Good management is the art of making problems so interesting and their solutions so constructive that everyone wants to get to work and deal with them.
- Paul Hawken
The selection process for the Top B-Schools in India typically comprises of two stages.
The first stage is usually a 2 hours 15 minutes online or written (depends on the exam) examination that tests the students on various skills (English, Math, General Awareness and Business Awareness) through multiple-choice questions with negative marking for wrong answers. English and Maths are further subdivided into different areas:
CAT (Common Admission Test), is the gateway to the
IIMs, the most prestigious management institutes in India. The CAT score is also
used as a basis of admission at some other leading management institutes like
S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), Management
Development Institute (MDI), Nirma Institute of Management, Fore School of
Management, T.A. Pai Management Institute (TAPMI) and K.J. Somaiya Institute of
Management Studies. The application procedure, however, for each of these institutes
is different. CAT is usually held in the month of October-November and tests
the aspirants on their English (Verbal and Reading Comprehension skills) and
Math (Quantitative, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning) skills. The areas are clearly
demarcated into sections. The number of sections and their composition vary
from year to year. Hence the structure of the CAT is not certain. For more information on CAT-2010 please click here.
XAT is the common entrance test for the Xavier group of institutions; XLRI, XIMB and XISS. Apart from these institutes, several other reputed institutes like S.P.Jain, LIBA and GIM also take XAT score. Usually conducted in January, the exam tests the aspirants on their General Awareness, Business Awareness and Essay writing skills, apart from their English and Math skills.
JMET (Joint Management Entrance Test) is for admission into the management courses at IIT Delhi, IIT Mumbai, IIT Kharagpur and IISC-Bangalore. The exam and the MBA programs associated with it have earned a fine reputation in a relatively short span of time. An engineering qualification at Undergraduate level is a pre-requisite for all aspirants.
CET (Common Entrance Test for Maharashtra) is for admission into the management institutes of Maharashtra and includes reputed institutes such as Symbiosis and Jamnalal Bajaj. The aspirants are also tested on their Visual and Verbal reasoning skills apart from the English and Math skills.
FMS - The entrance test for Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi is usually held in mid-January and includes questions on General Awareness and Business Awareness apart from the English and Math questions.
IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi), NITIE (National Institute of Industrial Engineering), IRMA (Institute of Rural Management, Anand), IMT (Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad), and TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai) conduct some of the other institute-specific written tests.
The second phase of the entrance examination is conducted for those who are short-listed on the basis of their performance in the first stage. The institutes use various methods to assess an aspirant's communication skills as an individual as well as within a group, motivation levels, ability to handle stress, clarity on career goals and objectives, awareness etc. This is typically done through Personal Interviews and Group Discussions. Some institutes like XLRI conduct only Personal Interviews.
The final selection of a candidate is usually based on the cumulative scores achieved during the Written Examination and the Personality Assessment stages in addition to some other factors such as past academic record, work-experience and extra-curricular accomplishments.
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My expectations from MBAGuru were completely fulfilled and exceeded, both in terms of attention and enthusiasm. The classes are intensive and rigorous, along with a very relevant series of tests.
