With more than 2.44 Lakhs aspirants this year, breaking the records of the past nine years since 2010, many were able to get admission in their dream B-School. But, all the plans— plans of studying on campus with the brightest minds and partying with them on weekends seem distant now. Thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak.
We love movies but we don’t believe them. We find ourselves immersed in novels but question it the very next moment we shake hands with the real world. But is it so? Are movies completely different from what we call real? Are words capturing emotions in a novel found to be lifeless when applied to real life? For me, the case is more tilted towards NO. Each day we are writing a new chapter of our life. We all know that we are not good with the pen. We are aware that the previous chapter could have been framed in a better way. And then we try to compensate for it in the coming future and this is what life is.
I’m sure you have experienced ‘Fear of Missing Out’ at various times in your life. It turns out that a business school is a fantastic testing room to study this phenomenon. Given the intensity of competition and overwhelming opportunities it is almost certain that each of us would experience this fear atleast once in their B-School journey.
Section 377, an Indian penal code introduced in 1861 during the British Rule in India. This stated that "Sexual activities against the order of nature is illegal". That is love and marriage between same gender people are considered illegal. We all know that love is a feeling which never shows any discimination. It can happen to any person of any gender, any age. But the 100 years of following the rule and stating that going against the order of nature is not traditional was really wrong. The true meaning of love is not properly approached because of the restrictions of Section 377.
I did not find many stories that resonated with me as a Literature student who wants to do an MBA, so I share my own.
Most of you might be aware of the Common Admission Test (CAT). For those of you who aren’t, CAT is the largest MBA Entrance Exam in India for admission to 20 IIMs, FMS Delhi, IIT DoMs, SPJIMR, MDI, 500+ MBA Colleges, and is written by about 2 lakhs+ applicants each year. It is a 3 hour paper of 100 questions with 34 questions of Verbal Ability/Reading Comprehension, 32 questions of Data Interpretation/Logical Reasoning, and 34 questions of Quantitative Ability. For every correct answer, you get +3 and -1 for every wrong answer. Now that we know what CAT is all about, let me tell you how I cracked it and made it to my dream B-school. My journey for CAT started in February 2019, when I enrolled myself for a weekend batch in a coaching institute. I had heard that the mantra for cracking CAT was “Practice, Practice, Practice!” and so I made a mental note to be diligent and be thorough with the topics taught in the class, as and when they were taught. Well, yes, it is exactly what you are thinking. It is easier said than done and my work schedule added to my challenges. Just to give you a little insight into my daily schedule, it used to take me about one and a half hours to reach the office. Work hours spanned 9 hours when the workload was less. However, this would extend to 10-12 hours as the workload increased. To top it all, I had to go to the office on Saturdays too for 8 hours. Pretty tough, right!?Soon, I started skipping classes since I had to go to the office on Saturdays. I found myself grappling for time to study. I knew I had to manage my time adequately if I wanted to crack CAT. I started looking for free time in my schedule. Time Management I utilized my morning travel time for reading editorials to increase my reading speed and be up-to-date with the current affairs. When I had less workload, I would dedicate 1-2 hours on weekdays so that I could cover the topics I missed out on in my weekend classes. I started giving mock tests on weekends. This is what my routine looked like.
D-DAY STRATEGY
With more than 2.44 Lakhs aspirants this year, breaking the records of the past nine years since 2010, many were able to get admission in their dream B-School. But, all the plans— plans of studying on campus with the brightest minds and partying with them on weekends seem distant now. Thanks to the COVID-19 outbreak.
We love movies but we don’t believe them. We find ourselves immersed in novels but question it the very next moment we shake hands with the real world. But is it so? Are movies completely different from what we call real? Are words capturing emotions in a novel found to be lifeless when applied to real life? For me, the case is more tilted towards NO. Each day we are writing a new chapter of our life. We all know that we are not good with the pen. We are aware that the previous chapter could have been framed in a better way. And then we try to compensate for it in the coming future and this is what life is.
I’m sure you have experienced ‘Fear of Missing Out’ at various times in your life. It turns out that a business school is a fantastic testing room to study this phenomenon. Given the intensity of competition and overwhelming opportunities it is almost certain that each of us would experience this fear atleast once in their B-School journey.
Section 377, an Indian penal code introduced in 1861 during the British Rule in India. This stated that "Sexual activities against the order of nature is illegal". That is love and marriage between same gender people are considered illegal. We all know that love is a feeling which never shows any discimination. It can happen to any person of any gender, any age. But the 100 years of following the rule and stating that going against the order of nature is not traditional was really wrong. The true meaning of love is not properly approached because of the restrictions of Section 377.
I did not find many stories that resonated with me as a Literature student who wants to do an MBA, so I share my own.
Most of you might be aware of the Common Admission Test (CAT). For those of you who aren’t, CAT is the largest MBA Entrance Exam in India for admission to 20 IIMs, FMS Delhi, IIT DoMs, SPJIMR, MDI, 500+ MBA Colleges, and is written by about 2 lakhs+ applicants each year. It is a 3 hour paper of 100 questions with 34 questions of Verbal Ability/Reading Comprehension, 32 questions of Data Interpretation/Logical Reasoning, and 34 questions of Quantitative Ability. For every correct answer, you get +3 and -1 for every wrong answer. Now that we know what CAT is all about, let me tell you how I cracked it and made it to my dream B-school. My journey for CAT started in February 2019, when I enrolled myself for a weekend batch in a coaching institute. I had heard that the mantra for cracking CAT was “Practice, Practice, Practice!” and so I made a mental note to be diligent and be thorough with the topics taught in the class, as and when they were taught. Well, yes, it is exactly what you are thinking. It is easier said than done and my work schedule added to my challenges. Just to give you a little insight into my daily schedule, it used to take me about one and a half hours to reach the office. Work hours spanned 9 hours when the workload was less. However, this would extend to 10-12 hours as the workload increased. To top it all, I had to go to the office on Saturdays too for 8 hours. Pretty tough, right!?Soon, I started skipping classes since I had to go to the office on Saturdays. I found myself grappling for time to study. I knew I had to manage my time adequately if I wanted to crack CAT. I started looking for free time in my schedule. Time Management I utilized my morning travel time for reading editorials to increase my reading speed and be up-to-date with the current affairs. When I had less workload, I would dedicate 1-2 hours on weekdays so that I could cover the topics I missed out on in my weekend classes. I started giving mock tests on weekends. This is what my routine looked like.
D-DAY STRATEGY
