Why CAT, XAT, GMAT Toppers Prefer to Join IMT Ghaziabad Over IIMs, IITs, IRMA? Reveal Secrets to MBAUniverse.com

Over the years IMT Ghaziabad, a leading B-school with prestigious AACSB Accreditation is attracting best talents to its PGDM programme. It may be noted that IMT Ghaziabad accepts CAT, XAT and GMAT score for PGDM admission and many toppers in these MBA entrance exams who were offered admission by IIMs, IITs, IRMA  preferred to join IMT Ghaziabad.

MBAUniverse.com interviewed some of such toppers studying in PGDM 2021-23 batch at IMT Ghaziabad. These indepth interviews will help our readers to know:

• How to Prepare for CAT/XAT/GMAT?
• What Preparation material should be used?
• How to Prepare for VARC, DILR, QA?
• What is the role of Mocks in Test Preparation?
• Last Minute Tips for the Exam day
• What should be the Test Taking Strategy?
• How to prepare and present yourself in GD-PI round?
• How to decide on MBA College for admission?

Before we start discussing about the MBA exams and the college decisions by these CAT & XAT toppers and now IMT Ghaziabad students, let’s first get to know them a little – who they are, where did they study, do they have work-experience and more. So here is a snapshot

CAT/XAT Toppers at IMT Ghaziabad Profiles: A Snapshot

Name & Hometown	Education	CAT 2020/XAT 2021 Percentile	Work Experience
Rahil Shah; Ahmedabad (Gujarat)	B.Tech in Mech Engg from Nirma University, Ahmedabad	CAT- 98.14%ile	36 months  as MSTR/Informatica developer at TCS Pune
Adithya Ravishankar; Chennai (Tamilnadu)	B.Tech Production and Industrial Engg from VIT, Vellore	XAT-96.5 %ile	35 Months as Senior Systems Engineer – Infosys Limited
Mayank Jain; Kota (Rajasthan)	B.Tech in Electrical Engg from  IIT ISM Dhanbad	CAT- 98.72 %ile	33 months in Mining/Cement Industry
Rahul Kharkia; Kolkata (West Bengal)	B.Com (Finance) from St. Xaviers College, Kolkata	CAT- 98.74 %ile	24 Months; 12 Months with Saraff Tooling Solution & 12 months with AnkStudeo as Sales Executive

As now that you know the CAT/XAT toppers at IMT Ghaziabad, read on for their in depth interviews with MBAUniverse.com.

“I Prepared for CAT in only Three Months” Rahil Shah: 98.14 Percentile in CAT 2020

Rahil Shah, a B.Tech in mechanical engineering from Nirma University, Ahmedabad cracked CAT 2020 with 98.14 percentile and is a student of PGDM 2021-23 batch at IMT GHaziabad. Before joining IMT Ghaziabad, Rahil has earned 3 years of work experience as MSTR/Informatica developer at TCS Pune. Rahil converted calls at IMT Ghaziabad, IIT Kanpur, IRMA, IMI Delhi but preferred to join IMT Ghaziabad. Rahil has keen interest in Film-making, Music, Travelling. Read all about Rahil’s CAT preparation strategy, his strengths and weaknesses, how he overcame them and why he preferred to join IMT Ghaziabad and declined the admission offers from other top B-schools

Q: Apart from IMT Ghaziabad, which were the other top B-schools that shortlisted you for final selection round.
A: Apart from IMT Ghaziabad, I was shortlisted by IRMA, IIT Kanpur and IMI Delhi

Q: What motivated you to choose IMT Ghaziabad over other B-schools? Please share top 3-4 reasons
A: IMT has a legacy of 40+ years. It is well-known for its marketing course that I intend to pursue and has close proximity to the growing NCR region. IMT is a top B-School not having any sectional cut-off for CAT.

Q: What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT 2020?
A:  I started preparing for CAT in August last year. First aim was to clear the basic concepts and then from September, to start attempting mocks. As many mocks as possible in the next 3 months.

