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CAT Retake: Resetting your head before you restart prep

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I have always been a big believer in the principle that how we approach a thing — an exam, a project, a a relationship — the quality of our thoughts around the same, ends up determining the end outcome to a much larger extent than the actual strategies and the things we do since the mindset precedes all of these things.

So, before I post the three-part series on how to prepare for a retake, I thought I should do a short post on the right mindset that you should get into before you set sail once again.

Firstly, count only the “proper” attempts

I have seen a lot of people talk about attempts as if they were carrying a huge cross — this is my third attempt — as if they have given their lives for this exam and it just does not seem love them back!

Well, firstly unless you have taken at least 10 SimCATs, you cannot  legitimately say that you have prepared for the exam — it is not true love 🙂

You think you do but you do not have a clue about what this exam is, which you would have found out on D-day.

Stop saying this is your third attempt if you took it in your final year casually, and then in the first year of job took it semi-seriously but in both cases you did not take the minimum ten SimCATs — tell yourself that is your first attempt at the CAT; it will help you get rid of all the baggage completely.

You might say — Sir, but many people know that I have been taking the exam and they might say things like kitni baar lega test — just tell them that this is your first serious attempt.

And do not forget — those who matter do not mind; those who mind do not matter!

Think like a prospective MBA, not like a worker 

Those who are quitting or plan to quit their job to retake the CAT are perfect candidates to fall into “donkey-prep” mindset.

You have made a commitment to the CAT and for this sake you have left everything and so now you are going to prepare 8 hours a day for the same.

You are a prospective MBA, so start thinking like one — will you pay Rs.200 for what you can get for Rs.100, you will spend 100 hours on a project when all you need to spend is 50 hours, just because you really want to do the project well or you really want the product no. It is all about optimisation, right?

Similarly, prep for the time “you” need to get better and move from X to Y and not to show your commitment and put in those eight hours. 

The law of diminishing marginal returns applies even to working out and prepping out for CAT.

A student had recently asked me how much time out of the planned 8-hours every day should be allocated to revision and it just beat me!

Revise what for God’s sake? Practice I can understand — topics, area-test, section-test, full-length test — but revise?

Do you revise actually riding a cycle or a car, every day?

You either know how to drive a car or cycle or not and you train for a race.

Similarly, you should know what weighted averages are for the rest of your life and you practising solving problems of at the right levels to increase speed and accuracy but you should not have to revise what weighted average actually or the formulas!

To want to be an MBA (may be not in HR) and have to revise Arithmetic is literally the biggest contradiction there is since business is all about Arithmetic! The whole world runs on Compound Interest and if you have to keep revising the formula, God help you!

So, start thinking like the MBA you want to be and this is your first MBA project. Just like you need to maximise revenues for a firm in the future, you need to maximise your marks on the CAT — the difference is that here, you are raw material, you are worker, you are machine, you are manager, you are the CEO, so technically everything is under your control.

You need to take the right investment calls since no one will know yourself better than you.

Do not let your ego decide your prep needs

A lot of us measure ourselves based on external parameters — the brand of our college, our prior Academic profile, and even the intellect of our friends.

But you know better than assuming that all or one of the above — big brand college, great marks in non-Aptitude tests, super-bright friends — translate into great personal potential on the CAT.

None of the above factors have any bearing on your ability on the CAT — only your scores last year (not just the CAT score but also those on the SimCATs you took seriously) indicates your ability on the CAT and start with the premise that that is your current level.

Do not get into the — if I had prepared I could have scored higher since my actual level might be closer my friend’s who with similar profile took more mocks got a 95 — mode. Nope. You are what the your scores say; just accept that.

Do not decide your prep needs based on these assumptions that you might have made about yourself.

Take decisions on whether you need formal prep for the whole exam, for a section, or not at all based on how you are actually faring and not based on whether your friends who cracked it last year took help or not.

If you do this you will give yourself the best chance to give your best shot at the CAT.

The best source for me to learn was to watch people better than me solve — my teachers, the odd peer, and then want to solve like that.

Some people need to watch it once, others need to watch it twice and some others quite a few times before they actually learn to solve like their teacher or peer, so choose your prep needs based on which category you might fall into on the test or on a particular section.

If you took more than 10 Mocks last year (without formal prep, only test-series) and

  • Scored less than 90 percentile — you will be better off taking formal prep for the whole test or for a section if your scores are very lop-sided
  • Scored less between 90-95 — you will be better of taking formal prep for your weakest section that stands between you and the 99; you need not do it now, you can do it post-June
  • Scored above 95 percentile — you probably will not need formal prep unless your score on one section is very low; you need not do it right now, you can do it post-June.

