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Here are some useful tips for cracking cat exam, given by the students who succeeded the same. Since we all know that this time CAT was really tough many students were really shocked at the results. So we hope that next time we many get the same type of tough entrance question paper. So don't waste your time friends, just now start preparing for CAT. I hope that all the students who have cracked the CAT would have really worked for more than 2 years. Rest of the people don't worry because you still have time to prepare. Utilize each and every free time properly and prepare for CAT 2011. So here are some of the best scorers of CAT who have shared their experienced which they came across during preparation and also they shared some useful tips for cracking CAT. This will be really useful for you friend so kindly go through it and put it in your preparation also . All the best.

Name: Venkatesh Krishnamoorthy

My background:B.A. Sociology, PSG Arts, Coimbatore; Sales Assistant, Landmark Chennai, PGDM IIM Calcutta, 8 years work and enterpreneural experience, in software industry. CEO, Maarga Systems Pvt Ltd.

Well! I would like to begin my story with this tag line, "If I can do it, so can you!".

Mine is not the typical "IIT-D or BITS or REC with work-ex at Infosys or Wipro" making it to an IIM story. Here is my detailed background and the things that I did to get into IIM Calcutta.

I hail from Coimbatore. Did my schooling in Coimbatore and passed XII Standard (TN State Board) securing a little over 60%. Subequently, I joined PSG Arts College and completed B.A. Sociology securing 59% aggregate. My interests were mostly non-academic during those three years. I was an avid reader and excelled in organizing a variety of events in the college, which were co-curricular / vocational in nature.

While in my final year at PSG, I took CAT. This was in 1990. I got calls from IIM-A and XLRI. Thanks to the fact that I did not have any guidance for GD/PI preparation, I ended up not converting either of the calls. After graduation, I moved to Chennai and got my first job as a sales assistant at Landmark Book Shop. A couple of months into the job, I realized that I had more fire in my belly and wanted to pursue a career in the field of advertisement. I started hunting for jobs at Ad agencies. Much to my chagrin, I met with negative response from most agencies. However, things took a turn when I managed to meet the branch head of one of the leading ad agencies. The branch head was far from polite to me. He told me in plain simple terms that unless I had an MBA degree, I should not be aspiring to get a job in an advertising.

Summary of my prep strategy
I took agency head's words quite seriously and started preparing for CAT. I did a lot of slogging for over 6 months and cracked CAT. My Math was pretty okay and my English was very good. I solved almost every single Mock CAT that I could lay my hands on. By the time I took CAT, I would have solved over 30 Mock CATs. I used to spend three to four hours after each of the tests pouring over how I could have done things better. After the 20th or 22nd test, I had a "great feel" for at least 25% of the questions and even knew which of the four answer choices is likely to be the answer without actually going about solving them. I stopped my preparation on the Friday before CAT. On Sunday morning I wanted to be in the best of my moods. I did what I like a lot. I took a long drive on the Marina Beach stretch, around 7:30 in the morning. (It could be different things for different people, smoking a Gold Flake Kings for some, having a coffee for others or listening to your favourite song). Out of the 180 questions in CAT 1991, I remember attempting over 175. The last 30 of the 175 were pure calculated guesses, as I was by then confident that I had done reasonable justice to the paper.

I got calls from IIM A, B, C and L. Thanks to being in Chennai, I had the first opportunity to prepare seriously for the GD and PI. And that was probably the first time I was interacting face to face with someone who was an IIM grad. The tips and goading really helped me polish my GD/PI skills. I got admissions from IIM B, C and L. I joined IIM C in 1992 and passed out in 1994. The two years at IIM C is worth reliving. Given another chance, I sure would opt for IIM C.

Post IIM-C
Two years went past in a giffy. Campus placement - I got placed in Wipro Systems, Marketing. I shifted out of Wipro in a couple of years to California Software and then to Trigent Systems, USA. Equipped with these experience, I took up the responsibility of heading the Indian operations of Photon Infotech. Two years later, I have very recently started out on my own - Maarga Systems (http://www.maargasystems.com).

