Tales of CAT aspirants and IIMA stories

CAT 2006: Surprise!!! Surprise!!!

2006-11-22T23:21:00.000-08:00

Yes, indeed this year’s CAT was a surprise to all of us. Never thought that question numbers would be reduced to only 75!! Everyone of us expected a big big paper – now only 75 questions with 150 minutes! My bet is that this year you need quite high marks to get into IIMs. Given the level of difficulty in quants and DI portions – people will score very well – 100 percent in both the sections is on platter! Average won’t be very high because of the shock factor! Hence cutoffs will be:

QA = 12-14 questions or 40+

VA= 10 questions or 40+

DI = 9 questions or 36+

If in total you can get 110+ your percentile will be around 99!

Main changes in CAT this year:

Reduction of questions to 75 – all time low!
4 marks per question
5 options per question
Negative marking = 1/4^th per wrong answer

VA section:

Surprise! Surprise here! If you had looked at the 1994 question set – the paper won’t be a surprise to you. Critical reasoning revisited! If you had planned to leave RC altogether, the paper must have been a rude shock to you – 60 marks on RC!

In overall, if you had answered 16 questions with cent percent accuracy – you had done a very good job!

QA Section:

One of the easiest QA section I had seen ever! Attempting 12-14 questions here is a must to have any realistic chance of cracking CAT! I know guys who cracked all 25 questions in this section!

DI/LR section:

The DI/LR section was with usual difficulty level and anyone attempting over 12 questions correctly here has positive chances!

This year your VA and DI/LR attempts will be a deciding factor, assuming that everyone will do well in QA! If you had cracked DI/LR and VA (answered nearly 60% with 90% accuracy) – be sure – you are getting calls from the IIMs!

You can get the answer keys here:

PT was the first to come up with the key at:

http://www.ptindia.com/cat/analysis.php

Time has their analysis up at:

http://www.time4education.com/CAT2006/Cat2006_Analysis.ASP

Career Forum has their and analysis at:

http://www.cflogic.com/

Next week I’ll start the GD-PI strategy module. Keep watching for it!

Boss@IIMA

Final Notes on CAT and some Quants shortcuts

2006-11-14T05:21:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
The D-day is near. All of you must be either tensed or eagerly anticipating for the 19th November! I hope the readers of the blog do a great job there and crack the exam. I am right now in Genpact writing this blog. I came here for a project work!

Ok! Now back to business - this edition I bring in two things.... A final note on CAT and some quants shortcuts. The quants shortcuts document was prepared by a fellow student here, Ashutosh Kar and you won't find better than this one. Check it out!

Let me know if you have some questions - I'll be checking my mails on Thursday evening. Email websites are blocked here except for one terminal!

All the best to you and meet you all after 19th; I'll be bringing in CAT GD-PI stuff then!
Have a cracking exam.
Cheers!
Boss@IIMA

Penultimate interviews in the interview series

2006-11-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

This is the penultimate post on interview series. Here I shall continue with the successful students in the CAT 2005. In the next interview I shall take up a few of the CAT 2004 and 2003 successful candidates, in case the question pattern is changed back to the old format. Keep watching!

http://catiimatales.googlepages.com/interview7
Here I covered mostly the 99+ percetile candidates. Check their proven strategies with an analysis of the same. Final summing up will be on Thursday night where I'll make a summary and depending upon strengths and weaknesses - a strategy chart will be derived.

Till then
Cheers!
Boss@IIMA

Stock.Mitanshu.com

2006-10-31T15:26:00.000-08:00

Now 675 virtual players! All those interested in stock markets - here's a golden opportunity to compete against traders from IIT and IIMs. Check it out! Get yourself registered and play!

You can learn the basics from Stock Gyan.

Play the Virtual Stock Market Game!

Interview series: Interviews 2-3-4

2006-10-29T10:53:00.000-08:00

Hi all,
I am really in a off-mood after the meek surrender by India. The team is seriously lacking intent to win and India's chances of bettering the previous World Cup performance really looks bleak!

Anyway, the Interview series continues:

Interview 2: of a PGP student who cracked one section and made up for her weakness in Quants.

Interview 3: of a PGP student who cracked the other two sections and inspite of a very poor performance in QA, got 99.9 percentile and cracked IIMA.

Interview 4: of a PGP-ABM student - for those aspirants targeting IIMA PGP-ABM!

Check out! 20 more interviews will be coming in next 2 weeks - keep watching CATIIMATALES!

Happy Diwali and Catiimatales is back!

2006-10-22T14:28:00.000-07:00

This time CATIIMATALES is back with a bang! We'll be producing interviews and CAT experiences of atleast 20 candidates from last year who made into IIM-A. It'll be how many they answered and which sections they answered first - how many questions they attempted from each section.

These interviews will definitely help you to analyze and compare across successful candidates and finally come up with a strategy of your own - Never before you got such an opportunity!

Check http://catiimatales.googlepages.com/interview1

Thanks for all your Diwali wishes. Hope you had a wonderful diwali too... we lighted a lot of diyas and decorated our dorms... I'll post the pictures tomorrow.

Till then keep watching the CATIIMATALES!
Boss@IIMA

CAT experiences of students

2006-10-18T00:57:00.000-07:00

Next two weeks I'll dedicate for CAT experiences of different students - all coming up after Diwali. Keep watching this space.
Boss@IIMA

How to crack DI/LR/DS - Part 2 with illustrations

2006-10-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here I have illustrated about the

structures
strategies

I talked about in my previous posts. The examples are mostly taken from previous CAT papers.

http://catiimatales.googlepages.com/di2

Hope it will be useful to you all.
Boss@IIMA

Long Break - Explanation

2006-10-01T05:05:00.000-07:00

First of all I apologize for a long break. Study pressure plus chikungunya fever to some colleagues bogged me down. Now I make it up with a long awaited post on DI/LR/DS. Wait for another one on the same topic this week.
Happy mugging and take care.
Boss@IIMA

How to crack DI/LR/DS - Part 1

2006-10-01T05:01:00.000-07:00

Guys,
Next two blogs are dedicated to Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning and Data Sufficiency. In the first phase, the general strategies are discussed and in the seond phase, I'll take specific problems to give a hint of the structure and strategies I'm talking about!

Check it out!

CATIIMATALES - General Strategies: DI Part 1

CATIIMATALES has now got a website!!!!

2006-09-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

CATIIMATALES has now grown up.... it has got a cool website.
Check it out!
CATIIMATALES

Which one to choose: TIME or IMS?

2006-09-23T07:44:00.000-07:00

I recieved a lot of enquiries on TIME vis-a-vis IMS. I mentioned earlier in one of my blogs that majority students come here from TIME. So, I had a few interviews from IIMA students about TIME and IMS. Their honest opinion is in favour of TIME.

TIME is ahead of IMS in terms of:

Personal Attention
Good faculty
SIMCATs similar to actual CAT

At IMS they offer much more advanced stuff absolutely not required for CAT. IMS students felt that they wasted considerable efforts in learning difficult stuff which would never come in CAT.

