CAT2019

TOPPERINTERVI
EWS-KNOW
HOW TOCRACKTHEEXAM
 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

INTRODUCTION:
Every year more than two lakh candidates appear for Common Admission Test
(CAT) with a dream to pursue an (MBA) management program from one of
India’s prestigious B-Schools and few of them do by getting perfect scores and
100 percentiles. In CAT 2019, the total of four candidates score 100 percentile
and 15 candidates scored 99 percentile. The total number of candidates who
registered for CAT 2019 was 2,44,169 and 2,09,926 candidates appeared for
the exam. In 2018, 2,40,338 candidates had applied for CAT and 2,09,405 had
appeared for the exam. We tracked some of the top scorers and asked them
to tell the experience that they think is crucial for successfully acing the test.
Read the full E-book to know the success mantras of the topper on how to
score more than 99 percentile in CAT.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

ABOUT CAT 2019

CAT is popularly known for the Gateway to India’s premier management insti-
tutes like the IIMs and other top B-Schools that accept CAT score. The CBT
mode test evaluates skills in Mathematics, English and Logical Reasoning.
In 2019, IIM Kozhikode conducted CAT for more than two lakh candidates on
November 24. CAT 2019 was held in two slots - Forenoon (9 AM to 12 PM)
and Afternoon (2:30 PM to 5:30 PM). The result of CAT 2019 was released
on January 4, 2020. Check the interview of CAT 2019 toppers including 100
percentilers.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Rahul Gupta
Learn and Analyse from your mistakes

The suspense over the declaration of CAT result is over as IIM Kozikhode
announced it in online mode in the first half on January 4. With the announce-
ment of the result, some of them scaled a perfect 100 percentile with sheer
hard work and maintaining consistency during the course of the prepara-
tion. CAT 2019 topper Rahul Gupta, scored 100 percentile and his aim is
to make his way to IIM Ahmedabad or IIM Bangalore. An ardent reader of
fiction novels, CAT 2019 topper Rahul Gupta emphasized on learning from
one’s mistakes while preparing for the exam. He also stressed on starting the
preparation for CAT early and not leaving anything for the fag end. In order
to destress himself, he used to listen to music and go for a walk and then
used to get back to his preparation, much more rejuvenated. CAT 2019 topper
Rahul Gupta spoke exclusively to Careers360 and shared his experience about
the exam and how he prepared for the exam.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing over 100 percentile in CAT 2019!

What was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Rahul Gupta: I am very happy that I have scored 100 percentile in CAT 2019.
Initially after the exam I was a bit nervous, but once the response sheet of
CAT 2019 came out, I became confident. I knew that I would score well but
was not sure that I would get a 100 percentile. It is a big thing to score a 100
percentile.

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled
scores?
Rahul Gupta: My overall percentile is 100 and the overall scaled score is 238.
95 in CAT 2019. In Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) section
I have scored 99.91 percentile, in data interpretation and logical reasoning I
have got 99.95 and in quantitative ability I have got 99.97

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Rahul Gupta: Since I had appeared for CAT last year, also, this time I gave
four to five months for serious preparation for the exam.four to five months.
I started preparing for the exam from June and took ups the basics in each
section.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

English - As far as my preparation for reading comprehension and verbal abil-

ity is concerned, I used to read a lot of fiction novels as well as newspaper. In
order to ensure that I could answer the questions with ease, again I used to
practice CAT mock test.
Quantitative Ability - I studied the basic theory,number systems, arithmetic.
Two months before the exam I used to regularly take mock test and used to
devote at least four to five hours. I practised a lot of questions on Geometry
so that I am able to solve it with ease as solving more questions gave me
confidence to respond correctly on the day of the exam.
DI and LR - I used to practice a lot of questions from particular topics and
also focussed a lot on them while taking the mock test.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Rahul Gupta: I found the English section tough as compared to last year. It
was not easy to answer the questions after reading the passage at one go.
Meanwhile quantitative ability was easy. Data interpretation and logical rea-
soning questions were tricky, though I found them easy as compared to what
I used to answer in the mock tests.

