I think it’s a good initiative on part of the IIMs. But some areas need attention
Vipul Goyal graduated in Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce under University of Delhi in 2008. With an attractive score of 165 leading to 99.87 percentile, Vipul got calls from IIM Indore and IIM Kozikhode along with other top MBA institutes in India among which he chose IIM Indore in order to remain close to his culture. Being a member of a business family and son of a businessman father, no wonder business is in his blood.
MBAUniverse.com spoke to him to know about his journey of making it to the IIM and advice for the aspirants.
Q: What was your percentage in CAT 2008 entrance exam?
A: My CAT entrance exam percentile was 99.87.
Q: Which are the institutes that short listed you for GD PI and offered you final admissions?
A: I was short listed by all IIMs except RGIIM Shillong, SIBM Pune, IMT Ghaziabad, SPJIMR Mumbai and MDI Gurgaon.
I have got final admission offers from IMT Ghaziabad, IIM Indore, and IIM Kozhikode.
Q: Which is the institute that you have decided to take admission and why?
A: I have decided to join IIM Indore over other non IIM institutes because it has the brand name of being an IIM which is established in India as the icon of management.
I chose Indore over Kozhikode because of its proximity to Delhi and its inclination towards north Indian culture.
Secondly, even the academic culture at Indore is similar to what I would prefer. Indore has stricter rules regarding attendance and academic performances. So, I believe it is more suited to a person like me.
Q: Which test prep institute did you go to? How did you make the selection? How should CAT 2009 aspirants make this decision?
A: I joined the test series of T.I.M.E. I chose this test series because most CAT entrance exam students take it up and in such exams where percentile scores and not percentage scores matter, it is always beneficial to compare yourself to the maximum number of people.
Q: With just over 6 months to go, what is your advice to CAT 2009 aspirants?
A: I believe that the best way to prepare for CAT entrance exam is to appear for as much mocks as possible. I would advise the aspirants to take mocks as seriously as CAT exam itself. Even more important is to analyze the mocks. One should always look at the answers provided in the answer sheet even if the question was very simple. One may always find an easier and less time consuming solution.
Q: How should they plan their study on the basis of different sections in the paper and time management?
A: I think everybody has a different aptitude for different sections. So one can try different combinations in mocks so as to get an idea of how much time one needs to spend on one section. I would recommend that one should not allot the full time to sections. Some buffer time should be kept after fixing time for all the sections so that the section where one is not sure of clearing the cut off or where one thinks can score heavily should be taken up in this buffer time. I followed a strategy of 40 minutes for each section and the remaining 30 mins for sections where I thought I could expand my score or built up in sections where I was not comfortable with my attempts.
Q: As you are aware, CAT 2009 entrance exam will be a computer-based-test. In your view, how does this change the exam?
A: I think it has both the good and bad aspects attached to it. The good part is that a lot of clutter and paper handling would be saved. Time management would become easier and more efficient. Troublesome work of darkening the circles need not be done now.
The bad aspect about the new system is that people who are not very comfortable working with computers will be at a disadvantage.
Q: What is your take on this new format?
A: I think it’s a good initiative on part of the IIMs. But some areas need attention. The new format seeks to provide flexibility of taking exam to the students. In this case there will obviously be different sets of question papers. I this case, the comparison of scores of different question papers where the difficulty level may vary will pose some problems.
Q: Are you happy that you did not have to appear for this format or you feel that CBT form would have been better for you?
A: I would say that I am happy that I do not have to take up the CBT form of theCAT entrance exam.
Q: What should aspirants do to adjust to this new format?
A: I always advise every aspirant to take as much mocks as possible. So, I think mocks will serve their purpose here. Aspirants can get a taste of how the environment will be like, how will the interface look like etc.
