The week that went by...

The week that went by had many interesting things in store for me.

First of all, I congratulate, well, myself, for having completed Atlas Shrugged, the baap of all philosophy novels. After reading it by parts in almost all the bus journeys that I made in the last 4 months, I have come to a conclusion that a novice reader should never make an arse out of himself/herself by going in for such a heavy novel. But one character that really inspired me a lot in this novel was that of Hank Rearden, a herculean in himself.

For close to a month, I did a deep research equivalent to the depth of Google's web. Analysing all the possible ways in which 2000 bucks (which was actually planned for something else) can better be utilised, I finally decided to enter into the world of masthi, mobiles and messages, gifting myself a cute little Motorola C115. During this process I realised I can better be an actor rather than becoming a Software Engineer. Had to do a lot of naatak for that though ;). But its memory capacity screwed my happiness bigtime. PM me for further details :(( (Well, if youre really interested. Are you?? Tell me, are you??)

The Mirchi Factor:

Radio Mirchi was another thing that kept me happily busy the entire last week. On the first day, Chaitanya (who accompanied me till almost till the last round) was late as usual to the audition centre just(just(just(just))) by one hour (well, thats his --> fate, reloaded. The tyre of bus blasts when he gets into it or the autowallah takes him round the globe telling that it is the shortest route or if everything is fine, he wakes up late, finally blaming it all over me :p.) The bum was kicked out of the audition centre and was asked to come the next day. The first two rounds were blind auditions, where we were asked to speak the way an RJ speaks. Then we had another 2 rounds of personal interviews.... where the "cool" interviewers over there asked all kinds of weird questions like... when was the last time you boozed, why dont you smoke, when was the last time you ever cried and did you ever have a broken relationship etc etc... Basically it was fun all the way. Out of the three interviews that I attended till date, I should say that this was the most interesting and hatke interview that I had. What makes me really proud is that though many experienced radio artists and dubbing artists attended the interview, most of them didnt make it through and being inexperienced, 2 other guys (Chaitanya and Adi) other than I from my college made it till the penultimate round and I could clear even the last round. But sadly, my father gave me a lovely option of choosing either to stay in home or to go for this job. Sadly, he wasn't really interested in I doing a job while I'm still pursuing my engineering. (Neither was I, but it was just a part of my part-time job junt).

Now if you have the slightest feeling to congratulate me or better if you feel like treating me or if you think we should go on a holiday to Switzerland for my achievements, PM me, call me or send me an E-mail. I dont mind what way you would like to
do that :p

My eyeballs have already popped out half way off their place. And I think its better I rest for sometime now.

BTW... Musings '06 - An Ode to Penmanship

Enlightenment Dose - 1

A small break from my super long posts. TIme for a life enlightenment dose.

• Speak to express, not to impress.
• Dont ASSUME. To assume is to make an ASS of U and ME.

Holy me!!

The M.A.Ts of India

(In the following post, you can interchange CAT with RAT MAT BAT XAT EAT... whatever you want... Its just that each exam screws you at a point never before.)

Its exactly a month ago that I relieved myself from probably the toughest and academically the most difficult phase, so far, in my life. January 15th. Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi (Better known as FMS Delhi) conducted its entrance exam. Though it marked an end of management entrance exams for me, it was not so for the nation. On February 26th Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS, Mumbai) is conducting its entrance examination.

Well. Enough of the time table.

Probably one of the most admired modes of selection of students for management courses in India has originally been started by the IIM's, way back in the 60's. Generally conducted on the third sunday of every November, Common Admission Test, better known with its petname "CAT", which is also the first phase of selection process for the management course, has been the beast that only smart brains in the country could kill soft. The test consists of sub-sections wherein the candidate is expected to show equal competence in all the sections. The following sunday is generally IIFT's day, as they conduct a test of their own for an admission into IIFT. Equally busy are the follwing sundays for different b-schools, almost till the end of February, where tests are conducted for admissions into the management courses.

In all of these exams, similar selection processes and elimination strategies are adopted. Post entrance test, students who qualify are called for a Group Discussion, where majority of people who turn up are eliminated. Those who clear even this round are called for a round of Personal Interview. One can expect some mirchi here, in the form of some of the most stupid and weird questions like "Why is your tie not made of silk?", "How many buttons are there on you shirt and why only that many?". Completely subject oriented questions like "At which point is the function (some really complex function, calculus oriented) disontinuous and why?" are suddenly shot without giving any clue that the topic is being changed. A round of personalitydrilling is also carried out by the interviewers. Only those who sail through all these rounds can step into the prestigious management institutions of India.
Analysing this process, I wonder if there could be any other mode of selection so pure, refined and transperent as how it is for CAT. Luck absolutely has no role to play in it and so is it even for blind prayers. Only the cream can make it through. The history of B-School admissions has always shown this. CAT 2005 replayed the show and has once again proven its standard big time that a simple coaching is not enough to get you through.

So whats there to listen so much from this loser who didnt even get a single call from the 909290138931287 exams that he has written so far??. Well... only losers can clearly tell you what you can lose at what point of time by doing what :p. Can winners do the same? ;). Certain guidelines and simple strategies can help work wonders in CAT, but only when practised at the right time.
> I'm sorry if you dont, but you should really have a working brain. And when I say WORKING, it should be really working!!
> It really gets simple to crack CAT when you atmoise the whole paper. See it as a set of 120 questions where you are asked to mark the top 40 easiest quesitons making sure that you score approximately and requiredly well in each section.
> Mocks are the best field where one can judge oneself. I made a dumba** out of myself thinking that they really don't matter. The more you sweat the less you bleed. So its better you carry out as many experiments on your strategy as possible and evaluate their efficiency immediately.
> If youre a person who really gets tensed during the exam time, forget CAT for the last 2 weeks. Just F O R G E T. Concentrate on your sem exams instead. And for all the cool heads who really dont get tensed whatever the situation, try diggng and byhearting new forumale with certain routine question types (Dont mind even if its the night before the D-Day). It really thrills you and fetches you some "nice marks" if the formulae learnt before night help you in recognising a certain type of question.
> Smart Strategy is the only key for cracking CAT. So spend a higher amount your time more on it rather than mugging up formulae and practising questions.

1. Start with a section of your choice, if its Quant, scan the paper in 5 minutes flat and mark that 10-15 workable questions. Spend your half an hour on them.
2. For DI, adopt either "Some of All" or "All of Some" strategy. Dont forget DS at the same time too...
   
3. If its Verbal, go ask your mentor. He can guide you better. But if you have excess of verbal talent, get back to me.
   

> Avoid dumb guessing. Guessing is synonymous to choosing the most comfortable and soothing way you want to die. If you want to, try going for smart guesses wherein the generally possibility of an answer is checked and 2 of 4 options can be eliminated.

It's more a student learns from experience in such examinations than in "CAT-Cracking" guidelines and many more articles like this. So at the end, apart from these few general points mentioned above, follow what works for you.

P.S: Any sane head who has got a real taste of CAT will not leave it unachieved. So guys... get going!!