Preparation for B-Schools Group Discussion and Personal Interview

After the written exam of CAT, MAT etc. one of the most daunting question for MBA aspirants is the preparations for cracking the Group Discussion and Personal Interview rounds and it is one of the most anxiously searched topics on internet.

Group discussions form the primary stage of contact between the interviewers and interviewees. These interactions separate the cream group from others and get them a seat in their dream b-schools.  Interviewers develop an impression of you in the first few minutes of the meeting, and spend the rest of the interview confirming their initial impression. Therefore, practice on projecting a calm, confident demeanor is a necessity.

The smart step to be taken in this time frame is to choose a right place to equip yourself for the coming hurdle. If you are from Kolkata and have taken any MBA entrance examination like CAT, MAT, XAT, SNAP, IIFT, IBSAT, NMAT, etc. the right place for you is CareerSkills started by IIM alumni.

How to handle different MBA entrance Group Discussions?

One needs to understand different types of Group Discussions and how to handle them. A factual topic for discussion gives a candidate a chance to prove that he is aware of and sensitive to his environment. Controversial topics are the ones that are argumentative in nature. The idea behind giving a topic like this is to see how much maturity the candidate is displaying by keeping his temper in check, by rationally and logically arguing his point of view without getting personal and emotional. Abstract topics are about intangible things. These topics are not given often for discussion, but their possibility cannot be ruled out. These topics test your lateral thinking and creativity.

Case study based GD system is also very prevalent in Institutes like IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Indore. The case study tries to simulate a real-life situation. Information about the situation will be given to you and you would be asked as a group to resolve the situation. In the case study there are no incorrect answers or perfect solutions. The objective in the case study is to get you to think about the situation.

Gaining the competitive advantage

CareerSkills helps you gain advantage over competitors by offering perfect mix of teaching methodologies, skills, practice & feedback through eminent faculties who are IIM passouts so that you have the requisite tools to ace your GP & PI.

Handling MBA entrance Group Discussion

Evaluation Criteria and Preparation – Our eminent faculties help the students with the success ingredients that help them to evaluate their own skills and aslo work on their shorcomings.

Weapons to Conquer the GD war - Making a good impression while speaking in meetings or interviews is the basic skill every professional should have.

Complete Description of Attire and Appearance - The first judgment an interviewer makes is going to be based on how you look and what you are wearing. That’s why it’s always important to dress professionally for a job interview, so we also give an idea to the students about the Right way of dressing up for GD PI.

Discussion on GDs of past years –In order to give a very concrete understanding about the module it is very important to know and discuss the Gds appeared in the passed years which is enriched with the viewpoints of the current students from IIM associated with us.

Handling MBA entrance Personal Interviews

Our academic intelligentsia through their experience, expertise and research makes you fully confident to face the interviewer’s questions and your answers. Step by step structured approach of handling problems like nervousness and stammering in an interview, which is directly related to the candidate’s unfamiliarity with the questions and a general lack of preparation are taken care of.

Self Introduction – Self introduction i.e ‘the elevator speech’ is your key to interview success has to be prepared under very professional guidance.

Preparation for subject specific knowledge – This part can be difficult because you have to be able to demonstrate your domain knowledge in terms of soft skills such as communication and team work as well as your hard skills acquired by your education and experience.

Other Important Aspects – Most important skill to handle an interview is giving direction to an interview and understanding how to make a long lasting impact on interviewers. Non-verbal communication in an interview is much more important than the verbal communication and one needs to master this art.

You will also learn

• Resume Writing and responding to questions regarding it
• Public Speaking/Viva
• Image Reflection
• Situational Conversations
• Debates/Extempore

Each student will face minimum of 6 mock Group Discussions including role plays, group tasks, case study and minimum of 3 mock Personal Interviews per candidate. Few mock GD-PIs will be video recorded for feedback.

To know more about CareerSkill’s Group Discussion and Personal Interview classes you can email at info@careerskills.in or call 9903222555 or 9748222555. Visit our website – www.CareerSkills.in for more details

Tags: B-Schools Group Discussion and Personal Interview Preparation, Group Discussion and Personal Interview, Group Discussion and Personal Interview Preparation, Preparation for B-Schools Group Discussion and Personal Interview

Do’s and Don’ts when taking Mock CATs

Common Aptitude Test or as it is called CAT needs complete and correct preparation before appearing for the examination.However, the scenario is many students are seen rushing for the last minute preparation and in the process end up creating a massacre. Many fail to understand this is the ideal time to recapitulate whatever one has learnt in the last few months. This is the best time to sit back, do an overview of the important topics studied earlier. It will be best if a student can bring back the mental peace and remember certain tips before appearing for the test.

