MBA Exam Preparation Tips

Finally, the post which I have meant to write for quite some time. Over the last few months, many people have asked me questions related to MBA exams preparation. What to do and what not to do, tips, how to prepare for GDPI, etc. So I have decided to write on How I actually prepared. I will be writing two posts, the first one[ie this post] will deal with the written exams, and the second one for GDPI preparation. But before I start, here is a very important NOTE:

This is purely my personal experience and the methodology I followed in my preparation. If you do the same, it will NOT guarantee that you too will manage to get into a top Bschool. I am not claiming that if you follow the steps, you will surely succeed. What suits me may not suit you and vice versa. So instead of blindly following what someone else tells you, it would be best to create an original strategy that complements you. I am writing this post in the hope that it will be helpful to candidates appearing for such exams in the future. Do not consider my post as a Holy Grail or something which must be followed strictly. Make your own decisions. But yes, more than any coaching institute material, mocks, books, the three things which you surely need are:

i) Self Confidence

ii) Hard Work- Persistence

iii) Never Say Die Attitude

With these few words, I begin:

Written Tests:

For convenience, I have made this post into a Question-Answer format.

Q) 1) What do MBA entrance exams test us on?

Ans)

Most MBA entrance exams will test you on these parameters:

i) Quantitative Ability

ii) Verbal Ability

iii) Logical Ability

You can get the detailed syllabus in any coaching institute material. Different exams have different time limits. You can get more information online, and also at Pagalguy.com

Q) 2) When should one start preparing for MBA?

Ans) The first question which most people ask is What is the Ideal time to start preparation. I would say it would be better to Ask yourself Why MBA first and then decide how to prepare. If you are planning to do MBA without a valid reason, suit yourself. But do remember that it may come back to haunt you later in your life. Now to my first question. There is no ideal time to begin preparation. But generally, 6-8 months before CAT is enough. Am considering CAT as the default exam for obvious reasons.
Personally I started preparing after class 12th exams were over. But I repeat, you do NOT need to study for 3 years or more in order to crack CAT/other exams. Enjoy your college life and do not neglect studies. Plus it is always better to get some work experience before joining a Bschool.

Q)3) Which Coaching Institute to Take?

Ans) Whichever one you want. It hardly makes any difference. Personally I feel that coaching institutes are way too over-hyped with every institute claiming 100% success rate. Don’t be fooled by such ads alone, do a proper analysis before joining an institute. I made the grave mistake of joining an institute in my 3rd year of college and I regretted it. Best would be just to take up a test series and take mock tests. That’s it. If you have it in you, you can definitely make it into any top bschool, coaching or no coaching.

Q)4) How many Mock Test should one take?

Ans) I believe 10-12 mocks over a period of 5 months are more than enough. But make sure that you peak at the right time, ie when your CAT exam arrives. I personally took 12 mocks, that too of just one series[IMS]. My percentiles ranged from 89-97. Mostly in the 92-94 range. The mocks provided good practice. And analysis of mocks is crucial.

Things to AVOID:

i) Solving too many mocks, especially in a short span of time: This will just decrease your efficiency and increase your frustration.

ii) Joining too many test series, thinking you will get the best of all: Totally unwanted and useless thing to do. Most mock tests are similar to a great extent.

iii) Getting depressed after one poor performance: I got 83 and 84 percentile in my last 2 mocks. Yet I ended up with a percentile of 96.54. So nothing to get disappointed about mock scores. They are just for practice and analysis.

The most negative point about mocks is that most of them have a high standard of difficulty. Many people get frustrated after solving such problems. But in actual CAT, the problems will be logical based and you will hardly need to remember any formula or complicated step in order to solve them. I personally feel that solving extremely hard problems is a total waste of time. And I know one person who did not TAKE a SINGLE mock the entire season, was working, yet scored 99.7 percentile in CAT and 99.8 percentile in XAT. So it is quite possible to do well without bothering about your mock scores. I got fed up of mocks after I took ten of them.