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Rahul Gupta: Before the exam, somehow I was not able to score very well in
the quantitative ability section and I used to be not satisfied with my perfor-
mance. I practised a lot of mock tests and gradually I started doing well.
With regards to English, I used to think logically and then answer the ques-
tions. I used to analyse my mistakes and ensure that I do not repeat it.
My performance gradually improved in the data interpretation and logical rea-
soning section. I practised a lot from sectional and mock tests and the ques-
tions that were there in the study material from which I was preparing.

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to prep-
aration as well as exam day?
Rahul Gupta: During the course of the preparation, initially I used to study for
one hour and every day alternatively I used to study for one particular subject.
During the weekend I used to give more time for my preparation and used to
take mock tests as well as sectional tests. I used to solve a lot of questions
also apart from the mock tests.
During the exam, with regards to the English section, I went with the flow. First
I answered three passages out of the six and then moved to the verbal ability
section. First I solved those questions which were easy and about which I was
confident. Later on I moved to other questions which I found slightly puzzling.
Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation - I scaled through the questions
and first answered those about which I was 100 per cent sure. Then those
that were moderately difficulty ones and last the doable ones.
Quantitative Ability - This section I found easy and I was able to answer the
questions in sequence.
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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible
to succeed through self-study?
Rahul Gupta: I took coaching from T.I.M.E. As performance was good in mock
test, I got an opportunity to meet the head of the institute at Chennai and he
gave me feedback which was very useful for me. As far as self-study is con-
cerned, one needs to have a proper study material for the same and one has
to maintain consistency while covering the syllabus. A test series from a good
coaching institute will prove beneficial along with the CAT mock tests.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Rahul Gupta: I think I was very disciplined while giving the CAT mock tests
and I used to quickly learn after analysing my mistakes. This is one of the
most important factors for my success.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Rahul Gupta: I have not started preparing on a very serious note but I am
going through various topics.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing

for?
Rahul Gupta: I am not appearing for any other exam except XAT.

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you
want to pursue?
Rahul Gupta: As such there is no particular institute in mind, but I would like
to make my way either to IIM Ahmedabad or IIM Bangalore. I want to do MBA
in finance as it always fascinated me even during the time when I was pursu-
ing my engineering.

Careers360: What are your hobbies?

Rahul Gupta: I like to play badminton and read fictional novels and at other
times, I used to watch television.

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed
amidst preparation?
Rahul Gupta: If i used to get stuck and feel a bit stressed while preparing for
the exam, I used to listen to music or go for a walk. I used to not force myself.

Careers360: Do you have any idol who you follow?

Rahul Gupta: Not particularly, but as far as academics are concerned I used
look upto my father as he was very particular about my education from the
very beginning.

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Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Rahul Gupta: My message to the future aspirants is start your preparation
early and do not wait till the last stage. Most importantly, what will make you
get an edge over others is consistency. You must take your preparation seri-
ously, quickly identify your mistakes and also take the mock tests on a regular
basis.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Rishi Mittal
Determination & perseverance, key to success

Scoring a perfect 100 percentile in one of the toughest management entrance

test is like a dream come true. More so if one achieves this fate in the first
attempt itself. For CAT 2019 topper, Rishi Mittal, it was an emotional moment
when he got the news about scoring 100 percentile as after the exam, he was
extremely nervous as he believed that he had not performed up to the mark
in verbal ability and reading comprehension section of CAT. The final year
civil engineering student at SVNIT Surat, CAT 2019 topper Rishi Mittal, main-
tained consistency during the course of preparation, solved the questions that
were given in the coaching classes, regularly took up mock tests, capitalised
on his strengths and tied to overcome his weakness. In conversation with
Careers360, Rishi Mittal talks about the preparation tips and also the impor-
tance of taking the mock tests.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing over 100 percentile in CAT 2019!

