the form. Filled it carefully. Xeroxed it and kept a copy. Scanned it to my friends and had it proof-read. And kept checking their site to see the form status. The sheer joy I felt on the day it was accepted, didnt even feel that great after getting the iim-a gd/pi call!
Gave the XAT as well, cleared that too. So basically after that one fiasco for CAT-Nov-2004 all the tests where I have signed on the form I have been able to clear. So basically, the most critical aspect of my preparation was signing!!! So ladies and gentlemen, kindly do not waste any time...and practice your signatures. Bring out the black ball pens and sign on every empty scrap of paper you see..!!!!
Thats what I have learnt...and I am passing my wisdom along!!!
In the US there is a calculation on the time duration of an exam/credit course and the number of hours that needs to be spent for that.
The amount of time people spend on studying for this exam is a national waste and I would put the total value wasted upwards of 100 crores every year. I am not kidding here. I am not counting the lowered self esteem and the losing of self worth that will come to the majority after writing this exam...
For a 2 hour exam I would say studying for more than 100 hours will actually hurt your performance because of the undue anxiety it creates on the day of the exam...
Personally I wrote 14 AIMCATS in a real test environment and looked at 2 other AIMCAT papers casually at home... Probably one more hour each paper for analysis at home done thoughtfully but not entirely wholesome...
I definitely did not solve all the problems in the AIMCAT papers... The many i did not solve in the exam were forever left unsolved... other than a few questions here and there...
Also looked at CAT 2004... All the questions... Did not touch probability or permutations etc... Casually did a few questions from previous years CAT papers
All my actual preparation for the CAT like looking at previous years questions for the CAT was in the last two weeks before CAT. YES that is 100% honest.
And in this time i was actually lookin at some fun books in math and general reading actually... Used this time to solve maybe 50+ CAT math problems in total... Absolutely very few questions of verbal or di done in total... In the last month i was glancing through 5 odd interesting books just for fun and as in supposed preparation for EU
Ofcourse I was wasting(?) time on the forum all the time
I could say I slogged real hard in the last two days before CAT. Slogged as in upto 10 hours each on the last two days... purely because I knew i was not upto it in the math and had forgotten the concepts and had lost my great touch in math
Remember that in the end... you are on in each section for 40 minutes
Yes in the end for a 40 minute section most of you have wasted an entire year... In this small period... your prep hardly matters... Luck being a key factor what matters is how you instinctively spot the questions you could answer and persist just enough to solve them...
What matters most is the split second decision to leave a question or answer it... What matters is if you have the guts to decide right there that it would be crazy to attempt that second RC even though all previous CATs had 5 and attempting atleast 3 or more of them was extremely important... What matters most is maybe a real time decision that this time maybe 40 minutes for each section is a bad idea...
So all your yearly prep is not only an absolute waste of time beyond a certain level of prep but it actually makes you anxious, nervous and apprehensive in those crucial 2 hours of mini decision making...
So think wisely and look around you... There might be far more interesting things to do than slogging 4 hours a day which in the end is actually harmful to your chances...
At the end of the day those who have studied an entire year sloggin 3-4 horus a day would have still got the same score if they had studied for less than 1 hour a day... but ofcourse there is no way it can be convincingly proved...
But remember that there are a lot more people who slog 3-6 hours a day and dont get a good score...
Just at the end of the day you only hear from the successful people who say hey I worked real hard and I cracked the CAT. What you dont hear is the guy who is equally intelligent and worked equally hard but did not make it...
What I am saying is that your prep means shit after a certain reasonable limit whether in the end you crack it or dont
K
1 Like
i have read a lot of posts stating that CAT is a test of yout intelligence!!IS IT???
my batchmates in my college (especially ppl from the north) were xtremely good in mechanics(dese guys try for years and thn get into REC),they were abslutely brilliant and never even once did they mention that they had studied these subjects bfore, for their entrance!!!
one day we had a lecture from a prof , he is also the visiting faculty at MIT,and he is an absolute gem.HE said dat "no one is born intelligent..if some one says that he knows mechanics or for that matter ne subject without ne prior studying of that subject,he is lying"..very very true..soon i found dat all my frnds had actually studied these subjects while preparing for their entrance.
ppl who claim to have cracked cat without ne prior preparation,its very hard to believe!!...Is cat an exam dats tests ur intelligence???absolutely not!!!
Its an elimination round dat tests ones skills in maths,di and eng...
the guys who bell the cat without ne solid preps for it, definitely have honed their maths and eng skills over a period of time,mite be during their engg,during school or during their preps for JEE...which guys like me have not(a big mistake)..
nobody is born knowing CAT maths or english,its improved over the years..
taking 2 years to get those skills back(during cat attempts) ,rather to improve such skills does not make ne1 a bad manager!!!!!its jus paying for the mistakes u have committed earlier on....
P.S---this is in reply to ppl who claim dat cracking cat with 3 years of preps makes them bad managers.
Hi to all,
My preparation has been much like that of Chandu. Yes, those two hours in the exam hall are utmost important. Don't take any risk there and esp. not of attempting too many questions. But it is not as easy as it looks. We(especially I ) can't stop attempting more questions. I knew I had messed up by attempting 'too many' questions in a couple of simCATs, but I repeated the same mistake in the real CAT-05 and the rest is NOT A HISTORY. I could get only 85 percentlile while those of my friends who used to get similar percentile to mine got 95-99 %ile. So guys, be satisfied with the number of questions you can handle and don't try to mess up on your accuracy.
This is 11th April 2006 and tomorrow I shall know my fate. Fate, as always, is not without a sense of irony. The choices that we make come and haunt us everyday. I'm feeling the usual butterflies in my stomach but honestly I don't care. I don't care about the results as they don't matter to me anymore. I have not found salvation or something, I just don't care.
May be I shall not convert any one of the call.
So what ?
I shall not die.
The world will not stop.
My parents will not start hating me.
Ok, I shall get that sympathy look in other people's eyes and I won't be able to stand it. But I can always take my eyes away it. Why should I care?
If you care you get disappointed all the time.
Yes Sir, totally agreed. Me too facing D-Day tomorrow. But as you put it, even the worst will not mean the end of the world! So lets chill out! And hope for the best!
As far as my view of the CAT goes, I believe with the amount of publicity that it has got in the last few years, you just can't expect it to retain the same pattern next year. The last two years have progressively made us concentrate on accuracy more than speed. Especially CAT 2005. So now, all the coaching classes will start flooding the students with similar mock tests. And the students will be geared up for accuracy. And that's exactly the reason why I expect CAT2006 to revert back to the larger number of questions format. Just to throw all calculations into disarray.
Having said all this, I sincerely hope I won't need to appear for it again!!
Cheers and Good Luck!
May 2004 - I had 2 calls - XLRI, IIM-K. Failed to convert both. Chandoo posted his experience on this thread. Highly inspiring. I dreamt one day I would post here.
May 2006 - I have final admits from IIM - A, C, I, XIM-B, MDI. Waitlisted at L.
And I am going to post my 'experiments with CAT' in a triology of 5 posts.
Oct 2003 - Realization dawned upon me that I was heading nowhere in life. I had been working at Infosys for 2.5 years. Done nothing great and
saw no scope of doing anything in the future. I considered various options and conclude that MBA in India was the most feasible ones. Luckily I had already applied to CAT just to satisfy my parents.
My idea about CAT at that stage - A silly exam where one has to solve hundreds of maths problems in a limited time. Speed was never my forte.Thats why I had never given CAT in all the previous years.
