Once upon a time, there was a young boy, who like most other boys in their early teens thought that there is nothing in this world that he can’t do; he tried his hands at playing cricket, cricket commentary, poetry, debate and he wanted to be an engineer, a cricketer, a writer, a farmer, a politician and god knows what not.
Then the boy learned about a certain thing called NDA, he being a son of an army-man, always knew the pride that only an Indian army-man can afford; as all his friend were appearing for the written exam he did the same, when the results came the boy was one of the very few who got calls for the Interview or as they say SSB Interview, the boy was glittering with confidence, flying high on the clouds of hope but then some-how he couldn’t clear the interview; the dreams shattered, the hopes devastated, this was the first taste of real life for the young boy.
The journey continued for 4 more times, and every-time the results were the same, SSB not cleared; somehow the boy never thought that may be he is not made for this job, or that may be lacks something needed for the job, he just went back more determined to come back harder and failed again, while among these failures the boy managed to get between 80-85 percentage in 10’th and 12’th which were supposedly good enough for his parents et al, and though he couldn’t clear IIT JEE, he did get an okeyish rank in AIEEE and a decent rank in UPTU. To have some time for living alone, and to run from the constant expectations of doing good, the boy decided to chuck UPTU colleges and join an almost unknown engineering college in Bhubaneswar.
This boy was never really very talented, nor very hard-working; rather he was, one of the laziest and careless person you will ever come across. But he had a few good qualities, the ability to think smart and the ability to back himself no matter what.
Based on these qualities, the boy managed to clear his semesters with okeyish grades, somehow in the mind the boy realized that somehow he actually enjoyed that burden of expectations and hence he started searching for avenues where he can show his mettle, and as luck would have it, it was just around the corner; in the form of CAT and other management entrance exams, when he came to know that there is some place where in even the so-called-talented IITians strive to enter, he only became more determined to do it, or as they say make it to one of those coveted colleges.
He appeared in the mock-Cat cum scholarship tests of various institutes and with-out exception secured a city rank 1 in all, decided to join the class-room coaching of TIME - because it gave maximum discount and because he didn’t like the attitude of another coaching’s director. Somewhere in the mean-time he heard about a few forums for CAT aspirants with crazy but captivating names forums like Totalgadha, pagalguy, crazyustad, testfunda and a lot more he joined all of them, stayed there for some time and finally decided to settle on the most active of them all (yes this is PG – a no brainer -).
The mocks (aimcats) started, the boy started doing fair enough, scoring mostly in 99.xx percentile range with all cut-offs cleared, the not so talented, lazy and dreamy eyed the boy was, he always thought this “ I am doing good as of now, so no need to think about strategy or time allocation, with time I will read everything I need - as I’ve enough time for that – and then I will score better than what I am scoring now without preparation; that the mentioned preparation thing never came is a different story.
In the mean-while there came an e-book called “ ALL I wanted to say about CAT” by PG, the guy read it and thought that may be even my story will be published like this (you see, I’ve told you the boy dreamed a lot :P). Among all the all-so-tough AIMCATs, there came an AIMCAT which was very simple and high-scoring, so confident and arrogant this boy was that he decided to give the paper a ditch 27 mintues before the finish time and went ahead to criticize the paper on PG; a newbie that he was, quite expectedly he was thrashed by people – this boy always tried to help people, just because he loved doing so, as long as they recognized and appreciated his efforts – and the boy, unable to take all this thrashing decided to call “I quit” to the forum.
Then as the boy thought more on it, and as his friends told him (special mention to Abhishek Sharma) he came to realize that he was at some fault in the whole and that quitting is not the solution, meanwhile in came a call from estranged_gnrs, out went the ego and there was a return of the boy, this time more active, more cautious and more mature.
Meanwhile the boy was nominated for the dream team of PG by many people, and the boy felt he finally achieved the thing he loved to have, the burden of expectations but then this perhaps was just one sweet part of an otherwise bitter and testing year including a long, bad and hurting cold-war with the roomies and best friends(at one time, the boy actually considered either committing a murder or a suicide), demise of first his bhabhi(she was very young with just a girl of 2 years) and then his father followed by a sine die in the college and subsequent college suspension for 1 month and many more incidents which would have broken his young heart had it not been strengthened by the earlier blows.
Then came the news which gave a ray of hope in the dark night, the selection into PGDT and into KDT. The zeal had returned and it showed in various forms, with more aimcats and a few other mocks following that boy heard a lot about why and how he was wrong, he heard a lot of advice on emphasizing more on accuracy than on speed, mug up the vocab lists and formulae and the tables and what not.
The boy did give them a serious thought –though he never showed so –but he somehow realized that they were all complicating the things too much, the boy read the books on vedic maths and the likes but never applied them in exam as he found that he could do well without them and hence thought the best way to do things is “to keep things simple and have fun”. The idea basically never changed, except for a short time when he decided to do like others, thinking and implementing various time allocation strategies etc and attained the new lows in his percentiles ranging from lower 99s to 96.xx; soon he realized that this isn’t what he loves doing and came back to his philosophy -“to keep things simple and have fun”.- and started getting the same upper 99 percentiles.
The dreams once again started growing, so much so that the boy started hoping to join only one of the two institutes WIMWI (IIM A) or FMS (DU, New Delhi) –for reasons PM me –the boy first decided to appear only for two exams CAT and FMS (with no affiliate colleges) –what arrogance, eh –but then filled XAT(for XLRI, Jamshedpur).
Soon the mock phase ended, and the second phase “the real game” started, as the all so famous Mr. Murphy would have it, the XAT paper started 15 mintues late at the poor boy’s center, the boy was still hope-full for a good enough overall percentile and was only worried a little for his sectional in LR –rest two he was sure to clear – in FMS exam the boy decided to go all out and attempt all the 200 questions –this ended up with the boy being known for his 200 attempts in his college and on PG for some days to come –the papers ended and the wait for results started. Every-one told the boy, he is gonna rock but then the fate had slightly different plans, he scored a 99.7x in XAT but missed out on VA cut-off (at 83.xx). When the phase of written results ended the boy had two calls in his hand, both from his second favorite institute –FMS.
The end of the story –for now –is the boy is joining FMS, New Delhi.
Some more Gyan :
1.) For people like me(neither very talented, nor hard-working still aspiring to make it big) the key is to keep things simple and have fun.
2.) Try to learn; whatever people suggest you, think about them –if possible try them –but accept them only when you are convinced with them.
3.) Life is long –one college, one exam, one degree, one accident or one misfortune can’t define it –one always gets a chance to prove his worth, provided he carries on.
4.) Fate may delay one’s success but it can’t deter it.
Hope it helps to some ....
Showing posts with label Belong. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Belong. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
CAT '09 and Beyond ....
Let me start by quoting a paragraph about CAT '09 from the wikipedia entry for Common Admission Test, more commonly known as CAT.
Being honest, a lot of people had expected that the first ever online CAT might not go very smooth, but even the most pessimistic ones won't have have thought that it could go as it did.
Right from the word GO, CAT 2009 proved to be a disaster. In the initial stages the form filling interface posed a lot of difficulties to many students but it proved to be just a tip of the iceberg when the process reached its subsequent stages.
Prometric, a U.S. Company was awarded the contract for organizing
And then the doom started, starting from the first day, first slot. The process of "CAT going Global" and the world renowned testing company Prometric seemed to be a part of joke which was played with the fates of some 2.5 lakh students. A point to note here is although one of the reasons IIMs gave in favor of CBT was that its user friendly but even in times of recession the number of aspirants applying for CAT went down something never heard of and never been imagined.
Varying difficulty level across different slots, repeated questions from previous year CAT papers and initial slots and canceled tests because of so called virus attacks which some-how the globally renowned TESTING agency failed to catch are some of the points which amused the students, and though there was a huge demand for retest from almost all sections of society, autonomous CAT authorities decided against it.
In response to the repeated questions a un-resolved logic of some kind of psychometric equivalence was provided, nobody has/had any idea about the marking scheme or the negative marks or about what would follow next.
What followed this is was a seemingly endless wait for results with a website which was seldom updated, a help-line where no-one knew the dates of results and a result which few people could trust, people who had scored in 99s in other entrance examinations and previous year CATs suddenly landed up with percentiles in 90s; people who were full-time faculty of VA in prestigious coaching Institutes for CAT preparation landed up 60 odd percentile in VA, people who had left the lower ranked IIMs to read in the upper ranked ones landed up fighting for calls from the IIMs they had converted and left, people in the dream team of pagalguy.com the largest MBA forum, whose DT has a record of 3 hundred percentilers with a lot of BLACKIS previous year,landed up with no-one in 99.9x and a lot of guys with no calls at all.
A lot of doubts and questions follow this, does all of preparation and pain for studying in the prestigious Indian Institutes of Managements really worth it. Is it really worthwhile to study management from people who can't manage their own entrance exam, from people who have less confidence on their own methodologies than on the so called globally accepted ones disregarding the fact that whether or not they are appropriate in Indian context.
And the biggest doubt as a cat 2010 aspirant asked on a public forum .
" If CAT is really going to be like this, why am I even preparing for it?".
Hope that CAT is not going to be like this, and that people start realizing that just because something is global, doesn't mean its beyond debate or that it can't have any faults or that it can't be further improved or that its valid in all contexts.
Amen ....
The first ever computer based CAT conducted by Prometric during 28'th nov-7'th dec created a lot news, mostly for the wrong reasons. On the one hand, technical glitches attributed to hardware problems and virus attacks made sure that around 8,000 students were not able to appear in CAT in their allotted slots, on the other hand a lot of controversy around depreciated standards, repeated questions and different difficulty level for different slots ensured that people started demanding to have a paper based retest.
CAT organizing committee didn't agree to this demand and instead allotted extra slots on 8'th dec and later on 30'th and 31'st jan for those who couldn't appear in the tests due to glitches.
The controversy didn't end here but followed a long delay in declaration of results, which was deferred many a times and finally announced on 28'th feb, with IIM A and IIM S declaring the list of shortlisted candidates while the result website maintains that lists for other IIMs is awaited. While the website mentions that the scores reported are the scaled scores arrived at by establishing psychometric equivalences to adjust for any variation in difficulty levels across the tests, but it lacks any information as in how it is done. Owing to this and other reasons it is likely to attract a plethora of applications filed under RTI.
Being honest, a lot of people had expected that the first ever online CAT might not go very smooth, but even the most pessimistic ones won't have have thought that it could go as it did.
Right from the word GO, CAT 2009 proved to be a disaster. In the initial stages the form filling interface posed a lot of difficulties to many students but it proved to be just a tip of the iceberg when the process reached its subsequent stages.
Prometric, a U.S. Company was awarded the contract for organizing
And then the doom started, starting from the first day, first slot. The process of "CAT going Global" and the world renowned testing company Prometric seemed to be a part of joke which was played with the fates of some 2.5 lakh students. A point to note here is although one of the reasons IIMs gave in favor of CBT was that its user friendly but even in times of recession the number of aspirants applying for CAT went down something never heard of and never been imagined.
Varying difficulty level across different slots, repeated questions from previous year CAT papers and initial slots and canceled tests because of so called virus attacks which some-how the globally renowned TESTING agency failed to catch are some of the points which amused the students, and though there was a huge demand for retest from almost all sections of society, autonomous CAT authorities decided against it.
In response to the repeated questions a un-resolved logic of some kind of psychometric equivalence was provided, nobody has/had any idea about the marking scheme or the negative marks or about what would follow next.
What followed this is was a seemingly endless wait for results with a website which was seldom updated, a help-line where no-one knew the dates of results and a result which few people could trust, people who had scored in 99s in other entrance examinations and previous year CATs suddenly landed up with percentiles in 90s; people who were full-time faculty of VA in prestigious coaching Institutes for CAT preparation landed up 60 odd percentile in VA, people who had left the lower ranked IIMs to read in the upper ranked ones landed up fighting for calls from the IIMs they had converted and left, people in the dream team of pagalguy.com the largest MBA forum, whose DT has a record of 3 hundred percentilers with a lot of BLACKIS previous year,landed up with no-one in 99.9x and a lot of guys with no calls at all.
A lot of doubts and questions follow this, does all of preparation and pain for studying in the prestigious Indian Institutes of Managements really worth it. Is it really worthwhile to study management from people who can't manage their own entrance exam, from people who have less confidence on their own methodologies than on the so called globally accepted ones disregarding the fact that whether or not they are appropriate in Indian context.
And the biggest doubt as a cat 2010 aspirant asked on a public forum .
" If CAT is really going to be like this, why am I even preparing for it?".
Hope that CAT is not going to be like this, and that people start realizing that just because something is global, doesn't mean its beyond debate or that it can't have any faults or that it can't be further improved or that its valid in all contexts.
Amen ....
Friday, February 26, 2010
the best of pg ...
Pagalguy.com or Pg as we puys(people at pg) call it, is one of the places where one can find some of the most helpful people around, this includes students and alumni of best management Institutes around the world and some others who like Ramakant Achrekar are helping people be the next Sachin Tendulkar with-out an MBA.
Now, these people are really good in all that they do but they have extra-ordinary command over some aspects of MBA prep and beyond; So I thought to make a list of people you may contact if you want to clarify your doubts and you can be sure to get the best possible guidance from the best in business.
The list is just indicative and is in no way exhaustive, PG is a big place and there are a lot of people who are equally or may be even more capable and helpful I've just written down the names of people I could remember as of now.
But this list should suffice in clearing more than 99% of the doubts one may have ....
I will keep on editing this list as and when a change will be felt needed and you all are welcome to suggest any addition or modification via a comment.
