Welcome the new torchbearers...

So, the part of the year when the interview begins.
The part filled with questions, excitement and prayers.
People have been working for getting that call that you are selected for an interview and now some of them would see their dream being fulfilled.
Wish everyone who has applied to this institute all the best. 

First term comes to an end

When the term started it was very difficult for us to cope up with the work load. Lots of assignments, lots of readings, and expectations of the professors and our own were difficult to meet. But, it was all thanks to tactful team work that we could do all this on time.
Had it not been for the groups it would have been impossible to complete all these tasks. 24 hours in a day are too short for any one of us to complete these tasks...
So, effective utilization of the strengths of the team mates is what helped us through...
I think this is a very good way in IIMA to teach team work.....Takes you through part of a journey that you may experience after MBA...
The professors have been good and supportive, though a little demanding....but that is what has improved us throughout....:)
All in all the experience has been an A+.......
Till next time.......

GMAT CR here it goes....


The anticipated retirement of tens of thousands of baby boomers will create an unprecedented opportunity to move significant numbers of people into career-track jobs at family-supporting incomes. Major industries, from health care and construction to automotive repair, will soon face deep shortages of workers as a result of projected growth and boomer retirements. Fortunately, many of these jobs have relatively low barriers to entry and could be filled by out-of-work young people. To achieve this result, the city government should convene employers and educators to determine how best to create paths of upward mobility in these fields. 

Which of the following, if true, most weakens the argument? 

(A) Immigration reform will limit the pool of available workers. 
(B) Government efforts have been shown to affect employment trends only rarely. 
(C) The best available positions require skills not possessed by the vast majority of the unemployed. 
(D) A small proportion of baby boomers will not retire as soon as is anticipated. 
(E) Many out-of-work young people are unaware of these looming employment opportunities. 
Highlight to see the OA....
OA is B

The journey continues.....

Really buzy.......
Here they keep us really buzy.......sleep is a luxury.......Exams quizzes projects assignments all continue....So much to learn.
All of it is relevant the course is designed so that we can directly relate things to our previous experience.
The Professors are awesome, I think it is worth mentioning Prof Saral Mukherjee, Prof Samar Datta and Prof Dheeraj sharma....All these take the learning to a different level...
The textbook seems redundant.....it is totally case based and how u can relate the text and other reference material to the case........
Before the lecture most of the material is abstract but post the lecture it suddenly makes sense.......
Just in time:- is a system designed to fail....and thus it can succeed.....You will know the meaning of this sentence only if u come to IIMA PGPX.......

Highlight to see the OA...........

Despite recent increases in sales and cash flow that have propelled automobile companies' common stocks to new highs, several industry analysts expect automakers, in order to conserve cash, to set cash more conservatively than they were.

A) to set dividends more conservatively than they were
B) to set dividends more conservatively than they have been
C) to be more conservative than they have been in setting dividends
D) that they will be more conservative than they were in setting dividends
E) that they will be more conservative than they have been to set dividends

the OA is C

Quizzes and exams...........

So, the season of quizzes and exams has now subdued for a while....has been a real rush....All of us trying to do our best......But the exams were a eye opener......need to change the whole study methodology that I was  having till now........
The learnings that we have every day are increasing exponentially we also need to devise a pattern to grasp it i.e to record it so that we can use it in the future.
There is a marketing professor Dheeraj Sharma, throws completely different perspective of marketing launches, there are some things that we just cannot think of, but the crux of all the courses seems to be the same, develop a holistic perspective of looking at things.

BTW I know i have not been keeping up with blogging......it has been really buzy and whatever time I am finding am trying to give it to my family.........
BTW yesterday had a party....was awesome......great time with friends and colleagues........
Have put some photos of our on campus trails.....Thanks to the Nescafe outlet for our doses of caffeine .....without which survival would be questionable........:)

So here goes today's GMAT question this is a as vs like question, one of the basic concepts of GMAT please go through it and also clarify the concept....am reiterating correct answer is not important what is important is that why are the remaining 4 wrong......Highlight below the question to see the OA.