Materials of TIME are better in a sense that you study more focused. TIME test series package is by far the best. So, suggestion from IIMA students is that Even if you join IMS, you should also practice from TIME test-series package.

Now city-wise variations are there - in some cities IMS coachings are better whereas in some others TIME is ahead. Just enquire from the present students about IMS and TIME, they can give you an idea.

Keep putting in your questions.
Boss@IIMA

Catiimatales in DNA Newpaper, Mumbai

2006-09-21T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
You all will be glad to know that catiimatales is on the DNA News - on the DNA blogs section http://www.dnaindia.com/

Recently I put a post on Lalu's lecture at IIMA. It got listed there as Lalunomics. So far so good for CATIIMATALES. Hope it will grow bigger.

Cheers
Boss@IIMA

In response to the article on TOI on Caste & IIMs

2006-09-20T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
A slightly disturbing article appeared on 12th Sept. in The Times Of India, Dalit IIM students get less moolah, I present my views. Please visit
http://hothotboss.googlepages.com/issue-casteandiima

Please send me your feedbacks.
Boss@IIMA

VSEDEX crossed 10,000 marks

2006-09-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Remember I told you about Stock market game by Mitanshu. The equivalent to sensex is VSEDEX there. Now it has 393 active users. Learn more about it in Stock.Gyan.

Keep the catiima forum busy.
Cheers
Boss

How to crack Quants?

2006-09-19T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well...well..well ... Quants/QA in CAT. Simply put, it's a killer section. If you want to crack CAT, you need to crack Quants! There's no short cut here. Throw away your maths phobia, believe me - no need to be a quants wizard to solve the CAT questions. Come on - it's not rocket science or high funda maths. I am a biology student and I scored 99.99 percentile in Quants.

Definitely I'll tell you about my strategy. It's nothing unique or extraordinary - it's very simple. You all know about the areas in CAT: number theory, geometry, mensuration, arithmatic and algebra. Now follow what I say:

Practice basic level in each and every area. Keep things simple. Don't ignore any area, especially the basics.
Practice algebra, number theory, mensuration and geometry. You can expect majority questions from this section.
Don't leave any area untouched. You can't avoid anything here - otherwise CAT will avoid you.
Try to identify SITTERS in Mock exams. Yeah I said SITTERS. Atleast 50% questions here are sitters - takes less than a minute to solve. You need to identify them through practice. Remember, sitters depend on your level of practice and sitters vary from aspirant to aspirant!
One way of identifying sitters is resolving the quants section once the mock cat is over. Take a note pad - keep a note of the way you solved specific type of problems. That note will help you identifying quickly specific types and solving them within a minute - because you know the strategy.
If your calculation precision is weak - like mine - do onething. Suppose 54.6*75.8 and your answer choices are 2789.88, 3588.88, 4557.66, 4138.68. Multiply the last two numbers - 6*8 = 48, hence the answer should end on 8, one option eliminated. Next multiply the first two, 7*5=35, hence the answer would be > 35 in the first two digits which leaves us with the option 4138.68. Problems won't be this simple but this will give you a clue how to intelligently use limited maths ability to the maximum extent. Why I need to go for complex calculations when a two simple calculations can do it faster?
Try to identify the shortcuts. I remember thoroughly reading a book for banking services - Magical Mathematics. It was a good help to a math-phobic person like me.
Don't overstudy sections like ratio proportions, simple and compound interests, permutation-combination and probability - only basic knowledge will do in CAT. If you see a differential or intergral problem in one CAT paper doesn't mean you need to mugg through entire diff-integral calculus! That thing may or may not come - a high chance of not coming is there. So, don't lose your focus. Rather keep your basics clear.
Go through time and work section thoroughly. I tended to avoid this section because of its length. But, in actual CAT I got a known problem - an absolute sitter here. So, while solving papers post-exam don't avoid it - you never know when you get a sitter. If in the exam you feel that the question is direct or a sitter - do it otherwise leave.

So by now you've understood the importance of getting sitters in QA. Practice now for sitters - this is the opportune time! Start identifying the sitters in mock and actual CAT papers - it'll help you in identifying the easy questions and solving them with a brisk pace. Keep minimum 30 minutes for Quants in CAT. If you haven't made a notebook of sitters yet - start today! Believe me, 50% questions are sitters which won't take more than 30-40 seconds to solve.

I have started a discussion forum on my blog, keep putting in your questions and suggestions there. Plus you can chat there too!
Keep mugging!
Boss@IIMA

Lalu's Lecture at IIMA

2006-09-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

You all must be interested to know how Lalu took our class. Here's a glimpse. I can't write the details as it would be against institute norms. But I can write how he charmed a hall full of students.
Find the lecture here
http://hothotboss.googlepages.com/lalu%27slectureatiima

Keep mugging
Boss@IIMA

For GD-PI: How to understand SENSEX?

2006-09-18T02:42:00.000-07:00

http://finance.gyan.googlepages.com/sensex

In easy words I have discussed about SENSEX, without any technical hi-fi terms - it's easy to understand and perfect for the uninitiated.
Have a look and give me a feedback to improve it.

How to crack CAT? An average student's story

2006-09-12T03:52:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

I received 100s of mails and scraps from students all around the country last week. Main theme of a majority were “I am a real average student, will I be able to crack CAT?” Here I present the interview of my colleague, whose name I won’t disclose. Because it may hurt his sentiments as many IIMA students also read the blog with interest.

Now he is an average guy from a middle class family in Mumbai. He did his engineering from a state engineering college with average results. Everyone in his college were appearing for CAT, he also took a coaching like them and sat for CAT 2005. He had prepared well, with his own unique methods. Only one student out of 200 appearing from his college cracked CAT – and it was him!

He himself admits he is no genius and so, I asked him definitely there must be some reason for which he got 99.5 percentile.

CAT is not a test of mathematical and verbal aptitudes, he knew from the very beginning. It’s a test of managerial ability. He followed certain distinct plans for each section.

Verbals:

Ø He started reading Reader’s Digest, Business India and Business Online. Everyday for 2 hours his main routine was to browse them thoroughly. He did this for six long months.

Ø He read the editorials of TOI and The Hindu. This improved his sense of sentence construction

Ø He did not waste time on vocab building. (Interesting, I wasted a lot of time there!)

Ø The materials provided by his coaching (TIME) was good enough for him. He couldn’t browse through all.

Quants

Ø Here he followed the usual approach. He relied on the coaching materials and did not think of consulting anything else. He just brushed up his basics.

Ø He rigorously practiced the materials provided by the coaching. “Who’s got the time to consult other coaching materials? Anyway, it’s not the test of how-much-you-know, it’s a test of how-much-you-apply!”

Everyday he had the regular gossip sessions, regular girl-watching sessions as usual. CAT did not disturb his daily routine. He did not bog himself down ever thinking of how tough and competitive the exam is.

Two days before the exam, he stopped studying. He went for a movie, drank a beer or two, helped dad in his office work, surfed net, etc. that is fultoo enjoy.

On the D-day he woke up early, offered his respect to the family God and went to the exam centre 10 km away.

Now on reaching the centre his main thinking was, “Wow! These guys/gals must have prepared so hard! That’s why they are so serious.” He did not have any pressure on him. It was just an average preparation.

Exam story:

Surprise! It’s a 90 question paper! How many he is going to attempt? 15-15-15 will be enough? He started searching for the easy kills!

Already he decided, he’s never going to try the difficult ones. First half an hour was slow for him. He started with verbals. He couldn’t answer more than 15 in the first half an hour. Reading comprehension suddenly seemed very difficult for him! The answer choices were so close!!!! It was hard to leave the two marks questions for him! He answered some and left others – “anyway, I won’t get a call” he thought.

Ø Quants was the next section he attempted – he took 35 minutes there to answer 20 questions which he thought were quite easy.

Ø In DI, he had a difficult time, it took 45 minutes to answer him 18 questions. He didn’t wish to spend more time there.

Ø He had only 10 minutes left. Surprisingly, on a second look at verbals he could answer 10 more! All were one mark questions.

So, in total he attempted 25-20-18! Total out of 90 questions. He believed he did everything right. But, will it be enough! “All others must have answered more than me!”

He came out – he saw everyone depressed there. No one expected CAT like this. He saw everyone so depressed – he felt happy! Yeah, sadistic happy. Anyway, he won’t get a call.

He didn’t bother to check his CAT score. His father checked and gave him the good news – 99.5 percentile, call from 4 IIMs. He did not apply for IIMK, I.

How he converted his GD-PI will be a different story. Wait for it.

Do let me know if you found something useful.

Keep mugging.

Boss

CAT verbals: Top strategies

2006-09-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

By now I hope your build up of stock of words is complete. You have gone through the grammar portions provided by the coachings – thoroughly I hope. But some of you may be still facing difficulties. What’s the way out of it?

In every CAT, some 25-30 marks questions are there in the verbal section. In CAT 2005, they were mostly 1 or 2 marks questions. Getting a decent score there is utmost important to crack CAT, everyone reading this blog knows it.

I’ll suggest you some strategies that helped me a lot! If they help you too, nothing like it. Below are the variations that come in CAT vocabs:

Vocabulary based: Since CAT 02, no such questions came in CAT main paper. Again even if it comes it will come with four alternatives. If you don’t know the meaning, try to make a sentence with the word. See if any of the alternatives fits there. Probably two alternatives will be a bit close, chance your luck if you can’t guess correctly. Anyway, this vocab based questions are antiquated now and hardly any chance of them coming in CAT 06.
Sentence correction: This section is currently the favourite in CAT. Sometimes, it may be misleading and confusing. I found the IMS guideline a great help to identify the correct ones. If you are not able to grasp as yet, follow the steps:

Read the basics again from your coaching material.
Look at the sentence construction. Try to analyze grammatically and try to recollect if you have read it somewhere. If you have had a good reading habit, you can link it up with some sentence that you read before.
Otherwise, try to understand the meaning it conveys and construct the sentence in your own words. Have faith in yourself, and check the sentence with similar construction – if you find it mark it as correct.

Paraphrasing: One easy way I found was, instead of carefully reading each line and then trying to make a coherent paragraph, I first would read the para’s very quick, almost within 20 seconds and then look at the alternatives. By then, I have the total text in mind. Now looking at the alternatives say BACD, ADBC, ACDB and CDBA. Reading the first sentence of each alternative, I could easily eliminate two. Then read the paragraphs as arranged in 3^rd and 4^th alternatives and see which one makes better sense and is more coherent. That worked wonderfully well for me and that too took nearly 40-45 seconds!

Let me know if the strategies work.

Keep mailing with your suggestions and queries. Tomorrow I’ll present before you:

“How an average merit guy cracked IIMA?”

This guy is of average merit, and even his performance here is not so cool. But, the truth is even with average merit he cracked IIMA. Even I want to know how he did it!

Keep tuned in!

Cheers

Boss@IIMA

Stock.Gyan & Stock.Mitanshu: Learn & Play with stocks

2006-09-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

To all the people interested in stock markets, here's an exciting opportunity for you.
Log on to Stock.gyan (right click to open in a separate window)
http://stock.gyan.googlepages.com/

It is a comprehensive module for stock market beginners - what you know and don't know about Share Markets. It's developed by Arindam, a student @ IIMA based on the stock market game of Mitanshu I mentioned earlier.

Go through the site, it's in easy language and very precise. It will give you vital inputs about stock market which you may even need in your interviews.

Get the knowledge and apply it in Virtual stock market (again right click to open in a separate window)
http://stock.mitanshu.com

The combo will remove your apprehensions and doubts about stocks.
Enjoy!
Boss@IIMA

How work experience helps in CAT & IIM A?

2006-09-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

Hi CAT aspirants,
I received many queries on the WORK EXPERIENCE and if it is important! Moreover, some CAT aspirants asked me how WORK EX helps in IIMA life. Here is a post on WORK EX!

Yes, WORK EX helps! At least 20% have work ex of more than 2 years every year here. With quality work ex from a reputed company (like HLL, HCL, Cognizant, etc.) you can crack CAT personal interviews of IIM-A, B and C even with a 98 percentile score. Cracking IIMs with 98 percentile is next to impossible for a fresher!

How does Work Ex help to crack PI?

Well most of the questions asked will be restricted to your work experience. Hence you can give quality answer to the questions. For a fresher the range of questions that can be asked becomes very broad. Hence, strategically work ex provides an advantage to the IIM aspirants.

Moreover, if the work ex is entrepreneurial in nature, the more are your chances.

How Work Ex helps in IIMA life?

It helps in class participation. Here the evaluation mechanism is a continuous one. In every class you have to take part in class discussions of the cases and your marks are based on the quality of your arguments. If you can relate your personal experience with the case being studied, nothing like it!

But, freshers need not to panic. I provided you the stats in a previous post. Nearly 80 are either fresher or with 1-3 months of work ex. Moreover, being a fresher helps in getting into investment banks. I haven't seen till date people with over 2 years of work ex getting into ML, DB, or LB. These investment banks have a fascination for freshers.

In consultancy jobs, however, the game is in favour of work ex holders. They are hired more as consultants and that too with a good reason!

The highest salary-holders you come to read in newspapers are mostly work ex persons. Last year one IPS officer with over 7 years of work ex got a 30 lakh plus domestic salary offer! But, if you consider his age - by the time you reach that age, you too would be earning that salary. So, in the long run, freshers are not losing out to the work ex holders - that's the bottom line!

Keep sending your suggestions and questions. I am really overwhelmed by the wonderful response I got!
Cheers
Boss@IIMA

Accuracy Vs Speed - Views from three 100 percentiles

2006-09-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
We interviewed three students last night who cracked 100 percentiles in their CAT last year. None of us who run the blog never scored 100 percentile! So, it was a learning experience for us too - who thinks about CAT when everything is over. Even if we are in the same batch, we never discussed about it earlier!

Amazingly we found strange similarities between the three:

1. Amazing time management skills: All of them had a plan in mind - a time limit for each and every section - most importantly they stuck to the plan! In two hours exam they divided their time to three sections meticulously. One guy, for example, was very good in the quants part. He gave himself 10 minutes extra there to answer more than other sections - playing to the strong point!

