JB students CET Preparation Experiences: 2012

Preparation for MAH-CET (MBA)

I completed my engineering from Government College of Engineering Pune in 2006. I got selected for Atos Origin and joined the same in September 2006.

Some of my friends were appearing for CAT in November 2006 and at that time, to be frank, I was totally unaware as to what MBA is all about. I thought I was happy with my job and should not get into studies again. But as the time passed I felt that somewhere the career was getting saturated and to move ahead I need to go for higher studies. So I started preparing for entrance tests of management studies.

In the year 2007 I applied only for CET (Maharashtra). I did not do any studies at all. I wasn’t really serious about MBA till the time I took CET for the third time. In 2007 my percentile was 94.

Then I again took CET in 2008. I also took CAT in the same year. However my decision to take CAT was too late and so could not do justice to it (78 percentile). But then I started preparing for CET in November. For the basic concepts I used Chandresh Agarwal’s book. I managed to solve the book in a month’s time as I had little time left after working in the office. Many of my friends advised me to join test series so that I could know where exactly I lagged and which were the areas where I could score well. But I did not listen to them ( a big mistake for which I paid heavily). Having done with my basics I thought it was enough and did not do much till the exam. I was on leave for 7 days before the CET exam. I went to Pune and enjoyed those 7 days with my friends. Took CET and came back to Mumbai. I got 94 percentile. In 2007 I did not even go for GD PI but this time I went for it and got 17 in PI and 8 in GD. So I could hardly have got into PUMBA with that score. However for some reasons (which i can not disclose on the blog) i avoided getting into any institute.

After two failures I decided to give my best and get into some good college. So I took CAT and CET again. Once again I failed to do justice to CAT and ended up getting 92 percentile. But this time I had prepared for CAT. I started preparing in June 2008. I collected some test papers from friends. I revised the basics from Agarwal and from Notes of a private coaching class. It took some 20-25 days to do that. Then I started solving sectional tests which I had got along with the notes of the private coaching class. After having done with those tests I solved 2-3 full length tests and then the bad days started. I had to take some extra efforts at my work place due to which I faced time constraints and could not prepare much for CAT .

So in October 2008 I decided to give it up and take CET 2009. So I started preparing for it. I was already done with the basics so I started solving full length question papers straight away. My typical day used to be like start solving question paper at 7:00 am finish it at one stretch. And then evaluate the same using answer key. This time I had joined test series as well so on Sundays I used to take those. The test scores used to vary anywhere between 98 and 146. We (a friend of mine and me) collected some 60-70 test papers of various coaching classes. Solved them together (I used to solve the papers in Mumbai and he used to solve them in Pune and then we used to discuss where can we improve the scores and believe me it helped me a lot). We paid special attention to visual reasoning and it forms a major part of the CET question paper.

So in all it wasn’t much that I did other than solving question papers and then discussing the areas of improvement and working on them with someone who was equally interested in getting into some good college.

Writing CET paper

As i have mentioned in the first article, try to solve as many question papers as possible. Many friends of mine were asking me about the strategy that i used to solve the question paper. I saw few posts on the Pagalguy about writting the paper which suggested to concentrate on one's strong areas.
According to me there can not be any option as strong area and weak area. Its only a matter of 2.5 hrs that decide your future and needless to mention the competition is really intense. Out of 125000 students only 120 manage to get into JBIMS. You get hardly 45 seconds to solve one question. Moreover all the questions where you are strong may not be on the same page so you may waste 2-5 seconds every time you turn pages to find the questions which you want to attempt. And if you add these 2-5 seconds every time you turn the pages you will come to know that you may loose substantial amount time.
Another disadvantage can be, the ovals which you are supposed to darken as very small and close to each other, in case you try to solve the questions at random you may mark the answer for some other question (it happens under pressure). So again a loss of few marks which may cost you dearly. Remember the difference between the marks of the last person getting into No.1 institute and the first person getting into no.2 institute is 1 mark.
I will advice to start from the first question and attempt all the question till the end. If you find any question tough, if you don't get a click in 10 seconds,then simply skip that and move to next. If you spend more time on one question you may miss many other questions which usually are very simple, as simple as addition of two numbers.
And in the end if you are following the time limits then obviously you will be left with some extra time in which you can get back to those skipped questions. An important point as there is no negative marking in CET, do not hesitate in doing the guess work. And if you manage your time well then you will be in a position to do calculated guesses than doing it blindly.
As i have mentioned in first post you will get mastery over solving the question paper after solving at least 30-40 papers on your own. I managed to solve almost 190 questions, including calculated guesses.

Few last minute tips for CET

Here i will contradict myself when i say last minute tips. I don't really believe in last minute tips. CET or for that matter any management entrance test needs preparation and strategy designing from the beginning itself. I am going to list down a few general points about CET (These are my personal views, some people may disagree. Kindly follow only those things which work best for you.)

* Believe in yourself- nothing is impossible
* Have a sound sleep for 7-8 hours before the day of the exam.
* Last day preparations won't help much in CET so don't waste time in trying to learn new topics.
* Solve only one mock on Saturday, try to do it between 2:30 to 5:00 pm.
* Stay away from unnecessary worries about results, just concentrate on exam.
* Do not try to change your strategy at the eleventh hour, it may not work.
* Don't even think of other aspirants, once you start solving the paper don't take your eyes away from the question and answer sheet,not even for a second
* Keep your mind cool on Sunday. Try to be with someone with whom you are most comfortable.
* Double check if you are carrying everything that is mentioned on the hall ticket. Have a backup of everything. (This may sound childish but people make these mistakes and then ask others for pen and pencil)
* You will get the answer sheet at least before 10 minutes of the scheduled time. Fill in all the details with utmost care.
* Once you are done, try to meditate for 2-3 minutes. Think of the best person in your life or say it to yourself- " I am going to win today because i am the best"
* As i have mentioned in my earlier posts do not waste too much time on a single question. If you feel you wont be able to solve the question in 45 seconds simply skip it or take a calculated guess.
* If at all you get some tough questions one after the other then don't panic simply turn the question paper pages and start from the last question (be careful while marking answers in this case). Believe me in CET speed is what matters the most, so don't get stuck on any particular question.
* Once you are done with the exam, do not discuss any question with any of your friends, however close he/she may be may be. It unnecessarily creates confusion for you as well as for the other person.
* I would even say don't look out for solutions by coaching classes. Just sit back and relax till the results come out. Of course between you will need to start preparing for GD-PI which i will address in another post.
* One most important point - Do not eat heavily before the exam otherwise you may feel sleepy which may result in slowing down while solving paper.

Wish you all the best for exam. Do your best.

JB students CET Preparation Experiences

Sunday, 8 January 2012

Experience of Shrikant Gadhave. JBIMS 2009 batch

CET Preparaions