Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.
~Ron Wild
Archive for May, 2008
CAT – trends and how to prepare
CAT is primarily divided into 3 sections:
I. Verbal Reasoning(VR) & Reading comprehension(RC)
II. Quantitative Ability(QA)
III. Logical Reasoning(LR) & Data Interpretation(DI)
First step is to buy a study package of any coaching institute (I used IMS package).
Use this package to:
a) Learn basics of QA and english grammar.
b) Get acquainted with the type and difficulty level of questions that came in past papers. c) Practice and improve accuracy.
d) Give full length tests to gauge your performance and your strengths & weaknesses. Use this information to arrive at a tentative strategy [Different strategies work for different people].
Apart from this, depending on your test results and performance measure, you can use other resources to improve in specific areas.
Trends:
Analyse last 10 year papers and if possible try to see a trend.
As no of questions is decreasing (from 180 to 75) and time extended (from 2 hrs to 2.5 hrs) so I reckon that they want to examine accuracy or in other words they test your concepts and how careful you are. But managing your time is also important, so that you get more time to spend on tougher questions.
With lesser number of questions, the choice of easier questions has gone down. Thereby, increasing the importance of each questions or in other words how you perform with limited options.
In DI & LR section, LR(puzzles) questions have stopped coming as separate questions and reasoning skills are examined through DI itself. DI sets are used to test different abilities for eg – how you handle data. Try to analyse different sets and during practice, think about what was this set supposed to test.
Some Tips:
There will be tricks in the questions, for eg. there will be some questions to check whether you are reading the question properly and observing the small details they want you to neglect.
Practice will help; but it is not about the amount of questions you do for practice but the quality of effort you put in. When you solve a question, don’t be santusht (satisfied) by getting the right answer. Find better ways to solve that question.
When you make a mistake, try to see what went wrong. Find out if it was a conceptual error or a silly mistake. Why you made the mistake? Make a note of it, keep track of how many times you made mistakes because of the same reason. And, minimise these errors.
Always remember: lesser calculations mean lesser chance of doing a silly mistake, thereby increasing your chance of getting to the right answer.
Eliminating wrong choices: CAT has multiple choice type questions. Out of 4, 1 choice will be always correct, so eliminate the other 3 wrong choices; but don’t do blind guesswork, believe in your instincts.
‘TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT THEY ARE LOOKING FOR’
Regards
Why Management?
As an engineer or graduate a person acquires technical and analytical skills which enable her/him to help in implemention of a business idea.
Initially an engineer is involved in the development and testing aspects. After some experience s/he will graduate to designing aspect of the process i.e. to be involved in ‘how’.
But to move to the ‘what’ aspect of business one needs to be aware of ‘why’. Apart from this knowledge s/he needs skills to sell her/his idea and market it. These skills and thought process can be developed over a period of time. MBA serves as a learning tool and provides with opportunities to work in these roles.
As a product developer, one needs to analyse market and identify needs of the market or a gap. For eg, www.tenaday.co.in identified the market for online testing for CAT preparation. Now, they have created a wonderful product to meet this requirement of the market.
TCS and Satyam have gone to China for business growth. Who envisioned it for indian IT companies to foray in China where nobody speaks english? who analysed the market in china? This is done either by strategy division of the company or usually outsourced to consulting firms like McKinsey.
There are a lot of other profiles which you get after MBA. So, should you go for management?? Ask yourself, are you happy in your current profile and satisfied with the growth and roles you will get? What kind of work you want to do?
THINK!
Quotation of the Day
Everyone has a purpose in life. Perhaps yours is watching television.
~Author : David Letterman
chat transcript
Had following discussion with a friend-
R : I just now started with GMAT prep
Sudhanshu G: ohk
Sudhanshu G: i had no idea
R : feeling scared how will I make it
Sudhanshu G: arre.. chill
Sudhanshu G: 
Sudhanshu G: u just need to knw how to do it and do it..
