A look down the memory lane...

Tomorrow is a big day! It is going to decide my future course of action. Not only for me but also for the other 274999 MBA aspirants, who took CAT-2008. CAT is suppose to be the 'baap' of all MBA entrances. If you clear this you stand a chance to get into the most coveted B-Schools of India. Before talking about what happened after CAT, let me talk about what happened before and on the day of THE CAT.

Before CAT:-
I was juggling quite a lot of things with CAT. College and TY classes sucked up maximum of my time and energy, leaving me with hardly an hour or so to prepare. First few mock-tests were pretty good. And then the downfall began! I went down till 40 percentile, scaled up slowly to reach 90-95 again. Trust me I dreaded Sundays; more than that the entire jig of analyzing the paper to see where I went wrong. During this leg of my preparation I found the papers of other institutes easy and the paper of my institute biased( One advice to all MBA aspirants, please think twice before choosing an institute... they ain't of any help. I would suggest you take up these books written by Arun Sharma and start preparing yourself. There are even private tutors for those who are weak in quants and VA. After that you can always join the test series of the institute which has wider coverage as compared to the others.) Coming back to what I did. I just took up all the papers from other institutes and started solving. They somewhat boosted my confidence and I manage to remain calm for the 'D' day.

On the day of CAT:- (I was a celebrity for a day!)
Surprisingly this time I could sleep soundly before the paper. I woke up early at 5:30. My centre was IES(Bandra). Since it was far dad decided to drop and pick me up from the centre.(He even went and saw my centre and the route leading towards it well in advance... How sweet of him!) We started at 7:00am in the morning. I enjoyed the ride to centre. The cool breeze and the songs on the radio helped to calm my turbulent mind. We reached at 8:00- a nice hour and a half before the reporting time. I had idilis from the tiffin packed by my mother. My every need was taken care of. As I mentioned in the title I was a celebrity for a day. Finally we were let inside the centre at 9:30. They gave us the paper at 10:15. 90 questions! As I had expected... But there was something more to it... A particular section had 40 questions and others 25 each. As usual you cannot predict anything with the CAT! I just could not help but giggle! Just to avoid any tension I checked the OMR to see whether I had filled in d details carefully. The bell rang! I had to now change my strategy. I decided to give DI 25 mins, quants 35 mins , 45-50 mins to VA and keep rest of the time as a buffer. DI was tough. I was disheartened as it was my strongest section. Nothing could be done now. In 25 mins I could crack one caselet of 4 questions. I moved to quants and I did around 9 questions there. After that came VA. I solved the grammar and vocabulary part first and then went on to the passages. I attempted in all 18 questions there. I was careful and did not want to be reckless like I was in the mocks. I again went to DI cracked a caselet or two and the time got over. After the paper I thought I had attempted less! I checked the answers in the evening. Quant and DI clear, VA doubtful... I cried like a baby! And my brother, such a smartass, said,"If you aim for the sky this will keep on happening!" He got a big scolding from mom for the uncalled oneliner.

After CAT:-
Next few days, I was almost mourning! I fell sick. First it was heavy cough and cold and then a tummy upset, that kept me on curd rice for a week! I was trying to gear for the other entrances but was not in a mood. Then came the Placement week! And guess what I was picked up on the first day itself by JP Morgan(excerpts from the interview later). I was (rather I still am) on cloud nine. I now had a back-up in place. But this back-up turned out to be a turning point. My parents, my cousin and my uncle were of the opinion I take up the job. I should leave it only if I get into the IIMs( which seems distant as of now). I would be a fool to leave JPM for symbiosis or narsee monjee. And after that every sunday became a picnic for me! And those entrances also went on well, coz I was pretty much relaxed. I went to nerul one sunday for TISS, next sunday I was in Goregoan for SNAP, next I was in dadar for NMAT; but my best outing was the last one- for XAT to Don-Bosco. The atmosphere there was wonderful with a beautiful church and a big playground. I enjoyed watching tiny tots play football. I met a lot of friends there. While coming back I had S & P for company. I had a gala time with them in the train!(Oops I forgot to mention, for the XAT essay I fell short of paper...lol!). As someone has said, 'Big Changes in our lives are more or less a second chance.' This is exactly what JPM has done to me. It has given me a second chance to find myself!

Now the reckoning day!
Tomorrow I ll come to know how I have faired at CAT. My friends call me choosy. In their opinion I m leaving good institutes for a job. But it is JPM. It will do wonders to my CV! Lets see if the quest for IIMs continues or it is postponed.