Posted by TCYonline.com on June 3, 2010
Written By Mansi Praveen
MBA – Masters in Business Administration – these are the few words which have haunted me since the past three years of my life.
The series of mock tests, mock interviews, their results, mugging vocab, solving timed test papers..blah blah blah….i am sure all the MBA aspirants would be able to understand these feelings. These sentences would follow me like the puppy in the Hutch ( now Vodafone ) advertisement…wherever i go, my saga of MBA preparation follows 
A typical cribbing conversation in one complete cycle of form filling -> preparing -> final exams -> results -> interview >- final results would be :
Me: Yaar, this is the last time i am writing the CAT exam. if this time nothing happens, i will continue in my field ( whereas i knew that CAT form filling is going to be an endless festival for me which i would be celebrating each year, hehe)
Me again: You know, XYZ has got admission into ABC (choice of words is not coincidental!), i have been preparing for so long but nothing happens. It all about Luck and no hard work!
Me again: I hate this job, this year i am gonna prepare for GMAT, enough of CAT now. CAT doesn’t deserve me ( innocent me )
Me again:I will apply for executive MBA now..what is the eligibility criteria for that?
There are umpteen sentences i remember which I used to share with my noble friends ( Thanks guys for that).
But now, the story has ended. Finally i got admission into one of the reputed colleges in India and i am joining on 13th June.
As they say, it is not the destination which matters, rather the journey. My tryst with this journey has ended….have learnt a lot from it and value what i have got more so because of this journey…
Have loads of stuff to write about it, but finally ending it with the crux of what i have learnt from this – “Yes, luck does matter…but it is nothing in comparison to the hard work and conviction you put in to reach where you want to be!”
Posted by NIRANJAN RAJPUROHIT on May 31, 2010
I had following calls – SIBM-Pune, SCMHRD, SPJAIN (Mumbai), XIMB, IIT Roorkee.
Since I attended so many GD, GT and PIs, it would not be possible for me to narrate all the experiences. However, I would like to share a few things which are very important for any college.
1) Be honest. Never bluff.
2) If you are a fresher, be prepared for technical questions like – ur final year project, ur seminar, ur training, ur favorite subject, etc
3) If you have work-ex, be prepared for questions related to business of ur company like – who were ur clients, what was the business of the clients, ur company’s hierarchy, sales and turnover of ur company, number of employees, etc.
4) Interview is a pre-planned game. Pls understand this. Go prepared with answers for all the question like – introduce urself, why MBA, why this particular college, ur hobbies, ur strengths, weakness, career goals, etc.
5) For every question, ur answer shud be logical and if the interviewer asks, u shud be able to give suitable examples to justify wat u have said.
6) Be prepared for cross-questions.
7) Smile wen u enter the room.
Come formally dressed. Proper haircut and clean shaven. It is very important. .
9) Remain updated about all GK and current affairs stuff. Read morning’s newspaper on the day of interview.
10) Always have a stand and have ur own opinion about whatever is asked to u, esp. in the case of debatable issues and current affairs.
11) Never talk about placements in the interview. Never compare any college.
12) Do a lot of research about the college before attending its interview. It helps u to speak confidently in the interview wen asked for questions related to why mba and why this college, etc.
13) Be thorough about ur hobbies. It is very much possible that ur entire interview can go discussing ur hobbies. If u don’t know all the details, say, about ur favourite game, u are out. It gives a very bad impression.
Posted by golimar thriller on
My IIM C interview
Result – rejected
3 people in panel , lady professor, old professor, old alumnus.
after having a good GD the same panel who judged the GD started the interview
(the old prof went out for some reason he joined the interview after 2 mins)
me :- good morning sir, good morning ma’am
lady : good morning take a seat
me- thank U ma’am
lady:- have u brought any identity proof with U
Me- yes ma’am
(i handed my driving license to them)
lady:- oh ur license has a smart card.
(alumnus joins in)
alumnus :- what is the need of a memory chip in ur license
me- sir to save information in it.. information about the license holder
alumnus: what kind of info
me :- data like address , name ,expiry date etc
alumnus :- that data can be printed on the card .. why do we need a separate embedded memory chip.. See the information u said is already printed in ur card.