2. Skills to pick up the easier ones: Their rigorous practice sessions enabled them to choose the easy kills and not even attempt the difficult ones. Thereby, they could save valuable time and answer more questions.

3. They answered over 120 questions: The way they picked up the easier ones enabled them to answer more than 120 questions. They went for speed; they had the confidence the answers will be accurate.

4. Deciding which one to attempt and what not on the first glance itself: If the question seemed easy at the first glance, they answered; otherwise they skipped! Never even bothered to take a second look at it. Thus, they could answer 10-15 more than rest of the candidates.

I hope this piece will be useful to you. I'll keep adding more.
Cheers!
Boss

Virtual Stock Market game - A good way to understand the actual Stock Market

2006-09-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

My Friend Mitanshu Garg, a IITR student, has developed this wonderful game - a hands on experience of stock market trading. I found it very good and closer to the actual market.
http://stock.mitanshu.com - A Virtual Stock Market Game

Within one month of launch, the site has attracted over 175 visitors from IIMs, IITs and even EU.
Hope this game will increase your understanding of the trading dynamics before you actually start playing with stocks!
Cheers!

CAT: The issue of Accuracy versus Speed

2006-09-06T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
I am back from term break and with new topics. I received 45 emails from you and I am still going through the mails. A few mails are on the issue of accuracy and speed.

Today I'll address the most important one for CAT exam: Accuracy Vs Speed. Which one to choose? Accuracy or Speed? We are really confused on the subject. Now, what I can do is tell you my experience here.

Well it's not
Accuracy + Speed = CAT

It is
Accuracy*Speed = CAT

Since it is a multiplicative model, so things needed to kept flexible here. Accuracy alone can't crack CAT for you unless you're very naturally gifted! I am not that gifted. So, I generated my OWN MIX - THE CRACK CAT mix!

You need both, otherwise your score will be low. That's very easy to say! But to get both is one of the most difficult things to do - all CAT aspirants cracking their brains over Mock CAT papers understand it very well. In the actual exam, it'll be most difficult thing to do with surprises, time limits, probably a new type of paper with the arrangements changed, etc. etc. No, it's not a horror movie - you never know what may come in CAT! Already 2.5 hrs thing is a surprise to all of us!

Well, enough of surprises - to hell with them! Now accuracy-speed mix - I went for THE RIGHT MIX on the D-day. What's that? Wait! I mean, I went for less accuracy and more speed to answer over 100 questions. The rule is quite simple - apply this even in practice.

Don't go for detailed calculations unless absolutely essential. If a question requires detailed calculations, skip it unless it has the highest weightage. Go for the easy kills. CAT is a TEST OF ELIMINATION - I mean it! Eliminate the difficult ones and kill the easier ones.

Rough estimates will do good for many questions. I noted in previous 10 years CAT papers that for many questions 2 answers would be close to the rough estimate and the rest I could eliminate. Moreover, among these 2 close answers, one would be closer than the other - you can make a guess. Take a good look at the quants in CAT papers. I know majority of you perhaps have discovered it already - but no harm in telling. Practice with this strategy in Mock tests - 99% of the cases you'll be very accurate without doing precise calculations.

In stepwise solving of a problem, you don't need to do all the steps if you can solve the problem midway. Leave it and circle the answer. Thus you can save time to answer 2-3 more questions.

Under pressure, getting an accuracy of over 90% depends on luck too. So, believe in your luck a bit and don't get stuck on a single problem. Try to answer over 80-90. Even if you answer 50 with 100 percent accuracy you may get calls, depending on the level of difficulty - but over 90% accuracy is difficult to get in the actual exam! Go for speed! Trust your intuitions that you have cultivated giving one mock CAT paper after other.

If you feel that certain section seems very easy, - say quants, understandably the cut-off there will be higher. Hence answer max that you can from that section. Don't stop after answering usual 35 from there.

Moreover, from last CAT the IIMs have started to clearly state the negative marks and marks for individual questions. Now if one question has high marks and you are not able to answer, check the negative marks and you can take your chances and go with a probable guess as the expected returns are greater if your answer is correct.

BUT, I am not ruling out accuracy here - I am talking about decreasing the accuracy level by a small margin to increase speed by a big margin. Every one with whom I talked, who scored over 98 percentile, had answered more than 80 questions - so speed is very vital.

Try in practice tests - go for speed and answer minimum 100 questions in the stipulated time - as many as possible. See your accuracy levels - give tests for continuously 7 days, now see the difference! For me accuracy went from 50% on the first day to over 75%. What worked for me will definitely work for some of you - I was a bit slow in the beginning few months to concentrate on accuracy.

One advice - while you are taking these mock tests prepare the environment as original. Give tests with partner(s) - it increases competitiveness and you can't lax. One highly competitive test per day is enough. Take the rest of the day to analyze where you went wrong.

Now, while doing this way - u'll find that within two weeks or so, you have reached a balance - the perfect mix of speed and accuracy. If you are answering over 80 with 95% accuracy in last 3-4 years CAT papers, that is good enough to pull you through. That's how you develop the right mix - that is very essential for CAT.

Send me your feedbacks. I'll check the rest of the mails and come up with another relevant discussion pretty soon.
Keep mugging and reading my blog till then.
Boss@IIMA

Courses offered at IIM Ahmedabad 1

2006-09-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
I received queries on the courses offered at IIM Ahmedabad. I'll give you the course list in this blog, term-wise. First year courses are quite structured and all compulsory. I'll concentrate my discussion on first year courses mainly. Second year courses I'll discuss sometime later.

First Year
Term 1: It's the toughest term and fortunes are made or broken here only.

MAC: Managerial Accountancy - starts mainly with credit-debit, balance sheet and income statement, etc. Also called MANAC, and is one of the terror courses here. It's also flooded with quizzes (6-8).
QM I: Quantitative Management I - Mainly LP, integer progamming, transportation problem, etc.
OM I: Operational Management I - Another terror! Mainly deals with mathematical part of operations - cycle time, lead time, etc. You have to read Goldratt's The Goal in this course. Quite interesting actually but the evaluation is quite tough.
EA: Economic Analysis - mainly microeconomics - supply-demand, ISLM, etc. Quite an interesting course to the uninitiated.
IC: Introduction to Computers - Starts with excel and ends with VB covering excel and access. A terror to the non-IT poor chaps! It's also flooded with quizzes but not like MAC.
HRM: Human Resource Management - Soft course. I never understood utility of studying HRM, personally speaking.
WAC: Written Analysis & Communication - Teaches you to write business reports. WAC format is quite interesting! But becomes stale after writing one or two reports. WAC-run is quite an amusement to the tuchhas :).
ID: Organization Behaviour - Another soft course but good! It's very interactive and we had fun doing it!

Term 2: Seems easier when you are through with flying colours in the first term!

