Today, the results of the Common Aptitude Test of the IIMs are to be declared. I'm hoping for the best, but the unpredictable English section could spring a surprise (an unpleasant one!). Now that the CAT fever has subsided, I'll take a look at what I did on CAT day.
The morning: I woke up at 7, and was surprised that I had got up on time. Got ready, ate varan-bhaat, made my way to the centre (IES Dadar). I was in my seat by 9.15. Spending time without stressing myself was a priority now. Luckily, right next to the class was a balcony! I amused myself by looking at the confused hordes milling about on the ground below. Then it was time for the test. 5 minutes to go before the start. I was expectant but not nervous. I reminded myself of my little niece- her pranks, her smile and all the wonderful moments she had been with us(She had just moved to London). I was happy and in a great frame of mind. Then it began.
25 questions per section. Ha! Same as last year! This was, no doubt, my favorite pattern because of the fewer questions. I glanced through the paper. I had a strategy in place. I would start with English and try to complete the entire section in 35 minutes; if not then keep a few questions for the end. Then I would choose either Quant or DI, a decision that hinged on the relative difficulty of the two sections.
How it panned out: I did start with English as planned. However, it took me longer than expected. The RC passages, one of my best bets, turned out to be quite a handful and the questions that followed were largely interpretative,with answer choices that seemed equally correct. I could complete 22 questions in 40 minutes, leaving out one passage. Then, I looked at DI and felt it was pretty doable. As it turned out, it was a very easy section this time. I figured that most people would score heavily here, and I would have to do the same to get a good percentile in DI. I managed to solve 14 questions in 50 minutes, saving the data sufficiency problems for the end. Then came Quant. It was not very formula-oriented. The questions were more in the style of puzzles. I got down to doing them patiently, one by one. Since I had an entire hour left when I began the section, I could afford to give an extra 10 seconds or so to every problem, compared to the time I would normally give. This probably made the difference, along with the easing of pressure(I had English and DI out of the way). I was now firmly in the zone, knocking off problems which would confound me otherwise. I solved 16 problems in 50 minutes. With 10 minutes to go, I had to make a choice - Quant or DI. Anticipating a high DI cutoff, I chose to go for the data sufficiency problems in DI and managed to solve 4 of them. And then it was all over.
As I left the centre, I wondered if I had attempted enough questions. Yet, it was the highest number I had ever attempted, much more than I had in the AIMCATs. And to top it, I realized I had not wasted a single minute in the entire 2.5 hours - I had managed not to get stuck anywhere. On the phone, I told my dad that I was happy, but not satisfied. My parents thought I had screwed up badly! Well, today I'll know if all this has come to anything significant.
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3 comments:
Your parents thought you screwed up badly??????
Dude, are they gonna have to eat their words today!! Some serious case of indigestion.
It was probably the way I sounded on the phone- lacking all emotion... But later reports in the news (about cutoffs)have raised their hopes as well :)
amogh...shreyas here...
feels really gr8 to have u and rahul and everyone do so well.
we tell our friends proudly that these are the guys with whom we interact everyday..
and finalyy, u have ensured that the name vjti appears in the toi for all the right reasons
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