Conquering IIM-A by Sandeep Chadda

Hi,

Best of luck to everyone who is preparing for MBA or appearing for interviews. I wanted to share my experience with all of you and uncover some myths to make your journey a little better and feel good about yourself. MY MBA experience is slightly long so you will have to bear with me:

I gave my CAT in 1999 and got a 99.2 percentile and did not get a call from any IIMs. I got a call from a good school but I did not go for it because of personal reasons. 

I gave my GMAT in 2003 and scored a 630. 

I gave my GMAT again in 2006 and got a 660.I applied at ISB and was waitlisted for the interview but never got a call. The reason stated was that my GMAT score was too low. I was broken and completely shattered. 

I gave my GMAT again in 2009 and got a 640. You can understand my situation now when I felt that MBA was not for me. I almost gave up and thought that this is not my cup of tea. 

I gave my GMAT again in 2012 and got a 670 and 6.0 in AA :( The score was not good and I was almost shattered. I knew I will not get any calls but I still thought of applying to some of the schools. Btw.. Some of the other folks who had applied along with me were averaging 710 +. There were others with 770s and 750s.

Anyways I went ahead and applied to IIMA, IIMB, IIMC, and IIML. I am also planning to apply to ISB. Here I want to take a small break and talk about my profile since it bears some relevance to the rest of the story.

Experience - 10 years

Field - Information Technology

Designation - Technology Architect

International Experience - 7 years

Hobbies - I teach at a Govt School, Blog (schadda.blogspot.com), and am a martial artist

Extra Curricular: I am passionate about public speaking and have been involved with Toastmasters at various levels 

So coming back to my applications, I got interview calls from IIMB, IIMC, and IIMA. IIML is yet to announce its results. To cut the long story short, I had a great interviewing experience with IIMC and IIMA. My interview with IIMB is on 17th Nov, I will share the details of the interview a little later. For now I have got a call from IIM Ahmedabad and I am ecstatic to learn that I will be able to live my dream this year. 

Now, I want to clarify some myths and share some learning:

1) It does not matter how many times you give your GMATas long as you can defend it. When I was asked this in my interview, I mentioned that I would have given it 10 more times if I am not able to convert it this time.

2) Only folks with high GMAT scores get into IIMA or prestigious institutes. I am a living example. But I must confess, in the last 2-3 years, I did not just take a break of 3 years. I built my profile as strong as possible so that I am able to defend everything I say. 

 - My communication was weak, therefore I joined Toastmasters and went on to win the regional competition in extempore speech in Michigan. 

 - My social responsibility had nothing substantial therefore I started teaching at a govt school. I am teaching there for almost 2 years now and am in love with the kids. 

 - I also started writing a blog that became very popular and has good number of hits in my technology community. 

I believe all this helped since IIMA conducts an extempore speech in the interview and that did not surprise me. 

One very important thing that I wanted to share was that though I scored a 670 in GMAT, I felt I was much better than this. Some of the fundamentals taught by Kalyan sir are embedded in my mind so well that my accuracy in SC, RC, and CR is consistently 90%. I still think 670 was a score on a day that had gone bad. 

The net story is that DO NOT GET DISHEARTENED. you have no idea what is in store for you. Your interview is also very very important and so is your profile. In IIM Bangalore GMAT holds only 10% weightage in your overall profile.

Here again I want to recollect what Kalyan sir used to tell us. YOU ARE DOING THIS FOR YOURSELF and not anyone else. it is your choice to live it with conviction. Sir, I THANK YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN for changing my perspective towards my goals. You gave me much more than just how to prepare for GMAT.

Regarding my preparation, I only read OG 10, OG 11, and OG 12. I followed what kalyan sir taught me to the core, I have great faith in his teaching style. 

Regarding my interview, I prepared for all current affairs, my engineering, and almost everything on my application form. This is how my interview went in IIMC and IIMA.

IIM-Calcutta

Q - Who is the CM of Bangalore?

Shettar

Q - Who is the Governor of Bangalore?

Bhardwaj - Hansraj Bhardwaj

Q - Who is the previous CM of Bangalore?