What was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Rishi Mittal: My first reaction was emotional, to be honest as this is a very big
achievement for me, I saw the result with my family which made it even more
heartwarming. Later when good wishes and messages and calls started pour-
ing in I felt blessed to have got this result. The day I gave CAT: NOT AT ALL. I
was extremely tensed as my VARC section had gone pretty bad, I was confi-
dent about the other 2 sections but overall 100 was not expected.

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled
scores?
Rishi Mittal: My overall percentile is 100 and sectional score and percentile
are:
● Score VARC 62.58(98.76%ile)
● DILR 85.01(100%ile)
● QA 93.85 (99.99%ile)

Careers360: Tell us something about your background.

Rishi Mittal: I am currently studying in final year civil engineering at SVNIT
Surat and I am a Mumbaikar otherwise. This was my first attempt and for-
tunately, it went pretty well. I have been a person who has a knack for math-
ematics and puzzles.

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Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Rishi Mittal: The facilities at the CAT exam centres were up to the mark and
had no technical or non technical issues. This helped me keep calm and
focus only on my paper. I went with a mindset to do best what I can not be
focussing on marks or percentile. The paper started with an extremely tough
VARC section that tested every candidate on their ability to keep calm and
attempt every section in a stand alone manner. Since I was able to do that, I
got such a result.

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Rishi Mittal: My strategy was nothing out of the ordinary honestly. I only
solved the material provided in the classes, attempted mocks regularly, identi-
fied my strengths and weaknesses in every mock, capitalize on strengths and
work on weaknesses, and repeated this cycle. By the time CAT arrived I had
given around 20-25 mocks which gave me exposure to a lot of questions and
DILR sets. Rest it was just being present on the day of the exam and applying
all of this properly.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Rishi Mittal: The toughest section in CAT 2019 was VARC any day and the
easiest was none actually but with enough practice, DILR is fairly manage-
able.

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to prep-
aration as well as exam day?
Rishi Mittal: As far as time management in an exam is concerned in VARC,
I tried to limit each RC to 8-9 mins and give 1-1.5 mins per VA question. In
DILR, I usually target 10 minutes per set, but in CAT I found the sets relatively
solvable so although some sets took 10-12 mins some got solved in 4-6 min-
utes. So being flexible and adaptive is extremely important in every section.
In QA, I usually divide the paper into 3 levels based on difficulty, so I give like
1-1.5 minutes to easy question, 2-2.5 mins to medium difficulty and remaining
time to tough ones depending on how many I am able to solve.

Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible
to succeed through self-study?
Rishi Mittal: CAT requires the right amount of both in my opinion. As there are
thousands of aspirants, self study brings in the difference. But at the same
time coaching institutes give you the right base, concept clarity, guidance, etc
that one needs to start off and to be on the right track.

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Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Rishi Mittal: I think the right set of mentors, seniors to guide and friends to
support you academically and non academically is very important. Rest all the
things like determination, perseverance, honesty, and consistency are a must.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Somansh Chordia
Be Passionate about your goal

IIM Kozhikode has released the CAT 2019 result on January 4 in online
mode. With the declaration of result, a total of ten candidates scaled a per-
fect 100 percentile with the help of hard work and maintaining consistency
during preparation. Careers360 took an interview with him where he shares
everything about CAT 2019 along with exam preparation strategy. Somansh
focused primarily on methodology and tips that faculty at TIME shared were
beneficial to understand how to approach these questions while preparing for
CAT. Somansh highlighted, don’t underestimate yourself and keep believing in
possibilities beyond logical comprehension. Read the full article to know more
about CAT 2020 topper Somansh Chordia.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing over 99 percentile in CAT 2019!

