Search
Saturday, October 24, 2009
With CAT 2009 just round the corner, scores of MBA aspirants are still writing to MBAUniverse.com every day asking questions about the schedule of CAT 2009, exam methodology, and how to prepare for CAT 2009. We at MBAUiverse.com decided to cull out the key frequently asked questions, and answer them w
ith the help of our panel of inputs provided by IIMs, testing company Prometric, CAT & MBA experts
According to the information available with MBAUniverse.com, CAT entrance exam for 2009 is going to be held during a ten-day window starting from November 28 to December 7, 2009. While the IIMs have not released this information formally, MBAUniverse.com has learnt about these dates from reliable sources. We broke the news of these dates on June 26
In fact, IIM Ahmedabad on July 1, 2009, confirmed the dates indirectly. According to the IIM Ahmedabad website, CAT 2009 will be conducted during a ten-day window starting at the end of November 2009. (Click on this link to read the official IIM Ahmedabad document
According to IIMs, you have to buy the CAT 2009 voucher from the designated locations/bank branches after the advertisement appears in the newspapers. Candidate Testing Fee has been fixed at Rs. 1400 for general and Rs. 700 for SC/ST candidates. After registering yourself for the CAT entrance exam at their website, you will receive an email containing CAT 2009 Admit Card. Please ensure you have a valid email id.
From 2009, CAT entrance exam is going to be a computer-based test and it has been formally announced by the IIMs. Instead of reading the questions on a paper booklet and darkening the ovals on the answer-sheet, you will read the questions on a computer terminal and choose the answer by clicking a mouse. The format of the test will remain more or less the same. You can only take the test at designated test venues. At the test venue, you will be seated at a desk with a computer terminal and will be provided with a writing pad with numbered pages for calculations. This pad will be retained by the examiners. In order to familiarize yourself with the computer-based CAT exam, you should take more and more computer-based Mock Tests. All MBA coaching institutes offer computer-based Mock Tests nowadays. Also, you can check out online MBA coaching and test providing portals. Read the two article series of MBAUniverse.com, CAT 2009: MBA coaching portals logon to new computer-based format
The eligibility of taking CAT entrance exam is to obtain 50 per cent in graduation from any stream and any recognized college. The IIMs prefers candidates with work experience, but admission in a top MBA school depends on your performance of CAT entrance exam. If you do well in the written exam, you will get calls from various MBA schools for Group Discussion and Personal Interview. Depending on your performance in all three steps and quality of your CV, you will get admission offers. During the selection process, the educational qualification is also taken into account as it is not possible for everyone to cope up with the rigorous pressure of the MBA programs provided by the top MBA schools. Among the CAT 2008 toppers, interviewed by MBAUniverse.com, there were students who did not belong to engineering backgrounds such as Vipul Goyal. Vipul had done B.Com from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. He scored 99.87 percentile in CAT and is now in IIM Indore. Also Sitaram Agarwal (99.53 percentile holder), and Anurag Goyal (99.56 percentile holder), were students of B.Com from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, University of Calcutta. Both are now students of IIM Ahmedabad and FMS respectively. Read their interviews here:
Allotments and computer training for mentally ill
A new initiative was launched by Phil Hope, care services minister to mark a new era in mental health, end the stigma associated with the condition and encourage early treatment.
Urban allotments, reading groups and computer training were highlighted as schemes that the NHS is being urged to provide under the New Horizons campaign.
Poor mental health is already believed to cost the economy £77 billion a year and the independent health think tank, the King’s Fund, has predicted the cost will double to over 10 per cent of GDP by 2026.
A consultation was launched to bring together different agencies including schools, employers, the NHS and the criminal justice system, to investigate how to improve mental health of the nation.
One of the ideas under consideration is a dedicated youth mental health service as problems often begin early in life, experts said.
Prevention and early treatment are key themes in the consultation along with removing stigma and ensuring patients receive care tailored to their needs.
One in six people will have a mental health problem at any one time.
Care Services Minister Phil Hope said: “Better mental health and wellbeing is vital for a healthy society. People with mental health problems are more likely to do other things that damage their health, such as have a poor diet, smoke or take drugs. So promoting good mental health is a key part of tackling many other health inequalities.
“Over the last ten years of the national service framework we’ve transformed mental healthcare but now we want to go further. Our aim is to build on recent achievements, whilst simultaneously taking the next logical step – helping to prevent mental health problems from developing in the first place. New Horizons will help us do this."
Steve Shrubb, Director of the Mental Health Network of the NHS Confederation said: “Promoting mental health is everyone's business and the coalition fully supports the move to embedding good mental health across society while continuing to improve services.
Half of mental illness starts before the age of 14, Louis Appleby, National Director for Mental Health Services said and around half of these problems are preventable.
He added: “The New Horizons vision is about promoting better mental health and wellbeing. It is also about high quality, responsive services, that intervene early and effectively to lessen the long-term effects of mental ill-health.
