We are on the eve of SimCAT 1 and a lot of students (mostly first-time CAT-takers) are apprehensive and understandably so, about taking it. Over the years we have found the self-same reasons that induce this fear, and this post is geared towards addressing them. Read More
This is not surprising since in India our strategy is simple — first crack the test, then see what is the best college your percentiles can get you and then finally start thinking about specializations! The funny part is that we do not seem to learn from our mistakes since this is the same policy we followed for our graduation as well and now want to do an MBA so that we can undo the mistakes of our graduation but without having changed our standard operating procedure!
As soon as the lockdown began, the idea that I should do a piece on how to use the lockdown entered my mind and I began writing it as well but somehow I lost interest mid-way. Something inside me told me that I will be doing a post just for the sake of doing a post, I will not be solving any problem since as far as CAT Prep goes there is no problem.
If anything most CAT aspirants should have it better since you have at the least been saving the time it takes to commute. I can only hope the real problem — the loss of livelihood — which affects unorganized workers (who constitute 80% of our workforce of 470 million) — is something the readers of this blog and other CAT aspirants have not had to face.
So I thought the best thing to do would be to stay silent and let everyone, including myself, respond to these ten days and in the process learn a bit about themselves.
Some of you might be working in firms or fields where you have been inundated with work since the lockdown (the tech team that worked on the launch of our live portal barely slept for the last ten days and so has my team) so the post does not apply to you.
The lockdown (for the fortunate few) is no different from being offered a suitcase full of money, how have you spent it the first third of that money?
You have a goal — to get into IIM-A — how did you respond during the lockdown so far towards achieving that goal?
I do not need to list out all the things that you might have done, suffice to say that by now you should know the distance between your stated goals and your actions and more importantly the futility of those actions in the face of your dreams for your life.
There is nothing to be gained from watching more videos of Federer and worshipping him, he has made the most out of his life.
The TV shows make the careers of those who work on them, not yours.
The food shows just keep putting the cart before the horse.
All of us tell ourselves we want to do XYZ but we do not have the time to do it, the problem is with the world not with you. The lockdown really asks you to face up to the truth — is the problem the world or is the problem you?
Deep down inside each of one us knows what we need to do, even how we need to do it, and how much leeway we are allowed to have some fun and relaxation.
If you cannot make a plan for your day and manage the same then you can forget managing firms in the future.
Those who have asked their maids to also stay at home to practice social distancing will by now know that running a house is also a question of non-stop end-to-end optimisation and your mom never needed YouTube videos to figure that out.
You have wasted a third does not mean that the next two weeks need to be wasted.
You have used the first week reasonably well, it does not mean that you have found the optimal solution, see if you want to reverse your schedule and see if that works.
If you have found your best schedule then stick to it, it takes 21 days for a habit to get fully formed and it takes longer for you to see any tangible change.
The first target is simple — be ready to take SimCAT 1 scheduled to be conducted from 24-29 April.
Being ready for SimCAT 1 means knowing all the concepts and approaches to well enough to solve all the easy problems across all areas.
You can do this just by watching all the videos on the LEARN Module of myIMS. Spending just 2 hours every day from today will be more than enough for you to finish being concept-ready.
If you have finished the concept videos, then there enough and more practice problems to get ready for SimCAT 1.
If you have more time on your hands then there is no better time than this to read the books outlined in this post — https://thecatwriter.com/2017/04/22/preparing-for-an-mba-and-not-just-the-cat/
You can either use these upcoming weeks to the fullest or find yourself exactly in the same spot one year from now and with less time on your hands and more guilt on your mind.
Do not forget — practice is theory.
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.
In the aftermath of the CAT, a lot of aspirants who did not make it will be contemplating their next move and the GMAT as an option will be looming large on the horizon. I feel that for those aspirants who have a stellar profile, more than 30 months of work experience as of now, and are aiming at top-tier colleges, the GMAT should definitely be an option to consider. Read More
Over the past few weeks, I was travelling around taking sessions at the IMS NAW, which explains why the posts have become sporadic. 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
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 met 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 with Amit Sir, Hemang Sir, and me (who IMS students will be familiar with from all the videos and Masterclasses).
We have openings three Openings — Studio Manager, Academic Specialist (Quant) Academic Specialist (Verbal).
All roles are based out of Mumbai. The remuneration will be depending on your profile, we pay at least as much if not higher than IT firms.
VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER
We are looking for a Video Production Manager who can manage, oversee video pre-production planning, post-production and ensure projects are on schedule. You need to coordinate with the internal team and cross-functional team, keep a record of the data of the daily production, review of all the videos, and scheduling of the shoots.
For this, we would need you to be someone capable of managing multiple stakeholders. We would need you to be well conversant with Excel, Word, Power-Point, Spreadsheets. We expect you to have excellent organisation, planning, and communication skills. You should have taken management entrance exams in the past 2-3 years (CAT, XAT, SNAP, CET, IIFT and/or others) with a respectable overall percentile. We would prefer people with at least 18 months of work experience.
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.
If any of you are interested then drop in a mail to tony@imsindia.com with the following:
The CAT Writer 