Q: Was there any particular section/area that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge?
A: I was pretty average at VARC, which is a scoring subject for 99%ilers. Even in CAT 19, I scored only 87%ile. So, to improve the same, I joined Career Launcher mentor Gejo’s VARC1000 course. And over the next few weeks, my method to approach and comprehend any passage improved significantly. And once I understood the traps around which three incorrect options are generally formed, it was easy to eliminate them to arrive at the correct answer.

Q: Please share your sectional preparation strategy? How did you prepare for VARC; DILR; Quant?
A: My sectional preparation strategy for each section was:

VARC: I was average at VARC and to improve the same, I joined Career Launcher mentor Gejo’s VARC1000 course. In the next few weeks, my method to approach and comprehend any passage improved significantly. Once I understood the traps around which three incorrect options are generally formed, it was easy to eliminate them to arrive at the correct answer.

DILR: I took sectional mocks and solved the question sets even if it took double the time before looking at the solution. I used to get 95+ in mocks but in the final exam, swapped two answers in TITA questions. And straightaway lost 6 marks, failed to secure sectional cutoffs of many B-Schools. It is important you don’t lose your calm on the D-Day.

Quant: I cleared the basics first with Takshzilla’s fundabooks which are available online for free. After that I took sectional mocks…as many as I could.

Q: What role did Mocks play in your success? How many mocks did you attempt before the exam?
A: Mocks did play a major role in the preparation. I don’t have the count of how many mocks I attempted, but I used to attempt sectional mocks of QA everyday, DILR 3-4 on weekends and VARC 2-3 a week. I started taking full 2-hour mocks from mid October. Twice or thrice a week and analysed it over the weekend.

Q: Did you self-prepare or attend a coaching centre?
A: I didn’t join any coaching centre as I was working 9-hours a day and didn’t have luxury of time. But I did join VARC1000 course. For mocks, I had subscribed to IMS and TIME.

Q: Please share your strategy for the exam Day. What was your last-minute preparation? How did you plan your test taking?
A: I had no specific strategy in place for test taking. I had in my mind not to treat CAT 2020 any differently than countless other mocks I had taken in the past few weeks.

Q: How did you prepare for IMT GD/PI/WAT? Please share some of your GD/WAT topics & PI questions?
A: There was no GD/WAT for IMT. For PI, I had gone through my profile detail form I had filled on their portal and prepared for some of the hygiene questions.

• One of the panellists in PI questioned my career choices
• Why did I go for IT job after doing mechanical engineering?
• Why do I want to pursue marketing after working as a developer?
• The other panellist asked relevant current affairs questions.

Q: In this pandemic situation, was you PI-WAT conducted in person or was conducted Online? How was your experience?
A: It was done online on MS Teams. The experience was smooth since I was well-aware of how these platforms function.

Q: Your final message and tips for candidates preparing for CAT 2021
A: Once you are done with CAT, don’t take it lightly like I did. It is just the first of the many exams coming your way. Keep it simple. You will definitely get what you deserve.

“I had 4-5 hours of focussed preparation on Weekends” Adithya Ravishankar: 96.5 Percentile in XAT 2021

Adithya Ravishankar, a B.Tech in Production and Industrial Engineering from VIT - Vellore cracked CAT 2020 with 82.29 percentile and cracked XAT 2021 with 96.5 percentile. He is a student of PGDM 2021-23 batch at IMT Ghaziabad. Before joining IMT Ghaziabad, Adithya served Infosys Limited as Senior Systems Engineer for almost three years (35 months).  Adithya likes Music (Percussions) and Reading. Read all about Adithya’s CAT and XAT preparation strategy, his strengths and weaknesses, how he overcame them and why he preferred to join IMT Ghaziabad and declined the admission offers from other top B-schools

Q: Apart from IMT Ghaziabad, which were the other top B-schools that shortlisted you for final selection round.
A: I was shortlisted by FORE School of Management apart from IMT Ghaziabad

Q: What motivated you to choose IMT Ghaziabad over other B-schools? Please share top 3-4 reasons
A: Top reasons to join IMT Ghaziabad are:

• IMT is a long standing institution which has garnered a reputation of being among the Best B Schools in the country
• IMT is renowned for its marketing courses and specialization
• Top recruiters of the country are regulars at IMT
• The Alumni base is excellent and there are a lot of contributions from them towards the betterment of the institution.

