CAT 2015 Notification - How does it change preparation plan?

CAT 2015 notification is out. First up, let us get the facts

1. Exam on one day, on Nov 29th.
2. Time-limit now 180 mins ( from 170 minutes previously). Time limit in 3 tight compartments, one hour each for three sections, QA, DI-LR and Verbal. 34 questions each in Quant and Verbal, 32 in DI-LR
3. Some questions may not be of Multiple-Choice type.
4. Onscreen calculator will be allowed for computation.

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose -  The more things change, the more they stay the same
This is not an overhaul. What they test, how long they test it for, roughly when the test happens, and most parts of the format are same as last year's. Notwithstanding what all the "Guru"s and gyaan websites will tell you, the changes are fairly cosmetic in nature. The change to have some questions as non MCQ is also minor. This will not change the approach to the paper or the preparation plan one bit. A great many of the small tweaks have made the test better.

Counter-intuitively, time allotted per section being fixed might make the exam easier to navigate
Now, effectively CAT becomes three one-hour tests  rather than one long test. It appears that some freedom has been taken away from students. However, the freedom to shift time from one section to another was very often something that complicated rather than simplified things. Students jumped sections too many times, started fretting about section cut-offs, strived needlessly to achieve 'balance', and too often just ended up wasting time in the exam hall. Now that this freedom of time-shifting has been taken off, you need to just think of this as three exams in 3 hours. So, forget about section cut-offs and attack this paper with a sense of relief.

Computational pressure being taken off is a joy
The on-screen calculator is a boon. No two ways about it. CAT was never about multiplying or dividing numbers quickly, or about doing 13.8% of 98.4 in 20 seconds. But students never got it, and unfortunately coaching institutes could never tire of peddling short-cuts. Now, this myth has been removed. Learn from the basics, forget Vedic Math. Short-cut nonsense has already made many people sacrifice fundamentals. Perhaps this will help us refocus.

Reading becomes even more important
Previous avatars of CAT gave a student the luxury of 'hiding' in LR. Of planning to attempt 14-15 questions in LR, only one RC passage, 8-10 other questions in the mixed bag bundle and hope to get 99th percentile in the verbal section. Now, that LR has been bundled off as a separate section, there is a huge risk in ignoring RC. The sentence correction, sentence rearrangement, sentence elimination etc are also heavily dependent on comfort levels with reading. So, shed that reluctance to read, select novels, magazines, newspapers, websites and read away.

Exam has neither been made easy for engineers, nor has it become tougher.
Every input from the IIMs is interpreted these days in terms of "What does it do the engineers". Some one somewhere is going to say that online calculators' presence and the divvying up of sections has made the game tougher for engineers. This is humbug. Similarly, someone is going to say allotting only one hour for Quant is going to make it tougher for non-engineers. This is also humbug. CAT tests students aptitude. CAT does not test aptitude as defined by aptitude for engineers and non-engineers separately.

Preparation plan remains same. Mock CAT strategies will have to be tweaked a little bit
Quant, verbal, DI and LR are tested in a competitive exam that is objective and conducted across the Country. This is how CAT could have been described in 1990, 2000, 2010 or 2015. So, prepare from basics, do the drill and fine-tune with mock CATs. The only difference between 2010 or now is that one can sit at home and have access to the best CAT preparation thanks to the Internet. Apart from this, very little has changed.

GMAT or CAT: I am planning to go for GMAT instead of CAT because I have heard GMAT is easier, is that wise?

Very frequently, I see students opting for GMAT purely because they think CAT is tough. The reasoning goes like this - CAT is too competitive. With GMAT, I can get into a college with any score. This whole line of reasoning usually reminds me of the old Birbal story where Akbar sends Birbal on a trip to find the 10 biggest fools in the kingdom. A part of the story goes thus -

Birbal was coming back to the palace in the dark. He saw a man searching for something under a street lamp, and stopped to help him. 
'What have you lost?' asked Birbal.
'A ring from my finger.'
As they could find nothing, Birbal naturally asked: 'Are you sure you dropped it here?'
'No,' was the answer. 'I dropped it over there, but it's dark there and light here. I am searching where I can see.' 

