The major Aptitude Tests such as CAT, the first stage of the selection process for MBA Colleges, are over. Many of the results, including that for the CAT, have been declared. In that sense, your CAT Prep has come to an end.
As usual, many of our students have excelled and scored a top-notch percentile. To such CAT-23 stars, who have excelled in the 1st stage of their CAT Prep, congratulations! But remember, the game isn’t over yet. And it won’t be until you actually secure a final admission. Now, the competition would be against a tougher bunch of people. So, stay humble, keep up the efforts, and don’t let your focus waiver.
At the same time, I have begun to receive the usual queries from some of those whose performance fell short. Short of their (should I say our) expectations. This write-up is mainly for you guys.
Some of you would be faced with a confusion of sorts. This is especially true if you haven’t done as well as you (or we) would have hoped for. Many of you have reached out to me and asked whether you should be give another shot to CAT prep. And whether you should take up CAT Coaching again or you should take whatever option you get this year. Some of you may even be wondering if you should simply quit on this dream of yours. While I do try my best to reply to each query, this write-up can help you if you are presently facing this confusion.
1. One, step back and look at the bigger picture – everyone’s life sees its share of ups and downs but the results of some exam (ANY exam) are unlikely to stop you in the long run. You will reach where you deserve to be – the speed bumps won’t deter you from reaching your destination. So, enjoy the journey, and smile! You played your best and that’s all that really matters. Even the best have to face their share of defeat. A loss doesn’t make you a loser. Especially if you can use that as a platform to keep going higher, in anticipation of the next big opportunity.
2. Two, don’t waste any chance you (may) still have this year – some results are still awaited; many MBA colleges are yet to list call-getters. Prepare yourself as best as you can and ensure that you gain experience of every single PI-WAT Prep chance you can avail. You will gain invaluable experience, that will in the worst case, help you next year. You can always decide NOT to go to an MBA college you don’t consider good for yourself. But get that final conversion first. The confidence and the experience will help you a lot even if you decide not to pursue any opportunity this time around.
(As an MBAGuru student, we encourage you to make best use of the PI-WAT+ preparation process even if you have not received a call. Please make best use of this wonderful chance of being mentored by the very best. On my part, I will keep sharing my thoughts with you on this area over the next few weeks.)
3. Three, if YOU don’t believe this was your best, and you feel that you could have done much better, then you ought to give yourself another chance. Then (and only then) does CAT Prep for CAT 24 make sense for you. A year would roughly equal 2% of the rest of your life. So, you should not spend 4% of your remaining life in an MBA college that you are not excited about or happy going to. And to top that, you should certainly not spend the next 60ish % of your working life bearing that as your final education. So, if you think you can do much better, then you should plan to give CAT another shot. That said, how you feel about it is a question that only you can answer meaningfully.
Every year, and this one isn’t an exception, so many MBAGuru/ex-MBAGuru students write to me and share their CAT success story in their second/third( and sometimes even nth, where n is a positive number greater than 3) attempts. There are more than a few among these that I can recall, who even doubled their CAT percentiles between 2 CAT attempts. That’s an indication of what is possible if you believe in yourself and prepare in the best manner possible.
Remember, there is no right or wrong answer to this question. The only answer that matters is your answer. And remember that feeling of regret is much worse than that of any temporary failure – because the latter is something from where things can only get better.
Whatever you decide, if there is anyway in which we can help you, please feel free to reach out. And as long as you try your best, in anything you do, we will be very proud of you.
PS: For those of you who took up the Flexi Program or are looking to upgrade to CAT-2024, this year’s delivery for such students is being enhanced basis the inputs of several students from past years. While we will be doing everything from the basics, including the comprehensive class/home sheets for every session, there will be a few special deliverables specifically for such batches of students who appeared for CAT-23.
For ensuring that, such batches will run separately and start at various times during the year. Please stay in touch with your center staff to stay updated. We will also share relevant updates via Telegram/mail. But this is only for those in CAT-23+24 Flexi program or looking for an up-gradation to CAT24, i.e. looking to take another crack at CAT!
About the author: Deekshant has sleep-walked through several 100 and 99.9 %iles in practically every section of the CAT. That he is a cricket fan and he writes okay is evident from most of his posts. 1000s of our students swear that he can motivate almost anyone to double his/her percentile through very simple yet powerful inputs. And that’s why every MBAGuru student has direct access to him via mail and Telegram. Oddly, he somehow also finds the time to write songs professionally. And yes … almost missed this … he is an alumnus of IIT Delhi & IIM Cal 