A Little Problem There, IIMs

I gave the CAT exam this year in an attempt to secure admission into the prestigious IIMs and such. But my preparation was incomplete in some respects and so I ended up with only 86%. However, some of my friends managed to secure excellent percentiles in the range of 99+.

But no, even 99% isn't good enough in our country. They didn't get any significant calls, just because of their lack of work experience and previous academic records. I remember all the brouhaha that took place when the IIMs' admission criteria was announced. While I fully support the work-experience criteria and somewhat partially the graduation percentage criteria, I find the inclusion of the secondary school and senior-secondary school percentages to be unnecessary. To support my case, I present to you three arguments :

Argument 1 : In school, we are too young to realise the importance our marks hold in our future. We were naive and carefree. We did not know what IIMs were. Heck, we didn't even know what IITs were, let alone IIMs! Why must we be punished for a mistake our kiddie versions committed 6 years ago?

Argument 2 : The subjects we studied in class Xth and XIIth mainly consisted of English (or some other language), Science, Maths and Social Sciences. Now if we observe the IIM's testing procedure carefully, it can be easily pointed out that English and Maths are tested in CAT already, the social sciences part is covered during the GD/PI rounds and science is mostly applied logic. Now, when we are being tested on similar subjects again during the admission process, then why is our former selves' ability to score in these subjects being considered at all? Why isn't our current performance being given the full priority? IIMs try to test the candidate's true current potential via CAT, yet they fall back upon their previous performances.

Argument 3 : One of the reasons given by IIMs for this step is that they are looking for 'consistent performers'. I agree that consistent performers will most likely perform the same way in the future. But does that mean we should disregard people who have attempted to change for good? People who have started performing well once they found out the course / subject / job of their liking? How can someone be expected to excel in excel in everything he/she has come across in life? In my opinion, IIMs' reason is unfair to the people who were probably not comfortable with the subjects taught in school. As they say, nothing is permanent but change. There's no guarantee that a high scorer in school and college will necessarily be a better manager or thinker than any of the others. Oh, and doesn't the candidate's securing of a 99%+ in CAT despite having 70% in school suggest that he has improved a lot in 6 years?

Oh yes, ranting against the system is easy and anyone can complain. But luckily, I also came prepared with some solutions to the supposed 'problem' we have at hand : 
 
The proposed solution :
Apart from CAT, I also gave other tests like NMAT, SNAP, IIFT etc. But one exam I particularly enjoyed giving is the XAT exam. It was just because of one section called the 'decision making' section. Anyone who has given this exam will understand what I'm trying to say. I felt that each MBA exam should have a section like this one because in the end, 'Business Administration' is all about 'making decisions'. So, if I was given the privilege of designing the structure of IIM's selection process, here's what I would do : 

1. Restructure CAT : Have the following sections -

• Quantitative Ability - Testing basic maths
• Verbal Ability - Testing basic english skills
• Logical reasoning and Data Interpretation : Interpreting stats and facts
• Decision Making : Because management in all about the ability to take correct decisions. Give this section a high priority.

2. Restructure the selection criterion and GD/PI round -

For selection, do away with the unnecessary childhood academic performance of the candidate. Instead, consider the recent factors like the graduation performance (but with less priority), work-experience, extra-curriculars etc.

After the selection, have the following rounds :

• Business case study round : For assessing how well a candidate can process business data.
• GD : For assessing the communication abilities and GK.
• PI : For testing personality of the candidate.

Just to make things clear, I have nothing to fear from this rule of IIMs.. I have scored very good percentages in school board exams. But then opinions are like bad habits - everyone has one.

Oh, by the way, I am also planning on entering this article in this competition. Pray that I win.. :D