Q)5) How do I prepare for Quant, Verbal, DI, LR, RC? Which books to follow?

Ans) One of the most common questions asked by many candidates. Here is a short guide:

i) Quant: Arun Sharma books are okay for beginners. You can solve the problems especially if you have forgotten your basics. Else you can take any coaching institute material and revise the basic concepts. Some topics such as Number System, Geometry, P & C, Time and Distance, etc are generally considered more important than others. Solving past papers of CAT, XAT, etc, may also help. Remember that you do not need to be a master of Mathematics in order to score well in this section. But make sure your accuracy is good. Do not do blind guesses. I am personally weak in Quant, so I cannot offer you much advice here, but do remember that with a bit of logic and common sense you can solve most problems.

ii) Verbal: GRE books are good, especially for vocabulary. Barrons guide may be useful for beginners. I personally liked Norman Lewis too. Do revise basic grammar from Wren and Martin or other books. CAT problems are usually typical in the sense that they are tricky, and the options are quite close to one another.
Apart from this, start reading extensively. Books, magazines and newspapers. The Hindu, TOI, ET, Frontline, India Today, etc. Try reading some non-fiction books, especially on management or business. This will not only improve your vocabulary, but will prove quite useful in tackling the Reading Comprehension section. Try to improve your reading speed and comprehending ability.

Remember: Reading books randomly wont help. If you do not like something do not force yourself to read it. For example there is no point starting with Ayn Rand if you are not interested in philosophy, just because your coaching institute teacher told you to. Finally solve previous year papers.

iii) Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning: This section just requires practice and common sense. But make sure that you have both speed and accuracy. Try to do calculations as fast as you can. Avoid using calculators at all costs. Make sure that you avoid passages which may consume too much time. Just by a cursory glance you should be able to decide which are the passages/caselets that you are going to attempt. Most important is not to get stuck on any problem. Practice from mock tests or previous year papers. Arun Sharma has mostly quite simple problems.

Rest will be continued in future posts. Feel free to ask any queries if you have. Thank you.

MBA Progress Report

All right, here I will write a brief personal post about my performance in season 2010: MBA entrance exams. Followed by a short review and whats next.

1) CAT: 96.54 Percentile
Division:
QA: 88.39
DI: 93.80
VA: 94.60
Calls: None, till now.
Expected Calls: IMT Ghaziabad, IMI Delhi.
Borderline Case: MDI Gurgaon, SPJIMR Mumbai.

2) XAT:
84.18 Percentile.
QA: 72.xx
AR: 87.xx
VA: 71.xx
Calls: None
Expected Calls: None

3) FMS:
Score: Not Yet Declared, expected in range of 440-460.
Percentile: Not yet declared, but possibly 98.5+
Got a GDPI call.

4) IIFT:
Score: 39.15 [Cut-off was 35.74 for General Category]
Got a GDPI call.

5) JMET:
All India Rank: 743.
Score: 83.75
Calls Till Now: None
Expected Calls: IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras.

6) NMAT:
Score: 224 out of 360.
Percentile: Yet to be Declared
Call Expected[but not confirmed].

Review:

So Basically I did well in two exams, ie FMS and IIFT, and got GDPI calls from both. I did average in CAT, JMET and NMAT, and will still get some calls from them. And needless to say, I did poorly in XAT, and will not get any calls from it. So overall, I should have around 7-8 calls, and hopefully I will convert at least a few. My IIFT GDPI will take place next place itself, as I get ready for it. The others will take place later, possibly in March. As I do not have a job, it is imperative for me to convert as many calls as I can this time itself. My prime target is FMS of course, that’s the best amongst the lot. And coming a close second is IIFT. And I am not really interested in doing an MBA from an IIT, but lets see what the future has in store for us.

