Hi to all the MBA wannabes

This is Gaurav Kathotia, a 2nd year student pursuing PGHDBM in the Business Management stream at XLRI Jamshedpur. I am a computer science engineer with 2 years work experience at IBM Global Services, Bangalore. I am specializing in Marketing+Systems.

I invite you to get all your doubts cleared should you have any about pursuit of MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur.

Regards
Gaurav Kathotia

Gaurav,
I am marine engineer with 6+ yrs of experience. I have diverse experience. Please let me know whether XLRI is suitable for my profile?
How is it for lateral placement? What is difference in XAT and CAT?

Hi Vickie

XLRI's USP as the best HR institute and one of the best Business Management insitutes in India hinges in the fact that it has the right blend of students from diverse backgrounds. Why, we even have someone from the navy and the army and microbiology amongst us!!

You should aim for the PMIR(HR) stream in XL( that depends on your interest too). Laterals are THE BEST! ( i dont have to substantiate that). Last year the highest salary bagged was by a person with 4 years of work ex at Indian railways ( 9 lakhs at COKE ).

XAT tests your basic verbal skills, analytical abilites through quant and a General Knowledge section too. You just cant compare CAT with XAT. Besides XAT has a sectional time limit for each section.

Just have a look at how my friends take a shot at cracking XAT:

How to crack XAT

Aaah! The best part…. Reflections. Reflections on the worst part of life, just because they’ve turned out to be the most rewarding. Yes! I am talking about the time…… the hectic time, the CAT and XAT time. Time to pull your socks up and study.- Study real hard.
OK! Now that we know that the study part has to be done. (Whether we like it or not, We have to accept that it pays off!), lets see the bigger picture. – The day of the XAT!. COOL! No worry. The best example I can give would be my own (what on earth are experiences for anyways, but for sharing?). Let me narrate my experiences and give you “Gyan” the local lingo of XL. (I belong to XL now, so give me the due!) It’s basically the knowledge the seniors shower on you. To start with, do not take in too much stress. It’s just another paper you have to crack and considering the person you are, you very well can. The very fact that you are reading this article implies that you are keen on achieving, and hence a hard worker. It’s more important that you have the will to achieve. The means- follow.
Ok let’s get to some serious business. (Yes that’s what you’ll get into once you are in XL!) The ground realities now. It’s a tough competition out there. Thousands of students apply for 185 seats. This includes 65 for PMIR and 120 for BMD. First decide on the field you want to major in. Let this be a conscious choice. The application form asks for it. So its better you deliberate on the issue.
There are 3 sections. The Verbal, Quantitative and General Awareness. There is, they say, an emphasis on the verbal skills. But this is just the rumors doing the rounds so just give in your best. But you have to do exceptionally well in at least one section. The quant is a little tough to crack. But remember, if you find if tough, so will the others. It’s a relative scale. So don’t get disheartened by the paper. My strong point was Verbal. So I capitalized on that. The paper is very simple. Choose the section of your forte. General Awareness was very easy then. (2003). The basics or stock GK can be obtained from any GK book. Manorama would be my personal choice.
Since each section has a time limit and is in a particular order, you cannot do anything on this account. You have to follow the sequence. Do questions you are absolutely confident of. Wrong answers carry negative marks. If you are not very sure and have a vague idea, and if the number of questions answered in the section are many, take a risk, ( this is under the assumption that the “many” questions have been answered “right”!) but, through the intelligent elimination of choices. Use your analytical power for Quant. Even if you are just able to cross the cut off, you are in. There is an additional Essay section in the exam. This is valued during the interview. So if you’ve performed decently well, make sure your essay is good too.
Just a few more pieces of advice. (Boy! I really like this. I am suddenly on the other side of the table!). Eat well, sleep well and relax. By the way, these follow only after you start preparing seriously for the exam!
So.., All the best. Do well. See you soon in campus!


Do let me know if you have any other doubts!

Regards
Gaurav Kathotia

Thanx for reply. I beleive HR is not my cup of tea. If I go for other field will it give me right compensation with respect to my experience?

Hi Gaurav...

I have two queries regarding XAT..

1) How to prepare for the GK Section of XAT in such a short span of time when i have just a month left.. ??
2) I have heard that XAT repeats previous yrs. XAT questions... in it's forthcoming papers... so from where cud i get those prev. yrs. paperss.... if u have some plz. plz. mail me some......It wud be kind of u...

Waiting for ur reply...

hi gaurav!
I am a computer professional with just one year of work experience.
Last year I had cleared my written round but couldnt get thru the interview in XLRI.
Gaurav can you please clarify some doubts reagarding XLRI.
1)XLRI was going to start some student exchange prograamme last year for the 2004 batch. has The programme taken off.
2)Secondly ,I wanted to know bout XLRI's marketing department. How is the placement for marketing in XLRI and also the faculty for the same.

Some confusion cropped up when somebody mentioned to me that XLRI doesnt have companies coming to campus for the BM batches, and BM batches are placed only after the PMIR batch is placed.

I hope you clarify my queries.

thanks and regards
Jack_the ripper

Dear garuav
Hi..I m preparing for XAT 2005 but having problems in the GK section...cud u plz advice me as to which areas to concentrate on and (current affairs or gen awareness) and also any spl tips u might wanna share abt cracking the XAT..
Looking forward to ur prompt reply
Lokesh