Hi All.
First of all, I thank you all for showing your interest by posting your comments on my 1st post.
As I mentioned in my last post that I will be writing about ‘How to prepare for MBA in long run’, here it comes.
Lets Understand 1 thing first. People(CAT experts) say that CAT is an aptitude test. My ques to that statement is, what kind of aptitude does it check. My ans when I don’t want to ans is, It checks ‘Managerial aptitude’. What I have not told here is, what is managerial aptitude? Now, my suggestion to all is, tell me what do u think is the managerial aptitude?
What is my understanding of managerial aptitude, I will post that soon. Not posting for I want all of you to brain storm about it. BRAIN STORM: thats one of the things which makes managerial aptitude. Hey guys, so if u read all my posts carefully(over a period of time), u will understand what it is, though I will write explicitly what it is.
In this post my focus is on, what to do to develop that managerial aptitude.
So, here I a few things you should do on a regular basis(daily) not till u clear CAT but even in those 2 years and years after that.
1. Start reading DELHI TIMES. Hey, I am marketing TOI for no salary. Most of the CAT teachers will say, be away from DELHI TIMES. Guys, see it from my eyes. There is SUDOKU, KAKURO, SPELLATHON, CROSS WORDS, MIND BLENDER, LOOP THE LOOP etc. in all 7 or 8 such things. I suggest start spending time on these things. Initially you may end up spending 2 to 3 hours on these, but soon, with a little practice your time will come down to 50 minutes approx. As of now, try solving these spendng as much time as you can, per day.
2. Pick up some puzzle books. There are 3 books by Shauntala Devi. They are good. Pls note here that Shakuntala devi has not written these books for CAT and other MBA entrance exams. So many puzzles there, u may not feel that they are useful for CAT. Never mind. Since you do not know what is useful for CAT and what is not, in thise books, I suggest you better concentrate on solving those puzzles. Guys, 3 books taken together, you have to solve just 5 puzzles per day. And beware. Solutions are there at the back. DO NOT, DO NOT for god sake refer to solutions till you have tried solving a puzzle at least 5 times, on 5 different days. Just match your answers.
3. Start reading some novels. U should be an avid reader. U shud have 1 novel going, always. I know some of u hate reading novels. But then a manager has to read many reports he is not interested in. So u will have to develop this habit of reading. To name a few good novels, I will say, ATLAS SHRUGGED, GONE WITH THE WIND, THIRD WAVE, FUTURE SHOCK, POWER SHIFT, MADE IN JAPAN, BUSINESS @ SPEED OF THOUGHT, GOD OF SMALL THINGS, LEE IOCOCCA-An Autobiography, CHICKEN SOUP(all editions), THE TOYOTA WAY, ZEN & ART OF MOTOR CYCLE MAINTENANCE, DAVINCI CODE, SOPHIE’S WORLD, PRIDE & PREJUDICE are some good ones to start. For those who will start reading novels for the first time, 5 POINT SOMEONE, 1 NIGHT @ CALL CENTRE, ALCHEMIST, Books by Sydney Sheldon, TO SIR WITH LOVE, WHO MOVED MY CHEESE, 7 HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE, WHALE DONE, RICH DAD POOR DAD are some of the good ones. Typically 1 novel should be finished in 4 to 10 days, spending about 2 hours a day. For those who don’t have time to read that much, I will suggest use, ‘time of travelling’, ‘time of waiting for ur turn at doctor’s clinic’ etc., to read.
4. Read at least 1 newspaper a day. I like TOI bt for MBA prep I will suggest HINDU as 1st choice, INDIAN EXPRESS as 2nd. I suggest start with any 1.
5. Read a Financial Newspaper, daily, at least Mon to Fri. I like ET, you may start with any other as well.
6. Subscribe EPW, a weekly magazine, Economic & Political Weekly. www.epw.org. If I can recall properly, in 2004 there was a RC which was a part of one of the articles from EPW. Read THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, TIMES MAGAZINE, AND ECONOMISTS. You should read these regularly. A must for your good health.
7. Read a general magazine like Outlook, India today etc. and a business magazine Business world, business today etc. regularly.
8. Play Minesweeper. Play Chess. Play Poker, teen patti of and on.
9. Solve some puzzles on internet, average 10 puzzles a week.
10. For Grammar pick up Raymond Murphy(Beginner) and read 3 chapter a day. And read them 2-3 times till u get everything in your head. U may like to pick Wren & Martin. Ok with me. 1 Chapter a day.
11. Word power made easy – by norman louis. Read a chapter a day and follow the instructions inside. In addition, pick up any tutorials word list and start mugging up 25 words a day. Its a boring exercise. What do you say? Follow my method. Learn 25 new words of A the first day. 2nd day 25 new words of B and revise old words of A. 3rd day 25 new words of C and revise old words of A & B and so on. Revise maximum 4 old alphabets. In additon, you the tricks given here by Bhuvanesh. They are good.
12. And now the last thing, my favorite subject. Maths or Problem Solving as it is called. Don’t worry. This is the easiest subject to learn. U don’t believe me. Ohh i c…
Lets see what are people’s comment abt what i said, that its the most easiest subject to learn.
Guys, I want your feedback, not with respect to what u feel abt what I have written, but with respect to how you feel after following this schedule religiously for at least 5 to 7 days.
Happy START of your preparations…
Wait for the next post for tips on Maths…
Bye. VM
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Thank u sir…. thanks for sharing these points…..but u know what i knew most of this from my friends who are preparing for mba……. i find it really hard to follow this ….please tell any tricks how can I follow……these golden points……reap their benefits….plzzz help me in this regard
Prachi. Tell me a little about your educational background. What do u do? Are you working? I can suggest you how to follow it. I can understand that its difficult, primarily bcoz we in general are not in a habit of doing so much of reading. But then I have seen people start following it and after some time and practice, It becomes habit and all this then, does not take much time & becomes easy to follow.
As of now I suggest depending upon how much time you have, start doing these things, ensuring that you do everything per week, at least.
Start with Delhi times. Don’t do all the things daily. Do 3-4 today, 3-4 trrow, so do all on alternate day basis. Similarly, read TOI today, ET trrow, then TOI & so on. I hope u will be able to do it for all the 12 things suggested by me.
And yes, management is all about taking stress & becoming accustomed to it. So as of now u pls start & give me feedback say after 7 days.
U can also mail me, so that I can suggest things specifically as per ur needs.
Again, I am saying start now & lets keep discussing over time
All d best. VM
hello sir,
I have same problem as Prachi
it seems really hard to follow this technique…
can u give some tips for the same.
I am very much worried about it as CAT is just 5 months away…!
THank you….!
Mohini
Please see my reply to Prachi.
I am explaining again using an example. When one starts going to Gym, then body aches like anything for initial 5-10 days and then body gets accustomed to weights.
Same is the case here. its hard to follow these things initial few days. But once you forcefully follow these things for about 10-12 days, you will become accustomed and will not face any problem of following these things.
I hope U got my msg. If not please contact me @ 9891638000 Mon to Fri, preferable between 10 am to 2 pm. In case phone goes unanswered pls leave a SMS.
Bye
Vaibhav Sir
Hi prachi its good to hear that you wana follow these techniques, but one thing I also know these are tough to follow. So u can send me email on my id bhuvaneshgoyal@gmail.com because I was one of the student who has followed all these things with whole hearted attempt & can tell u what i feel about this and can help u in this journey little bit as a part of editorial team.
I think ….managerial aptitude means ..keeping ur cool in tense situations, think on the feet, proper time allocation, backup plans ready….and be focused on ur goal..even if tide is against you….wat say vaibhav sir??
are these strategies valid for …new online CAT pattern??? wat may be the expected changes any idea?
Pooja. As I mentioned (& all other CAT trainers also say this) that CAT is an exam which checks one’s managerial aptitude, u think urself, even if the exam goes online, can the skills which are required to be a good manager will change? Answer is a simple NO. So in order to develop those skills, what I mentioned in the post, still holds true.
U said ‘Strategies’. Exam is like a war. And there are things requires to win any war, e.g. Armies strength, Latest waffare technologies, Nuclear arms etc. All I am asking you in the above post is to develop the strength. Developing strength is the most imp pre requisite for any wat though it does not gurantee a win. In addition to the prerequisites, what one requires is strategy. And as of now I have not talked a word about startegies. And I will not be talking about strategies, till I feel it is right time to talk about strategies. And the right time to talk about strategies will be when you develop the strength.
How will I come to know whether you have developed the strength? Simple, your mock tests percentile will tell me that. Once you reach a certain level, once u start fighting the practice wars(mock tests), I will talk about the strategies.
See, Its no point me telling you what should be done when the brakes of your car fails, since so far u have not even sat on the steering wheel. I therefore suggest you to start. And don’t worry for the rest.
Let the brakes of the car fail. Let there be the time to to learn how to control car when the brakes fail.
Last thing, you mentioned, ‘expected changes’. Start now, let the preparations evolve over a period of time. Let the right time to come to talk about everything else.
All d best. VM
I am very proud of the effort done by Vaibhav. This is inspiring and dedicated leadership. I hope, other deserving people will follow this type of trends to teach students without going to the classes. I am truly inspired by the effort done by Vaibhav and I am sure, this compaign will be mega hit in coming days.
Thank u sir for ur tips, as today only i’ve gone through these tips and hope to materialise from tomoro onwards thanks again, sir i’m eagerly waiting for ur mats tips coz i’m not that strong in quant apti and want some healthy tips from ur side.
thank u so much sir,……I look forward to more of your advices
this is great stuff….according to me managerial aptitute is all about time management how u manage time in any of the activity u do. and CAT tests ur time management skills nothing else obviously u have to manage time as per ur strengths….although keen listen on this from vaibhav
btw long time no post???….wat happnd??
Hi Vipul and all others.
First of all, Thanks for your comments.
I am as eager to write the next post as you are to read the next post.
In fact been trying to put the ideas into word. But you know writing takes a lot of time and requires the right mood and ambience. I have written partially, but don’t want to post anything to which I have not given my best shot. So, I request you to please bear with me for a while.
I, after getting so many comments and response from so many of you, am 100 times more enthusiastic to write then I was when i started writing.
Trying to post 2 posts by this weekend…
Bye. And Sorry for delay. VM
Hey VM ….chill man…..take ur time…..looking forward to ur next post…by the time we have lot more to read and take from mbatutes…….so we are also busy in other stuff…..
Kashi
SUDOKU(MEDIUM): 13mins.38sec
WORDS(RATING):AVARAGE
KAKURO-i dont know how to solve
same is the case with LOOP the LOOP. HELP SIR!!!
For Loop the Loop, i suggest try ur hands on Minesweeper game in windows. U will learn that faster and then come back to Loop the loop. The 2 are exactly same.
For Medium Sudoku 13 min is little too much. Shud be around 10 min. Trick. See a 3 x 3 box first. Now keeping it in sight see the rows and column that belongs to it. Proceed in the following way from 1 3 x 3 box to another. Hope U get it right with a little practice.
Words rating Average after 1 year of efforts is not good. I suggest use ur cell phone and store any new word u come across. Once u have seen its meaning store that as well. And while travelling etc scroall thru those words. Your vocab will really pick up.
Bye. VM
SUDOKU(MEDIUM):09mins .18sec
WORDS(RATING):AVARAGE . aur aapko aisa kyuon lagta hai main ek saal ki preparation ke baad is site pe hoon!! I am a "Researcher" Sir, not a manager!!
This blog is impressive. It might be a good idea to use lighter colors and improve on the design in order to increase your visitor retention
sir, plz tell me clearly what is meant by managerial apt,, wat type of questions they are? i have very less time, i have to learn managerial apt with in 15days.. tell me some tips or books?
Managerial aptitude is a skill to perform managerial activities i.e managing people, process, technology, cultures, relationship effectively and efficiently. managers are judged by different metrics (measures) . performance metrics ie profit, revenue, investment, cost are measured by the managerial aptitude, if manager is efficient and good scenario predictor, he can manage it very well. Ultimately it is dexterity of the manager to manage performance of the unit or branch etc. I think this will help you out.
tnx sir ur suggestions n da way u write is realy gud
is gonna help me a lot for my prep
but sir i want to ask if 6 full months are enuf to prepare?
Megha
I always say 6 months is more then sufficient. Still I suggest keep some margin in hand for unforeseen.
Best thing I would recommend is that come to our centre and appear for our Admission test. That test will give you an idea as to where do u stand today.
For that test, get in touch with Bhuvanesh @ 9990709663 or bhuvanesh@zioneducationonline.com
All the Best
VM
sir,
plz give me INDIA YEARBOOK 2011 information how i can download.
thankyou.goodday