My idea about MBA - The domain of pseud guys. Outside the ambit of introvert, down to earth guys like me.Did not even know that there was an IIM at Indore. Never heard of FMS, XLRI, MDI or IIFT.
I decided to join some coaching institute to get myself acquainted with the syllabus. But by then the last date for registration even for crash courses was past. At last found an institute 'Scholar's League' which was starting a weekend crash course. There people told me that XL was a good institute too and I applied for XAT too.
The coaching institute was run by grads who had done their BTech from IIT and MBA from IIM-L. They were quite good and it being a new institute, the batch strenth was 5 of whom none were serious aspirants. But I got good personal attention and was able to get a good feel of
what CAT exam was all about.
Then came the actual day of CAT. Went in expecting some surprises. But exam turned out to be an anti climax with the same old pattern of 3 sections having 50 questions each, similar to the previous years' papers and the Mock CATs. The climax however came after the exam when news came out that the paper had got leaked and the exam had got cancelled. My luck. Every time I take a exam, the paper gets leaked and exam gets cancelled. Same thing had happened to me in my IIT JEE also.
Meanwhile I wrote XAT. XAT paper was fantastic. The GK paper had humorous quotations which had to be completed and I really enjoyed those, though I has never heard the quotations before. After cracking the GK section, moved on to English. Here again I was delighted to find most of the passages from Shakespere as I was very comfortable with Shakesperean language. By the time, I came to quant, I could not believe I was doing so well in XAT that I wasted 5 minutes feeling surprised before I got back to solving the problem sets on probability, combinations, number series etc. I guess the minutes wasted reflected on my Quant score, which was a mere 80 percentile. But the final results turned out good fro me. I had 99 percentile in XAT, with 99 in GK, 98 in Verbal and 80 in Quant. Got a call from XLRI, Jamshedpur for the PM & IR course.
Having got a call from XLRI, I was no longer that desperate for CAT. But anyway took TIME Mock CATs for the re-exam. Was consistently ranked outside the top 3000. Then came CAT again. Once again it was the same 3 section paper and my performance was very similar to my first time. The IIMs seemed to have run out of ideas.
Let me take a chronological break here and move on to the CAT results. I had managed 97.45 percentile with 98 in verbal, 92 in DI and 77 in Quant. Inspite of low CAT score, I got a call from IIM-K.
So that was my tally for the year - XLRI PM & IR, IIM-K.
I will continue with my GD/PI experiences in the next post. I have been dreaming of writing this for the past 2 years from the day I read Chandoo's posts. So its going to be a bit long winded and span across posts.
November 2003 - First Attempt at CAT .. in my final year with 0 preparation -> 92.1%ile ... obsviously no calls :neutral:
November 2004 - Second Attempt at CAT .. in my first year at job and with the help of time test series -> 95.8%ile ... obsviously no calls :neutral:
December 2004 - Joined Pagalguy.
August 2005 - My Project manager messed up my yearly appraisal. 
November 2005 - Third Attempt at CAT .. frustrated with a bad yearly appraisal -> saw no future in IT -> with the help of time test series and CL coaching -> 99.86%ile ... Calls : IIM B, I, K and MDI.
Jan 2006 - Enrolled with Mr. Malay Ray and converted IIM I, K and MDI. Though the IIM B nightmare PI is still bugging me .... but just had a bad day. 😞
My journey to IIM-C
The IIMs had always been a dream for me. My first attempt at the CAT (the entrance exam for the IIMs) was in 2003. Had prepared a lot for it and had a good exam. But the moment I came out of the examination halls, I heard that my effort had been a wasted one, for the CAT papers had been leaked, and the CAT would be reconducted.
The CAT was reconducted in Feb 2004. But somehow, I just couldn't motivate myself for the same level of preparation. I don't know whether it was the frustration of the wasted effort, or just my usual complacent attitude, but I wasn't motivated enough to take the retest. Even with the half-hearted approach, I managed to secure 98.82 percentile. I would have managed to get a few GD/PI calls from some of the IIMs, had it not been for a technicality called sectional cut-offs. My percentile in one of the sections was too low. A case of so-near-yet-so-far!...................(More)
The IIMs had always been a dream for me. My first attempt at the CAT (the entrance exam for the IIMs) was in 2003. Had prepared a lot for it and had a good exam. But the moment I came out of the examination halls, I heard that my effort had been a wasted one, for the CAT papers had been leaked, and the CAT would be reconducted.
The CAT was reconducted in Feb 2004. But somehow, I just couldn't motivate myself for the same level of preparation. I don't know whether it was the frustration of the wasted effort, or just my usual complacent attitude, but I wasn't motivated enough to take the retest. Even with the half-hearted approach, I managed to secure 98.82 percentile. I would have managed to get a few GD/PI calls from some of the IIMs, had it not been for a technicality called sectional cut-offs. My percentile in one of the sections was too low. A case of so-near-yet-so-far!...................(More)
I am an SCRA and would (have) soon joine (ed) the Indian railways as class I gazetted officer. After clearing UPSC in 2002 I knew I could clear any exam (boastfull eh?) and thus decided not o join any coaching!!In any case near Jamalpur (SCRA training centre) there IS no coaching insti. On 20 Nov 2005 I was at jamshedpur for CAT. While my exam was decent enuf, my mobile was stolen from putside the test center and hence my day turned out to be really baaaad!!! I knew that this is one exam I would not make !!! However on2 Jan 2006 my comp told me that I have qualified for 5 IIM gd/pi (all except IIMA). i was ecstatic. I had no access to any coaching insti/mentor/senior etc. Also I was a bit complacent due to my existing career. still I appeared for my gds with only my parent's advices for the possible questions and answerr. As luck wud have it I converted IIMC,I,L(w/l)
I still maintain my IIMB pi was great but god prbbly wanted me to be nearer to home hence JOKA here I come.
TO all CAT aspirants, it does not matter if you make it to IIMs or not. I still feel they are a little overhyped!!! It is the input that you have given that matters.
A coaching insti may help you get into an IIM, but remember in life there is no coaching to take you forward(no offences to neone). Believe in yourself and u'll make it to the top.
I go to IIMCal not dreaming of stratospherically high salary but of learning something new. (I mean it guys believe me!!!)]
Best of luck to you all,
Ram Ram
Arvind
..... contd
Series of events since the XLRI results in Feb 2004.
Feb 15 : Wrote CAT re-exam.
Feb 21 : XAT Interview - A dream interview.
Mar 06 : Joined Pagalguy
Mar 07 : All CAT results out. Got call from IIM-K
Mar 15 : I reject onsite offer in hope of XL convert
Apr 01 : I am the fool of the day with dream interview bringing
nightmare results.
Apr 14 : IIM-K interview. Average GD, Average PI.
May 01 : Reject onsite offer again in hope of converting K.
May 10 : Final results. I am not in first list.
May 15 : Reject onsite offer for a third time, in hope of K second list
May 22 : K second list out. I am not there. Still hope for a call after start of session
Jun 30 : K session has started. No call. End of my MBS plans for the year.
Now the important part. Key learnings.
1. Be clear on career goals.
a. Do not have more than 1 goal.
b. Remain commited to your goal during interview period.
c. You can always change after you are selected.
2. During the exam, do not get excited if you are performing way
beyond expectation.
3. In CAT quant, do not guess. Murphy is waiting.
4. Avoid any reference to philosophy during interviews.
a. Philosopshy means different things to different people.
b. It is a vast area and you can be asked anything.
c. Philosophers seldom agree. So if the panel has a philosopher,
you are in trouble.
d. Philosphy is a personal thing. And it is better not to expose
it to attack by the panel.