Samuel Sewall viewed marriage, as other seventeenth-century colonists, like a property arrangement rather than an emotional bond based on romantic love. 

(A) Samuel Sewall viewed marriage, as other seventeenth-century colonists, like a property arrangement rather than 

(B) As did other seventeenth-century colonists, Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement rather than viewing it as 

(C) Samuel Sewall viewed marriage to be a property arrangement, like other seventeenth-century colonists, rather than viewing it as 

(D) Marriage to Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, was viewed as a property arrangement rather than 

(E) Samuel Sewall, like other seventeenth-century colonists, viewed marriage as a property arrangement rather than 

OA is E

Applications Now Open

The applications for this year in IIMA PGPX have now opened.....Good news is no application fees this time......
Enjoy....
Happy applying........
ATB

Speaker Ronnie Screenwala....Rohinton Soli

Today had our first speaker...Ronnie Screenwala....It was awesome.....Shared his learnings...Focus, timing and preparation.....were his keys to success.....
A very composed and easily understandable conversation....took our understandings to a completely different plane. The more you listen the more you gain.
Something about him....Rohinton Soli "Ronnie" Screwvala is an Indian entrepreneur and social philanthropist. He is the founder and CEO of UTV Group, which was founded in the year 1990.

Long week ahead...loads of exams and submissions. Have several emails from people will respond to them soon. 

Todays GMAT question. Hightlight below the question to see the answer.
The Supreme Court has ruled that public universities can collect student activity fees even with students' objections to particular activities, so long as the groups they give money to will be chosen without regard to their views. 
(A) with students' objections to particular activities, as long as the groups they give money to will be 
(B) if they have objections to particular activities and the groups that are given the money are 
(C) if they object to particular activities, but the groups that the money is given to have to be 
(D) from students who object to particular actitivities so long as the groups given money are 
(E) though students have an objection to particular activities, but the groups that are given the money be 

OA is D

whats in store.....

A new day about to begin.........gave our first quiz.....& have come to know why the institute has open book exams.....cause books are of no use.........Just clarify the underlying assumptions and theory and ur done.....no mugging no cramming......
The song from student of the year "Ratta Maar" does not hold true to institutes like IIMA changes the whole perspective to education..........Felt after a long time that the exam was worth the time i spent.....but seems i made a lot of goof ups will work out......As they say this is just the ........... beginning

The period when the great painted caves at Lascaux and Altamira were occupied by Upper Paleolithic people has been established by carbon-14 dating, but what is much more difficult to determine are the reason for their decoration, the use to which primitive people put the caves, and the meaning of the magnificently depicted animals. 
Highlight for the OA
A) has been established by carbon 14 dating but what is much more difficult to determine are 
B) has been established by carbon 14 dating but what is much more difficult to determine is 
OA is B

Sunday........where did it vanish.....(in thin air)

Swoosh.......is what the sunday felt like.....did not even know it was a sunday till it ended.........what a day today..........
Work does not seem to end......It seems will have to organize a little better........:)
BTW the weather here is awesome.....it was raining yesterday and has cooled down.....the winds are cold and refreshing............
Today read an interesting case about some strike that happened on an international space station....Tomorrow we will be playing the role of mission control........Different, new and loving it........
So here goes today GMAT question......My old time difficult one......please understand the logic behind it....Its not just getting the right answer but knowing why is it right...Please hightlight to check answer below

While depressed property values can hurt some large investors, they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose equity - in many cases representing a life's savings - can plunge or even disappear. (A) they are potentially devastating for homeowners, whose (B) they can potentially devastate homeowners in that their (C) for homeowners they are potentially devastating, because their (D) for homeowners, it is potentially devastating in that their (E) it can potentially devastate homeowners, whose The answer is A

Another day.......

