It is that time of the year when most of my students are most nervous with random questions popping out from various crevices of their brains. A few can be answered, a few can’t but the ingredients to succeed remain the same every year. Read More
Latest Posts
Are you ready for a real test?
From very early on in our lives we are exposed (or subjected) to this word called TEST. As we enter the higher grades the importance that TESTS play or are supposed to play in our lives steadily increases. If we look back, for most of us, tests have always been part of a trinity, they have always been concomitant with two other things — fear and prayer.
At some point of time all of us when faced with a test (including yours truly) have felt at the least a sliver of fear running through our bodies prior to a test and even most unbelieving of us have muttered a tiny little prayer under our breaths. Read More
How to take your SimCAT scores to the next level
We have just finished SimCAT 9 and if the scores & percentile charts are any indication, test-takers are beginning to find their footing. But here is the catch — for every set of people hitting the 100s for the first time, there will be a set hitting 120s, a set hitting 135s and a set hitting 150s as well for the first time. So some of you while feeling happy to see high scores will also be feeling a bit of a bother when you see your percentiles.
Well firstly, the happiness is warranted so don’t let the percentiles bog you down. What you need to now do is to see your scores, percentiles and the task ahead in the next 60 days in the right perspective. Read More
Where can I get tough CAT questions to practice?
This is a question that we get asked frequently, more so this year given last year’s tough DI-LR section. One place where you can get more SimCAT-level questions whose level of difficulty is quantified is in a book called CAT 500.
This is a book that we publish every year with new questions across all areas and classifed topic-wise. The USP of this book is that the questions are selected based on actual SimCAT data. Read More
How many SimCATs should I take to score a 99 percentile on the CAT?
Now that the notification is out and the CAT is out of the bag, a lot of test-takers have begun their preparation in all earnestness. It is a huge relief to know that the pattern is going to remain the same. For test-takers taking the CAT for the first or second time it might not seem like a big deal but for those such as yours truly it is in fact a really big deal.
If I am not wrong this is only the second or third time that the CAT pattern has remained absolutely unchanged (the two or three times being since the test went computer-based in 2009). One of the reasons for me taking the CAT every year has been the novelty factor — what’s new this time, what new question types have they come up with, how does the relative difficulty level of this year compare with the previous one etc.
Now that test-takers have gone into the serious-prep mode, the big question that I get asked or not asked is — how many SimCATs should I take?
The answer depends on your history with the CAT. Read More
The IIM Selection Criteria: Will I get a call from the IIMs?
Apart from the — how many questions should I answer to score a 99 percentile on the CAT — question, one of the questions that I get asked to answer most frequently both from my students as well as people on Quora is the one that is more or less framed as follows:
I have X% in X , Y% in XII and Z% in GRAD, will I get a call from the IIMs?
Given that this is such a popular question, I think it is time to dedicate a post to the same. Read More
IIMs versus FMS, XL, MDI and other top schools
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. Read More
Analyzing India’s WT20 Loss — Lessons to learn for a CAT re-take
Exceptionally good at cricket analysis — this is the phrase that can go into most Indian resumes (football fans though burgeoning are still a minority) and so it is not a surprise that in the aftermath of India’s loss in the WT20 semi-final to the Windies, we have seen a wide range of explanations being offered for the same, the most commonplace ones being the two no-balls and the dew factor. While it is not important to come up with right answer to this question, taking a look at the way we analyze a failure can have a huge impact on our chances for future success. This is where the relevance kicks in for those looking at a CAT retake in 2016. Read More
ISB — Now accepting GRE for YLP!
As most of you would know, over the past few years, the GRE has begun gaining acceptance as a test that can be used by business schools to evaluate potential applicants, with quite a few international b-schools now accepting the GRE along with the GMAT. Reflecting this trend, one of India’s premier business schools, Indian School of Business (ISB) has announced that it is going to accept the GRE as well for its Young Leaders Program. Read More
How to approach the IIM-A AWT
The IIM-A process involves an AWT as opposed to the WAT. The best way to understand the difference is to view the two as the two essays that the GMAT had earlier – Analysis of an Issue and Analysis of an Argument. Read More
The CAT Writer 