What after CAT 2015?
With the CAT 2015 analysis for Slot 1 and Slot 2 out, a lot of analysis has been thrown at you – some genuinely helpful, other ‘clickbait’. What after CAT 2015, which advice to take and which to disregard, and what does the near future hold for you?
Let’s see the various things that happen post the test and what should be the ideal course of action so that your time is utilized in a better manner.
Post CAT analysis, predictors, cut-offs (What after CAT 2015?)
A lot of prep sites, portals, blogs, FB posts would flood your mailbox telling you about their take on the CAT 2015 and how well or badly you have performed. Beware! Most of these are rip-offs of yesteryear analyses and other blogs that aren’t written with a purpose to help aspirants take decisions but can be classified as an attempt to offer ‘clickbait’ – come to our site and give us views and look at all the fantastic ads that we host. Post that we don’t care what happens to you or your career. We have had an experience of a lot many CAT seasons and know exactly which analysis comes from which resource and so, the warning.
Even if the analysis is genuine, take the numbers with a pinch of salt. Huge fluctuations have been observed in the last few years and unless you have the question paper in hand with the official key, nothing can be predicted accurately. Add to that one mistake on your side in entering an answer or one mistake on the institute’s side in calculating/arriving at the correct answer could mean a fall by 4 marks OR 1.75 percentage points OR the difference of at least a couple of percentile. What happens if there are 4-5 incorrect solutions/ambiguity? Go figure!
Bottom line, however hard it sounds it is better to put these things behind and move on with your life, job, college, prep, etc. Nothing is going to change now and trust us, the added anxiousness will be more harmful than useful. You can try it out for fun maybe, but it won’t really help you any further if you let any ‘perceived’ success get into your brain or ‘perceived’ failure get into your heart.
Rumours (What after CAT 2015?)
A lot of people will come up with data on incorrect questions, shortcuts that they had suggested, ambiguity in verbal, sources of passages, presence of direct questions from their material and so on. Remember that each of these bits mean precious little and it is like gifting a man a blanket after the winter has passed. If the advice didn’t help you before the test, it is useless. Figuring out questions/sources of passages is easy and anyone who has a database of more than 5000 questions will have some overlap when it comes to CAT questions. Don’t trust us? Dig out all your material and see how many questions bore an uncanny resemblance to the ones that appeared in CAT 2015.
Also, regarding incorrect questions, perceived differences in the difficulty levels and ambiguity, the conducting institute will have the last word. Whatever students say will matter little to the final decision unless the issue is extremely grave (something like a paper leak, the only reason due to which there was a re-exam). Incorrect questions, if any will be taken care of while arriving at your final result and you need not worry about the perceived difference in the level of difficulty across slots. Unlike GMAT which determines the level of difficulty of a question beforehand through sampling, CAT determines the difficulty level of a slot on the basis of the participants. If there were more candidates in your slot who are scoring more than you then tough luck! So, if all the students find a slot difficult or easy, the score will be moved so as to match the level of difficulty of the other slot.
Applying to institutes (What after CAT 2015?)
There are a few institutes applications to which are open. If you have figured out an estimate about your overall score or have a bad feeling about a particular section or the overall percentile, better to fill out the various forms that fall within your range. Even if things turn out fine, it should give you some GDPI practice at least and if things don’t really go your way, you will have a few options at the end of the season. To take them up or not can be decided later.
Preparation for GDPI (What after CAT 2015?)
While it is too early to start preparing for GDPI and around a month is enough to smoothen the rough edges, just in case you have a lot of time on your hands, you can start preparing for your GDPI as well. As a starting point, it would help you if you can draft a CV and list everything that you can remember under these headings:
- Personal info
- Educational background
- Academic highlights/achievements
- Internships/projects
- Work experience complete with designation, profile, achievements, projects undertaken, etc.
- Certifications
- Extracurricular highlights/achievements
- Hobbies and interests
Be liberal with whatever you write and make sure you do not forget anything. This will serve as a base to start with your GDPI prep.
Other entrance tests (What after CAT 2015?)
Registrations for a few tests are open. If you feel you need more chances to have a range of options at the end of the season, apply to these tests. As we suggest our students, even if you have a slight inclination towards a particular stream, sign up for the test. Rule out a specialization only when you are absolutely sure of rejecting it. Whenever in doubt, apply!
SNAP 2015 and XAT 2016 are around the corner and so, start preparing for these tests. SNAP is a speed test (150 questions in 120 minutes) while XAT is more of a choice-based paper. If you are not very good at GK, refer to a few sources to get good at the static part of it at least.
Be mentally prepared (What after CAT 2015?)
Whatever be the eventuality, be mentally prepared for it. A lot of aspirants have high hopes and there is a fair chance that things would not exactly pan out the way you intended them to. Remember that you have put in your best. The season is not over yet and you will get more chances to prove yourself just in case things don’t turn out fine. A lot of people will try to take advantage of this uncertain state of mind and will try to answer the question – What after CAT 2015? That’s how marketing works – recognize/create need, design products, sell so we won’t really be getting into the moral debate. Take your decisions with a clear mind and eliminate all the muddle you find yourself in. Those are the qualities that make you a good manager so if you want to be one, it starts right now!
All the best!
For those who are still interested in hearing what we had to say about CAT 2015 can check it out here:
