CAT Toppers 2024 List: Check Toppers Name, Score & Percentile
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Yogesh Taneja
Exam score : 100.00 percentileBy cracking CAT 2017 with 100 percentile, Yogesh, a commerce graduate, has proved that IIM-CAT is no more an engineers’ domain nor it can be conquered only by students of Metros. Coming from the small town of Kaithal in Haryana, Yogesh, a B.Com from SRCC Delhi, belongs to a modest family which runs a poultry farm in Kaithal.
Yogesh, now a student of IIM Calcutta for PGP 2018-20 shares with MBAUniverse.com his CAT preparation journey for the benefit of CAT aspirants
Q. What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT?
A. I started preparing for CAT’17 during the month of June 2017. For me, the time till the final exam day can be divided in two phases. First, when I spent most of the time learning new things each day, figuring out my weak spots and not worrying about the performance in mocks/test sheets etc. In the second phase, along with practicing those concepts I used to constantly evaluate through mocks from different coaching institutes, sectionals, workshops and spent an equal amount of time analysing my performance to find key areas that could help me improve.
Q. How did your prepare for Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC)?
A. As someone who isn’t very strong at vocabulary, I had decided to focus on other aspects of the VARC section. I began with the RC portion considering its huge weightage and focused on getting accuracy first by practicing without any time limit. To improve my reading speed, I decided to read random online articles about things that are not my direct area of interest like botany, psychology etc. I couldn’t get my accuracy high enough in the VA section and thus I decided to focus most of my exam time on the RCs. Also while attempting the exam, my strategy was to keep track of the amount of time I spent on each of the RCs (which would roughly be 2 minutes per question towards the end).
Q. What was your preparation Strategy for Quantitative Ability (QA)?
A. For me QA was the section I spent the most time on given its vast variety of questions. I started off by learning the concepts through basic questions from each topic and increased the difficulty gradually. Once I was done with the printed material provided by TIME, I started taking sectionals with increasing difficulty level and solved the printed material once again with focus on speed this time. I usually used to look up the solution of questions that took me more than enough time to solve in order to figure out a faster way. Also, I realized that it’s not mandatory for someone to cover all the topics rather it’s more important to be able to face any question from the topics that you have covered, hence I ensured that I was thorough with whichever topic I was doing.
Q. How did you prepare for Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning Section in CAT?
A. DILR is the section that has the greatest amount of surprise element in it. Hence, the key lies in practice. The more you practice, the better you are at choosing the right sets and figuring out how to crack it. Time is a crucial factor for all the sections but most of all for DILR. But during the initial stage, I decided to focus more on accuracy and approach. Gradually, I was able to increase the number of questions I could attempt. Also, one needs to be able to decide when to stop trying to do a particular set and for the same I used to ensure that I don’t spend more than requisite time on a particular set.
Q. Was there any particular section/area that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge?
A. In the initial few mocks, I struggled a lot with selection of the right LRDI sets, something that almost everyone faces. Soon I realized that the problem is stemming out of my lack of practice with different sets at the same time. Thus I started writing full-fledged sectionals for the section and was able to make the right picks gradually.
Q. What role did Mocks play in your success? How many mocks did you attempt before the exam?
A. During the first half of my preparation period, my focus was not on the mocks as much as on the basic concepts. But as the time progressed, I moved from the books to the sectionals to the mocks. Towards the end, most of my preparation time would be taking and analysing mocks. The idea was to have faced every possible scenario before the final exam and after writing roughly 40 mocks(both TIME and CL), I was comfortable with any surprises that the exam had.
Q. Did you self-prepare or attend a coaching centre and why?
A. I attended regular 1 year coaching classes offered by TIME. Since CAT has very limited guidance on syllabus and an even limited material to refer to from the past years, I decided to join the coaching to get a better insight regarding the exam and to be able to do the syllabus in a more structured way. Also, to be in a classroom full of people writing CAT helps you keep up with the competition, after all, it’s a relative scoring exam.
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Vishal Vohra
Exam score : 100.00 percentileVishal Vohra has scored 100 percentile in CAT 2017. His sectional score in Verbal Ability in Reading Comprehension (VARC) is 98.9; in Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) the score is 100 percentile and in Quantitative Ability (QA) the score is 99.99 percentile. Vishal also appeared in IIFT entrance exam and XLRI - XAT 2018.
Vishal is an Engineering graduate in Civil Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. He loves playing Cricket and Badminton and one of his hobbies is Cooking.