Many students' most preferred reason for taking GMAT is the fact that they think it is easier than CAT. To put it bluntly, this is daft. This piece of daftness has been built on 3 wonderful myths.

Myth 1: Indian students totally crack GMAT and are among the best students in top global B-schools
The GMAT exam is not that easy. It is a myth that Indian students totally 'crack' the GMAT. Importantly, beyond getting a good GMAT score, one needs to write essays, and have a solid profile to have a crack at the best colleges,Graduating from one of the top 20 in the US is excellent, but there is no great honour in graduating from the 75th ranked school in the US. Because of law of large numbers, some of the best Indian students join the best B-schools in the US and do well there as well. These are the guys who score 750 in GMAT and are generally among the ones good enough to score 99.5 percentile in CAT as well.

Myth 2: With even a just-about-decent GMAT score, I can get into a good college
Think about this, is it going to be easier to get into the top 20 colleges in the US, than into the top 20 in India? Lot of people spend time and effort, get a middling 670 score and go nowhere with this. Unless you are a rockstar, a 670 is unlikely to secure a great admit. 670 pegs you at around the 83rd percentile. One-sixth of the total 2.4 lakh or so applicants have scored more than you. All other things being equal, you can hope to join a college that a student ranked 40,000th in the world can get into. Sorry to be blunt about this, but this is what the numbers say.

Myth 3: If I am taking the GMAT, I must be really ambitious (and cool). 
Cracking the GMAT suggests ambition, merely taking it, or worse just preparing for it conveys no such thing. Very often, students want to feed into the I-am-built-for-bigger-things story by joining some middling college with the ok-ish score they have.

For a large number (unfortunately very large number), merely planning to take the GMAT slakes a big part of their ambition. So, once this is I-am-going-to-try-for-an-MBA gig is done, they continue with their lives. In many ways, this is probably the lesser to the two evils.

Do the research
Now, I am not suggesting that people who take the GMAT do not know what they are doing. About 60% of the test-takers are serious, prepare well, plan well, know their chances, know the costs of doing an MBA in the US and generally go about this entire process with a level of seriousness. Be clear about why you are taking the GMAT and do sufficient research for this. Do not take the exam merely because it is easier than CAT.

Do not invite hubris
In many ways, the GMAT is far better structured to test what it aims to test than the CAT. The quality of questions (not the difficulty level), the adaptive engine, the level of feedback provided, the ability to distinguish between conceptual clarity and drill - in all these aspects the GMAT is head and shoulders above the CAT. I am a big fan of the GMAT exam and am often disappointed with how the CAT is conducted in our Country.

Merely designating GMAT as "easier than CAT" does a disservice to the exam, This attitude makes aspirants complacent even before they begin preparation and invites hubris.

Things to keep in mind while choosing between GMAT and CAT
There are many factors to consider while choosing between GMAT and CAT. The top few are given below - Click on this article to get more info

As far as India is concerned, the biggest fish is CAT
Give or take 90 out of the top 100 select based on CAT, with quite of a few of these selecting based only on CAT. This includes the IIMs (13 of these, soon to be 18), IITs, SP Jain, FMS, Bajaj, NITIE, MDI, IMT, among a great many others

For international MBAs, it is GMAT
Almost all universities in the US, UK, Australia, Singapore, Europe select based on GMAT. In India ISB and Great Lakes select based on GMAT. All the IIMs (+ MDI, XLRI etc) use the GMAT score for admissions into their executive MBA programs.

CAT or GMAT, which one should I take?
There are two simple rules
1. If you want to do in India, take CAT. If you want to go abroad, take GMAT.
2. If you are a fresher, take CAT. If you have more than 8 years of experience, give preference to GMAT

If you have 2-4 years of experience, and not sure whether you want to do MBA in India or abroad, then the decision is even simpler. Take both....

