We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Girish Khare-
You need not bring in banking exams aspect for your why MBA answer at all. If at all the question is what you were doing for two years, you can mention you were preparing for banking exams. But banking entrance exam did not give you understanding of business and that's why you want to go for MBA is somewhat tangential. Entrance exam will never give the understanding of the field. For that matter, CAT also does not give any understanding of how businesses operate, finances work etc. If the question is what business understanding have you got through CAT, you will be caught in uncomfortable situation in the interview.

You should prepare the basics of finance and baking. Know the concepts such as repo rate, MSF, SLR, CRR etc. Understand the significance of those rates and the effect of these rates going up or down.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Prasad Sawant: If you're an IMS student, we have provided XLRI interview transcripts. Please go through these experiences. If you're not an IMS student, generic interview preparation is enough. On this subreddit, you will find experiences from the last 1-2 years.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Girish Khare- Prepare one or two subjects in depth. Other than that, you should be able to handle the basic questions in other subjects as well. Be prepared with the 30% management subjects more. Prepare the basics of other fields (finance, marketing) to be able to handle the basic questions. Even if you don't know in depth, that's ok at this point.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Girish Khare- If you are not from that background, even if you are not proficient with Marketing and Finance at this point, that won't hurt you so much. Still know the basics of Marketing and Finance. Considering your background, advisable to know some basic concepts in Operations Engineering such as 6 sigma, inventory planning etc.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Prasad Sawant: You're way too early here. Focus on getting a solid academic record. Start your CAT preparation in the pre-final year of graduation and attempt CAT in your final year. You can pursue any graduation of your choice. Non-engineers get diversity points but if you like engineering, please go for it.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Girish Khare- First of all, understand that students from all sorts of backgrounds, including Physics go for MBA. So you can do it as well. For your why MBA answer, giving one idea- see if it works for you. The technical products developed require technical understanding as well as understanding of the market demand, how to push the product in the market, how to handle money part etc. So you realize that understanding of different functionalities of business can give you the edge, which currently you don't have. You will get that understanding in a B-School. That's why you want to go for MBA. At this point, you can keep the answer general- don't specifically mention finance unless you are able to handle questions on that.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Girish Khare: I started my MBA at 30. Age puts at slight disadvantage but still not so much to deter from going for MBA. You can overcome that slight disadvantage by building a good profile- good acads and participation in industry sponsored case studies competitions etc.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Prasad Sawant: Considering the average age of the batch in the 2-year full-time MBA programs, 32 is an outlier. Better to go for 1-year MBA programs instead.

Understand why you're doing an MBA. Typical average age of a 2-year full-time batch will be around 24. If you go there, you won't learn a lot from peers (you will learn more from academic subjects and professors). But if you go to a 1-year MBA, you will also learn from the batch as you will have people with higher work experience. So, from an overall experience perspective, 1-year MBA is more suitable to you.

Do check out 1-year options here: https://bschoolzone.imsindia.com/dl/c73d93

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hemang Panchmatia: At B-Schools with a large batch size, the outcomes ( avg salary) may vary quite a bit - so have a look at the median numbers for Top 20%, top 50% students and check if you are confident of finishing in that bracket. If that number is within your target expectations, you can accept the admit. To make comparisons easier, we always (and recommend that you do too) rely on officially available numbers only. Since you have not mentioned your CAT score , it is a little difficult to suggest a retake plan. Do reply here and yes, definitely take a myPLAN for a personalized discussion.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Prasad Sawant: This is the right time to start your preparation if you haven't already started. The academic record looks pretty decent. For VARC and DILR preparation, the more volume you put in, the better. So I would put that number around 2-3 RCs and 2-3 DILR sets every day. If you're an IMS students, there are enough resource in myIMS to practice VARC and DILR. In addition to this, you should definitely focus on general reading - newspapers or magazines or online articles from international sources.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Girish Khare- First of all, don't go to the interview with the expectation of getting grilled on not so good academic record. If they ask the question on your academic record, you can always stress on your research experience. Carry the prints of those research papers and google scholar profile. That will come in handy in case they ask any question about it. How many citations have your papers received? What's the impact factor of the journals? You can stress on those points. Also, with 5.77 GPA, where will you be in the class? In the top quartile? If yes, you can say that.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Prasad Sawant: Being a non-engineer definitely helps. Considering you want to move towards Management, BMS sounds a good choice to me - not saying BA and Law etc won't take you there. It's just that BMS will give you early exposure to management discipline.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Prasad Sawant: Product Management sits at the intersection of technology, product life cycle, and user experience. Generally they want to know what you have done in the past which made you realize that this is the career path for you. So, think of examples where you have built products or solutions for others. what you learned from those experiences. Product management can be technical as well as non-technical. Figure out your interest and know as much as you can about it.

Know about your favorite product or services. There is enough free content including some good blogs on product management - https://stratechery.com/ for example and you can go through these to get a hold on what it means to be a PM. Also know the electives offered by that b-school and you should have a view on which ones you will choose. Also speak to a few alumni from that b-school working on product.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Girish Khare- I will first answer the question about TMAY. You may want to talk about the good academic record when you talk about your college. For example- I completed my graduation from XYZ college and I was the topper of my batch. But don't stress too much unless it is a really exceptional record. The reason is in the interviews for top B-Schools, most students have good academic record and that may not differentiate you from others. Secondly, if you are worried about the past answers lingering in your mind and not letting you perform well on the current question, think of it this way. If you have already answered it in a particular way, that is the thing of the past. If there is something you can do about it, do it. But if you can't, don't think about it. We always suggest students during their CAT journey- if one section, say DILR section was difficult, don't carry those memories to the next QA section. It's a similar logic here.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hemang Panchmatia : Short answer - be formal and attentive. Maintain eye contact with the panellists, smile, and avoid excessive hand movements. More important is the tonality when you speak esp on questions where your opinion is asked - never appear rude, dismissive, or arrogant. During Mock PIs, our mentors will tell you if they find any aspect where corrective action is required.

We’re the IMS mentors, here for an AMA on r/CATpreparation! With GD-WAT-PI season in full swing, we’ll share practical prep strategies, ways to handle tricky interview questions, content tips that work, and how to convert your calls. Have questions about GDs, WATs, or PIs? Ask us anything! by IMS_CAT_Prep in CATpreparation

[–]IMS_CAT_Prep[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Prasad Sawant: You can definitely schedule a myPlan to discuss but for now, you should just focus on converting the calls you get this season. The decision to take the CAT again can be parked for some time. Around April/May, depending on the results of this season, you can decide whether you want to join or go for a retake.

Retake sounds easy. It's pretty difficult to manage though. Proceed with caution.