What was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Somansh Chordia: Thank you. When I calculated the score on 29th Dec, I was
very surprised and could not believe it. Then I was expecting a percentile over
99.9, but 100%ile was a surprise and my family and I were very happy.

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled
scores?
Somansh Chordia: VARC: 80.54 (99.93), DILR: 65.57 (99.88), QA: 89.95
(99.98), OVERALL: 236.06 (100)

Careers360: Tell us something about your background

Somansh Chordia: I was born and brought up in Nagpur, Maharashtra and did
my schooling including 11th and 12th there itself. I Then came to Mumbai and
am currently pursuing B.Tech in mechanical engineering and am in my final
(4th) year. My family consists of my parents and grandmother. My father is a
proprietor and my mother is an ABACUS trainer.

Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Somansh Chordia: Since I was allotted slot 1, I knew I would be required
to start the day early as the center was also far from college. And being an
engineering student it was exactly the time in which I usually slept so, a week
prior to the day of the exam, I started waking up early so that I am able to
maintain the required concentration level.
I knew that I could screw things up by being nervous but I wasn’t very con-
fident about being able to perform on the day so I had decided to adopt a
casual approach and just focus on giving my best without worrying about the
result. Kind of looking at it as a question a moment and not the entire exam at
a time.
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Other than this, I had my strategies specific for the sections decided through
the several mocks that I had solved. This is important but I knew that depend-
ing on the difficulty and type of questions I might be required to change my
strategy on the spot so I was prepared for that as well.

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Somansh Chordia: My basic preparation strategy was to identify my weak
areas and practice those topics extensively in a short time so that I am able
to recognize the pattern of mistakes and then track my progress through
mocks.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Somansh Chordia: For me, VARC was the toughest and QA was the easiest.

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Somansh Chordia: VARC was my weakest section. In the beginning, the meth-
odology and tips that faculty at TIME shared were beneficial to understand
how to approach these questions. After that, I practiced a lot of similar ques-
tions together to understand the common types of mistakes that I am com-
mitting and this gave a major boost. I realized that answering questions in
this section just required a change in the perspective with which you view the
content. Thinking from the examiner’s perspective and keeping in mind that
these are objective and not subjective questions were crucial. After that, I just
practiced and analyzed this section through mocks. Still, even till the end, I
couldn’t get consistency in getting a good score but fortunately on the day of
the exam, this section about which I was the most concerned went very well,
even better than any of the mocks. For QA, my main focus was on increasing
my accuracy.

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to prep-
aration as well as exam day?
Somansh Chordia: ince I had to manage Academics, Placements and CAT
preparation together, I tried to lower the academic burden by selecting easier
electives and focus on selected companies in placements. Also, I ensured
that I maintained my efficiency by switching between different tasks whenever
I felt saturated. I believe time management is much easier when you are pas-
sionate about what you are doing, so simply realizing that makes a lot of dif-
ference.
On the day of the exam, especially in DILR, my first strategy was to not to get
stuck on any single question and another was to solve the easy questions
in the first go so that I am able to go through all of them and don’t miss any
easy ones.

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Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible
to succeed through self-study?
Somansh Chordia: Yes, I had joined TIME. With so much content and guid-
ance available online and CAT being a relatively easy exam in terms of the syl-
labus, I wouldn’t say coaching is necessary but it certainly saves a lot of time
as the experienced faculties help you find out the common approaches taken
by students so that you can easily discover what suits you the best. Other
than this, what coaching institutes primarily offer is a competitive atmosphere
that is necessary to remain motivated to push our limits. But how important
this again depends on the individual and if there are friends around you going
through the same process, this might not be necessary.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Somansh Chordia: Being consistent and regular in practice throughout is
what benefitted me towards the end.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Somansh Chordia: I haven’t started the preparation yet and will be taking the
guidance from seniors and the faculty at TIME

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing

for?
Somansh Chordia: None

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you
want to pursue?
Somansh Chordia: The top IIMs and after that, I would like to gain some expe-
rience and then maybe start something of my own.

