CET has always been about decision making, says MAH-CET 2018 AIR 2

Shashank Prabhu

Dr. Shashank Prabhu, MAH-CET 2018 AIR 2 is an MBA graduate from FMS, Delhi. The first time he had taken the CET exam was in 2010, and back then he secured the All India Rank 1 with a score of 179/200. Post that, he appeared for CET 2016, 2017 and now 2018. Having majored in Marketing and Operations, presently he runs his own coaching institute, and is a faculty test taker who takes tests to keep himself updated with the latest trends. 

This year, he scored 163 marks out of 200, 99.99 percentile, Rank 2 in MAH-CET 2018. Shiksha got in touch with Shashank to know how he has been doing well in the exam consistently over the years. To help future aspirants prepare better for the management exam, he shared some valuable inputs. Read his full interview below:

It was indeed a pleasant surprise. I had taken the test on the first day, in the first slot. I have been doing well on the CET over the last few years now and was expecting a 145+ score in CET 2018. I had interacted with a lot of candidates post the test and the consensus was that a genuine attempt of around 140 questions would be good enough for a 99.9%ile. So, having made around 165 genuine attempts, I knew that I had a strong shot at the top 10.

This was my 6^th MAH-MBA-CET. The first time I had taken it was in 2010 when I was the All India Rank 1 with a 179/200. Post that, I have had three more scores of 99.99 percentile in CET 2016, CET 2017 and now in CET 2018.

I am a faculty test taker and take tests to keep myself updated with the latest trends. Also, being someone who gets a ‘kick’ out of doing well at competitive tests, I do take almost all the entrances every year. This year I had taken CAT (99.43%ile), IIFT (99.99%ile) and NMAT (99%ile with a score of 241). Overall, I have scored the highest percentile in 11 All India tests now including a 100 percentile in CAT 2011.

I have done my MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi (Batch of 2011 – 13). I have majored in Marketing and Operations and have previously worked with ITC Limited as an Assistant Manager, Sales. I presently run an institute under the name ‘Learningroots’, and train aspirants for various aptitude tests.

To be frank, I hadn’t done any serious preparation this time around. Solving doubts of students and analysing their mocks and attempting questions on our Facebook and WhatsApp groups was the only ‘new’ thing I had done this year. I realised a week before the test that I was in the zone and that I would probably be converting most of the half-chances that I would take during the test. That gave me immense confidence. 

Even if one is a serious candidate, it goes without saying that one needs to be in the best frame of mind while taking the test. If one is worrying too much about the number of seats, cut-offs, level of difficulty and is rigid when it comes to strategy, chances are high that s/he will underperform during the test. I would like to share an experience that I had when I was an aspirant. I had planned to take around 10 – 15 mocks before the actual CET and so, had joined a test series. CET at that time used to be a paper-based and so, I would take a mock every week. In the first couple of mocks, I had scored around 135 marks (135 and 139 to be precise) and so, was nervous about my chances (CET at that time used to have 99.99%ile at around 155 – 160 marks). The next mock that I took, I was consciously aggressive and ended up having a lucky day. I scored a 156 in that mock. The next mock I took, I had a fair idea what it meant to be successful at a test and so, ended up scoring a 165. Post that, I did not take any mock with the fear that I might score fewer and so, would lose confidence. I went to take the CET with exactly 4 mocks behind me and I guess the confidence that I had helped me score an AIR 1 in that test.

From my experience, CET has always been a lot about decision making – which questions to attempt, which questions to leave, which method to follow, which section to prioritise and so on. Solving mocks and having knowledge of how to solve the various question types helps immensely in accelerating the decision making process. It is also important to peak at the right time and not get burnt out before the test. As long as one is happy solving questions it is going well. The moment you start thinking about it as a competition or a do-or-die situation and put extra pressure on yourself, you are practically underperforming.

I started my test with Analytical Reasoning. The section in CET 2017 was especially difficult with big caselets and a lot of data (which invariably led to a loss of momentum which one cannot afford at CET) and so, I had planned to tread carefully this time around. I was aiming for around 50 attempts in the first 60 minutes post which, I had planned to move to the next section. However, the section was slightly easier compared to that of CET 2017 and the caselets required persistence more than anything else. Considering these aspects, I managed to make 60 genuine attempts in the section and so, was satisfied by the time I left it. 

Next, I started with the Quantitative Ability Section. I had planned to stay put for around 30 minutes and then make the decision of whether I needed to spend more time on the section or not. The section was extremely similar to CET 2017 and I ended up solving some 35 questions in 30 minutes including a couple of Data Interpretation sets. I felt that it was the optimum number of questions one would be able to solve so, I needed to move on to the remaining sections with an hour left. 

Next, I switched to Abstract Reasoning and had planned to allot some 20 minutes to the section. Over the last three years, this section has been particularly straightforward and so, I was happy with my performance till that point in time. The only thing I needed to get used to was fact that the images had been drawn by hand and so, were not symmetrical or well spaced. The questions were straightforward though and I ended up finishing off all 25 questions in some 22 – 23 minutes. 

Lastly, I went for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension with around 35 minutes to go. The section was tricky and lengthy as we have come to terms with over the last few years now. It took a while to understand what was being asked and the options were fairly close in a few cases. There were a few new question types as well including a match-the-following grammar question. I solved around 40 questions in 30 minutes and left one Reading Comprehension passage at the end. 

The last 5 odd minutes, I spent on solving a DI set and a few Quantitative Ability questions. I marked the answers to the Reading Comprehension passage that I had left by making educated guesses (which generally turn out to be right). The last couple of minutes, I marked all the remaining answers as option B and submitted the test. 

Overall, I had genuinely attempted around 165 questions and was expecting an 85% accuracy on these questions and so, around 145 – 150 marks. 

As I had mentioned under the preparation strategy part, I think my accuracy went up by a fair amount than what I had expected and was probably in the 90s considering that there wasn’t any significant normalisation done.

I have a tendency to think a bit too much and am a stickler for detail. So, I invariably end up thinking a bit too much about Verbal Reasoning, Reading Comprehension, Critical Reasoning and Grammar based questions. Although it is not required of me to do much about it in terms of content, I have to accept the fact that ambiguity exists and it is better to move on when I am facing such situations. Having a rigid time distribution at a section level definitely helps deal with this and knowing that I will probably be able to solve a few extra questions in Quantitative Ability and Reasoning gives me a license to attack these question types without worrying too much about accuracy.

It is completely up to the individual. According to me, coaching institutes help in a couple of ways: one, they bring discipline to your preparation and you have content being delivered in a structured manner and two, you get a perspective about the test and MBA in general from experienced mentors (in most cases, if I may add). In the present day and age, we are becoming technical and organised in verticals that were pretty much based on pure skill (say something like the entertainment industry or even sports where we have data analysts, mental strength conditioning coaches and so on). The same applies to entrance tests as well. We as mentors help more with the mental part of the test and the student’s decision making (be it in terms of content or strategy) is essentially outsourced to the experts. If someone is diligent enough to manage all this on his/her own and is driven, simply taking a few mocks is sufficient.

Understand your preparation early and make sure that your goal is realistic. Aiming for a 99.99%ile or JBIMS just because everyone else is, is not going to be of any help whatsoever. CET is all about working hard and being extremely quick (and accurate) with regard to decision making under pressure, which are essentially the traits that define a manager. So, if you have it in you, you will do well. All the best!