My Tryst with CAT

Here is all I wanted to speak about CAT, it sure has been one helluva ride. Let me start with my failures in previous CAT exams first. Its only through the failures does one gain motivation to succeed. It all started in 2004.

2004

After having been placed in an MNC (I was in final year then), a friend of mine at IIT Kharagpur informed me of this discount available on Mocks by TIME. I was in no interest to do an MBA at that point of time, but my friend just convinced me to join the test series. I gave tests with a complete lack of seriousness - I didn't even used to look at the papers after coming back from test. I used to score in 80-90 range in the mocks - not that I cared, I just gave them to boost my ego. Had to go to Calcutta to give CAT - the pattern had changed. 123 questions in all, with differential marking. I started with Quant and was taking my own sweet time, then went to VA, then in the end to DI. I had very less time left for DI and screwed it on a colossal scale.

2005

The final result was 95.88 with Quant and VA in 96s and DI 82 odd. Anyway, I forgot about CAT for a lot of time after that, and started working my ass off on my B.Tech project (mostly an IT project based on Java). I tried to increase my CG, and managed to make it 8.42 by the end of my degree. Later joined the MNC and was put in Mainframes. I just hated Mainframes as it was so outdated, but yet continued working in the MNC so that it doesn't leave a blot on my resume. Even the thought of CAT didn't appear in my mind, so didn't give CAT 2005

2006

Around August, I quit IBM and I joined a mid-sized product company with primarliy telecom companies as clients. The work environment changed for good and was much more informal than the suffocation I faced in the MNC. This is the time I met two of my colleagues who were preparing for CAT and giving the Mocks. But still, I wasn't really "ready" for an MBA - just kept up with business as usual, but convinced by room-mates to give CAT just for the heck of it. I remember trying to solve a very hard DI set from an AIMCAT paper with my friend the day before the exam. That was the only preparation I did for the exam. Went to exam hall and saw that QA was a piece of cake. But lack of preparation led to me taking quite a lot of time - did it for 1 hr. Then came VA - it was the most arbit VA paper that I ever saw. My reading speed was pathetic then and I took my own time solving the paper - but the time I spent in office reading wikipedia articles did help me a bit. Again 1hr gone. 1/2 hr left for DI. The time I came to DI, it was literally a blackout - I had not practiced even a bit, and everyone knows how important practice is for DI. As I had to do it fast, I wasn't actually confident of even one question. I knew that I won't be able to clear DI cutoff anyway. The results came - Overall 96.xx, QA was 99.8x, VA was 99.3x (given that VA had been the the nemesis of many, this was a welcome development) and DI was 10.xx! (I actually scored ZERO in DI). I didn't feel so bad as I didn't prepare at all, but I thought of it as a lost oppurtunity as QA was not going to be as easy as it was in this CAT anymore. But then I was getting into the "MBA mode" - my work at office actually helped in realize the need for an MBA to boost my career.

2007

I had caught up with my work at office, and was recognized by everyone for my contributions. Working in a mid-sized company gave lot of responsibility and independence to me with respect to my work. So I caught on with work, and was fairly busy everytime. The mock season came and I joined the TIME series. But I still repeated the same mistakes that I did back in college. I didn't use to do enough practice and nothing apart from a quick perusal of the mock paper after coming back. My scores always used to range in the 90s (the highest it once touched was 98 something). Apart fromt that work in the office was getting hectic. So at some point of time, I completely lost touch and there began a downward spiral in my scores. That led to a greater loss in confidence and quickly started losing hope. I clearly lacked information on those CAT crackers who had scored really less in their mocks. In short, I really missed pagalguy - although I had an id here, I rarely used to visit, mostly to post just my mock scores. CAT came and went - amidst my hectic work. I had a hard time convincing my manager for taking a leave on the Saturday before CAT. I was even thinking about my work stuff while writing CAT. My strategy was anyway screwed up. I attempted my weakest section - DI first - was able to score averagely there. Then moved on to verbal - I found it equally arbit, if not more, as 2006 - I took a full hr for this. I was left with just 45 mins for QA. Now the blackout had to happen with QA - I found it really tough - after not being able to solve 2-3 questions, pressure increased and I ended up making really bad mistakes. Anyway, result was worse than the last time - 95.xx with 89.xx in QA, 92.xx in VA, 89.xx in DI - I expected it. But I got a promotion at work and that kind of compensated for my grief of not cracking CAT.