Another day about to end....while all of us are working on a project.........A really discombobulated problem......after 3 hours of reading really do not know where to start........
Today let me talk about one of our Professor Saral Mukherjee......he is a great teacher knows how to drive the concepts home......in a very lucid way........
At IIM he says that students get to see the early morning sun.......Not because they have woken up early but because the poor souls have not got a chance to sleep........:) we are experiencing it...........

BTW I was talking about organizations being elephants and organizations being active like cheetah's......Our class is awesome and innovative..........A student brought across a point of Lazy Cheetah.....wow the professor was also astounded...........really imaginative class............
Just came to know one of our Professors teaching us is the official negotiator at WTO for India..........wow he teaches me economics......

From the groups experience I would say that though the going is tough but slowly slowly the tough gets going........

Now lets come to todays GMAT Problem highlight below for the OA.

If y is an integer, is y^3 divisible by 9? 

(1) y is divisible by 4 
(2) y is divisible by 6 

OA is B

Go GMATers Go

Great day today.........But too tired to write.....Just posting a SC question ponder over it.....
Am also giving a link to a chart i found on beat the gmat website do use it if u find it helpful.
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/gmat-error-log

Scientists have observed large concentrations of heavy-metal deposits in the upper twenty centimeters of Baltic Sea sediments, which are consistent with the growth of industrial activity there.  A.  B. Baltic Sea sediments, where the growth of industrial activity is consistent with these findings  C. Baltic Sea sediments, findings consistent with its growth of industrial activity  D. sediments from the Baltic Sea, findings consistent with the growth of industrial activity in the area  E. sediments from the Baltic Sea, with the growth of industrial activity there The OA has been posted below please highlight to see it.... OA is D Plea

Groups.....

Groups here are formed by the office, it is completely random process.....My group includes a motley mix....a mix of sales,Finance, IT,researcher and telecom......completely different perspectives on a problem.....The group has made my decision changed twice on the cases that we have discussed once during a TATA case and the other time during a HP sales case.....really convincing arguments from the work...........3 ppl in the group have very strong international exposure which has added a lot of flavour.....
Marketing teaches us adding variety and Operations teaches variety is a pain to an efficient process......basically IIMA teaches us to bridge these 2 perspectives.........:)

My GMAT journey.......could be helpful for strategy formation for others....

This is the post I wrote in beat the GMAT........Hope it helps some of my friends for GMAT preparation....

Hi sorin, 
Thanks for extending the invite...... 
Currently I am doing my MBA from IIMA PGPX... 
Below given is my story.... 
From 610 to 720.......has been a journey worth remembering.......employing strategies and methods, changing them, and redeploying them until you arrive at the right one for yourself. 
I will tell the method that worked for me......word of caution is that this strategy may not work for you so take this as a guideline and implement and adapt ur strategy.....After all Adapting is the key to survival....since Darwin..... 
So here it goes...... 
Got a real dip in confidence when I got 610.....could not study and focus for about a month.....but then I refocused myself on what to improve and how to go ahead. 

For Quant:- 
1. Identify your bottleneck(where ur falling short in score) DS/PS, once you have done this 50% of the work is done. 
2. Use about 3 preliminary tests to analyze this, for this u can use the diagnostics in OG and the 2 power prep thats what I did. 
3. My weak area was DS, so I then shifted my focus to DS in Quant....always remember when ur working on DS u also have to use the other skills so they also improve....so improving the problem area leads to improvement in the already strong area. 

How did I focus on DS:- 
1. Every day I used to solve 20 examples of DS in a timebound approach. Maintained an excel giving me the % of correct to track my improvement. 
2. I also maintained an excel detailing the responses that I got wrong...so that I can know where am I faltering. 
3. I also created a label for error i.e error was due to oversight, Fundamental understanding, Fatigue or any other cause. This labeling helped me pin point my reason for problem in DS. 
To my surprise i realized that my Understanding was strong, I just never checked the option upto C whenever i was done with A I used to set a judgement in my mind.....so for me I had to go through a thought process shift. 