If you took fewer than 10 Mocks last year, and are not confident about your capabilities, then do not wait for this season’s Test-Series to start, take up a program right away.

If you took fewer than 10 Mocks last year, and are confident about your capabilities, then take up a Test Series straightaway and take a call post-June — once you have five SimCATs under your belt — on the specific prep needs you have.

I hope you give these things some good thought since many a times a poor result can be a result of ten minor things rather than sheer ability; and if you are doing it one more time you would want to ensure that you get everything right.

Should I quit my job to prepare for CAT?

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One of the questions that I am often asked and is most relevant at this point in time given that some of you might be looking at re-taking the CAT after an underwhelming CAT last year and others might be desperate to crack this year’s CAT.

  • is it wise to quit my job to prepare for the CAT?
  • will quitting my job have a negative impact on my profile?
  • how can I prepare if I am working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week?

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To re-take or not to re-take the CAT

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At this juncture, it doesn’t take a magician to see what kind of anxieties aspirants might be going through. A small fraction of you have got the calls you want and are all excited and nervous about the impending interviews or the results of the same, others have  GD-PI calls but are not sure whether the b-schools that have given them the calls are really worth it, and still others knowing that this year is done have hit snooze-mode till June.
This post will primarily deal with the dilemma of those in between — to re-take or not to re-take the CAT. It is not an easy call to take but your task will become easy if you ask yourself the right questions and give the most honest answers you can to them.
Read More

How to approach the Indian B-School Personal Interview

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Now that we are done with the Achievers Workshops there is more breathing space to do some writing that captures the essence of the closing session that I took at the NAW.

The IIM interview season has already started and aspirants would be trying to get as many insights as they can right from how to dress for the interview to how to reduce India fiscal deficit without affecting our growth!

Amidst all of this clutter, how does one go in with the right perspective? What is the state of mind with which one should approach an interview? How you approach an interview will make all the difference. Read More

Work with us

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As most of my students would know, I have been with IMS for more than a decade now.

But I started teaching for aptitude tests way back in the past, right after my graduation while preparing for the CAT a second time around.

At that time I felt that the teaching stint had a great role to play in my cracking the CAT; I felt the teaching made my thought process very clear when faced with a problem since one has to have utmost clarity of thought to explain a problem in such a way as many students understand the solution right away. Also one is always looking to find better, cleaner or to put it simply more elegant solutions to problems.

Over the past year, I have interacted with a lot of students across the country who are readers of the blog, so I was wondering if any you might be interested in working in the Learning Management Department along with Amit Sir, Parameshwar Sir, Shashank Prabhu Sir, and me (IMS students will be aware of the mentors I have mentioned from the webinars and Masterclasses we conducted over the year).

Openings on offer

Role — Instructional Designer

Responsibilities: Working with our National Mentors to create a new self-learning programs using e-Learning softwares for our PG India Programs.

Profile: Freshers or those with less than 12 months of work-ex preferred.

Requirements: You will need to

  • be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power-Point
  • have excellent organisation, planning, and communication skills.
  • have taken one of the management entrance exams — CAT, XAT, SNAP, CET, IIFT and/or others — and secured the 95th percentile or above in one of the sections.

Salary: Rs. 2,40,000

Location: Mumbai

Role — Software Tester, Learning Technology

Responsibilities: We are looking for a Software Tester who can perform software testing on the new releases on myIMS – Student portal. You will need to work on multiple projects on Web and Mobile applications, detect and report the issues, coordinate with the technical team for the fixes, sign-off the User Acceptance Testing and deployment builds. 

Profile: Working professionals with at least 18 months of prior software testing experience.

Requirements: You will need to

  • be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power-Point
  • have excellent organisation, planning, and communication skills.
  • have taken one of the management entrance exams — CAT, XAT, SNAP, CET, IIFT and/or others — and secured the 95th percentile or above in one of the sections.

Salary: Rs. 4,00,000-8,00,000

Location: Mumbai/Remote

Role — Project Lead, Learning Technology

Responsibilities: We are looking for a Project Manager who can manage multiple software development projects for myIMS – Student Portal. You need to coordinate with the internal teams, document the requirement specifications, coordinate with technical teams, plan and monitor development schedules, manage the quality of the deliverables, and timely communicate status with stakeholders.

Profile: Working professionals with at least 24 months development and/or project management experience preferred.

