All I wanted to speak about CAT - Part 3 - The Exams, The interviews and the End.

Note: This is a post meant from PaGaLGuY.com's famous "All I wanted to speak about CAT" thread. People preparing for CAT, and in need of motivation, inspiration etc can read through the entire thread. Brilliant stories. Captivating read. 

Link: All I wanted to speak about CAT

Part 1 of this post can be read here.

Part 2 of this post can be read here. 

The actual tests

NMAT on 21st October (Bhopal): 

What went right: Preparation, Timing of the test

What went wrong: Slackening towards the end of the Quant/DI section. 

Expectations: 260+

Actual Score: 233

Calls: NMIMS

NMAT was more of a cakewalk with many sitters and it was more of a game of picking out the sitters and cracking them quickly. I could sense I had done well, as I was giving the test. 

CAT on 4th November (Bhopal): 

What went right: Preparation, Timing of the test

What went wrong:Hardly anything

Expectations: -

Percentile: 99.27

Calls:IIM A,I,K, Raipur, Rohtak, Trichy, MDI, SP Jain

Everything about CAT went on perfectly. I was pretty comfortable at the centre, I started off with DI and did 18 questions without any hassles; then hit on Verbal and did 14 (found it pretty ambiguous) and then finally went to Quant and attempted 16. Felt it was a fair effort and possibly the best I could have given it. 

IIFT on 28th November (Chennai): 

What went right: Nothing pretty much. Except for the exam.

What went wrong: The choice of centre, asking my mother to drop me there (psyched me out). Hardly did any kind of preparation.

Expectations:34+

Actual Score:34.78

Calls:Missed out the cut off by about 0.5

FMS on 5th December (Chennai): 

What went right: Had looked at old question papers

What went wrong:Looked at only the questions and not the answers !!!

Expectations:404-415

Actual Score:412

Calls:Missed out the cut off by about 5-7 marks 

XAT on 2nd January (Chennai): 

What went right: Semblance of a preparation

What went wrong: Looked at the paper and went blank!! Spent way too much time on DI.

Expectations: Anything non negative

Percentile: 79.29

Calls: LOL !

IIFT was the first result to come out, which came just a few days before XAT. Had missed the cut-off narrowly which kept rankling me for a long time. Then the 'CAT-leak fiasco' happened and I was online at that time and checked out my score - a 99.27 percentile. Was happy and partly sad as it meant, according to last year's cut-offs, not many calls. Especially no IIM-A or C. At the same time, there was this inherent worry about whether it was the right result or not. Then came FMS, which I was expecting to narrowly make it through. It was a reject. I still remember crying while watching the second half of Band Bajaa Baraat in the theatre.

Then came the CAT results, on January 12th. I was so nervous that I got a high fever on the night of the results and was shivering all through the night. I wasn't able to sleep at all, and woke up my mom at 2 in the morning and made her check the results. She confirmed my 99.27; much to my relief and joy.

The Calls

With my good school academics and well-rounded percentiles in all sections, I was expecting calls from B, L and K. But disaster struck. L was the first IIM to come out with the results, and I remember looking through the PDF in the hope of finding my SR no much to my disappointment. 

Then came the biggest shock. And surprise. The A call. I was on the way back from Career Launcher when one of my friends called up to say that I had a call from Ahmedabad. It was truly unbelievable at that time, and I just refused to trust the poor guy. I came back and entered my details and found out about my call. 

The other IIMs that came out with their results didn't bother giving me a call. I was pretty nervous about having A as my only call as I was bad with interviews. But the respite was provided by Ratnabha Sir of CL, to whom I'll remain eternally thankful, who said, "If only A decides to give you a call, dont worry; we'll work and convert A". 

Then came the flood of calls, from IIM-I, IIM-K, SP Jain, MDI and finally NMIMS. The new IIMs - Rohtak, Raipur and Trichy also decided to give me a call. GD-PI preparation started off in earnest with the usual ET (Thanks to Pritish Roy); introspection and stuff. 

Interviews

I've already spoken about my interviews in length. 

SP Jain was a straight reject in Group Interview-1. Still dont understand why they call freshers if they aren't interested in them.

IIM Kozhikode here. 

IIM Indore here.

IIM Ahmedabad here.
 

IIM RRT here.

MDI here. 

I didn't attend NMIMS because it was clashing with my IIM Indore interview. 

That exalted feeling

http://sgshrinivas.blogspot.com/2011/04/nervousness-and-elation-april-18th-2011.html

All in all, the end was the best I could have ever imagined of. I never even thought I'd manage a call from Ahmedabad, but I have a convert in my hands now. 

As they all say, this probably is just the beginning of the journey. I can never say enough thanks to everyone who helped me through this process, with all kinds of support.