IIMB GD/PI Experience

Firstly...apologies for the sms english in the following post.I am feeling tooo lazy to post the entire set of Q&As...

Secondly, after my IIML GD/PI oon feb 22, 2006 i had decided that i would prepare die-hard for IIMB and would leave no stone unturned. My plan was to dedicate the last week of Feb for acads and the entire March for going through the History of IT industry - i had charted out a neat plan to go through all the Business Journals, Mckinsey reports and other quaterlies.

But alas...here i was without having touched a bit about anything...just took bath in the morning and power-groomed once again and headed towards IIMB.

I had my IIMB int at 9 @ IIMB on 30-March-06.
6 ppl supposed to be in the group.
Well...the profs came at arnd 9:05 and he asked us to wait for the 6th person..we waited for a couple of mins and then the process started without that 6th person ;-).

GD: 6 ppl supposedly in the group, 1 did not turn up.1 preferred not to speak during the course of the GD....resulting in practically 4 members...and u can think of the discussions that could have happened. A case was given about an acquisition move and ......etc etc.It was peace.

We were given 10mins to think. Eventhough the profs said that we would be given 15 mins to discuss, i guess the GD would have hardly lasted for 8-10 mins. then we summarised the GD in the paper given. Kindly note that even though the paper contains lots of lines(30-40), i would have written around 12-15 lines -- splitting them across into 3 paras.

PI:
I was the fourth person to be called in. The previous 3 who came out said that they were properly screwed and it was a FULL STRESS INTERVIEW.I was least bothered and kept my kewl. I knew that INTERVIEWS ARE ALWAYS FUN and ITS UPTO THE INDIVIDUAL TO TERM IT AS A STRESS INTERVIEW OR NOT.

well...here it goes:
2 profs : P1 and P2 and solitary ME!

P1:Kindly take your seat
Me:thanks
P2:You seem to have got an exceptionally great % in you 12th and it seems that it has remarkably drpped in ur grad.
[actually, i haev got 95% in 12th and 88%in BE - am not sure how its low, the eval schemes differ!!!]
Me:>
P1:what hhave you culivated extra during the course?
Me:Sir, you mean hobbies and interests in addition to the course?
P1:yes
Me: I quiz and love watching advertisements.Initially i just used to watch advertisements , but offlate i have started understanding the nuances associated with them. But., i want to know more and am trying to go the depths of it.
P2: Why you need advertisements? whats thier purpose?
Me:<<>>
P1: what is the difference between Directive Principle and Fundamental right?
Me: I dont know the exact differnece Sir, but i would like to take a guess<>
P1:Capital of Tazhakistan
Me:I Dont Know, Sir
P1:Turkmenistan
Me:I Dont Know, Sir
P1:Krygistan
Me:I Dont Know, Sir
P1:Where are the Aravali ranges?
Me:Somweher near Madhya Pradeh :-(
P1: If you dont know say that yu dont know...dont guess
Me:Dont Know
P1:When did Britishers come to India
Me:1600s
P1:what was the significant move taken by them once they arrived here?
Me: they imposed lagaan, that is taxes.
P1: Heard of Permenant Settlement?
Me: Sir, you mean Permenant Settlement Act?
P1:Yes, If you dont know, tell that you dont know- but dont give me a wrong answer.
Me: I Dont know sir.

a few mins on my Bplan....answered all the Qs with CORRECT answers :-)

some more Qs showered by P2 for which i answered:

P2:Which were the OODBs?
P2:Give me the first 2 OODBs.
P2:Name 2 Open Source Databases.
P2:What was the tussle between Oracle and MySQl recently that was in news?
P1: Is this your 2nd or 3rd attempt?
Me: This is my First.

Whoa!!! IT WAS FUN. :-)

I wanted the panel to talk about:
(1) Quizzing
(2) Advertisements
(3) My Bplan and
(4) Some fundae w.r.t Oracle
and the panel asked me what all i wanted...though there were lots of other Qs in addition to the solicited ones. I would say it was a decent interview , but cant guess my chances of getting through - but God Willing , i should be IN!

Lots to learn. Am gonna start reading Indian Independence Struggle.

IIM Lucknow GD/PI Experience

Today, I had my GD/PI for Admissions to the PGP in Managaement at IIM Lucknow. The GD/PI session was scheduled for 10:00 am at IIM Bangalore campus.Had reached the venue by around 8:30 am and waiting for the 'phenomenon' to start. Things were at a dismal low the previous night as I was not so much passionate about the actual ROI w.r.t this programme.But still, managed to get up early in the morning and 'power-groomed' myself.

GD Topic: "I have hardly met a mathematician who was good at reasoning." We were asked to write a 150 word essay on the topic before the Gd started - the time allotted for this was 10 mins. Then the GD lasted approx 15mins.

The GD went on fine and there was no 'fish-market' kind of a scenario.The group consisted of 10 enthusiastic memebers out of which 2 did not bother to speak much. Hoever, others were equally assertive and there were some great points on the table.Someone spoke about the actual 'Reasoning' consisting of Induction and Deduction, there were also thoughts on Adam Smith's and Nash's theories and how relevant they were to real world applications and whether these along with other mathematicians really lack the 'reasoning power'.I spoke for around 5-6 times.