There are certain do’s that are necessarily to be remembered before the final call is taken up such as:

• Relax: This is the ultimate time to take a long breath, build up the positive confidence and concentrate on the important things. It is the ideal time to sum up the entire study materials by allotting the time for each separate section. Apart from these things, one needs to sleep and eat properly to maintain one’s health in a proper way.
• Analyze: Appointing a time and solving the problems from the test papers within the same time frame will help a student to speed up in the next test. This will also help to find out both the negative and positive areas, thus helping to a student to highlight on them more seriously. Such a venture will help one to finely tune the strategies for separate sections to be solved in the paper.
• Practice: It will be a good idea to go through the past years set of questions so that one has the basic idea how the actual paper will look like. The best part will be to conduct self exams in order to get a proper overview of one’s preparation. Going through different set of question papers and trying to find out answers for them will definitely find a student a good rank in the tests.
• Time management: This is one of the most important factors that need proper attention. In order to succeed in a competitive exam a student must remember this vital factor because if there is not enough speed one can really never complete the entire question paper and have to remain unanswered for many questions. This can lead to losing of lot of marks and hence, practicing enough for solving the entire paper on time is very important.

Some Dont’s those are necessary to be remembered:

• Do not begin any fresh topic: Trying to learn a new topic will only add to the tension instead of helping a student in anyway. If by any chance you fail to memorize any given important topic then there is no need to panic. It is better to recapitulate the old ones rather than struggling with the new ones. It is safe to thoroughly look into the already done topics and revise them again and again for perfection.
• Never focus on Mock CATs score: One should always remember to concentrate mainly on the preparation rather thanfocusing on the marks received by the students in the tests and mock tests. This will help them to be ahead in the competition by concentrating on their studies solely rather than marks.
• Move ahead: Do not get stuck only on one question. It will be a good idea to move ahead and answer the remaining questions in order to complete the remaining paper. The better idea will be to solve the easier ones quickly and then in the remaining time trying to solve the tough questions and securing the marks.
• Canopy should be avoided: It is be a wise idea not to solve any questions without knowing the exact answers for them. Guessing the answers, which will turn out to be wrong will lead in reducing the marks to a great extent. Always remember in the CAT exams what matters the most is the quality and not the quantity that will open bright doors for a good future. Every single and correct option will increase the rankings to a great extent.
• Strict no to rumors: It will be a wise idea not to lend ears to any of the rumors in the examination hall that will not only make you panic but also will lead to shake your confidence. This is because in such exams every set of questions is different and if one set is complicated it will definitely not mean the other set will be the same for you. The best idea will be to concentrate on whatever you have studied and have complete faith in yourself and your preparation.
• Never get tensed: Tension is the spoiling agent of all good situations that leads in creating havoc unnecessarily. It will be a wise idea to keep your cool and then trying to solve the tough questions with you own capability and knowledge. Taking too much pressure will not only increase the mental stress but it will also lead to decrease the level of self confidence. This is quite dangerous because it will force to forget whatever one has studied and reduce the minimal chances of getting a good rank.

However, frightening it might sound one should always remember to keep their spirits high in every scenario and try to overcome their weak points by analyzing on them thoroughly. Remembering the above said points will not only help the students to overcome their tensions but will also lead to assisting them in scoring high marks in the CAT exams.

Tags: CAT 2012 Do's and Don'ts, CAT Tips and Tricks, Do's and Don'ts when taking Mock CATs

When To Know You Should Get Help Studying for the CAT Exam

Whether you should get a tutor for the CAT exam or not is a difficult decision to make. Tutors are able to help you study for the CAT exam, and they will make you more confident when it is time to take the test. They also cost money, and fitting a tutor into your daily schedule might be difficult if you have a busy life. Here are the things you should consider before getting a tutor.