Yedyurappa (Damn.. somehow Gowda slipped out of my mind) 

Q - have you heard of Gowda?

A - yes he was the previous CM, not Yedyurappa I laughed and told the professor that I goofed up.

Q - Where have you been in and around Bangalore?

A - Yes, Mysore

Q - What is that temple called on top of a hill in Mysore?

A - Nandi

Q - How far is Nandi from the base?

A - 2-3 kms, 30 min drive

Q - What are the few amazing things about the Mysore Palace?

A - Sword of Tipu Sultan which is not there anymore

Q - Whose paintings are on display at the Mysore Palace?

A - NO IDEA, but told about some fascinating paintings that I recollected seeing 7 years back

Q - Tell me about your hobbies?

A - teaching, blogging

Q - Grilled me about Vedic Mathematics? Which Vedas contain script for Vedic maths?

A - Atharvaveda..told about everything I know

Q - Which book do you refer to teach Vedic Maths?

A - Told

Q - Give an instance where referring the internet for Vedic Maths has helped you?

A - Told

Q - Why was Maths required at that time - during 3000BC when the Vedas were written?

A - Told to keep a count on the number of soldier and cavalcade for armies... 

The prof told.. it was for calculating distances and measurements and I told that I was thinking out loud

Q - If you are so passionate about teaching then why MBA?

A - Told

Q - You will lose all that you are doing now?

A - Told in negative. told about my passion. and I was candid about sharing the number of times I have applied for my GMAT and I that I will not give up.

Q - Any questions?

A - Nah.. I am good.

IIMA

Got an extempore topic - If India's literacy rate is that high, then why are iNdians illetrate....

i have a habit of standing and delivering my speeches therefore I asked the professors whether I could stand and deliver. 

I gave a 3 minute speech. I had some facts in india education since I am fascinated about it. Lucky topic :)

Q - What is the literacy rate in India.. 

A - Gave the literacy rates for India, kerala, Gujarat etc

Q - What policies has India implemented for education?

A - Talked about how Bharat Nirman and MNREGA help education indirectly. 

Talked about RTE

Talked about ensuring 25% guaranteed education for impoverished in some good schools

Q - Asked full form of MNREGA?

A - Told

Q - If there is a policy that is not being implemented, then what will you do?

A - 

Talked about provisions in legislation to pass a bill

Talked about RTI

Talked about petitions etc

Q - How long have you stayed in Mexico?

A - 10 days.. 

Q - Where is Mexico?

A - Between NA and SA

Q - Laughed for a bit.. because Mexico is in NA and not between NA and SA

A - Even I laughed and acclaimed that thoda goof up ho gaya :)

Q - What language do they speak in Mexico?

A - Spanish

Q - Where is Portuguese spoken?

A - Brazil

Q - What about other countries in South America

A - Spanish

Q - What do you as an Cloud Architect? Tell me what you did yesterday?

A - Told - 

Q - What is Cloud?

A - Told

Q - Why is cloud important?

A - Told. I love my field so I had more than enough information

Q - Why do you want to do MBA? You will not be able to do any of this if you do MBA? 

A - Replied in Negative. Again there were references about my GMAT appearances and I told them that you will see me every year until you select me :) being a little cheeky

Q - What do you do in your spare time?

A - teach / blog

Q - What do you blog about?

A - Told

Q - Got details about my blog.

A - I invited them to visit my blog.

Q - Do you want to take 1 toffee?

A - Only 1 ??

They said - you can take more if you have kids

I said ... I am only a kid and took 2 and left :)

One thing I wanted to make sure was that I keep the energy levels in the room high. 

Well, this was a long post.. but I wanted to tell all of you that one thing that will take you to the best B schools is the belief in yourself. Kalyan sir shared a book with me called Think Again. One learning I took from the book was that if you train your brain to a goal, the goal will walk up to you. I believe this is what happened to me as well. 

Thank you once again Kalyan sir. You are a genius. 

