The directors of the seven Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) will meet later this month to discuss details of a proposal to take the Common Admission Test (CAT) online by 2009.
The CAT exams may also be formatted on the lines of the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) so that the scores are valid for two to three years.
An IIM Calcutta professor who is working on the proposal said the primary reason for taking the CAT online is the increasing number of aspirants.
"However, we are also considering other possibilities for conducting the CAT exams," he added.
The move could benefit thousands of students. In 2007, around 2,30,000 students took the exams. This year the number is expected to exceed 3,00,000.
For online CAT exams, the IIMs could outsource the project to an IT firm specialising in education and training services.
"The company will provide us with the infrastructure, but the control of setting the question paper will remain with the IIMs. The company will also be allowed to conduct exams at its franchisees," the professor said.
The IIMs may also conduct a preliminary test for students to be eligible to take the CAT. The format of group discussion and personal interviews will, however, be the same.
Taking CAT online stems from IIMs' concern over the chaos that occurs during declaration of results. Last year, for instance, heavy traffic caused the website to crash on January 8, when the results were declared.
Besides the seven IIMs, which conduct the exams, the CAT results are also used by 124 other management institutions to enroll students.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Content of interview and GD
The written stage over, you would all be bracing up for the personality assessment round. More than the written stage, this stage helps an institute determine whether you possess the managerial mettle or not. Whether an MBA qualification is really in sync with your career goals, whether you have the willingness to pursue what you have set out to achieve, and whether you have the ability to withstand corporate pressures or not, can to a certain extent be assessed with the help of the tools that B-schools have evolved. It's another matter that each B-school has its own way of assessing you. The focus of interview could differ from one institute to another. Therefore it helps to understand how B-schools conduct their interviews and GDs.
Interview
In a B School interview, the panel, comprising two to three members, will probe into every aspect. So even if a student is not forthcoming the panel members would keep talking about different areas and would try to identify his/her strengths and weaknesses.
Another thing you have to be particular about is academics. We usually tend to downplay academics. But in an interview, the panel usually checks academic knowledge. By academics, we don't mean how many marks you got in college. It means your knowledge of the subject. So even if you managed to secure only 55 per cent, you can make it. But you cannot say that academics are not my strong areas so let me talk of something else. You should use this time to brush up at least one or two subjects for sure. What's more, even if you have worked for two years, don't be under the impression that your experience is more important than your theoretical knowledge.
Also don't be under the impression that if you are a history or a home science or Sanskrit student, there won't be a subject expert to judge you. To ask you questions on basic stuff, one doesn't need a subject expert. And that is the most surprising thing, that when students are asked basic questions, they are not able to answer those.
The first question itself is an opportunity — 'introduce yourself' or 'tell us something about yourself'. Students give very short answers to a lot of questions. One such question is 'how has your performance been in exams?' One would just answer by saying 'good', 'average' or so on. But here's an opportunity to explain why your performance has been what it is. You can mention extracurricular activities in that case. The panel doesn't take low marks positively. However, they are open to the idea of your justifying your low marks. They are looking at some value in the student. One thing that's at the back of the panel's mind is — can the low marks be substituted by some other quality that the student has. But if you come out as just average student, without knowing why you have got low marks, or not improved over the period of time then you would be viewed very negatively.
Group discussion
IN GD, the variation is usually in terms of number of participants, the duration of the GD, the kind of topics given and the chaos level. But broadly the GD follows the set pattern of about 10-12 people seated almost in a semi-circle. They are given a topic and the panel is not involved then onwards. So it is left up to the group as to how to discuss the entire topic. Usually one person takes the initiative. After the first or the second speaker it is a chaotic situation. Panel members are not able to listen to each and everything in such a chaotic situation. So as an outsider, they will see where is the value addition happening and who can handle the situation in spite of the chaos.
The panel decides the sitting arrangement. You are not free to choose your seat. This might have implications on how you will perform, because when you are communicating you need to involve the entire group. You need to maintain a good eye contact with everyone. Otherwise you are going to be interrupted and someone else will take forward. The person sitting in the centre has more responsibility of not dividing the gathering into two groups and speaking to just one side so that the other side is neglected. The person seated in the end can look at everyone.
The topic could be anything under the sun. In terms of areas, the topic could range from business and economics to sports any activism that is present at that point of time.
Students wonder whether polarized views will be accepted. I might have a polarized view but if my process of putting across is fine, that's acceptable … there is a difference between a polarized view and an obstinate one. You can have polarized view but you should be open to the idea that the others are entitled to their views.
Students are also worried about the process of the GD that whether he/she will get a chance to speak; whether his/her communication is weak; or how to enter into discussion. But content is as important as process. If you are good on the content part and if you are an asset to the group, the group will hear you out. Get a good databank of reasons for any topic. Spend time analyzing issues. It could be any issue, like 'Should Ganguly be brought back into the team or not' or 'Is the US a bully'. Introduce reasons for it. Not your passions.
