The B-School selection process is typically a two-staged process
Stage 1: This is a written test which primarily comprises of high school math and English and general awareness (Not there in IIM-CAT, but in other exams). These tests are designed to primarily test the candidate’s ability to think fast on his/her feet and something we at The Princeton Review call thought aptitude-the ability to think innovatively about new problem.
The competition here is very stiff. For example from about an estimated 1 lakh candidates who take the IIM-CAT exam, between 3000 to 6000 make it to the second round of the selection process. The differentiating factor between those who make it and those who do not is simply the candidate’s determination, the zeal and the consistency in preparation.
Stage 2: Candidates are called for Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI), based primarily on their performance in the written test. In this round the candidates are evaluated for their communication skills, leadership qualities, career goals etc. Some of the institutes require candidates to make a small presentation, apart from GD and PI. Some institutes do not have GDs but have multiple rounds of interviews (2-3)
The Final Selection: is made based on the candidates’ performance in the written test, GD and Interviews. Some students assume that past academic performance, work experience, extra curricular and any other achievements also account for some marks directly, but this is not so. It is only how well you are able to leverage these things in an interview that makes a difference.
THE B-SCHOOL PROCESS
Group Discussion and Personal Interviews Group Discussions: In a typical group discussion there could be anywhere between 8 to 15 candidates, with a panel of 2-3 selectors. The candidates would be given a topic and then given 15-20 minutes for discussion.
In some cases the candidates may be assigned additional tasks like selecting the topic themselves or electing a chairman etc. In terms of topic, they could be related to anything – politics, social issues, economic issues, sports, science, business etc. They could sometimes be abstract for ex. Antonyms and Synonyms, Art is a four letter word. Some institutes could also use case studies for GD rounds.
Objective
The objective of the group discussion is to see: • How good a leader the candidate is
• How logically the candidate can argue his stand point
• How he reacts to other people’s ideas • How he resolves group conflicts • How he communicates with his group • How good a listener the candidate is How to prepare for GD
Start doing the following from now:
• Keep abreast with the current affairs – read one newspaper daily, one current affairs weekly magazine and one business magazine. Watch analysis based current affairs programs on the national and international news channels.
• Form yourself in a group, with your other friends who are preparing for B-School entrances, and practice GDs
• Form your own views on important issues, backed by data and logic
• Initiate intellectually stimulating conversations and discussions with people you interact with on a regular basis whenever you find the opportunity to foster exchange of ideas on current affair topics.
Personal Interviews
GDs are followed by personal interviews. Most of the times the personal interviews are conducted the same day as the GDs and by the GD panel itself. The questions that are asked in an Interview can broadly be classified into the following categories:
• Questions related to Academics
• Questions related to Extra Curricular Activities, Hobbies, Leisure activities, Community work etc • Questions related to Career Goals
• Questions related to work experience • Questions related to Current Affairs
• Personal Questions like–likes/dislikes, strengths/ weaknesses, family background, values etc. Objective
The Personal Interview evaluates the following: • Clarity of Goals
• Communication Skills and overall Personality • Sincerity of the candidate towards whatever
he / she does
• Ability to handle high pressure situations, sometimes unexpected ones
• Awareness level of the candidate about his/her environment
How to prepare for Personal Interview You need to do the following:
• Like for your GD preparation, keep abreast with the current affairs
• Start introspecting and start working on questions like, ‘Why you want to an MBA?’ ‘What are your long term goals?’ ‘How an MBA fits into them?’ etc.
• Start brushing up on your academics. They would typically ask questions on either the fundamentals or the latest that has been happening in your subject of study.
• Improve your awareness about things, which are related to your hobbies and leisure time activities.
How to select a Business School
There are about 800 accredited B-Schools in India. And there numbers are growing by each passing day. But which of these would help you fulfill the objectives that you set out to achieve when you decided upon pursuing an MBA? Answering some of the following questions would probably help you decide which institutes you should be applying to: • What is the placement record of the Institute over
the past three years?
• What are the credentials of the core faculty at the institute?
• What exchange programs does the institute have? • What do the industry, alumni and media say
about the institute?
• What kind of infrastructure does the institute have –library, computer lab, Internet etc?
• Is there a match between the profiles of the candidates the institute has selected over the last three years and your profile?
How do these things matter? These matter because thy would directly affect how good is the institute, and end up affecting the quality of input and out put ass well as other things like recruiter profile, interest and placements.
