State cats take greater strides
More than 150 students from Gujarat, including 72 from Ahmedabad, receive calls from IIMs following CAT results on Friday; number likely to rise significantly
By Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 03:57:51 AM (Ahmedabad Mirror : http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/index.aspx?Page=article§name=News%20-%20City§id=3&contentid=2009011020090110035751746c79d3176)
Friday was a red letter day for education in Gujarat. Around 150 students from the state, including 72 from the city, have received calls from the various Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) following declaration of the Common Admission Test (CAT) results for the academic year 2009-10.Around 10,000 students from Gujarat, including 72 from Ahmedabad, had appeared for CAT to be eligible for admission in Business Management schools for the academic year 2009-10.
The number of students being called by the IIMs is expected to rise once complete details of the results are out.Indeed, students from Gujarat have taken big strides in CAT. In the academic year 2007-08, 17 students from the state managed to clear the final round of IIMs’ selection. The number is expected to be much higher this time around.Ahmedabad Mirror spoke to four students from Gujarat who had received calls from the IIMs.
Notable among them were Neerav Mahajan, a graduate in Electronics Communication from Nirma University, Ahmedabad, who scored 99.28 percentile and earned a call from IIM Bangalore and 23-year-old Kunal Patel from Bharuch, who scored 98.96 percentile and received calls from all six IIMs (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kozhikode, Kolkata, Lucknow and Indore).
Amdavadi Yogiraj Khare, 21, scored 86.14 percentile and received calls from IIMs in Kolkata, Kozhikode and Indore. Another 21-year-old, Ravindra Makwana from Rajkot, scored 86.12 percentile and received a call from IIM Kozhikode.Kunal’s story is truly remarkable, considering he had appeared for CAT in 2008-09 as well, and despite scoring 94 percentile, chose to re-appear for the test, as he “did not match up to” his own standards.
Kunal, who holds a Bachelor of Information Technology degree and works in an IT firm in Vadodara, “I was aiming for 100 percentile. But I am thrilled with this result as well. I don’t know where I will finally take admission, though.”
Spelling his mantra for success, Kunal said, “Smart work, more than hard work, is needed to succeed in CAT. I studied in Gujarati medium, and struggled a bit in English paper. Also, I was juggling studies and a job. But I quickly realised that if I plan my schedules smartly, including periods of recreation, I would achieve my goal.”
Neerav echoed Kunal’s mantra of smart work. “You should know the technique of switching on and off. Also, focus should be right,” he said from his parental home in Godhra. Neerav aims to start his own research firm.Maninagar resident and chemical engineer Yogiraj said he would study for about six hours, and then spend about two hours revising his studies.
About his future plans, Yogiraj said he would aim for a job in a multi-national company but would prefer to work out of Gujarat. “Economic slowdown is a temporary thing,” he said, “With corrective measures, things will be back on track.”Ravindra said he learnt a lot when he stood 4,000th in the Gujarat Common Entrance Test a year ago.
“I realised I would fail miserably in CAT if I didn’t change my mind-set and study patterns,” he said. He realised he struggled in English, and paid special attention to his language skills. “Reading periodicals, especially from the UK and the US, really helped. I would recommend them to all those struggling with English language,” he said.
What is CAT ?
CAT is a major requirement for a candidate seeking admission to prestigious management institutes of India. The percentile secured in CAT is assessed by the B-Schools in India for short-listing candidates for admissions to their various MBA programmes.
CAT is the most competitive exam to judge the potential of the candidates willing to pursue a career in business administration.For applying to the CAT, a candidate must hold a Bachelor’s Degree, with at least 50 per cent marks or equivalent CGPA (45 per cent in case of candidates belonging to SC/ST or Persons with Disability), of any of the Universities or Institutes recognized by the UGC or the Ministry of HRD, Government of India.
