Domain Maximus
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Where I strive to get myself heard...... |
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 31, 2003 |
BE THE YOUNGER MONK |
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CAT GuideOn November the 26th 2002, I appeared
for the Common Admission Test. After months of hard work, good fortune and
tremendous support from family and friends, today it is with some
satisfaction that I move on to pursue a degree in management from IIM
Ahmedabad. However it has not been an easy path and many of juniors at
college and friends have asked me tips to crack the exam and the consequent
interviews and other exercises that follow. While going through the motions of interviews and
Group Discussions, I maintained a constant journal of my experiences during
my various interviews. They are more tongue in cheek than serious, but, I
hope, will give an insight to any new CAT aspirant. So without any further ado, welcome to my guide
to cracking one of the toughest and keenly fought examinations in the world.
To get some idea of how tough it gets, in 2002, close to one hundred thousand
applicants appeared for CAT, to fill a requirement of approximately 1200
seats in the Indian Institutes of Management, the hallowed portals of Indian
Management education. Are you up for it ? Part One: It’s not a four-legged furry animal you say??!!! The Common Admission Tests are conducted
under the aegis of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs). They are
currently being held on the last Sunday of November every year. The results
are declared in February-March. The exams are primarily conducted for
admissions to the IIMs located at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow,
Indore and Kozhikode. However there are an increasing number of other
institutes who use the CAT scores to select students as well. The Indian
Govt. has projected an interest to reduce the number of entrance exams
prevalent in the country for all course, so the next few years may see CAT
being used as THE management entrance evaluation method. Since 2003, CAT
scores are being dispatched to all applicants. On date they are valid for a
period of one year. The CAT exam is, in most cases, the first stage
in a rather prolonged selection process. After the results are declared in
Feb.-Mar., interviews and Group Discussions may go all the way right up to
mid April, before results are declared. Presently there are a number of other
exams too being used for entrance to management programs. The more popular
ones are the XAT for the Xavier institutes esp. XLRI Jamshedpur, JMET for the
IITs, NITIE, IRMA etc. But when it comes to MBA entrances CAT is
the mother of them all. It is quite common for students to prepare only for
CAT and then try their hand at the other exams. However exams like NITIE
require a different approach altogether. CAT is a difficult beast to master
and will need a lot of your time. It
is pretty tough for the well trained campaigner, leave alone the casual
prospector. Which brings us to the first of our focus points: FP 1: If you
want to attempt CAT, it is going to take a big investment in time, patience
and determination. Be sure you can afford all three before you start. I hope you have all three of the above
abundantly before we plunge into this urban legend of an examination…. (onto
Part 2) |
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links are added at or near the tops of sections, with older ones sliding down
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All
the blogs I have written are available at http://sidin.blogspot.com/
The
header says something about being the younger monk. That is a reference to an
old japanese story. There are a number of versions of this story. Here is one of them. The hero here is not
the younger monk, but the teacher. "Be the teacher", sounds like a
government recruitment drive slogan...
It
is but natural for the reader to feel overawed by the writer. But a brief
moment with the creative mind dispels any such myths. I am [email protected]