DI doubts : Vipul88
Quant doubts : ShashankMishra and Naga25french divishth
VA doutbs : r11gupta, silent_assassin
Exam taking strategies etc : writetotanveer, shashank3012
Organizing a pg meet : Estraged_gnrs
Features on PG : Puri.Pallavi, shashank3012.
Statement of Purpose (SOP) : The Raven
Help for newbies : Avinav
Appropriate Link required : pagalguy, nikozi_999, amodh.
Institute Specific Queries.
FMS : rainbowz
MICA : Admissions@mica
IIM C : rik_12
IIM S : Diablorulez
IIM L : made_for_iims
IMI : avinav
XLRI : Gurdit
Now, these people are really good in all that they do but they have extra-ordinary command over some aspects of MBA prep and beyond; So I thought to make a list of people you may contact if you want to clarify your doubts and you can be sure to get the best possible guidance from the best in business.
The list is just indicative and is in no way exhaustive, PG is a big place and there are a lot of people who are equally or may be even more capable and helpful I've just written down the names of people I could remember as of now.
But this list should suffice in clearing more than 99% of the doubts one may have ....
I will keep on editing this list as and when a change will be felt needed and you all are welcome to suggest any addition or modification via a comment.
DI doubts : Vipul88
Quant doubts : ShashankMishra and Naga25french divishth
VA doutbs : r11gupta, silent_assassin
Exam taking strategies etc : writetotanveer, shashank3012
Organizing a pg meet : Estraged_gnrs
Features on PG : Puri.Pallavi, shashank3012.
Statement of Purpose (SOP) : The Raven
Help for newbies : Avinav
Appropriate Link required : pagalguy, nikozi_999, amodh.
Institute Specific Queries.
FMS : rainbowz
MICA : Admissions@mica
IIM C : rik_12
IIM S : Diablorulez
IIM L : made_for_iims
IMI : avinav
XLRI : Gurdit
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Frequently Asked Questions IN Personal Interviews ....
Self Awareness
1. How would you describe yourself ?
2. Tell me about yourself ?
3. How do you think a friend or professor who knows you would describe you?
4. What motivates you to put forth your best effort ?
5. How do you determine or evaluate success ?
6. What academic subjects did you like best ? Least ?
7. What led you to choose the career for which you are preparing ?
8. What personal characteristics are necessary for succeeding in the career that you are interested in ?
9. What is your philosophy of life ?
10. Why have you switched career fields ?
Weaknesses / Negatives
1. What major problems have you encountered and how have you dealt with them ?
2. What have you learnt form your mistakes ?
3. What do you consider to be your greatest weakness ?
4. Did you ever have problems with your supervisor ?
Skills / Abilities / Qualifications
1. What do you consider to be your greatest strength ?
2. Are you creative ? Give an example.
3. What qualifications do you have that makes you think you will be successful ?
4. In what way do you think you can make a contribution to society?
5. Why should we take you ?
6. What are your own special abilities ?
7. Why should we take you over another candidate ?
8. What is your managing style ?
9. Why do you want to join this institute ?
10. What do you know about our institute ?
Values
1. What is your attitude towards working hard ?
2. What part does your family play in your life ?
3. What are the most important rewards you expect in your career ?
4. What is more important to you : money offered, or the type of job ?
5. Do you enjoy independent research ?
6. In what kind of a work environment are you most comfortable ?
7. How would you describe the ideal job for you ?
8. What two or three things are most important to you in your job ?
9. Do you prefer working with others or all by yourself ?
10. How do you like to work ?
11. Under what conditions do you work best ?
12. What is the highest form of praise ?
Experience
1. In what part-time or summer job have you been most interested ?
2. Tell me about your experience.
3. What jobs have you held ?
4. How did your previous employer treat you ?
5. What have you learnt from some of the jobs that you have held ?
6. What jobs have you enjoyed most ? Least ? Why ?
7. What have you done that shows initiative and willingness to work ?
8. Describe your current job.
9. What did you like least about your last job ?
10. What did you like most about your last job ?
Goals / Objectives
1. What are your short-term and long-term goals and objectives ?
2. What specific goals other than those related to your occupation have you chosen for yourself for the next 10 years ?
3. What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now ?
4. What do you really want to do in life ?
5. How do you plan to achieve your career goals ?
Education
1. How has your education prepared you for a career ?
2. Describe your most rewarding college experience.
3. Why did you select your college or university ?
4. If you could, would you plan your academic study differently ?
5. Do you think grades are a good indication of your academic achievement ?
6. What have you learnt from participation in extracurricular activities ?
7. Do you have plans for continuing your studies ?
8. Why did you pick your programme ?
9. What courses did you like best and why ?
10. What courses did you like least and why ?
11. How has your college experience prepared you for this job ?
12. How did you pick your dissertation ?
13. Describe your dissertation process.
Salary
1. What do you expect to earn in 5 years ?
2. What did you earn in your last job ?
Interests
1. What are your outside interests ?
2. What do you do with your free time ?
3. What are your hobbies ?
4. What types of books do you read ?
5. How interested are you in sports ?
6. How did you spend your vacations in school ?
General
1. What qualities should a successful manager possess ?
2. Describe the relationship that should exist between a supervisor and a subordinate.
3. What 3 accomplishments have given you the greatest satisfaction ?
4. If you were taking a graduate for this institute, what qualities would you look for ?
5. What can I do for you ?
6. Tell me a story.
7. Define cooperation.
Stress Questions
1. What causes you to lose your temper ?
2. How often have you been absent from school, work or training ?
3. Have you ever had trouble with other people on the job ?
4. Can you take instructions without getting upset ?
5. Don't you feel you are a little to old/young for this job ?
6. How does your family like you being away on business trips ?
7. With your background, we believe that you are overqualified to join this institute.
8. You haven't had sufficient experience in this field.
9. Our experience with women on this job has not been good.
10. What would irritate you most if I as a manager did it ?
Influencing Others
1. Tell me about the time you were most persuasive in overcoming resistance to your ideas or point of view.
2. Tell me about the last time someone made an unreasonable request of you.
3. Describe the most disappointing and frustrating experience in gaining the support of others for an idea or proposal.
Interpersonal Skills
1. Describe a situation where it was most important for you to display tact and diplomacy.
2. Tell me about the last time you had a clash or disagreement with someone at school/college/workplace.
3. Tell me about a time when you felt most frustrated and disappointed at a person with whom you had worked.
Personal Adaptability
1. Tell me about the last time you were criticized by a supervisor or a professor.
2. Tell me about the time when you felt most pressured or stressed at work/ school/internship.
3. Tell me about the time when you felt most frustrated at your school/workplace.
4. In what aspects of your work/internship do you have the most confidence in your abilities.
Communication Skills
1. Tell me about the time when you felt best about your ability to draw out or solicit information from another person.
2. Tell me about the time when you had to work your hardest in order to fully understand what another person was saying to you.
3. Describe the last time when someone at school/work misunderstood what you were trying to communicate.
Motivation
1. Tell me about the most long term, sustained extra hours of effort that you put into your work/college/internship.
2. Describe a time when you felt most frustrated or discouraged in reaching your goals or objectives.
3. What do you feel has been your most significant work/school/internship related achievement within the past year or so ?
4. Describe the last time you did something well which went beyond the expectations in your work/internship.
Administrative Skills
1. Tell me how you go about organizing your work and scheduling your own time.
2. What do you do to ensure that your goals and objectives are met in a timely way ?
3. Describe the most extensive planning that you have ever done.
Problem Solving and Decision Making
1.Tell me about the most difficult problem that you faced in your work/school/internship ?
2.Tell me about the last time you made a decision that backfired.
3.Tell me about the time when you regretted most not getting advice before you went ahead ?
Conflict Management Skills
1. Tell me about the last significant crisis situation that you faced in your work.
2. Tell me about a time when you were most persuasive in overcoming resistance to your ideas.
3. Tell me about the time when you had a disagreement with someone at work.
Note 1 : The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published.
Note 2 : This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
1. How would you describe yourself ?
2. Tell me about yourself ?
3. How do you think a friend or professor who knows you would describe you?
4. What motivates you to put forth your best effort ?
5. How do you determine or evaluate success ?
6. What academic subjects did you like best ? Least ?
7. What led you to choose the career for which you are preparing ?
8. What personal characteristics are necessary for succeeding in the career that you are interested in ?
9. What is your philosophy of life ?
10. Why have you switched career fields ?
Weaknesses / Negatives
1. What major problems have you encountered and how have you dealt with them ?
2. What have you learnt form your mistakes ?
3. What do you consider to be your greatest weakness ?
4. Did you ever have problems with your supervisor ?
Skills / Abilities / Qualifications
1. What do you consider to be your greatest strength ?
2. Are you creative ? Give an example.
3. What qualifications do you have that makes you think you will be successful ?
4. In what way do you think you can make a contribution to society?
5. Why should we take you ?
6. What are your own special abilities ?
7. Why should we take you over another candidate ?
8. What is your managing style ?
9. Why do you want to join this institute ?
10. What do you know about our institute ?
Values
1. What is your attitude towards working hard ?
2. What part does your family play in your life ?
3. What are the most important rewards you expect in your career ?
4. What is more important to you : money offered, or the type of job ?
5. Do you enjoy independent research ?
6. In what kind of a work environment are you most comfortable ?
7. How would you describe the ideal job for you ?
8. What two or three things are most important to you in your job ?
9. Do you prefer working with others or all by yourself ?
10. How do you like to work ?
11. Under what conditions do you work best ?
12. What is the highest form of praise ?
Experience
1. In what part-time or summer job have you been most interested ?
2. Tell me about your experience.
3. What jobs have you held ?
4. How did your previous employer treat you ?
5. What have you learnt from some of the jobs that you have held ?
6. What jobs have you enjoyed most ? Least ? Why ?
7. What have you done that shows initiative and willingness to work ?
8. Describe your current job.
9. What did you like least about your last job ?
10. What did you like most about your last job ?
Goals / Objectives
1. What are your short-term and long-term goals and objectives ?
2. What specific goals other than those related to your occupation have you chosen for yourself for the next 10 years ?
3. What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now ?
4. What do you really want to do in life ?
5. How do you plan to achieve your career goals ?
Education
1. How has your education prepared you for a career ?
2. Describe your most rewarding college experience.
3. Why did you select your college or university ?
4. If you could, would you plan your academic study differently ?
5. Do you think grades are a good indication of your academic achievement ?
6. What have you learnt from participation in extracurricular activities ?
7. Do you have plans for continuing your studies ?
8. Why did you pick your programme ?
9. What courses did you like best and why ?
10. What courses did you like least and why ?
11. How has your college experience prepared you for this job ?
12. How did you pick your dissertation ?
13. Describe your dissertation process.
Salary
1. What do you expect to earn in 5 years ?
2. What did you earn in your last job ?
Interests
1. What are your outside interests ?
2. What do you do with your free time ?
3. What are your hobbies ?
4. What types of books do you read ?
5. How interested are you in sports ?
6. How did you spend your vacations in school ?
General
1. What qualities should a successful manager possess ?
2. Describe the relationship that should exist between a supervisor and a subordinate.
3. What 3 accomplishments have given you the greatest satisfaction ?
4. If you were taking a graduate for this institute, what qualities would you look for ?
5. What can I do for you ?
6. Tell me a story.
7. Define cooperation.
Stress Questions
1. What causes you to lose your temper ?
2. How often have you been absent from school, work or training ?
3. Have you ever had trouble with other people on the job ?
4. Can you take instructions without getting upset ?
5. Don't you feel you are a little to old/young for this job ?
6. How does your family like you being away on business trips ?
7. With your background, we believe that you are overqualified to join this institute.
8. You haven't had sufficient experience in this field.
9. Our experience with women on this job has not been good.
10. What would irritate you most if I as a manager did it ?
Influencing Others
1. Tell me about the time you were most persuasive in overcoming resistance to your ideas or point of view.
2. Tell me about the last time someone made an unreasonable request of you.
3. Describe the most disappointing and frustrating experience in gaining the support of others for an idea or proposal.
Interpersonal Skills
1. Describe a situation where it was most important for you to display tact and diplomacy.
2. Tell me about the last time you had a clash or disagreement with someone at school/college/workplace.
3. Tell me about a time when you felt most frustrated and disappointed at a person with whom you had worked.
Personal Adaptability
1. Tell me about the last time you were criticized by a supervisor or a professor.
2. Tell me about the time when you felt most pressured or stressed at work/ school/internship.
3. Tell me about the time when you felt most frustrated at your school/workplace.
4. In what aspects of your work/internship do you have the most confidence in your abilities.
Communication Skills
1. Tell me about the time when you felt best about your ability to draw out or solicit information from another person.
2. Tell me about the time when you had to work your hardest in order to fully understand what another person was saying to you.
3. Describe the last time when someone at school/work misunderstood what you were trying to communicate.
Motivation
1. Tell me about the most long term, sustained extra hours of effort that you put into your work/college/internship.
2. Describe a time when you felt most frustrated or discouraged in reaching your goals or objectives.
3. What do you feel has been your most significant work/school/internship related achievement within the past year or so ?
4. Describe the last time you did something well which went beyond the expectations in your work/internship.
Administrative Skills
1. Tell me how you go about organizing your work and scheduling your own time.
2. What do you do to ensure that your goals and objectives are met in a timely way ?
3. Describe the most extensive planning that you have ever done.
Problem Solving and Decision Making
1.Tell me about the most difficult problem that you faced in your work/school/internship ?
2.Tell me about the last time you made a decision that backfired.