Requirements: You will need to

  • be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power-Point
  • have excellent organisation, planning, and communication skills.
  • have taken one of the management entrance exams — CAT, XAT, SNAP, CET, IIFT and/or others — and secured the 95th percentile or above in one of the sections.

Salary: Rs. 8,00,000-10,00,000

Location: Mumbai/Remote

Role — Project Manager, Learning Technology

Responsibilities: We are looking for a Project Manager who can manage multiple software development projects for myIMS – Student Portal. You need to coordinate with the internal teams, document the requirement specifications, coordinate with technical teams, plan and monitor development schedules, manage the quality of the deliverables, and timely communicate status with stakeholders.

Profile: Working professionals with at least 36 months work-ex with hands on project management experience preferred.

Requirements: You will need to

  • be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power-Point
  • have excellent organisation, planning, and communication skills.
  • have taken one of the management entrance exams — CAT, XAT, SNAP, CET, IIFT and/or others — and secured the 95th percentile or above in one of the sections.

Salary: Rs. 10,00,000-14,00,000

Location: Mumbai/Remote

Who should not apply

This is job is ideal for

  • freshers who want to work for a few years before their next CAT attempt
  • repeat-takers who want to crack CAT 2021 or 22
  • software professionals who want to work in Edtech later

CAT 2020 call-getters, please do not apply to the roles as a back-up; you can’t have your cat and eat it too!

You can always apply later once you are sure that you will have to take CAT 2021 and incase we have openings we will definitely interview.

How to apply

If any of you are interested then drop in a mail to tony@imsindia.com with the following details before 15-Feb.

  1. A resume/CV and scorecards
  2. A short answer to the following question: Why do you feel you have the skill sets to take up this role? Feel free to include anything that you feel will let us know why you feel you have the potential to take up the role — exam/test scores (SimCAT scores, if you have a tendency to bomb on test day), reading habits, prior informal teaching, love for the section, communication skills — anything that you feel captures your suitability.

It goes without saying that the biggest perks of this job will be that you have direct everyday access to the best mentors in case you are taking another shot at the CAT.

This is what a couple of our past recruits have to say about working with us.

KUSHAGRA SHARAN

Background before joining IMS

I am a Mechanical Engineering Graduate from BIT Mesra. I have worked in leading start-ups such as Byjus, upGrad, and e-GMAT. I held various hats, and lead different and diversified teams to produce impactful products. Till then, I have had experiences in content creation and management, data management, product and project management, team management, and vendor management. However, a more captivating experience amalgamating all that I had learnt and wanted to contribute was waiting for me in the name of IMS Learning.

Experience working with IMS

It started with an awesome interview experience with the senior and higher management of IMS Learning. I was sure that I am getting into the core of education in the role described to me, and I would be having a pool of experienced, talented, veteran professionals in the field. But, it was more than that! Right from the senior-most trainers, to the chief learning officer, I must tell they were not only knowledgeable, and humble, but at the same time to feel the same and even more passion towards education was extremely overwhelming, the least I can say.

My role included handling teams, supervising projects, managing vendors, articulating new projects, data analysis, and budget preparation. The trust shown by the peers and the higher management in me was of the highest standards, which reflected in giving me all the freedom to work in my style.

The result was incredible. We managed to produce 400+ hours of content videos, produce a new myIMS with a lot of new features for the students, and much more. I was given the freedom to create, record, and produce the PGDBA product on my own, with all the nagging I did to give me this work.

Then came the pandemic. What next? We transformed the whole of offline learning to online learning within a matter of 2 days (I must say overnight). I played a pivotal role in the integration of the live classes for IMS, and I do carry very rigorous, very tiring but very satisfying, and very enjoyable memories of the same, impacting the learning of thousands of students. Each second that I spent at IMS was fun, and motivating in one or the other sense with a lot of creative and interesting things going around.

What I am currently up to

Having such an awesome experience, it’s very difficult to leave – right? But again it was the pure mentoring of Tony Xavier who motivated me and supported me to apply for the Ph.D. program at least if not for MBA, to have an exposure of the higher studies which would help me in shaping my career more towards academia and open more doors of impacting and contributing to the society. So, yes I cracked with a good percentile (keeping the number secret :)), and got calls from the old IIMs for the Ph.D. program. Currently, I am in one of the old IIMs pursuing Ph.D. in Strategy area (point to note is – I did not have a master’s, it was all some good fortune, well-wishers, blessings of parents and mentors, and yes hard work), and missing the fun at IMS.

ROHIT SINGH

Background before joining IMS

I had worked for a year and a half in a leading IT company when I got the opportunity to join IMS. I had taken CAT twice before (with decent scores) but realized that I needed to work harder if I wanted to create a genuine chance for me to join one of the old IIMs.