MAC 2: Again accountancy but kind of qualitative with stress on interpretation of the various ratios and managerial implications thereof. A very very good course indeed! But, again the quiz menace - that makes it tough!
FIN 1: Now starts the most interesting subject of all - the FINANCE. Half of the junta come here to acquire this knowledge only. Finance faculty here is one of the best in India. If you haven't been to Prof Ajay Pandey's class you're really missing something!
EEP1: Economic Environment and Policy: The macroeconomics starts! I found it interesting. GDP-PPP-Indian economy, monetary policy, fiscal crunch - all in a nutshell very good!
QM 2: Another QM - this one deals with probability and it's good.
MARKETING 1: The other half junta come here to study this course. Starts with basics of marketing through cases - good course! Again, if you haven't been to Prof Jain's class you've missed everything! He's probably the best! Be prepared to do a lot of marketing assignments and group meetings!
OD: Another organizational behaviour course. Soft course!

Term 3: Again a bit tough!

FIN 2: Now comes the finance for the I-bankers - FIN2! Great course! But no manac this term - so you have become a mini-CA by 6 months of coming here. Indeed, many non-CAs score more than CAs in MANAC & FIN - that's the beauty of this place.
QM 3: This one deals with hard-core statistics - parametric and non-parametric. I enjoyed this course. All the chi-sq, t and z-test - I want to do it again!
OM 2: The terror - this one is more managerial in nature. Again a great faculty will take you through this course - if you haven't attended RaviC's classes, you have no right to live! The best of the profs! He has his own fan club. Search RaviC on net, you can get a glimpse of this great man!
MARKETING 2: Full of group meetings and assignments. Had fun doing it!
EEP 2: Macroeconomics again - this time GATT & WTO. I had a great time here. Prof Morris can talk with you for hours on the subject.
WAC 2: Now company reports! Again useful initially - once you get know how to write becomes very boring!
MIS: Management of Information Systems - for the ERP stuff. Even the non-IT guys do well here. Ends with a project implementation which is quite interesting. Mainly group work here.

So, in a nutshell, this is what first year represents. It encapsulates all aspects of management - you are now jack of all trades. We remember implementing MIS for pan-walas even! The first year courses never give mastery over any said area but offer competence do a multi-dimensional analysis of a single case. One of the best part of pedagogy here is you do the things yourself and learn - management is, in nutshell, common sense and I don't believe books, jargons and models can teach you that.

Keep pouring in your suggestions and mails. I really enjoy reading them.
Cheers
Boss

Life@IIMA Part 1

2006-09-01T02:48:00.000-07:00

Fachha Life:

Fachhas are the First Year “Bachhas”. Seniors lovingly call them fachhas/fachhis depending on gender. Fachha life is a bit monotonous, not much extra-curricular things to do. But, every year we get some happy-go-lucky dudes who manage to do everything with moderate success.

Student life here has 8 very important things:

Study: Referred as “Mugging” here. In first year you’ll hear a lot of “Muggo Fachhon muggo” to the level of irritation. Bear with it! Because next year will be your turn to shout and torment people. Study hours are generally from 2 PM to 4 AM. Next morning you need to wake up by 8-15 AM to attend classes. Only respite are Friday nights, if there’s no WAC assignment. Otherwise it’s study time only. Each class requires about 3 hours of preparation (standard and not meant for memory whiz-s!). So, total 9 hours you need everyday to prepare for tomorrow’s class. Here advanced preparation is required for every class to pour in CPs or Class Participations. Sleep is a scarce economic good here and be prepared to sleep less for at least three months. Then surely you’ll adjust your schedule or simply give up!
Classes: Every week from Monday to Friday, and sometimes Saturday too, you need to attend classes from 9 AM to 1 PM. Total three classes are scheduled each day; each class for about 1 hour 10 min with 20 minute breaks in-between. Your yesterday night’s preparation will be reflected by the CPs. Classes are fun once you get used to them. Classes are compulsory and you can’t bunk them at any cost, unless you’re really sick and admitted.
Quizzes: They are the most tormenting part of fachha life, at least initially! Starting from first week itself, there’ll be quizzes based on the current classes. Quizzes generally range from 20 minutes to 1 hour and are all unannounced. There’s a Quiz notice board outside student’s mess where you get to see the dreaded notices of “short quizzes”, much to the amusement of tuchhas (second year students). Fortunately, quizzes carry less weightage, generally 2-2.5% for each quiz. Each subject generally has 4-5 quizzes. Be on your toes everyday is the hidden objective!
CG: or the grade points. Our grades are allotted on a 4.33 scale.

A+ =4.33,

A =4 to 4.32

A- =3.67 to 3.99

B+ =3.33 to 3.66

B =3 to 3.32

B- =2.67 to 2.99

C+ =2.33 to 2.66

C =2 to 2.32

C- =1.67 to 1.99

D =Below 1.67 (I won’t discuss below it in the hope that you won’t get a D)

Here being a 3+ pointer or a I-schol (Top 20 students are lovingly called I-schols) is a matter of pride and a guarantee to future good placements. Hence, CG bothers a lot to the fachhas, more than their girl-friends or boy-friends.

Movies: We have a great movie repository here. A special electronic notice board (MAD NB) serves the purpose for notifying all about the movies in campus and DC++ hubs helps students to download. All genres of movies you get here to satisfy your taste. Movies are a welcome break here.

Ramp-Party: Every alternate Saturday, the cultural club@ IIMA organizes a discotheque in the mess building. Earlier it used to be on the IIMA ramp, hence named Ramp party. Now it has shifted to the Mess building. Ramp parties are fun!

D-babble: The lifeline of IIMA community, the intranet message server. You get to see all notice boards here and can communicate with friends and alum. It’s a welcome break to gossip and have fun.

Counter-Strike: Another welcome break from studies. Every night, from 10 PM our counter strike server is up and you can satisfy your sadistic side by killing a few. I love it!

Tuchha or Second year life is almost the same, minus studies and quizzes. Here movies, ramp, dbabble and counterstrike take upper-hand. Classes you can bunk but need to keep at least 80% attendance. Here CPs and CGs don’t count for future employment. So, a chilled life!

Mail me how do you like this intro about IIMA life. I'll discuss about the courses offered and studies in future posts.
Keep mugging for CAT.
Boss

Managing Vocabs and DI

2006-08-31T12:23:00.000-07:00

I received the following queries through orkut and my blog:

1. Which books to refer?

2. How to manage vocabs?

3. How to manage DI?

Books:

Now let me start with books. I prepared in Delhi. Often I used to visit markets like Dariaganj for books. I guess the market is flooded with scores of books on CAT, from vocabs to GD-PI. Now what to choose? Books were not that cheap too! Already I had bought GRE materials spending a fortune. One of my colleagues in IIML advised me not to buy any books and concentrate more on the IMS materials I had. Moreover, my room-mate took TIME coaching. So, there was enough material to study. Anyway, all that we needed was to brush-up the basics and focus on the quick judicious application of the same.

Now if you think you're weak in a particular area - you may refer to a book. But, I found it quite unnecessary. The IMS and TIME study materials was quite enough for us. We also got hold of the previous 5 years CAT question papers. Even some publishers sell previous 10 years question papers too. We had enough materials to practice for the next 3-4 months.