3.Tell me about the time when you regretted most not getting advice before you went ahead ?
Conflict Management Skills
1. Tell me about the last significant crisis situation that you faced in your work.
2. Tell me about a time when you were most persuasive in overcoming resistance to your ideas.
3. Tell me about the time when you had a disagreement with someone at work.
Note 1 : The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published.
Note 2 : This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
FAQs regarding Personal Interview ...
For general tips regarding Interview Preparation by the same author click here
Is it better to have a longer selection interview or a shorter one?
The length of an interview in no way is an indicator of how well an interview went. This is especially so when there are a number of candidates to be interviewed, like in the Civil Services interview or the MBA entrance interview. In the past, a number of candidates have reported varying lengths of interviews. Nothing positive or negative should be read into this. An interview is only a device whereby the panel seeks information about the candidate. Information that will help the panel decide whether or not the candidate should be selected. If the panel feels that it has gathered enough information about the candidate in 15 minutes of the interview commencing and that it has no further questions to ask the interview will be terminated in 15 minutes. If on the other hand the panel takes an hour to gather the information required to take a decision the interview will last for an hour. In either case the decision could be positive or negative. It is a fallacy to believe that interview panels take longer interviews of candidates whom they are more interested in. No panel likes to waste its time. If an interview is lasting longer than usual then it only means that the panel is seeking more information about the candidate in order to take a decision.
What to Expect in a PI?
In general, B-school interviews are not formulaic. The focus can range from specific questions about your job responsibilities to broad discussions of life. Approach the interview as a conversation to be enjoyed, not as a question-and-answer ordeal to get through. You may talk more about your hobbies or recent cross-country trip. This doesn't mean that it won't feel like a job interview. It just means you're being sized up as a person and future professional in all your dimensions. Try to be your witty, charming, natural self. Interviews are conducted by students, faculty, admissions personnel and alumni. Don't dismiss students as the lightweights; they follow a tight script and report back to the committee. However, because they're inexperienced beyond the script, their interviews are most likely to be duds. You may have to work harder to get your points across.
How to Prepare ?
Prepare for the interview in several ways: Expect to discuss many things about yourself. Be ready to go into greater depth than you did in your essays (but don't assume the interviewer has read them). Put together two or three points about yourself that you want the interviewer to remember you by. Go in with examples, or even a portfolio of your work, to showcase your achievements. Practice speaking about your accomplishments without a lot of "I did this, I did that." Finally, be prepared to give a strong and convincing answer to the interviewer's inevitable question: "Why here?"
How do I answer questions as :
Tell us about yourself? : An often asked opening question. Perhaps the most frequently asked question across interviews. Your opening statement needs to be a summary of your goals, overall professional capabilities, achievements, background (educational and family), strengths, professional objectives and anything about your personality that is relevant and interesting. This question represents an opportunity to lead the interviewer in the direction you want him to go e.g., your speciality or whatever else you may wish to highlight.
Your intention should be to try subtly convincing the interviewers that you are a good candidate, you have proved that in the past and have a personality that fits the requirement.
Remember that the first impression you create will go a long way in the ultimate selection. Keep in mind, most candidates who are asked this question just blurt out their schooling, college, marks and qualifications. All this is already there in the CV. Why tell the interviewer something he already knows?
A final word on approaching this question. Once you have said what you have to say - shut up. Don't drone on for the sake of speaking for you just might say something foolish. Sometimes interviewers don't interrupt in order to give the candidate the impression that he has not spoken enough. This is just a stress/error-inducing tactic. Don't fall for it, especially if you feel you have spoken enough. In case the pause gets too awkward for your liking, just add something like, "Is there something specific that you wish to know about me?"
Why MBA? : When you are asked this for God's sake don't tell the panel that you are looking for a"challenging job in a good firm with lots of money, status and glamour". That is the first answer that most candidates think of. Unfortunately, it is the last answer that will get you admission. In the answer to a direct question on this subject you must convey to the interview panel that you have made a rational and informed decision about your career choice and your intended course of higher study. There are broadly four areas which your answer could touch upon:
Career Objectives : You could talk about your career objectives and how the two year MBA programme will help you achieve them. This implies that you have a clear idea of what your career objectives are and how you wish to achieve them. For example, you may want to be an entrepreneur and wish to set up your independent enterprise after doing your MBA and then working for a few years in a professionally managed company. You could explain to the panel that the MBA programme will provide you with the necessary inputs to help you run your business enterprise better. But then you must be clear about what the inputs you will receive in the MBA programme are.
Value Addition : That brings us to the second area that your answer should touch upon. What is the value you will add to yourself during your two year study of management. Value addition will essentially be in two forms knowledge and skills. Knowledge of the various areas of management e.g. marketing, finance, systems, HRD etc. and skills of analysis and communication. You will find it useful to talk to a few people who are either doing their MBA or have already done it. They will be able to give you a more detailed idea of what they gained from their MBA.
Background : Remember, there must be no inconsistency between your proposed study of management and your past subject of study or your past work experience. If you have studied commerce in college then management is a natural course of higher studies. If you are an engineer this is a tricky area. You must never say that by pursuing a career in management you will be wasting your engineering degree. Try and say that the MBA course and your engineering degree will help you do your job better in the company that you will join. But then you should be able to justify how your engineering qualification will help.
Opportunities and Rewards : You could also at this stage mention the opportunities that are opening up in organizations for management graduates. Highlight with examples. At the end you may mention that while monetary rewards are not everything they are also important and MBAs do get paid well. You must not mention these reasons as your primary motivators even if that may be the case.
Note 1 : The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published.
Note 2 : This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
Is it better to have a longer selection interview or a shorter one?
The length of an interview in no way is an indicator of how well an interview went. This is especially so when there are a number of candidates to be interviewed, like in the Civil Services interview or the MBA entrance interview. In the past, a number of candidates have reported varying lengths of interviews. Nothing positive or negative should be read into this. An interview is only a device whereby the panel seeks information about the candidate. Information that will help the panel decide whether or not the candidate should be selected. If the panel feels that it has gathered enough information about the candidate in 15 minutes of the interview commencing and that it has no further questions to ask the interview will be terminated in 15 minutes. If on the other hand the panel takes an hour to gather the information required to take a decision the interview will last for an hour. In either case the decision could be positive or negative. It is a fallacy to believe that interview panels take longer interviews of candidates whom they are more interested in. No panel likes to waste its time. If an interview is lasting longer than usual then it only means that the panel is seeking more information about the candidate in order to take a decision.
What to Expect in a PI?
In general, B-school interviews are not formulaic. The focus can range from specific questions about your job responsibilities to broad discussions of life. Approach the interview as a conversation to be enjoyed, not as a question-and-answer ordeal to get through. You may talk more about your hobbies or recent cross-country trip. This doesn't mean that it won't feel like a job interview. It just means you're being sized up as a person and future professional in all your dimensions. Try to be your witty, charming, natural self. Interviews are conducted by students, faculty, admissions personnel and alumni. Don't dismiss students as the lightweights; they follow a tight script and report back to the committee. However, because they're inexperienced beyond the script, their interviews are most likely to be duds. You may have to work harder to get your points across.
How to Prepare ?
Prepare for the interview in several ways: Expect to discuss many things about yourself. Be ready to go into greater depth than you did in your essays (but don't assume the interviewer has read them). Put together two or three points about yourself that you want the interviewer to remember you by. Go in with examples, or even a portfolio of your work, to showcase your achievements. Practice speaking about your accomplishments without a lot of "I did this, I did that." Finally, be prepared to give a strong and convincing answer to the interviewer's inevitable question: "Why here?"
How do I answer questions as :
Tell us about yourself? : An often asked opening question. Perhaps the most frequently asked question across interviews. Your opening statement needs to be a summary of your goals, overall professional capabilities, achievements, background (educational and family), strengths, professional objectives and anything about your personality that is relevant and interesting. This question represents an opportunity to lead the interviewer in the direction you want him to go e.g., your speciality or whatever else you may wish to highlight.
Your intention should be to try subtly convincing the interviewers that you are a good candidate, you have proved that in the past and have a personality that fits the requirement.
Remember that the first impression you create will go a long way in the ultimate selection. Keep in mind, most candidates who are asked this question just blurt out their schooling, college, marks and qualifications. All this is already there in the CV. Why tell the interviewer something he already knows?
A final word on approaching this question. Once you have said what you have to say - shut up. Don't drone on for the sake of speaking for you just might say something foolish. Sometimes interviewers don't interrupt in order to give the candidate the impression that he has not spoken enough. This is just a stress/error-inducing tactic. Don't fall for it, especially if you feel you have spoken enough. In case the pause gets too awkward for your liking, just add something like, "Is there something specific that you wish to know about me?"
Why MBA? : When you are asked this for God's sake don't tell the panel that you are looking for a"challenging job in a good firm with lots of money, status and glamour". That is the first answer that most candidates think of. Unfortunately, it is the last answer that will get you admission. In the answer to a direct question on this subject you must convey to the interview panel that you have made a rational and informed decision about your career choice and your intended course of higher study. There are broadly four areas which your answer could touch upon:
Career Objectives : You could talk about your career objectives and how the two year MBA programme will help you achieve them. This implies that you have a clear idea of what your career objectives are and how you wish to achieve them. For example, you may want to be an entrepreneur and wish to set up your independent enterprise after doing your MBA and then working for a few years in a professionally managed company. You could explain to the panel that the MBA programme will provide you with the necessary inputs to help you run your business enterprise better. But then you must be clear about what the inputs you will receive in the MBA programme are.
Value Addition : That brings us to the second area that your answer should touch upon. What is the value you will add to yourself during your two year study of management. Value addition will essentially be in two forms knowledge and skills. Knowledge of the various areas of management e.g. marketing, finance, systems, HRD etc. and skills of analysis and communication. You will find it useful to talk to a few people who are either doing their MBA or have already done it. They will be able to give you a more detailed idea of what they gained from their MBA.
Background : Remember, there must be no inconsistency between your proposed study of management and your past subject of study or your past work experience. If you have studied commerce in college then management is a natural course of higher studies. If you are an engineer this is a tricky area. You must never say that by pursuing a career in management you will be wasting your engineering degree. Try and say that the MBA course and your engineering degree will help you do your job better in the company that you will join. But then you should be able to justify how your engineering qualification will help.
Opportunities and Rewards : You could also at this stage mention the opportunities that are opening up in organizations for management graduates. Highlight with examples. At the end you may mention that while monetary rewards are not everything they are also important and MBAs do get paid well. You must not mention these reasons as your primary motivators even if that may be the case.
Note 1 : The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published.
Note 2 : This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
Interview Preparation ....
Personal Interview is one of the most widely used methodology for selection across all fields and positions. Here the interviewer(s) tries to find out whether you will be able to do justice to the position he is trying to offer you, though less emphasized and mentioned you also get a chance to find out more about the institute or organization you are applying, and about the responsibilities that come with the position being offered. This is true both for admission in coveted Institutes or recruitment in organizations.
To help you prepare for the same, here are some tips and suggestions, but these should be taken with caution; there is no one size fits all policy and you are not supposed to follow every advice given here blindly but to think on it and modify it according to your personal needs etc.
1.) General tips :
# Be open and honest.
# Ask questions, since the interview is as much an opportunity for you to learn about the school as for the school to learn about you.
# Follow proper business decorum.
# Watch your nonverbal clues, such as eye contact, posture, and fidgeting.
# Be courteous to the administrative staff, since how you treat them can have an impact (positive or negative).
2.) Application / Resume / CV :
# Review and re-review your application; the interviewer is likely to ask specific questions about it.
# Be ready to provide examples and specifics and to elaborate on info on your resume and application.
# Write all and only relevant info.
# Don't exaggerate; people have tendency to exaggerate skills and achievements, but try not to write something that can not be proved or justified.
3.)Gearing Up for the Interview :
# That nobody is perfect is the maxim that sounds even more pertinent in the context of an interview. Interview is without a doubt a trepidation for everyone, and the novices and the old hands alike find themselves on pins and needles at the prospect of being interviewed. What makes people lose sleep over the interviews is essentially an apprehension of the unforeseen, a dread of being confronted with something they don't know; and no matter how many interviews has one faced and sailed through, every new interview brings a new pain in the neck. Jitteriness hangs over everyone; only the intensity may differ. And though there are no alternatives to awareness and conviction, there are certain guidelines which when followed will put off some seemingly trifling slip-ups, which could turn your interview into a dismal affair at the end of the day. These are the gimmicks that must be exercised if the interview is to be saved from some apparently petty blunders.
4.) Before Taking the Bull by the Horns :
# The homework starts right from the word go- immediately after you receive the interview call. Apart from brushing up your technical know-how, which is undoubtedly pivotal to your success, you need to pay heed to some aspects that will pump up your confidence level and help keep off nerves at the interview table.
# Reaching for the interview late may put the interviewer off, as it can also dampen your spirit. So to have an idea as to when you should leave for the interview, just go by the venue at least one day prior to the interview as a rehearsal.
# Envisage the likely questions and picture yourself answering them with confidence. Keep telling yourself that you are good enough to sail through. This will infuse just enough confidence in you, and that'll make all he difference in the interview.
# Consider the dress you'll be wearing. 'Formal dress' is often a deceptive phrase as it may mean different clothing for different companies. Sometimes, it's indispensable to put on a three-piece, while the other day it may seem too much of affectation; only a tie with formal shirt and trousers may do. Make out what dress could be apposite for a particular company.
# If the company is too far-off and your dress is likely to get rumpled in the bus, better travel in a taxi. Carry a comb in your pocket. There is no excuse for a clumsy appearance in the interview.