Q: What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT and XAT?
A: I had focussed preparation for a couple of hours per day. As I was working as well, I had to prioritize my optimal concentration time. On weekends, I had 4-5 hours of focussed preparation, spread into pockets for each section.

Q: Was there any particular section/area that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge?
A: Despite being an engineer, QA was one area I lacked accuracy in. My strategy was to minimize my errors and reduce time in checking answers, so that I could find more time for difficulty questions.

Q: Please share your sectional preparation strategy for CAT and XAT?
A: I am comfortable with VARC, so directly started with sample questions for that. For DILR and QA, I used study material and worked on my skills. Also, I played a lot of puzzle games in my leisure time to stay in the zone of problem solving.

Q: How many Mocks did you take? What role did Mocks play in your success?
A: I gave 1 mock per week for 2 months before the exam and gave previous paper attempts every week for 1 month in mask and covid gear. They played a major role in creating the environment considering the pandemic.

Q: Did you self-prepare or took help of a coaching institute?
A: I self-studied as my work hours did not permit me to attend dedicated coaching.

Q: Please share your test day strategy? How did you plan your test taking?
A: My last minute preparation was to isolate all my doubts on the exam day and focus on my strengths. Getting my mind ready to go into the exam with a positive mindset was important. I was more concerned about the COVID protocols and kept my mind busy with mundane activities instead of worrying.

Q: How did you prepare for IMT GD/PI/WAT? Please share some of your PI questions?
A: My PI at IMT was focussed on my work experience and what I wanted additionally out of my course at IMT. As an aspiring marketing student, I wanted to get back into the IT sector, so I elaborated on the marketing analytics aspirations I had.

Q: In this pandemic situation, was you PI-WAT conducted in person or was conducted Online? How was your experience?
A: My PI was conducted online. It was an interesting experience with very good technical support by the admissions and IT team at IMT.

Q: Your final message and tips for candidates preparing for CAT /XAT
A: My message is:

• Do not worry if you feel overloaded or if a couple of results don’t go your way
• Everyone in IMT has gone through it and has made it to one of the top B schools in the country
• You are being chosen not only for your marks, but also who you are as a person
• Have your thoughts clear and goals defined, and the path will appear for you.

“I Treated the Exam like Another Mock” Mayank Jain: 98.72 percentile in CAT 2020

Mayank Jain, a B.Tech in Electical Engineering from IIT ISM Dhanbad cracked CAT 2020 with 98.72 percentile and is a student of PGDM 2021-23 batch at IMT Ghaziabad. Before joining IMT Ghaziabad, Mayank had earned 33 months of work experience in engineering domain in Mining/Cement Industry. Mayank converted calls at IIM Rohtak and IMT Ghaziabad but preferred to join IMT Ghaziabad. Mayank has keen interest in Cricket, Basketball, Dance, Travel. Read all about Mayank’s CAT preparation strategy, his strengths and weaknesses, how he overcame them and why he preferred to join IMT Ghaziabad and declined the admission offers from IIM Rohtak

Q: Apart from IMT Ghaziabad, which were the other top B-schools that shortlisted you for final selection round.
A: Apart from IMT Ghaziabad, I was shortlisted by IIM Rohtak, IIT Kharagpur

Q: What motivated you to choose IMT Ghaziabad over other B-schools? Please share top 3-4 reasons
A: There are multiple reasons to choose IMT Ghaziabad

• Large Alumni base of IMT
• IMT legacy
• IMT Infrastructure
• High Placements at IMT
• Location in close proximity to New Delhi

Q: What was your overall preparation strategy?
A: I focused on building base strong i.e. basic concepts should be thorough clearly and then I started building advance on the topics that I wanted to make my strength.