Comprehension
How well do you comprehend the material that is going to be on the CAT exam? Can you easily go through data interpretation and quantitative ability questions? If so, then you may not need a tutor. If you feel yourself answering many of the questions wrong on sample versions of the exam, then you might need a tutor.

A tutor can help you comprehend the questions better, and he or she can improve your overall score. It is a good idea to get a tutor immediately if you are having a hard time understanding any of the common CAT exam areas.

Confidence
Are you confident in your ability to do well on the CAT exam? Don’t be arrogant about your abilities. Take a good look at your abilities, and see if you are really confident about taking the exam. Admitting either overconfidence or a lack of confidence can help you decide if you need a tutor or not.

A tutor will assist you with feeling more confident about the exam. The tutor won’t directly affect your confidence, but going through sample questions on the exam will make it much easier for you. The tutor can also help you understand the subjects better, and this will boost your confidence by making you feel more ready to take the exam.

Tutors are also equipped to find holes in your knowledge. For example, you may be confident about a section of the test, but the tutor might be able to find problems with your verbal reasoning for specific questions. Getting a tutor can help you close these gaps, and that can improve your overall performance.

If you are reasonably confident, then you may not need a tutor. Take a sample CAT exam to see how good you are at comprehending the questions. If you do well, then perhaps a tutor isn’t right for you.

Scoring
How important is scoring to you? If you are looking to get into an average school or get average scores, then getting a great score may not be of importance to you. If you need high scores to get into an elite school, then you obviously want to do better on the exam.

If you really want high scores, then you should get a tutor immediately. It doesn’t matter if you are confident in your abilities, or if you are doing well with sample exams. A tutor can still get you ready for the CAT exam, and this commonly raises test scores.

Time
Do you have the time for a CAT exam tutor? Many people feel they either do not have the time to study for the exam, or they make excuses to keep themselves from visiting a tutor. Unless you have extenuating circumstances, then you should really find the time for a tutor if you need the help.

Change your job schedule around, find a tutor that can accommodate your schedule or set things aside so you have the time. Getting a good score on the CAT exam test is incredibly important if you want to get into the best schools. A better education generally leads to a better lifetime income, and most people are happier when they are in the school of their dreams.

If time is a factor, then realistically look at your schedule. Change things around so you can get the help if you really need it.

Conclusion
When should you get help for the CAT exam? Most people should get help immediately. The CAT exam is difficult, and the score can mean the different between attending a good or bad school.

If you need a high score, or if you don’t feel confident in your abilities, then get a tutor today.

Author Bio
Tom Demers writes on a variety of technical securities, including Bit9 endpoint security.

Tags: CAT 2012, CAT Exam, CAT Exam Tips, cat preparation

Best Selling Books on Leadership

This is an era of knowledge worker that is “Leader”. But a person who is responsible for things or having a title cannot be called a leader because a “True Leader” is pioneer in setting the directions for talented employees by identifying their hidden talents and at the same time motivating them to put their talents to work on meeting their goals. Leadership comes from your ability to arouse reliability on other people. If people have faith on you they will follow you or if they don’t trust you eventually things will fall apart.

Want to become a leader? Or being a leader, want to improve your leadership traits? Want to influence what other people do – to help them accomplish important goals? Want to direct the way in your organization? Want to mount the promotion ladder to positions of higher authority and greater remuneration? All these things will be possible through Leadership. I am listing some bestselling books on Leadership mentioned below:

