CAT Prep. Strategy

I started preparing for CAT (rather made up my mind to give CAT ) on 24th April.
Did I hear "Tooo late buddy..". Yes I admit, I am a bit late but "Better late than never..". So no wasting time, let's put on the gears and move on.
15 days have passed since the day and all I have done is that I have made a significant progress in maths. While that is good, I feel I should have a regular study plan.
This is what I have thought:
Now let's start from the end (as I allways plan from the end even in my project work).
Let's take the end date as 12th Nov.(Last 6-7 days will be spent in revision which can be planned later.Also, if there is some specific area where I am not confident, it can be taken up then.)
I need to take 30-40 mock cats.
Each mock CAT will take 3 days.
1st Day -- take the test, calculate the score, see the questions which went wrong and why did they go wrong. Enter the mistakes and score in an excel.
2nd Day -- Do the entire paper with no timelines and find which easy questions did I miss out on
and why did I miss them out, again record them in excel.
3rd Day -- The 2 days work will throw some topic which needs more attention.This is the day for revision and strengthening the basics.
As the 3rd day will be saved on some occasions and the summation will give me a few days where I can decide to take more tests or revise a few things.
Taking the minimum number of tests to be 30, it will take 90 days.
This brings me to the date of Aug12. As I will be exerting more towards the end, I can shift Aug-12
to Aug 15(just to make it synonymous with an imp day.. yes the Independence Day).
Independence day will be the day I will start taking regular Mock CAT's.
As I would prefer to give some sectional tests and revise the whole thing once, before moving to MockCAT's, I will remove the last 15 days for the same.Hence, I need to roughly complete my basics
by 31st July.
hmmmm... now it becomes interesting...... how to do it..??
I have to study 3 hrs a day. (Why 3..? because it is a trade off between 2(too less) and 4(burning myself) ).
The 3 subjects can be managed in the following way:
Day 1: Maths - 2hrs, DI/DS - 1hr
Day 2: DI/DS - 1 hr, VA/RC - 2hrs
Apart from this I'll be reading books (which have good english) daily for at least half an hour before going to bed.The books will be on various ongoing relevant topics. This will help me in 2 ways
1. I would gain knowledge for GD/PI. -- Whatever I read, I will put it here (at my blog) just to make a summary of what I've read.
2. It would expose me to various styles of writing and also inculcate a reading habit.
Some people are pressing me to do a word list which I, personally, do not believe in.
If the need arises, will find time to do it.

Looks like a good strategy... doesn't it...
Implementation remains the key as allways.

Thought for the moment :

"If u r to succeed u will find a way.. else.. u will find an excuse."

nitin

What next....

The topics I intend to cover in coming weeks :

1. F-1 "The strategic perspective"
2. Socialism Vs Capitalism (With Indian perspective pinched in)
3. FICCI to the uninitiated...

As each of the mentioned topics require a decent amount of reading and pondering.. I intend to
take up 1 topic a week..
The first topic qualifies to be the "Topic of the week" for May10--May15.

Also there would be random updates on my prep...

So.. wait till I return with "Voom Voom Vrrooooooom......"

nitin

Infy Vs Rest (To switch or not to)

This is one of the most debated topic of late.
Let's analyse this in detail.
Firstly let me put accross the statements that I've heard in favour of Infy..
-- Infy has a good work enviornment. U won't find it at other places.
-- Infy quotes the salary and others quote CTC.
-- Infy has better growth opportunities.
Now the statements against it...
-- Infy is a govt. org.
-- Salary is too low.
-- Onsite is on luck.

The points in favour of Infy have been given by my seniors and the ones against by fellows.
Let me make it clear that I am neither in favor nor against Infy.

My Views:
Infy has a good work env. (Combined 1st and 3rd points) -- What exactly is "good work env."?
The definiton I got on googling --
"This includes providing good and safe working conditions, equal employment opportunities, impartial selection procedures and opportunities for employee development."

Infy does provide good work env. but does that mean other places don't.
Talking to my friends in other companies extinguishes this doubt.
Infy does provide better work env but only in some respects.
According to me, they are:
1. Job security
2. High quality software development infrastructure.
3. Growth opportunities based on merit more than any thing else.
I know, ppl would say lots of -ve stuff here but trust they would remain the same everywhere.
I have listed down the key differentiators only.

Infy quotes the salary and others quote CTC : True but others do pay higher salary than Infy. No question about it.

Negatives of Infy :

Infy is a govt. org -- True.. There is a lot of beaurocracy but it would similarly be in any organisation of the size of infy.
Onsite is on luck -- True... But it remains same throughout the industry.
Salary is too low -- True it is lesser than some of the fast growing, dynamic organisations.
The point is that on an average the fast growing, smaller org's pay a lot more than the
huge organisations. That holds true for any sector/ any industry.

So finally where should one be a smaller dynamic org. or a larger slower org (like infy).

My take on this is that a job in a smaller company is a high risk, high return business.
Returns are high because effort and risk is also high.

One should go and take such a risk only when he is well prepared for it.
Which means he is extremely confident of survival and also has good requisite skills for his level.
If u r really good -- go and persue your dreams.

If you are not -- work on them first and then decide anything.

My reasons of staying back -- I get lots of time for myself which I spend towards
realisation of personal goals. I am sure this won't be available at any other place.

ciao for now {with the promise of returning soon}

nitin

Duping the offer

Okie... I am back after a week to pen down my thoughts.
Got through this company (Techspan) which wud have offered me 6 lpa.
Decided to dump the offer. Why..??
I have to pursue my dreams and that is all about it.
This year the cat will be tamed.

Now

First Post..

okie... am posting this just to check how it looks at blog....
But yeah.. will be back soon with elaborate day to day thoughts and progress on my mission..
that's it..