India won all their matches in this world cup except 1. Australia lost 2, one of them to India itself. But Australia will still go down in cricket history as World Cup 2023 Champions. No body would remember that they lost 2 matches. Nobody would care. Those 2 matches are irrelevant. And no body will care that India won most matches in the tournament-10 out of 11. Those matches don’t count either. India lost the one that mattered most. That’s the truth of life- you don’t have to win every battle but just a few key ones!
Same is true for you CAT ’23 aspirants too. Even if you rarely ever scored a 80%ile in your mocks but score 95%ile in CAT, it is the 95%ile that will count. It cuts the other way round too! If you consistently scored 97+ in mocks but could manage just 85%ile, then 85%ile it is. You don’t get to claim your mock scores. No B-school is going to consider your mock %iles, no matter how impressive.
Coming back to Australia’s victory, how did this happen? India are surely a stronger side, clear favorites for the cup throughout. In this very tournament, India bowled out Australia for less than 200 and then handed them a 6-wicket defeat with around 9 overs to spare. It was not even a competition that day. How did Australia beat a stronger side that was on a victory juggernaut and had high morale? Simple- it’s all about that one day!! And we all know that the wind can blow in any direction on a given day. History of cricket is full of such examples where David defeated Goliath when it was David’s day.
In my 14 years of experience, I have seen the same in CAT: students who never managed even 70s ending up in 90s! Those who did not even bother to apply for FMS, believing it was not even within the realm of possibility for them to get 98%ile, eventually clearing the FMS cut off (though still not getting FMS call because of not having applied for it) and those of other top Bschools. The point is- ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE ON THAT ONE DAY. Just as it is in Stock Market, past performance does not guarantee future returns and each day is a new one. So keep your chin up and believe in the possibility that 26 Nov ’23 could be that one good day that you need! And one good day is indeed all you need 🕺
Talking about Stock Market, I hope Suzlon crosses 50 by the time I return from Pushkar. Those of you who know me, will know how Suzlon and I have a long history 😛
All the best
Your VARC mentor
Lokesh Sharma
Lokesh Sharma is a serial 99%iler in CAT VARC section and has mentored 1000s of students to top B-Schools. His classes are loved for innovative techniques like SAP, unique Lokeshism tricks and legendary examples through which he makes the most complex concepts simple like ABCD. He is the top VARC educator at Unacademy. You can check out his free sessions here:
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