A number of institutes do give abstract topics. In such cases group dynamics become insignificant because a lot of people just wait for someone to speak. So there is a lot of opportunity to speak out. Hence content becomes all the more important. You need the flexibility of taking the topic to any area. Don't take the literal meaning of such topics. In topics like 'East is East and West is West' or 'Black and White' they judge whether you can associate the color to any sphere that you can think of. You need to be creative and liberal in defining the boundaries. If you are a movie buff you can talk about movies. If you are a photography buff you can talk about photography. This will add value to the discussion. Value addition is the name of the game. There are instances when the entire group has been asked to leave in the middle of GD. This happens when the panel realizes that none is doing value addition and is adding to the nuisance value. On the other hand there are instances where all of the candidates in a group have been selected.
Interview
In a B School interview, the panel, comprising two to three members, will probe into every aspect. So even if a student is not forthcoming the panel members would keep talking about different areas and would try to identify his/her strengths and weaknesses.
Another thing you have to be particular about is academics. We usually tend to downplay academics. But in an interview, the panel usually checks academic knowledge. By academics, we don't mean how many marks you got in college. It means your knowledge of the subject. So even if you managed to secure only 55 per cent, you can make it. But you cannot say that academics are not my strong areas so let me talk of something else. You should use this time to brush up at least one or two subjects for sure. What's more, even if you have worked for two years, don't be under the impression that your experience is more important than your theoretical knowledge.
Also don't be under the impression that if you are a history or a home science or Sanskrit student, there won't be a subject expert to judge you. To ask you questions on basic stuff, one doesn't need a subject expert. And that is the most surprising thing, that when students are asked basic questions, they are not able to answer those.
The first question itself is an opportunity — 'introduce yourself' or 'tell us something about yourself'. Students give very short answers to a lot of questions. One such question is 'how has your performance been in exams?' One would just answer by saying 'good', 'average' or so on. But here's an opportunity to explain why your performance has been what it is. You can mention extracurricular activities in that case. The panel doesn't take low marks positively. However, they are open to the idea of your justifying your low marks. They are looking at some value in the student. One thing that's at the back of the panel's mind is — can the low marks be substituted by some other quality that the student has. But if you come out as just average student, without knowing why you have got low marks, or not improved over the period of time then you would be viewed very negatively.
Group discussion
IN GD, the variation is usually in terms of number of participants, the duration of the GD, the kind of topics given and the chaos level. But broadly the GD follows the set pattern of about 10-12 people seated almost in a semi-circle. They are given a topic and the panel is not involved then onwards. So it is left up to the group as to how to discuss the entire topic. Usually one person takes the initiative. After the first or the second speaker it is a chaotic situation. Panel members are not able to listen to each and everything in such a chaotic situation. So as an outsider, they will see where is the value addition happening and who can handle the situation in spite of the chaos.
The panel decides the sitting arrangement. You are not free to choose your seat. This might have implications on how you will perform, because when you are communicating you need to involve the entire group. You need to maintain a good eye contact with everyone. Otherwise you are going to be interrupted and someone else will take forward. The person sitting in the centre has more responsibility of not dividing the gathering into two groups and speaking to just one side so that the other side is neglected. The person seated in the end can look at everyone.
The topic could be anything under the sun. In terms of areas, the topic could range from business and economics to sports any activism that is present at that point of time.
Students wonder whether polarized views will be accepted. I might have a polarized view but if my process of putting across is fine, that's acceptable … there is a difference between a polarized view and an obstinate one. You can have polarized view but you should be open to the idea that the others are entitled to their views.
Students are also worried about the process of the GD that whether he/she will get a chance to speak; whether his/her communication is weak; or how to enter into discussion. But content is as important as process. If you are good on the content part and if you are an asset to the group, the group will hear you out. Get a good databank of reasons for any topic. Spend time analyzing issues. It could be any issue, like 'Should Ganguly be brought back into the team or not' or 'Is the US a bully'. Introduce reasons for it. Not your passions.
A number of institutes do give abstract topics. In such cases group dynamics become insignificant because a lot of people just wait for someone to speak. So there is a lot of opportunity to speak out. Hence content becomes all the more important. You need the flexibility of taking the topic to any area. Don't take the literal meaning of such topics. In topics like 'East is East and West is West' or 'Black and White' they judge whether you can associate the color to any sphere that you can think of. You need to be creative and liberal in defining the boundaries. If you are a movie buff you can talk about movies. If you are a photography buff you can talk about photography. This will add value to the discussion. Value addition is the name of the game. There are instances when the entire group has been asked to leave in the middle of GD. This happens when the panel realizes that none is doing value addition and is adding to the nuisance value. On the other hand there are instances where all of the candidates in a group have been selected.
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