Destination IIM : Mission Summary

[ Note : This post is strictly for CAT aspirants, to give an idea of what awaits them. ]

Now that the fight is over and done, I thought of chronicling my exciting and enriching journey to the highest altars of Management Education in India. Here, I am posting about things I have done and what I have felt about them.

The Preparation

- IMS Classroom course : CATapult.
Good Course, but the GD/PI module is highly inadequate and dull.

- TIME Mock CAT series
They were tough, but CAT was much more tougher.

- Career Launcher Pegasus material
The presentation is simply superb. Very good for practice.

- TCY Online GK Module
Module was good. But was hardly useful.

- Hindu Editorials
Very very Important. It helps a lot both for RCs and later GD/PI.

- Debates on NDTV and CNN-IBN
These give different perspectives on various current issues, and very helpful in GD/PI

- IMS Achiever's Workshop
The inputs were invaluable.

The Tests

- CAT
Tough. Just 90 Questions. Differential marking.
Horrible Performance.
VA - 94% DA - 90% QA - 94% Overall - 97.25%

- IIFT
Moderate. A section on GK. Questions on Higher Maths too.
OK performance.
Score : 36.6 %

- JMET
Moderate. Quant was damn tough. Others were OK.
Decent Performance.
Rank : 257

- XAT
Very Tough.
Incremental Negative Marking.
Excellent Performance.
Score : 99.54 %

- FMS
Missed due to a Bike Accident.

The Institutes

CAT => BLACKI, NITIE, MDI and SPJIMR
JMET => IIT B,D
IIFT => IIFT
XAT => XLRI

The GD/PI calls

IIM B, XLRI, IIFT, IIT B, NITIE, IIT D.

The GD/PI

- IIFT
An essay on 'Decline in the popularity of Cricket'
A one hour long GD on 'Should Dress Code be implemented in Institutes' ( 12 members )
A 10-15 min PI.
Essay and GD were OK. PI very bad.

- IIT D
10 min, 12 member GD on 'Should IIM/IITs be privatised ?'
PI totally focussed on career goals.
GD was a horrible chaos. PI was cool.

- IIT B
A HR case study.
12 members, 20 mins and was well ordered.
PI was a test of logical/analytical/technical abilities.
Good GD and an Excellent PI.

- XLRI
A 20 min PI.
Mostly focussed on convincing abilities and communication skills.
Average Performance.

- NITIE
8 member, 20 min GD on 'Is management education a Luxury ?'
A stress Interview, totally concentrated on my Engineering Subjects.
Excellent GD, PI not good.

- IIM B
5 member, 15 min Case study.
15 min Summary of the GD.
PI on Workex, Career goals and Current affairs.
Cool GD, Decent summary and decent PI.

The Final Results

Converts : IIMB, IITB, NITIE, IITD.
Kicks : IIFT
Waitlisted : XLRI ( 78 )

Going to IIM Bangalore.. Mission Accomplished !!