5. Conform to the current society's standard of ethics in replies to
questions on ethics.
a. Professors are usually idealists.
b. They want to produce both effecient and ethical managers.
6. If you do not know the answer to a question, admit it. Do not try to guess.
7. During the interviw period, keep a positive feeling about your employer.
a. Negative feeling against employer is viewed as negative against you.
b. If you keep a negative feeling and lie in direct questions, you
may unintentionally say something against your employer in
indirect questions.
c. Highlight learnings from the work experience during the introduction.
8. Do not waste introduction time talking about thinsg that do
not reveal positive information about you to the panel
in the context of MBA admission.
9. Even if the GD gets boring, be enthusiastic.
10. Good CAT score matters. With 97 percentile and 77 in Quant, do
not be too hopeful.
11. Beware of real cool XL interviews. Most cool XL interviews result
in non selction.
....... To be contd.
I think cracking CAT is not only about slogging good number of hours. Practise is definitely at the core of the activity but the most vital thing is to deliver big on the D day(jo jita wahi sikandar).
The best thing is to enjoy CAT preparation, not getting obsessed of it.
Finally hard work always pay off and as saying goes " It pours when it rains", so guys keep the tempo , all of you deserving souls will be rewarded.
Bye,
abhishek
The best thing is to enjoy CAT preparation, not getting obsessed of it.
Finally hard work always pay off and as saying goes " It pours when it rains", so guys keep the tempo , all of you deserving souls will be rewarded.
Bye,
abhishek
Hi Guyz, :neutral:
I am confounded in this perplexing situation. First the facts:
--> Fresher engineering (IIT)
--> Calls in CAT'05 --->A,C,L,K,I
The sad part is i could convert only Indore. To be true i had never considered Indore and had always thought that i would convert A,C or L definitely.
I just wanted to know whether it is justified in your opininion to take another try at CAT to get ABC. I already have a good job at a sales & markting US based consultancy firm, ZS Associates at hand.
Also though i have only done a couple of courses in Marketing and one in Finance i had always believed that Finance could be the thing for me.
So if i go ahead with the marketing job and give CAT again say after 2 years would a transition from Marketing to Finance profile be viable or is it going to be difficult??
Or shud i jump into IIMI and get a taste of finance right away.
I know that cracking CAT again after some years will be a helluva job. Waddya guyz say, should i take-up IIMI or work in Marketing for some time hoping that the work-ex will be advantageous to me and will help me know more about what i want to do in life!!!
As for the job, its a CTC 6.5 package, so money isnt an issue i guess. Wud appreciate your advice.
Thanks for helping out 
The story of an average guy who dared to dream BIG!
I was never interested in CAT.. In my engineering days at IIIT-C, I always aspired to be an IT nerd or should I say programming Geek! I'd my eyes on GRE. The trend then was work under a set of distinguished Proffs.. take GRE when you are fully prepared , apply to the US Universities and then get a big chunk off your expenses using those coveted recommendations. My target was no different! But what drove me to CAT ?
I found some of my classmates glued to IMS/TIME material right there in the 2nd year .. Holla !!! what was that.. and what exactly is CAT ?
One of them replied.. you dunno CAT ? ( with a big frown in his face! ) CAT's supposed to be an extremely tough exam( realized later.. CAT's nothing but an extremely hyped test! ).. you crack it and you make your way to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Managements.. wow.. sounds attractive but why the hell should I pursue it ? Afterall.. I always wanted to become an IT nerd!
My NDA dreams still disturb me
I always wanted to be in the AirforceI knew being the only child of my parents I would be discouraged .. but what the heck.. I decided to take extreme steps..
When I'was in my 11th standard.. I purchased the NDA (National Defence Academy) form.. appeared for the test.. got selected.. was called for an SSB interview for the Indian Airforce at Dehradun went there aced and got selected! And all these without caring to inform my parents!
Gosh.. when the final call letter came.. I got the bashing of my life! And for the first time in my life I cried this is what I wanted to be
Coming back to CAT.. In our third year of engineering we had to do a summer internship in an organization. I'd offers from PriceWaterHouseCoopers and Tata Consultancy Service Ltd ( well wasn't an Ltd then).. and was very sure to do it from PWC. But one of my pals comes to my room one lovely evening and tells me.. "Heya. Ditch PWC.. we'r gonna go to IIM A!!!"
My reply : "IIM A.. pagal hai kya ? wat's me supposed to gain from there.. me need corporate exposure and not IIM expo.."
Somehow this pal of mine convinces me to ditch the corporate offers and join him. So here we go..come june 03 and we'r on our way to the Mecca of Mgmt !
All it takes is just 2 months. no more
I still remember my first reactions when I stood right in front of IIM A .. the reaction of a "wow" in my lips and an "awe" in my belly..
The next two months were breath taking. Me and my pal were put up in one of the dorms of IIMA.The work load was extreme to say the least.. but fun never deserted us.. I took my time to make a lot of wonderful acquaintances there I saw people running with sandwiches clubbed in their mouths and hands in their zips.. trying to zip the last thing before entering the classrooms..
Aw.. what was this ?
"We've a surprise test now.. will catch u later" was the reaction!
Me was dumbfounded.. the next 15-20 days.. I made it sure to take some time out of my work and observe the life of an MBA grad.. and the results were tempting!
The two months at IIM A were good enough to motivate me.. for CAT. Now, since I'd to do something filmy..
I went to a rock ( they call it the CEO's rock primarily because most of the IIM A junta sit there and sip tea ) .. touched the rock and promised to crack CAT! (To be very specific I promised to return to IIM A .. only this time as a PGP student )
My first MOCK . Quant + DI are my strengths!
Motivated.. I returned to IIIT-C.. this time with a determination to crack CAT. Now what's the first thing to do.. take some material and start over ? Nah.. lemme follow what IMS asks us to do..
So.. one fine Sunday morning I set off for the nearest IMS center to take the preliminary test. The test was modeled on the pattern of CAT 2002, and I spent 1 hour doing Quantitative Aptitude and the next 1 hour with DI/LR J
"2 hours up.. now Students please calculate your scores and let us know .. please note at this stage even if it's a 20 you should be glad " was the call ..
10-13 took the test and their score hovered around the 15-25 mark. I calculated my score.. it was an encouraging 44.75 ( with a negative marking of 0.25 ).. "Wow" remarked the counselor.. did u take CAT before? "NO " I said with a broad smile.. Oh boy.. was I to crack CAT without any preps ? J
The counselor asked my sectional breaks:
I replied : 23.50 in quants and 21.25 in DI.. The smile in her face trimmed down to a frown now.. "what about English ? "
"English".. why the hell should I go for English when I can score in quants/Di ?
What followed was a hoard of laughter.. ( and it still rings ! ) Never ever had I felt so embarrassed! The counselor explained me.. in CAT you need to perform equally well in all three sections.. only then will you be eligible for the IIMs..
Afflicted and determined .. I returned home ..
I was never interested in CAT.. In my engineering days at IIIT-C, I always aspired to be an IT nerd or should I say programming Geek! I'd my eyes on GRE. The trend then was work under a set of distinguished Proffs.. take GRE when you are fully prepared , apply to the US Universities and then get a big chunk off your expenses using those coveted recommendations. My target was no different! But what drove me to CAT ?
I found some of my classmates glued to IMS/TIME material right there in the 2nd year .. Holla !!! what was that.. and what exactly is CAT ?