The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership: Achieving and Sustaining Excellence through Leadership Development - In The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership, Jeffrey Liker and Gary L. Convis, a former Executive Vice President at Toyota give assistance to his employees and senior managers so that they can concentrate on their endeavor again by simply performing their respective functions to impart value across all functions. A proper method to create powerful, effective lean Leadership has been illustrated using various case studies.
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Good to Great - It is the management book full of indispensable ideas which concludes Good to Great can and does happen. Jim Collins unfolds the basic variables in which any type of organization can equip to make a bounce from Good to great while other organizations remains only good. His findings are very much surprising to the modern mind but it is supported by precise evidence.
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The Winning Way: Learning From Sport for Managers – This book is written by two IIMA alumni. One of them is Sports commentator and writer Harsha Bhogle and the other is his wife Anita Bhogle, who is advertising and communication consultant. They unearth examples from sports for the benefit of managers. The Winning Way explores the world wide formula that is to combine your competence with the right attitude and the passion to exceed.
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The Steve Jobs Way – Jay Elliot in his book The Steve Jobs Way gives his readers the possibility of seeing Steve Jobs, his closet associate –the fascination of his management style- capable of creating remarkable tools so that they have made three Industries and convert the ways we create, consume and communicate with each other. He brings an intense overview of Steve’s leadership’s style which comprehends four major principles: Product, talent, organization and marketing. He also shared lessons comes from Steve’s instinctive approach to depict how creative and technological brilliance of leaderships can be put to use in any organizations irrespective of size.
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HBR’S 10 Must Reads on Leadership - HBR’s 10 Must Reads paperback series is the explicit collection of books for new and experienced leaders alike. Harvard Business Review has searched through hundreds of articles and selected only the most inevitable reading on each topic which every ambitious manager should know to optimize their own and organization’s performance.
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Great by Choice – Collins again returns after nine years of research braced with rigorous analysis and infused with engaging stories. He and his colleague Hansen comes with an exclusive work of Great by choice and ascertain the doctrine for constructing the great enterprise in unpredictable, turbulent, and fast-moving times.
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When the Penny Drops: Learning What’s Not Taught - It is an inestimable source of inspiration and guidance to assist leaders to understand themselves and identify their success mantras that is enclosed in them and releasing the lessons that might be ensnare within them. R. Gopalakrishnan has enumerated his forty three years of corporate experience across countries which have taught him a valuable lesson in an intuitive way. Each story narrated here helps you to learn, improve and develop yourself.
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The Habit of Winning – Prakash Iyer in his book narrated the stories of winners like Sachin Tendulkar, Charlie Plumb, Mahatma Gandhi, Randy Pauch etc. with anecdotes who have achieved their goals and along with it suggested bits of advice and tips to forward a theory of how to achieve a habit of winning. All this winners have a common trait- hard work, perseverance and good team player.
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Tags: Best Leadership Books, Best Selling Books, Best Selling Books on Leadership, Books on Leadership

Data Interpretation Questions for CAT

Directions for Questions 1 to 4: Answer the following questions based on the information given below:
The bar chart below shows the revenue received, in million US Dollars (USD), from subscribers to a particular Internet service. The data covers the period 2003 to 2007 for the United States (US) and Europe. The bar chart also shows the estimate revenues from the subscription to this service for the period 2008 to 2010.

1. While the subscription in Europe has been growing steadily towards that of the US, the growth rate in Europe seems to be declining. Which of the following is closest to the percent change in growth rate of 2007 (over 2006) relative to the growth rate of 2005 (over 2004)?
a. 17
b. 20
c. 35
d. 60
e. 100

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Tags: CAT Data Interpretation Questions, Data Interpretation questions, Data Interpretation Questions for cat

Logical Reasoning Questions with Answers

Answer questions 1 to 5 on the basis of the information given below.
K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, U and W are the only ten members in a department. There is a proposal to form a team from within the members of the department, subject to the following conditions:

• A team must include exactly one among P, R, and S.
• A team must include either M or Q, but not both.
• If a team includes K, then it must also include L, and vice versa.
• If a team includes one among S, U, and W, then it must also include the other two.CAT 2006
• L and N cannot be members of the same team.
• L and U cannot be members of the same team.
• The size of a team is defined as the number of members in the team.

1. What could be the size of a team that includes K?
a. 2 or 3
b. 2 or 4
c. 3 or 4
d. Only 2
e. Only 4
Ans. e. As K is included, L is included. So, N and U cannot be included. As U is not included, S and W are not included. One out of M and Q and one out of P and R will be included.
Thus, the team will include: K, L, (M or Q) and (P or R).
Hence, option e.

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Tags: Logical Reasoning, logical reasoning questions, Logical Reasoning Questions and Answers, Logical reasoning questions with Answers

CAT SYLLABUS

CAT 2012 entrance examination syllabus

There is no prefixed pattern for CAT 2012. The syllabus given below is based on the experience of previous CAT Papers, specially CAT 2010-2011. The list may not be exhaustive but almost the entire gamut is covered. In an earlier post, I have tried to list down best CAT preparation books.

