Life is beautiful !!!

Success at last . The last year flashes by in my mind . All the stupid Barrons word lists , Princeton , Kaplan , Powerprep , etc tests , GRE are all a distant memory . All those BRMs , Sectional tests , SIMs , MOCKs , etc have paid off , coz .......

I AM NOW A PART OF THOSE ELITE MANAGERS IN THE MAKING !!!

I HAVE MADE IT TO IIMB

Actually , I have made it to 4 IIMs , the IIMs at Bangalore , Lucknow , Kozhikode and Indore . These are the 4 IIMs that choose to call me for the GDs and PIs . In addition , I also converted my XLRI and SPJ calls .

I applied to 8 institutes , the 6 IIMs , XLRI and SPJ . Got calls from 6 ( A and C said bugger off , Id like to take this opportunity to say the same to them :-) ) . And you know what , I converted all 6 calls . So thats a 100% call to conversion rate . Pretty good if I may say so myself . Excuse me if I sound a little cocky or smug , but I think Ive earned the right to be a little proud of my achievements . And I am . Im extremely proud . This is without a doubt , the greatest day in my life . Ive waited for this day for years - making it into one of ABC on the first attempt is a dream come true . And this summer is gonna be the PARTY summer !!!!!!

There is not a shread of doubt in my mind as to which institute I will join . Its IIMB all the way . Its my dream institute . Watch out Bangalore !!!!!! The STIFFmaester is on his way :-) .

On a more serious note , this is the culmination of a year of hard work . Im not ashamed to say I worked hard . Many guys , some in my coll. too , once they get their admits will have the gall to say " Macchan , I didnt even study da . I just went and wrote CAT for the heck of it . I just got calls " . Well , balls to you guys . I know how much you chapps prepped . Dont put scene . I prepped hard , and Im proud of it .

For all you prospective B schoolers , dont believe all the hooey that some ppl who get into IIM will tell you abt their preparation . I will be the first person to agree that there are some people who can get into IIM with minimum preppin , say a month or so . But these people are few and far apart . MOst of the junta who clear CAT are those who followed a sustained study program . You needn't even go to class . Just get some study material from your seniors , and follow a study plan . I wasnt too structured . There were days when I didnt study at all , and days when I studied 12 hrs . Set a weekly quota and strive to meet it . Dont listen to guys tell you of how they belled the CAT without prepping at all . These are usually people who feed on adulation to inflate their egos . They must have prepped as much as the other guy .

Im not saying you need to study your ass off for a year . Its an aptitude test , and given 4 hrs , any TDH can crack it . When I say studying for CAT , I mean taking tests and fine tuning your strategy . You cant walk into an exam hall without any idea as to how you will attempt the paper . here are some things you will have to focus on :

> Order of sections
> Time per section
> Maximum time per question
> Preferred order of question ( RC first -> Fill inthe blanks next -> and so on)
> Shading techniques ( one by one or block transfer , I advise one by one )
> Hail Mary - ie : ( If things go disastrously wrong , what to do without screwing the entire exam )
etc etc

I took at least 50 tests before I walked into the exam hall on DDay . Im not saying you have to do the same . I wanted to take 50 to feel confident . If 30 suits you , do so . But Prepping for CAT is more about taking tests , rather than studying fundae . Fundae must be mastered in the first month or so ,and then revised off and on . But other than that , its tests all the way .

There is only one thing more important than taking a test , and that is analysing the test . Initially , I hardly bothered analysing my test . I glanced through it for half an hour and called it an analysis . It was advise from a friend and fellow CAT boy that made me start analysing my tests . FOr every 2 hr test , I started analysing for 3-4 hrs . I worked out eery quant prob , to see if there were shorted ways . And it did wonders .I attribute my Qt and DI percentiles of 99.46 and 99.81 to this . Follow this guys , itll help you immensly .Because doing well in these 2 sections is not about whether you can solve a problem , its about how fast you can solve it .

And my last peice of advice is , chill out . Tension decreases your productivity in a test . So chill guys , in a test and in life . It works wonders . I should know .

da STIFFmaester