One of them replied.. you dunno CAT ? ( with a big frown in his face! ) CAT's supposed to be an extremely tough exam( realized later.. CAT's nothing but an extremely hyped test! ).. you crack it and you make your way to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Managements.. wow.. sounds attractive but why the hell should I pursue it ? Afterall.. I always wanted to become an IT nerd!
My NDA dreams still disturb me
I always wanted to be in the AirforceI knew being the only child of my parents I would be discouraged .. but what the heck.. I decided to take extreme steps..
When I'was in my 11th standard.. I purchased the NDA (National Defence Academy) form.. appeared for the test.. got selected.. was called for an SSB interview for the Indian Airforce at Dehradun went there aced and got selected! And all these without caring to inform my parents!
Gosh.. when the final call letter came.. I got the bashing of my life! And for the first time in my life I cried this is what I wanted to be
Coming back to CAT.. In our third year of engineering we had to do a summer internship in an organization. I'd offers from PriceWaterHouseCoopers and Tata Consultancy Service Ltd ( well wasn't an Ltd then).. and was very sure to do it from PWC. But one of my pals comes to my room one lovely evening and tells me.. "Heya. Ditch PWC.. we'r gonna go to IIM A!!!"
My reply : "IIM A.. pagal hai kya ? wat's me supposed to gain from there.. me need corporate exposure and not IIM expo.."
Somehow this pal of mine convinces me to ditch the corporate offers and join him. So here we go..come june 03 and we'r on our way to the Mecca of Mgmt !
All it takes is just 2 months. no more
I still remember my first reactions when I stood right in front of IIM A .. the reaction of a "wow" in my lips and an "awe" in my belly..
The next two months were breath taking. Me and my pal were put up in one of the dorms of IIMA.The work load was extreme to say the least.. but fun never deserted us.. I took my time to make a lot of wonderful acquaintances there I saw people running with sandwiches clubbed in their mouths and hands in their zips.. trying to zip the last thing before entering the classrooms..
Aw.. what was this ?
"We've a surprise test now.. will catch u later" was the reaction!
Me was dumbfounded.. the next 15-20 days.. I made it sure to take some time out of my work and observe the life of an MBA grad.. and the results were tempting!
The two months at IIM A were good enough to motivate me.. for CAT. Now, since I'd to do something filmy..
I went to a rock ( they call it the CEO's rock primarily because most of the IIM A junta sit there and sip tea ) .. touched the rock and promised to crack CAT! (To be very specific I promised to return to IIM A .. only this time as a PGP student )
My first MOCK . Quant + DI are my strengths!
Motivated.. I returned to IIIT-C.. this time with a determination to crack CAT. Now what's the first thing to do.. take some material and start over ? Nah.. lemme follow what IMS asks us to do..
So.. one fine Sunday morning I set off for the nearest IMS center to take the preliminary test. The test was modeled on the pattern of CAT 2002, and I spent 1 hour doing Quantitative Aptitude and the next 1 hour with DI/LR J
"2 hours up.. now Students please calculate your scores and let us know .. please note at this stage even if it's a 20 you should be glad " was the call ..
10-13 took the test and their score hovered around the 15-25 mark. I calculated my score.. it was an encouraging 44.75 ( with a negative marking of 0.25 ).. "Wow" remarked the counselor.. did u take CAT before? "NO " I said with a broad smile.. Oh boy.. was I to crack CAT without any preps ? J
The counselor asked my sectional breaks:
I replied : 23.50 in quants and 21.25 in DI.. The smile in her face trimmed down to a frown now.. "what about English ? "
"English".. why the hell should I go for English when I can score in quants/Di ?
What followed was a hoard of laughter.. ( and it still rings ! ) Never ever had I felt so embarrassed! The counselor explained me.. in CAT you need to perform equally well in all three sections.. only then will you be eligible for the IIMs..
Afflicted and determined .. I returned home ..
CAT'03 : The prelude to my Cat expedition ..
I'd enrolled for the IMS Simcats that year. Since I started preparing on August '03, I'd very little time to go through the basics. Honestly speaking I touched nothing of quant/di.. the only thing which I worked on RCs.. and a bit of vocabulary/grammar.
I never performed excellently in my mocks.. but I was consistent.. I usually hovered around the 97th-98th percentile and could clear the cutoffs only on 2 occasions out of 8! (thanx to a section they call verbal ability! )
Then comes D-day and with it Goosebumps, henpicks, turkeysnippet J and what all..
The paper was given to us .. the first thing I did was to smell it! At 11:00 am sharp, the invigilator says "START"..
11:35 am and I'm still stuck with verbal ability.. would you believe it ? didn't touch a single RC by then.. I could sense sweat everywhere..
12:00 pm done with verbal ability and 1 RC ( so much for English & reading speed.. ).. with 1 hour left I'd two sections but the best part was.. they were my strengths..
12:30 pm done with DI - attempted 26 questions.
1:00 pm done with quants - attempted 25 questions.
I quickly checked my attempts : 26 + 25 + 32 (English) = 83 attempts!
With a feeling not so good.. I made my way back to my hostel.. was disappointed for not performing well in English.. As soon as I reached my common room.. someone came shouting : "CAT'03 stands cancelled .. thanx to Ranjit Don"
Pagalguy.com : another forum on the wall ?
I knew God won't give me any better chance than this. Here I screw CAT and the test stands cancelled what more can I ask ?
I'd this habbit of surfing the net during my free time and on one such occasion I bumped into an interesting forum named www.pagalguy.com The name struck me.. !!! pagalguy.. hey sounds cool.. maybe some resemblance.. let me check this..
And what do I find there..with some 400-500 odd members, here we have an MBA forum which discusses almost everything under the sun! whoa.. that's my cake!
I found Gods like philiptj (100%iler), puneet(100%iler) and many more posting in this forum. Now, I needed to jump in .. so what's the first thing well create an ID and register..
So here goes .. my first id on pg.com : vision_mission
I used to spend most of my time reading about how pagalguy.com was created..(thanx to Alwyn J ), CAT'03 scores, strategies. Slowly I started getting involved into a lovely community .. It was so much fun.. take a mock.. post your scores/analysis.. and the interaction was of high quality..
Then we had wonderful threads where we usually had heated discussions.. PG.com was a part of life now.
CAT'03 : the retake..
"I may fail once.. now that God's given me an opportunity.. let me make best use of it."
These were the words I said to myself when I entered the exam hall.
11:00 am sharp we start answering.. I discover quants/di was tougher .. while English looked the same!
11:25 still stuck with verbal ability.. what the hell.. was I going to repeat the same performance again ?
.. "YES" I did! .. repeated the same performance.. 11:55 pm done with English ( full VA and 2 RCs! ) L
with just 65 minutes at hand .. somehow I made hay of the other two sections. My attempts : 21 (quants ) + 27(di) + 34(English) = 82 and another performance to crib!
As soon as I left the exam hall.. I could hear people shouting.. "Me attempted 105.. arrey me 110.. and so on"..I knew I hadn't done well!
With a lot of courage I calculated my score later that evening :
Quants: 14
Di : 21
English : 14.33
Net : 49.33 L
All coaching institutes came up with their analysis with cutoffs at a strict 58+ for atleast 1 IIM ( IMS went to extremes declaring 78+ for atleast 1 IIM call J )
That night I wept.. all my aspiration were going down and to add to my woes.. I was so confident that I had skipped the placements at my institute.
SP Jain & MDI to the rescue..