Q: Was there any particular section/area that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge?
A: Yes, VARC was my weak area. To improve this, I read daily for two hrs dedicatedly and focused on accuracy and not on attempting more questions.

Q: Please share your sectional preparation strategy? How did you prepare for VARC; DILR; Quant?
A: Quant is my strength as I am from engineering background. DILR strategy was practicing large number of variety of questions with time bound in practice. VARC strategy was to just read and focus on accuracy.

Q: What role did Mocks play in your success? How many mocks did you attempt before the exam?
A: Mocks helped me in gauging my performance and let me know what are my strengths and weakness. I took thirty mocks.

Q: Did you self-prepare or attend a Coaching Centre for Preparation?
A: I opted for coaching centre online. It helped me in assisting in maintaining right direction and put pressure on me to adhere to deadlines

Q: Please share your strategy for the Exam Day. How did you plan test taking on Exam day?
A: My strategy was to just remain calm and confident. I followed the same strategy that I  had followed in the last five mocks what I had attempted irrespective of my scores and percentiles.

Q: How did you prepare for IMT GD/PI/WAT? Please share some of your PI questions?
A: My tips for WAT & PI are

WAT- Brush up your current affairs of last six months and make pros and cons of any topic and then build your personal opinion. 

PI - You should be thorough with your CV. Prepare the Behavioural/HR questions before hand to avoid any hick ups.

Q: In this pandemic situation, was you PI-WAT conducted in person or was conducted Online? How was your experience?
A: There was no WAT, only PI was conducted online. My experience was decent. However, my preferred choice will always be offline

Q: Your final message and tips for candidates preparing for CAT or XAT
A: The message and tips for preparation are:

• Stay away from all the distractions
• Focus on studies
• Maintain your temperament
• CAT preparation is marathon not a sprint so be consistent, resilient and confident
• Enjoy few moments whenever you feel it is ok.
• Believe me when you get your dream B-school, all the sacrifices you have given in the last year will be worth.  

“I calmly Prepared without pressure for each section at my pace”  Rahul Kharkia: 98.74 Percentile in CAT 2020

Rahul Kharkia, a B.Com (Finance) from St.Xaviers College, Kolkata cracked CAT 2020 with 98.74 percentile and is a student of PGDM 2021-23 batch at IMT Ghaziabad. Rahul also appeared in XAT 2021 and scored 78%ile; scored 96.41%ile in IIFT and score of 261 out of 360 in NMAT by GMAC.

Before joining IMT Ghaziabad, Rahul had earned 12 months of work experience as Sales Executive with Saraff Tooling Solution and 12 months as Sales Executive with AnkStudeo. Rahul converted calls at XIMB, IIM Rohtak, IIM Vishakapatnam, IIM Trichi, IIM Raipur, apart from IMT Ghaziabad but preferred to join IMT Ghaziabad. Rahul has keen interest in Gaming, Reading, Painting, Travelling. Read all about Rahul’s CAT preparation strategy, his strengths and weaknesses, how he overcame them and why he preferred to join IMT Ghaziabad and declined the admission offers from other top B-schools.

Q: Apart from IMT Ghaziabad, which were the other top B-schools that shortlisted you for final selection round.
A: I was shortlisted by IIM Rohtak, XIMB apart from IMT Ghaziabad

Q: What motivated you to choose IMT Ghaziabad over other B-schools? Please share top 3-4 reasons
A: My top reasons for selecting IMT Ghaziabad were as follows –

• College Name
• Wide range of recruiting companies
• College Location

Q: What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT/XAT/IIFT?
A: My strategy was to study at my own pace. I started preparing for CAT 2020 from March 2020. I focused mainly on understanding the topics carefully and analysing all the mistakes that I made in mocks. No pressure taken and prepared for each section calmly.