Experience working with IMS

1) I had mentors all around. I could go to anyone and ask for guidance and all of them were among the best in the business. (when we used to go to office in pre-covid era). Most of them have experience of 15+ years in the field and are alumni of old IIMs.

2) I got to interact with some of the smartest people I had ever seen in my life. We had a lot of people from the top colleges in the office and personally for me, it was a huge confidence booster.

Interacting with them on a daily basis helped me a lot in transforming myself.

So, I became a better person and cracked CAT as well. In CAT 2020, I got 99.37 and 99.58 in VARC and QA respectively. 

What’s up with me these days

I am expecting interview calls from XLRI, FMS and some of the old IIMs.

Again, the presence of mentors all around is helping me getting that required confidence before the final stage. I am getting the right guidance and all this is helping me to prepare for GDPI more effectively.

Since, most people here are alumni of top business schools; every now and then, I get to know a clearer picture of the college life. This helps me know what to expect from MBA and to prepare myself in advance for the campus life. I believe this will help me make the most of my 2 years in MBA.

Why every WAT-GD-PI call-getter should write the IIM-B SOP

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One of the things about preparing for a b-school personal interview, especially that of an old IIM, is that one struggles to find a structure to prepare for what can potentially be the most random 20 minutes of one’s life. I am sure my previous post, despite my intentions, would have scared readers rather than re-assured them. So let us see how you can bring some structure into your PI Prep. Read More

Preparing for a pandemic PI

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Now that the CAT scorecard is out, the time to start preparing for WAT-GD-PI has come. But how does one go about it? Especially in a year, or should I say season, such as this (somehow I feel that the New Year will truly start only when the mask becomes unnecessary, until then we are living in the pandemic’s orbit not the planetary orbit).

From what we know so far some of the schools — FMS, SPJIMR, TISS, and IMT — have already announced an online PI and others such as IIM-K have scrapped the GD.

I think we will not be too far off the mark in assuming that this year the only process will be an online PI — a bulk of the professors are not really young, spring chickens with tons of immunity to go around, so getting them to travel to different cities and conduct interviews even as the vaccine is getting rolled out is not a risk that professors and schools will be willing to take.

And if it is an online PI then the logistics of conducting and evaluating a WAT or a GD become difficult. I wish for once they just stood up and gave clarity well in advance (at least in the pandemic). Alas, Indian b-schools like Indian firms (and most definitely the Indian cricket team’s management) rarely take the bull by the horns and provide clarity at the earliest, the usual strategy is to take things as they come, which is nothing but another word for groping in the dark until the last moment (in contrast international employers announced work from home well in advance for a long period so that everyone can make their arrangements).

So how do you go about preparing in the face of such uncertainty since preparing and not preparing for WAT are, on the face of it, two different things altogether?

Prepare for an All-In-One Personal Interview — A longer PIs with a dedicated OAT section

Since they might not be able to conduct WATs and GDs, I will not be surprised if the selection process will allocate more marks and time to PIs, (given the logistical ease of online PIs) and ensure that the things that are tested in WATs and GDs are tested in the PI.

So within the time set aside for a PI they might carve out a 5-10 minute space to test your views through an OAT or Oral Assessment Test during which the panel might probe your take on an issue as follows

  • what is your view on the farmer protests
  • do you think their fears that MNCs will take over is valid
  • do you think there are issues that have been ignored by both parties
  • what are the learnings from large-scale, privatised farming in countries such as the US
  • what do you think of protest as a tool in general
  • have you ever protested at whatever level

Another thing they might do is first give you time for an Extempore (you will be given a minute and a topic to speak uninterrupted) on a topic and then probe and discuss it.

If they genuinely want to test your awareness of the world around you, setting aside the other skills that WAT and GDs test, then an OAT or an Extempore is a very likely possibility.

The reason I think that this might be possible is that they have anyway over the years made the PIs primarily about your General Awareness in the context of your life, all they need to add is the General Awareness of the world around you, which they tested through GD and WAT.

Do an audit of the big talking points this year

Given what we discussed so far, you should make a list of the big topics, like the Farm Bills mentioned above, this year and do a thorough audit and prepare for the same along the lines:

  • Pandemic
    • Which country has the highest numbers?
    • What are the numbers in India, in your state, your city?
    • What are firms manufacturing the vaccine?
    • Which countries tried to implement herd immunity?
    • Which countries had the lowest numbers?
    • Are there countries which are COVID-free?
    • How did the pandemic change your life?
    • What are pros and cons of work-from-home or study-from-home?
    • How do you think India handle the crisis?
    • Did you bang the thali?
    • Did you travel during the pandemic?
  • Brexit Deal
    • What were the main points of contention between the EU and the UK
    • What is a backstop?
    • What are political implications of Brexit with respect to Scotland
    • What are the economic implications of Brexit?
    • Which countries are likely to benefit from Brexit?