Quantitative Ability (QA) / Mathematics:

Arithmetic-

Ratios and Proportion, Ratios, Percentages, Profit & Loss, Averages, Percentages, Partnership, Time-Speed-Distance, Work and time, Number system, HCF, LCM, Geometric Progression, Arithmetic progression, Arithmetic mean, Geometric mean , Harmonic mean, Median, Mode, Number Base System, BODMAS,Alligation & Mixtures, Work, Pipes and Cisterns, Simple Interest & Compound Interest, Installment Payments, Clocks, Calendar,

Algebra-

In-equations , Quadratic and linear equations, functions, Logarithm Geometry, Mensuration and solid Geometry

Geometry (Lines, angles, Triangles, Spheres, Rectangles, Cube, Cone etc),Mensuration, Co-ordinate geometry.

Other Mathematical Topics:

Set Theory, Venn Diagram, Probability, Permutations & Combinations, Binomial Expansion, Maxima & Minima Progression, Surds & Indices and Complex numbers, etc.

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Tags: CAT 2012 Syllabus, CAT SYLLABUS, CAT Syllabus 2012, syllabus for CAT

Data Interpretation Questions

Directions for next 5 DATA INTERPRETATION QUESTIONS: Answer these questions on the basic of the following pie-chart describing the characteristics of foreign tourists visiting India during a given year:


1. If in the year, 1000,000 tourists visited India and the age-wise distribution data applies to all countries, the number of America tourists who visited India during the year and are in the age group of 20-40 years is:
a. 12,000
b. 20,000
c. 40,000
d. 60,000
e. None of these

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Tags: Data Interpretation Question, Data Interpretation questions, Sample Data Interpretation Question, Sample data interpretation questions

Quantitative Aptitude Questions

1. The average age of a woman and her daughter is 16 years. The ratio of their ages in 7 : 1 respectively. What is the woman’s age?
a. 4 years
b. 28 years
c. 32 years
d. 6 years
e. None of these

2. Deven Invests Rs. 2,34,558 which is 25% of his annual income, in National Saving schemes. Whar is his monthly income?
a. Rs. 9,38,232
b. Rs. 78,186
c. Rs. 4,69,116
d. Rs. 2,34,558
e. None of these

3. A boat goes 24 km upstream and 28 km downstream in 6 hours. It goes 30 km upstream and 21 km downstream in 6 hours and 30 minutes. The speed of the stream is
a. 10 km/h
b. 5 km/h
c. 4 km/h
d. 6 km/h
e. None of these

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Tags: CAT Quantitative Aptitude, CAT Quantitative Aptitude Questions, Quantitative Aptitude, Quantitative Aptitude Questions

Data Sufficiency Questions

Directions for next 4 Questions: In each data sufficiencyquestions there are two statements: A and B.

Choose [a] if the question can be answered by one of the statements alone but not by the other.
Choose [b] if the question can be answered by using either statement alone.
Choose [c] if the question can be answered by using both the statements together but cannot be answered using either statement alone.
Choose [d] if the question cannot be answered even by using both the statements A and B.
Choose [e] if the question can be answered by using either statement alone but not using both.

1. F and M are father and mother of S, respectively. S has four uncles and three aunts. F has two siblings. The siblings of F and M are unmarried. How many brothers does M have?
A. F has two brothers.
B. M has five siblings.

2. A game consists of tossing a coin successively. There is an entry fee of Rs. 10 and an additional fee of Re. 1 for each toss of the coin. The game is considered to have ended normally when the coin turns heads on two consecutive throws. In this case the player is paid Rs. 100. Alternatively, The Princeton Review CAT sample paper 24 the player can choose to terminate the game prematurely after any of the tosses. Ram has incurred a loss of Rs 50 by playing this game. How many times did he toss the coin?
A. The game ended normally.
B. The total number of tails obtained in the game was 138.

3. Each packet of SOAP costs Rs 10. Inside each packet is a gift coupon labeled with one of the letters S, O, A, and P. If a customer submits four such coupons that make up the word SOAP, the customer gets a free SOAP packet. Ms. X kept buying packet after packet of SOAP till she could get one set of coupons that formed the word SOAP. How many coupons with label P did she get in the above process?
A. The last label obtained by her was S and the total amount spent was Rs 210.
B. The total number of vowels obtained was 18.

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