2008

After the results came for CAT 2007, I decided that CAT 2008 would be the last CAT I would be giving and that I would put in my 100%. Two of my room-mates made it to A & C and that indeed inspired me. But still, I didn't hurry it up - I was waiting for the mock season to start. I came to know about the utilities of PG through a colleague of mine. I subscribed to the QQAD mailing list and I would say that it took my Quant skills to the next level. I would strongly recommend it to anyone preparing for CAT. The questions are no doubt tougher than CAT, but once you start solving them, CAT questions just seem like cake-walk. I also picked up previous AIMCATs and started solving various DI sets. I came to know about many tips for solving puzzle based LR questions and various patterns involved. This segregation helped me in seeing through the clutter and provided me a solid framework for handling the dreaded LR questions. It was during the same time that the pagalguy premiere league was formed - and I became part of the Bangalore DT - I saw some awesome people there. This motivated me even more to perform well in the mocks. This time I joined two series - one of CL and one of TIME. Used to give CL mocks on Saturdays and TIME mocks on Sundays. That made sure that I was kept busy for most of the next week. When the mocks started, I started with a bang (99.85) partly because of the lack of prepared junta joining the mocks and partly due to the efforts that I had put in for around 1 month before that. I tried to keep maintaining my percentiles about 99 trying to clear all cutoffs. The more important thing I did was to not get bogged down by an occasionally low score. Such scores helped me in filling gaps and handling situations not encountered before. Plus, I made it a point to analyze each mock and solve each of the problem I left unattempted (Especially the DI sets). I continued with QQAD and started reading lots of stuff over internet and I picked up some good books like Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie. Load on the work front was lesser than the last year, so was able to dedicate some time of mine to these activities. I thought I was all set for the BIG one (the last Mock at TIME was indeed a confidence booster in this respect). One more good thing I did was to take a leave from work starting Wednesday (CAT was on Sunday). I gave some mocks during the time, and gave the easiest of the lot I had preserved for myself just the day before the exam. As expected I had blasted the Mock and that gave me the required confidence. I slept early and surprisingly was able to get at least around 7 hrs of sleep. Now all set for the exam - reached exam center about half an hour before - and braced myself for the MAINCAT0900.

Found 160 marks for VA, 100 each for DI&QA - thought of giving more time to VA but ended up giving equal time to all three sections. Started with QA and found it easier than the last time and was smoothly going along without any speed-breakers. I wanted to maximize my score through Quant so decided to persist and attempted it for full 50 minutes. Then DI. DI was the toughest section in CAT 2008 and it did take a toll on me, given that DI is my weakest section. It was calculation intensive as well. Just managed to do 12 questions and hoped to get most of them correct. Started with the verbal part of VA - found it a bit difficult, but attempted some nevertheless. Then to RCs. RCs were a welcome development this time. The passages were easier to comprehend and there was lesser ambiguity in answer choices. This helped me gain the confidence and I did all except one RC. In the last 5 minutes and solved some questions in another VA set. Overall, I had committed some mistakes in all sections but the damage was limited.

I started worrying about DI after the dust settled. I had got two questions wrong for sure and that put my score at 38 - which turned out to be borderline case. Now began the excruciating wait for the results. But I would say that wait was worth it! Meanwhile the JMET results came and I was AIR 3. Now I was sure of making it to at least one good bschool (SJMSOM). On 8th Jan, the site was opening for some puys and I gave my TR. No. to enstranged_gnrs. I would be thankful to him for ever for posting that result. It was a dream come true. I had got all of the coveted BLACKI calls, and a whopping percentile of 99.88
Finally, I cracked CAT, and that too in a bang. Now was the time to pass the next hurdle - the GD/PI round.

