Students’ Speak: Did not clear CAT? Not end of the world

CAT exam is just one door for MBA aspirants and not able to open one door doesn’t mean the end of the world. Anjali Rajesh shares some tips on how to handle setbacks and keep moving forward.

Couldn’t do well in CAT? Didn’t get the results as you expected?

Are you thinking that all your efforts went in vain? Then you should probably change your thinking!

Yes, you heard that right. Because this isn’t the last option that you are left with. These entrance exams are just one of the door towards your career, just a door that you got to knock.

Actually, it’s pretty simple, when we do not get the desired results, we actually think about the reasons why things are not happening the way they were planned or why we are unable to do it even after multiple efforts! That’s it, we just got the answer to these questions! That this isn’t the door that we are looking for.

Here’s a phrase that we all have been hearing since childhood “failures are the stepping stones towards success”. Let me tell you each and every word in this phrase is absolutely true. All we have to do with the failure is to “learn”, that’s what failures are meant for. As a child, if you burn your hand while playing with a candle, will you play with that again? No right? Because it is just learnt that what actually went wrong and now we know what has to be done so that we don’t face it again.

Same goes with exams or any other hurdles that come along in the journey of life. Not clearing the exams is not the end, we can learn from these setbacks as well, as we will be still left with two options — to either try it out again since we didn’t get a positive output or else again ask yourself whether is this your area of interest.

Getting low marks in CAT doesn’t say that you are not eligible to apply to any other b-school. India has around 5500 b-schools that are currently operating and out of which just 20 are the IIMs that means you still have 5480 options left. And there are numerous competitive exams to get into these as they provide the same facilities, placements and ambience that an IIM would give you. Moreover, if you get confused about which one to select, we have so many options to solve that too.

There are so many alternatives that you can choose by simply chilling on your sofa, it can be either through the education-related websites that give ratings and provide information related to several b-schools. We can also consult a counsellor for guidance, attend seminars or even by conducting some general enquiry with the people around you.

The key to being successful is “concentration”. As they say, wherever you are, be there. At times, when we solve a particular question, we may not be able to do it but if we sit, think with full concentration and the same difficult question may turn out to be an easy one for you. So whatever you’re doing, just give your full and undivided attention.

Nobody is a winner and nobody is a loser, it’s all about the efforts and the results. There is no one called loser – either, there are winners or there are the learners, as no man knows what he can do until he tries.

About the Author:

Anjali Rajesh a student of Thiagarajar School of Management in Madurai pursuing her Post Graduate Diploma in Management.