# Reach the venue at least half an hour in advance so that you have enough time for having a breather and bracing up for the interview. Arriving at the last minute and entering the interview room panting will reveal you in a poor light and you won't be in the right kind of frame to take on the interview.
# In case the interview does not commence on the scheduled time, don't lose you focus. Don't be distracted and maintain your composure. Read some magazine or talk to the people about the company. Go out for a breath of air but don't go too far away. And don't ever let it show that you disliked being made to wait. You have got some time on hand, so use it discreetly
5.) Inside the Interview Chamber :
# Pull yourself up the moment you are summoned inside the interview chamber, and enter the room with an air of confidence. And while you are taking on the real deal, practice the following:
# Maintain a body language suggesting confidence and cheerfulness. Don't look uneasy or dispirited. Smile at appropriate moments.
# Maintain eye contact while answering the questions. This will suggest that you are confident enough.
# If there is more than one interviewer, address to all of them. Remember names if you can and address by the names. Sound confident but avoid being brash.
# Saying 'sorry' or 'pardon' when you couldn't quite get the interviewer is civility, but making the interviewer repeat something for you too often could really make you sorry at the end of the day. You say 'sorry; once, and the interviewer willingly repeats, you say again, and he takes notice, you say thrice, and his exasperation shows, you go on to say yet again, and you just lose it all. What puts the interviewer off is the revelation that you are not all ears during the interview. So better listen attentively and minimize 'being sorry' or 'begging pardon'.
# Don't speak too loudly or too faintly. Maintain a pitch that is audible as well within the perimeter of courtesy.
# Don't delve too much on a topic. Neither keep the answers too short. Just speak enough on every topic(now defining enough is a mundane task in itself :P).
# Use wit and make the interviewer smile. But again, discern the faint edge between humour and discourtesy. Also, whatever you speak to bring smiles on the interviewers' face should sound germane to the topic. However, use this trick sparingly- making the interviewer chuckle twice in an interview is just sufficient.
# Some questions may be devised to judge your self-restraint and tolerance as a professional. So if a question sounds provoking, don't fall for the trick. Avoid acting feverishly and maintain your cool. Handle such questions discreetly and with shrewdness.
# Try to make out what is going through the interviewer's mind while you are answering to the questions. His body language may well give you a clue if he's listening to you attentively or you are just pushing on an off-putting gab. Put on the brakes the moment you discern that you have deviated off the point.
# The interviewer might ask you towards the close of the interview if you have any questions. Don't think it impolite to ask a question or two. Rather, not asking a question could revel that you just want the interview to be over, so go ahead. However, exercise caution regarding the question you pose. Never inquire about the salary. Preferably, show inquisitiveness about your role or the organisation. In the end when all is said and done and you make an exit from the interview cell, you might well be knowing in your heart that you've just made it. After all, it's all about being confident and acting astutely.
Note 1: The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published
Note 2: This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
To help you prepare for the same, here are some tips and suggestions, but these should be taken with caution; there is no one size fits all policy and you are not supposed to follow every advice given here blindly but to think on it and modify it according to your personal needs etc.
1.) General tips :
# Be open and honest.
# Ask questions, since the interview is as much an opportunity for you to learn about the school as for the school to learn about you.
# Follow proper business decorum.
# Watch your nonverbal clues, such as eye contact, posture, and fidgeting.
# Be courteous to the administrative staff, since how you treat them can have an impact (positive or negative).
2.) Application / Resume / CV :
# Review and re-review your application; the interviewer is likely to ask specific questions about it.
# Be ready to provide examples and specifics and to elaborate on info on your resume and application.
# Write all and only relevant info.
# Don't exaggerate; people have tendency to exaggerate skills and achievements, but try not to write something that can not be proved or justified.
3.)Gearing Up for the Interview :
# That nobody is perfect is the maxim that sounds even more pertinent in the context of an interview. Interview is without a doubt a trepidation for everyone, and the novices and the old hands alike find themselves on pins and needles at the prospect of being interviewed. What makes people lose sleep over the interviews is essentially an apprehension of the unforeseen, a dread of being confronted with something they don't know; and no matter how many interviews has one faced and sailed through, every new interview brings a new pain in the neck. Jitteriness hangs over everyone; only the intensity may differ. And though there are no alternatives to awareness and conviction, there are certain guidelines which when followed will put off some seemingly trifling slip-ups, which could turn your interview into a dismal affair at the end of the day. These are the gimmicks that must be exercised if the interview is to be saved from some apparently petty blunders.
4.) Before Taking the Bull by the Horns :
# The homework starts right from the word go- immediately after you receive the interview call. Apart from brushing up your technical know-how, which is undoubtedly pivotal to your success, you need to pay heed to some aspects that will pump up your confidence level and help keep off nerves at the interview table.
# Reaching for the interview late may put the interviewer off, as it can also dampen your spirit. So to have an idea as to when you should leave for the interview, just go by the venue at least one day prior to the interview as a rehearsal.
# Envisage the likely questions and picture yourself answering them with confidence. Keep telling yourself that you are good enough to sail through. This will infuse just enough confidence in you, and that'll make all he difference in the interview.
# Consider the dress you'll be wearing. 'Formal dress' is often a deceptive phrase as it may mean different clothing for different companies. Sometimes, it's indispensable to put on a three-piece, while the other day it may seem too much of affectation; only a tie with formal shirt and trousers may do. Make out what dress could be apposite for a particular company.
# If the company is too far-off and your dress is likely to get rumpled in the bus, better travel in a taxi. Carry a comb in your pocket. There is no excuse for a clumsy appearance in the interview.
# Reach the venue at least half an hour in advance so that you have enough time for having a breather and bracing up for the interview. Arriving at the last minute and entering the interview room panting will reveal you in a poor light and you won't be in the right kind of frame to take on the interview.
# In case the interview does not commence on the scheduled time, don't lose you focus. Don't be distracted and maintain your composure. Read some magazine or talk to the people about the company. Go out for a breath of air but don't go too far away. And don't ever let it show that you disliked being made to wait. You have got some time on hand, so use it discreetly
5.) Inside the Interview Chamber :
# Pull yourself up the moment you are summoned inside the interview chamber, and enter the room with an air of confidence. And while you are taking on the real deal, practice the following:
# Maintain a body language suggesting confidence and cheerfulness. Don't look uneasy or dispirited. Smile at appropriate moments.
# Maintain eye contact while answering the questions. This will suggest that you are confident enough.
# If there is more than one interviewer, address to all of them. Remember names if you can and address by the names. Sound confident but avoid being brash.
# Saying 'sorry' or 'pardon' when you couldn't quite get the interviewer is civility, but making the interviewer repeat something for you too often could really make you sorry at the end of the day. You say 'sorry; once, and the interviewer willingly repeats, you say again, and he takes notice, you say thrice, and his exasperation shows, you go on to say yet again, and you just lose it all. What puts the interviewer off is the revelation that you are not all ears during the interview. So better listen attentively and minimize 'being sorry' or 'begging pardon'.
# Don't speak too loudly or too faintly. Maintain a pitch that is audible as well within the perimeter of courtesy.
# Don't delve too much on a topic. Neither keep the answers too short. Just speak enough on every topic(now defining enough is a mundane task in itself :P).
# Use wit and make the interviewer smile. But again, discern the faint edge between humour and discourtesy. Also, whatever you speak to bring smiles on the interviewers' face should sound germane to the topic. However, use this trick sparingly- making the interviewer chuckle twice in an interview is just sufficient.
# Some questions may be devised to judge your self-restraint and tolerance as a professional. So if a question sounds provoking, don't fall for the trick. Avoid acting feverishly and maintain your cool. Handle such questions discreetly and with shrewdness.
# Try to make out what is going through the interviewer's mind while you are answering to the questions. His body language may well give you a clue if he's listening to you attentively or you are just pushing on an off-putting gab. Put on the brakes the moment you discern that you have deviated off the point.
# The interviewer might ask you towards the close of the interview if you have any questions. Don't think it impolite to ask a question or two. Rather, not asking a question could revel that you just want the interview to be over, so go ahead. However, exercise caution regarding the question you pose. Never inquire about the salary. Preferably, show inquisitiveness about your role or the organisation. In the end when all is said and done and you make an exit from the interview cell, you might well be knowing in your heart that you've just made it. After all, it's all about being confident and acting astutely.
Note 1: The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published
Note 2: This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Introduction Post : GD, PI and beyond ....
After the CAT fiasco, we all have been feeling low, but let me quote one of my posts from PG.
" Suna hai janta bahut pareshan hai ......
Koi CAT acchha nahi hua isliye pareshan to koi Re-test nahi ho rhaa isliye pareshan.
Koi IIFT se call nahi aayi isliye pareshan, to koi convert ke liye preps kaise kare isliye pareshan.
Koi JMET ki key se agree nahi karta isliye pareshan to koi CAT ka result normalize hoga yaa nahi isliye pareshan.
but guys let me tell you one thing (no preaching here, just a friendly suggestion). What is it exactly that makes u worried ??? kahin suna tha maine : jab chot lagti hai to dard sabko hota hai, khoon sabka nikalta haii, thokar lagti hai to girta har koi hai, baat sirf itni si hai ki girne ke baad kaun kitni jaldi uthta hai, chot lagne ke baad bhi kitni der tak khada rahta hai...... Remember this :staying alive is as important in a war as is winning [if not more ]
Its all about 2 things 1.)perseverance 2.) Prioritize.
If some-thing goes wrong we feel bad and there is nothing wrong about it, but then the best we can do about it is to move ahead and make sure that some-day when we sit in solace we can look back and say, there was a time when nothing seemed to be right, all the odds were against me but I fought and here I am winning against the wind and irrespective of what happened or what destiny tried to do to me, I got what I wanted .....
Our priority is achieving what we dream, getting what we desire and IIMs or for that matter MBA is not ThE dream, its just a means to achieve them, very important indeed but still its just a means, so if loosing the means implies getting closer to the dream so be it....
And for the IIMs and the other Authorities : We people trust in you, its we who have made your campuses "god's own campus" or "wimwi", its we who make your institutes the Coveted dreams, the worshiped colleges.
Now the least you need is to copy what others are doing or to show cowardice from accepting some glitches or failures or to give some lame reasons and explanations.
Its never too late for a good cause, please realize that IIMs are not the IIMs because of some ranking system (national or international) or for the high-end technology that you use for something or the other or some foreign client that is doing something for you or even tie-ups with international B-Schools an the likes, it is because of us, the faculty and the students.
And even if you take it from the business perspective the most important aspect of a business is clients, not the product and not the services and not any-thing else, as long as your clients are happy and satisfied its okay, everything else is just a means to that end, and with that I sincerely hope and believe that you will try everything you can to maintain the trust that we have always shown in you, and I assure you that no matter what, as long as you are transparent, honest and helpful to us we will be there to back you up, no matter what technical glitch or wrong decision comes your way. "
SO, lets keep the talks and thoughts about things over which we have no control aside, and do what we can.
From today onwards, I will be posting a few GD topics, Interview questions et al and I hope and request you all to post your views on them in the comment section, lets make it an interactive platform so that we can learn in the process, and hopefully we shall be able to successfully use the knowledge we will gain here in the 2'nd round of the Institutes we want to get into .......
Few suggestions .
1.) Be regular.
2.) Don't get personal, and remember its not a debate rather a discussion.
3.) Avoid redundancy, try to find out new dimensions to the topic, if it means getting unconventional then be it.
4.) Don't be adamant, if some-one posts a good point, appreciate it; and if some-one gives good logic for some point accept it.
5.) Have fun.
" Suna hai janta bahut pareshan hai ......
Koi CAT acchha nahi hua isliye pareshan to koi Re-test nahi ho rhaa isliye pareshan.
Koi IIFT se call nahi aayi isliye pareshan, to koi convert ke liye preps kaise kare isliye pareshan.
Koi JMET ki key se agree nahi karta isliye pareshan to koi CAT ka result normalize hoga yaa nahi isliye pareshan.
but guys let me tell you one thing (no preaching here, just a friendly suggestion). What is it exactly that makes u worried ??? kahin suna tha maine : jab chot lagti hai to dard sabko hota hai, khoon sabka nikalta haii, thokar lagti hai to girta har koi hai, baat sirf itni si hai ki girne ke baad kaun kitni jaldi uthta hai, chot lagne ke baad bhi kitni der tak khada rahta hai...... Remember this :staying alive is as important in a war as is winning [if not more ]
Its all about 2 things 1.)perseverance 2.) Prioritize.
If some-thing goes wrong we feel bad and there is nothing wrong about it, but then the best we can do about it is to move ahead and make sure that some-day when we sit in solace we can look back and say, there was a time when nothing seemed to be right, all the odds were against me but I fought and here I am winning against the wind and irrespective of what happened or what destiny tried to do to me, I got what I wanted .....
Our priority is achieving what we dream, getting what we desire and IIMs or for that matter MBA is not ThE dream, its just a means to achieve them, very important indeed but still its just a means, so if loosing the means implies getting closer to the dream so be it....
And for the IIMs and the other Authorities : We people trust in you, its we who have made your campuses "god's own campus" or "wimwi", its we who make your institutes the Coveted dreams, the worshiped colleges.
Now the least you need is to copy what others are doing or to show cowardice from accepting some glitches or failures or to give some lame reasons and explanations.
Its never too late for a good cause, please realize that IIMs are not the IIMs because of some ranking system (national or international) or for the high-end technology that you use for something or the other or some foreign client that is doing something for you or even tie-ups with international B-Schools an the likes, it is because of us, the faculty and the students.
And even if you take it from the business perspective the most important aspect of a business is clients, not the product and not the services and not any-thing else, as long as your clients are happy and satisfied its okay, everything else is just a means to that end, and with that I sincerely hope and believe that you will try everything you can to maintain the trust that we have always shown in you, and I assure you that no matter what, as long as you are transparent, honest and helpful to us we will be there to back you up, no matter what technical glitch or wrong decision comes your way. "
SO, lets keep the talks and thoughts about things over which we have no control aside, and do what we can.
From today onwards, I will be posting a few GD topics, Interview questions et al and I hope and request you all to post your views on them in the comment section, lets make it an interactive platform so that we can learn in the process, and hopefully we shall be able to successfully use the knowledge we will gain here in the 2'nd round of the Institutes we want to get into .......
Few suggestions .
1.) Be regular.
2.) Don't get personal, and remember its not a debate rather a discussion.
3.) Avoid redundancy, try to find out new dimensions to the topic, if it means getting unconventional then be it.
4.) Don't be adamant, if some-one posts a good point, appreciate it; and if some-one gives good logic for some point accept it.
5.) Have fun.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
IIM is where I belong to . (really ???)
Never in my life I've felt more cheated, except for may be when the BCCI announced that its a private body and not actually INDIAN and from that very day, I never had same interest in watching Cricket.
IIM, 3 characters which when pronounced together make a lot of eyes glitter. Cracking "CAT" has been considered as a proof of intelligence, perseverance and common-sense. So much so that the people who couldn't get a call from an IIM, were able to secure admission into the world's best Management Institutes like Insead, wharton, LBS etc. They attracted the best minds of the country (and arguably some of best of the world).
Lesser mortals like us, who had not been to these coveted Institutes always thought the people who would be teaching these extra-ordinarily intelligent people must be oozing with talent, common-sense, innovation and confidence. These institutes named as "Indian Institute(s) of Management" were thought of as proud possessions of a emotional country much like IITs , Sachin Tendulkar and Lata mangeshkar.
But then, very unlike the later three, IIMs probably didn't think the same way, with the passage of time they realized that " They are getting the best in India anyways" so its time to do some-thing else. They further realized that they don't feature in the top global B-Schools ranking, and the only reason for this is they don't have a campus outside India(how intelligent of them), and they thought about opening a new campus out-side India and that with-out Government help and these are the same IIMs which lack faculties and funds and have to increase their fees beyond reasonable limits to compensate for it, and I am not sure where else one can find an example where a government (or so we believe) institute takes more fees than its private counter-parts.
And this isn't enough, since the IIMs wanted to be 'like' their international counterparts, they decided to go for profile based selection, and that in such a way that even if one scores a 100 percentile in CAT, one may not have a call from the IIM(s) of one's choice, it doesn't even matter if he/she is a district topper from a state board(like bihar or UP). Some-one who is rank 10 in his/her school in a ICSE board school in a metro(say Mumbai) will have added advantage over some-one who is from a village (in say U.P), who was the district topper and that while he helped his old father in fields and earning bread, justice !!! Right.....
And as if this was not all, they decided to take another step towards getting global, they decided to conduct CAT online, citing rising number of students as the major reason. Whereas IIT-JEE which has higher number of applicants and AIEEE which has much more higher number of applicants continue to be paper based examinations, and this in a country where more than 60 % population lives in villages.
The infamy that has been in store for the IIMs regarding tender distribution for Computer Based Test and then the organization of the entrance exam itself is some-thing about which saying something will be like showing a knife to the devil.
The questions which haunt me now are
* What is more important ? Global recognition and a position in Top B-schools rankings, or imparting management education to the most deserving candidates in a fair and un-biased way.
* Does IIMs even consider themselves as "Indian Institutes of Management", or do they consider themselves as just another B-School for which name, fame and money are more important than anything else ?
* Are the following points justified.
==> "even a 100 percentiler not getting a call from an IIM". (and please don't give the reason that its same in GMAT)
==> The same IIMs which justify increasing fees, because of lack of funds and not mentoring new IIMs because of lack of faculty have enough money and faculty to open new IIM campuses abroad and that with-out government funds.
==> CAT going online, even though it anyways favored the tech-savvy English speaking population over others, and justifying it for increasing number of aspirants when more than 3 times students sit for AIEEE which is a paper based test.
==> Denying details of how and why the tender was given to one particular company, and if it was really because that company has vast experience than how come this fiasco.
==> How can the director of an IIM say something like " this is part of the game" when some students who have toiled hard for these 135 minutes don't get a level-field to play the game ?
==> 14 % students have been directly affected by this fiasco and director of another IIM declares that first administration of CAT has been successful.5
and this is when we are not even talking about all the funny details about Hardware incompatibility / virus attack / extra load etc as if they were not even expected and came out of blue, when they had prepared themselves with the best possible security....
To sum it all in a few words I would like to quote Munira Lokhandwala an IIM alumni.
"If I would have known this in 1996 when I applied to the IIMs I would have thought twice before learning any management from them."
P.S -> If even an ardent IIM-fan like me is thinking in this direction, I am not sure that IIMs will continue to attract the best in the country any-more as a friends tag on my g-talk list says "XAT authorities are happy, they will have a better batch than IIMs this time".
IIM, 3 characters which when pronounced together make a lot of eyes glitter. Cracking "CAT" has been considered as a proof of intelligence, perseverance and common-sense. So much so that the people who couldn't get a call from an IIM, were able to secure admission into the world's best Management Institutes like Insead, wharton, LBS etc. They attracted the best minds of the country (and arguably some of best of the world).
Lesser mortals like us, who had not been to these coveted Institutes always thought the people who would be teaching these extra-ordinarily intelligent people must be oozing with talent, common-sense, innovation and confidence. These institutes named as "Indian Institute(s) of Management" were thought of as proud possessions of a emotional country much like IITs , Sachin Tendulkar and Lata mangeshkar.
But then, very unlike the later three, IIMs probably didn't think the same way, with the passage of time they realized that " They are getting the best in India anyways" so its time to do some-thing else. They further realized that they don't feature in the top global B-Schools ranking, and the only reason for this is they don't have a campus outside India(how intelligent of them), and they thought about opening a new campus out-side India and that with-out Government help and these are the same IIMs which lack faculties and funds and have to increase their fees beyond reasonable limits to compensate for it, and I am not sure where else one can find an example where a government (or so we believe) institute takes more fees than its private counter-parts.
And this isn't enough, since the IIMs wanted to be 'like' their international counterparts, they decided to go for profile based selection, and that in such a way that even if one scores a 100 percentile in CAT, one may not have a call from the IIM(s) of one's choice, it doesn't even matter if he/she is a district topper from a state board(like bihar or UP). Some-one who is rank 10 in his/her school in a ICSE board school in a metro(say Mumbai) will have added advantage over some-one who is from a village (in say U.P), who was the district topper and that while he helped his old father in fields and earning bread, justice !!! Right.....
And as if this was not all, they decided to take another step towards getting global, they decided to conduct CAT online, citing rising number of students as the major reason. Whereas IIT-JEE which has higher number of applicants and AIEEE which has much more higher number of applicants continue to be paper based examinations, and this in a country where more than 60 % population lives in villages.
The infamy that has been in store for the IIMs regarding tender distribution for Computer Based Test and then the organization of the entrance exam itself is some-thing about which saying something will be like showing a knife to the devil.
The questions which haunt me now are
* What is more important ? Global recognition and a position in Top B-schools rankings, or imparting management education to the most deserving candidates in a fair and un-biased way.
* Does IIMs even consider themselves as "Indian Institutes of Management", or do they consider themselves as just another B-School for which name, fame and money are more important than anything else ?
* Are the following points justified.
==> "even a 100 percentiler not getting a call from an IIM". (and please don't give the reason that its same in GMAT)
==> The same IIMs which justify increasing fees, because of lack of funds and not mentoring new IIMs because of lack of faculty have enough money and faculty to open new IIM campuses abroad and that with-out government funds.
==> CAT going online, even though it anyways favored the tech-savvy English speaking population over others, and justifying it for increasing number of aspirants when more than 3 times students sit for AIEEE which is a paper based test.
==> Denying details of how and why the tender was given to one particular company, and if it was really because that company has vast experience than how come this fiasco.
==> How can the director of an IIM say something like " this is part of the game" when some students who have toiled hard for these 135 minutes don't get a level-field to play the game ?
==> 14 % students have been directly affected by this fiasco and director of another IIM declares that first administration of CAT has been successful.5
and this is when we are not even talking about all the funny details about Hardware incompatibility / virus attack / extra load etc as if they were not even expected and came out of blue, when they had prepared themselves with the best possible security....
To sum it all in a few words I would like to quote Munira Lokhandwala an IIM alumni.
"If I would have known this in 1996 when I applied to the IIMs I would have thought twice before learning any management from them."
P.S -> If even an ardent IIM-fan like me is thinking in this direction, I am not sure that IIMs will continue to attract the best in the country any-more as a friends tag on my g-talk list says "XAT authorities are happy, they will have a better batch than IIMs this time".
Friday, November 27, 2009
Continuation Post....
First of all, I want to say sorry, to all of you to whom I've promised about writing about the requested topics, I had my end-sems going on, and though this is no excuse but it REALLY kept me away from giving write to think and write about anything new.
More-ever the g-talk gadget I added doesn't seem to work very well, and at-least on a dozen occasions I've got a message that some-one wants to chat with you, but never even once I've been able to reply, it might be due to the bad internet connectivity, but anyways in case of any doubt you might just post a comment and most probably I will get back to you with-in a few hours.
And a big thank you to all of you, this blog has had over 1,500 visitors in the past 30 days, and I have got quite a few compliments and thank you messages from you all, I am really grateful to all of you for the enormous support, and this indeed is the only reason that I am writing this post.
So, now that my end-sems are over and the final lap of preparation for getting admission into ThE coveted institutes has started, let me take this opportunity to wish you all for a successful end to this journey.... And considering that even after CAT, there will be quite a few entrance exams for entry into some of the greatest management colleges of the country so I shall be continuing writing some-thing which might help us all in giving final touch to our preparations....
And god-willing we shall be join the institutes we belong to .....
More-ever the g-talk gadget I added doesn't seem to work very well, and at-least on a dozen occasions I've got a message that some-one wants to chat with you, but never even once I've been able to reply, it might be due to the bad internet connectivity, but anyways in case of any doubt you might just post a comment and most probably I will get back to you with-in a few hours.
And a big thank you to all of you, this blog has had over 1,500 visitors in the past 30 days, and I have got quite a few compliments and thank you messages from you all, I am really grateful to all of you for the enormous support, and this indeed is the only reason that I am writing this post.
So, now that my end-sems are over and the final lap of preparation for getting admission into ThE coveted institutes has started, let me take this opportunity to wish you all for a successful end to this journey.... And considering that even after CAT, there will be quite a few entrance exams for entry into some of the greatest management colleges of the country so I shall be continuing writing some-thing which might help us all in giving final touch to our preparations....
And god-willing we shall be join the institutes we belong to .....
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Highest Power in a Factorial ...
This post is a just a saved .doc file which I had, and I am merely reproducing it in its original form, I am not sure of its original author/source but I am grateful to him/her/them for the same.
256! is expanded and expressed in base 576 . how many zeroes will this expression have on its right end?
Such questions are same as finding maximum power of 576 in 256!
576 = 2^6 x 3^2
to get six 2s i have to travel eight places...1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8 has seven 2s. but to two 3s i have to travel only six places...1x2x3...6 has two 3s...hence 2 will be the constrain.
total 2s in 256! = 255
hence, no. of zeroes = 256/6 = 42.
just to check...3s = 126, 126/2 = 63>42
ans-42
300! is divisible by (24!)^n. what is the max. possible integral value of n?
such questions are tricky...when u expand 24!...u get 1x2x3...24.
in this range the highest prime no. is 23...so maximum power of 23 in 300! will decide the max value of x...
when v expand 300!...v get a 23 in 23, 46,69,92....
total no of multiples of 23 in 300! will be 300/23 = 13,
forget the fractional part. so the maximum possible answer is 13. hope am clear...else, feel free to revert.
500! is divisible by 99^n...what is the max. integral value of n?
now every 99 is made of two 3s and one 11. obviously 11 will be the deciding factor. so count no. of 11s for the answer
500/11 = 45
45/11 = 4
ans will be 49.
so in such questions, just check which prime no. will be the deciding factor and count the no. of times it occurs. but please understand that highest prime no. is not necessarily always the deciding factor. see this example:
100! is divisible by 160^n...what is the max. integral value of n?
now 160 = 2^5 * 5^1. now although 5 is the biggest prime no. that 160 is made of, the deciding factor wud be 2. because five 2s occur less often than one 5 does. so we'll count the no. of 2s and divide by 5.
100/2 = 50
50/2 = 25
25/2 =12
12/2 = 6
6 /2 = 3
3/2 = 1
add 'em all...97.
97/5 = 19.
so the answer wud be 19
had we taken 5 as the deciding factor, the answer wud have been 100/5 + 100/25 = 24 which is more than 19...hence a wrong answer...
256! is expanded and expressed in base 576 . how many zeroes will this expression have on its right end?
Such questions are same as finding maximum power of 576 in 256!
