XAT 2013 - Last Minute Tips

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With XAT 2013 round the corner, the preparations for the same are in full swing. However, it would be beneficial if the student is familiar with the pattern and has a rough idea about what to expect from the test for mba.
For Reading Comprehension in XAT, one should focus on reading the paragraphs carefully, understand the meaning of the words. The questions are mostly analytical and thus practice for the same is essential. It would be advisable to skip the questions, if there is a slightest amount of uncertainty.
The essay writing section is important and cannot be taken lightly. The topics are mainly from current affairs- domestic or international. Thus being aware about the current happenings becomes imperative. As it is an essay, the basic idea has to be the focus and the construction of the sentences with a smooth flow that ultimately would create a good impact on the reader.
Apart from this, the general knowledge section will comprise of twenty to thirty questions , the questions will be from different genre’s such as business, economics and politics related to the business environment like mba.
In order to score splendidly in the examination, it is advisable for the candidates to focus on the areas such as present heads of major global/Indian companies, information on brands and companies, taglines of major global/Indian companies etc.
For the GK section, it is always safe to cover a wide array of topics from business, economics and politics. It would be advisable to be well-versed with the present heads of companies- local and global and information about them.
Lastly, solving XAT sample papers would do a lot of good just to get into exam mode before the actual test.

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Posted by samjohnson

3 Tips to Crack ‘Decision Making’ Questions In XAT

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The decision-making questions in the Xavier’s Aptitude Test (XAT) are considered to be the toughest ones to solve. Choosing the questions that comes closest to your sensibilities is just the beginning; the tougher aspect is to choose the right answer from the multiple choices offered. It takes an overall ability to solve these questions, a good knowledge base and at times some professional experience.

MBAupdates would like to give you few tips deciphered on the basis of the analysis and research of the sample XAT papers of the previous years.

The XAT 2012 paper showed nearly 25 questions in this section, lesser than the year 2011. MBAupdatesexpects 25 or more this year of XAT 2013 for mba, based on past years XAT papers. The expected cut of is anticipated to be 7-7.5 if the number of questions this year are increased for this section. Read on to how to prepare yourself with these amazing tips that will help you fight the dear of decision making questions in XAT 2013 for mba.

Familiarity with Similar Problems

The familiarities with problems like the ones that are going to be asked in the exam are very essential. This familiarity can be increased by nothing but intensely reading the questions and answers or solutions. Dig out all the possible decision making questions and solutions from old sample XAT papers and past year XAT papers. Even more important than merely reading the problems, the adequate deconstruction of the same with questions like why and results of a particular chosen answer by you will be the best way to figure out the correct answer. You need to get into the habit of structuring and deconstructing the decision making question from solve the available answers.

Reading blogs and articles related to solving

There are various detailed articles and blogs related to problem solving. Read decision making materials from business websites and other management school theory material available for free. The knowledge given there is exactly what will answer your question. This should be done because the material available in detail will open up keys to problem solving at a higher levels than desired by you to solve the question in the XAT papers. You will be prepared and familiarity with solving the toughest of the decision making questions posed in the XAT. After this exercise you should re-solve and the sample XAT papers and past year XAT papers.

Asking essential questions to the question itself

There are a set of questions that should significantly answer the questions on business strategy, ethics, morals, customer’s needs, the benefits, the cons, the timeframe to achieve results, the value added by the chosen answer, and the complexity and the consequences of the answer  chosen. Make sure to keep the legal, regulatory, social, economic and political set up of the chosen country concerned.

These 3 essential tips by MBAupdates will surely up your chances of getting more correct answers in the decision making questions with the help if the sample XAT papers and past year XAT papers.

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Posted by samjohnson

Higher (Management) Education- A catalyst to BRIC’s growth

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BRICs is a term coined by Jim O’Neill coined in 2001 that stands for developing countries like Brazil, Russia, China and India expected to be superpowers in the near future. This assortment of countries is expected to account for nearly 20% of the World Gross Domestic Product by the end of 2012. Taking a close look at the economic and political bent of the countries that make up the BRIC nations it can be observed that all of them are developing stage and being the developing countries they are each of them is striving hard to make their populace more productive by endeavouring to give them the best education like MBA. After due analysis of each country it can be affirmed that the Higher Education is instrumental in the collective growth of BRICs and each individual as well.