How did I focus on Verbal:- 
This is the bone of contention for most.............. 
I adopted a similar strategy....though I needed to improve in all the areas, my weakest was Sentence correction. 
1. Every day I used to solve 20 examples of SC in a timebound approach. Maintained an excel giving me the % of correct to track my improvement. 
2. I also maintained an excel detailing the responses that I got wrong...so that I can know where am I faltering. 
3. I also created a label for error i.e error was due to oversight, Fundamental understanding, Fatigue or any other cause. This labeling helped me pin point my reason for problem in SC. 
To my surprise i realized that my Fundamentals were weak. 
How to improve Fundamentals:- Please read this carefully...... 
U cannot know all the rules in english...you do not want to be William shakespeare.....So u need to focus on the rules asked in the GMAT...... 
How to do this is tricky, get all the OG sets 10,11,12,13 now you have a pretty exhaustive set of Sentence correction. Now when u solve a question you will get a rule, even if you get the answer correct always go ahead and see the understanding, this will help u solve the doubts in the fundamentals. 
Formulate an excel with the rules and the problem of SC written in the row next to it. Later when you want to understand the rules better, read and go through the problems that you have identified.... 
In GMAT you will never face a problem you have faced, so the focus should be on rules and these will get u through. 

For RC:- 
Only option is read I read a lot of novels , magazines, newspaper articles to improve my understanding. 

For CR:- 
I was just good at it, so just practiced from the OG. 
Importance of online forums:- 
I used to regularly browse through them to see the responses of people and understand their reasoning, though i did not post actively on beat the gmat I read a lot of posts daily i spent around 30 mins on this website........ 

Hope this may help people understand my process and helps u improve the score......Hope u all achieve your dreams 
You can write to me for help on mehtamaulikd@gmail.com, and can see my daily blog of MBA journey on http://maulikhelpsu.blogspot.in/ 

TC, hope this helps.......ATB for the test.....

Getting late already is a feeling that is now instilled in me............partly running all over the place......everyday has loads and loads of reading assignments.......and the best part of the case study methodology is that u figure out the problem and then u answer it........then comes the best part.....when the prof tells the question was only wrong.........

BTW the group study has now started to take pace.....Without the groups IIMA PGPX would not be what it is today.........

Sunday about to end.......:-(

No posts for saturday.....u know weekends are as such lazy.......:)
But, the time here flies.....u have so much to do....not just on studies, but also IIMA is a good break after a stint in the industry where you can bring out ur latent talents. Basically an year of your life that you bought from the world, hope my readers would agree with me.

Today we are grappling with a Assembly line problem, none of us know it, but the institute has taught us the approach to enter into a dark tunnel so are managing inch by inch....and enjoying the experience.

One thing about Prof Anurag who is the chair of PGPX, he is a Harvard Law graduate and is a wonderful person, since the day we have come here he has been instrumental in making our life comfortable.

And same goes without saying for Sajan Joseph who is the manager of PGPX, because with family we all have constraints but the team here have also been instrumental in finding practical solutions to our problems, ranging from keys of the door, milk delivery just to name a few.

Overall the environment till now has been very supportive......

GMAT question for the day

This ones pretty common.....I too grappled with it during my time.....

New hardy varieties of rice show promise of producing high yields without the costly requirements of irrigation and application of commercial fertilizer by earlier high-yielding varieties.  a) requirements of irrigation and application of commercial fertilizer by earlier high-yielding varieties  b) requirements by earlier high-yielding varieties of application of commercial fertilizer and irrigation  c) requirements of application of commercial fertilizer and irrigation of earlier high-yielding varieties  d) application of commercial fertilizer and irrigation that was required by earlier high-yielding varieties  e) irrigation and application of commercial fertilizer that were required by earler high-yielding varieties  Hint:-Is required by a correct Idiom?