GD/PI Prep (2009)

For one week after the results were announced I did nothing but party and relax - GD/PI prep will come but for the time being I had to live the moment. I was at my hometown, relaxing with my cousins and family members - that provided me the fuel to take a leap into the GD/PI prep. The next week, I came to know about the CL bootcamp and braced myself for that. Now, the bootcamp is something I would recommend to any puy thinking of converting his/her IIM calls. It was one helluva experience - it went for two days and I would say I almost matched a strict Bschool regimen. We did nothing but GDs, Funda gaining session, Mock PIs, GK overhaul etc. I also met some great people out there - bootcamp is something I am not going to forget for quite some time to come. I came to know about my weaknesses (soft voice, need to have enough knowledge of my hobbies etc.) and worked towards filling the gaps. I took the TIME material and went through the various PI experiences. This helped me a lot in knowing the kind of questions that are normally asked. Apart from that, used to attend weekend GD drills at TIME. I knew I am not a great performer in GD - all I needed to make sure was to make 2-3 valid points. Ah, the next thing was acads - I made a word doc about my syllabus from my insti site and started mugging up that I started to learn some 7 years earlier. It was nothing short of a rediscovery. By the time my first interview (IIMB) came, I was mostly ready.

Each IIM interview was unique in its own way. However, I liked the IIMA and IIMC interviews a lot. The former was more of a kind of discussion and we even discussed Hindi Grammar for some time. The latter was a stress interview, but I somehow enjoyed being massacred there.

And again came the wait for results. As the days were nearing I was getting more and more anxious. On 9th afternoon, IIML put up a test link and it said I was through. But then I wanted an official confirmation, and more importantly about the BIG 3 - A,B,C. At night, I came to know that I am not in the list released by B. My anxiety acquired a new dimension - couldn't sleep the whole night. At around 6, woke up from bed knowing there is no use of trying to sleep. Came to know that L had put its official link - my convert was retained there. A sigh of relief - I am heading to an IIM atleast. But needed to know what happened with A,C desperately. Then came the C result - I gathered myself, entered my TR No. and DOB and then came the message - "Congratulations...." - it felt like I had attained nirvana. Waited for A result and I had converted that as well.

Now I was in a dilemma between A and C. I had to make that choice - called up my friends and after a lot of thought, I have almost decided to head for WIMWI.

Now I have entered the world of MBA and my next concern is interns. As you see, problems in life never end, and that's what makes it so exciting.

Tips to CAT Aspirants:

i) Always keep up your confidence levels, and that doesn't mean assuring yourself that you can do it. It should come from within, it should based on some things which you have achieved through your hard work. Fake confidence doesn't help anytime. Neither does over-confidence.

ii) Get over the "Ego" factor. If you are not able to solve a DI Puzzle Set or a QA problem amidst a test, leave it at that. You probably have the clout to solve the others. And let me assure you - there is never a dearth of questions.

iii) Practice. Practice. Practice. And practice doesn't mean doing some from the basic study material. Practice means solving quality questions from previous (and recent) CAT papers, Mock CATs etc. I would advise you to get the last two years' TIME Mock papers and try to solve each QA and DI question from them. And resort to aid, only if you are convinced that the question is beyond you. Never try to get over the "Ego" factor while practicing. But make sure that you are able to solve questions of similar pattern fast if they reappear.

iv) Read. Read. Read. Read anything you can lay your hands on. It may be the newspaper (esp. the editorials. Would strongly recommend The Hindu), Magazines (would strongly recommend Businessworld), Fiction (would strongly recommend books by Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Ayn Rand & Jhumpa Lahiri) and Non-Fiction (there are a hell lot of topics you can pick from, including Philosophy). Apart from that, somewhat lesser fun to do is to solving the RCs from previous CATs/Mock CATs.

v) Follow PG regularly. But not to the extent that it turns out to be an addiction. Subscribe to mailing lists like QQAD (Quant Question A Day) and DI question a day. Keep updating your mock scores in the thread meant for it and keep assuring yourself. If possible, do track what actually went wrong with a specific mock, so that you can fill in the gaps.

v) CAT is not the end of the world. Allocate a good quantity of your time to your regular activities (acads if you are studying & work if your working). Note that a good percentage in graduation is the requirement of any good college - don't spoil your chances by spoiling your grades. CAT will come many times, but a bad GPA/percentage in your college is going to haunt your profile forever.

PS: The above post is a copy of the one I made in pagalguy.

Solving Remainder Based Questions

Ok. Write it down. The next time you see a question on remainders while giving a test, you would feel really lucky. Because I am going to describe some very useful methods that can be used to this end.