So, why does BRICs growth relies on its Higher Education?
Most of the developing countries are at a stage where their population is increasing but the respective governments are not spending enough on the higher education. Thus a need has arised for universities to put in efforts in setting up a system for higher education. This will not only lead to more research institutions and development organisations spurting the country’s growth but will also lead to innovation, research and development. This is the model of the development and growth adopted ages back by North America and Europe that has lost lustre there as these developed countries have already reached the echelons of development.

Brazil for instance is laying a great emphasis on its higher education environment. A major chunk of its universities for enrolments are public. These are the same universities MBA that are today the research powerhouses fuelling hopes, businesses and growth of the entire Latin America. Brazil is carving a niche for its self in the education space, especially higher education by employing sets of world class faculty coupled with superbly attractive salaries although private participation is still the need of the hour. Russia is amongst the lowest performing when it comes to higher management education. In contrast to this they are performing well with respect to medical education. Russia’s constraints are of a different order as its eco-political atmosphere is vastly different from that of Brazil, India and China. This is because Russia so far has failed to create an academic culture, freedom, faculty and salaries which are not really working in its favour. China and India on the other hand are making the correct choices and indulging in privatising higher education which although is asking higher management education more expensive but is still making a difference to the bright minds stepping out form the universities.

Thus, looking at the constraints faced by each BRIC country, building a tough foundation for higher management education could well be the answer to many development woes in each of them but the constraints hindering the capacity are not small in nature and hence a routed path specifically concentrating on making education as the medicine to growth worries could help the macro BRIC growth cause.

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Posted by samjohnson
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The financial fall of 2008 has changed the entire job scene. Firstly, there is a dearth of jobs in the market and the jobs that are available are paying peanuts. This is especially the case with jobs in the financial service sector and investment banking jobs. The world output has declined, countries suffer from heavy fiscal debts, liquidity is running on margins, banks and other financial services are cutting jobs, the base salaries are remaining constant. Costs of MBA graduates are not being covered even in a span of three to five years. There are many valid and real life reasons as to why an MBA graduate would decide to reject a job in the field of financial services and investment banking. Read on to find out more about the increasing sector-specific jobs.

Payments

The payments are made to banking sector and the Investment banking sector has been slashed to a great extent. Payments at entry levels are small and growth is extremely slow; heavily dependent upon your revenue achieving ability as well as your overall performances. Keenly analyzing the CTCs one would notice that the basic salaries on which bonuses and salary hikes are given are base notes while the other uncertain variables in the salary slips are hiked. This is especially the case with banking sector jobs as incentives make a heavy part of the salary. Increments after a year of work have been reported to be averaging out at low levels of 5%-8%, sometimes even lesser than the inflation rate in the country.

Stress

As banking and investment banking sectors are prone to a variety of job cuts, employees working with them suffer from immense pressure especially in the sales departments at any level and position. The markets don’t favour sales, of any product especially loan, insurance and new business investment proposals when the overall market is weak. Employees undergo tremendous stressful situation jeopardizing the longevity of their jobs. Working hours are prolonged in the face of sales and revenue crunches and the failure of the employee to meet his set of targets set for the month or quarter.

Responsibilities

A market survey by MBAupdates of fresher’s and even professionals with 4-5 years of respective experience shows that they have been bestowed with more responsibilities  in their work profile that is allotted as per their designation and position. This makes the small salary come to employee at a bigger cost. This trend has been witnessed in almost each nationalized banks in India. In fact the scene is better in government and state banks but the salaries offered here are not at par with private sector banks.
Thus, assessing the above analyzed factor one can say that a job in the financial sector or the banking sector in India is a clear case of lop sided cost-benefit ratio for an MBA graduate who probably still has to cover the cost of his education loan or maybe pay his parents back.

