Story contain 3 Parts
CEO’s CAT Preparation How a BCom graduate cracked IIMA and became CEO
MBA’s 10 years Journey to CEO MBA to CEO in 10 years
Inhand Salary of a CEO Inhand Salary of a CEO 1.15 Cr
How a BCom graduate cracked IIMA | Simple steps to follow | Inspiring story | Struggle from 40%ile to 99%ile
While completing his Bachelors in Commerce, Anand Mahajan, was in a perplex situation- to pursue and MBA or take up a Sales Officer role at an FMCG organization selling ice creams. The job offered a lot of benefits – financial security, no gap year, a bit easy life as he was bound to do better from where he is, but upon thinking and research, Anand realised that he will eventually need an MBA, else promotions in the organization will be a challenge in the future.
With a strong determination and his sales officer learnings (1 year experience with the FMCG organization), Anand set his personal target to get into the best MBA college in India – IIMA.
He followed his 5 step approach
- Fix your target | Set it high
- Everything is possible | take one step at a time & be consistent
- Simplify things | CAT is tough if you don’t simplify literally EVERYTHING
- Find your weak & strong subjects | Work extremely hard on your weak subject
- Mocks give you immense learning | take them early on & review them at least twice
He knew he needed help and hence he went to various classes which offered MBA prep help. Upon reviewing and taking trial classes he decided to join CetKing.
A year of meticulous prep, he started to knock off one topic at a time. He would stick to one topic from each section for a week and solve each and every question he found on that topic from all his books, would flag the tough questions and ensure that he solves them again to get a good grip on them. Within 5-6 months of this rigour, Anand had completed his syllabus and was ready to take mocks.
Even though he thought he was ready, his first mock wasn’t as he expected, he had only got 40%ile and was extremely disheartened. He seek advise from CK staff and they sat with him to review his mock deeply. They made him realise that he knew the basics very well, but he hadn’t spent enough time on questions which were CAT level. They advised him to review the mock again, understand how each question was solved and then again take a mock within 2-3 days. He realised that he just needed to get used to the paper pattern of CAT. He reviewed the mock once again and this time more meticulously. And gave his second mock. The results shook him. He had got 70%ile this time – for a sales officer, he knew that this jump of almost 50% was a huge one and he was much closer to his goal. He had all the knowledge within him, he just had to dig deeper and not leave it at a surface scratch.
The next 3-4 months were just about Anand taking mocks, as many as he can and reviewing them. He had one and only one goal in mind – CAT.
D Day had come. He took the exam with calmness. He scored a 99%ile in CAT. His systematic approach to the exam and consistency had made him achieve this. The next few weeks were about preparing for the GD & PI for his calls. Being from a BCom background, he received calls from IIM A B & C. But he had his eye on just one – IIMA. He prepped for IIMA specific interviews and did many mock interviews with our faculty.
Finally, on 6th January, 2012, he had got a letter from IIMA !
Today his CTC today is 1.15 Cr with the following breakup