( old prof arrives and takes a seat )
me :- well I guess the police who catches U swipes the card in the smart card reader to check the authenticity of the printed data,or maybe it saves his time by swiping the card rather than reading the printed data…
old prof :- well I will repeat the question .why do we need a memory chip on ur driving license when all the data is printed on ur license…take ur time.. think on it .. it won,t save his time to read the printed data.. the reason is something different.. take ur time .. think and answer
me :- ( after thinking) since there r lots of information about lakhs of license holder .. we need to store the data in digital format
alumnus :- U r talking about lots of data at the server.. we r talking why is there a memory chip on a smart card
Lady:- which branch u have done ur engineering
me :- electronics
Lady to old prof:- (with a smile ) he must answer the question then
me :- (thinking)
old prof :- have u ever been caught by a police while driving..
me :- no sir 
old prof 
kay whenever U get caught the police checks the data in the smart card to see if there is any previous default done by U.. if u r a serial offender it can be seen from the smart card. say for instance u were caught drunken by police .. that would be updated in the memory chip and next time if ur caught U won,t be spared .. understood.
me :- ( nodding my head) yes sir
old prof :- don,t u think u shud have thought of this answer
me :- yes sir , as a manager we need to think of all possibilities
old prof:- (nodding his head with a smile)
alumnus :- do u think smart cards can u used to store money
me :- yes sir
old prof :- give me an example
me :- (thinking) sir In Mumbai there is Go smart card which can be used to travel anywhere
old prof:- does it store money ..
me :- i guess its like prepaid card .U buy the card .. it doesn’t store money
alumnus :- what bout ATM cards
(dumb me didn’t recall ATM stores money)
old prof :- what u mean by data warehousing and data mining
me :- sir i can make a guess, am not sure of the answer.
lady:- ( with a smile ,encourages me) go ahead , go ahead
me :- Since a warehouse means a place where goods are kept , data warehousing must be a place to store lots of data.. which can be used for analysis later
and from mining ,i can guess data mining means , searching for a particular piece of data
old prof :- nice 
alumnus:- I see ur a 2006 pass-out and u have only 26 months of experience
(what did u do for 2 years)
me:- sir i worked for a BPO for some time
alumnus:- then u shud have mentioned that here
me:- sir but i don’t have an experience certificate for the same and last year in the month of April I was asked to resign from my job in Patni due to lack of projects…
old prof :- so u were given a pink slip
me :- yes sir, But in stead of searching for other jobs i took it as an opportunity to crack CAT and get into IIMs .
Lady :- ( encourages me again) that’s good and u managed to get IIM calls
me :- I found is unethical to do a job for few months and leave it since i wanted to do an MBA eventually
old prof :- so how do u manage ur finances.
me:- sir I stay with my family and i got enough support from them
old prof:- oh so u r from mumbai
old prof :- that’s great then U seem well determined ..( looking at the lady ) he has decided he is gonna make it
lady:- which other IIM calls
me :- IIM indore
lady :- then u got good chance to make it from a good college ( smiles)
( i don,t recollect exactly but those profs were praising me too much that I am determined ,no one can stop him and blah blah)
its then that i made a biggest mistake by saying
me :- sir I have already converted Symbiosis
old prof:- see no one can stop him
alumnus:- ( who was silent ) which college u said
me :- SIIB
alumnus :- okay ..
( smiles everywhere)
U may leave
me :thank u sir, thank u ma’am
Posted by adarsh sharma on
“Why do you want to do an MBA?”
“Tell us something about yourself”
“What are your views about the current Indian cricket team”
“How did Punjab get its name?”
These were some of the opening questions I was asked during my interviews for admission into various top b-schools of the country. As you can see, some are clichéd questions whereas some are a bit off the course and there is no way you can be sure of what you are going to be asked. The best you can do is to be well prepared.
You may come across a lot of experts who tell you different things about how to crack an interview. A lot of the things might be true, but always take them with a pinch of salt. A lot of times their judgement is based on the past experiences of themselves or of others. The experience of others can surely give you a good idea of what can happen but it won’t be what will happen. Once I met a so called expert who told me, “ I will give you the answers to the questions like Why MBA and you just have to put them in your own words and present them.” Frankly this seemed totally absurd to me. In the end it is you who is going to be interviewed and it is you who knows about yourself, about Why you want to do an MBA! Being yourself is of utmost importance in any interview. If you don’t believe in what you are saying, how can you convince someone else about the same?
Confidence is the key when it comes to cracking an interview. Remember that most of the questions that you will be asked in the interview are going to be very basic and generic in nature. So, what the panel looks for is whether you can answer those questions with confidence and conviction. If an interviewee says that he wants to be entrepreneur, the panel invariably asks whether he has any business idea in mind. This counter question is just to check whether you are bluffing or are you actually serious about it. They also know that you won’t be having a fool proof business plan because otherwise what would you be doing there!