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Posted by samjohnson

Management Lessons from Sachin Tendulkar

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Sachin Tendulkar who bid farewell to his ODI cricketing career recently has not just won titles like the Cricketing Maestro, Cricketing Legend, Master Blaster and many more for his worthy cricket skills, talents and achievements alone. He stands for much more than what the eye can see. He stands for humility, he stands for excellence, his focussed mind, his ability to take criticism and endure it with all modesty available on the planet. He has invested in his play and flawless skill-honing with brilliant organization skills that all management students and aspiring gurus can learn from. Adopt his principles of management at work to realise what was the real talent behind the bat! MBAupdates searches to extract some lessons to learn from someone who will never be seen in coloured clothes fighting hard for Team India.

Search Beyond Perfection

Despite being perfect and scoring as much as he did Sachin Tendulkar looked for perfection beyond his own limits. This was reflected in his strict regimented routine of net practice every morning. His discipline and hard work got him what he achieved in 23 years of his association with cricket. Similarly, managers should look beyond the normal trends to something beyond, something being the clichéd to discover products; prices and strategies that boost productivities ad help them achieve their goals. Try different methods to reach the same destination as the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar did.

Failure nor Success Erred Him

Sachin Tendulkar has played a very long innings, during which he earned tonnes of accolades for his performance on the field. However, he did not have a great time as a captain. Rather one would agree that his stint was criticized by many for the failures of the cricket team. Did this failure affect him? Maybe it did. But he did not let it reflect the same on his batting after he was relieved of the captaincy. There were numerous occasions when the armchair critics pointed fingers at him for not contributing when the team really needed. Every time he answered them by coming up with a brilliant knock that forced the same critics to sing praises for him.
Secondly, remaining grounded when one has succeeded requires traits that very few people possess. Tendulkar manages to do this with utmost finesse on and off the field.
Thus, the key is to stay grounded whether you are appreciated or criticized. It’s all about staying at your crease for a long time braving all odds and believing in yourself.

Focus On One Product

Each stroke of his was beyond perfection, each was a product that he perfected. But he focussed only on cricket. Amazing concentration levels. He never shifted focus. He did not let success get to working for his product, cricket! Yes time will definitely consume your patience, but alas if you get success like how Sachin Tendulkar got then would that not be worth it! Thus, do not put your hands in everything and do not try to be the jack of all trades, it only ruins your actual skill. Hear experts say … “his greatness is that he does the same thing that he has been doing for the last 25 years, but with greater passion every time he takes the field. He has never tried his hand at anything other than cricket. He feels most secure in his 2 1/2 square foot home called the batting crease,” clarifies R Suresh, CEO of the executive search firm Stanton Chase.
These are some of the star management principles that MBAupdates could gather form the cricketing career of the legend Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
Tendulkar epitomises the mind-set of wanting to grow from scratch even after achieving the greatness threshold. He never tends to cool his heels. Companies and CEOs too must always think of starting from scratch and keep up the tempo even when they hit their targets.

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Posted by samjohnson

XAT 2013 - What to Expect?

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XAT, the Xavier’s Admission Test is a comprehensive common entrance test to gain eligibility into Xavier’s (XLRI) and other 70 prestigious B-schools in India for courses like One-year General Management Programme, Four-year Fellow Programme in Management and the Two-year Post Graduate Programme in Business Management (BM) and Human Resource Management (HRM). It is known to be one of the tough common entrance examinations. The analysis of the exams paper of 2012 will give you a clear idea about what you can expect in XAT 2013. MBA updates presents to you some of the best analysis of the XAT paper of 2012 and its consequent thorough student research and sample XAT papers assessment of the same.

The XAT paper pattern, as always is divided into the two major sections. The first one constitutes of analytical reasoning, decision making, verbal ability and logical reasoning of multiple choices. The second section will comprise of essay writing and general awareness. MBA updates analyzes the previous year’s paper and gives out the features for the benefit of XAT 2013 aspirants.

Part 1 of Question Paper, Analysis and Expectations

Analytical Reasoning and Decision Making made up 25 questions in 2012 down from 30 in the previous year. This is supposed to be the most difficult section. A student can be deemed to have done well if he/she manages to attempt 19 out of 30 having answered at least 14 correctly. The expected cut off can range between 7-7.5 if there are 30 questions asked in this section.

