Voices: Two thumbs up for CAT 2010

We spoke with a handful of aspirants at the CAT testing centre in Ghatkopar, Mumbai. Find out what they had to say.

The first session of CAT 2010 concluded on Wednesday, October 27 amidst much anticipation.

In comparison to last year's fiasco where servers crashed, computers hung and left thousands of students in the lurch round one this year went by fairly smoothly.

While there was about a 15-30 minute delay, none of the students we spoke to were complaining.

Some who had prior experience told us that this test was relatively easier with the number of questions being reduced to half.

Another highlight of CAT 2010 was that the paper was not divided into three distinct sections.

Find out what else these aspiring MBAs who appeared at the Ghatkopar centre in Mumbai had to say about CAT 2010.

Did you take the CAT on Day 1? What was the experience like and how did you fare? Share your experiences with us! Simply e-mail us your experiences, name and centre at getahead@rediff.co.in with the subject 'My CAT experience' and we will publish your responses right here!

Nivedita Radja is studying Bachelors of Management Studies at SIES College, Mumbai.

The 21-year-old student says she wants to major in HR and hopes to get into Management Development Institute in Gurgaon or Welingkar Institute of Management in Mumbai.

This is her first attempt at CAT and she says that her overall experience was quite satisfactory.

"I was a little apprehensive because I had heard about all that happened last year. In fact I was hoping I wouldn't be in the first batch of students! But I was quite relieved because things were quite smooth.

"Around me there was just one student whose computer didn't work but he settled down soon.

"There was a little delay initially but I believe that was because the screening process took longer than expected."

Chetan Bhatia is a content writer with Lionbridge Technologies in Mumbai.

This is the 25-year-old's third attempt at CAT.

He says, "I had attempted CAT in 2007 and then in 2007. So this is the first time I am appearing for the online version. I find it to be better than the older version because it is faster and simpler to attempt.

"The Quant section in this year's paper was much simpler than my previous two attempts.

"Initially I used to find the Verbal section to be rather difficult. This year though, I found it quite easy perhaps because I have been working as a content writer."

Bhatia's eventual plan is to get into any of the IIMs and complete his PhD. Interestingly this young aspirant hasn't attended any CAT preparation classes at all.

Pallavi Maity works for a recruitment consultancy in Mumbai and hopes to major in HR from 'any good college in Pune'.

The 24-year-old professional says, "I thought it would be a good idea to get some work experience before trying my hand at an MBA.

"This is my second attempt at CAT and I found this year's paper to be far simpler. The passages in the verbal section were shorter and I thought I did quite well in the DI section too.

"I wasn't entirely prepared so I wasn't able to attempt the Quant questions.

"However my overall experience was good. The security was good and the people were helpful."

Maity also plans to appear for CET and SNAP or Symbiosis National Aptitude Test so she gets a chance to be part of the Pune institution.

Abhijit Zakatdar works at Welingkar Institute of Management in Mumbai and was attempting CAT 2010 'just to see how it is'.

The 34-year-old marketing professional is also a third-year MBA student at the institute.

He says, "I attempted CAT a few years ago before I enrolled myself at the course in Welingkar. So this is the first time I am attempting CAT online. I found it to be much better than the older system because it's simpler and not monotonous.

"Another feature of this year's CAT was that the sections were not strictly demarcated. So you had questions from Quant, DI and Verbal abilities jumbled together.

"The number of questions also have been reduced to 60 from 120 -- 20 in each section -- which is good. I found the paper to be fairly simple though some questions in DI were quite tricky."

Zakatdar says that he doesn't intend to get into any IIM and wanted to experience the online CAT for himself.

Ankita Uppal is studying Commerce at Mulund College of Commerce and is also pursuing a course in Chartered Accountancy.

This was what she calls her 'timepass attempt'.

"It's my first time and I simply wanted to see how it works and get a feel of it," she says.

"I thought it was very well-conducted and felt it wasn't as tough as it is made out to be. Quant of course was a little difficult but I thought the DI and verbal ability sections were quite simple."

The 20-year-old is hoping she'll be able to get into IIM Bangalore or IIM Ahmedabad. "Maybe Bangalore," she adds as an afterthought, "It's a fun place to be!"

Ashwin Philip is studying civil engineering in Datta Meghe College in Airoli, Navi Mumbai.

The 21-year-old aspirant says he hopes to get into National Institute of Construction Management and Research (NICMAR) since he is studying civil engineering but wouldn't mind getting into any IIM if he gets a good score.

"The reason I want to do a management course is because it will help me make the big bucks!" he says matter-of-factly and continues, "Although the paper in general was quite simple, I thought the verbal section was challenging simply because I find it easier to read on paper rather than on a computer."

Philip also adds that while some of the questions were rather staid and traditional there were others that were capable of really challenging your intellect.

Some others, he said required a lot of number crunching too.

Like most others he found the Quant section to be a little tricky but said that if he'd attended coaching classes, he would have been able to crack some of the tougher question in that section too.

Girish Kumar Meena is a software engineer who decided to appear for CAT to increase his job prospects.

"At some point in your career everyone wants to manage resources. I am in a field where an MBA is a must to rise up the ladder," he says.

Meena was one of the unfortunate ones to have been caught in last year's fiasco.

"It was crazy," he recollects, "The scheduled time for the paper was 10 am. I started writing it at 6 pm!"

So when his machine started giving trouble, the 23-year-old was a little perturbed. "I thought it would be a repeat of last year. But thankfully things got sorted out."

Meena hopes to major in either Finance or Systems.

He says, "My choices would be IIM, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Calcutta (in this order). Ideally I'd like to major in Finance either from Ahmedabad or Bangalore. If not, I'd like to major in Systems from IIM Calcutta."