97.33 (99.40 in DI,96 in quants and 78 in English)was bad.. I mean pretty bad considering I'd my eyes on the IIMs. However I got calls from MDI and SP Jain. I attended the interviews since I'd applied to them. I was elated to know that I could make it to the merit lists of SP & MDI. J
For a few moments I let go my IIM aspirations.. 1st attempt at CAT and I could get into 2 of the best institutes in the country.. wasn't it an achievement ?
That evening.. I called my pals at IIM A and informed them of my results. They were happy but one of them said this : "Good.. but don't u think you can give CAT another short.. ? Remember your promise.."
I soon realized my promise.. all my joy was out in seconds.. I knew I'd a mission to accomplish
anupam will return : boy.. what a strange Id ?
Those days we had this points concept on PG wherein you could add colours/sparkles to your profile in exchange of points. The points were generally earned and we had some generous divas who actually donated them too..
One could also change his user id in exchange for 3000 points and this is exzctly what I did Overnight vision_mission vowed to return for CAT'04.. this time as: anupam will return!
Final year in engineering , the first thing I'd to do was to get placed and then prepare for CAT. I needed a company which could offer me with a cool life .. after some analysis chose TCS J
I also felt the need to network, form study groups and go on with the preparation. Being in Calcutta I knew very few people from PG there. Most of my time I'd to be online on PG trying my hands at the quant threads/ verbal ability sections.
One day I come across Praveen Agarwal (whocarez) a Pgite.. preparing for CAT'04.. the platform was set..
I enrolled for the TIME AIMCATs this time. I felt the need to enroll for another Mock CAT series and hence enrolled for CL too.
Every Sunday we had AIMCATs and every Monday whocarez and I used to meet.. spend the next 3-4 hours analyzing the paper at Barista/CCD outlets they issued us regular membership coupons for our cinematic visits! J
This group study thingie was working My performance in the Mocks skyrocketed.. the first 8 AIMCATs.. I'd got into the top 100 on 6 occasions (and cleared the cutoffs everytime !)
Consistency is the key to success and I was proving it again and again!
18 mocks in TIME : I got into the top 100 on 11 occasions.
10 mocks in CL : I got outside the top 100 only once!
I was pretty sure I was going to make it BIG this time.. at nights I used to sleep and imagine the same Rock @IIM A.. I knew I was getting close to my dreams.
I was soon placed at TCS and had to go to Trivandrum for my initial learning program. 10 days into my training ( in October) .. and one night I get a call from my mother : My father's ill and I would have to rush back home..
I'd enrolled for the IMS Simcats that year. Since I started preparing on August '03, I'd very little time to go through the basics. Honestly speaking I touched nothing of quant/di.. the only thing which I worked on RCs.. and a bit of vocabulary/grammar.
I never performed excellently in my mocks.. but I was consistent.. I usually hovered around the 97th-98th percentile and could clear the cutoffs only on 2 occasions out of 8! (thanx to a section they call verbal ability! )
Then comes D-day and with it Goosebumps, henpicks, turkeysnippet J and what all..
The paper was given to us .. the first thing I did was to smell it! At 11:00 am sharp, the invigilator says "START"..
11:35 am and I'm still stuck with verbal ability.. would you believe it ? didn't touch a single RC by then.. I could sense sweat everywhere..
12:00 pm done with verbal ability and 1 RC ( so much for English & reading speed.. ).. with 1 hour left I'd two sections but the best part was.. they were my strengths..
12:30 pm done with DI - attempted 26 questions.
1:00 pm done with quants - attempted 25 questions.
I quickly checked my attempts : 26 + 25 + 32 (English) = 83 attempts!
With a feeling not so good.. I made my way back to my hostel.. was disappointed for not performing well in English.. As soon as I reached my common room.. someone came shouting : "CAT'03 stands cancelled .. thanx to Ranjit Don"
Pagalguy.com : another forum on the wall ?
I knew God won't give me any better chance than this. Here I screw CAT and the test stands cancelled what more can I ask ?
I'd this habbit of surfing the net during my free time and on one such occasion I bumped into an interesting forum named www.pagalguy.com The name struck me.. !!! pagalguy.. hey sounds cool.. maybe some resemblance.. let me check this..
And what do I find there..with some 400-500 odd members, here we have an MBA forum which discusses almost everything under the sun! whoa.. that's my cake!
I found Gods like philiptj (100%iler), puneet(100%iler) and many more posting in this forum. Now, I needed to jump in .. so what's the first thing well create an ID and register..
So here goes .. my first id on pg.com : vision_mission
I used to spend most of my time reading about how pagalguy.com was created..(thanx to Alwyn J ), CAT'03 scores, strategies. Slowly I started getting involved into a lovely community .. It was so much fun.. take a mock.. post your scores/analysis.. and the interaction was of high quality..
Then we had wonderful threads where we usually had heated discussions.. PG.com was a part of life now.
CAT'03 : the retake..
"I may fail once.. now that God's given me an opportunity.. let me make best use of it."
These were the words I said to myself when I entered the exam hall.
11:00 am sharp we start answering.. I discover quants/di was tougher .. while English looked the same!
11:25 still stuck with verbal ability.. what the hell.. was I going to repeat the same performance again ?
.. "YES" I did! .. repeated the same performance.. 11:55 pm done with English ( full VA and 2 RCs! ) L
with just 65 minutes at hand .. somehow I made hay of the other two sections. My attempts : 21 (quants ) + 27(di) + 34(English) = 82 and another performance to crib!
As soon as I left the exam hall.. I could hear people shouting.. "Me attempted 105.. arrey me 110.. and so on"..I knew I hadn't done well!
With a lot of courage I calculated my score later that evening :
Quants: 14
Di : 21
English : 14.33
Net : 49.33 L
All coaching institutes came up with their analysis with cutoffs at a strict 58+ for atleast 1 IIM ( IMS went to extremes declaring 78+ for atleast 1 IIM call J )
That night I wept.. all my aspiration were going down and to add to my woes.. I was so confident that I had skipped the placements at my institute.
SP Jain & MDI to the rescue..
97.33 (99.40 in DI,96 in quants and 78 in English)was bad.. I mean pretty bad considering I'd my eyes on the IIMs. However I got calls from MDI and SP Jain. I attended the interviews since I'd applied to them. I was elated to know that I could make it to the merit lists of SP & MDI. J
For a few moments I let go my IIM aspirations.. 1st attempt at CAT and I could get into 2 of the best institutes in the country.. wasn't it an achievement ?
That evening.. I called my pals at IIM A and informed them of my results. They were happy but one of them said this : "Good.. but don't u think you can give CAT another short.. ? Remember your promise.."
I soon realized my promise.. all my joy was out in seconds.. I knew I'd a mission to accomplish
anupam will return : boy.. what a strange Id ?
Those days we had this points concept on PG wherein you could add colours/sparkles to your profile in exchange of points. The points were generally earned and we had some generous divas who actually donated them too..
One could also change his user id in exchange for 3000 points and this is exzctly what I did Overnight vision_mission vowed to return for CAT'04.. this time as: anupam will return!
Final year in engineering , the first thing I'd to do was to get placed and then prepare for CAT. I needed a company which could offer me with a cool life .. after some analysis chose TCS J
I also felt the need to network, form study groups and go on with the preparation. Being in Calcutta I knew very few people from PG there. Most of my time I'd to be online on PG trying my hands at the quant threads/ verbal ability sections.
