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CoolAvenues' Interview with:
Vinamra Srivastava
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

1. General Questions
2. Questions related to Pre-MBA Preparation
3. Questions related to Group Discussion / Group Exercise
4. Interview-related Questions
5. After Joining MBA

2. Questions related to Pre-MBA Preparation

Q. How many months and how many hours daily did you devote for preparation to entrance procedures?
A. Started slight preparation in Febuary 2005 and serious preparation in May 2005. May onwards, devoted approximately 2-3 hours a day.

Q. Did you take up some coaching institute or you believed in self-study?
A. I took up coaching as they help in channelizing the preparation in the right direction. But the final effort has to come from within.

Q. Can you tell us which are your favorite books, books that you used for preparing for entrance, books for self-development and books for pure relaxation?
A. Didn't really use any specific book for preparation apart from may be Manorama Year Book for interviews. Few other books that I read before joining IIM-A are "Monk Who Sold His Ferrari", "Five Point Someone", "The Alchemist".

Q. When did you start for preparation?
A. February 2005.

Q. What was your experience with coaching? Some feedback about faculty, coaching material and your overall experience with particular center?
A. The coaching proved to be very helpful indeed. The material was exhaustive and the mock CATs were a good simulation of the real thing. Gave me a good idea of the real competition.

Q. What are the others books and tests which you used for your MBA preparation?
A. Used only the coaching material.

Q. What was your strongest and weakest area while preparing for MBA coaching?
A. There were no weak areas as such but I did have to put extra efforts in Quants.

Q. Some tips which you used for mastering Quant, RC, etc.
A. I learnt to pick out sitters. That's a very effective strategy. Also selecting the right passage to attempt is crucial, even if it requires some time. Remember, CAT is not about intelligence alone. It's about being smart.

Q. How much time did you put for MBA preparation everyday? How did you manage this while working full time?
A. About 2-3 hours. I would study late in the night after coming back from office and compensate the lost hours during the weekend. Made full use of the weekends.

Q. Which all Exams you applied to?
A. CAT, JMET, XAT, IIFT, FMS, SNAP.

Q. Your present B-school and course.
A. IIM Ahmedabad.

Q. What procedures your school has for admission to its MBA program?
A. CAT, Personal Form, GD, PI.

Q. What is the range of score for students who are admitted?
A. CAT - Approximately 99 percentile and above.

Q. What was your score?
A. CAT - 99.4 percentile.

Contd.   3. Questions related to Group Discussion / Group Exercise