India or abroad, Fresher or Experienced candidate - these are the two relevant factors to consider while choosing between GMAT and CAT. Easy or difficult is a far less important criterion.

Apologies if I have been harsh on this blog post. Best wishes for your entrance exam preparations - be it for GMAT or CAT.

CAT coaching online: Job and CAT preparation: "Should I quit my job to prepare?

Believe it's the most pestering question among Job goers & CAT aspirants!

Rajesh Balasubramanian and Saravana Baskar answer some of the most sought after questions from CAT aspirants in this series! This video has answers to several questions
1.How to juggle between Job and CAT preparation?
2.How much time should I spend daily preparing?
3.Should i quit my Job?

Detailed article @ pagalguy.com

Shopping and trading is Online. Even Bill payments. CAT is online too!
Why not CAT preparation? Have a go at Online.2iim.com for 4 free classes. Try Before you Buy!!

CAT Online preparation - Can 99.5 percentile assure a call from IIMs A B or C?

Beginning of a series of  "Answers to Frequently asked Questions"

We found a lot of questions that bug most of CAT aspirants, which are unanswered. So we decided to take up a few, and give them answers straight off the bat! Nothing catchy, no deceptive words, no jargon. As simple as that.

Here is the question that's discussed in this extremely lucid, less than 2 minute video: "X scored 99.5 percentile in CAT, but did not receive calls from IIMs A, B or C. Why?"

Rajesh explains how a 99.5 percentile does not guarantee a call from IIMs A,B or C.


Best online course available for CAT - online.2iim.com to thrust your CAT preparation and scores as well! 

Mock CATs, Mock CAT percentiles, predictions etc

I am going to start with a series of quotes.

There are two ways of lying. One, not telling the truth; the other, making up Statistics. 

There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Statistics are used much like a drunk uses a lamppost: for support, not illumination.

Replace Statistics with Percentile analytics and this would fit in perfectly in the context of CAT. No matter how many fancy charts are shown, it is the responsibility of the students to not over-interpret the results. When you take a mock CAT, the review happens on three planks -

1) Learn better methods by looking at the solutions
2) Think about how you could have improved your attempts by selecting better questions.
3) Evaluate your percentile.

Of the three, the least useful is no 3 (probably also the most harmful). Because it is the least reliable. Almost all mock CAT providers use look-up tables to give percentile scores. Gone are the days where a mock CAT provider could get 10,000 people to beat themselves into a frenzy on a given Sunday to take a mock CAT at 100 god-forsaken locations in the Country.

These days, proctored CATs probably have a sample size in the range of 1% of CAT takers. These are likely to be the most serious, most experienced, most-driven of the CAT takers. So, the test providers "adjust" the look-up table to factor this in. In layman terms, this boils down to - they look at the actual numbers, feed in some other numbers, and pat themselves on the back.

So, the percentiles are fairly unpredictable. And contrary to what all the service providers claim, there is no way to back-verify that database. The only ones who will call a coaching institute and tell them that they scored a decent percentile are the ones who got a decent percentile. So, the reverse-verification process is bogus. So, no one actually knows whether any percentile number has a serious correlation with the actual numbers. There is way more anecdotal evidence to say that the percentile numbers are erratic, than to say that they are accurate.

I recently heard that there was a percentile predictor that predicts percentiles based on numbers you feed in based on the scores you have got on other exams (some of my students called me to give me an update on their predicted results.). I almost fell from my chair laughing. Students who believe that there is a scientific basis for this kind of predictor should re-examine their brains. This level of gullibility cannot be good for the body.

The thought process behind the predictor is as follows - Take three not scientifically proven indicators with no established proof from back-verification, define arbitrary weightages based on your genius to these, come up with a fourth metric and call it a prediction. And supposedly students are flocking to this predictor engine. No wonder soothsaying, tarot card reading are all flourishing industries in our Country. If smart, ambitious people can be made to believe there is such a thing called a percentile predictor, god save the masses.