During his prepration for CAT 2017, Vishal first tried to find out his weaknesses in each section and worked upon them to turn them into his strengths. Along with this he ensured to continue improving his strong areas. Vishal despite being offered admission by many IIMs, plans to join one of the top three IIMs namely, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta or IIM Bangalore.
Preparation Strategy
Vishal focused on his weaknesses and further improved his strengths during his CAT 2017 preparation journey. He attempted as many Mock Tests as possible before the CAT 2017 exam day. After taking the Mocks, Vishal analysed each of them and tried to improve further on each of his weaknesses. He worked hard to improve his speed with accuracy and the Mocks also played important role in helping him achieve this goal.DILR – Tough Section
According to Vishal, DILR was tough section for him in CAT 2017. Despite this, Vishal has scored 100 percentile in DILR section.Self - Preparation Remains the Key to Success
Vishal did not attend any regular coaching classes although he opted for best Mock Tests Series. To crack CAT 2017 he opted for self study and took need based help wherever required. In his view, if one is confident and deploys sincere efforts in CAT preparation, it is possible to crack CAT with high score with self - preparation.Key Preparation Tips by Vishal Vohra
- Identify first the Strengths and weaknesses section-wise
- Understand the Basics first and make your concepts and fundamentals clear
- Take as many Mocks as possible and analyse each mock to assess your performance
- Improve your Speed with Accuracy
- Coaching is not mandatory. Focus on self preparation and opt for need based coaching
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Pattrick D'Souza
Exam score : 100.00 percentilePatrick DSouza has scored 100 percentile in CAT for the fourth time. He is 41 years old and runs a coaching centre in Mumbai and takes the exam to understand the key changes in its pattern and syllabus every year. For the last 14 years he has been taking CAT every year.
DSouza belongs to Thane, Mumbai and has done B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from NIT Allahabad in 1997. For the first time, he appeared in CAT in 2000 but could not get one of the top IIMs. However, he cracked MAH-CET and joined JBIMS Mumbai to pursue the flagship MMS programme.
Preparation strategy
Before launching the coaching for CAT, Patrick had worked in Corporate sector for four years.
While teaching the students to prepare for CAT exam, he came to realize his first time mistakes. His main focus is on logic and aptitude and he grooms students to understand and grasp the subjects well.
With the consistent practice and improved skills focused on to the point preparation, DSouza found the way to crack CAT 2017 with 100 percentile as he has been doing for the last four years.
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Meet Agarwal
Exam score : 100.00 percentileQ1 What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT 2017?
I Joined Endeavor Careers in Surat for coaching. Initially, I could not devote all my time to CAT as I was also preparing for Chartered Accountant course. In the last 3 months rigorously prepared for CAT devoting 16 hours daily.
Q2 Please share your sectional preparation strategy for CAT 2017? How did you prepare for each section VARC, DILR, Quant? What study materials and books did you use?
In the last 3 months rigorously prepared for CAT devoting 16 hours daily. Practiced more mocks.
Q3 How can candidates use Mock tests better? What is your advice?
Taking mock tests and analyzing them well are the most important steps in the preparation. Attempted more than 80 mock tests to achieve this course.
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Sai Praneeth Reddy
Exam score : 100.00 percentileSai Praneeth Reddy who scored 100 percentile in CAT 2017 has done B.Tech from IIT Madras. He belongs to small place Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh. Sai had prepared well for CAT 2017 exam and had also expected a very good score but probably scoring 100 percentile was not in his mind. He is very happy on scoring the highest score in CAT exam. Sai belongs to a business family but has been motivated to do well in IIT entrance and then in CAT.
Overall & sectional CAT scores
His overall score is 232.32 which has led to 100 percentile. On sectional front he has scored 64.43 in VARC leading to 95.65 percentile; 73.87 in DILR leading to 100 percentile and 94.01 in Quant leading to 99.97 percentile.
Preparation strategy
Sharing his preparation strategy, Reddy says that he focused more on Mocks and AIMCAT. According to him he was very punctual in writing a mock daily from 9AM to 12noon and analysed it later well after evaluation for the errors. This strategy has helped him to crack CAT 2017 with 100 percentile.
Reddy’s strong areas are Quant and DILR but he needed hard work in VARC which he took up in the last one month. Mocks helped him to improve a lot in CAT preparation.