"Services that are focused not only on treatment outcomes, but on wider quality of life issues, strengthened by efforts to promote social inclusion and tackle stigma and discrimination of every kind.”
Peter Carter, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said: “The chances are that everyone knows someone with a mental health issue, yet for far too long mental health has been hidden behind closed doors. Bringing the issue of mental health and wellbeing into the mainstream and making it everybody’s business is clearly a step in the right direction."
Plans to improve mental health must not sit on the shelf, Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, warned.
He said: “A key test for all these proposals will be their implementation. We know from the previous mental health strategy that only initiatives with a clear delivery plan get done.
“The idea of a youth mental health service is a good one. The transition to adulthood is when many mental health problems can become embedded. Most people with a mental health problem have been diagnosed by the age of 18. It’s much more sensible, not to mention cost effective, to help people stay well than pick up the pieces later on in life when their problems have become more serious."
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "The reading groups and allotments are examples of effective ways to promote mental wellbeing, we are not recommending that everyone in the country has access to these specific examples. Ultimately, the responsibility for commissioning mental health care and treatment rests with individual Primary Care Trusts."
USA Hopefuls Prove Themselves In Gold Cup
CHICAGO, Ill. - The U.S. Men’s National Team started the CONCACAF Gold Cup as the favorite in a sense, as the reigning two-time defending champion. But naysayers quickly turned up their noses when the roster was released. And now five games later… the USA is headed to the Final for the third consecutive year, and sixth time overall.They’ve done it all by doing one thing – playing their style of soccer.“We were confident in ourselves,” U.S. defensive midfielder Logan Pause said. “It was a different game this time, much tougher. We focused on ourselves and felt if we did the little things, we would have the advantage.”It’s worked effectively as the U.S. has collected a 4-0-1 record, while outscoring opponents 12-3. All-time in Gold Cup play, the USA has dominated opponents with a 36-4-5 record and outscoring them 85 to 26.This team was a younger team, lacking experience. But head coach Bob Bradley turned them into a winning combination. There were some close calls along the way, but all in all, the USA proved they have what it takes to make it to the final.If the USA wins, they’ll become the second team in CONCACAF history to win three straight Gold Cup titles.“We as a group feel we’ve come a long way in this tournament,” USA’s Stuart Holden said. “But our job isn’t done yet. We want to finish it off by winning the final. You always want to play in these games. Whether it’s Mexico or Costa Rica in the final, we’ll prepare the same way.”Holden has been a bright star for the USA in the tournament, creating chances and most of all making noise in the midfield. He’s been all over the field. Thursday night he created chance after chance. And at the end of the match, he assisted both goals.“Anytime I’m on the field, I want to do well. I’m competitive,” Holden said. “The guys around me are doing a good job of finishing balls off. It’s been an all around effort since the first game.”Holden has tallied two goals and three assists for the USA in Gold Cup play. He donned Landon Donovan’s No. 10 jersey, by accident. And has without a doubt proved that he belongs at least on the senior side’s radar screen, if not the roster for upcoming games.“I think Stuart is a player that has been on the verge of getting into our team for a while he’s one of the players that came out of the Olympics where he did well,” U.S. Head Coach Bob Bradley said. “In the January camp, he came out with an injury so he missed an opportunity. The timing of this tournament was good for him and like others…I think he’s taken advantage of it.”At the end of the day, the USA out shot Honduras 17 to 10. It was one of their better performances thus far in the tournament, which puts them in good position for the final. All the players performed at the top of their game, making it hard for Honduras."The U.S. is known for playing collectively,” Honduras head coach Reinaldo Rueda said. “It's hard to say that one player stands out. This is what they've worked for in the last couple years. They have invested time and resources in this project, and it's finally paying off."U.S. striker Brian Ching, who wore the captain’s armband for the match, said the team will be ready, regardless of the opponent.“There will be a lot of pressure on us going into the final. But it’s pressure we look forward to,” Ching said.The USA will face the winner of Costa Rica-Mexico Sunday, July 26th at Giants Stadium in their third straight Gold Cup fina
Gold revisits 15K-level on higher global cues
revisited the 15,000-mark after a gap of 3-1/2 months on the
Silver also firmed up smartly on fresh demand from industrial users. Gold rose to a six-week high in Europe today as weakening dollar boosted interest in other hard assets, including bullion. Spot gold was bid at $952.40 an ounce as against $950.40 an ounce late in New York on Wednesday. In early trade, it touched a high of $956.50 an ounce. Silver was at $13.74 an ounce as against $13.68. Turning to the domestic market, standard gold (99.5purity) shot up by Rs 85 per ten grams to Rs 15,020 from yesterday's closing level of Rs 14,935. The level had previously seen on April 1, 2009, when it was closed at Rs 15,130. Pure gold (99.9 purity) also hardened by Rs 90 per ten grams to Rs 15,095 from Rs 15,005. Silver ready (.999 fineness) rose by Rs 295 per kilo to Rs 22,800 as against Rs 22,505 yesterday.