Regards

Sandeep Chadda 

GMAT SCORES OVER CAT

GMAT SCORES OVER CAT

Number Of Aspirants Shoots Up As GMAT Gives International Exposure; Process Better Organized

TOI| Bangalore

March 26: Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) is gaining ground among students with numbers shooting up sharply over a five-year span and fairly significantly over a one-year period.

According to Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), the total number of Indian GMAT test takers has increased to 32,000 in 2009 from 25,000 in 2008. The number is high compared to the number of test takers in 2005 which was only 13,000. Candidates whom The Times of India spoke to said taking GMAT provides an opportunity to study in colleges abroad as they accept GMAT score. Also, many feel that the GMAT process is more organized.

Raveena Gupta, a software engineer, expressed her unhappiness over CAT 2009 computer-based test. Terming it an “unfair process”, she said there was no uniformity in papers unlike previous years. “Some students got easy papers while others tough ones. The entire process was not carried off well,” she said.

“GMAT , an universal test, is more organized. I am seriously thinking of taking GMAT. It’s more of application-based test unlike CAT where emphasis is more on mathematical part,” she added.

For Raghavendra D, an engineer, CAT 2009 was one of the reasons for his switch over to GMAT. “CAT 2009 was unpredictable. The problem with its format is that at initial level it’s highly score-based and only at the interview time weightages are given to other areas,” he said.

Raghavendra who got a seat in Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, said with his work experience it might be difficult for IIMs to get him a placement. “I have nearly six years of work experience. I have got some reviews from my friends in IIMs who said it might be difficult to get a suitable role for a person with over five years’ experience. I might feel out of place among the peer group,” he added.

But for Apratin Mukherjee, working in IT industry, it’s the international exposure that matters. “I wrote CAT 2009 and it was ok. However, I always wanted to go abroad and study. Hence, I am looking at GMAT,” he said.

Rashmi Gowda, director, Csquare Learnings, a Bangalore-based GMAT training institute, said with majority of IIMs shifting their focus from CAT and giving more importance to work experience and leadership potential, there is more focus on GMAT. “Many B-schools are now considering GMAT an alternative score in lieu of CAT,” she said.

Rashmi said once taken, the GMAT score is valid for five years, which means a student, can decide to study MBA anytime within five years. “Also programmes like MS in Management from London Business School have specially been designed for management aspirants with no work experience. Hence, the young management aspirants who wish to seek international exposure in addition to seeking just a degree, now have more options beyond CAT and IIMs,” she explained.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIBG/2010/03/26&PageLabel=4&EntityId=Ar00400&ViewMode=HTML&GZ=T

Seven ISB Admits from CSQUARE Learnings

Congratulations.........

Csquare Learnings takes this opportunity to Congratulate all the seven admits to ISB this year (the names are mentioned below). We know all of you were waiting for this moment since a long time and we are thrilled to see your DREAMS come true. We are proud of all the seven students of Csquare who have accomplished their goal and made it to ISB. It is indeed an invigorating moment for Csquare to have all of you as our alumni.

This journey to success has not been a cake walk for all of you right from searching the Best institute for GMAT to clearing the interview. We can recall the days with some of you when you prepared day and night for GMAT and went through all the brain storming sessions to draft essays, and at the end must say IT HAS ALL PAID OFF!! This truly shows that hard work and dedication can lead you to your DREAMS. Time and again all you have showed the zeal and motivation to make it into a Big Bschool of your choice and finally here it is-Indian School of Business!!

Once again we have proved that at Csquare we strive not only to teach our students just the strategies or subjective concepts but also streamline the thought process to get a super score in GMAT and finally get admission into the DREAM College.

Finally heartiest congratulations to all the ISB admits for the splendid performance so far. Csquare wishes the ISB admits All the Best for future and continuous success and May you be bestowed with many such enlivening moments.