One day I come across Praveen Agarwal (whocarez) a Pgite.. preparing for CAT'04.. the platform was set..
I enrolled for the TIME AIMCATs this time. I felt the need to enroll for another Mock CAT series and hence enrolled for CL too.
Every Sunday we had AIMCATs and every Monday whocarez and I used to meet.. spend the next 3-4 hours analyzing the paper at Barista/CCD outlets they issued us regular membership coupons for our cinematic visits! J
This group study thingie was working My performance in the Mocks skyrocketed.. the first 8 AIMCATs.. I'd got into the top 100 on 6 occasions (and cleared the cutoffs everytime !)
Consistency is the key to success and I was proving it again and again!
18 mocks in TIME : I got into the top 100 on 11 occasions.
10 mocks in CL : I got outside the top 100 only once!
I was pretty sure I was going to make it BIG this time.. at nights I used to sleep and imagine the same Rock @IIM A.. I knew I was getting close to my dreams.
I was soon placed at TCS and had to go to Trivandrum for my initial learning program. 10 days into my training ( in October) .. and one night I get a call from my mother : My father's ill and I would have to rush back home..
CAT04: Turbulent times
My father was serious but thanx to the almighty he was recovering on time. CAT had slipped out of my mind for some time ..
12th Nov.. I realized Id to rush to Khozikode for my CAT.. afterall Id spent two years preparing for it now .. 15th nov I make my way to the spice capital of India..
CAT04 had this 1 and 2 markers which tested our on the spot judgement skills as well. I remember the day.. it was one of the worst days in my life..
I always thought DI and Quants were my strengths .. CAT04 proved me wrong!
This time I completed my verbal ability in 20 minutes and went on to attack DI ( supposedly my strength! 99.40 in CAT03) .. but alas! Whatz this DI.. I misread a 1-marker caselet in DI and spent 10 minutes there without attempting a single question. The pressure was mounting and Id attempted a paltry 8-9 questions in 30 minutes.. I was sweating.. never ever in my life did I come under so much pressure in a comfort section. I cursed TIME/CL/IMS for not introducing me to such a pattern! But.. I had to attempt questions.. curses can come later on..
Jittered.. I moved to quants.. the relatively easy quants section helped me cool down my nerves.. Once quants was done I moved to RCs and this time completed 3 RCs in 25 minutes.. with just 10 minutes remaining.. I moved back to DI.. The next 10 minutes were nightmarish.. couldnt think of a strategy to attempt the DI section.. shame on me .. these were the words under my breath..
1:00 pm : STOP was the call I knew Id come up with another award winning performance!
Pune gets a son.. I a family
After my Initial learning program at TCS, I was asked to move to Pune. A new city, new friends,a new environment were all I needed for a recharge I resolved to continue with the combined study group formula. With whocarez getting into IIM C, I knew this formulaz a sure success .. the need of the hour was some like minded people..
The first person whom I met in Pune was Sachin Kadam (Govi ) J. A guy who by appearance looked the academic types.. wow.. seems Im gonna enjoy some serious gyan session now. Together we pen down the plan to form a study group. The way to find people would be through a Pune PG meet .I heard from Govi that Pune PG meets are usually dull with very few people turning up every time. We resolved to change things this time.. so the stage was set for the first ever Pune PG meet of 2005!
At the same time I got a PM from someone named Aarav (Rahul Sharma)..
Aarav.. hmm.. who the hells he ? .. I remember coming across so many Pgites but Aarav.. never heard an A of him before..
The Mystery shoots off when we meet.. here I was sitting in Barista with the legendary Ghulam (aka Aarav ) a person whom I respected ( and still do) for his moral/ethical values (not to mention his quants
)
The first Pune PG meet was a big success and helped me get in touch with some really serious aspirants : Govi, itsrahul, Catalytic, Jackal,Subu, Aarav & me..
I got the family which I wanted! J
Way to CAT05! Fun, frolic and a friendship to cherish..
Pune PG meets became the routine of the day. Every week we had a PG meet with most of the regulars turning up and everytime we had this burst of newbies.. J who seldom came the next time!
The first All India PG meet was held in Essel World @ Mumbai. Pune was well represented by Manpreet, Aarav and me. It was a wonderful meet ! I met the likes of Allwyn(pagalguy), Apurv,Subu (urMad), Sowmya (Simba) amongst the biggies..
I made two new friends : Monil (reachmonil) and Rohit (estranged_gnrs)
I was impressed by Monil & Rohit ..their attitude.. positive to the core .. with a gleam of determination in their eyes I could feel these onez are for the big future!
Coming back to Pune, we had a meet after every MockCAT.. with Aaravs home being the preferred destination.. thanx to his bachelorhood and location advantage J
Tied up by a hectic schedule, Sachin made it a point to pay us a visit whenever possible while itsrahul was at his very best with accuracy in mocks..Both Govi and itsrahul are very similar when it comes to demeanor.. the corporate types.. J
And it was fun.. studying at Aaravs house till late in the evenings.. round that off with a movie and then back again.. its a full night out with INMO problems! J
Hyderabad chapter : A geek and a clown meets ..well.. another clown J
Office front my work load was increasing and Id to sacrifice my appraisals for my CAT aspirations. I was soon shifted to a new assignment which required more than hard labor.
My new assignment forced me to land up in Hyderabad Likewise my formula had to continue here too.. sooner or later I bump into a geek (Aditya aka HAHAHA) and a clown (anandv ) J..
It was a lot of learning from the two.. either it be attempting 5 RCs in 25 minutes or attempting MockCATs in 90 minutes! J Competition was something these two guys taught me.. not to forget those analysis sessions when all of a sudden the clown will crack the weirdest of PJs and bring down the mood of the discussion to more bearable levels J
CAT05 : The grand finale..
I wasnt more prepared this time.. realistically speaking.. I was more mentally strong this time.. I knew lady luck had been eluding me for quite sometime and if I remained patient and persevered .. my goals not far away..
The moment I saw it was a 90 question paper, I got this in my mind that the paper will be slightly tougher and the focus needs to be on accuracy.
I always started off with English (as this was not only my weakest section but also the section where I marked more number of bubbles in the least time), I gave some 42-45 mins to English and attempted questions worth 41 marks. I did have this feeling that I may not end up with a satisfactory score in this section but thanx to my pathetic accuracy (ended up with a net score of 17.66).. I decided the only way out for me was to attempt more number of questions.( People strong in english will surely come up with better methods of tackling this section )
Next, I come to my strength : Quantitative Aptitude. I realised I had more scoring oppurtunities in the 2 markers.. hence gave 20 minutes to the two markers and attempted 6 of them. The next 10 minutes were spent with the 1 markers where I attempted just 6 questions.
My net score in quants in 30 minutes was 15.33 (got one 2-marker wrong)
Now I'd 45 minutes in my hand .. I decided to move on to my next strong section : DI and LR .. but for a moment thought I needed a better score in english.. hence moved back to Verbal. With almost all questions answered in verbal, I found I hadn't answered the Derrida RC (my BIGGEST mistake!). I spent some 6-7 minutes on the Rc and to my horror found none of the questions answerable! I decided to mark one answer ( went for a blind fluke! #mistake number 2).
I realised I'd arnd 35-36 minutes left for DI.CAT'04 I was murdered in DI.. for a moment I thought I was going to repeat that performance yet again.