Anxiety does strange things to the mind. Fretting and fuming about this exam makes you do all kinds of over-analysis. The mind needs something to cling on to, to feel that you are on the right track. Ergo, predictor.

Think of all the guys who have completed their MBAs from IIM A, B, C and think about how each of them would react if you said "percentile predictor" in their midst. I will give you a hint. I spoke to a bunch of them and the only common factor was laughter.

So, what should we do?

I am going to say something that is difficult to implement. The last 2-3 weeks, you must focus on three things

1. Chuck the percentiles. Seriously, chuck them. Forget about them. Banish them.

2. Focus on still being curious and not getting sucked into this pressure vortex. The first 2-3 mocks that you would have taken, you would have enjoyed grappling with the questions. Slowly, the pressure takes over and you stop having fun in the mocks. You are too worried about the score (and that damned percentile). The ones who crack this exam are the ones who are likely to look at a question and go "Wow. Super question. I think I will enjoy solving this". If that joie de vivre is gone, you should rekindle it.

3. Mentally prepare for a paper that is far simpler than your mocks. In our Country, the service providers have a feeling that to create a great mock CAT, you must make it very tough. So, they create phantom tough questions. CAT does not do that. Lot of students panic in a paper because it is way easier than all the mocks they have done. They have difficulty adjusting to the fact that they can attempt 34 questions in Quant in CAT, whereas they never managed more than 22 in any mock. Finding a paper that is easier than mocks can disorient you. You end up shooting for too less, end up adjusting too late, and end up with a just-miss scoreline.

We at 2IIM have resisted every urge to make our mocks tougher and fought tooth-and-nail to keep it representative. This is why good students can sometimes attempt 75-80 questions in our mocks. Remember, the very best ones can and will attempt that many in actual CAT. So, it is very important to keep in mind that the level of difficulty will not be outlandish. If you are really good, but have never attempted more than 60 questions overall in a CAT paper, how will you adjust on the day of the exam to have a crack at 84 questions?

Try your best to have some fun in the paper. be very zen and forget the percentile, and go in thinking "this exam is going to be easy". Best wishes for CAT.

CAT - New Format: How does this affect preparation?

A video on how to plan for the CAT in its new avatar of 100 questions in 170 minutes.

2IIM - CAT Online Course

2IIM launches its online course for CAT. Have a look at the two-minute introduction video to know about the course.

Why the 2iim online course is the best in the world?

The course has been built by a very small team, with ~85% of the lectures handled by Rajesh Balasubramanian. Rajesh is an alumnus from IIMB (2003) and scored 100th percentile in CAT 2011 and CAT 2012. 

2IIM's online course offers students three key freedoms

Freedom over location: Class can be taken anywhere. Course is 'light', i.e. should load even in places where internet speed is not that high

Freedom over time: The course cane be taken any time; and any number of times

Freedom over pace: This is the most important factor that should be a breakthrough for students. Each class is broken into modules and has been built with a mix of slides and videos. So, the course offers students the freedom to take lessons at their own pace.  Each class is of ~2.5 hours duration; but one that an exam-ready student can complete in 45 minutes, and a beginner can take 4.5 hours or longer. Each class has 8-15 short videos interspersed with slides, and is not one long 2.5 hour long video. 

What does the course offer?

•  50 online classes – Each of 2.5 hours duration; but one that an exam-ready student can complete in 45 minutes, and a beginner can take 4.5 hours or even longer.
• 10 books that cover all aspects of CAT preparation
• 20 online mock CATs + 10-paper based mock CATs. Online mock CATs will come with video solutions for select questions.
•  25 online section tests. 

New product, new idea. Obviously you are not sure 

Rajesh might have scored 100th percentile and think he is god's gift to mankind. But what if he teaches at a level that is way too high for you; or at a level that is way too low. Proof of the pudding is in the eating. Hit a few sample classes at online.2iim.com .