Verbal ability and logical reasoning made up of 34 questions last year 2012. This section turned out to be one of the easy going sections this year making it easier for all to score it up in it. It comprises of the English Grammar based questions, English Proficiency like Analogy, Fill in the Blanks, Para jumble, Cloze Test, and English Comprehension. The logical reasoning question is the more difficult to crack from the two with questions on Fact Inference Judgement, Passage Conclusion, and Statement Argument. Answering around 24 out 34 is a great possibility and a plausible 20 out of the 24 answered could lead to an expected cut off around.
Data Interpretation and Quantitative ability

This is section most feared by students as it requires great finesse and liking for quants and to top it all it definitely does take away most of their problem solving time dedicated to this section. Last year it questioned around 28 problems to students that were easy in nature and hence 2012 can step up the difficulty as an alternative. Answering around 19-20 is fantastic for this section.

Part 2

The essay section mostly hovers around topics and issues on the current affairs followed with the section on general knowledge and awareness. This is the show-stealer for all those not apt with data, quants and logic. The essay is to be written in 20 minutes apart from the 2 hour allotted time for the main paper.MBAupdates recommends that students should read out issues on social, economic and political issues on the country and international, a rather in-depth reading suggested based on the study of the sample XAT papers

Thus, evaluating the details above MBAupdates expects the XAT 2013 paper to be a slightly tougher than the 2012 paper. Prep up to the extremes for the best results. The XAT results are declared sometime around the end of January of each year the examination is held.

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Posted by samjohnson

Drop in Indian students going to US

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 The US seems to be losing its sheen for Indian students as a choice of destination is concerned. In the academic year 2011-2012, the total number of students from India attending US colleges and universities mba dipped for the second year in a row.
As per the statistics, Indian students make up approximately 13.1 of the total foreign population in the country. The number of Indian students dipped 3.5 per cent from 103,895 in 2010-11 to 100,270 in 2011-12. The annual report by the Washington DC-based Institute of International Education states that majority of the Indian students study at the graduate (Master’s) level like mba.
India lost the top slot as the leading country of origin to China after the academic year 2008-09. In 2000-01, Indian enrolments surged 30 per cent, followed by two more years of strong growth (at 12 per cent in 2002-03 and 7 per cent in 2003-04). The increases tapered off in 2004-05 and then decreased slightly in 2005-06, before resuming much larger increases in 2006-07 and for the next two years. In 2009-10, the growth flattened, and China topped the list. It continues to retain the position.
The drop clearly signifies the emergence of new alternatives for students in terms of programs and institutes in other parts of the world. Moreover, the cost aspect also plays a very important and decisive role thereby making other options lucrative.

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Posted by samjohnson

Should Work Experience Be Made Mandatory For MBA Aspirants?

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Whether work experience should be made mandatory for MBA aspirants is a highly debatable issue. This question has evoked many thoughts in students who are pursuing their MBA and those who are about to venture to do the same. MBAupdates would like to categorize the two significant schools of thought most accepted by the MBA communities in general. One is the old school thought which believes that what matters the most is your basic education till graduation, your grades, your essential scores of GMAT and CAT along with your final dash of group discussion and the personal interview that could help you grab the seat! The second thought promotes the added advantage of work experience to the aforementioned factors in your resume.

First of all, why do institutions want the students to have work experience? The major reasons for this could be the desire for candidates who are more serious. Those having already worked and come for an MBA course portray a rather determined attitude than a college graduate out to maybe merely complete his post-graduation for the sake of it. However, what is important here is to note that the numbers of students are increasingly proportionate to the growing population and thus, this also means that students are applying for MBA programs at a younger age. A trend very discernible and quite upsetting is that students go in for work experience before their opting for MBA and then forgo the actual MBA program because they are too settled at work and are already earning. And yes, it is fact that the process of quitting a well-paying job and coming back to studies after a few years is an ordeal and not quite motivating as the inflow of cash that the person is accustomed to, suddenly experiences a halt. Now imagine, even if an institution does persist on allowing entry to only experienced students what do they actually gain? Yes, they gain more motivated, determined and focussed students who can and are willing to go the extra mile to adopt strategic management practices as they have already worked and know how to segregate the practical from the impractical and the gauge feasibility of actual theory into practice as they already have some ground-zero familiarity.