Why People Fail
1. Most students believe that joining a very famous coaching institute will ensure success. Merely joining is not enough.
2. Herd mentality: Join wherever your friends join, no consideration of who will teach and the methodology. You only have one CAT per year, use your own head to make the decision.
3. What they get: Inexperienced teachers, changing teachers after every few classes. The trainer quality is vital to your success.
4. CAT requires individual attention- most institutes cater to 1000’s of students with over 35 per class…..this is too much for concepts to sink in and doubts to be cleared.
5. Mere two month’s practice will help me to get past GD’s and interviews. The IIM profs look for confidence, knowledge and ability to think on the spot. All this takes time.
6. Students put in irregular studies with inconsistent spurs in preparation. Remember, slow and steady wins the race.
7. Being content with god gifted capabilities. Every one and anyone who takes CAT needs improvement from what (s)he was born with. GRE- Learn about the GRE
What is the GRE and how is it structured?
The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test is a multiple-choice admission test for applicants to graduate schools. The test is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), under the sponsorship of the Graduate Record Examinations Board. The GRE is a computer-adaptive test (IIM-CAT) and consists of three scored sections:
• Two essays to be written on the computer: Analysis of an Argument and Analysis of an Issue (introduced in October 2002)
• One 45-minute, 28-question Math section: Problem Solving and Quantitative Comparison • One 30-minute, 30-question Verbal section:
Sentence Completions, Antonyms, Analogies, and Reading Comprehension In addition, there may be a marketing survey, or one or two experimental sections, which can be Verbal or Quantitative.
What is a GRE-CAT and how does it work? A GRE-CAT is a computer-adaptive test, whose software calculates your score based on the number of questions you answer correctly, the difficulty of
the questions you answer and the number of questions you complete. When you take the GRE-CAT, you’ll begin each section with a medium-level question and a score of 500. If you answer the question correctly, the computer will raise your score and give you a harder question. If you answer the question incorrectly, your score will decrease and you’ll be given an easier question. The process repeats for each question in the section, to arrive at your final score for that section.
How is the GRE scored?
Each of the multiple-choice sections is scored on a scale of 200 to 800. The average scores for the GRE are about 470 for Verbal and 570 for Quantitative. The Analytical Writing section is scored on a scale of 0 to 6.
How important are my GRE scores?
Schools vary tremendously in the weights they place on the different factors in the admission process, so be sure to contact the specific schools to which you are applying in order to determine their unique requirements. Some programs weight GRE scores very heavily, and/or have a minimum score for applicants, while other programs consider GRE scores more of a formality. It is important to note that your GRE scores are a major factor in determining your eligibility for financial aid.
How to register for GRE and what is the fee? For GRE one can get oneself registered at:
Sylvan Testing Services Pvt. Ltd. Senior Plaza, 160-A, Gautam Nagar, Yusuf Sarai, Behind Indian Oil Building, New Delhi 110049, India
Tel: 91-11-651-1649, Fax: 91-11-652-9741 The fee for registration for GRE is $140. What are the GRE Subject Tests?
The GRE Subject Tests are intended to measure your knowledge of specific subject matter. Subject Tests are available in eight disciplines: biochemistry, cell
and molecular biology; biology; chemistry; computer science; literature in English; mathematics; physics; and psychology. These tests are given in paper-and-pencil format three times per year, in November, December and April.
These tests are given separately from the GRE General Test and require additional fees. Check with the graduate schools to which you are applying to determine whether any of these extra tests are required.
Dispelling the Myths about the GRE and Grad School Admissions
MYTH: The GRE tests complex math concepts. FACT: GRE math is tough because of the way the concepts are tested, not because of the concepts themselves. The GRE tests math concepts you learned in the seventh or eighth grade – you won’t see any calculus or trigonometry.
MYTH: There are lots of skills you can learn to help you improve your math score, but you can’t really improve your verbal score.
FACT: The single best way to improve your verbal score is to improve your vocabulary. Antonyms, analogies, and sentence completions all rely upon your understanding of the words in the questions and answer choices. If you know what the words mean, you’ll be able to answer the questions quickly and accurately.
MYTH: All of the questions on the GRE count equally towards your score.