Personally, I am quite disappointed with my CAT and XAT result. I expected 98+ percentile in CAT[which could have fetched me MDI and NITIE calls]. And I better not talk about XAT for now, I know people who didn’t prepare a bit and managed to get 98+ percentile in XAT. Heck, there are some guys who didn’t even apply to XLRI and still got more than 95 percentile. Have lost the respect I had for XLRI after seeing its erratic criteria of giving calls. [People with 93 percentile have got calls and guys with 99.9 percentile don’t]. Moreover the paper was exceptionally tough[having questions of IITJEE standard], and to make matters worse, it had differential marking. So if someone guessed and got a 5 mark question correct, its quite possible that his percentile will shoot upto 98[say]. In the eventuality that I will repeat next year, I will surely not be taking XAT come what may.

So, to end, the bottomline is that I have to concentrate on IIFT and FMS for now, and do my best to convert both of them.

All the best for GDPI[to all aspirants]. With this, I am signing off for now.

Thus ends the Written Stage of MBA Season 2010. Am I satisfied? Mostly yes. Now lets see how the GDPI Stage turns out to be.

P.S.- I will not be appearing for MH-CET.

MBA season Begins

*Personal

Hello guys. Its been quite a while since I posted last. Have been really busy this time, honest. And have loads of things to do as well.

Have 4 MBA exams left, plus 7th semester is knocking on the door. I finally started my preparation today. Phew! The next few months are going to be really hectic, no doubt.

I have taken the first CAT of my life[7th Nov]. Did well I hope. But Quant performance wasn’t up to the mark. Anyways, what’s done is done. Have got my NMAT score[224 out of 360] which will hopefully fetch me a call from Narsee Monjee, Mumbai.

In the meanwhile, I fell sick[severe cough and cold, accompanied with mild fever]. Currently I have incessant stomach pain. Sometimes I feel like swapping my body with someone else’s[a more healthy one]. But enough complains, there’s much left to be done.

My current occupations are:

1) Reading Superman and Batman comics after 5 years- Feeling of nostalgia. Just completed the Death and Return of Superman series- one of the best I must say.

2) Playing Star Wars Force Unleashed 2, and Fallout 3- thanks to Kuntal once more.

3) Reading a few novels which I had stopped mid way- Goal, Short History of Nearly Everything, The Discovery of India, etc.

4) Magazines and newspapers.

5) Wasted the entire last week by going to college.

6) For the first time in my life, I skipped a sessional/mid-term exam due to frustration[it was postponed without notice].

7) Sleeping and listening to music[not sure about the order though].

8) Solving IIFT[my next MBA exam] mocks[did quite well in the last one, confidence high].

9) Revising Higher Maths for JMET[Yet another MBA Exam].

10) Watching anime occasionally. Saw a few Superman animated movies, loved them. Especially the Doomsday one, and another called Apocalypse.

11) Planning on watching a few movies- The Expendables, Gandhi[for the 2nd time], Top Gun, POC, Goldeneye.

12) Preparing for semester exams. [PS – I HATE COMPILERS/Language Processors. I STILL DO NOT KNOW WHY ON EARTH WE HAVE THIS LAME SUBJECT].

13) Moderating at Pagalguy- The best Indian MBA website.

14) Checking out Facebook status updates[I don’t waste much time here though].

15) Thinking about my future blog topics[the serious ones].

So whats making news currently?

1) Obama visit.

2) Bihar Polls

3) Aung San Suu Kyi

4) Indonesia Volcano Eruption

5) Asian Games- Guangzhou.

6) New CM for Maharashtra, and resignation of A. Raja[No need to mention Suresh Kalmadi here].

7) Kashmir related issues.

8) Seoul G20 meet.

9) Indo-France, Indo-Russia, Indo-USA, and Indo-Japan deals.

10) Rakhi Sawant[on whom a case was filed recently].

And of course many others. Too tired to type any more. Got to have lunch. So take care folks. And all the best to Season 2010 MBA aspirants.