For RC we made conscious efforts to read quick and retain as much as possible. It took us 3 months to increase our speed to a reasonable extent through Self-help and we could read long paragraphs quickly enough without any panic. So, I won't suggest any books to refer, the coaching materials are good enough. At the end of the day, your ability to apply basic knowledge and clarity in thoughts is what tames the CAT.

Vocabs:

Vocabs need to be cultivated. Baron's list of words and Word power made easy are the ones we found quite good; better than the materials supplied by IMS or TIME. I remember reading the Hindu (my room-mate thought of preparing for IAS too!) everyday, especially the editorial page. Reader's Digest was another mag we frequently read; I got a free subscription to it (still don't know who put in my name and address - but I thank him! The quality of articles in Reader's Digest was good enough to brush my vocabs). This part of CAT preparation took maximum time for me.

Grammar you can learn from any standard book. Even you can download a grammar book from internet. If you cultivate good reading habit, you can easily guess if a sentence is correct or wrong or which sentence will precede the other. It's kind of gets subconsciously stored in mind - the sentence constructions, the syntax, etc. and gives you power to guess the meaning of a word from the context quite accurately. Reading habits are magical!

One caution I would like to put in here. We generally tend to get a bit carried away on the vocabs part - same happened with me too. Once you can guess the meanings of words from the context - STOP there. No need to waste time on vocabs - even CAT is also gradually moving away from that part.

Data Interpretation

This is the section initially I found quite difficult. In fact one time I developed a phobia to graphs and tables. But, I had to overcome it somehow. A friend of mine was from economics background, he provided me with loads of data - ranging from cricket matches to India's PPP - all excel files. My job was to practice quick interpretation of large tables - imagine 23 states and their GSDP plus certain indices! I converted some to graphs and some I kept as tables. That exercise really helped me a lot. Practising with big tables make working the comparatively smaller tables easier in CAT and that's how I could do well in that section.

On DI, Businessworld published quite a good article - though very elementary. You can refer to it if it helps. Main thing is to familiarize with difficult tables and graphs - that will help in interpreting the CAT DI section.

Special thanks to all for encouragement. Pour in all your questions. I'll post an article on life at IIMA tomorrow.
Till then, keep mugging!
Boss

Issues of Low Grades and Specializations at IIMA

2006-08-31T06:25:00.000-07:00

I received scores of queries on low CG and prospects of entering IIMA. In fact, I searched for a person with CG as low as 7. And Yes, I got 3 students out of 10 I randomly questioned with CGs hovering around 7 mark. So, in a way stop worrying about low CGs and concentrate on your CAT scores and interview. You never know what the professors are looking for in interviews. Though the list is not authoritative, but my experience tells if we do a priority list for CAT, the rankings would be:

1. CAT score: the higher the better. We all know that!
2. GD-Interviews: It's a make or brake story here. So, very vital.
3. Your extra-curriculars: Gives a sample of the talent you have or how creative you are. It's not a necessity but if you've it's always better!
4. Your CG: Does not matter if you're rich in the above 3 points.

In response to Abhijit's question, Entrepreneurial Experience is too good for the interviews - nothing like it! In fact, one CA two batches had a CAT score lower than others; he got selected primarily because he managed a CA firm for 2 years (even though the returns were not that great). Hence, stop worrying about everything else and concentrate on CAT. Try to get interview calls. No one can stop you in interviews - your entrepreneurial experience will sail you through there along with your IIT tag! Given your entrepreneurial experience you need not to worry about minor changes in your CAT score - you just need interview calls!

Regarding Rohit's question: Yeah, IIMA's policy is not to offer specialized degrees on marketing or finance. Instead second year students are given options to choose finance or marketing courses or both through a bidding system. So, in a way, you can learn both or focus solely on finance or marketing. Majority guys/gals concentrate on both - to keep options open. If you need, I can provide you people with a list of courses offered by IIMA.

Keep mugging!
Boss

Placements and Salaries: Myths and Realities

2006-08-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Today I received special requests from a dozen of readers to write something about salary. Hmmm... fat salary, money.. the basic reason for majority to come to this coveted institute! Tonight, I am going to break some heart, I am sure :). But, for many this write-up will be an eye-opener.

Let me begin with a table:

Item	2003	2004	2005
Overseas placements	36	38	70
Indian placements	148	126	179
Highest salary Domestic	12 lakhs	12 lakhs	14.5 lakhs
Average salary domestic	6.2 lakhs	7.1 lakhs	7.9 lakhs
Highest salary overseas	90 thousand USD	96 thousand USD	152 thousand USD
Average Overseas Salary	58 thousand USD	58 thousand USD	80 thousand USD
% of investment bankers	14%	12%	40%

These are not any private data, all available at www.iimahd.ernet.in. Can you see what I am pointing here? Number of investment bankers are hardly 15%; 2005 placements are misleading, only 15% got overseas I-banker placements as usual - rest were all domestic I-bankers. In 2006, the number of overseas I-bankers have increased big time but you can't take that as a trend. I was there, a certain foriegn I-bank went crazy and hired every possible face! That may happen once in 10-15 years. So, everyone joining IIMA can't be an I-banker, isn't it?

Your next option is then consultancy, isn't it? That's what you dream of as a next alternative. There is a hope then dude! In 2003, only 6% got consulting, no overseas placements there. In 2004, 16% - no overseas again. In 2005, staggering 20% with 9 overseas placements.

The story is that on average people get 7-8 lakhs as compensation - that too cost to the company. What's that? The figure 8 lakh is a big bluff - let me tell you. Company will cut certain money as tax, benefits, etc. etc. After tax et al. one gets 60% of it as cash in hand. So, 4.8 lakhs say as a mean value. Turns out to be 40K per month. So, why are people crazy about IIMs then?

That's because in five years, the rise you can get is phenomenal. I know people joining at paltry 5.6 lakhs as cost to company and now after 5 years of joining, enjoying salaries above 20 lakhs per annum cost to company... turns out to be 1 lakh cash in hand! That's pretty good!

Now coming to 2006 story! We had a very good placement. The official data are not out yet. But the trend is better than 2005. Average salary (domestic) went over 8 lakhs, may have crossed 9 lakhs too. We had some very experienced candidates and they got salaries over 30 lakhs per annum. Hence, the rise in average salary. Mean is many-a-times a misleading number, mode was almost similar to last year.

So, the story is that almost half of the batch gets below 8 lakh job after graduating from the place! That's the fact! Moreover, the 100,000+ overseas salary that you read in newspapers are of those graduates who had more than 2 years of work-ex in reputed companies like McKensey, Anderson, etc.; they are not the freshers. Freshers generally get in-an-around 80K USD annually. That's also good - post-tax 4000-5000 USD per month as a starting.

Now personal feedback from some I-bankers - I-banking jobs suck! Yeah, that's true. For first hand experience, contact any I-banker you know and ask them about the work profile and how interesting their jobs are - you'll know the reality. Personally consulting seems more appealing to me. I have a friend who inspite of being I-schol (rank holders@IIMA are called I-schols) rejected pre-placement and during placement offers from big I-banks and joined a premier consulting company. His summers was in an I-bank from where he bagged a PPO (pre-placement offer). Life is quite amazing! Isn't it?

