Soumya Ranjan Patra is a first-year MBA candidate at IFMR - GSB Krea University. Here, he talks about the academic achievements that led him to IFMR, key preparation tips for CMAT 2019 and his plans for the future.
My Academic Achievements and Past other records:
I have always been a good student. That’s right! But the most important thing is that being a good student was a by-product of my interest. I have always found it interesting to learn new things. Perhaps this is the reason that I have always excelled in various examinations.
I have been a meritorious student since college days. I was among the merit list of top 10 school toppers in class 10th. I even participated in many of the state level mathematics and science Olympiads right from my school days till the engineering days.
I give credit to my parents of all of my achievements. There has not been a single moment when they did not support me. I could study because they never ever created any pressure on me. They made my academics fun for me.
Things I Love To Do During Leisure Time:
There are so many things I do in my leisure time. I love to watch stand up comedy, short movies and often find time to play with children.
I love to travel a lot and have covered a lot of places in South India like Coorg, Mysore, Bangalore and love trekking to difficult mountains and have already trekked to three of the highest mountain ranges in the South. I love watching a lot of movies ranging from the Hollywood action and adventure flicks.
Preparation For CMAT & Coaching Facilities Availed:
I did a bit of self-preparation and took coaching from IMS. I joined the SIMCAT test series and gave the mocks and tried to analyze each and every mock and found out then analysis of my performance.
I picked up the syllabus and started preparing on my own. I was working in Capgemini simultaneously so it was impossible for me to give my time to even myself. I feel that God has been really kind to me that I could score 97.01 percentile in my first attempt without too much professional guidance.
Ideal Time To Start Preparation & Study Plan For CMAT:
Right away.
As you read this and are thinking of taking an exam - be it CMAT or
CAT or Bank PO or SSC - this is the best time to start studying. Always remember that if you waste your one-day, others might have utilized it.
There is no such thing as an 'ideal time'. Seeing the syllabus of CMAT, especially General Awareness and Current Affairs topic, it is advisable that you should start preparing as early as you can. As I mentioned earlier, it can not be covered in a short span of time. General awareness is a journey, not a destination. The more you study the less you believe you know it. So it is better to know every day’s top news. Static portion is so vast that it asks for at least 6 months to cover. There is no particular source to cover it.
Aspirant's Strategy For Language, Logical Reasoning & Quantitative Ability:
Language Comprehension is easy and it definitely requires a lot of practice. Questions on Reading Comprehension are a bit time consuming and especially the RC section takes a lot of time to comprehend and analyze the questions in a proper way. Questions on vocabulary can be solved if you are in good touch with the English language.
Logical Reasoning section is full of tricks. There is no rocket science in it. You need to solve some particular types of questions and approximately 60-70% of the questions can be easily cracked. For the rest 30-40% questions, you need to keep your mind open. Just think a step ahead of common sense.
Quant and DI are comparatively easy. I cracked this section easily as most of the questions were doable with 100%tile in approximately 30 minutes. Your speed and accuracy both should be really high to ace in this section.
Book & Online Resources To Refer To For CMAT:
Careers360, Business Today and other business magazines.
Hindu newspaper and IMS Study materials.
Analysis of CMAT 2018
CMAT is a very important exam to get admission in top business schools of India. The pattern of CMAT 2018 was not very dynamic but you cannot take it lightly. Quant part was easy with most of the questions being doable and the logical and language questions were doable too but the general awareness questions were a bit difficult to think about.
Tips For The D-Day:
Stay happy. Keep your mind in your control. Carry a water bottle with you as it helps you to stay chill. Don’t go empty stomach as 3 hour is such a long time.
Future Plans:
I would feel myself to be fortunate if I could serve underprivileged students and contribute to the growth of our nation. Apart from CMAT, I have cleared
other MBA exams like Great lakes, Rajiv Gandhi Institute of petroleum technology, etc. I opted to go for MBA because my ambition is to do something for underprivileged children.
I believe that having a degree from a top business school and the values that I will add to myself from IFMR will help me achieve my goal.
Soumya Ranjan Patra
"1st year MBA student at IFMR GSB Krea University"