576 = 2^6 x 3^2
to get six 2s i have to travel eight places...1x2x3x4x5x6x7x8 has seven 2s. but to two 3s i have to travel only six places...1x2x3...6 has two 3s...hence 2 will be the constrain.
total 2s in 256! = 255
hence, no. of zeroes = 256/6 = 42.
just to check...3s = 126, 126/2 = 63>42
ans-42
300! is divisible by (24!)^n. what is the max. possible integral value of n?
such questions are tricky...when u expand 24!...u get 1x2x3...24.
in this range the highest prime no. is 23...so maximum power of 23 in 300! will decide the max value of x...
when v expand 300!...v get a 23 in 23, 46,69,92....
total no of multiples of 23 in 300! will be 300/23 = 13,
forget the fractional part. so the maximum possible answer is 13. hope am clear...else, feel free to revert.
500! is divisible by 99^n...what is the max. integral value of n?
now every 99 is made of two 3s and one 11. obviously 11 will be the deciding factor. so count no. of 11s for the answer
500/11 = 45
45/11 = 4
ans will be 49.
so in such questions, just check which prime no. will be the deciding factor and count the no. of times it occurs. but please understand that highest prime no. is not necessarily always the deciding factor. see this example:
100! is divisible by 160^n...what is the max. integral value of n?
now 160 = 2^5 * 5^1. now although 5 is the biggest prime no. that 160 is made of, the deciding factor wud be 2. because five 2s occur less often than one 5 does. so we'll count the no. of 2s and divide by 5.
100/2 = 50
50/2 = 25
25/2 =12
12/2 = 6
6 /2 = 3
3/2 = 1
add 'em all...97.
97/5 = 19.
so the answer wud be 19
had we taken 5 as the deciding factor, the answer wud have been 100/5 + 100/25 = 24 which is more than 19...hence a wrong answer...
Fact Inference & Judgment ....
One of the most dreaded question type in Management Entrance Exam, this section has questions which compel even the best of minds to ponder.
Here is a little help in how to identify them and differentiate among them.
FACTS:
• They can be verified or discovered
• Applicable to all – Universal truths.
• Anything that is seen, heard or read is a fact.
• Anyone else’s opinion stated by the author is a fact. (The personal opinion will become a judgement)
• Figures, Statistics or other data without an opinion attached to it is a fact. ( with an opinion attached becomes an inference).
INFERENCES:
• A logical conclusion based on a set of facts. (Logical conclusion meaning, anyone seeing those set of facts should be able to arrive at that.)
• Change the facts and the conclusion will no longer be valid.
• Inferences are self-explanatory. It tells you “why”. (If you have a statement which looks like an inference and you form a “why” question on it, you should be able to get an answer. If you don’t, it will become a Judgement.)
• An inference is an opinion that doesn’t change according to perspective.
• If the set of sentences given to you are connected, you can only do UPLINKING to decide that a statement as an inference. Meaning – You should have the facts preceeding this statement. If the facts are provided as the next statements it cannot be an inference. It will be a judgement.
Ex:
•
o X is a good student when it comes to attendance.
o X attends college regularly.
In this example, statement A is a judgement, statement B is a fact.
If you change the order like below –
•
o X attends college regularly.
o X is a good student when it comes to attendance.
In this case A is a fact and B is an inference.
• One fact can lead to multiple inferences.
• Inference will have verbal bridges with facts ( words like leads to, points to, indicates, shows, explains, expresses)
• A cause and effect relation ship can be termed as an inference.
• A statement backed up by an example in the same sentence will be an inference.
JUDGMENT:
1.Any statement that could lead to an approval or disapproval.
2.It is the author’s personal opinion.
3.It is open to challenge.
4.It doesn’t tell you why. ( see point 3 of inference for clarity)
5.It changes according to perspective.
P.S. -> because of my project work, industrial training, aimcat and above all my laziness, I haven't been posting for past 2 days, but let me assure you that it will be taken care of.
P.P.S -> I have got quite a few suggestions to discuss the smart methods (aka option rejection, value putting etc) and some others regarding maximization/minimization using venn dig / set theory. I will definitely try to write about the same in my future posts.
Here is a little help in how to identify them and differentiate among them.
FACTS:
• They can be verified or discovered
• Applicable to all – Universal truths.
• Anything that is seen, heard or read is a fact.
• Anyone else’s opinion stated by the author is a fact. (The personal opinion will become a judgement)
• Figures, Statistics or other data without an opinion attached to it is a fact. ( with an opinion attached becomes an inference).
INFERENCES:
• A logical conclusion based on a set of facts. (Logical conclusion meaning, anyone seeing those set of facts should be able to arrive at that.)
• Change the facts and the conclusion will no longer be valid.
• Inferences are self-explanatory. It tells you “why”. (If you have a statement which looks like an inference and you form a “why” question on it, you should be able to get an answer. If you don’t, it will become a Judgement.)
• An inference is an opinion that doesn’t change according to perspective.
• If the set of sentences given to you are connected, you can only do UPLINKING to decide that a statement as an inference. Meaning – You should have the facts preceeding this statement. If the facts are provided as the next statements it cannot be an inference. It will be a judgement.
Ex:
•
o X is a good student when it comes to attendance.
o X attends college regularly.
In this example, statement A is a judgement, statement B is a fact.
If you change the order like below –
•
o X attends college regularly.
o X is a good student when it comes to attendance.
In this case A is a fact and B is an inference.
• One fact can lead to multiple inferences.
• Inference will have verbal bridges with facts ( words like leads to, points to, indicates, shows, explains, expresses)
• A cause and effect relation ship can be termed as an inference.
• A statement backed up by an example in the same sentence will be an inference.
JUDGMENT:
1.Any statement that could lead to an approval or disapproval.
2.It is the author’s personal opinion.
3.It is open to challenge.
4.It doesn’t tell you why. ( see point 3 of inference for clarity)
5.It changes according to perspective.
P.S. -> because of my project work, industrial training, aimcat and above all my laziness, I haven't been posting for past 2 days, but let me assure you that it will be taken care of.
P.P.S -> I have got quite a few suggestions to discuss the smart methods (aka option rejection, value putting etc) and some others regarding maximization/minimization using venn dig / set theory. I will definitely try to write about the same in my future posts.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Tournament Based Sets in DI .
There are 16 teams and they are divided into 2 pools of 8 each. Each team in a group plays against one another on a round-robin basis. Draws in the competition are not allowed. The top four teams from each group will qualify for the next round i.e round 2. In case of teams having the same number of wins, the team with better run-rate would be ranked ahead.
1. Minimum number of wins required to qualify for the next round _____?
2. Minimum number of wins required to guarantee qualification in the next round _____?
Now, I don't know how many of you are aware of the following method. But 1 thing I mention in advance that this should take only 30 seconds to solve
1.
1 group is consisting of 8 teams. So each team will play 7 match each. Suppose each of the 8 teams were seeded and we consider the case where a higher seeded team will always win.
So the number of wins for the 8 teams would be 7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0 with highest seeded team winning all and lowest seeded team losing all.
For minimum number of wins we allow 3 teams to win maximum number of matches. Of the remaining 5 teams just find out the mean of their number of wins.
In this case it would be (4+3+2+1+0)/5=2.
So 5 teams can end up with 2 wins each and a team with better run rate will qualify with 2 wins.
2.
In this case consider the mean of first 5 higher seeded teams
(7+6+5+4+3)/5=5
So it may be the case that 5 teams can end up having 5 wins each. And hence 1 team will miss the second round birth. So minimum number of wins to guarantee a place would be 6.
Note 1: The author Vipul Tyagi is a CAT '09 aspirant, member of Pagal Guy Dream team '09 has scored 16/20 times a percentile greater than 99.49 in AIMCATs with AIRs of 1,7,8,9,10 ... From past three aimcats he has achieved AIR 1 with a comfortable margin in DI.
Note 2: Visit : The original post on pg
1. Minimum number of wins required to qualify for the next round _____?
2. Minimum number of wins required to guarantee qualification in the next round _____?
Now, I don't know how many of you are aware of the following method. But 1 thing I mention in advance that this should take only 30 seconds to solve
1.
1 group is consisting of 8 teams. So each team will play 7 match each. Suppose each of the 8 teams were seeded and we consider the case where a higher seeded team will always win.
So the number of wins for the 8 teams would be 7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0 with highest seeded team winning all and lowest seeded team losing all.
For minimum number of wins we allow 3 teams to win maximum number of matches. Of the remaining 5 teams just find out the mean of their number of wins.
In this case it would be (4+3+2+1+0)/5=2.
So 5 teams can end up with 2 wins each and a team with better run rate will qualify with 2 wins.
2.
In this case consider the mean of first 5 higher seeded teams
(7+6+5+4+3)/5=5
So it may be the case that 5 teams can end up having 5 wins each. And hence 1 team will miss the second round birth. So minimum number of wins to guarantee a place would be 6.
Note 1: The author Vipul Tyagi is a CAT '09 aspirant, member of Pagal Guy Dream team '09 has scored 16/20 times a percentile greater than 99.49 in AIMCATs with AIRs of 1,7,8,9,10 ... From past three aimcats he has achieved AIR 1 with a comfortable margin in DI.
Note 2: Visit : The original post on pg
Sunday, November 8, 2009
How To Identify Incorrect Sentences .
In this post I will be writing about some of the common mistakes in sentences (as in selecting the correct/wrong/most-appropriate/least-appropriate sentence from the given options.)
Mistake 1.) Using misplaced modifiers.
Funda : When a word modifies another word, the two should be next to each other.
Mistake 2.) Using improper pronouns.
funda : Each pronoun must agree with the pronoun it replaces.
Each pronoun must refer directly and unambiguously to the noun it replaces.
Mistake 3.) Changing the verb tense unnecessarily.
funda : The verb tense of a sentence should remain consistent. If the tense is established somewhere in the sentence, there is rarely a need to change it. // I don't have any example of when this ' rarely ' happens.
Mistake 4.) Constructing sentences that lack parallelism.
funda : Just as in previous funda, the structure of the sentence must remain consistent.
Mistke 5.) Comparing Apples and Oranges . // How catchy isn't it ???
funda : When-ever you compare two or more things in a sentence, you have to make sure that all of them are in fact comparable + there must not be any ambiguity as to the validity of the comparison.
Mistake 6.) Improper subject-verb agreement.
funda : The subject and the verb of a sentence must be in agreement.
Mistake 7.) Using incorrect idioms.
Funda : Idioms are idioms and whether or not they sound correct to you, they can't be changed or modified.
Courtesy : GMAT preparatory resources.
P.S. -> I am not very good in verbal, and probably not the right person to give insights into it, kindly ensure that the mentioned rules are correct before applying them in any entrance exam.
Mistake 1.) Using misplaced modifiers.
Funda : When a word modifies another word, the two should be next to each other.
Mistake 2.) Using improper pronouns.
funda : Each pronoun must agree with the pronoun it replaces.
Each pronoun must refer directly and unambiguously to the noun it replaces.
Mistake 3.) Changing the verb tense unnecessarily.
funda : The verb tense of a sentence should remain consistent. If the tense is established somewhere in the sentence, there is rarely a need to change it. // I don't have any example of when this ' rarely ' happens.
Mistake 4.) Constructing sentences that lack parallelism.
funda : Just as in previous funda, the structure of the sentence must remain consistent.
Mistke 5.) Comparing Apples and Oranges . // How catchy isn't it ???
funda : When-ever you compare two or more things in a sentence, you have to make sure that all of them are in fact comparable + there must not be any ambiguity as to the validity of the comparison.
Mistake 6.) Improper subject-verb agreement.
funda : The subject and the verb of a sentence must be in agreement.
Mistake 7.) Using incorrect idioms.
Funda : Idioms are idioms and whether or not they sound correct to you, they can't be changed or modified.
Courtesy : GMAT preparatory resources.
P.S. -> I am not very good in verbal, and probably not the right person to give insights into it, kindly ensure that the mentioned rules are correct before applying them in any entrance exam.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Finding out smallest number which leaves specific remainders when divided with specific divisors.
Type 1: Find smallest number other than k, that leaves remainder k when divided by x, y, z.
How to Solve: take L.C.M of x, y, z and add k to it.
Type 2: Find smallest number which leaves the remainders x-r, y-r, z-r when divided by x, y, z.
How to Solve: take L.C.M of x, y, z and subtract r from it.
Type 3: Find the smallest number which when successively divided by x, y, z leaves remainders a, b, c respectively.
How to Solve: Start from the last divisor, here the last divisor is z which leaves remainder c, smallest number satisfying this condition will be ‘c’.
Now this ‘c’ must have came after the number was divided by y, so the number must have been c*y + b.
Continue in the same manner.
Variations Of The Basic Types Discussed.
(1) Smallest number that leaves remainders x, y, z when divided by a, b, c and leaves remainder X when divided by Y.
This and similar variations are based upon a simple fact.
To a number if we add the l.c.m. of its divisors, the corresponding remainders don’t change.
What this effectively means is we will first find out a no. which leaves remainders x, y, z when divided by a, b, c respectively and then keep adding the L.C.M of a, b, c to it until the other condition(s) are not satisfied.
Courtesy : Varied sources on Internet.
P.S-> For those of you, who haven't been using these methods, please try them on at-least 5 problems of each type before relying on them for the D-day.
How to Solve: take L.C.M of x, y, z and add k to it.
Type 2: Find smallest number which leaves the remainders x-r, y-r, z-r when divided by x, y, z.
How to Solve: take L.C.M of x, y, z and subtract r from it.
Type 3: Find the smallest number which when successively divided by x, y, z leaves remainders a, b, c respectively.
How to Solve: Start from the last divisor, here the last divisor is z which leaves remainder c, smallest number satisfying this condition will be ‘c’.