Thus, MBAupdates, after seeing the basic premises supporting each side of the argument concludes that this is a purely contentious question that is highly subjective in nature. Even if an institution does look for experienced professional to make students of MBAs it really cannot hole up students who desire to pursue further MBA studies right after graduation. However, one really cannot deny that practical work experience does aid classroom learning experiences and other knowledge centres helping you to get even better salaries than you would have got being a fresher. Some institutes ask for work experience whereas some don’t. Most of the IIMs do not. Even the Indian Business School in Hyderabad does not enforce the work experience criteria on the aspirants.

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B-Schools Taking ‘CSR’ Very Seriously

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The world of workplaces has undergone dynamic changes in the past few years with ethical, moral, environmental and sustainability issues doing rounds of the busy and ambitious corporate corridors. A company or an organization no more stands for mere products, sales, and revenue. It stands as a brand today. The value of this brand is dependent on many factors and amongst them Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is turning out to be a game changer. B-schools design and focus on training their applicants in a way that would give them options when they step out into the tough corporate world.

CSR reflects the onus of the organization, corporation or company to imbibe and respect the principles of ethics, morals and sustainability to the employees. The treatment meted out by the employees to a great extent affects the fabric of the company and consequently affects the brand name or image. B-schools have been stressing on educating the students about CSR and have managed to receive good responses from the same because of two important factors. With the created awareness about the CSR issues, there are many students who are willing to take off-beat career paths with non-governmental organizations and CSR departments of major companies.

Another riding factor is that most of the organizations, be it small players or multinationals today are willing to invest in CSR as their image is associated with it. Hence, students don’t mind taking this path as corporates are ready to pay huge sums of salaries to CSR employees and heads in their organizations. There is a lot of scope for work and growth in the CSR departments of organizations leaving students with no complaints for entering this sector. Business schools are taking up CSR seriously as the demand for CSR specialized students have been increasing and so are the companies’ demands for accountability, responsibility and transparency.

CSR departments offer students with a totally new set of responsibilities. It is no more about charity and visibility of an organization in the world, but rather a strategic move that can dictate investor relations and employee performances as well as company targets and achievements in all spheres. Philanthropy is just a part of the many activities conducted by CSR employees. It includes involving ancillary industries along with employee social and economic benefits in the final game plan of the company.

Amongst the good international B-schools offering good CSR courses to MBA students are Stanford, Harvard and Wharton. In India, some B-schools offer detailed two year MBA programs in CSR and ancillary field assisting students to develop a career in them. Amongst the few sought after B-schools in this field include the Narsee Monji Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) and the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India. 

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Posted by samjohnson

Cracking the SNAP Test 2012

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Since 2009, SNAP has followed the same pattern. The number of questions also increased from 2009 as compared to the previous years’ question papers. Moreover, the overall paper format also became quite predictable. However, it is strongly advisable to keep in mind that it would not be a smart move to approach the test assuming that the format would remain the same this year as well.

Let’s have a look at each of the sections of the SNAP and analyze on the basis of the previous years’ papers mba.

The Quantitative section more or less covers the topics like Time and Work, Ratio and Proportion, Percentages, Time and Distance, Averages, Profit, Loss and Discount. The Data Sufficiency was present in 2008, absent in 2009, present in 2010 and again absent in 2011. Thus, if the alternating trend is considered, it would be wise to practice a few DS questions just to be on the safer side. Again the presence of Geometry and Mensuration has been very prominent in 2011. Thus, it is advisable to revise the formulae for area and volume of common geometrical figures. The Data Interpretation constitutes of a formidable proportion of the section. The questions are not as calculation-intensive as the ones in some other tests like XAT or IIFT.

The LR section is considered to be one of the most important sections in the SNAP and is scoring as well. However, the real challenge is to select the right questions to attempt as they come in sets. The fact that the simplest of questions are scattered over the different sets makes this even trickier.

The Critical Reasoning questions are not very popular in the SNAP but they usually appear in the LR section. In 2011, about 30% of the LR section constituted of such questions. This is a very significant considering each question was worth 2 marks and there were only 30 questions in the section. Bottomline? Revise these questions very well.
If the previous tests are looked into, the RC is not very predominant in SNAP mba. However, it is advisable to focus on Vocabulary, phrases and idioms, spellings and grammar which are very important in this test.