Well, if someone had told me in 1990 that I will be heading a software company in 10 years time, I am not sure I would have believed him. That is the kind of career transformation an MBA degree offers. It is not just the money; it is much more. It offers dream careers which, otherwise, were out of reach for most of us.

Though, mine is a slightly atypical story, I am not an exception to the rule. Many of my classmates, irrespective of whether they are engineers or not, have had similar enriching experience in one form or the other.

I wish all of you success in your pursuit of an MBA.

Name: Manisha Bhatia

My background: B.A. Corporate, Ethiraj College, Chennai. Ist year NMIMS, Mumbai. Planning to specialize in Finance and Marketing.

With just five months left before Dec 9, 2001, I started my preparations. There were two things which were absolutely clear in my mind. This is, what I have always wanted to do and that there was to be only one chance in which I could prove myself.

When I started going for the coaching classes, I felt unsure, vague and even terrified. I was low on self confidence. The entire batch as I saw had a few brain boxes (u recognise those types on sight) and a few people who had attempted these exams earlier and finally people like me. On a deeper observation, I found that everyone was scared like me....the serious ones, I mean. That is what gave me the impetus to work harder. That was where I started having an edge over others. I prepared for topics in advance. I approached the profs who used to take classes with my doubts. That was none the easier with me. I am a shy person and takes a lot for me to approach someone. But above all, I took everything that was told in the class seriously.

I prepared the way I was told. I read newspapers, magazines, novels......anything which could enrich my vocabulary and add on to my knowledge of current affairs. Eventually confidence started to build up. It only made me work harder. Honestly, there is no substitute for hard work. And the results started to show. I was sharper and more observant. Those moments of self doubt still persisted. It was then that I started planning for the mock exams I took. I experimented and planned my stratergies which suited me. Of course, I needed lot of guidance which I got from a lot of sources. There were many people who stood behind me and many people tried to discourage me. But I was optimistic, cause I firmly believed in my goals.

I really mixed up with a lot of fellow students and the faculty as well. Their experiences brought a few things in a better perspective. Also, I made a definite list of my strengths and weaknesses. This act of spelling out my strengths and weaknesses on paper really helped me a lot. And I put my heart and soul in improving thoses weak areas.

I cleared the written tests of MICA, BIM - Trichy, NMIMS and LIBA. During mock GD and interviews, I consulted a lot of people and built a strong plan for myself. This process is one I felt and put me through a series of difficult and some overpowering emotions. But it is the way you deal with them that helps you clear these exams. And of course, singleminded hard work. I got admissions into MICA, LIBA and NMIMS.

I wish all of you success in your pursuit of an MBA.


Name: Narasimhan Santhanam

My background: B Tech IIT Madras, PGDM IIM Calcutta, 8 years work ex, in software, consulting and internet industries, and as an entrepreneur

I cracked CAT in a rather normal manner.

I had placed a lot of faith on the right kind of preparation...so I took a correspondence course and slogged through it...I went through the entire course once, and did all the tests once again...

Whatever the faculty who prepared the material asked me to do, I did...the logic was simple...one had to pick up the smart tricks from someone, and I did not know anyone better than the faculty...

Though I was a bit unlucky during the exam because of which I lost about 4-5 minutes ( my q paper did not have some sheets in the middle), I think I was still able to get through only because of the rigorous preparation...I guess being from an IIT helped a bit as it gives you that small extra bit of confidence, but that is not good enough, at least it would not have been good enough for me...

As for the education at IIM (Calcutta) itself, it provided me the following:

1.It certainly widened my horizons...I feel that not only can I talk sophisticated terms like "broad perspective", I can also to some extent think of issues that are critical to an organisation's success, mainly because of the education at IIM Calcutta


2.It provided me with a strong network of contacts...many of my friends today hold responsible and in some cases very important roles in prestigious companies around the world


3.It provided me with quite a strong "brand" which I could either use to take business risks (which I did when i co-founded an internet strartup), or to get exciting and well-paying jobs. Essentially, it gave me that amount of backing with which I can be a lot more relaxed while looking for opportunities than those without that degree...
this is my story...