R : did u take exam b4 or is this the first time
Sudhanshu G: first time
Sudhanshu G: for gmat
Sudhanshu G: CAT – i took 4 times
R : u can try in ISB
Sudhanshu G: i m not
Sudhanshu G: need a 2 yr degree
R : oh u want only 2 yr degree
R : y so
Sudhanshu G: want to swtich field
R : then cant u do it with ISB do u feel it will take more
R : what do u want switch
R : My roomate in US she prepared very hard and scored good in mock tests (GMAT) more than 700 every time but in final she made only 540
Sudhanshu G: i dont think with ISB i can leave IT
Sudhanshu G: maybe anxiety
Sudhanshu G: my best score in mocks was 650
R : CAT if u do for 4 times will u be able to join
Sudhanshu G: ?
R : y I ask is bcoz for GMAT they say not more than 2
Sudhanshu G: not in CAT
Sudhanshu G: and for GMAT dont think abt 2nd time
Sudhanshu G: give ur best.. plan for 4 months of study
Sudhanshu G: think about 2nd time only after u have ur score in hand
Sudhanshu G: u will b surprised by what u scored!
Sudhanshu G: hey.. can I post this chat on my blog?
R : sure…..:)
Roadmap
Hi all,
Before starting your preparation, create a roadmap for it. This roadmap should speak for your journey toward success. It shall tell you what to do at any point of time during your journey.
Try to answer following questions:
1) What do you want to achieve? Eg – IIM
2) What is required to be done to achieve this target? At this point in time, you might not be fully aware of what needs to be done and have a very blurred image. So, the first step would be to find out what you know and what you don’t know. Both are very important. Find answers to what you dont know and clearly define your roadmap and EXECUTE it!
3) Equally important is why you want to achieve ‘this target’? Who you are as an individual and what value will it add to you?
4) At each step of this process keep asking yourself, is there a better way to do it (for everything from as broad a topic like your target to a particular detail like ‘how to improve reading speed’) ?
5) Is my roadmap flexible? During your journey, you will realize that you did not accounted for ‘x’ task. Roadmap should be flexible enough to adjust itself for this task.
Would you like to add anything to this list?
Quotation of the Day
Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking – Albert Einstein
Comments invited
GMAT preparation- some thoughts
Hi,
I am trying here to capture a few thoughts on GMAT preparation.
I hope this helps you and you get a good score.
Books – A Must have list
————-
1) Official Guide
2) Kaplan Verbal Workbook
3) Kaplan 800
4) Princeton
5) Manhattan SC
************************************************************************
GMAT Quant
————
This is not a difficult section for Indians, as they generally have
good quantitative abilities. While reading gmat prep books like
Princeton, kaplan and OG this will be sufficiently covered.
GMAT Verbal
————
Lots of practice is needed in this portion.
Special Note – Sentence Correction – Manhattan SC has grammar concepts
in a very concise manner and I read it 2-3 times.
Apart from Manhattan SC, all the other books have to worked on
completely until a level of confidence is acquired.
************************************************************************
Mock Tests
Timely tests will help in you in reviewing your preparation and
highlight the areas you need to focus on. I will suggest you to start
off with a diagnostic test. Tests can be found online. I did not gave
many tests so do not know where to look for them,, but I believe you
can find them online. Do keep in mind that test results should be used positively
and dont get bogged down by the results. Kaplan Tests are said to be
very tough and if you have a score of 650+ in kaplan than your actual
score can be from 720-760 in actual GMAT. Princeton tests are at par
with GMAT level.
Find comments by other people online and you can gauge your
performance accordingly.
**********************************************************************************************************
Some GMAT resources
Best of Luck
Sudhanshu
Hi
Hi everybody,
[Finally I am writing a blog. ]
Well, a friend suggested that I should write a book on CAT preparation. I thought that I can atleast write a blog and maybe help people achieve(not just score in CAT) what they want to. Maybe it will make a difference to someone’s life. I know there are more suited people to do this job, but I think I can also make some contribution somewhere (I hope so).
About myself:
Day before yesterday I resigned from TCS after working here since Dec, 2004. I will be joining a management institute soon and pursue a degree in management.
I have been preparing and giving CAT for last 4 years now. So I can claim to have experienced it all . This journey has not been alone. Guidance from friends and mentors have helped me a lot and I intend to pass on the knowledge that I have. So it is a profitable proposition for you to read on 
.
Regards,
Sudhanshu