The question that gave me sleepless nights was whether or not I will be asked questions regarding my academics. I didn’t have a very good academic background which means less marks in graduation which made me doubt my own capabilities in answering those questions. This has been a query pointed at me by a number of aspirants as well. Again, like I said right at the start, you can never tell what you will be asked. For a fresher, you can generally expect at least a couple of academic questions as lack of work experience takes away one dimension of questions that can be directed at you so the odds increase. But this is not something that should worry you much as the panel more often than not will try to bring the best out of you and if you don’t seem to comfortable with your academics they will shift to other questions and you should try to answer them well.
Generally there is a lot of buzz about stress interviews. This is the case when the interviewer is trying to judge how bad your worst is. In such interviews, always remember, a smile never harmed anyone.
Sometimes the panel can also ask you current affairs or general knowledge questions. These questions are never the make or break questions. Whereas knowing the answers can give you some brownie points for sure, not knowing them will not end it for you. The bulk of your interview will be on the basis of the form that you will be asked to fill. Do take that form seriously as the form in itself won’t matter in your selection but the form is what can drive your interview in a certain direction. Try not to express extreme views as that shows you as being stubborn and less room is there for you to change your answer in the interview if you feel necessary.
A lot of times you can end up being your own interviewer. The questions you will be asked can be the loose ends in your previous answers. This can be to your advantage and also to your disadvantage. So, try not to leave loose ends and if you want it to play to your advantage, be extra careful as it can backfire as well.
All said and done, don’t forget that it is just an interview- One among many you will appear in this “MBA-season” or for that matter in your life. It will be good if you make it but won’t be the end of the world if you don’t. It may just be a blessing in disguise as who knows, You may get much better opportunities in the future.
Posted by TCYonline.com on September 21, 2007
The Common Admission Test (CAT), like all MBA entrance examinations, is basically a test of speed and accuracy.
The most important strategy is effective time management. The bulk of poor scores result from mismanagement of time on exam day.
But why do student so frequently make this mistake?
Some say that mounting pressure during the test caused them to panic. Others say they came across new material that left them shocked and confused. Still others got entangled in a few lengthy questions, leaving them precious little time to complete the test.
Let’s discuss time management strategies that will help you secure an excellent score. Here are some exam day tips:
When you receive the CAT, do not start attempting the questions immediately. It is better to scan the paper and try to determine which sections and questions will be easiest to answer.
The exam lasts for 150 minutes. Here’s how you should divide your time:
~ 5 minutes for filling in personal data and marking the OMR sheet (145 left)
~ 5 minutes to scan the paper and plan your approach (140 left)
~ 45 minutes at the most for your strongest section (at least 95 left)
~ 45 minutes for the medium section (at least 50 minutes left)
~ 45 minutes for your weakest section (5 minutes left)
~ 5 minutes to review your test and make sure everything is in order
If you feel that 45 minutes is more than you need for your strongest section, allocate the time to your weakest section. The extra time may help you get a good percentile in your weakest area.
For each section, start by selecting the questions which will consume less time and you are able to solve with confidence. Only after handling easy questions should you move on to more difficult ones.
Verbal questions such as direct dictionary meanings and sentence corrections should be the priority, as they do not require much time. Say you are good at vocabulary — you will only need a few minutes for ten questions. The time you save here can be utilised while doing an inference based question from a passage that requires more work.
Some more important tips:
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Answer all questions that you can confidently solve. Avoid all questions that confuse you.
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Do not attempt a question that takes more than five or ten minutes to solve; it will only hurt your score.
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Read ALL instructions carefully before you start
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Always keep an eye on the clock; check every ten minutes to make sure you are on track.
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Never watch your neighbours; the person next to you may work quickly but inaccurately. Your only measuring stick should be the clock.
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Stop studying at least 24 hours before your exam. Relax and enjoy the day. This will keep you stress-free.
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It is a myth that the CAT is difficult. If you prepare beforehand and effectively manage your time on test day, you will do well.
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Be smart; be confident.
To get a call from an IIM, you’ll need to clear the sectional cut off scores. If these lofty requirements are not possible for you, don’t panic. Instead, focus on enhancing your score through the above methods and you will earn entry at institutions such as MDI, IMT, SP Jain, KY Somaya and so on.
In short, it’s best to understand your limitations. Don’t let your ego get the better of you and don’t try to secure a perfect score. Recognise your ability and earn the best score possible for you.
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