The General Knowledge section in SNAP is considered to be very tough and aspirants are apprehensive about the same. However, here are a few tips that SNAP test takers can consider:

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Should there be an age limit for doing an MBA?

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 Education should not be restricted in anyway, neither by caste, creed, gender or religion and neither by the age of a person. Knowledge is to be shared and hence it should be accessible to all. Thinking about an age limit for students aiming to do an MBA course, let’s think why should there be a limit in the first place? What sense does it make? Is there any logic to stop a person from gaining admission into a top business school because of nothing but an inconsequential factor called ‘age’? Age does not affect any credentials required to pursue any program. It does not require physical fitness to study and neither does it require pretty young looks to fetch good ranks and enrollments in high ranked business schools.

The current trend witnesses an increase in the number of younger students admitted with some major B-schools letting go off the criteria of work experience while choosing candidates. Harvard Business School has started recruiting young scholars for their MBA course. They aim for students having completed 3 year of basic graduation. The average age of students in MBA programs has fallen to 26. Earlier, the norms were slightly different with candidates desiring to earn a solid and credible work experience of at least 2-3 years and only then apply for good colleges with the GMAT or the CAT scores. Thus, did things go wrong when older students were given admission? The answer is no! Older students have their own maturity levels; their grasping power is more as they have a few years of work experience. That lends them practicality at work making better students for reputed B-schools.

There are many other important guiding factors regulating the debate of whether should there be an age limit for doing an MBA.  For example consultancy positions are out of question for very young MBA graduates thus making older MBA students are fairer choice in the deal. Another very essential factor why age limits should be strict no-no is because institutions must consider human and monetary factors. As known, MBA courses are expensive and hence one cannot deny students who hold the possibility of pursuing MBA later in life after personally having earned the resources to afford one. Some students could have also gotten late for an MBA program due to unforeseen personal reasons.

MBAupdates sees no reason or logic as to why should there be an age limit for students who desire to pursue their MBA. The research done by MBAupdates show only positive impact of the students acquiring such degrees at older ages and has found nothing adverse to advocate age restrictions.

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Does The Easy Availability Of Loans Encourage MBA Aspirants?

11:18 | Labels:

A few decades back, higher education was not an easy option for many, mainly due to the steep financial factor that it carried with it. Thus the willingness to opt for the same was not very high from the students’ or for that matter the parents’ point of view.

With education gaining focus and importance in lieu of the good it does for the growth of the country, the government has started dedicating higher chunks of their planned expenditures and budget outlays for education, higher and technical alike. At the same time, the government has offered students with many tools not only in the form of scholarships, funding merit prices but also the provision of education loans by banks and financial institutions in the country.

Yes, the easy availability of loans has definitely encouraged MBA aspirants. Today, there is no student in the country who does not have the resort of taking an education loan from the bank for his higher education and costly MBA programs. Students do not have to depend on the traditional money-lender or a rich uncle for sponsorship of his/her education program. 
Organized lending for banks at reasonable and student friendly interest rates is doing the rounds making the education of any category accessible to all classes of the population. The paper work is simple, precise, heavily documented and fully transparent and accountable making it exceedingly reassuring. The point to be noted here is one cannot deny that most post graduate programs are more expensive in nature than a simple three year basic degree program in any stream. Thus, getting funds for these could be a tough task. But, that’s not the case anymore. In fact, banks and other financial institutions provide education with a whole lot of option that makes it very simple for the student to just apply for an institution of their choice and commence with it with great zeal. Some loans ask for the payments to begin to only after the course program is over while some ask for nominal interest payments while the course in on. Most the time parents pay the interest monthly and students pay the entire sum back to their parents’ one they start earning. Some good institutions even have their own personal tie-ups with banks that offer funds to the students the moment their names are listed on their admission lists.

Even institutions do not want to miss out on good students these days and therefore they go all the way, even beyond their trustee charity scholarships to offer their new set of students the comforts of a luxurious MBA without monetary issues of any sort. Now, why wouldn’t the easy availability of loans encourage MBA aspirants?

