How I made it to ISB (part 1)

After trying really hard to get into a B-school (for 3 years), I finally have! ISB it is. Yea, nothing less and nothing more than the Indian School of Business.

Most of you are here looking to find out how did she make it through or find cheatcodes to make it through. Oh well, I ll write all of that (along with some gyaan, some bull shit and what I really feel about MBA)

First of all this is a LONG STORY and will be broken in parts. Part 1 is all about my GMAT.

Isn't it IRONIC to try and crack GMAT for colleges that sternly say their admissions are based on 'profile' and 'over-all' criteria? Anyways, even though I had a decent profile, good marks all my life - the truth is that I had to crack GMAT to get to my dream college.

Anyways, following is my Gmat experience. PS: I do not take tutions :P

7th Oct 2009, Thursday 5pm :

My First attempt at Gmat. Everything went well. Except during the verbal section, renovation started in the next room. The workers were sawing and banging nails in the wall. I raised my hand and asked for assistance and the land gave me these headphones which were of no use at all. I kept thinking the noise will go away and i will be able to finish my verbal. But it dint. I got a score of 690(50Q,33V). Extremely disappointed but i decided to raise an issue. I thought the rest of the 20 guys will too stand up for themselves and raise an issue, strengthening the case. But no1 did.

11th Oct 2009 : GMAC gave a free retest.

12th Nov 2009: My second attempt at GMAT. No noise, no disturbance and a score of 750 (47Q 45V)

My Advice to everyone giving GMAT

1. Gmat is NOT easy. Whoever tells you that you can study CAT and score well in GMAT has probably never seen GMAT verbal. Please dont take this exam lightly. It is tough and nerve wrecking. Give it its due. And it will give you yours.

2. Gmat Quant is your basic math but the questions in OG are too easy. I found the real math on GMAT much tougher. The hard part is to do them fast and get them right. Get your concepts in place. Solve the OG but try tougher problems too. I found Kaplan 800 a book math book to refer.

3. Gmat Verbal is a killer. Especially for students who gave up grammar 8 years ago. There is no other way, you have to practice. The 8 common errors on SC u find on most books are the basic errors. Make your own list. Your own notebook of clues. This helps - trust me. The CRs need you to remain calm and reason stuff out in any situation. The RC can be confusing but only one answer is correct. Dont JUMP to the answer. Read and re read the passage till you get the other four crossed out.

4. Gmat is a test of nerves.Whatever you do - dont panic. Either before or during exam. practice till you drop. I did 3 OGs, Kaplan 800, Kaplan GMAT 2009, Princeton review and Barrons (horrible for verbal but math is good). It paid off.

5. Dream big. I dreamt of writing on this forum. Also dont panic reading about others. Make your timetable prepare and go for it.

6. If anything happens during Gmat which is not in your control like noise, computer crashes and renovations. Please raise an issue. Look where it got me. Dont walk out losing hope.


So there it is guys. For me twice is lucky. Maybe thats why, it took my second attempt at ISB to get through. More about that laterz.

SOS for my Mother

Today I write, not as an animal activist, as an environmentalist or even an animal lover. Today, I write as some one who suffers at the condition of her fellow beings, today I write as a human.

The story of 7 elephants being killed by a speeding goods train in West Bengal left me in tears. The story tells the appalling condition of India and her treasure which is being plundered by men who call themselves her sons - sons who are stealing from their mother’s womb. Be it through urbanization, industrialization, oil spills, deforestation, speeding vehicles or simply through poaching, the people who call themselves guardians of our nation are chocking our hope for future and pillaging our wealth.

The animal lover in me screams in pain when I read about the dead elephants. The animal activist in me wants to shoot down those poachers who are ready to kill tiger cubs for a few thousand rupees. But the human being in me just wants the suffering to stop – for once and for all.

But how will it? We have left our country in the hands of those whose greed will never be satisfied and whose pockets will never be full enough. We have left it to those who continue to shame us in-front of the world, jump at the smallest opportunities to create communal divides and spread corruption faster than a mosquito spreads dengue. Will they ever listen to the wordless cries of our animals or notice the dead lands where lush green trees once stood? If they stop counting notes they plundered, maybe - just to go back to counting the notes. And we will let them because that’s how we have been taught to do.

And that is where it has to change. The corrupt traitors need to be replaced by true sons of the soils - sons who will rebuild the broken empire of my Mother. And those sons will be born in her own womb – in the finest educational institutes of her land. They will rise above one crore packages and hear the pleas of penniless farmers, flood affected, homeless victims and underpaid labours. They will lead the way and teach the future sons to believe, to hope and to fight corruption. They will bring with them a tidal of change, which will break the shackles of corruption holding my mother to ranson.

And then maybe, the human in me will rest peacefully -with the souls of those seven elephants.