A couple of weeks back, I got this question from an MBA aspirant which read something like this
“I am attempting CAT this year, my Quant is very weak.I don’t have time to start from the basics, just give me some tactics so that I can quickly score more percentile.”
After reading this question, I had a grin on my face. I remembered my past few years when I gave my IIT-JEE.
I gave IIT-JEE exactly twice and failed miserably both the times. First time by a small margin , second time, it was an absolute and utter FAILURE.
I remembered when I was preparing for IIT-JEE, I had mucho success in the last couple of months using smart tactics I was using to game the whole mock system.I was scoring home runs in last 4-5 of my mock tests at FIIT-JEE.
The good thing happened to me was, I failed. If I hadn’t, then I would have failed miserably in the mains(old pattern you know) and even if I would have cleared the mains somehow, I would have messed up somewhere else.(God knows where)
Why I am sharing this with you?
It ultimately boils down to one thing.
Where you are investing your time ?
Are you investing your time in mastering the basics or are you mastering the upcoming gimmick coming out in the market ?
I talk about this to MBA aspirants a lot but people don’t listen.
Pretty strange, right ?
They don’t wake up until IIMs or other institutes started beating them bloody with a lead pipe.
It requires wisdom to understand this and wisdom doesn’t come cheap.
First comes tactics.Second comes strategy.Third comes wisdom.
Wisdom knows using tactics to score more percentile is just a part of the big game.
Tactics give instant results.
Strategies take a bit long.
Wisdom takes the most time.
But once you acquire it, it takes care of tactics and strategies itself. You don’t have to rely on them.
Unless you are wise, you won’t be able to use all those fancy tactics you learned because you know how to use it but you don’t know when to and when not to.
Wisdom takes a path which is initially paved with thorns , tactics is like walking on trap set for catching baby elephants, you don’t know when you are going to fall.
The students who consistently score well are interested in no of attempts, accuracy, percentile.
Nos don’t lie but most MBA aspirants can’t swallow this bitter pill of harsh reality.
Most MBA aspirants hope to solve their problem with a magic pill. They try hard but they fail , miserably, sometime, it costs them a fortune (2-3 years).
My only advice to all the aspirants, get out of this bandwagon and focus on what works and what will work for next 15-20 years, no matter how many times IIMs change their pattern, you will face no problems whatsoever if you focus on acquiring real wisdom.