Now this ‘c’ must have came after the number was divided by y, so the number must have been c*y + b.
Continue in the same manner.
Variations Of The Basic Types Discussed.
(1) Smallest number that leaves remainders x, y, z when divided by a, b, c and leaves remainder X when divided by Y.
This and similar variations are based upon a simple fact.
To a number if we add the l.c.m. of its divisors, the corresponding remainders don’t change.
What this effectively means is we will first find out a no. which leaves remainders x, y, z when divided by a, b, c respectively and then keep adding the L.C.M of a, b, c to it until the other condition(s) are not satisfied.
Courtesy : Varied sources on Internet.
P.S-> For those of you, who haven't been using these methods, please try them on at-least 5 problems of each type before relying on them for the D-day.
Friday, November 6, 2009
How to attempt DI : part 1
Please read Introduction post first.
The first few minutes we spend on any section have a huge bearing on how we are going to perform in that section. So u should have complete familiarity with the set that u attempt first. Never venture into unknown waters initially. Now it can't be that u are not having any idea about all the sets asked in exam. In that case, the paper is really testing or u should be prepared to give the test next year ( sorry if this sounds harsh, but it's true).
So the best option would be select a DI set first. The chances of cracking a DI set are always more than cracking an obscure LR set. Again if a set based on tournament is asked and u hv the confidence to crack any tournament set, u may start with tht as well.
But to all those who are weak in DI, i'll suggest u to start with a DI set. So my suggestion to all of you is to start working on speed maths a little bit. The time u save while doing DI can be allotted to a tough LR set. Develop good calculation speed and try to attempt all DI sets, and may be 1 LR set and this should be enough to secure a 97-98%ile. ( I'm assuming tht there would be atleast 2 DI sets).
Now those who want 99.5+ in DI, start loving DI and LR. If u can't enjoy doing DI/LR it would be tough to get 99.5+. I know it's all about marks and we not giving CAT for fun, but i personally believe tht unnecessary pressure doesn't help in this section.
You see what kind of a person u are, also determines how u'll fare in this section. If u are by nature a bundle of nerves and allow even small occasions to get to u, chances are tht u'll find going tough in this section.
The reason is that compared to other sections the stakes are very high in this section. Other sections do have single questions but DI section generally has questions in sets. At a time 4-5 questions are at stake. That translates into around 15-20 marks which will be the difference between a 94%ile and a 99%ile. So at the back of the mind there is always this thought that if I'm not able to crack the set, then those 15-20 mins tht i'hv invested in the set would become a liability. This pressure does not help ur cause really. The best way to avoid this mental trap is to start loving those sets. Just don't think abt cut-off and %iles and other things while attempting DI and specially LR. I know what i'm saying is tough to follow but trust me the day u clear these demons from ur mind, u'll start doing exceedingly well.
Note : The author Vipul Tyagi is a CAT '09 aspirant, member of Pagal Guy Dream team '09 has scored 16/20 times a percentile greater than 99.49 in AIMCATs with AIRs of 1,7,8,9,10 ... From past three aimcats he has achieved AIR 1 with a comfortable margin in DI.
The first few minutes we spend on any section have a huge bearing on how we are going to perform in that section. So u should have complete familiarity with the set that u attempt first. Never venture into unknown waters initially. Now it can't be that u are not having any idea about all the sets asked in exam. In that case, the paper is really testing or u should be prepared to give the test next year ( sorry if this sounds harsh, but it's true).
So the best option would be select a DI set first. The chances of cracking a DI set are always more than cracking an obscure LR set. Again if a set based on tournament is asked and u hv the confidence to crack any tournament set, u may start with tht as well.
But to all those who are weak in DI, i'll suggest u to start with a DI set. So my suggestion to all of you is to start working on speed maths a little bit. The time u save while doing DI can be allotted to a tough LR set. Develop good calculation speed and try to attempt all DI sets, and may be 1 LR set and this should be enough to secure a 97-98%ile. ( I'm assuming tht there would be atleast 2 DI sets).
Now those who want 99.5+ in DI, start loving DI and LR. If u can't enjoy doing DI/LR it would be tough to get 99.5+. I know it's all about marks and we not giving CAT for fun, but i personally believe tht unnecessary pressure doesn't help in this section.
You see what kind of a person u are, also determines how u'll fare in this section. If u are by nature a bundle of nerves and allow even small occasions to get to u, chances are tht u'll find going tough in this section.
The reason is that compared to other sections the stakes are very high in this section. Other sections do have single questions but DI section generally has questions in sets. At a time 4-5 questions are at stake. That translates into around 15-20 marks which will be the difference between a 94%ile and a 99%ile. So at the back of the mind there is always this thought that if I'm not able to crack the set, then those 15-20 mins tht i'hv invested in the set would become a liability. This pressure does not help ur cause really. The best way to avoid this mental trap is to start loving those sets. Just don't think abt cut-off and %iles and other things while attempting DI and specially LR. I know what i'm saying is tough to follow but trust me the day u clear these demons from ur mind, u'll start doing exceedingly well.
Note : The author Vipul Tyagi is a CAT '09 aspirant, member of Pagal Guy Dream team '09 has scored 16/20 times a percentile greater than 99.49 in AIMCATs with AIRs of 1,7,8,9,10 ... From past three aimcats he has achieved AIR 1 with a comfortable margin in DI.
Introduction Post to A Funda a day ....
Less than a month away from the most awaited management entrance exam of this season, I thought its time to revise our concepts, to learn a few new concepts, to see what the best do to be what they are and to see how we can get help from all of these and utilize them to make our dream of studying in those coveted B-Schools a reality.
Till now, I have been using this blog for writing my personal opinions and I hope that they have been of some help to some of you, but now as the importance of each and every minute we spare is increasing, let us be a little more regular, from now onwards, every day (or almost every day) I will be writing a new post on this blog, that will be having some new concepts, some approaches to solve a particular question and strategies on how to attempt a particular section or the entire paper.
Unlike the earlier posts some of these posts will be borrowed from various sources that I come across on internet, but I will try my level best to ensure that they are in public domain and that the authors have personally allowed me to use them in this blog. More often than not the original authors will be given due credit, but even if I fail to do so, you must realize that I am thankful to you all, and we all (every-one who contributes to this blog, by either writing or reading it) will try our best to gain from your insights.
In the end let me rephrase the standard disclaimer : Even though I am trying my best to write down only those things which can be applied by almost every CAT aspirant, but I make no claim of it being applicable to all. Please read the posts and use the advices given below in mocks and only when you are satisfied that they DO work for you, use them in real CAT. I take no responsibility of any particular strategy not working for you.
This blog is meant only for helping the CAT aspirants keeping in mind that I spend a lot of time on internet, gaining from various sources freely available on net and it becomes my social responsibility to do my bit, this blog is in no way a source for any monetary gain.
Cheers.
Let us bell the CAT this time.
Till now, I have been using this blog for writing my personal opinions and I hope that they have been of some help to some of you, but now as the importance of each and every minute we spare is increasing, let us be a little more regular, from now onwards, every day (or almost every day) I will be writing a new post on this blog, that will be having some new concepts, some approaches to solve a particular question and strategies on how to attempt a particular section or the entire paper.
Unlike the earlier posts some of these posts will be borrowed from various sources that I come across on internet, but I will try my level best to ensure that they are in public domain and that the authors have personally allowed me to use them in this blog. More often than not the original authors will be given due credit, but even if I fail to do so, you must realize that I am thankful to you all, and we all (every-one who contributes to this blog, by either writing or reading it) will try our best to gain from your insights.
In the end let me rephrase the standard disclaimer : Even though I am trying my best to write down only those things which can be applied by almost every CAT aspirant, but I make no claim of it being applicable to all. Please read the posts and use the advices given below in mocks and only when you are satisfied that they DO work for you, use them in real CAT. I take no responsibility of any particular strategy not working for you.
This blog is meant only for helping the CAT aspirants keeping in mind that I spend a lot of time on internet, gaining from various sources freely available on net and it becomes my social responsibility to do my bit, this blog is in no way a source for any monetary gain.
Cheers.
Let us bell the CAT this time.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
ThE final 30 days ...
Please read this post first : Introduction to ThE final 30 days
What We will be doing in these 100 hours spread over 30 days.
5 Sectional tests of QA / DI / VA each ( preferably from previous year mocks or other similar sources and with 20-25 questions in a section in QA/DI and 20-30 questions in VA)
5 Full length Mocks.
Revision of topics where we are comfortable.
Learning new concepts.
Notes we have to maintain
1.) DI sets we couldn't solve in the Mock CAT.
2.) New concepts learned.
3.) Words which came across us in the sectionals and Mocks.
4.) Mistakes that were committed in the mock-cat or the sectional and which could have been avoided.
The basic gyan.
Every day starting from today, make sure to give 3 hours to CAT, and plus do remember that you have to give 10 hours extra.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Every day, we have to do 3 things.
1.) Learn at-least one new concept, which may be from pg testfunda , totalgadha , some book, some friend, some blog or from anywhere else but we have to read at-least one thing which we didn't knew earlier and note it down + understand it.
2.) Solve at-least 1 DI set, if there is some unsolved DI set in the note 1 for DI we talked about earlier solve it, else get some DI set from any of the above mentioned sources and solve it.
3.) Read the three notes you have written (note 2, note 3 and note 4).
These 3 tasks will take about 60 minutes of your time everyday and sometimes a little more, in all making it an approx 35 hours.
Now we will divide the 30 days into 4 parts : 5 days before taking a full length mock, 5 days where you take a full length mock CAT, 5 days after taking a full length mock, and 15 other days.
For the sake of simplicity I am assuming that one will be taking a full length mock every 6'th day (though it might not be exact 6 days, but try to keep enough time in-between two mocks so as to make sure you can have proper analysis and not too much time to be out of touch of mocks.)
So lets suppose you will be taking full length mocks on 5'th, 11'th, 17'th, 23'nd, 29'th day.
On normal days ie. day 1,2,3,7,8,9,13,14,15,19,20,21,25,26,27.
1 sectional test : 40 minutes.
analysis of test : 80 minutes.
Total : 120 minutes.
What does analysis means // This is one point where my point of view differs from that of coaching institutes and others.
See that
If you wasted time on questions which were difficult to solve.
If you wasted too much time on a question.
If you quit a question just one the verge, and could later solve it in under 3 minutes ( a DI Set in under 15 minutes).
If there was some easy question you didn't/couldn't solve.
If you left a question even without reading it.
If all the questions are at-least familiar to you, if not go through the topic they belong to, and ensure that you can solve any similar question.
Check that if any of the questions could have been solved by some quicker method.
In 15 days : you will have done 15 sectional mock-cats ( 5 from each topic)
On days before full length mock CAT 4,10,16,22,28 .
Solve 3 sectional mocks (which you had already solved) and see if your score improved, if not try to modify your analysis part from next set of sectionals.
total : 3 * 40 =120 minutes.
On the day of full length mock 5,11,17,23,29 .
before giving the mock, be relaxed as if it is the real CAT and do what-ever you would do in a real CAT (just do remember to not to repeat any of the mistakes that you have written in your notes).
total : 135 minutes.
On the day after the full length mock 6,12,18,24,30
Analysis of the mock CAT.
total : 120 minutes.
NET TOTAL : 96 hours 15 minutes ( rest 3 hours 45 minutes, munaafa ..... "Congratulations, you have earned this time and can enjoy this".)
What We will be doing in these 100 hours spread over 30 days.
5 Sectional tests of QA / DI / VA each ( preferably from previous year mocks or other similar sources and with 20-25 questions in a section in QA/DI and 20-30 questions in VA)
5 Full length Mocks.
Revision of topics where we are comfortable.
Learning new concepts.
Notes we have to maintain
1.) DI sets we couldn't solve in the Mock CAT.
2.) New concepts learned.
3.) Words which came across us in the sectionals and Mocks.
4.) Mistakes that were committed in the mock-cat or the sectional and which could have been avoided.
The basic gyan.
Every day starting from today, make sure to give 3 hours to CAT, and plus do remember that you have to give 10 hours extra.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Every day, we have to do 3 things.
1.) Learn at-least one new concept, which may be from pg testfunda , totalgadha , some book, some friend, some blog or from anywhere else but we have to read at-least one thing which we didn't knew earlier and note it down + understand it.
2.) Solve at-least 1 DI set, if there is some unsolved DI set in the note 1 for DI we talked about earlier solve it, else get some DI set from any of the above mentioned sources and solve it.
3.) Read the three notes you have written (note 2, note 3 and note 4).
These 3 tasks will take about 60 minutes of your time everyday and sometimes a little more, in all making it an approx 35 hours.
Now we will divide the 30 days into 4 parts : 5 days before taking a full length mock, 5 days where you take a full length mock CAT, 5 days after taking a full length mock, and 15 other days.
For the sake of simplicity I am assuming that one will be taking a full length mock every 6'th day (though it might not be exact 6 days, but try to keep enough time in-between two mocks so as to make sure you can have proper analysis and not too much time to be out of touch of mocks.)
So lets suppose you will be taking full length mocks on 5'th, 11'th, 17'th, 23'nd, 29'th day.
On normal days ie. day 1,2,3,7,8,9,13,14,15,19,20,21,25,26,27.
1 sectional test : 40 minutes.
analysis of test : 80 minutes.
Total : 120 minutes.
What does analysis means // This is one point where my point of view differs from that of coaching institutes and others.
See that
If you wasted time on questions which were difficult to solve.
If you wasted too much time on a question.
If you quit a question just one the verge, and could later solve it in under 3 minutes ( a DI Set in under 15 minutes).
