CAT, the Common Admission Test for Indian Institutes of Management, is all about finding people who have the acumen to be leaders, business leaders…who

– Understand themselves really well

– know their strengths and weaknesses and work assiduously to be better

– Take keen interest in surroundings, happenings in the society, national and international, that impact humanity

– Understanding the basics and fundamentals of learning thus far in life and applying them judiciously

Using the knowledge thus acquired, to

– Find problems to solve, that can impact humanity in one way or other

– Find solutions to problems that humanity has never encountered before. The problems can be as ambiguous as it can be. COVID is a great example…

– Make the most of limited resources

– Maximize the returns with min spend

– See beyond the obvious. Use your right brain, to find novel solutions to seemingly complex problems

How to find people who can meet these requirements?

Thus CAT is designed in a way, it tests all the above, using the common denominators that everyone can be measured against…whether an English language student, a doctor, a lawyer on one end to…a CA or an Engineer at the other.

What are they, how does CAT figure out…

– Reading, Understanding, Analysing the issues about humanity and the world, and applying them (RC)

– Awareness of day to day problems and ability to find opportunities, to maximize returns, and these invariably involve numbers (QA)

– Ability to thrive in ambiguity and identify patterns in not so straight-jacketed, thinking out of the box, being creative and innovative in approach to problem solving (LRDI)

If you understand these, then sure, your approach to CAT will be from a very different perspective, and not as a test of English, Quant and Data interpretation.

Enjoy the process of your evolution. Do not take it as a test, see it an opportunity to transform yourself. Give your best. It is a great investment on yourself for life.

– know yourself well. Be honest, be brutal on self. Ask yourself every day, ‘what more can I do.’

– Be an eager reader, know the world. Enjoy reading for knowledge and self growth. Always ask what and why. You will excel in RC.

– Find opportunity to maximize in quant. There are enough questions there for everyone to score. Many easy ones… practise, practise..get fundamentals right..look beyond the obvious.. Always ask why not, how, what more…

– Read and understand every kind of data  and its representation you come across anywhere. Solve every kind of puzzle. Enjoy the uncertain, ambiguous..

You have infinite potential. The journey of life is all about realizing that infinity. That’s the only purpose of life..

CAT is a great opportunity for you to start that journey of infinity.

It is not about

A. finding a better job or

B. increasing the pay cheque

If you are taking CAT, it means you are in the top .1% of humanity. You have everything that 99.9% of humanity in India do not have access to.

Believe in yourselves. Have the clarity of the big picture, what you can impact. Be passionate about your journey. Enjoy. You shall relish the destinations that you will reach, one after another, in this journey of infinity.

You have it in you to be a leader to impact the nation and humanity.

God bless!

Leave a comment here, on what you are feeling after reading this article…