Let me know how you feel about this write-up.
See you tomorrow!
Boss

Some common queries about CAT answered

2006-08-30T05:22:00.000-07:00

Hi all,
Thanks for the enthusiastic responses. I received 100s of questions, I'll try to address here the most common questions posed.

1. Do I need experience to be in the IIMs? Should I go for a little work-ex before applying, some internship, etc.

The answer is NO. Almost 50% students in the recent batches are freshers - experience is not a very big criteria here. Add along with it, another 20% students have 2 months or less experience. Hence, people having 0-2 months of work-ex are the bulk here. So, why need to jam your head with work-ex and stuff... you better practice.
Internship or part-time job is not considered as work-ex here. Here, the authorities look for a healthy mix of freshers and experienced and as such there is no preference.

2. My graduation CG is very low (higher than 50%); can I get a chance?

Yes, you can get a chance. I know quite a few guys with graduation CG quite low. Primary emphasis is on CAT-GD-PI, graduation CG comes as a last priority for evaluation possibly. Otherwise, with only 60% people wouldn't have cracked CAT.

3. I am not very good in English. Do I need to read lot of English literature books? How do I increase reading speed?

I don't think IIMs look for Shakespeares. If you can write grammatically correct english, that is good enough.

To increase reading speed, my suggestion is make a conscious effort to read, read and read. Take a clock and try to read a para as fast a you can. See after one minute how much you retain. Sometimes, taking a glance at the first line, middle line and last line also helps to comprehend what's in the para. Try it!

4. How many months are required to prepare for CAT?

It depends! To some, 5 months X 5 hours a day proved good enough, some may need more time. Start giving mock CAT exams, you'll understand yourself. CAT is a test of confidence. If you are confident how many months hardly matter. If you can answer 90 questions with over 95% accuracy, be sure to get calls from all the IIMs (generally speaking and also depends on the difficulty level).

Keep posting your questions in my scrapbook and mail.
Catch you tomorrow.
- Boss

How to crack CAT? IMS Vs T.I.M.E.

2006-08-30T00:18:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,
I checked in this page, it has a nutshell view of CAT.
IMS Catbulletin

Yesterday I was talking to 10-12 students, just to assess which coaching institutes churn in the most number of students. I thought it would be IMS as I personally has consulted their materials - though I did not take their coaching. But, to my amusement both IMS and T.I.M.E. churn out almost equal number of students! The first years rate both the materials as equally good. Their quants materials are much much better than other coachings. TIME provides, according to some, somewhat better material on VA whereas IMS is ahead in DI part. It's now your choice.

This week I had a talk with a student with IIT Kgp production engineering background. He did not take any coaching for CAT, he was preparing for GRE; the GRE materials, especially those of Baron's helped him a lot for CAT. Everyday, he practised for about 5 hours daily - 3 mock tests of GRE/CAT every week and rest four days would be his feedback time. In feedback time he thought about possible strategies and where his preparation is going wrong or what he is doing right. He also prepared in a group - total 4 students, all of whom landed in IIMs. Hence, a good, sincere, intelligent group definitely helps! His strength was Quants and he did extremely well there. He did farely well in other sections too. His cat percentile was 99.9. Impressive!

For GD-PI he enrolled in IMS. Everyday browsing of ET, Business India, etc. helped him to feel confident. His GD was on a single page case on Xerox Inc. He was not very vocal initially but kept a note of whatever everyone said. Last 10 minutes he spoke where he validated and extended some student's points and rejected others with a solid argument. Two students got change from his GD group.

His PI was for 45 minutes. Main questions were from acads. The panel consisted of 5 professors from IIMA, they did not ask him anything about industry but were focused on his academic career and his software background. One question was asked about a corporate entity, he said he was not much aware of the present scenario in different sectors.

So, what do you gain from this? That -

In nutshell, concentrate on your strengths for CAT, get a very focused group, practice-practice-practice together and learn from others.
In GD, Over-enthusiasm sometimes hurts, be sure about what you're talking with good logic and rationale, take a note of what others are talking too.
In PI, Profs will ask on your strong points mainly - so need to mugg everything up overnight. Mention topics on which you know quite deep- shallow knowledge won't help!
If you don't know, say no in PI - don't make a story there.

Keep preparing and Enjoy!
Boss

How to prepare for CAT?

2006-08-28T22:42:00.000-07:00

I don’t claim to be an expert in preparing for CAT; but, what worked for me can work for you as well. Let me start from the very beginning. This is what I did.

Starting preparation: I wasn’t from engineering background or even maths background. So, I started with a refresher of my maths knowledge, especially geometry and trigonometry from Standard X and XII th books. This took round about 15 days – for me to become expert in basic maths! Most importantly, make a close knit CAT preparation group (2-3 members or else it will be a chaos) who will share every bit of knowledge with each other. The intention is everyone of your group should crack CAT. Remember, in CAT you’re not competing with your friends but with yourself. Yeah, that’s true! Everyday give at least 2 hours for learning something new and 1 hour for discussion within the group.

Second step – Get a good coaching: All the coaching institutes nearly provide the same materials – A set of materials on basic maths and English along with a set of question papers. Give at least one month to browse through the basic stuff before hunting down the question sets. Increase your word power through books like GRE Barron’s word list (it’s really helpful) or sites like dictionary.com. Grammar you can learn from Baron’s and Princeton’s, otherwise from internet too you can download grammar manuals. My technique was to read a word and it’s meaning every morning when I woke up and memorize it during brushing my teeth. I hope you have a CAT discussion group. Use as many words that you learn appropriately while discussing with group members. If someone else’s jargon is incomprehensible, don’t hesitate to ask him/her the meaning. That’s how you learn.

Third step – Start taking tests: Now is the real challenge! Start taking tests everyday. Call your group members at your home or go to his/her, open a test paper and start taking tests. Follow the following strategies:

Try to answer equal number of questions from each section within the stipulated time limit (2.5 hours).
No guess work during practice. Remember it very well.
Try to eliminate the difficult ones and pick the easy ones. At least 60% questions would be easy and your skill is to pick those up without digging into the difficult ones. They will only waste your time without any fruitful result.
Once the time limit is over, check the number of correct answers. Don’t worry even if you manage only 15 to 20 correct in each section – main aim should be accuracy. Accuracy should be in the tune of 95% to bell the cat. Overtime your accuracy and speed will increase.
Now, take 2 hours to solve the difficult ones which you were not able to answer. Search internet for the solutions if the solutions are not given in your material.
Make a note which are the sections you didn’t do well. Revise that portion next day.

Take as many tests as possible. The only way to crack CAT is to PRACTICE, PRACTICE and PRACTICE.

Fourth step – Stop 10 days before exam: Enough of tests, assuming you practiced for 6 long months. Now stop! Take a break, hang out and chill. You have put in your efforts and now is the time to relax. Don’t worry about your speed and skills. Just enjoy life!

