Avani Raghuwanshi's journey to XLRI will help you ace MBA exams!

Avani Raghuwanshi has been a control freak all her life, who likes to pre-plan things and wants them to turn out in the exact same way possible. She completed her B-Tech with consistent gold medals throughout the years and wanted to work for a year while simultaneously preparing for MBA entrance exams. Let us hear what Avani Raghuwanshi has to share about her roller coaster MBA ride and how she made it to XLRI Jamshedpur!

Preparation during the Pandemic

With the global pandemic that hit us at the onset of 2020, my classroom program course for CAT preparation had to be cancelled. I could barely attend 7 to 8 classes and was headed back home. Little did I know, it wasn’t just a 15-day break but actually a 1.5 year-long journey with constant ups and downs. I started solving the modules provided by the coaching centre and took help from various renowned books like Arun Sharma in order to have a perfect grip on my Quantitative Ability section in the time span of 2.5 months.

{Tip- It is extremely difficult to accomplish the tasks within these deadlines if you are alone. Make sure to have an equally focused study group. It could be your batchmates, seniors, friends or someone you connected on Quora while reading about MBA preparation strategies. Keep it small, but highly focused.}

The classes switched to online mode within a span of 15 days and I confronted the other two sections of the MBA entrance exams-

• Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR)- You would never realize how tricky those graphs and charts are until someone puts you on a timer in this section. The best lesson to gather here, focus on accuracy rather than the attempts. No one expects you to attempt 100% in this section, just aim for 60% with 80% accuracy and you are on your way to 99 percentile. Practice as many sectional tests for DILR, mock tests and past year exam papers. {Pro tip - Learn to pick the right sets.}
• Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)- I remember taking my very first mock test and scoring 46 percentile which shattered my confidence into pieces. I’ve been an avid reader throughout my life and took huge pride in my grammar being from a convent school. But when that result flashed on my screen, I knew CAT, XAT, NMAT, SNAP, etc. are not just an exam, they are an entire journey that is meant to make you learn lessons for life. Touching on the basics of grammar, doing 5 to 8 reading comprehensions every day, and never missing on para jumbles, odd one outs, etc. made me reach a 97.97 percentile in CAT (VARC).

Making best out of worse

It was July already, my job joining got postponed and I was nowhere close to a decent percentile. I knew I was missing out on valuable work experience due to Covid but I chose to make the best out of what was on my hands.

As I was already on the verge of completing the entire syllabus, I enrolled for an All-India Mock Series by IMS to gauge where I actually stand. The number of serious test takers is high for IMS and the level of their mocks aligns well with the actual CAT.

{Tip- I would recommend taking a classroom program (online or offline) to be connected with CAT preparation, new changes, and strategy. And secondly, take another All-India Mock Series to develop stamina for your D-day.}

It's never too early to start with mock tests

If there is one thing that will surely help you crack the exams, it is mock tests. Take mock tests seriously, but then analyse them even more seriously. I used to take screenshots of all those new types of questions and techniques which helped me later to revise the special topics in the end.

When the format of the CAT changed abruptly, I practiced even more mocks to get a hold of the time crunch. That was the time when I realised, I’ve to understand my weaknesses and strengths and start building on them. Till then I knew my grip on QA was above average and I was scoring well in the mocks. The tassel was between VARC and DILR. My scores were significantly increasing in VARC because of continued practice.

I used to dedicate 4 to 5 minutes to skim through all the RCs and pick the right ones. Then proceed towards verbal ability as they are not that time-consuming. Barely, 10 minutes and done with VA completely. Similarly, with DILR I used to skim through the section and pick the right sets, to begin with. First hit the DI questions because LR questions are generally lengthy and take a lot of time. That was an approach that worked for me, it could be different for you based on your strengths.

But when it came to XAT, it turned into my favour. I started preparing for it simultaneously with CAT. VARC is on a more difficult level than CAT because of abstract reading comprehensions. But try to gather the gist out of it and answer the questions accordingly.

Decision Making (DM) section is a new and unique entry here. I would call it a make it -or-break it section. It could either help you score exceptionally well in XAT or would stop you from even clearing the basic cut off. Don't take it very lightly.

My hack- I started preparing for DM after my CAT and solved 10-15 past year DM papers of XAT. It gives you an idea about how to answer that particular question type. Don’t try to put yourself in the situation, rather think rationally all the time. The best part about XAT, if you are stuck in the same situation like me and DILR is not your best bet then here’s some good news. XAT has a combined section for DI and QA. You need to showcase the best in you, that's all. This journey is all about figuring out your strengths, accepting your flaws and working on them. Keep challenging yourself and you'll have a lot more potential than you think!

XLRI Interview

I scored an overall 97.28 (95.8 - 92.6 - 85.2) percentile which made me eligible for BM and HRM interviews. Remember to form “buckets” which have stories about your life. Interviewers won’t remember your name but your stories will make that interview memorable for them.

• Introspect about why MBA?
• Revisit your old topics of graduation or work, if you are a working professional
• Be aware of the latest happening around you, start reading about different businesses daily.
• Have sound knowledge about your past projects and position of responsibilities.
• Most importantly, remember who you are and how you wish to present yourself.

I took a GD-PI preparation course with IMS and Endeavor. They helped me throughout the process with respect to guiding, and not spoon-feeding. You’ve to figure out your own goal and decide your own race.

The final experience

Both my XLRI interviews stretched for 35 to 40 minutes, even though none of them felt like long, grilling interviews. It was more like discussions on a cup of tea. They wanted to know me as a person and my opinions about things that mattered the most. It was a panel of three members, two experienced professors, and one alumnus. They gave me situational questions to answer, asked about my long-term goal and how practical it was. Also, asked a few guess-estimates about them. So, be ready to have a solid plan.

I’m glad I could get this opportunity to sit before an experienced panel which made me question every possible aspect of my goals and gave me a platform to move forward with my dreams. Don’t hesitate to have an honest opinion about important things which are meant for the greater good!