CAT v/s Other Exams

 'Penny wise and pound foolish' is an English phrase which refers to a person who would waste away something far more valuable trying to salvage something of much less worth. Imagine you switch off your refrigerator in a bid to save a few units of electricity, resulting in spoilage of thermolabile medicines worth a thousand rupees! 

I draw the same analogy with those who focus too much on exams like NMAT, SNAP etc before they have taken CAT. How many worthy colleges does NMAT have for a student who has prepared well and aims to take admission only in a reputed college? The answer is ONE- NMIMS, Mumbai. NMIMS, Bangalore is alright, Hyderabad is average and the newer ones are meant for those who lack any merit whatsoever!

“But sir there are colleges other than NMIMS that accept NMAT scores.” They are ALL below-average or downright unworthy colleges. So are you preparing so hard for NMAT, which is heavy on Vocabulary and Grammar, topics that are unlikely to appear in CAT, so that you can enhance your chances of selection to that one college? While taking your eyes off from CAT which has umpteen envious colleges under its umbrella? 

Understand that NMAT/SNAP, as exams, are very very different from CAT. The type of questions, the difficulty level, the strategy to be adopted, format of the paper- all vary greatly. While it would be prudent to practice a couple of mock NMAT papers, but to change your focus considerably to NMAT or SNAP before you take CAT would be detrimental to your larger aim of getting into a worthy B school and would thus be ‘penny wise and pound foolish’. However, if someone is specifically targeting MICA because he has his eyes set on pursuing a life in advertising or communication, or if one desires only IIFT out of her will to build a career in Foreign Trade, or if one is passionate about rural management due to a clear inclination towards rural sector, then it is understandable for such students to keep exams like MICAT, IIFT, IRMA respectively at the center of their preparation. But for all other 'mango aspirants' who haven't chosen any particular niche specialization (banking, power, foreign trade, rural management) or for students who aspire for the usual specialisations (Finance, HR, Operations, Marketing), it makes perfect sense to keep their focus centered around CAT and XAT. You can prepare specifically for all other exams once you are done with CAT, no matter how little that period (after CAT and before the specific exam) seems. PS: The opinion expressed by the author is completely personal and may not resonate with the views of some other trainers/institutes. As always, I would suggest that you weigh an opinion on the merit of its underlying rationale before you accept or reject it. Feel free to ask your queries related to the content of the above article in the comments below.

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