Then it was the turn for the PI and MYSELF (THEE) ;-) was the first to enter . PI was equally great and had fun with a great panel. Things lasted for almost 15-20 mins and was damn satisfied with my performance at EOD.

The Actual Conversation/Interview:
P1, P2 and Me.

P1 : Marksheets plz.
Me : yes Sir...(hand over my 3 files: one containing Marksheets , 1 containing Ceritifcates extra currics and the other containing a bplan)
P2 : Bplan..wats that abt....tell me more abt it..[went on for 8 mins]
Me : Expalined!
P1: Give me 3 reasons y we should select you
Me : gave 3 reasons -Crapped royally ;-) [went on for 2mins]
[Panel smiles]
P1: What is a turing Machine?[went on for 2 mins]
Me :[ I speak abt Turing Test and Turing Medal]
P1: I am asing abt turing Machine and not turing Test...u r getting confused
Me: [accept it and then explain Turing Model]
[Some more Qs w.r.t Turing's M/c etc etc..]
P1 and P2 : [ some Qs on my work-ex related stuff] [went on for 6mins]
P2 :[ some Qs w.r.t Resource Mgmt tech - my Sixth sem paper.Wants a real world ex of Simplex prog]
Me: [gives the ex and explains][went on for 2mins]
[P1 pokes p2 and tells him that timesup and wants to stop Qing...but P2 continues...for arnd 2 mins..and I keep answering]
P1 and P2 : thanks..you may leave now
Me : Thanks.


Hi IIML , I should be there this June If I dont convert IIMB ;-)

Nirvana(int Geometry, Char Calvin_Hobbes)

I embarked on a long journey today.I could not see my goal; for i guess it was this inability to see/obeserve my destination that led me to believe that i had ventured into a long journey (strange emotions!).I have always dreamt about the other side of this life - not the philosophy of it but rather what it really means to an otherwise lone being like me who has been thrushed into to experience the harsh realities of life.

I believe there are only 2 things on this Planet Earth that can lead me to attain the unattainable Nirvana...those are :
(1) Geometry and
(2) Calvin & Hobbes

I know that these parameters of me attaining Nirvana are in no way related , but I have a strong inclination towards em and a have an unassialable belief in these being my by my side till my last moment.

I always used to love Geometry and Inorganic Chemistry right from my school days. Mathematics was a subject that i have always been comfortable with. It was the tormentuous moment during my 2nd standard (when i got 2/50 in mathematics) that led me understand the funda behind this phenomennon(called Maths).And after that it has been a cruise.The mysetry behind complex shapes and figurine(!!!) configurations fascinated me.

Calvin has been a phenomennon that was introduced into my life during my first year in college. I was introduced to this character by our National Newspaper - The Hindu..

CAT05 - it came and went ; but I survived (Veni-Vidi-Vici)

Its been almost a week since the phenomenon called CAT occurred. A lot was hyped and fancied w.r.t this examination, which had a notorious history of posing tonnes of mystical surprises and flabbergasting the fellow student. I was one of those "fellows" who took the examination.Though almost all of the coaching instis in their post-CAT analysis claimed CAT-05 to be exceptionally tough and almost unsolvable for an otherwise mediocre canditate, a careful analysis of the paper will "claim" that this paper was indeed solvable and a poised caditate will easily score 12+ in each of the sections.What mattered was the composure/temperamant that the canditate carries before & during the examination.

I entered the examinatio hall after having around 1.5 sticks of 5-Star choc --i beleived it to be my 'amrit' and had a strong inclination that it was the lone eatable on this planet earth that could stimulate my grey cells and help the adrenaline gush thru my body.

I did get a bit nervous during the initial 2-3 mins(i dunno y!!), but later vanished(jaise aaya tha...vaise hi gaya).I went on...cracking all the probs that came in my way...but ensuring the accuracy.

came back home ...ate..slept...TV...saw the preliminary analysis of the Paper in TIME's website...knew that my performance in QA and DI was good and above average, btu VA was troubling me. watever..my final scores look as follows:
QA =14.33 , DI =16, VA =16-18 ; Total=46-48

Hope things go on fine.4 weeks more for the IIMs to announce the %les and give the calls.

CAT-2005

the clock ticks...so what ? that is its birth right to tick.Well..the Magical Date of Nov-20,2005 is fast approaching...only 5 days more. things have been quite ok with me. Though i could get a 90+%le in just 2 of the TIME mocks ,out of the 10 that I had taken...still i am confident.I know my weaknesses and my strengths..lets c what happens on teh D-Day....

My VA/RC skills used to be really GOD-level during the initial days of prep..but offlate the accuracy in VA has dropped like the BSE Sensex..am managing to keep a satisfactory accuracy level in RC. Geometry as always is rocking...thats the only area where i can achieve Nirvana..the last 2-3 mocks have seen a see-saw ride between QA and DI...

hope everything turns out fine...i know that the magic mantra is --''Keep your Cool -- just go and Rock" -- afterall CAT is not the end-of-the-world..its rather the WORLD!! ;-)