CAT Chronicles

It's not often that one decides to poke fun at himself publicly! So, i would request that whoever reads this, please be gentle!

My tryst with CAT began a long time ago when i was in the second year of college. Those days (wow, seems fricking long ago) the IIMania was in its prime. Everybody was talking about it and how difficult the CAT is. CAT btw stands for Common Admission Test. Its the entrance exam held by the IIM's for their Management Courses, read MBA. A ton of other institutes also accept the scores for their own courses. So its the exam to take get into a good college. Those days, I had study material from Career Forum to help me prepare. Those books were rarely used and ended up collecting dust in the corner of my bedroom. I did read a few of the books for my parents sake and because i did make a vain attempt to prepare towards the end.

I gave the exam and while i knew that Quant, my achilles heel was gonna pull me down, Language, my crowning glory would help cover up the embarrassment of the low score. Now the scoring for cat is awesome. Its relative, so even if you screwed up, you hope and pray that others screwed up worse! So for example, If i get a 90th percentile, it means my score is better than 90% of the people who have written CAT. Its a nice feeling when you see a 90+ on the score card. Over the years i have gone from strength to strength (dats right) I have scored as high as a 95percentile. But as luck would have it, the interviews and GD's sucked and hence i am still giving it another shot.

This was my 6th Attempt at CAT. That's right 6th Attempt. I was there when they reduced the number of questions and had 2 marks questions. I was there when the paper leaked and for the first time in history the infallible CAT was rescheduled. I was even offered the paper the evening before the exam. I remember the conversation i had with my dad that evening where i was actually contemplating the buy and he told me something in the vein of "Somebody gonna get hurt real bad. Somebody" I remember cursing my luck that day only to learn the next day after the CAT that its been cancelled. I guess sometimes daddy and mommy do get it right!

Anyway, so i have seen it evolve and get tougher every year. More candidates sign up and the competition is cut-throat. But as with most of my attempts at CAT, i was ill-prepared for this one. Heck, I had prayed that they reject my application. :P Anyhoo, i was assigned a center in Mayur Vihar. That's trans-yamuna. That means its f@#$%&g far. That also means, i have never been there before. The prev nite, i spent time going over the map and decided on a route. I left arnd and hour and a half before reporting time thinking I will be there well in time. Boy, was i wrong! I got lost a coupla times and as with Delhiites and their directions, nobody will admit they don't know, all of them will say "Go Straight!" Luckily that area was one market after another and while it was a gamble to stop and ask for directions as you end up blocking traffic, I finally found a cycle rickshaw fellow (god bless him) who told me exactly where to go!

I reached just in time for and rushed in. I found myself wondering what's gonna happen this time as i walked up the stairs. Upon finding my assigned room, i realised that it was a 2nd standard classroom. Cursing my luck, i squeezed into the desk to realised that this was gonna be one long exam. I couldn't move my legs an inch and within 5 mins i was beginning to get restless. In my restlessness and this happens quite a bit with me, this thought creeped into my mind out of the blue. Have you locked the car? I had left my phone and ipod in the dashboard so i was even more worried. As i tried to dismiss the thought, the test procedure started. Using that to take my mind off the car, i filled up the answer sheet with the personal details and what not. I happened to glance over and the dude sitting in the next row was acting shady. To my amazement, he was trying to cheat. I wanted to laugh and tell him, dude its the cat. Unless you have the fricking answer key, nothing will help. He had written some shit on his left arm, which he was writing on his desk and then rubbing off his arm. Thank god for that idiot coz i completely forgot abt the car till the exam ended. I was paralysed for a lil bit as my legs dint like the treatment.

The exam as i perceived it, was quite easy. I regret not having prepped quant enough. That said, i dont know if it wouldve helped anyway. :P

I shall let yall know what my score is. If not too embarassing of course! :)
In case any of you require any help with CAT please feel free to contact Career Launcher coz I ain't going down as a CAT advisor! :)

Oh and BTW, the car was locked and the my phone/ipod were safe! What a relief!