Let us start with the basic ones - (note - in all the formulas below, x mod y means the remainder obtained after dividing x by y)

ab mod x = (a mod x) * (b mod x)

If a mod x = 1, then a^k mod x = 1 for any integer k > 1

If a = lx + 1, then a^k mod x = 1 for all k > 1

If a = lx -1, then a^k mod x = (-1)^k for all k > 1

Let us cover some examples

5^43 mod 13 = ?

Whenever you see such questions, try to get the base of the exponent as close to a multiple of the diviser as possible. We see that 5^2 = 26 - 1. Hence,

5^43 mod 13 = 5. 5^42 mod 13 = 5 mod 13 . 25^21 mod 13 = 5.(-1)^21 mod 13 = -5 mod 13 = 8 mod 13

The ones described above are the basic formulae related to modulo arithematic. Let now get a bit deep into it. We will cover two theorems here:

1) Chinese Remainder theorem
2) Euler's extension of Fermat's theorem

Chinese Remainder theorem: For a specific number N, if N mod a = k1, N mod b = k2, such that a and b are co-prime (gcd(a,b) = 1) then all solutions of M mod a = k1 and M mod b = k2 in the set of the natural numbers are equivalent modulo ab.

Too tough to understand? Well, it's not as tough if we take an example:

Let us say we have to find the remainder when

66666... 1730 times is divided by 45.

Since it is difficult to find the remainder when the number is divided by 45, we take the divide and conquer approach.

First divide 66666... 1730 times by 5, remainder is 1
Divide 66666.. 1730 terms by 9, remainder is 6*1730 mod 9 = 6*2 mod 9 = 3

Chinese remainder theorem states that if we are able to find a number < 45 that satisfies the above two conditions, then that number itself is the remainder when the big number is divided by 45. Let's list all numbers which are give a remainder of 3 when divided by 9. They are:

3,12,21 <- while listing, we have arrived at a number which leaves a remainder of 1 when divided by 5. And this number itself is the answer! Note: To increase your speed, you should start listing based on the greater of the two numbers, which in this case is 9.


Euler's extension of Fermat's theorem:

If a and n are co-prime (gcd(a,n)=1), then a^phi(n) mod n = 1, where phi(n) is the Euler Totient function of n, which can be obtained as n(1-1/p1)(1-1/p2)...(1-/1pn); p1, p2...,pn being the prime factors of n

OK. This also looks a bit convoluted. Let's take up an example instead.

What are the last 2 digits of 3^768?

We basically need to find 3^768 mod 100 here. We have phi(100) = 100(1-1/2)(1-1/5) = 40 (as 2,5 are the prime factors of 100).

Now since 3^40 mod 100 = 1, we have 3^768 mod 100 = (3^40)^19 mod 100 . 3^8 mod 100

= 1 mod 100 * 3^8 mod 100

= 3^8 mod 100 = 81^2 mod 100 = (100-19)^2 mod 100 = 19^2 mod 100 = 61.

Hope some of the concepts are clear to you by now. I will be updating this post as I post solutions to questions on remainders. If you have any, please send them across.

Word List!

Ok, now that I have been reading news and articles online for quite some time, I have gathered a good amount of typical words which I came across, whose meaning I either don't know or partially know. I am going to list all those words which I happened to save in my wordweb bookmarks. Here they are:

pygmy
clique
tautological
scuttled
faux pas
plaintive
miasmic
comeuppance
grouse
wrench
throes
scurrilous
ecumenical
verity
blindside
reprobate
barratry
athenaeum
compendious
pretermit
agrestic
yataghan
lineament
barrage
deracinate
cogent
forfend
misoneism
paraph
chimera
belch
Machiavellian
decree
fiat
enation
propitious
emend
quiescent
prelate
prolate
harangue
sanguinary
gloam
currish
cinch
jabberwocky
sardonic
reclamation
officious
vernacular
volubility
vertiginous
coda
hobble
limpid
teetotaller
ostentatious
apocryphal
prance
despodent
totempole
pulpit
precocity
abstemious
abrogate
abomination
smokescreen
foal
inoculate
yeomanry
yuppify
squalid
avow
avar
august
audacious
attenuate
astringent
assuage
arrant
arabesque
apropos
aprobation
amortise
ambrosial
aclove
blemish
pleonasm
apothecary
unguent
iconoclast
calumniate
malodorous
descry
bequeath
premonition
prurient
contrite
cognate
nettle
jocund
confect
comfit
concoction
exorcise
reconnaissance
abstruse
recondite
desideratum
sesquipedalian
fecund
ethereal
adjure
conjure
beseech
swivet
sequester
jangled
romp
diocese
irascible
pachyderm
demotic
dulcet
braggadocio
echelon
jitters
dystopia
mea culpa

.. There are many more, but I think these should suffice for now.