Key advice for CAT 2018 aspirants
His only advice to CAT 2018 aspirants is to learn from mistakes and don’t miss AIMCAT. To improve in VARC the best way, according to him is to start reading novels and articles and to further strengthen the Quant the CAT 2018 aspirant should have the clarity on basics and strong furndaments. -
Gyayak Jain
Exam score : 100.00 percentileCAT 2017 can be conquered with 100 percentile by the determined students is proved by Gyayak Jain, a student of PGP 2017-19 batch at IIM Ahmedabad. Gyayak Jain scored 100 percentile in CAT despite the fact he was a working professional and had to keep a balance between work and CAT preparation.
Gyayak preferred self preparation instead of joining some coaching although he made it a point to attempt as many mocks before the CAT exam as possible. More importantly, Gyayak analysed each and every mock and developed his own logic to solve the problems.
One of the key strategies he adopted was that he moved on to next problem, if he was not satisfied with the tailor-made solution which did not conform to his logic.
Gyayak advises CAT 2017 aspirants to believe in themselves. In his view CAT is an easy exam but you need to believe in yourself.
Gyayak Jain is from Indore and has done B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi in 2016. Before joining IIM Ahmedabad, he was working for 7 months with Deloitte. Photography and reading comics are his hobbies.
Apart from CAT exam, he did not appear in any other MBA entrance test.
My exam prep strategy, experience & Advice:
For the benefit of MBA aspirants, MBAUniverse.com asked Gyayak Jain about his preparation strategy and advice to do well in MBA entrance exams. Details follow:
MBAUniverse.com: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?
Gyayak (CAT topper): My overall preparation strategy for CAT 2016 revolved around giving mock tests, reviewing my performance and improving in the areas where the performance was not good enough.
MBAUniverse.com: How did you prepare for each section QA, VARC & DILR? What study materials and books did you use?
Gyayak (CAT topper):
For VARC, I slowly improved as I took mock tests and tried eliminating issues associated with various sections of it.
For DI/LR, after giving many mock tests, I came out with a section attempting strategy. It was selection of appropriate sets out of 8 sets of questions, in which mostly 4 were DI and 4 of LR. I tried to look through all the sets in one go in starting in first 2-5 minutes and decide on (based on my comfort level of those type of problems) which were my first 2 sets to be attempted, then next 2, and so on. I tried distributing these 2 sets by selecting 1 set from DI and 1 from LR.
For Quant, I used TIME study modules to get me acquainted with various formulas and tricks of solving various types of problems. The practice for it was done in mock tests. Also, I had no guilt in leaving questions which I was uncomfortable with or was unsure about. I did not waste time in re-solving a question more than once if I am not getting any of the options.
MBAUniverse.com: Was there any particular section that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge?
Gyayak (CAT topper): I believe I was weak in VARC and therefore I started by looking into model answers given in the solutions and tried to understand if I associated with the logic given in the solution. If I was satisfied with the logic given in the solution, which was not always true, I tried to look problems from that point of view also in the next mock. When I was not convinced with the solution, I ignored the mistake and went ahead with my intuition/logic in next mocks too. If I find that same mistake is repeating, then I tried to find out situations where my logic will not work. I tried experimenting with various exam attempting strategies and realised I get fatigued if I do same kind of problems together in one go, so I mix-matched various types of questions.
MBAUniverse.com: How can candidates use Mock tests better? What is your advice?
Gyayak (CAT topper): Mock are the best place to learn about the areas of improvement as by looking through the solution you realise the types of questions you could have done and type which you have no clue about, so that you can modify your preparation strategy accordingly. Also, one can experiment with various exam attempting strategies and come upon an optimal one, best for oneself. So, I believe that mocks are to be used with most effectiveness as their results have no effect on your life.
MBAUniverse.com: Did you go to offline coaching centre? What role does a coaching centre play?
Gyayak (CAT topper): No, I am therefore unable to answer about the role it can play.
MBAUniverse.com: Other than CAT, which exam did you appear?
Gyayak (CAT topper): None. I appeared only in CAT 2016
MBAUniverse.com: Which institutes did you apply for admission?
Gyayak (CAT topper): I applied for IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore
MBAUniverse.com: Please share your strategy for the CAT Day. What was your last-minute preparation? How did you plan your CAT test taking?
