Common Admission Test (CAT) 2015 is going to be a different exam as the IIM Bill 2015 proposing to change the nomenclature of management programme at IIMs from PGDM to MBA is going to be introduced in Parliament. It will be the most prestigious entrance examination in the history of CAT as with CAT 2015 students are expected to get admission in MBA 2016-18 batch at 20 IIMs, if the bill is passed by Parliament and becomes IIM Act 2015.
CAT 2015 will be the gateway to MBA in top rated IIMs and other B schools in India. Hundreds of corporate leaders, professors, mentors take CAT to assess where they are. CAT 2015 will award you with the opportunity to get admission in the best B-schools in India. The examination is not going to be a cake walk and would require hard work.
MBA aspirants, determined to crack CAT 2015 should wake up and march on their preparation journey from now on without delaying the CAT 2015 preparation any further. In the process you need to select and seek help of coaching institute to groom you well in your preparation for CAT 2015.
How to choose Coaching for CAT 2015
Since it is amply clear that coaching, taken a little seriously will be a great value addition to your preparation for CAT 2015, how to make an appropriate choice out of many on-line/off-line preparation centres running all over the country, is another situation that is to be analysed, so that the aspirant may have great motivational level without getting duped.
During the last decade numerous coaching centres have sprung up in the country. Some of them are so good in their strategy of imparting knowledge and intelligent tips to solve CAT questions that students learn them with an amazing ease. But the decision of choosing a good learning centre is not less difficult than making a choice of good B-school. Prof S K Agarwal Expert on Verbal Ability and Mentor on CAT preparation shares the factors you should consider before choosing the suitable Preparation programme for CAT 2015
Choice between On-line and Off-line
Learning centres could be either on-line or off-line. The off line coaching is the traditional class room one while the on-line system is innovative, convenient, easy to approach and computer based, wherein the aspirant doesn’t require to commute to the coaching centre and may take the class right from his office or home.
Number of top preparation centres have either gone online or have added on-line coaching for CAT preparation as thousands of candidates now prefer online preparation to offline conventional method. If we analyse the merits and demerits of the same, we may summarise them as follows-
|
On-Line Learning |
Off-Line coaching |
|
No commuting required. One can take classes from anywhere in the world |
Have to go to the coaching centre |
|
Classes through internet system |
Have to be present in the class room |
|
One to one interaction Batch size immaterial |
If the batch size is large, will be a part of crowd |
|
Facility to go through the recorded class, if the class is missed |
Should be present in class, same class may not be repeated. |
|
Time saving |
Consumes more time – travelling, batch attendance etc. |
|
Students feeling shy may ask the questions sitting before his/her computer-no one to ridicule at. |
Shy ones remain silent for the fear of being ridiculed at. |
|
Every class may be reviewed any number of times |
Facility is not available |
|
Absolute punctuality-as class begins on time |
The teacher/student may be late. Class will start when the teacher comes; if the student is late, he will miss the session |
|
More cost effective-will save money |
Costlier than on-line classes. Sometimes the difference is more than 5-6 times. |
The comparison has to be made before proceeding to choose one. There is a growing trend for online classes as the aspirants find them more convenient.
Flexibility of Time
You need convenient time of class to attend the same in off-line system. Timing for Off-line classes is more or less fixed depending upon the batch timing. These classes may be difficult to be conducted late in the night due to various reasons. During day time a working professional may find it difficult to attend it regularly unless he decides to leave the job.
On the other hand, on-line classes offer the opportunity of flexibility and the time can be changed easily. In fact it is a class with convenience and feel of virtual class room. It is one of the important factors impacting the decision in choice of coaching.
Online programme: Less expensive
A coaching institute charging exorbitant fee, only due to its brand name may not be preferred one. Charges for off line preparation courses are higher than the on-line ones. For example, if an aspirant has to spend Rs. 30,000/- on offline classes with an additional expenditure of Rs. 10,000/- in travelling during the entire course or has to live in a rented accommodation if the coaching centre exists in some other town, think of the amount of expenses required to be incurred for the coaching, travelling, lodging and boarding, it will be well beyond Rs. 70,000/- or so.
On the contrary the on-line learning centre will charge much less- so less, that you could buy a new internet connection along with a computer/laptop, if you consider spending the amount equivalent to the charges for off-line coaching when the quality and level of understanding remains the same. A CAT 2015 aspirant preparing with on-line coaching system can attend the class from anywhere in the world, the need is to have an internet connection. One has to take care of this aspect also.
Updated Study material
Good and updated study material for CAT 2015 should be accessible either on-line or in hard copy. In fact, an aspirant is more comfortable with on-line study material since he can read it anywhere on the screen of his computer with a click of button. Carrying the load of books might be difficult. Besides updation in the On-line study material can be instant whereas the off line material will require more time, updating and getting the supplements printed after due printing corrections.
Off-line coaching centre: Location a big issue
If an aspirant wishes to go for off line coaching, it is very much necessary to judge the convenience of commuting to the centre. If you spend 2-3 hours in commuting to & fro the centre, you are wasting your time and won’t be left with time for self-study, which is a pre-requisite with coaching.
Availability of Mocks
Does the coaching Institute have full length Mock Tests for CAT 2015 and can provide the same to you timely? Would the test series be in accordance to the CAT 2015 examination pattern? Answers to these questions must be sought and well analysed before selecting the right coaching.
Basics of Coaching: Check
What shall be number of classes, which topic will have more classes, Batch size, Availability of Doubt clarification classes, ask various question to the institute – its course module, take some feedback. If it is online coaching, ask them to send a few feedbacks of different dates to assess the quality. This will help you going for the best available option.
Past CAT Results
All the coaching centres claim a lot. Suppose, a coaching centre imparted training to 70,000 aspirants in a session across its different centres and 700 got a good percentile; on the other hand there is a coaching institute that trained 1000 odd students and 100 got a very good percentile – think of the ratio and then decide.
Check a running Demo Class
In fact special Demo classes are designed to give special effects. It is better to opt for running Demo class. You will get a feel of teaching methodology, the level of understanding that you may get. The questions posed by the students in such classes and the answers received by them, will make you form an idea whether to go for it. If the queries raised by you are duly answered, you will have the satisfaction of selecting the right coaching.
Faculty interaction
Find out how motivated are the aspirants. Check whether the trainer is able to create interest in the topic; whether the topic is relevant to the examination and so on. It is better to interact with the faculty in regard to preparation strategy.
Key advice is to choose the right coaching for CAT 2015 in accordance with the factors shared above by Prof S K Agarwal, mentor on CAT preparation.
Related Article
CAT 2015: Get ready to begin; Collect good study material & mentor; regular in studies
CAT 2015: Don’t take the risk of quitting your job; Prepare well while working
CAT 2015: Know all Insights of Last year exam with Experts view to plan you preparation
CAT 2015: IIM Ahmedabad to conduct; TCS to remain testing partner
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more preparation tips on CAT 2015
