Not an IIM Guy

What is the next no?

5,6,7,8,10,11,14,….?

Are these logical reasoning still troubling your thinking cells? Do you still remember those October days which went through so quickly doing joint studies, helping your friend with the LR part and getting help on the quants part, doing late night studies, and the most important, discussing what could be the surprise in the CAT.

Sid is one of those guys who is preparing for the toughest exam…yes you guessed it right, the CAT. After going through all the options available to him though not many, he thought taking CAT would be the best option, and it was in fashion too. Doing the necessary research he joined IMS which provides the training for the CAT. Once applied for it, a IQ test was asked to take where in a similar kind of questions were asked. Very confidently he sat for the test “chalo dekh lenge CAT bhi kis khet ki muli hai”. After 2 hours the test finished and he got to know that it is not going to be a cakewalk. After reaching home he thought of finalizing the Institute he would be interested in. He thought of setting high standards for him, so he finalized IIM A, if not IIM A, IIM B for sure, “Iske niche toh sochna hi nahi hai”.

He was passionate about his dream and was working towards his IIM A dream. Lots of books been explored, lots of SimCATs taken, lots of discussion made over the net to finalize the strategy for the D- day. Then came November, when the final touch to the concepts learnt in the past 6 months was given, and the final SimCAT is taken exactly one week prior to the actual CAT. Along the way the dreams were also actually taking its shape. The week passes on like this, and finally the night comes when it becomes very tough to put your thoughts at rest. All the sensitivity analysis is done in that particular night, what if I get late for the exam, what if I forget my lucky pencil, what if I get the wrong seat, what if I do not clear the cutoffs, what if I do not get the proper sleep. So, he tried to sleep praying to God, “Ek din ke liye Einstein ki atma mere andar aa jaye”.

Next morning comes the D – day, he wake up fresh and went to the centre with full confidence, taking all the precautionary measures which he thought of the previous night. He got the seat number, got the paper, he kissed the paper and had a first look. The paper seemed to be friendly at first instance, as he rolled over he came across all the unfamiliar part, the surprise part. Nothing was coming out as he tried with few of the problems, he got tensed as his dreams were being shattered with every second passing by, the surrounding started appearing to be hazy and all the concepts, tricks and shortcuts seemed to be of no use when it was actually needed. The dream started to show its breaking signals. 2 ½ hours passed by as if ½ an hour has passed. The invigilator asked to put the marker down and with that he also sort of put the plan of IIM A or for that matter the plan of IIM B.

Perhaps each one of us has who has appeared for CAT has also played the role of Sid. Oops…. except those 1% of us who really make it to the IIM. So what could those 99% of students every year do to fulfill their dream of IIM, probably wait for next year, if not in the next year, then next to next year, so how many of us really have the patients to wait for year after year, or does it really make sense for waiting for so many years. So what can Sid do….? Probably he can wait for one year and give it a shot next year, what if he could not make it in the next year also.

This is the situation, through which around 2 ½ lacs students go, and some students really make it big and some students make a wrong decision waiting for the next year or next to next year. What I feel every student has to answer the all important question Am I an IIM Guy…….??

At the very first instance Sid should evaluate his capabilities and the stars as well as luck also plays a significant role. If IIM is not his cup of coffee then why not to evaluate other options. “Waise bhi toh Kotler hi padhna hai…..chahe IIM mein padhe yaa aur kahin”