Gyayak (CAT topper): For CAT day, I tried to be relaxed and a day before the exam, I tried to base my confidence by looking at the mock in which my performance was good. According to my experience, a good night sleep is more fruitful then last minute preparations. Also, an important aspect is time keeping, i.e. to come up on your average time taken for a problem and trying to stick to it on the CAT day.
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Mukesh Goyal
Exam score : 100.00 percentileCAT 2017 can be conquered with 100 percentile by the determined students from small towns and with their self preparation, is the message Mukesh Goyal, CAT 2016 topper with 100 percentile and student of MBA 2017-19 batch at FMS Delhi shares with the CAT 2017 aspirants.
Apart from CAT, Mukesh appeared in XAT 2017 and IIFT 2016 also. He scored 99.795 in XAT and 99.84 in IIFT but preferred to join FMS Delhi as it was his dream B-school.
Mukesh hails from a modest family of small town Sunam in Sangrur district of Punjab. His father is a businessman and mother is homemaker. Sunam, as the name reflects represents a good reputation and true to the reputation of his birth place, Mukesh has added flying colours to it. Few may be aware that Sunam is also the birthplace of Shaheed Udham Singh, the great martyr who laid his life in Indian independence Movement by avenging of Jalianwala Bagh Massacre where British killed hundreds of innocent Indians.
Mukesh Goyal was a working professional when he started his CAT 2016 preparation. He balanced his CAT preparation with his working hours and managed both. It was not only simple preparation but also a good deal of devotion was required to overcome the weakness in VARC section.
Breaking the myth that Coaching is required to crack CAT exam, Mukesh remained stuck to self preparation but took as many Mocks as possible. An inspiration to CAT 2017 aspirants, Mukesh advises the MBA aspirants to take more and more Mocks, analyse them and have peer discussion which will help in boosting your score in CAT 2017.
Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) of Delhi University is the dream B-school for CAT toppers who prefer the campus to IIMs and other top B-schools due to the various USPs of this highly ranked B-school which has a legacy of more than 60 years. FMS Delhi is the highest RoI B-school with very low fee structure and high placements.
Mukesh has been a consistent performer throughout his academics. He scored 91.2% in class 10; 87.8% marks in class 12 and 72% marks in Bachelor in Engineering (B.E.). Mukesh had worked as Market Analyst at Futures First before joining MBA 2017-19 at FMS Delhi. Mukesh has great interest in playing and watching Cricket & Football doing Acting among other hobbies.
My exam prep strategy, experience & Advice:
For the benefit of MBA aspirants, MBAUniverse.com asked Mukesh Goyal about his preparation strategy and advice to do well in MBA entrance exams. Details follow:MBAUniverse.com:What was your preparation strategy for CAT 2016?
Mukesh Goyal (CAT topper): My strategy was to improve my weak areas and strengthen my strong areas. I focused on mocks as I think through Mocks, one can check his/her preparation level easily and can accordingly improve. Also, I used to have discussion with my friends who were preparing for CAT as well and that helped me a lot in my preparation.MBAUniverse.com: How did you prepare for each section in CAT exam – VARC, DILR & QA? What study materials and books did you use?
Mukesh Goyal (CAT topper): I prepared for CAT mainly through mocks. I used to write 1-2 mocks per weekend and then analyse those mocks and make changes to my approach accordingly. I used to prepare mainly through mocks, sectional and topic specific tests.MBAUniverse.com: Was there any particular CAT exam section that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge?Mukesh Goyal (CAT topper): I was weak at VA section. I practiced sectional tests and topic specific tests in order to improve this section. I used to focus on analysis part of these tests. I used to solve a lot of RCs and CR questions.
MBAUniverse.com: How can candidates use Mock tests better in CAT 2017 exam? What is your advice?
Mukesh Goyal (CAT topper): One can try different types of strategies in mocks and accordingly see what kind of strategy suits him/her better. All the mock questions – incorrect, correct and un-attempted should be analysed properly. Through proper analysis, one can know about his/her weak and strong areas and can work accordingly. Attempting the easy and doable questions first and leaving the difficult ones for the last is really important and one can learn about this through mocks.MBAUniverse.com: Did you go to offline coaching centre? What role does a coaching centre play?
Mukesh Goyal (CAT topper): I did not go for any offline coaching. I think apart from providing subject knowledge, coaching might help you in getting in regular touch with studies. It depends on the individual whether he/she needs coaching or not. Students have done well in CAT with coaching as well as without coaching.MBAUniverse.com: Other than CAT, which exam did you appear?