If there was some easy question you didn't/couldn't solve.
If you left a question even without reading it.
If all the questions are at-least familiar to you, if not go through the topic they belong to, and ensure that you can solve any similar question.
Check that if any of the questions could have been solved by some quicker method.
In 15 days : you will have done 15 sectional mock-cats ( 5 from each topic)
On days before full length mock CAT 4,10,16,22,28 .
Solve 3 sectional mocks (which you had already solved) and see if your score improved, if not try to modify your analysis part from next set of sectionals.
total : 3 * 40 =120 minutes.
On the day of full length mock 5,11,17,23,29 .
before giving the mock, be relaxed as if it is the real CAT and do what-ever you would do in a real CAT (just do remember to not to repeat any of the mistakes that you have written in your notes).
total : 135 minutes.
On the day after the full length mock 6,12,18,24,30
Analysis of the mock CAT.
total : 120 minutes.
NET TOTAL : 96 hours 15 minutes ( rest 3 hours 45 minutes, munaafa ..... "Congratulations, you have earned this time and can enjoy this".)
Introduction post : ThE final 30 days.
A lot of people have been asking me to write something about " What to do in the last few days " and I've been telling them that I will be writing such a post soon, so finally today is the day, when I will be writing that post, but I thought lets make a few things clear before you read that post.
Please understand, that you are the best judge of your-self, its you who has to decide what do you want in life, to decide your priorities and to check if something is working for you.
What-ever the post contains are my personal views on how to make the best of the final 30 days, its not to be considered as the rule-book but as a guide book which might help you in getting your dreams come true but how to use this guide book in the best possible manner is all your call.
A few assumptions that I am making for a reader(so that he can get benefits from it)
1.) You are actually willing to bell the CAT and it ain't just a time-pass or an option for you(Though u might be showing this to others.")
2.) You can spend 100 hours in these 30 days. and preferably these are spread evenly.
3.) You are flexible and willing to change and to learn.
And finally a word of precaution ....
I am just another CAT aspirant, I haven't been there and done that, never appeared in CAT before and I do have a lot of short-comings, I do commit a lot of mistakes in the mocks, I am just a mediocre and lazy guy who is not particularly great in either of QA/DI/VA.
So if you are reading this post, be warned that what-ever I am going to tell you may not be the best for you.
p.s -> The actual post will follow in a little time.
Please understand, that you are the best judge of your-self, its you who has to decide what do you want in life, to decide your priorities and to check if something is working for you.
What-ever the post contains are my personal views on how to make the best of the final 30 days, its not to be considered as the rule-book but as a guide book which might help you in getting your dreams come true but how to use this guide book in the best possible manner is all your call.
A few assumptions that I am making for a reader(so that he can get benefits from it)
1.) You are actually willing to bell the CAT and it ain't just a time-pass or an option for you(Though u might be showing this to others.")
2.) You can spend 100 hours in these 30 days. and preferably these are spread evenly.
3.) You are flexible and willing to change and to learn.
And finally a word of precaution ....
I am just another CAT aspirant, I haven't been there and done that, never appeared in CAT before and I do have a lot of short-comings, I do commit a lot of mistakes in the mocks, I am just a mediocre and lazy guy who is not particularly great in either of QA/DI/VA.
So if you are reading this post, be warned that what-ever I am going to tell you may not be the best for you.
p.s -> The actual post will follow in a little time.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Mistakes I won't Repeat
In this post, I am making a list of the mistakes which I have committed in previous mocks (and I am sure some of you must have made these or other) So lets make sure that none of us repeat any of these mistakes in future.
1.) Going on a speed spree, while accuracy goes for a toss. Its good to have great speed but not on the cost of accuracy, we have to have a proper balance among the two.
2.) Not marking a question even after solving it. We have to have confidence in ourselves. At times we don't mark a question even after solving it, since we think that the answer can't be so simple.
3.) Watching watch too many times, and taking un-necessary pressure about the time remaining, its good to have an eye on the watch, but don't get obsessed by it. Its okey if u gave a few extra minutes to a question or a section.
4.) Investing (actually wasting) too much time in a particular question (particularly DI set). We have to make sure that its not a matter of proud to solve a set while making the score bad. At times one feels that since I have already wasted some minutes on a particular question, so let me take a few more minutes and solve the question, we have to learn when to say no to a question and carry on with other questions.
5.) Wasting too much time on a particular section thinking its too easy / too difficult and spending a few more minutes will ensure clearing cut-off / getting good score. Remember if it is actually so, you can always come back to it after completing other sections don't ruin the entire paper in hope of doing good in one.
6.) Solving questions on feel, (particularly in QA/DI) don't mark an option just because it looks good and more so if its actually a +3 / -1. Though its a good method if you are able to reject a few options, and even then use it only when you are sure of clearing cut-offs in that particular section.
7.) Don't get complacent, at times after solving a few questions in a section, we feel its enough and I would be able to score good in this section so lets leave it and move on, just do remember if it seems easy to you, chances are that it will be easy for others also and there is a slight chance that you haven't actually that good as you think it is.
8.) And last but most important, a lot of guys feel always at extremes, a lot of guys to whom I have talked, say things like I am extremely good in one/two section while I am extremely bad in some other, so they don't work for improving their so called extremely good section, but please realize that there are a lot of smart guys over there and no-one (I repeat no-one is perfect) so you can always get better even in the section you feel god-like.
More-ever CAT always has a few sitters in every section, so with a bit of common-sense you can always clear the cut-off in ur weakest section, remember CAT prefers smart work over hard work, don't over-do yourself not in your weakest section not in any other, analyzing your-self and do that with-out taking any extra pressure of doing good in a particular section.
I hope we won't be repeating any of these and other similar mistakes......
Cheers .....
1.) Going on a speed spree, while accuracy goes for a toss. Its good to have great speed but not on the cost of accuracy, we have to have a proper balance among the two.
2.) Not marking a question even after solving it. We have to have confidence in ourselves. At times we don't mark a question even after solving it, since we think that the answer can't be so simple.
3.) Watching watch too many times, and taking un-necessary pressure about the time remaining, its good to have an eye on the watch, but don't get obsessed by it. Its okey if u gave a few extra minutes to a question or a section.
4.) Investing (actually wasting) too much time in a particular question (particularly DI set). We have to make sure that its not a matter of proud to solve a set while making the score bad. At times one feels that since I have already wasted some minutes on a particular question, so let me take a few more minutes and solve the question, we have to learn when to say no to a question and carry on with other questions.
5.) Wasting too much time on a particular section thinking its too easy / too difficult and spending a few more minutes will ensure clearing cut-off / getting good score. Remember if it is actually so, you can always come back to it after completing other sections don't ruin the entire paper in hope of doing good in one.
6.) Solving questions on feel, (particularly in QA/DI) don't mark an option just because it looks good and more so if its actually a +3 / -1. Though its a good method if you are able to reject a few options, and even then use it only when you are sure of clearing cut-offs in that particular section.
7.) Don't get complacent, at times after solving a few questions in a section, we feel its enough and I would be able to score good in this section so lets leave it and move on, just do remember if it seems easy to you, chances are that it will be easy for others also and there is a slight chance that you haven't actually that good as you think it is.
8.) And last but most important, a lot of guys feel always at extremes, a lot of guys to whom I have talked, say things like I am extremely good in one/two section while I am extremely bad in some other, so they don't work for improving their so called extremely good section, but please realize that there are a lot of smart guys over there and no-one (I repeat no-one is perfect) so you can always get better even in the section you feel god-like.
More-ever CAT always has a few sitters in every section, so with a bit of common-sense you can always clear the cut-off in ur weakest section, remember CAT prefers smart work over hard work, don't over-do yourself not in your weakest section not in any other, analyzing your-self and do that with-out taking any extra pressure of doing good in a particular section.
I hope we won't be repeating any of these and other similar mistakes......
Cheers .....
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Those 135 mintues ....
THIS POST IS REPLICA OF MY POST IN THE PG THREAD "The most important 135 minutes), I am posting it here for those of you who are not on pg (though its a great place to be for all CAT aspirants), in hope that it might help you in some way
I am not a winner, I am not a loser, though there is one-thing sure
I AM A SURVIVOR ......
CAT isn't just an exam for me (I am sure it won't be just that for any of you) its a way to prove myself, its the pay-back time to all people who have believed in me, even when I failed, and I failed miserably (more about this in the "coveted" post.
I have too many bad habits, and honestly speaking I love having some of them. One of these is the strong urge to "prove my-self right, come what may".
In CAT perspective, people have been telling me to do this and to do that, because it is what his brother/sister/friend has done and he is in some premier college. There were suggestions ranging from to mug-up the word-lists, to learn squares, cubes of natural numbers and what not, to not bother much about speed but work on accuracy, to read norman lewis, wren n martin, barren, to solve arun sharma and I don't know how many other books. To solve tougher questions(which either take more than 5 minutes time to solve, or which need some particular methodology without which they are un-solvable) because they will make me ready to face comparatively easier questions in CAT, to solve the paper with this strategy and that and what not.
But with these bad habits, I have a good habit, I do know about my-self, my strengths and weaknesses and I do know what I want from life and what I can do for it. I knew that I can't do a lot of things, unless I can't convince myself that I will do myself some good by remembering Barren's 3000 (or so ..) words, I am not gonna do that.
I always believed in one thing, if I can keep myself interested in CAT till the D-Day I can make it. So kept things simple, kept things in control so that they seem fun, when I appeared in my first AIMCAT(actually aimtest), the only thing in my mind was to have fun (and may be to prove that THIS IS THE RIGHT APPROACH), I thought nothing about strategy, I thought nothing about cut-offs, just a simple n basic guideline was there " GO THERE AND DO YOUR BEST IN ALL THE SECTIONS". I scored 99.23 percentile with VA at 80.92 percentile and rest 2 at 99.xx .
From that time to this, nothing much has changed, I am planning to follow the same simple strategy in CAT ' 09." GO THERE AND DO YOUR BEST IN ALL THE SECTIONS".
At times, I am compelled to show others how important a particular strategy is in cracking CAT, or that a particular book will do wonders for your preparation but honestly speaking the most important thing that can help you is "KEEP THINGS SIMPLE AND LOVE THE JOB YOU DO".
At 22'nd jan, I may feel shattered, and every-one reading this post after that date may feel, that's why he is not there.
But those 135 minutes are mine, I am gonna do what I love and what I have believed in those 135 minutes.
That way, I might turn out into a failure by not being there, but I will survive coz I still loved my job, I loved my preparations (this is what people call it), I loved my mock-cats and my discussions with puys, with my KDT and PGDT team-mates and with my hostel friends.
Success or Failure,
for one thing I am sure...
No matter what comes out,
I am gonna survive.
~~~~ Live ur life, not to be a hero BUT to live your life and mind you, living your life ain't same as just being alive ~~~~
I am not a winner, I am not a loser, though there is one-thing sure
I AM A SURVIVOR ......
CAT isn't just an exam for me (I am sure it won't be just that for any of you) its a way to prove myself, its the pay-back time to all people who have believed in me, even when I failed, and I failed miserably (more about this in the "coveted" post.
I have too many bad habits, and honestly speaking I love having some of them. One of these is the strong urge to "prove my-self right, come what may".
In CAT perspective, people have been telling me to do this and to do that, because it is what his brother/sister/friend has done and he is in some premier college. There were suggestions ranging from to mug-up the word-lists, to learn squares, cubes of natural numbers and what not, to not bother much about speed but work on accuracy, to read norman lewis, wren n martin, barren, to solve arun sharma and I don't know how many other books. To solve tougher questions(which either take more than 5 minutes time to solve, or which need some particular methodology without which they are un-solvable) because they will make me ready to face comparatively easier questions in CAT, to solve the paper with this strategy and that and what not.
But with these bad habits, I have a good habit, I do know about my-self, my strengths and weaknesses and I do know what I want from life and what I can do for it. I knew that I can't do a lot of things, unless I can't convince myself that I will do myself some good by remembering Barren's 3000 (or so ..) words, I am not gonna do that.
I always believed in one thing, if I can keep myself interested in CAT till the D-Day I can make it. So kept things simple, kept things in control so that they seem fun, when I appeared in my first AIMCAT(actually aimtest), the only thing in my mind was to have fun (and may be to prove that THIS IS THE RIGHT APPROACH), I thought nothing about strategy, I thought nothing about cut-offs, just a simple n basic guideline was there " GO THERE AND DO YOUR BEST IN ALL THE SECTIONS". I scored 99.23 percentile with VA at 80.92 percentile and rest 2 at 99.xx .
From that time to this, nothing much has changed, I am planning to follow the same simple strategy in CAT ' 09." GO THERE AND DO YOUR BEST IN ALL THE SECTIONS".
At times, I am compelled to show others how important a particular strategy is in cracking CAT, or that a particular book will do wonders for your preparation but honestly speaking the most important thing that can help you is "KEEP THINGS SIMPLE AND LOVE THE JOB YOU DO".
At 22'nd jan, I may feel shattered, and every-one reading this post after that date may feel, that's why he is not there.
But those 135 minutes are mine, I am gonna do what I love and what I have believed in those 135 minutes.
That way, I might turn out into a failure by not being there, but I will survive coz I still loved my job, I loved my preparations (this is what people call it), I loved my mock-cats and my discussions with puys, with my KDT and PGDT team-mates and with my hostel friends.
Success or Failure,
for one thing I am sure...
No matter what comes out,
I am gonna survive.
~~~~ Live ur life, not to be a hero BUT to live your life and mind you, living your life ain't same as just being alive ~~~~
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