FACT: Questions at the beginning of each section have a greater impact on your score than do questions that come later in the section. Imagine that the test is trying to get to know you. At the beginning, the test doesn’t know very much about you, and each question will have a significant effect its “opinion” of you. By the end, the test has a fairly good idea of what your ability is, and each question will have less of an impact on your final score.
What’s the lowdown on the GRE essay section? In October of 2002, your friends at ETS launched the Analytical Writing section. The section is divided into two parts; for each part you’re presented with a topic on which you have to write an essay. The first part lasts 45 minutes and is entitled “Present Your Perspective on an Issue,” while the second part lasts 30 minutes and is entitled “Analyze an Argument.” How is the essay scored?
Each essay is read by two readers, each of whom will assign your writing a grade from 0 - 6 in half-point increments (6 being the highest possible score). You may think that famous authors and English professors from Princeton are hired to grade these essays. Think again. Part-time college TAs are the only ones who will see your work.
ETS uses the “holistic” scoring method to grade essays; your writing will be judged not on small details but rather on its overall impact. The ETS essay readers are supposed to ignore small errors of grammar and spelling. Each person gets two minutes to read each essay, tops! That’s 30 essays an hour. They have to work for eight hours straight, with only an hour off for lunch at the ETS cafeteria. So they basically grade 240 essays a day. That’s a lot! Do you think a well thought-out idea and clever analysis is going to win them over? Think again, they’re really not in the mood. They have a quota to meet (hello, sweatshop!) so the most your essay will get is a fast skim. And by the time he or she gets to your work of art, well, the grade has most likely read over a hundred already. So no matter how innovative you were in coming up with original thoughts, that grader has either already seen them or couldn’t really care less.
I need to sit down and prepare for this test. What should I do?
You have a few options. If you feel like you can prepare on your own, The Princeton Review’s Cracking the GRE may be your best bet. Not only
does it go into detail about the essay section but it also provides you with the techniques you need to score higher on the GRE in general.
Many people find a GRE classroom test-prep course to be the most effective way to prepare for the exam. A GRE prep course is a big investment - in terms of both time and money. At The Princeton Review, your investment will pay off. You will never face a class larger then eight students, you will learn from expert instructors, have access to free extra help, and receive the most comprehensive, up-to-date materials available. We guarantee that you will be satisfied with your results - if you’re not, we’ll work with you again for free.
GATE Technology
Let’s start with technology: Students with a passion for technology do not get satisfied by just a B.Tech. So they usually go for a masters program in India or abroad. An M.Tech. in India, involves taking the GATE route. The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is an All-India Examination conducted by the seven Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. The Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) is administered and conducted in eight zones across India by the GATE Committee. Sale of Information Brochures & Application Forms/ Online commence in the month of September and the deadline for submission of forms is early November. GATE is scheduled in mid February.
GATE has a single paper spanning 3 hours and carries a maximum of 150 marks. Before applying for GATE 2005, candidates must assure themselves that they have chosen the right. Paper, which qualifies them to become eligible to seek admission to the specific program they are interested in. The criteria for postgraduate admission with Scholarship/ Assistantship are different in various Institutes. The various papers are Civil Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science & Engineering,
Electronics & Communication Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Instrumentation Engineering, Engineering Sciences, etc.
The question paper of GATE 2005 will be fully of objective type. Candidates have to mark the correct choice by darkening the appropriate bubble against each question on an Objective Response Sheet (ORS). There will be ‘negative’ marking for wrong answers. The deduction will be 25% of the marks allotted.
Paper structure for GATE: The question paper will be fully objective type for a total of 150 marks divided into three groups:
1. Group-I: Question Numbers 1 to 30 (30 questions) will carry one mark each. 2. Group-II: Question numbers 31 to 80
(50 questions) will carry two marks each. 3. Group-III: Question Numbers 81a to 85b
(10 questions) will carry two marks each. Each number in this series (81,82,83,84,85) will have two sub-questions (a & b). The answer to part ‘b’ will be linked to the correct answer to part ‘a’, as described below in Section (e)(vi).
Each question will have four choices for the answer. Only one choice is correct.
Wrong answers carry 25% negative marks.
The Magic of Believing
I’m not old enough to plat baseball or football. I’m not eight yet. My mom told me when you start baseball, you aren’t going to be able to run that fast because you had an operation. I told mom I wouldn’t need to run fast. When I play baseball, I’ll just hit them out of park. Then I’ll be able to walk.
