While taking decisions, people are likely to make two kinds of errors. The statisticians call it Type 1 error and the Type 2 error. Let me try and keep it simple and call them the ‘Visible error’ and the ‘Invisible error.’
As a CEO I recruit a bad egg and he becomes a thorn in the flesh of the organisation. This error is open (visible) to the world and my regret will be out in the open. Suppose I reject a highly potential employee, nobody in the organisation would get to know about it (invisible). I would not realise the opportunity that I had let go. Later, if I get to hear of his exploits in another company, I would have a regret and a fleeting thought, “What if?” Incidentally, to play safe, most people opt to make the invisible error because the pressure of failure is far less and nobody will know about it.
When it comes to CAT, the opportunity cost due to a bad decision is quite high. It could be the loss of a year or compromising with a B-school far below one’s actual potential. With the plethora of choices for CAT preparation, the possibility of making an error also multiplies.
Should I self-prepare? If you have already hit the 98/99 percentile in the previous CAT, you will do the right thing by self-preparing with the materials that you already have and write a couple of MockCAT series. The only real question would be “Should I have a mentor to also vet my preparation and also help me create a good a strategy for CAT?” If a mentor can iron out your gaps and get you from a 99 percentile to a 99.8 percentile, would it be worth it? You pick a bad mentor (maybe good but can’t give too much personal time for you) or fail to pick a good mentor. If you pick a bad mentor you regret will be money lost. If you let go of an opportunity to work with a good mentor, you wouldn’t know what have you missed until someone in the 99.8 percentile category tells you that you missed the bus.
Less than the 95 percentile: With almost everyone in this category looking at coaching support, it might be foolhardy not to seek coaching support. It will create a level playing field. Preparation is 20% in the institutes (classes) and 80% as self-practice at home. No matter how superior the 20% is, if the 80% doesn’t happen religiously, it is goodbye to CAT. All institutes (small or big) have good materials, teachers and tests. The 20% is well covered and these aren’t differentiators anymore especially in this age of ‘internet’. The real difference comes when the ‘top gun’ in the institute is able to spend personal time with the aspirant and takes active interest in the 80%.
The ‘safe option’ decision in CAT coaching: The safe option decision is one that your friends will not be able to make fun of you. Join one of the large brands, CL, TIME or IMS and if you don’t make it, you are the one to blame because you didn’t work hard enough. The question is never asked, “Did they even take the minimum effort to find out how you are doing the 80% self- preparation?”. They just don’t have the time or bandwidth or interest to get to that level because they have thousands of students. But the brilliant ones who are highly motivated produce results for them and the rest see the result posters and join them. What the ordinary aspirants don’t understand is that these brilliant guys are the ones who actually don’t need coaching at all.
The seemingly ‘unsafe’ option: The small guy with few students. The ‘top gun’ in an institute, who aspires to take active interest in the 80% will be a small player with a few students. He can’t be otherwise because as the number of students go up, it becomes impossible to give personal attention. Hence it will be a relatively unknown brand and with higher fees because of the much higher personal time spent on each student.
If you join up with a small guy and he turns out to be an anti-climax, that’s a visible error in front of everyone and your friends will tell you, “I told you so”. If you bypass a small player who could have worked wonders with you, nobody would blame you for it and no friend will make fun of you. You may never regret it too unless you later hear that he has done real quality work with his few students.
Employee or Entrepreneur: Would you like to look at your CAT coaching experience as an entrepreneur or an employee? The emotionally safe bet, the seemingly rational decision like an employee –pick the large brand. Or the intuitive decision and the emotionally unsafe bet, like the entrepreneur – pick the small player.