AIMCAT 0818 Results

Yes! AIMCAT 0818 results are out - and I am extremely elated by my performance, though there are many areas which need improvement. Also, I have to be very cautious not to turn complacent. After all, this mock was really easy and was a high scorer, though the DI section appeared a tad bit tougher to me. Here is how attempted the paper:

Started with Quant. I had a little slow start. I wasted quite an amount of time on the question based on venn diagrams and on the max/min question. But again gathered momentum. Interpretted the question on area bounded by curves completely wrong, and also wasted some time on the time/work question with no result. Other than that, I was moving pretty fast, leaving questions wherever they appeared to be on the tougher side. By the time I reached the 15/16th question, 45 mins were already over! Couldn't resist the temptation to solve some more questions. Ended up spending a little less than an hour. Attempted 18 questions, got 15 right 3 wrong. I still have to get over making mistakes - I made a really bad mistake in the time/distance set and made a wrong guess in the last question, apart from interpretting the graph question completely wrong. Quant - 57

Till now, I had been doing VA after Quant, but I had come decided that I would change by strategy - I would do DI second and VA atlast. I realized that by the time I start doing DI at the end, I get already exhausted and it becomes really difficult to put my grey matter at work. Looked at the DI sets - one by one. Tried to approach the first one, but found that the set outwitted me. Raalizing it, I switched to the last one as it seemed familiar. Started doing the set, filling the values of flow in all pipes, assuming the flow in one of them as 'x'. But after a lot of time, I realized that I had made a mistake. So had to do the entire calculation again!! This one set ate away about 35 minutes of my time, and I had already alotted 1 hour for math - so that left with me with just one more hour. Decided to shift the burden of time on VA. Saw the set on cricket scores - but soon realized that it was logic intensive and if I am not able to solve it - I will waste a lot of time. Then switched to the set on the growth rate of vehicles. Realized that the first two questions were sitters and did them soon. Then wasted some time on the third question just to realize that it was not so easy and was even calculation intensive. Then saw the second set, just reading it took a lot of my time. Though I realized that it was an easy set, I couldn't attempt it as I had really had very less time left and any attempt from now would be suicidal for my VA section. Attempted seven, got all seven correct. Was satisfied by my accuracy, but should have not made mistakes in the first set. Also, I shouldn't have taken more time on QA as it put a lot of time pressure on me, and I ended up making mistakes.

By the time I started VA, I had a little more than 40 minutes left with me. Started reading the last passage on environment, as the topic interested me. Got all the answers correct, except one. Took 10 minutes to complete answering the passage. Then went on to the passage on happiness, took 10 more minutes to answer all questions. Got all questions correct except the one on the mood of passage. (I had a dilemma that it could be reflective, but marked something else). Now went on to read the last passage it took more time read this one. Took 12 minutes and answered all questions, with one wrong. (The one on why the author wants people to come to the protest). Now went on to the correct ending of passage questions and got 2 of the 3 correct. (Got the one on government surveillance wrong). In the last minute, attempted one question on restatement (the Rafael Nadal one) and got it correct. In total, attempted 19, got 4 wrong. Amazing accuracy - but this is not the actual CAT, where it is bound to be low.

So here are my scores in the end:

DI - 28 - 91.23
QA - 57 - 99.31
VA - 56 - 98.54

OA - 141 - 99.52 (AIR - 132)

First Post!

I am also one of those aspirants who want to get to the best business schools of India aka the IIMs. I will cover the happenings in my CAT journey here. If you have some good puzzles/problems, please send it to me at v dot 39312 at the rate of gmail dot com. I will try my level best to post the solutions here.