’’If you have built castles in the air,
your work need not be lost;
that is where they should be.
Now put the foundations under them.’’
- Henry David Thoreau
’’Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it.
The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.’’
- Earl Nightingale
MBA and IIM’s are synonymous in today’s education system. IIM’s are surely a class apart,
but, if you cant get into IIM’s, you have quite a range of business schools and institutes that
boast a similar approach to the course and a supporting infrastructure.
A candidate with sheer will and optimism from any other management institution can still be
a top gun in a Fortune500 company.
What you need to be successful
--------------------------------------------
Ask yourself the following questions:
a)Is this what I want to do?
b)Would I want to pursue the career options provided by an MBA?
c)Do I have a backup plan for my career if MBA is my first choice?
- Its always better to have 3 choices in order of priority, disappointments become a lil easy -
If you have answers for all of the above,
How to Prepare
--------------------
STEP 1:
a) Decide what tests you want to prepare for. There different tests you could take are:
CAT, MAT, IRMA, IMT, XAT, JMET, IIFT, and FMS etc. Since you need to have graduate degree to
qualify for these exams, my suggestion would be to start preparing in degree final year.
b) Find out when applications for the above would have to be filled in and applied.
Keep this information handy.
c) Different management institutions have different rules of applying, prioritize the
institutions and have information on their rules.
These are very important, however hard you may prepare if you have not applied to enough
institutions you may stand to lose the chance.
*** Also, depending on your personality try and narrow down the specialties you would like
to do, HR, Finance, IM, MIS etc. Friends, Siblings can help you figure out what most suits you.
*****
STEP 2:
a) The tests center around Quantitative, Verbal, Reasoning and Data Interpretation.
Go to the bookstore or library and if you have access to internet well and good, you could
research good books for these tests. Buy or Borrow the Books. Some suggested books could
be :
GMAT by Kaplan
GMAT Petersons
Barons GMAT CAT(used this the most)
GMAT Princeton Review
~~ Books can be really expensive, you can spend some time at bookstores which sell second
hand books ~~
b) Quantitative and Reasoning/DI needs most practice and diligence. Verbal can be done in
a little relaxed way.
Personal experience says that : we tend to concentrate more on verbal than the other two
becoz we are intimidated by the so called hi-fi words, but the verbal paper is the easiest one
to crack.
c) Most of the math questions pretty much cover the 10th standard and +2 syllabus.
d) Set aside timings for each one, might as well buy a small :-) loud alarm clock. Do each
practice paper as if you are sitting in the exam hall giving the test. Reason for this is to
achieve the time efficiency. Each question has approx. 42 seconds to answer.
e) Read each question, the moment ur unsure, skip go to the next one. Even if you skip
most of them fine, that’s okay. Try and answer questions you are absolutely sure quickly.
Go back to the skipped ones. This really helps. Most important of all
- NEVER GET TENSED or NERVOUS - What is the worst which can happen, you will have
many other options.
f) Spend at least 2-3 hours on self-study.
STEP 3 :
a) Private Coaching/Tutors are many for competitive exams. Well, whether they help or not
once again depends on the person, if you need that push and of course the real feel of
taking a test amongst other students, you can opt for this.
b) Instead of taking long-term, my suggestion would be to take the short-term 2-3 month
course at any of these places, especially the ones which make you do one test per day, helps
in working up your speed and efficiency. Taking long-term would be like dragging and when
u r near the test time u r already worn out and may lose the fresh approach.
(-- It worked for me --)
STEP 4 :
- Take care of yourself tips -
a) Days before the test, take plenty of rest, keep yourself hydrated.
b) Don’t know if its true, but eating habits do matter in memory retention, eat light.
c) Drink a glass of orange juice before your exam - sugar gives u energy.
d) Take a break everyday, do something you like : listen to music , play tennis or whatever..
STEP 5 :
Pray as everyone needs a little luck . All the Best..
Well, you must be wondering if it helped me :-)) All the above experiences are a direct lift
from my Jeeju’s success story, he got into IIM and he is doing just great…
Have compiled some helpful sites go through them…
Information web sites
-----------------------------
1) To learn about the different management related tests and the kind of paper to expect:
https://tcyonline.com/mba/mbatest.htm
2) To know how some successful individuals got through MBA:
https://ascenteducation.com/india-mba/iim/cat/tips/how-i-cracked-cat.shtml
3) Details about MBA, eligibility conditions and Institutions that take CAT scores
https://indiaresult.com/Career_Guidance/MBA/default.htm
~~~COMMENTS ARE WELCOME~~~