I again found that there were 1 markers and 2 markers present here.. ALthough 2-markers were more scoring..I decided to attempt the 1 markers first..( to gimme bits of confi).. spent some 10 minutes there and attempted questions worth 7 marks.Next, I moved to the 2 markers. Since I had 25 minutes left.. I first attacked the tennis caselet and finished it off in 10 minutes. Next I went to the Olympic caselet, spent some 3-4 odd minutes there.. but cudn't make much sense of it. For a moment.. I made up my mind to take my chances and so some guesswork.. but Holla! CAT'04 perpormance's haunted spirit stopped me from doing so. Next went to the UP/Bihar caselet and cracked it just in time.
My net score in DI was 15.33
I knew Id not done as well as I wanted it to be..
Frustrated.. I wrote down a suicide note J .. a note which made me famous..
The response to that note was tremendous.. even today when I sit back and remember those days.. I get emotional..
2nd January,2006 - I end up with BLACKI Alas lady luck smiles.. The results were declared at 12:00 am on 2nd jan.. I didnt have the guts to check my results.. the man on mission Aarav ( the man with golden lips ) informs me of my calls..
I was overjoyed, punched the air lile Brett Lee.. J but.. alas my joy was short lived .. most of my study mates (Aarav,Govi,Monil,rohit,.teesra.. cudnt make it to the next stage)
Next comes Vengeance..
My father was serious but thanx to the almighty he was recovering on time. CAT had slipped out of my mind for some time ..
12th Nov.. I realized Id to rush to Khozikode for my CAT.. afterall Id spent two years preparing for it now .. 15th nov I make my way to the spice capital of India..
CAT04 had this 1 and 2 markers which tested our on the spot judgement skills as well. I remember the day.. it was one of the worst days in my life..
I always thought DI and Quants were my strengths .. CAT04 proved me wrong!
This time I completed my verbal ability in 20 minutes and went on to attack DI ( supposedly my strength! 99.40 in CAT03) .. but alas! Whatz this DI.. I misread a 1-marker caselet in DI and spent 10 minutes there without attempting a single question. The pressure was mounting and Id attempted a paltry 8-9 questions in 30 minutes.. I was sweating.. never ever in my life did I come under so much pressure in a comfort section. I cursed TIME/CL/IMS for not introducing me to such a pattern! But.. I had to attempt questions.. curses can come later on..
Jittered.. I moved to quants.. the relatively easy quants section helped me cool down my nerves.. Once quants was done I moved to RCs and this time completed 3 RCs in 25 minutes.. with just 10 minutes remaining.. I moved back to DI.. The next 10 minutes were nightmarish.. couldnt think of a strategy to attempt the DI section.. shame on me .. these were the words under my breath..
1:00 pm : STOP was the call I knew Id come up with another award winning performance!
Pune gets a son.. I a family
After my Initial learning program at TCS, I was asked to move to Pune. A new city, new friends,a new environment were all I needed for a recharge I resolved to continue with the combined study group formula. With whocarez getting into IIM C, I knew this formulaz a sure success .. the need of the hour was some like minded people..
The first person whom I met in Pune was Sachin Kadam (Govi ) J. A guy who by appearance looked the academic types.. wow.. seems Im gonna enjoy some serious gyan session now. Together we pen down the plan to form a study group. The way to find people would be through a Pune PG meet .I heard from Govi that Pune PG meets are usually dull with very few people turning up every time. We resolved to change things this time.. so the stage was set for the first ever Pune PG meet of 2005!
At the same time I got a PM from someone named Aarav (Rahul Sharma)..
Aarav.. hmm.. who the hells he ? .. I remember coming across so many Pgites but Aarav.. never heard an A of him before..
The Mystery shoots off when we meet.. here I was sitting in Barista with the legendary Ghulam (aka Aarav ) a person whom I respected ( and still do) for his moral/ethical values (not to mention his quants
)The first Pune PG meet was a big success and helped me get in touch with some really serious aspirants : Govi, itsrahul, Catalytic, Jackal,Subu, Aarav & me..
I got the family which I wanted! J
Way to CAT05! Fun, frolic and a friendship to cherish..
Pune PG meets became the routine of the day. Every week we had a PG meet with most of the regulars turning up and everytime we had this burst of newbies.. J who seldom came the next time!
The first All India PG meet was held in Essel World @ Mumbai. Pune was well represented by Manpreet, Aarav and me. It was a wonderful meet ! I met the likes of Allwyn(pagalguy), Apurv,Subu (urMad), Sowmya (Simba) amongst the biggies..
I made two new friends : Monil (reachmonil) and Rohit (estranged_gnrs)
I was impressed by Monil & Rohit ..their attitude.. positive to the core .. with a gleam of determination in their eyes I could feel these onez are for the big future!
Coming back to Pune, we had a meet after every MockCAT.. with Aaravs home being the preferred destination.. thanx to his bachelorhood and location advantage J
Tied up by a hectic schedule, Sachin made it a point to pay us a visit whenever possible while itsrahul was at his very best with accuracy in mocks..Both Govi and itsrahul are very similar when it comes to demeanor.. the corporate types.. J
And it was fun.. studying at Aaravs house till late in the evenings.. round that off with a movie and then back again.. its a full night out with INMO problems! J
Hyderabad chapter : A geek and a clown meets ..well.. another clown J
Office front my work load was increasing and Id to sacrifice my appraisals for my CAT aspirations. I was soon shifted to a new assignment which required more than hard labor.
My new assignment forced me to land up in Hyderabad Likewise my formula had to continue here too.. sooner or later I bump into a geek (Aditya aka HAHAHA) and a clown (anandv ) J..
It was a lot of learning from the two.. either it be attempting 5 RCs in 25 minutes or attempting MockCATs in 90 minutes! J Competition was something these two guys taught me.. not to forget those analysis sessions when all of a sudden the clown will crack the weirdest of PJs and bring down the mood of the discussion to more bearable levels J
CAT05 : The grand finale..
I wasnt more prepared this time.. realistically speaking.. I was more mentally strong this time.. I knew lady luck had been eluding me for quite sometime and if I remained patient and persevered .. my goals not far away..
The moment I saw it was a 90 question paper, I got this in my mind that the paper will be slightly tougher and the focus needs to be on accuracy.
I always started off with English (as this was not only my weakest section but also the section where I marked more number of bubbles in the least time), I gave some 42-45 mins to English and attempted questions worth 41 marks. I did have this feeling that I may not end up with a satisfactory score in this section but thanx to my pathetic accuracy (ended up with a net score of 17.66).. I decided the only way out for me was to attempt more number of questions.( People strong in english will surely come up with better methods of tackling this section )
Next, I come to my strength : Quantitative Aptitude. I realised I had more scoring oppurtunities in the 2 markers.. hence gave 20 minutes to the two markers and attempted 6 of them. The next 10 minutes were spent with the 1 markers where I attempted just 6 questions.
My net score in quants in 30 minutes was 15.33 (got one 2-marker wrong)
Now I'd 45 minutes in my hand .. I decided to move on to my next strong section : DI and LR .. but for a moment thought I needed a better score in english.. hence moved back to Verbal. With almost all questions answered in verbal, I found I hadn't answered the Derrida RC (my BIGGEST mistake!). I spent some 6-7 minutes on the Rc and to my horror found none of the questions answerable! I decided to mark one answer ( went for a blind fluke! #mistake number 2).
I realised I'd arnd 35-36 minutes left for DI.CAT'04 I was murdered in DI.. for a moment I thought I was going to repeat that performance yet again.
