"CAT is the toughest, but not the only one," TIME Education advices students not to lose a year

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Some aspirants who are not finding their CAT 2007 preparations up to the mark are getting nervous and searching for experts help.

When their mock-test scores are not shoring up, they are asking: “should I start preparing for CAT 2008.” Mr Sai Kumar, Course Director at Triumphant Institute of Management Education (TIME), one of leading MBA test prep companies, answered this query and said, “Students should realize that what they are working towards is a seat at a top notch B-School and not necessarily ‘doing well in CAT’. CAT is the toughest B-School test anywhere in the world, but it is not the only one!”

Given that there is no guarantee for doing well next year, Mr Kumar advices students not to give up on CAT 2007 and wait for next year. Said Mr Kumar, “The moot point is that one should not lose a year in the hope of doing well in CAT 2008. Rather one should take the best possible option available to them currently as one can never predict that performance will ‘certainly’ improve in the next year.”

A few top B-schools other than Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), who run their own entrance tests, are also offering good quality education to the students. Emphasizing this point, Mr Kumar says, “The so called ‘gap’ between the world class IIMs and the other top 20 B-schools in the country is decreasing year after year and currently all of them are within striking distance of the IIMs.”

Apart from CAT, its time aspirants also put other entrance exams into their plans to hedge their risks. Said Mr Kumar, “Students should hedge their risks by also writing other major entrance tests in India like Xaviers Aptitude Test (XAT) for XLRI, Symbiosis National Aptitude Test (SNAP) for Symbiosis Group of Institutes, National Management Aptitude Test (NMAT) for Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, ICFAI Business School Aptitude Test (IBSAT) for ICFAI Business School etc. These exams are not as difficult as the CAT and as such students tend to perform better in these tests. Thus more opportunities open up to the students who diversify their risk!”

Students can appear in other important management entrance exams include XAT on January 6, 2008; FMS Entrance Test for Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University on January 13 2008; IIFT Admission Test for Delhi based Indian Institute of Foreign Trade on November 25 2007; Joint Management Entrance Test (JMET) for Indian Institute of Technology (IITs B-schools) on December 9 2007; NMAT on December 30 2007; SNAP and IBSAT on December 16 2007.

Emphasizing the importance of not losing a year, Mr Kumar says, “Thus aiming to get into a good B-School in 2007 itself should be the aim and any thought that one entertains of cracking the exam in 2008 would only weaken the preparation and not strengthen it.”

Concludes Mr Kumar, “The way forward is to steel yourself and take CAT 2007 as if it is the only attempt you have got in your life!”