The ISB admits for 2010-2011 from CSQRL are-

Kavita Singh

Ashwin Krishna

Vijay Kumar

Surabhi Sawant

Subhadip Majumder

Raghavendra

Varun Rai Bansal

Csquare Learnings-Student Feedback-GMAT Score 730

Ashok Verma-730

My journey of GMAT preparation started last year when I had these Official guides lying all around in my bedroom. Initially I knew I can crack GMAT on my own and with this mind set I started my preparation. I prepared for a month and like a typical test taker went on to take a couple of tests to analyze my performance. I faired bad and ended up with 500s. At this point of time I realized that GMAT is not just about practice and patience but the strategies to crack the exam also matters a lot.  

I searched for a couple of GMAT training institutes and zeroed on Csquare because of the level of knowledge they had about GMAT compared to other institutes and I must say I didn’t take a wrong decision ;)

My initial months of Classroom sessions were an eye opener wherein I NOT ONLY learnt the right strategies to crack this monstrous GMAT BUT ALSO (correct usage of idioms:) ) learnt the right perspective you need to have while writing this exam that can only be taught at Csquare. I really owe a lot to my trainer, Varsha, for the efforts that she has put in right from explaining the strategies again n again to sitting down with students individually to improve their score. I must say if it was not for the impositions that I got I would have not improved on my CR and DS. Once I started taking the prep tests I could see my confidence levels raise. I saw a 610 on my prep test and that’s when I knew I have to work harder. On an average I gave about 7-8 hours of study and took a break from work 10 days before the exam. The motivation that I always received from Varsha was commendable that pushed me to perform better and stretch that extra mile to get a 700+.

On the D-day I knew this was DO or DIE for me but didn’t let my emotions dictate my exam. Math was comfortably completed and as per I remember I skipped about a couple of questions that seemed weird to me. Somewhere or the other I knew Math was not very bad. Now I have to keep my cool on Verbal. Well verbal was little tougher than my practice tests but nevertheless I managed to finish it on time. I swear guys those few minutes after submitting the test and before getting the final score was the longest moment of my life (no exaggeration). I am elated to receive a 730!! Yes I had done it and that’s why I said I did not take a wrong decision to Join Csquare.

Lastly wana say I really believe this exam is lot about patience and endurance. Everyone needs to practice as much as possible to achieve their dream score and ofcourse follow all the CSQRL strategies. Thanks to Varsha and her team for making it possible for me.

Cheers to all....and Besto!!



Ashok Verma

Csquare Learnings-Student Feedback-GMAT Score 710

Coen de Heus-GMAT Score 710

Hereby my feedback:

My reason for coming to India has always been to improve my resume to get into a business school. During my period here I started realizing that my achievements so far were very close to getting me in, and actually I started thinking about scholarships. Research concluded that a 700+ score would get me close to earning such a scholarship. What complicated my study though was the full-time work schedule at my job. Thus I decided that I needed help. CSquare felt good, thus I stuck with them.

At the intake I already scored a 650 on the prep test. As a near native English speaker I had a major advantage, RC and CR where near perfect. However as a near-native, I never thought about grammar rules, thus my SC was terrible. Obviously my math could use some help too. We decided that 3 classes per week, 2 hours per class, for 1 month, and another month preparation should get me where I want.

The next period was very difficult, 2 hours class before work, 8 hours work, and some more 2 hours of homework each day. However having a goal is extremely useful here. Make sure that you know why you want to do this. If you lose focus (which will happen multiple times in two months) try to imagine or visualize where you want to go.

Study-wise I did nothing special. Even more so, I tried to focus on the basics. All the math you have probably seen before, and while GMAT may ask some difficult concepts, 90% will be on the basics. Besides if you understand these, you can derive the right calculations yourself often.

To make the essay part easier, see if you can learn to type blindly. This way you can check your spelling and grammar while you are typing. I earned myself some 8 minutes extra rest for both Analysis of Issue and Analysis of Argument. I am sure this mental rest helped my math score tremedously.

I was able to improve much on the verbal and scored a 37. Personally I only used the framework for RC and CR (Only F not IRE) as I was already quite good at these. The framework did however relieve my mind a bit, which is crucial after three and a half hours.

So I ended up with a Q:50, V:37 and Total:710, still waiting for the AWA. I cannot imagine a score less than a 5.0 though. Hope this helps future students.

Good Luck Coen de Heus