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Test-Taking Skills Important To Crack Any Test

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Taking tests before competitive exams is actually a skill; a skill that has to be developed to get the feel of the actual paper and the atmosphere. Test-taking, often known as Mock tests are the best way to gauge which questions to attempt and whether it is the right one. However, the selection and filtering may differ from person to person. Many students tend to take the test very lightly. However, when taken seriously, there is a lot to derive from the same which will make the actual test experience a lot better.

What can one gain from mock tests?

Firstly, they offer you the real atmosphere of the examination hall with students around you. It prepares you for the day when students would be even more conscious and stressed than during a mock test.Secondly, they give a real-look of the paper and repeated mock tests get you so acquainted with the entire idea and feel of test-taking that the actual paper doesn’t scare you when it comes. Thirdly, it helps you filter your strengths and your weakness helping you to decide the areas you should on concentrate more as far as studies are concerned and where to focus as far as questions and their markings are concerned. Fourthly, and the most importantly it helps one know where they stand as compared to the rest. That is the real cause and point of the test. Now as far as the skills of test-taking are concernedMBAupdates would like to give all aspiring students some pointers to gauge their skills.

Check the accuracy. You can do this by calculating the questions answered and marking the ones that have been answered correctly. This helps in knowing the questions you can answer in a set period of time. Always time yourself on the basis of the time you are going to get during your actual paper of MBA.

Always work out the unanswered questions. This not only helps you decipher why you could not get to the right but it also helps in learning it and deciding whether you can solve it. As far as the answered questions are concerned, solve them as well. It will help you revise the logic you have used while solving the mock test. Try and measure what is going wrong and if you are probably not getting answers right due to silly mistakes, or time constraints making your hurry into incorrect answers.

Test taking can also help you to sieve the unanswered questions and probably why they are left unanswered. Is it because you did not understanding the way the question was framed or because you have had conceptual errors in understanding the question? The skill to analyze the tests could lead to beneficial results thus upping your final score to help you score over the rest!

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Posted by samjohnson

Cracking the GK section in SNAP

17:07 | Labels: ,


With the SNAP test around the corner, the preparations for it are in full swing. The General Awareness section in the test is often dreaded by candidates. Having been an examinee of the competitive exam mba, there are few tips that I would like to share with all. The GK section is actually one of the easiest sections to score but the question is how does one do that? There is no one text book that can suffice for this section and definitely no last minute reading that can help you sail through this section. Cracking the GK section with speed to save more time for other more brain cracking questions can be effortlessly done with memory training. The tips you are about to read are memory training tips for the strong willed, the determined and steadfast willing to endure a slow paced constant life to achieve the maximum in the easiest section in competitive exams for mba.

The Real Way to Read the Newspaper
A newspaper is one of the simplest tools to fight this section with ease. However, one should be careful about how to read it. For example, a highly recommended English newspaper is the standard edition of the Times of India (TOI). The first front page, the first two pages of the Nation section, the first page of the International section and the headlines of the sports sections are more than enough to give a thorough read. The rest of pages can be scanned for only top bold headlines. Do make sure to glance through the headlines of the entire newspaper.  Another highly endorsed newspaper is the Economic Times standard edition assists as a good business news surfer. Again, make sure you read the headlines. Make sure to remember latest appointment of heads, changes of heads of institutions and organizations and other major changes of policy changes and documents.

Note the News
News picked up from any medium, be it, major newspapers, radio, business magazines, snippets from libraries that one visits and other smaller mediums should be noted on a notepad or maybe even on your phone for a quick note down. The reason why one should note it down personally is because writing things down always makes it better to remember easily. That’s a trick that was taught in school, but well a tip remains a tip to be used even at later stages in life.

TV Is Not That Big an Idiot Box, Radio can be used too
The television can be used as a real high utility medium to gain the correct type of knowledge. Check with your cable operator for channels like Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to watch sessions that are extremely valuable. National and regional state channels offer programs targeted at competitive exam students for general knowledge and awareness. From other mainstream channels the debates held on channels like NDTV 24X7, Times Now and CNN-IBN offer insightful sessions that are visually impactful on the mind helping to decipher the real democratic machinery and its latest happenings in India. The All India Radio (AIR) has evening sessions specially aimed for their competitive exam student listeners. Mobile applications of newspapers can be downloaded in case you wish to cover the GK section while travelling.

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Posted by samjohnson
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