Mid-Exam Probing

It's almost 2 in the night, and I'm having an exam tomorrow morning. Then what the hell am I doing here at this time?? Well, I've supposedly finished 'my' quota of today's study just now and am planning to go to sleep as soon as I'm done blogging. Anyways, have you ever come across such a situation in which you know that you got an exam the next day and yet, you don't feel like studying for it ?? Every now and then, your mind gets distracted from the books and you wanna either log on to Orkut (which I don't and which I'm not logged on to for 24 hrs Mr. ______ !!! You know who you are) or some old scrap-book of yours suddenly occupies your mind after an year or so, and you feel like taking up the pending job of sticking all those articles and pictures you've been saving for it; or some never before heard of "activity" suddenly assumes a larger interest than ever before (which will again be lost into the oblivion as soon as exams get over). Point being, why do all such things strike our mind during exam time, which on a normal day wouldn't even matter a trifle to us ???

I'm feeling extremely sleepy right now. Had to take support of a big cup of coffee and hope the caffeine would do it's work. 'Cos when I get really sleepy, even coffee doesn't work for me. But it did today. These are the times I feel really grateful to the guys who invented coffee. And my elder sister. Who knows just when I need a mugful!! Luv ya for that... But the coffee's effect has finally died down along with my studies (impeccable timing) and I'm back to yawning heavily. My back's aching with those long night studies, improper postures, uncomfortable college bus and basically, lack of sleep. So I'll sign off for now... Back to blogging, later...

Rendezvous With CAT

Finally, 18th of November, the D-Day had arrived. I was all prepared (just mentally, that is) to face what is claimed to be one of the toughest entrance exams in the world - CAT. As my mentors had said, a good night sleep is essential; and a day before the CAT, you should stop studying, spend some time relaxing and de-stressing your mind. The relaxation part was ok. I was pretty much relaxed. But when I actually tried to sleep by 11, I couldn't (only to realize consciously, later on, that it was anxiety and that late night working habits hadn't turned me into an insomniac). I must 've slept around 1.30 or 2 o' clock. Anyways, but I woke up fresh and not sleepy-eyed or tired. I was fully prepared to take the CAT, head-on.

I started off my morning with the regular routine, only to be interrupted by good luck messages and phone calls. Apart from that, read the paper at ease, had my morning cup of tea, and got ready, went to the Gurudwara and then was ready to leave for the centre. Mom and dad wanted to drop me to the Centre but I denied it 'cos I didn't want to feel as if CAT was some big deal (Unnecessary pressure it could've created). So I went on my own. There was a huge number of vehicles in the parking, but the campus seemed awfully silent. As I neared the main hall of the building, I could hear some voices. Finally as I entered the building, I saw a large retinue of students and parents rushing around here and there in the corridors, looking for the respective seats in the classrooms.

I could hardly see a few known faces. Met a friend or two of mine. Then went around looking for my class. Found it in a few minutes. Then again I came down to look for some known faces, so that I could have a light chat and ease the ambient-pressure. But to my dismay, there was none. Decided to take a stroll in the campus, and simultaneously look for any known face. There was a large crowd near the canteen, but I was surprised to find press reporters and cameramen swarming that place and interviewing students. Boy! That sure was creepy. I didn't want to comment on anything at that moment. So I decided to just return back to my class and wait for the proceedings to start, lest I be yet another student speaking about the exam, assuming myself to be an experienced person to do so.

The supervisor of my class was pretty much friendly. He had the list of students who were to sit in his class along with the photographs. And he was constantly checking outside as to who's not yet in the class. But I guess, he understood my body language and did not pester me to go inside. When it was almost 9.45, both me and the class supervisor started walking towards the class. Immediately he gave me a warm smile and gestured his hand towards the classroom, as if telling me, "Shall we go now?"

I smiled back at him, and that eased up a few moments, which I was hoping to experience to ease up any pre-test anxiety that could develop at that time. Finally, we were handed our OMR sheets and then began the most coveted test in India, CAT '07.

The surprise element in this year's CAT was that there was no surprise. The test-setters hadn't deviated even a bit from the last year's test format. So again, things eased out more, as most of the students were aware of the strategy for this paper-style. As the bell rang, the sounds of tearing of seals and the opening of plastic covers filled the entire campus. Seriously, it sounded like a racket.

I went on with my strategy. Skimming and scanning through the Maths and English sections and then starting off with the Maths section. As time passed, I realized that I could hardly attempt 5-6 questions in Maths and that the section was turning out to be really tough. Man! was I shattered. The dreams of even reaching close to the IIMs were all getting vanished. Cos even if I manged to score good in the other two sections, what IIMs looked for is good performance in all the three sections and not just the overall score.

Then the allotted 50 minutes of my Maths section got over. Actually 5 more minutes went by. Then I realized it's high time I started off with English now. Well, even English section seemed ok, but it still wasn't that easy. I had a tough time keeping my calm 'cos I had my moments of self doubt and depression where I felt like it's all over now. Somehow I still managed to calm myself and tried to maximize my attempts in the other two sections so that I could still stand a chance of scoring decently. It was almost 12.50. I had ten minutes left to go. I was done with the other two sections. I went back to Maths hoping that somehow I can magically still solve a problem here or there. But ten minutes just passed by, with me, trying to attempt almost 4-5 sums, but the end result was that I couldn't solve any of 'em.

And so it was over. The most anxious, most-waited, anticipated and frequently dreamt-off 2 and a half hours of my life. As soon as the test got over, the entire campus was swept by a wave of silence. I looked at my partner and asked him, "Was the maths section tough?" And he said, "yes it indeed was." I chatted with him for a while as he somehow knew me and was telling me he was a friend of my cousin (who stays besides me) and so he had seen me many a times.

Anyways, as I bade him goodbye and left the classroom, hordes of zombies joined me. I can never forget that scene. The entire campus was quiet. No student was talking to the other, or smiling, or discussing. Some parents were trying to calm their kids, telling them its ok, things will be fine, there's still a next time just in case... Anyways, the initial silence in the campus was enough a proof to tell anyone that the paper was indeed tough.

I didn't stay in the campus for long. Left immediately for home and not before long, I started getting messages and phone calls from friends and well-wishers as to how was the paper and also from those who had taken the test and how they felt about it. So far, everyone had given me the same story. Maths was very tough and English was a less tougher but still it wasn't easy. God knows what mistakes we must've committed.

There was an anxious crowd who had already checked their scores by tallying their answers with the solutions put up by various coaching institutes. I, for one, decided to do that later on, i.e. on the next day. And so hopefully, I shall have summoned up the courage to check my answers after I finish off with this piece of writing. But post-CAT, I went to sleep, woke up in the evening to attend a few guests and then went to party hosted by my coaching institute. That party definitely turned out to be a stress-buster and I really had a blast, dancing and torturing others with my "hathodas". He heh. No actually the people enjoyed the hathodas for a change. Post-CAT stress I guess ;) . But the day's gone by and here I am, writing down my experiences of yesterday. So much I had thought about this day, how will it pass by, how will the experience be, how will I take it. And now it's gone and I didn't even realize it.

Now I have my university exams coming up in a week and I haven't yet started preparing for them. Gotta sit down with those boring books again. And then have to concentrate on the life insurance policies that I took up. I mean SNAP, NMAT, XAT and other entrance test that are slated to take place in the coming month. I still don't know what CAT '07 's got in store for me. But I can't even relax after the kind of paper I've attempted. Let's hope its results catch me off-guard in a positive way. The CAT's gone; but the scars it left haven't...