Crack the MBA Entrance

The word MBA is one of the most commonly heard words in the field of higher education today, and the Common Aptitude Test (CAT) simply tags along. It is one of the best opportunities available for achieving admission in to the bestmanagement institutes in India, like the IIMs.

Preparing for the CAT is not an easy task. A student preparing to appear for the CAT will have several questions in mind; the most important being: when is the best time to start preparing for CAT? Also, how much time does onerequire to effectively prepare for the CAT?

A student should start preparing for the CAT while studying in the pre-final year of graduation. This helps the student to balance college studies and the study for the CAT. Also, starting the preparation early gives the student more time to complete the portion and to appear for more practice CAT papers.

Moreover, with greater time and practice put in, the student is able to get better clarity of concepts, and better awareness of the strengths and weaknesses. If one starts late the pressure of study and performance in the tests become immense, and this affects one's confidence.

The three main areas tested in the CAT are:
1. Quantitative Aptitude.
2. Verbal Ability
3. Logical Reasoning and Data interpretation (LR and DI)

These are the areas tested in all the other MBA entrance examinations also. Hence, it is advisable to start preparing for the CAT even if one's focus is some other specific entrance examination.

The minor differences in some of the other exams are: Business Awareness and General Knowledge in exams like IIFT, SNAP and TISS; Higher mathematics in FMS and JMET; Essay writing in XAT; and Visual Reasoning in CET. These areas can then be systematically covered to attempt all the examinations in the exam season.

The CAT has changed its testing style in the past decade. Gradually moving away from its strong focus on concept application in the late 90s, it has now become an almost completely reasoning test.

The logic behind this shift, as most people perceive it, is to identify those who are well equipped to face the challenges in the corporate world.

In Quantitative Aptitude a student could easily prepare the basics of mathematics in Std. VIII, IX, X on his own, but the applications of these principles will have to be learnt with some effort in a formal academic setting of the class room under a faculty. Self study may help, but only to a limited extent. Classroom coaching can be of tremendous help in learning the different ways to approach a problem and to solve it in the shortest time.

In verbal ability, the focus has shifted from comprehension and proficiency in language to analytical skills. All the options for a particular question appear correct and demand much more than a casual or superficial analysis. Reasoning ability is the key requirement to solve these questions correctly.

In fact, DI was the harbinger of these changes in the testing style of CAT. DI questions were the first to change and were earlier dominated by varying types of graphs and tables. Questions were loaded with numbers and required detailed calculations.

The DI/LR section is now a collection of sets that are completely interpretation-cum-analysis based. Solving questions in the new scheme of things is not at all a function of how well an individual can calculate but a direct function of how much and how well the test taker can comprehend and logically process the given data.

So, what helps a student to solve the New-Age CAT paper is not sheer brilliance but a combination of sharp, swift intelligence and 'pin-pointed precision' in reasoning. A well planned strategy is essential in the preparation for the CAT to get the required confidence and to make a successful attempt to achieve one's goals.

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Personal Interview Tips

Your academic skills were checked in the entrance test, your people skills in GD. Now, comes the turn of gauging you on your own standards. The B-schools want to know how much you are aware of yourself and how much you relate your goals to your personal self.

Students spend most of the time in going through course books whereas 90 per cent of the interview questions are based on you. But answering questions on yourself can catch you in a tight spot. There can be some rules set when it comes to GD because there are certain expected etiquettes, but there can be no rules set for the interview because everyone has sui generis personality. The best way to tackle interview is to sit and know yourself in and out. Think why you want to pursue an MBA. Make a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Not only will it help you analyse your personality, but will also help you prepare for many other questions for the interview, including:

Why do you want to do MBA?
What are your personal goals?
Where do you see yourself 10 years down the line?
What are your hobbies?
What are your strengths and weakness?
Tell us about yourself.

Who wins?
Those with:
Self awareness: You should be able to delve on each and every aspect of your personality, family background, the city you come from and the institutes you have studied in. If you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses, you will be able to justify them. For example, the panelists may ask someone about his poor academic record. As long as he knows why he under-performed, he can come up trumps.

Goal clarity: You should know how the MBA programme will help you achieve your long-term goals. There might be different reasons for doing MBA, for different people, and even for one person there can be more than one objective to do MBA. But you should analyse it beforehand rather than doing it in front of the panel.