Mukesh Goyal (CAT topper): I appeared for XAT 2017 and IIFT 2016. I scored 99.795 percentile in XAT 2017 and 99.84 percentile in IIFT.MBAUniverse.com: Which institutes did you apply for admission?
Mukesh Goyal (CAT topper): I applied for IIMs, FMS, XLRI and IIFT .MBAUniverse.com: Please share your strategy for the CAT Day. What was your last-minute preparation? How did you plan your CAT test taking?
Mukesh Goyal (CAT topper): For the CAT day, I just had one simple thing in my mind that I need to be calm. I knew that if I would be calm, I would do well as I was well prepared. I had no particular test taking strategy in my mind. I just wanted to see the exam first and then make the strategy accordingly. I did not want to have any preconceived notions and that thing to affect my exam. -
Avidipto Chakraborty
Exam score : 100.00 percentileAvidipto Chakraborty scored a perfect 100 percentile in CAT 2016 in his first attempt itself! What’s interesting about Avidipto is that he completely relied on self-studies and did not take get enrolled in any coaching centres. Avidipto believes that his success is due to the number of mock tests he has taken for the CAT preparation. Avidipto took 80+ mock tests for preparation! Avidipto is now targeting MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad. He wishes to be an entrepreneur in the future.
Avidipto Chakraborty scored a perfect 100 percentile in CAT 2016 in his first attempt itself! What’s interesting about Avidipto is that he completely relied on self-studies and did not take get enrolled in any coaching centres. Avidipto believes that his success is due to the number of mock tests he has taken for the CAT preparation. Avidipto took 80+ mock tests for preparation! Avidipto is now targeting MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad. He wishes to be an entrepreneur in the future.
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Kumar Ravi
Exam score : 99.99 percentileKumar Ravi has scored 99.99 percentile in CAT 2017 and is now the student of MBA 2018-20 batch at FMS Delhi. Kumar is a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from VNIT Nagpur and has earned
8 months working experience in Pidilite Industries Limited before joining FMS Delhi.
Kumar Ravi hails from Munger, Bihar. Apart from CAT 2017, he also appeared in XAT 2018 and scored 98.8 percentile. Apart from FMS Delhi, Kumar was offered admission at XLRI-BM, MDI-PGPM but preferred to join FMS Delhi
Q. What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT?
A. For CAT preparation i first started by framing the challenges in front of me. The challenges which I identified in the first few mocks were as follows:
- Score consistently in all sections, specially VARC.
- Have focus on marks and not on completing the syllabus or having extra knowledge about the course material.
- Develop a monitoring system to gauge the work division amongst all three sections.
Q. Please share your sectional preparation strategy for CAT? How did you prepare for
- VARC: For VARC i started with improving my Vocabulary and grammar as that is the foundation for a better english. I started reading THE HINDU daily and also bought a kindle as it has a very nice vocabulary builder tool. In a few months i noticed that i had improved my VA skills and consistently practiced the parajumbles questions with a basic rule that the book is always right. In few months time i had improved a lot upon the VARC part but was still struggling with RC which comprised 60% of the marks. For RC i started back with the basics again and started with the practice of summarising whatever i read using a pen and paper. The understanding of passages improved in a month and my only problem left was how to reduce negative marking. For that i realised looking at the mock analysis that i was not gauging the difficulty level of each test and used to attempt 70% of questions in all tests. I started developing the ability to gauge the difficulty level and answer accordingly. By the last 3 mocks i performed consistently enough to foster enough confidence for the final CAT exam.
- Quant:For quants i did not have to struggle much as i was already very good with maths since school days. My only challenge was to convert this knowledge into marks in the tests. For this i realised that it is all about correct choice of questions to leave and a throughout speed in the paper so as to necessarily reach to the end of paper comfortably. With this mindset i started approaching the tests and every mock test i used to analyse with 2 mindsets. First was asking myself how could i have scored more in the test with the same level of knowledge and skills i have. Second was to find that one thing which if i knew would have fetched me maximum marks in the tests. Working upon this strategy i was at a comfortable position on the day of CAT’17.
- DILR:For DILR I figured out that there are 2 things which should be followed. First is expanding the number of types of sets you are familiar with. Second is getting the right strategy to attempt the paper. For first one needs to solve all the sets he finds and know which are the types he/she is comfortable with. For second the strategy is solving in the increasing order of difficulty and towards end solving only the parts of the sets and not necessarily the entire set.
