CAT: Expectations vs Reality

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts”

– Winston Churchill

The words of Winston Churchill inspires us to endeavour throughout our life. Similarly, learning is an incessant and pervasive process. It is an inalienable activity in every sphere of our life. Success gives immense joy but failure redirects and gives a new perspective of doing things. Hence, one must embrace rejections for growth. The same principle applies to your demotivated thoughts after your CAT. There are people who do exceptionally well during practice mocks but end up performing average on the real front and vice versa. There is nothing to feel dejected about. It just requires some more time of introspection and reflection. Success is not defined by scores but by your performance. Apart from admission test scores, your performance in Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) process also contribute significantly to the admission process across all B-Schools. CAT or any management entrance test scores are just part of the game. When it comes to college selection, the decision is crucial as it is going to impact your near foreseeable future.

Success is not defined by scores but by your performance.

Institutions play a very vital role in shaping our knowledge, industrial exposure and personality. These are the key traits for a rewarding corporate career. Therefore, careful consideration of these factors is a must before choosing your learning destination. One point must be always remembered; you must achieve the minimum cut-off score to land at your dream college. Cut-offs vary with each year but always aim high, it will uplift your passion for learning. After you attempt that all-important CAT examination, here are a few things that you could do in the following days. Immediately: We do have apprehensions when it comes to entrance exams. Even though one has done effective and steady preparation for CAT, things seem different on the examination day. Every student goes through a phase of anxiety while entering the examination hall, however, once settled, will overcome it and attempt the best shot. After you are done with the CAT examination, do not just start to think of something that might collapse your entire system. Just relax, you did something great for your career. Of course, this will be the first initiative that is going to make yourself by learning. Do not think of the question paper that made you stare at it for minutes and was like the birds flying around your head. Every student has talked about the question paper immediately after getting out of the exam hall, discussing the answers and above all, stressing out your parents with these types of unwanted talks.

Every student goes through a phase of anxiety while entering the examination hall, however, once settled, will overcome it and attempt the best shot.

First, try to avoid talking about the question paper, it already has your own answers, all set for evaluation. Discussing those answers will not get you extra marks for the mistakes made by you in the answer sheet. It will get you nothing, however, on the contrary, will make you depressed and will be stressful. Relax and take a deep breath. Believe in yourself that all your preparation for the exam will reward you with good marks. You might have made mistakes by striking the incorrect ones even though you knew them very well. That is fine either way. Take a break read some content-based books, watch some good movies, and catch up on your sleep because you deserve it. You can’t drive a car by solely looking at the rear-view mirror! You should learn from your mistakes and use them to improve yourself.

Over the next few days: After a few days of completing the entrance examinations, by analysing your performance, your mind will be ready to accept what is coming. Moreover, all aspirants have their predicted score and expect that score to reflect in their scoresheets. By the time the results are published, you should start your search for the reputed institutions that inspire you.

Nowadays, all the top B-Schools are also conducting GD (Group Discussion), PI (Personal Interview) and WAT (Written Ability Test) for admissions. You should be well prepared with General Knowledge, awareness, specialisation in your graduation, your Goals in life and personal hobbies. These are the questions commonly asked in the interviews and group discussions. So you must start separate preparation for this process. But here arises the most important question, "What after the results?". The reactions will be based on how you did your exams. Ones who are successful will get placed in the reputed management institutions. Some of them who got lower marks will choose to do their jobs and still some resilient aspirants will prepare exclusively and give it another shot. There are other major exams like MAT, XAT, GMAT, CMAT, TANCET, etc. Every decision will give you maturity, independence and at last, a valuable experience.

About the Author:

Joe Amal Antony is currently pursuing MBA from Thiagarajar School of Management, Madurai. He is fascinated by finance and operations. He is a graduate in Bachelor of Computer Applications from The American College, Madurai. He is passionate about athletics and has also won many medals in jumping events both at school and college (University medalist) levels. He loves watching movies and playing outdoor games. He respects everyone and is a patriotic person who always wants to do something for his nation.

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely author’s own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha