As a Common Admission Test (CAT) English faculty, I am expected to take the exam to be aware of its changing patterns and thence to help students with how and what to prepare. And so I did, this past week (CAT, for those interested, is on till the 11th of this month). I happened to get the morning 10 a m slot but Prometric, which conducts the online test for the IIMs, makes you arrive at the centre one and a half hours in advance.
So I reached, huffing and puffing, to the centre, an engineering college in Borivali. I was late by five minutes and as the college came into view, the all-round silence sent a shiver down my spine. I imagined that the test takers had already occupied their seats and the dreaded gong signalling the test was about to ring. Drama! I needn't have worried. The security guard, assuring me there was plenty of time, guided me to the second floor.
The security arrangements were comprehensive. A surly looking fellow made me take off my shoes to ostensibly prevent me from transporting helpful material inside. Hahaha. Given how vast CAT's syllabus is, with math alone ranging from numbers to geometry, one would have to wear snow boots to even skim the surface of possible questions. Later, I was finger-printed and photo-identified. If only they had retina-scanned me, my little sci-fi fantasy would have been complete.
Security done and bag deposited, I headed to the waiting area where, surprise, I met Shefali, who works in Acads at the head office. Godsend. We had a good 45 minutes before the test and if it were not for her, I would have sunk into monotony which would, horrors, have jeopardised my exam performance. On the contrary, Shefali and I got on like a house on fire, so much so that we may have disconcerted the other solemn-faced test takers.
Finally, it was 10 and the test takers were divided into two groups and sent to separate rooms. On shiny computers that displayed our names and photos ran a tutorial that was pleasingly familiar to those of us in the CAT training trade. Then the actual test - two sections of 70 minutes each - began. The first was Maths, which I could, theoretically, skip since only my verbal score mattered to the employer.
But over the past weeks, I had solved more than a few online tests and buttressed my arsenal with enough tricks and tips to forgo an opportunity to apply them. Besides, when will life again offer me a chance to take a real test without drowning in performance anxiety? No worrying about outcomes, none of Damocles' implements hanging above one's head. In fact, I was so relaxed that when I accidentally hit a wire and my screen went pop, I patiently let the team assign me another terminal. I loved this calm, sri-sri me.
Well, there was some real work too. Despite the non-disclosure agreement I had gleefully signed, I had express orders from the top to try and remember as many questions as I could. After all, what else is a CAT coach worth if not a few bootleg sums? Since the questions emerge from the same database on the cloud through the test-taking window, there is always a chance... just saying.
Surprisingly, the math portion turned out to be more interesting. The only engaging thing about the verbal section, otherwise the source of my subsistence, was a passage on the difference between well being and happiness as propounded by Amartya Sen. It was a breeze, and not in the way CAT students see it - it was intellectually ravishing. It spoke about how happiness can be a wrong indicator of social development because dominant social practices have a way of co-opting their victims. It was so smart I wanted to run and grab hold of the original essay.
But first, the test, and the slowly dawning realisation that it was turning out well. Even the best CAT I had taken by far. What if I got a call from the holiest of the holy, IIM Ahmedabad? Wow! That would be justice. I had, after all, missed out on going to one of the revered trinity in my earlier attempts. If, on this occasion, I received calls from A, B and C (and if you need me to elaborate those, you are clearly reading this inside a cave) wouldn't I jump at the chance?
I don't know. I already have an MBA, and I am, let's just say, stuffed solid with the experience. I will pass, I think. But that's for later (precisely January) when the results are out. Meanwhile, there was still one fastidious Logical Reasoning set to solve (something about figuring which two of three candidates score a hundred percentile under a set of tight-fisted conditions), and a quick rap of the verbal section to check for missed questions.
Five minutes before timeout, I clicked "Finish". Stepping out, I felt that familiar uplifting sensation that comes with intense reading. That, more than the delightful daydreaming, was CAT's legitimate takeaway.
The author has switched too many jobs in the past and hopes he can hold down this one
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