Q. Was there any particular section/area that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge?
A. I was particularly weak at VARC and the strategy is already conveyed in the above section in all details. But i will still boil it down to 3 words here- basics, perseverance and guidance.
Q. What role did Mocks play in your success? How many mocks did you attempt before the exam?
A. I attempted around 20 mock during my preparation. Mocks played a very crucial role in my success. Mocks were the feedback I required about my preparation and were also a testing ground for the strategies which I had framed. They also were a decent representation of what all types of papers could come in CAT and the hence the strategy framed should be capable to deal with all the kinds of mocks faced.
Q. Did you self-prepare or attend a coaching centre and why?
A. I joined the TIME coaching centre in bangalore majorly because I had quit my job and had all the time in hand. The coaching centre would serve to provide me with a base level to start and with the help of knowledge and experience of the faculties I learned and grew fast to reach the best level.
Q. Please share your strategy for the CAT Day. What was your last-minute preparation? How did you plan your CAT test taking?
A. My strategy for CAT day was to be at my best performing state. That state has the features like being well fed, not sleepy and having a calm mind. I ate a light lunch before exam, had perfect sleep the night before and had well enough confidence in me on the day of the exam so as to avoid any panic. Also I had been practicing yoga and meditation since a long time and that really helped me to have a very composite and calm mind on the day of the exams.
Q. Your final message and tips for candidates preparing for CAT 2018.
A. Be confident of your ability. Cracking CAT with top percentile is no big deal if you have invested smartly. Hours of work do not count much but the clarity of what you are studying and why you are studying is what counts. Have a sound strategy and a calm composed mind.
Q. Did you face any weak moment when you self-doubted your preparation and scared failure? Please narrate it, if so.
A. Till the last mocks i was performing at around 98%ile and i had build up some doubts. But then my brother said that all who score more than 95 can score 100 if they perform well on the day and stick to their strategy rather than being carried away by their impulses. I believed in his words and started meditating even more and removed any doubts from my mind.
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Vipul Kukkar
Exam score : 99.99 percentileVipul Kukkar scored 99.99 percentile in CAT 2017 and got admission in IIM Calcutta. He is an Engineering graduate from PEC University of Technology. He belongs to Jalalabad in Punjab (W). His father is a chemist and mother is a teacher.
An inspiration for CAT aspirants, Vipul shares with MBAUniverse.com his CAT preparation strategy and the importance of Mocks in CAT preparation.
Q. What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT?
A: As I gave CAT in 2016 also (2017 CAT was my 2nd attempt) I was pretty sure that my concepts were in place. The only thing needed was practice. So my strategy was to join as my mock series as I can and to give as many mocks as i can till CAT. I prepared mainly through mocks only and didn’t solve any books this time.
Q. Please share your preparation strategy for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
A. VARC had been my weakness right from the start. After CAT 2016 I knew that I had to put in some extra efforts in VARC. For that I started preparing for VARC in February. I started solving at least 2 RC’s per day and I also worked on improving my reading speed as major portion of VARC in CAT is focused on RC’s only.
Q. How did you prepare for Quantitative Ability (QA)?
A. Being an engineer I was good in Quant right from the start. I didn’t prepare much for Quant. It was through mocks only
Q. How did you prepare for Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning Section?
A. DILR is the make or break section of CAT. For this section I focussed only on set selection i.e. choosing the right sets from the given 8 sets. The idea is to solve 4-5 easy sets to ensure a good percentile. The practice of set selection can be improved by giving mocks only.
Q. Was there any particular section/area that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge?
A: I was particularly weak in VARC. To overcome this challenge i started reading newspapers right from my 3rd year of engineering. This helped me in improving my vocabulary and in improving my reading speed. For CAT particularly i have already discussed my strategy which is solving at least 2 RC’s every day. The key is to start working on your weak areas as early as possible.
Q. What role did Mocks play in your success? How many mocks did you attempt before the exam?
A. Mocks are very important in CAT preparation. Students need to realise that CAT is a very simple aptitude based exam. The questions are not difficult. The only constraint is time. So you just need to manage the given time to your best potential and this skill can be improved through mocks only. I gave around 70 mocks before CAT.
Q. Did you self-prepare or attend a coaching centre and why?
A: For CAT 2017 I didn’t take any coaching. I took CAT coaching for 2016 so this time I didn’t feel the need of coaching again.