Q: Was there any particular section/area that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge?
A: My VARC section was the weakest. I used to score around 60 percentile in my initial mocks. Then I realised that you need to do this section very calmly and with full concentration. You can’t rush through VARC. So, I started reading newspapers and articles to increase my retaining capacity. I ended up scoring 85 percentile in the actual exam.

Q: Please share your sectional preparation strategy? How did you prepare for VARC; DILR; Quant
A: The sectional preparation strategy was:

VARC –I stayed calm during this section, read newspapers and articles on a daily basis and tried and solved as much RCs as possible. I used to solve around 15-20 RCs per week and around 6-7hrs weekly on VA.

LRDI – I Practiced as much as possible. This was my favourite section. I used to solve at least 8-10sets of LRDI daily with a timer. You need to be able to solve but also have to be fast so a timer really helped me.

Quants – I focused on my weaker sections first which were Geometry and Algebra. For arithmetic I used to practice almost daily and made it my strong point. If an arithmetic problem was there in a mock, I made sure that I attempt it and get it correct also. We need to just strategize for quants. Don’t have to attempt all the questions just 12-15 correct questions and you are through.

Q: What role did Mocks play in your success? How many mocks did you attempt before the exam?
A: Mocks are a crucial part of CAT. Mocks give you a rough estimate of how the D-Day is going to pan out and where you stand. Mocks helped me understand my weaker sections, the areas I need to focus more on and what mistakes I was making during the exam. I used to give 2 mocks per week and attempted around 25-30 mocks before the exam.

Q: Did you self-prepare or attend a coaching centre and why?
A: I prepared myself for the exam. No specific reason as such but I prefer to understand things at my own pace. I take my time to slowly grasp the concepts and once I do so I never forget. So while preparing I was able to focus on the nuances which might be rushed through or overlooked in a coaching centre.

Q: Please share your strategy for the D-Day. What was your last-minute preparation? How did you plan your test taking?
A: I stayed calm on that day. I had prepared for it and ccould clear it easily. My exam was from 9 AM. I woke up around 7:30 AM and got dressed. After waking up didn’t prepare anything, no phone, no music, no notes, no stress. Just stay calm and recollect yourself. You will definitely outperform. During the exam, I focused on each section individually, one section at a time. You have to give your best in all the 3 sections. My VARC section did not go that well but I didn’t let that affect me in the other 2 sections. Never carry forward your performance in one section to another.

Q: How did you prepare for IMT GD/PI/WAT? Please share some of your GD/WAT topics & PI questions?
A: I used to read newspapers daily. I prepared for a few GD topics but no GDs were conducted because of the pandemic. Know your CV well for PI. The interviewers will ask you about whatever is there in your CV. Stay confident and more importantly stay honest. Don’t lie or make up things, the interviewers will catch you immediately.

In my PI, I was asked about my work experience majorly like what kind of training did you go through, why sales, etc. Some academic related questions were also asked like favourite subject, etc.

Q: In this pandemic situation, was you PI-WAT conducted in person or was conducted Online? How was your experience?
A: My PI was conducted online. It was a pleasant experience, no issues faced as such. My interview time was allotted to me and PI happened around that time only. The interviewers were very friendly and created a calm environment.

Q: Your final message and tips for candidates appearing for CAT 2021/XAT 2022
A: Stay calm. The D-day is right around the corner. You are prepared for it. Now is the time to just relax and go through the topics. No mocks in the last week, no new topics to be touched. Just go through older mocks and revise concepts, that’s it. NO STRESS Now.

Hope this article will help you in preparing well for your MBA entrance exam, overcoming your weak areas, devising test taking strategy, taking decision on MBA admission to your dream B-School and more.

Also Read

• IMT Ghaziabad Admission
• IMT Ghaziabad Placements
• IMT Ghaziabad Alumni
• CAT & XAT Toppers, Sports Champions reveal why they chose IMT Ghaziabad

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more articles on MBA Exam Preparation & MBA Admissions