‘Teach For Fun’ is a contest we at 2IIM announced as a run-up to the Teachers’ Day. Teaching and learning are two things that do not have finite limits (talking the language of Math, a subject that gives me immense joy). It is our strongest belief that new ideas, concepts and teaching methodologies, approaches and puzzles can come from anybody, irrespective of the “teacher” tag. When I took a look at all the entries submitted by our ever-enthusiastic students, it was thoroughly fascinating . It is always a good, refreshing sign when students chime in with Mathematical, logical puzzles and thoughtful musings on CAT and education, in general.
Thank you, once again, for participating in the contest. Happy Teachers’ Day to everybody out there. All of us are teachers, one way or the other.
Here is a short write-up by Neghaa Thillai, followed by an interesting approach to solving problems on Progressions by Sanath Reddy. Happy reading and solving!
Life After CAT
I know it is a little early to talk about life after CAT but most of us have already started wondering about our lives after CAT (CAT 2020 to be precise). Some might have already decided that they have no chance in this attempt, and started making plans for taking a break or settling in any average B-school. Some others might have even started searching for backup career options. These are the common 2 AM thoughts of every CAT aspirant. If you take the Google search history of any CAT aspirant, you will definitely see at least some, if not all, of the following searches.
Seeking ‘Life after CAT’ through Google
- If I score 90%ile in CAT, will I get a call from IIMs?
- What is the best B-school other than IIM and how much should I score to get into it?
- Is it even possible to clear CAT without dropping a year?
- What should I do next if CAT gets screwed up?
- Is there any chance of CAT 2020 getting cancelled (most frequent search nowadays)?
Guess what? All the answers you seek lie within one phrase.
“STOP OVERTHINKING”
I know it’s an absurd statement. There is no chance one can stop overthinking about a life-changing exam. But we can all agree that if we start preparing for this exam without thinking a lot about the consequences, we can actually do better.
The ‘What if?’ and life after CAT
Moreover, what if we don’t make it? We still had an amazing ride. Can we all just take a minute to appreciate how far we have come and how far we are going to reach?
When I started preparing for CAT, I was at Level 0. I had always been tormented enough by Math. Never would I have ever imagined I would be capable to even understand the problems which I am now solving with no difficulty. CAT preparation has enlightened me in more ways than one. I think we should take little pride in ourselves for even taking this effort to learn something in this most lethargic academic year. Life after CAT does not look bleak after all.
Steering clear
“Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.”
Arthur Ashe
Let’s keep all our 2 AM thoughts aside, and start enjoying the ride. Because it’s too early to think about our lives after CAT.
“When it’s after 2 am, just go to sleep. Because the decisions you make after 2 am are the wrong decisions.”
Ted Mosby, in ‘How I Met Your Mother‘
Progressing with Progressions: An Interesting Approach
After talking about ‘progress’ in its philosophical sense, it is only befitting if we also delve into the Progressions of Math. Here we go!
Neghaa Thillai is a CAT aspirant and an avid blogger.
Sanath Reddy is an alumnus of BITS Pilani (Class of 2018). He works with the Analytics team in Uber currently.
Very well written!❤️