Very often, I see students opting for GMAT purely because they think CAT is tough. The reasoning goes like this – “CAT is too competitive. With GMAT, I can get into a college with any score.”
This whole line of reasoning usually reminds me of the old Birbal story where Akbar sends Birbal on a trip to find the 10 biggest fools in the kingdom.
A part of the story goes like this –
Birbal was coming back to the palace in the dark. He saw a man searching for something under a street lamp, and stopped to help him.
‘What have you lost?’ asked Birbal.
‘A ring from my finger.’ As they could find nothing, Birbal naturally asked: ‘Are you sure you dropped it here?’
‘No,’ was the answer. ‘I dropped it over there, but it’s dark there and light here. I am searching where I can see.’
Many students’ most preferred reason for taking GMAT is the fact that they think it is easier than CAT.
To put it bluntly, this is daft. This piece of daftness has been built on 3 wonderful myths.
Myth 1: Indian students totally crack GMAT and are among the best students in top global B-schools
The GMAT exam is not that easy. It is a myth that Indian students totally ‘crack’ the GMAT. Importantly, beyond getting a good GMAT score, one needs to write essays, and have a solid profile to have a crack at the best colleges.
Graduating from one of the top 20 in the US is excellent, but there is no great honour in graduating from the 75th ranked school in the US.
Because of the Law of Large Numbers, some of the best Indian students join the best B-schools in the US and do well there as well. These are the guys who score 750 in GMAT and are generally among the ones good enough to score 99.5 percentile in CAT as well.
Myth 2: With even a just-about-decent GMAT score, I can get into a good college
Think about this: Is it going to be easier to get into the top 20 colleges in the US, than into the top 20 in India?
Lot of people spend time and effort, get a middling 670 score and go nowhere with this. Unless you are a rock-star, a 670 is unlikely to secure a great admit. 670 pegs you at around the 83rd percentile. One-sixth of the total 2.4 lakh or so applicants have scored more than you.
Sorry to be blunt about this, but this is what the numbers say.
All other things being equal, you can hope to join a college that a student ranked 40,000th in the world can get into.
Myth 3: If I am taking the GMAT, I must be really ambitious (and cool)
Cracking the GMAT suggests ambition, merely taking it, or worse just preparing for it conveys no such thing. Very often, students want to feed into the I-am-built-for-bigger-things story by joining some middling college with the ok-ish score they have.
For a large number (unfortunately very large number), merely planning to take the GMAT slakes a big part of their ambition. So, once this is I-am-going-to-try-for-an-MBA gig is done, they continue with their lives. In many ways, this is probably the lesser to the two evils.
Do the research
Now, I am not suggesting that people who take the GMAT do not know what they are doing. About 60% of the test-takers are serious, prepare well, plan well, know their chances, know the costs of doing an MBA in the US, and generally go about this entire process with a level of seriousness.
Be clear about why you are taking the GMAT and do sufficient research for this. Do not take the exam merely because it is easier than CAT.
Do not invite hubris
In many ways, the GMAT is far better structured to test what it aims to test than the CAT.
- The quality of questions (not the difficulty level)
- The adaptive engine
- The level of feedback provided
- The ability to distinguish between conceptual clarity and drill
In all these aspects the GMAT is head and shoulders above the CAT. I am a big fan of the GMAT exam and am often disappointed with how the CAT is conducted in our Country.
Merely designating GMAT as “easier than CAT” does a disservice to the exam. This attitude makes aspirants complacent even before they begin preparation and invites hubris.
CAT or GMAT? – 3 Crucial Factors to Consider
India or abroad, Fresher or Experienced candidate – here are the three important factors to consider while choosing between GMAT and CAT. Easy or difficult is a far less important criterion.
Click on this article to get more information on choosing between not just CAT or GMAT but NMAT, XAT, SNAP and other management exams as well! The factors below are listed there as well, but it includes details about other management exams too.
1) As far as MBAs in India are concerned, the biggest fish is CAT
Give or take 90 out of the top 100 select based on CAT, with quite of a few of these selecting based only on CAT. This includes the IIMs (20 of these), IITs, SP Jain, FMS, Bajaj, NITIE, MDI, IMT, among a great many others.
2) For International MBAs, it is GMAT
Almost all universities in the US, UK, Australia, Singapore, Europe select based on GMAT. In India ISB and Great Lakes select based on GMAT. All the IIMs (+ MDI, XLRI etc) use the GMAT score for admissions into their executive MBA programs.
3) CAT or GMAT, which one should I take?
There are three simple rules:
- If you want to do your MBA in India, take CAT. In case you want to go abroad, take GMAT.
- If you are a fresher, take CAT. In case you have more than 4-5 years of experience, give preference to GMAT.
- If you have 2-4 years of experience and are not sure whether you want to do your MBA in India or abroad, then the decision in even simpler – Take both!
Apologies if I have been harsh on this blog post. Stay Safe and Best wishes for your entrance exam preparations – be it for CAT or GMAT.
Rajesh Balasubramanian takes the CAT every year and is a 4-time CAT 100 percentiler. He likes few things more than teaching Math and insists to this day that he is a better teacher than exam-taker.
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