Different Kinds of CAT Aspirants

Okay guys, I admit I have been lazy in posting. But I have been busy, honest. Now with Exactly one month to go for my CAT exam[7th November], I decided to write a Sarcastic account of CAT aspirants.

As you may know, the Common Admission Test[more commonly known as CAT] is the only medium to gain entry into the Prestigious IIMs[Okay, not strictly NRIs can get in through GMAT, but lets skip that]. And it is conducted once every year, though from 2009 onwards it has become a Computer Based Test[CBT] so it is conducted over a window of 20 days. Of course, by now all the 2.5 lakh plus aspirants are working hard to crack the CAT and get a seat in the hallowed portals of the IIMs. But many of them differ in their attitude and way of thinking[preparation wise]. So let us divide them into 5 Broad categories:

1) The No-Nonsense, 99+ percentile Getter: These guys are serious. The champs, and the ones who have the highest probability of making it to IIMs/Other top Bschools. They don’t rest till they solve as many mocks as they can, and gather tons of 99+ percentiles to their credit. They refuse to budge down, unless they have solved every possible question they can, and are ready to give it their all. No wonder they end up being successful. On the down side, even if they get 1 mark less than they should have, All Hell ends up breaking loose for them. There are guys who get 150 out of 180 and still remark-‘I could have scored more. I screwed up 2 ques in DI’. Some aren’t satisfied with 99.5 percentile. They still want more. Is there any end to greed[even if it’s a positive one]? The same trend continues when they enter the IIMs. Even if they get 0.1 lakhs less[pay package] than they should have, they raise a Fury. And they are guys who broke down just because they did not get into a Famous Investment bank. Hmm, interesting take.

2) The Casual One: This guy takes his mocks and other MBA exams casually. He is not that serious as Category 1, and in most cases even the result does not matter him. He is like-‘Milta hai to Theek Hai, Nahi Mila tab bhi theek hai.’ In one word- Nonchalant. Such guys seldom manage to get into a Top bschool[though they can definitely get in 2 tier and 3 tier bschools], yet they remain indifferent to it. Many of them have a job[say Final year engineering student] and think that they can crack CAT later in the future if not now[though that seldom happens].

3) The Frantic One: This guy is always busy, but nobody knows regarding What. You will always find him surrounded with books, Mock Test papers, CAT Preparation CDs, Vocabulary building books, GRE material, Vedic Maths, and what not. But the thing is, he scarcely anything due importance. He is always shuttling around from one place to the other, has little time to talk with anyone[lest he spends one minute less on his preparation than he should have], ignores most people around him, and finally becomes a recluse. Such kind of people rarely succeed, and if they do, it’s more a matter of luck than of effort.

4) The Over-Confident One: The World is his Portal, so what is CAT in front of him? Nothing more than a minor exam which is waiting to be cleanly swept by this Supremely confident candidate. He doesn’t bother with his mocks or preparation. He knows that he can easily score 99.9 percentile on the C-day[the day when he will take CAT]. He knows he has magic in his fingers[and thumb, to be used on the mouse in order to tame the CAT]. There is possibly no way in which he can select a single wrong answer. And the reason for his Confidence- His belief that his innate Managerial skills can help him solve any problem. But when he fails to make the cut, he uses his Magic Finger[and Thumb] to blame every possible person or thing on Earth, apart from him[and his preparation]. Of course the World conspired to bring about his failure. What else could be the reason?

5) The Under-Confident One: Can this guy be left behind? He is surely appearing for CAT, but doesn’t have the slightest doubt about the fact that he is going to fail. He is positively confident that he will end up screwing the exam, even 6 months before the exam takes place. Nothing can make him change his mind. And he doesn’t even bother to prepare, since his can predict his destiny of Supreme Failure. Fortunately for him, he doesn’t end up proven wrong[unlike the guy from category 4]. So he is satisfied and remarks-‘I knew it all along I wouldn’t make it.’

All the best to all CAT takers from my side. 