In today’s world nothing can be taken for granted. The word ‘easy’ is getting omitted from our life day by day. One needs to give his/her 200% to crack an IIM. I worked in Reliance Jio Infocomm for more than 3.5 years as a software developer (technical manager). One thing I realized that to climb up the corporate ladder you need to have an MBA degree sooner or later. What I think is to have a greater insight of your company and its project mission you need to be in a higher position and only an MBA degree can help you out. As soon as I realized all these facts I introduced myself in the battle field of CAT-war.
When I started my journey in April, I already completed 35 months of my job life which was quite on the higher side. People used to discourage me to write CAT saying that IIMs are not going to take me for sure as I had more work experience and suggested that I should try for 1 year MBA course. I had so many constraints that sometimes I used to get confused whether to prepare for CAT or not. I studied in a Bengali medium school so the hurdle was more in my case as I was not sure about clearing VA section. But I never gave up.
Initially, I used to get very less marks in VA in most of my mock tests. It’s not about giving many mock tests, it’s all about analyzing the question paper and to understand where you made a mistake and what was your learning from that test. One of the main reason for getting less marks in VA was my slow reading speed. I used to read news in the Google news section and practiced a lot of Reading Comprehension and I started to improve subsequently. I didn’t practice QA so much but I used to solve 1 LR-DI set at least daily.
While working it’s always a difficult task to prepare for CAT. In my leisure time in office I used to practice maths and puzzles. In the last 3-4 months before D-Day I cancelled all my hangouts and movie plans with my colleagues and friends. You need to set your priority first and you need to back yourself always without wasting time and I did that. Time management is very important for working people as they get very less time to study.
The second hurdle was WAT-PI and you can’t relax as this is what will decide your fate. One wrong step and your boat may drown just before crossing the river. I backed myself always by saying that I can’t go back after reaching so close and studied a lot about basic economics, financial terms and concepts and about India’s market and financial conditions.
When I got the final call from IIM Ranchi I couldn’t believe my eyes and showed it to one of my colleague just to confirm. The feeling of joy and happiness that I felt at that time can’t be explained by words. I was happy that I got a chance to study in one of the prestigious institutes of India.
Now I am in IIM Ranchi and I hope the effort I have given to get here, the same will be given by IIM Ranchi to groom us to be a successful leader in the industry. So many clubs and committees, activities, helping seniors, brilliant professors, nice hostel and food, wonderful weather – I am loving everything here and enjoying my stay at IIM Ranchi.
It’s never too late to get into IIM unless and until you quit.
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About the Author:
I am from a very small town (Bankura) in West Bengal. I secured 13th rank in class 10 state board examination in West Bengal. I have done my graduation from NIT Durgapur in Electronics and Communication in 2012. I joined Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited in 2012 as a technical manager and have a work ex of 3.5 + years. I worked as a software developer and database architect. I love to play football and cricket .