On the D-day, take a good shower and feel confident. Go in front of your mirror, look at yourself in your eyes and say – “You can do it mate!” You have put in your efforts and leave the rest on God. Follow the same strategy as you did in practice tests. Well, the test question paper may be a surprise with different number of questions and sections – don’t get nervous. Start from your strength, if your strength is quants, start with it. Give equal time for each section and try to pick the easy kills. Remember, if you’re facing difficulty after so many months of hard labour, others will face it too! So, relax and start answering with an eye on the watch. Don’t make guesses – unless you are Houdini. Of course, you can make intelligent guesses at your own risk. Save last 5-10 minutes for again browsing through the sections. Try to check if you’ve answered equally from each section. This is important as the evaluation is not on a single section but on the overall paper where you’ve to clear each section’s minimum.

You can get a glimpse of your chances on browsing your coaching site, which will inevitably put in a probable average score and what score would be enough. Personally, I think if you’ve answered at least 50-55% questions with over 90% accuracy your chances are high, depending on the difficulty level. If the question paper appears easy to you, you know you have to answer more.

So, in essence, the basic mantra of preparation, as you have understood by now, is to PRACTICE. It’s the magic mantra! In total you would need about 8 months to prepare; that would be good enough for CAT.

Have a nice day and PRACTICE. Send me your comments to hothotboss@gmail.com.

All the best,

Boss@IIMA

What you know and don't know about IIM Ahmedabad

2006-08-27T03:24:00.000-07:00

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad - IIMA
IIMA, like any CAT aspirant, was my dream and it's a dream come true for me to be studying here. Well, it's not an ordinary blog about CAT in general - it's not only about the strategy: how to crack CAT and enter this coveted institute? It's also about how to survive in the institute! Yeah, surviving here is more difficult than clearing CAT! If you don't believe as any IIMA alumni you know. You won't get such personal first-hand information from any other blog - I am going to tell the inside story of IIMA, ranging from nightouts to studies. If you have any question or suggest me some topic to write on, drop a line at hothotboss@gmail.com. For the outsiders view of IIMA, please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institute_of_Management_Ahmedabad

First, Why IIMA?
Because IIMA is the best business management school in India. Simple! No other degree will offer you such coveted salaries. All questions about salaries and placements - don't be impatient! I'll post everything here. Wait for future posts.

Second, Does IIMA teach different from other b-schools?
No! Here they teach basically the same material. But, the teaching pattern is case study based (which I'll discuss subsequently) and the pressure is enormous here. I'll discuss about the pressure and how people handle it well to have all the fun and still study.

Third, What are the degrees offered here?
Basically four degrees are offered here.

1. PGP - Post graduate programme in Business Management. It's the flag-bearer of the institute. It's a two years diploma (yeah, diploma! But with better value-addition that other MBA degrees). First year is loaded and no time chill - second year is quite chill, because second year CGs don't count. For details please visit the IIMA page. Batch size was 250 nearly but need to check this year after the new quota regime.

2. PGP-ABM - Post graduate programme in Agribusiness Management. It's a very good opportunity for the Agri graduates, though now it's not mandatory for all students to be from agri background. Same 2 years duration as PGP, but in second year pressure is more as they are supposed to learn agribusiness subjects too. First year course work is same as those of PGPs. Only they have a couple of subjects extra. For details, please visit IIMA page. Batch size is 25 currently.

3. FPM - Fellow Programme in Management. It's the doctoral programme. Earlier it used to be equivalent to doctorate, now it's full fledged doctoral programme of 4 1/2 years duration. First year course work is the same as PGPs, with two subjects extra. From second year onwards, the FPM courses primarily aimed at reasearch starts. Stipend is Rs. 12,000 per month with a contingency grant of Rs. 100,000. Eligibility is a 4 years bachelors degree or Masters for non-technical degrees. Details are available at IIMA page. There is no batch size, in general 20-25 students are granted admission each year.

4. PGP-X - One Year Post-Graduate Programme in Management for Executives. As the name denotes, it's a one year programme. Mainly software engineers are the participants in the first batch. The participants are provided with a really good residence (AC, TV, refrigerator, etc.). Details can be found here. This year total 60 students (who are mid-career executives) were admitted but the number of seats are supposed to increase soon.

The latest programme to be launched next term is the PGP-PMP: One-Year Post Graduate Programme in Public Management and Policy. It seems to be primarily aimed at the IAS/State service commission officers. Details about the students' profile will be known only when the first batch arrives.

These apart, a number of management development programmes are offered here. I can get the details if the readers want and post it here.

Fourth, How to apply?
Three strategies are there:
1. CAT: Common Admission Test, held every year on second Sunday, every November. Forms are distributed between July-August from any SBI branch and from the IIMs. A detailed discussion of CAT will follow is available here. I got entry through CAT.
2. GMAT: Please visit mba.com for detials of GMAT. Average score required is above 700. I know 3 guys who took admission with scores in the tune of 720+.
3. GATE: GATE clearance can help you skip CAT for FPM programme and directly appear for the interview. But, you have to fill a separate form for that.

For FPM programme, along with CAT you need to fill a separate form. That form can be obtained online here. Right now it's not available. But once the application time comes, it will be available online.

Fifth, What's the teaching strategy at IIMA?
Here the teaching or pedagogy is very unique. Primarily it's through case-study method. Now what's that? The institute will provide you a bunch of case-materials or cases. These are real life stories about some companies in distress or in need of a new challenge. Your job is to study the case and analyze, then present your analytical view in-class. Here the students speak more - rather than taking notes in boring lectures. They do, what is known as, Class Participation. It means that students are asked to present their views in-class and others share their opinion too. The professor intervenes only when the discussion is going no-where or digressing from original topic. Marks are alloted to each and every student on the basis of class participation.

Add to it, there are surprise Quizes. Yeah, surprise! You never know when a quiz will strike you. At the end of the class sessions in the afternoon, there will be quizzes at least 3 days a week. We had a week in which we had quizzes all 7 days. Quizes are primarily based on learning and intelligence and not memory - thank God! I will discuss about the weightages in near future.

Also, there are announced mid-terms and end-terms every one-and-half months, to test the overall learning.

Sixth, What about placements?
Final Placements usually happen in February-March. There are companies coming to campus offering six or seven figure salaries to students. Three day placements take place - Day 0, 1 and 2.

Day 0 (zero) is mainly for investment banks & big consultancies. Almost 40 students get placed during day zero which runs for 2-3 days.
Day 1 is mainly for banks, consultancies and HR related jobs. Almost 90% of the batch gets placed during day 1.
Day 2 is for marketing/sales jobs. Hardly 10% students are left. This year only 5 students were left on Day 2.

Each day runs for minimum 2 days. 2 days? Yeah, that's what the lingo here.

Summer placements also follow the same line. The process has already started, students are making CVs etc. Here the CVs have a specific format and it's very crispy and attractive. Every year some hopes are made, some are lost during summers. The main training lasts about 8-10 weeks during April-May. In June, the classes start again.

Please keep checking this blog everyday. I'll post something or the other about the life here. Mail your questions to me and I'll put the answers in my blog. All the best to the CAT aspirants. May your dream come true. Post your queries at hothotboss@gmail.com.

Regards,
Boss@IIMA

Please send your comments & feedback to keep me going and posting important details about IIMA life and CAT preparation.
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