Meet Akram Tariq Khan, digital marketer, product management PPO Holder and XLRI student. Akram wrote CAT 2018 along with multiple other entrance exams. When his CAT scores were not satisfactory, as a GEM (General Engineering Male), Akram decided to attempt XAT, IIFT entrance, GRE and more. He scored a comfortable 98.33%ile in XAT and converted calls to various b-schools including MDI Gurgaon and XLRI Jamshedpur. After a comparative study, he found XLRI to be the right choice. In this video, Akram shares his guidelines on cracking the decision making section in XAT and talks about his experience writing different entrance exams. If you're planning to attempt the XAT this time, don't forget to check this video!
Summary
In this video, Akram shares his CAT, XAT and IIFT scores and tells us how he made it to XLRI Jamshedpur. He shares how his academics were not that great to begin with and this was a huge disadvantage to him. Especially as he shares, because he belongs to the general category, is an engineer and a male. If there is a stereotype that is told he can't make it to India's top b-schools, Akram would probably fit. But he tells us how he managed to get into a top b-school despite average acads.
He further shares how he prepared for CAT, and highlights that if you're set to write CAT, you can crack the LR-DI and Quant sections in other entrance exams too! He equates the GRE with a really strong VA-RC section and shares that if you are prepared for the GRE, you can easily take on the VA-RC section in other exams.
Further he shares guidelines on cracking the Decision Making and GK sections in XAT and other exams. He shares how the DM section is all about ethical dilemmas and one needs to practice and carry out a situational analysis to arrive at the correct answer! Don't forget to watch this video if you're writing more MBA entrance exams!
Key Takeaways-
- Writing and analysing mocks is a good way to prepare for CAT, XAT.
- Even for XAT, you need to figure out weaknesses.
- Don't just take last year's paper or mock tests; also go through the answer key.
- When solving the Decision Making section, make sure to understand the problem through various lenses and then pick an answer.
- Before XAT, practice the DM questions.
- Solve previous years' XAT papers to practice!
Recommended Reads:
1) Acing The XLRI Selection Process
2) The Ultimate XAT Prep Resource List
3) What Should Be My Preparation Strategy With One Month To Go Before XAT