First week comes to an Awesome end.....Rasna party the tradition

Everyday something new...something to evolve and learn.........There is so much to explore not only in the course but on campus also.....really need to find time.........
Today was another great day, the prof took us through bottlenecks in organization....compared organizations with cheetah and elephants......and showed us how elephants can dance........
Time and again he proved to us, that technology is not to be studied to optimize an organization and convincingly proved it to us.............


What a day enjoyed the whole evening..........weekends love them so much....Today night all of us had a rasna party was such a fun....listening to stories of batchmates u feel all r in the same boat.......
NO tips for GMAT today....TGIF......

Life @ IIMA

Do not miss this one.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SWuBcXXNTE&feature=share

Day 3

Have started feeling the heat..........figuratively and literally......:)
BTW today was also great....our group put up a good show...enjoyed working with them.....very diverse people in terms of experience and age.....all from different backgrounds....thus they throw light on completely obscure topics...........
One great thing in one subject they will be giving the question paper(case study) some days before the exam u can read it study it look in the internet do whatever you want.........
During the exam time the prof will give the question and ur supposed to answer it....

I really do not know the emotion shock or happiness..........Till now question paper before the exams has always been a dream.....now that you will have it you do not know what to do with it........

One Professor after years of lecturing told that like the kid in sixth sense who can see ghosts.....He can see souls of organizations....

and by the time the course will be over he will also show us souls or soles........:)

GMAT SC trial

The state has proposed new rules that would set minimum staffing levels for nurses, rules intended to ensure that at least one nurse is assigned for every four patients put through triage in a hospital emergency room.  A. rules intended to ensure that at least one nurse is assigned for every four patients put through triage in a hospital emergency room.  B. rules intending to ensure that at least one nurse is assigned for every four patients in a hospital emergency room put through triage.  Give the answer..........tip modifier error

Day 2

So today was the second day!!!!!!!!!went well...rather well!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From today the mayhem begins......Have got around 100+ pages to read on this first day.....
Have a good group and are also assigned a room by the institute where we sit together and discuss the details.....Still figuring out some group dynamics......
BTW the students I met here till now are all fighters at heart.....everyone I spoke to has some problem but has braved the odd and has come here.......

I can say that they have made nice choices in gathering a motley mix of students here....it feels like china mozaic........:)


BTW gotta still complete some readings.....

Thought of the day for GMAT
Reference of the word that in GMAT SC depends on the tense of the word following that......
.......that play around
.......that plays around

First day ends........ Welcome to us and our first case study

Waiting for my first lecture at IIMA-PGPX........

Some days back I was settling down for IIMB EPGP....then I get a call for IIMA-PGPX.......got all excited confused and messed up.

But finally as life goes by figured things out.........

Ahmedabad...is really hot right now,,,,,,classes are AC we have a batch strength of 85...........do not know many people still.........

I generally leave home before my son wakes up because once he does..........he also wants to come to my class........
So the class was good.....had an introduction with Faculty members the librarians and all the support staff.
The staff here is courteous, the services are also pretty prompt.....overall it is comfortable....
My son has found his new friends and has started playing and enjoying here....

BTW coming back to class......students will be students.....we got awesome question from the batch......Sir, which subjects are simple and easy and which take time to grasp.......:)
The Prof Replied:- In IIMA there are no lesser evils..........

But ya batch is awesome, the profs here have assigned a group to me and we are a motley mix.....one from sales, other from IT, me from telecom.....so we have a completely different perspective to problems.....
In our first case discussion, about Tata sons we nominated Indra Nooyi as the new chairman.....and ya it was a thoughtful decision...can tell you it would not have been possible without the insights of my batch mates.....
Signing out for now ......HUNGRY.... 

Purpose

Hi,
So this blog is basically about how i will feel and experience my 1 year MBA programme.
I also wish to help GMAT aspirants during this time, I have managed to go from 610 to 720 and can also help you improve.....
More updates to come and will keep coming...........