After reading up enough on the various topics, practice speaking out your take on the same into a camera with a 1-minute time-limit

These are just the most important issues, IMS students can attend the WAT-GD-PI Webinars that have started and that will comprehensively cover all the other major issues as well as knowledge inputs (basics of economics etc.) that might need. You will have other resources as well the details of which can be found here — https://www.imsindia.com/GD-PI/

As far as the rest of the questions go, going by student testimonials and transcripts over the last few years, barring IIM-B, none of the schools seems to have a fixed yardstick for asking questions.

If panels have one thing in common it seems to be their mistrust of candidates and the claims they make. Most panels start with the premise that the only thing the candidate wants is to make more money and hence it might be useless to start asking them The Big 5 Standard Questions —

  • Tell us something about yourself
  • Describe your work experience
  • Why do want to do an MBA
  • What are your long-term and short-term goals
  • List your strengths and weaknesses

They would rather test out your mettle by grilling you on the things you mention in the form or on current affairs. They will use the standard questions as a surprise element when you are least prepared for it or they might not use it at all.

So do you go about preparing for this randomness apart from the Current Affairs prep?

Draw the largest circle with yourself as the center

The PI is primarily a test of the stuff of you are made of. So right at the center of it — a lamb to the slaughter or a gladiator in the Colosseum (though it is best you don’t think of yourself as either the latter or the former) — is you.

So draw a circle with you as the centre and divide it into four quadrants.

Quadrant 1 — Your Personal Background

This quadrant contains all the information that is relevant to you as a person

  • the meaning of your name,
  • the number of districts, rivers, Lok Sabha Seats, the recent events, the future elections, famous personalities, anything and everything to do with the state you are from or the state you were born and raised in
  • your parent’s profession in case there are questions there, for example, a defense kid might get asked about the services

Quadrant 2 — Your Educational Background

This quadrant as the name suggests deals with all questions that can be relevant to your educational background — yes, your engineering subjects will haunt you for one last time.

Usually, the questions can fall into two types

  • Lowest Hanging Theoretical Concepts in your discipline — The panelists might not be from your discipline but they will have enough top-level knowledge about a wide range of subjects to ask you basic questions from any are. For example, students with a commerce background might be asked the difference between single-entry and double-entry accounting, a mechanical engineer might be asked questions on thermodynamics and an electrical engineer might be asked about Kirchoff’s laws. So you need to revise the basic concepts across the most important subjects in your graduation.
  • Practical applications of your discipline — This applies more to engineering and science graduates. Panelists may ask an electronics and telecommunications engineer the difference between 3G, 4G & 5G or how Bluetooth works or what is iOT, a mechanical engineer about how CVT or automatic transmission works etc. IMS students will get a book with all the previous year’s questions, scouring through that is the best way to find out the kind of questions that have been asked in the past.

Quadrant 3 — Your Professional Background

Working professionals will be expected to know more than the projects they are working on. So everything ranging from the turnover of your firm to those of your major competitors, the CEOs of the big firms in your industry, the recent controversies or happenings in your field ( if you work in the auto sector, you might be asked about electric cars and Tesla and Musk) and the major trends shaping your industry.

Quadrant 4 — Your Hobbies and Interests

Whatever you mention as your hobbies and interests you need to have an in-depth idea about the same. What do I mean by in-depth?

If you say you love football, then you need to know everything from the weight of the football, circumference of the football, dimensions of a football field, dimensions of the goal-post and everything about your favorite team.

If you say you love trekking, then you need to know what the highest mountains in the world are, what the highest motorable road in the world is etc.

This would technically be the largest circle you can draw around yourself that you need to fill with every GK or CA question that can be asked within this circle.

It goes without saying that you might not be able to learn everything about football. For example, a panelist might ask you, do you remember Zidane’s Champions League volley? You might say yes, very much, it is one of the great goals in football, the panelist might say, which team was Real playing against in that Final. Some of you might know, some of you might not. So do not freak out thinking about the most random things that can be asked.

On any topic, there is a circle that denotes your knowledge and a circle that denotes the panelists’ knowledge. Your job is to maximize the chances of overlap.

And remember, the harder you work, the luckier you will get.