Ability to remain calm: The real you comes up when you are under pressure situation.The panelist will try to grill you on your weakness or on the answers you are giving. They want to put you under pressure and see whether you lose your calm once put under pressure.

Who loses?
Those who:
Give practised answers: You have your own strengths and weaknesses. But while attending the mock interviews, you were told how some students gave impressive answers and got selected. If you try to give the same answers, you might be caught.

Lie to the panellists: They are very experienced people and can catch you if you try to bluff them on your academic record, or on a fact-based question, or when you try to answer the question even if you don’t know the answer.

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Group Discussion Tips

A group discussion is generally a 20-to-30 minute process whose larger objective is to select those candidates who have the ability to perform in a team. Apart from this, the kind of topic given, also helps panelists to know various traits of a candidate’s personality. In most of the GDs’, you are made to sit in a semi-circle and discuss a given topic.

What matters in group discussion is your stand on the topic, your ability to analyse, your awareness about the topic, and the way you present it. One person from the group is asked to introduce the topic, what follows is the discussion and the conclusion. The focus here is more on leadership and decision making, because in a GD you may or may not reach a consensus since the issues given to you are debatable. The end result of GD will not always be to reach a consensus, but to assess your people skill.

Who wins?
Those who have:

Good listening skills: Listening doesn’t mean hearing. It means understanding what the other person is saying. If you have good listening skills, you will be able to keep a track of where the group discussion is moving. You will know different points that have already been raised and you have to bring in some new point.

Knowledge of the topic: Earlier it was just about discussing pros and cons of an issue, but now knowledge gathered from various sources, analysed and presented in a structured form, holds the key to success in GD.

Reading newspapers, magazines, and going through Economic Survey would help in enriching the content of GD.

Confidence: You might have all the knowledge and good listening and analytical skills, but if you do not have confidence to assert what you are saying is right, that might prove to be detrimental.

Introduction: Introducing the topic can make or break the situation. Explain the topic, don’t read what is written.

Say what you think of it. People think that taking a stand in a GD might go against them. But there is difference in being assertive and in being rigid. You are expected to give your point of view.

Who loses?

Those who speak a lot: Of course, not speaking in GD will not take you anywhere but speaking too much can also make you lose the GD. Remember, it is not a one-man show. It is a group discussion. If you try to grab the attention of the panelists, cut other person short, it shows that you are not a team player. If you do not speak in the entire GD, but give valid points twice that can add value to the discussion, then you will be appreciated.

Those who become emotional: There are topics that involve some sensitive issues. You have all the valid points to support that women make better managers, but bringing in the element of argument and accusing other persons in the group will only get you rejected.|

Those who over-dominate: You are taking and managing the group discussion well, listening to the arguments, giving your point of view and letting everyone speak. Everything is in your favour and suddenly you decide to be a godfather of somebody who has not spoken at all and who doesn’t have one single argument to present.

Cutting short somebody who is making a valid point and asking the silent one to speak, can actually go against you.

Secrets of success for B-School entre

There is no set of rules that can teach you what to, and what not to do in GD/PI. This is because it is a process to assess a candidate’s personality, and you cannot apply the same set of rules to every individual. What becomes important in such a scenario is to understand the ‘why’ and ‘what’ of GD; and arrive at your own rules that fit your personality.

The first things first — why

B-schools conduct GD/PI when students have already gone through an acid test. Isn’t clearing MBA entrance test enough to show that you are worth it? The simple answer is NO, because B-schools are not simply looking for walking dictionaries or logarithm books.They want candidates who can be trained and polished to be managers.The entrance test is just one stage where they see whether you have the basic acumen to understand the course that will be taught during the MBA programme. In that, too, some parts of personality, like ability to take decisions, ability to perform under pressure, and analytical and logical thinking, are assessed. But in order to get a complete idea of a candidate’s personality, B-schools go through this long process.

Group discussions and personal interviews are accepted tools to select a student, because in a limited time they can give a fair idea to B-schools whether a candidate can become a manager or not. This brings us to another question: are managerial traits natural or can they be acquired? If they are natural, what is the need to do MBA?

An MBA course teaches students how to achieve larger goals and it polishes those personality traits. But there are some basic traits that a candidate should have to go through the MBA process and to know that, institutes conduct GD/PI.

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