I again found that there were 1 markers and 2 markers present here.. ALthough 2-markers were more scoring..I decided to attempt the 1 markers first..( to gimme bits of confi).. spent some 10 minutes there and attempted questions worth 7 marks.Next, I moved to the 2 markers. Since I had 25 minutes left.. I first attacked the tennis caselet and finished it off in 10 minutes. Next I went to the Olympic caselet, spent some 3-4 odd minutes there.. but cudn't make much sense of it. For a moment.. I made up my mind to take my chances and so some guesswork.. but Holla! CAT'04 perpormance's haunted spirit stopped me from doing so. Next went to the UP/Bihar caselet and cracked it just in time.
My net score in DI was 15.33
I knew Id not done as well as I wanted it to be..
Frustrated.. I wrote down a suicide note J .. a note which made me famous..
The response to that note was tremendous.. even today when I sit back and remember those days.. I get emotional..
2nd January,2006 - I end up with BLACKI Alas lady luck smiles.. The results were declared at 12:00 am on 2nd jan.. I didnt have the guts to check my results.. the man on mission Aarav ( the man with golden lips ) informs me of my calls..
I was overjoyed, punched the air lile Brett Lee.. J but.. alas my joy was short lived .. most of my study mates (Aarav,Govi,Monil,rohit,.teesra.. cudnt make it to the next stage)
Next comes Vengeance..
The GD/PI journey :
It was sheer fun.. waking up at 5:30 in the morning .. strolling my way across Banjara hills and waiting for HAHAHA & his bike.. Aditya seldom came on time J ..
The two of us used to go for TIME classes @ Secunderabad.. attend 1 / 2 GD sessions and while returning we used to analyse our performances.. and that was good!
Refugee @ Mumbai!
Networking has a lot of merit and refugeeing at estranged_gnr's place proved it right!
For all my 5 interviews I must admit I troubled Rohit and Vijay (teesra_banda) with food, internet and sleep J .. but Beers must have enjoyed those paranthaas.. not to mention Aryak!
"I thought Chicken pox affects only kids" says shrikanthk J ..
well I agree I'm an exception heard just now.. kool's the second exception! J
11th April,2006 : I rest in my hospital bed.. away from PG.com .. with every hour.. I grew restless.. results tomorrow ??? will my fate be sealed tomorrow..? Do I have the courage to contest for one more year ?
That night .. I get a phone call from Aarav.. a typical Rahul Sharma typo: "Hello Sir.. kya hala chaal hai ?" ..
I knew this was one guy who made me feel good for the first time in 3 years.. I knew he'd another mission..
"Man on a mission.. 12th april kal hai and you'r gonna lemme know my results .. no matter what happens.. good/bad.. ur calling me and informing me.."
Man on mission : Aye sir.. as you wish!
Redemption or .. The Return!
12th April,2006.. I still lay in my hospital cabin.. Aarav's call wakes me up at 12:06 am..
"Congratulations Sir.. you've done it.. ! IIM C both PGDM & PGDCM"
I woke up.. was it a dream.. ? No.. it wasn't .. my CAT journey ends.. I can't believe it!
Joy and tears compound me.. another Brett Lee puncho..!!
Morning.. Aarav came up with the remaining results .. that of B, L , I and K.
My story with CAT comes to an abrupt end!.. but I shall post more pretty soon..
PGites whom I've not yet mentioned but owe a lot to :
Vahgar : For all the support you gave to me in torrid times.. you stood by me when it mattered the most!
Dr.Watson : Alas.. very few people would be lucky to have roomies like you. You sacrificed a lot for me.. still remember those days when I would be studying in my room and you would do everything in this world to make me comfortable.
Somneel : You just rock dude.. if I've learnt perseverance.. it's from you.. now rock IIM C and Merryl Lynch!
estranged_gnrs : (I agree this onezs a repeatition!) Thanx for all those days when I was put up as a Refugee at your place.. you rock dude.. J
teesra_banda : My Indian Idol , a person who gets selected in IIM L thrice and rejects it thrice.. you are for the Big one Vijay.. Keep rocking!
Rest of PG.com : I still read my suicide note..a note which arguably made me famous on PG.com J.. I can never forget the amount of love and support you gave me.. you guys deserve the best in life! All the best..
-Vengeance (once named awr ..)
PGPM Batch of 2006-08,
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
It was sheer fun.. waking up at 5:30 in the morning .. strolling my way across Banjara hills and waiting for HAHAHA & his bike.. Aditya seldom came on time J ..
The two of us used to go for TIME classes @ Secunderabad.. attend 1 / 2 GD sessions and while returning we used to analyse our performances.. and that was good!
Refugee @ Mumbai!
Networking has a lot of merit and refugeeing at estranged_gnr's place proved it right!
For all my 5 interviews I must admit I troubled Rohit and Vijay (teesra_banda) with food, internet and sleep J .. but Beers must have enjoyed those paranthaas.. not to mention Aryak!
"I thought Chicken pox affects only kids" says shrikanthk J ..
well I agree I'm an exception heard just now.. kool's the second exception! J
11th April,2006 : I rest in my hospital bed.. away from PG.com .. with every hour.. I grew restless.. results tomorrow ??? will my fate be sealed tomorrow..? Do I have the courage to contest for one more year ?
That night .. I get a phone call from Aarav.. a typical Rahul Sharma typo: "Hello Sir.. kya hala chaal hai ?" ..
I knew this was one guy who made me feel good for the first time in 3 years.. I knew he'd another mission..
"Man on a mission.. 12th april kal hai and you'r gonna lemme know my results .. no matter what happens.. good/bad.. ur calling me and informing me.."
Man on mission : Aye sir.. as you wish!
Redemption or .. The Return!
12th April,2006.. I still lay in my hospital cabin.. Aarav's call wakes me up at 12:06 am..
"Congratulations Sir.. you've done it.. ! IIM C both PGDM & PGDCM"
I woke up.. was it a dream.. ? No.. it wasn't .. my CAT journey ends.. I can't believe it!
Joy and tears compound me.. another Brett Lee puncho..!!
Morning.. Aarav came up with the remaining results .. that of B, L , I and K.
My story with CAT comes to an abrupt end!.. but I shall post more pretty soon..
PGites whom I've not yet mentioned but owe a lot to :
Vahgar : For all the support you gave to me in torrid times.. you stood by me when it mattered the most!
Dr.Watson : Alas.. very few people would be lucky to have roomies like you. You sacrificed a lot for me.. still remember those days when I would be studying in my room and you would do everything in this world to make me comfortable.
Somneel : You just rock dude.. if I've learnt perseverance.. it's from you.. now rock IIM C and Merryl Lynch!
estranged_gnrs : (I agree this onezs a repeatition!) Thanx for all those days when I was put up as a Refugee at your place.. you rock dude.. J
teesra_banda : My Indian Idol , a person who gets selected in IIM L thrice and rejects it thrice.. you are for the Big one Vijay.. Keep rocking!
Rest of PG.com : I still read my suicide note..a note which arguably made me famous on PG.com J.. I can never forget the amount of love and support you gave me.. you guys deserve the best in life! All the best..
-Vengeance (once named awr ..)
PGPM Batch of 2006-08,
Indian Institute of Management Bangalore.
After reading ur post all I can say is........A W E S O M E !!
It makes an aspirant who is repeating the CAT to see things in positive aspect...
way to go!!!
I feel fortunate to have met a person like Anupam who to me epitomises perseverance with enthusiasm. The only regret I have is that I had to break the news of his non-selection to IIM A.
Some things in life come with greater difficulty than the rest. And when someone like Anupam makes it big thru some struggle and wait, the story of success becomes inspirational.