Author: Tony Xavier

DI-LR: Improving your core strength

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DI-LR, as we know, has been the nemesis of many a CAT aspirant over the past few years, and every serious aspirant asks me that — how do I improve my DI-LR skills. Over the last two years, I thought that it is primarily about two things — set selection and comfort with mathematical reasoning (many sets over the last few years have been based on Arithmetic and Modern Math concepts). But even so, I knew that to select the right sets and then solve 4 sets, one needs to solve the two easiest sets quite fast, and this pace would come from the regular practice of DI-LR sets (irrespective of difficulty level) and Sudoku. Even then I still felt that a lot was left to the “natural” capability of the student. There was nothing concrete I could communicate (apart from a 5-minute average for Medium Sudoku sets) like say a particular reading speed or a particular set of concepts.

IIMs versus FMS, XL, MDI and other top schools

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Now that the first round results of almost all the b-schools are out, we get regular queries about which b-schools to join. There is rarely any confusion about A, B, and C but after that, it seems as if aspirants are having a lot of trouble choosing between the IIMs L, I and K and other top b-schools such as FMS, XLRI, MDI, and others. How does one go about making the right choice between the IIMs and other top schools? One of the terms thrown around a lot these days is ROI.

Webinar: All About Specializations – I

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If we ask all the aspirants who have admits into premier MBA programs this year, what specialisations they are going to choose, it is highly unlikely more than half of them will know with absolute certainty which specialisations they are going to choose and which firms they want to work with; an even smaller fraction will have a resume that matches their aspirations. The time to choose your MBA specialisation is right now, not after the end of the first year. This webinar, the first in a two-part (may spill over into three) series, will cover Why you need to choose your specialisation right now The things you should know before you start your MBA program, What does a career in each specialisation entail How do you determine which one will suit you the best What recruiters from each domain look for in a resume The things you can take up to you bolster your resume  As usual, Saturday, 9:30 P.M, capacity is limited to 1000, the recording will be made available by the Wednesday …

How to choose between an HR program and a regular MBA

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I think I have said this in another post — India is probably the only country where people will be willing to shell out more than 20 lakhs for a product and at the same time be willing to accept whatever variant the seller decides to give them. What am I referring to here? When I ask students who have both BM and HR calls from XLRI, what their preference is, or what they would prefer between XL-HR/TISS and IIM-K/MDI, most are very clear — the specialization does not matter, all that matters is the brand; others start bringing ROI into the picture. I feel people put in more thought when choosing between a diesel and a petrol car! We are so crazy after elite institutions that we fail to even consider whether we will succeed/fail in or like/dislike a particular field. The objective of this post will be to give you enough information to choose the right program when faced with a choice between a premier HR program and other programs.

How to prepare for a CAT retake – Part II

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In the previous post, we discussed the mindset with which one should approach a CAT retake; in this post, we shall look at a few more aspects with respect to a successful CAT retake. Since each one of you readers will have a different back story with respect to your first attempt and there will also be some non-IMS students among you as well, the focus of this post will be a bit wider.

Webinar: Learning to learn Math

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Dear All, The last webinar went off pretty well and since then I have had a good number of comments on the blog, especially post SimCAT 1, and maybe the shock that quite a few got after seeing their QA scores. I have always felt that there are two kinds of people in the world those who are good at Math and those who irrespective of their attitude towards Math never do well on a Math Test (there can be any number of sentences starting with there are two kinds of people in this world :-)) The second group somehow believes that the problem is with them. The problem though lies not with them but with the way they have been taught Math and with the way they have been tested on Math for the first 15 years of their life. Undoing that is not easy but it has to be done if Mathematical aptitude is a requirement for a particular career. So I thought I will do a webinar on how to learn Math, …