Careers360: What are your hobbies?

Somansh Chordia: In my free time I like reading autobiographies/biographies
and playing basketball and badminton with my friends.

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed
amidst preparation?
Somansh Chordia: Since there were many things going on in my 7th semester,
I didn’t have much time for recreational activities but I ensured that I main-
tained my efficiency by switching between different tasks whenever I felt satu-
rated.

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Careers360: Do you have any idol who you follow?

Somansh Chordia: I wouldn’t call him my idol but I admire many qualities of
Elon Musk.

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?: What is your
message for next year’s CAT takers?
Somansh Chordia: I loved the pattern and kind of questions that were asked
in CAT. I had realized that the skills I would develop while preparing for the
exam would actually be helpful in general in life as well and this had helped
me a lot to remain motivated. It’s as simple as if you love what you do, you
give your best.
My performance in mocks was not good enough to be extrapolated to a
100%ile finally but everything went too well on the day of the exam. I was
much more focused and that reduced my mistakes drastically. What I want to
convey is that don’t underestimate yourself and keep believing in possibilities
beyond logical comprehension.

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Lakshya Kumar
Time Management & hard work will lead to success

IIM Kozhikode has announced the result of CAT 2019 on January 4, 2020 in
the online mode. CAT 2019 topper Lakshya Kumar scored 99.99 % in his first
attempt. Being an explorer of pop culture facets and meme lover, Lakshya
tells us that he always fantasized about getting admission in top B-Schools of
India. Lakshya was born and brought up in Delhi. Being a BMS student from
Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, DU emphasized that he prac-
tised every day from 2:30 PM - 5:30 PM (his exam slot) every day for at least
a month before the exam to set his body clock right. According to him, man-
aging time and hard work is the key to success. Considering his Father as his
Role Model, Lakshya the topper of CAT 2019 spoke to Careers360 and shared
his experience about the exam, how he prepared for the exam, what he did to
destress himself as well as his message to the next year’s CAT takers.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing over 99 percentile in CAT 2019!

What was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Lakshya Kumar: Thanks a lot! I scored 99.99 percentile in CAT 2019, I was
delighted beyond measure when I saw the result and a pleasing feeling that
all my hard work has paid off took over me. I was expecting a 99.5+ percentile
but 99.99 is something that I could only dream about considering it was my
first time giving CAT.

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled
scores?
Lakshya Kumar: 229.48 (99.99 Percentile)
● Verbal - 83.56 (99.98 Percentile)
● DI/LR - 75.98 (99.98 Percentile)
● Quants - 69.94 (99.7 Percentile)

Careers360: Tell us something about your background

Lakshya Kumar: I was born and brought up in Delhi. My father is a principal
at a government school and my mother is a teacher. I did my schooling from
Apeejay School, Pitampura. My interest in management started from class
11th onwards and hence I thought of pursuing bachelors in the same domain.
I am currently pursuing Bachelors of Management Studies from Shaheed
Sukhdev College of Business Studies, DU.

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Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Lakshya Kumar: I believe exam day mental state plays a huge role in decid-
ing one’s CAT percentile. With my exam slot scheduled in the afternoon, it
became all the more difficult to calm my nerves especially amidst all the news
about morning slot exam pouring in. Listening to music helped me with it. The
rest of the experience was smooth and I must commend the organizing com-
mittee of CAT for pulling of the exam with minimal problems.

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Lakshya Kumar: To start my preparation, I took a CAT mock test to figure out
my base level. This is how I learnt what my strengths and weaknesses were.
I started by joining TIME and then focused on completing the foundational
booklets. I was a regular at testing myself via mock tests (once a week) from
April. Post any mock I gave some time to analyze the test and figuring out
what went wrong and then focused on that.
For Verbal: My approach was building up my reading speed and that was
achieved by reading newspapers daily as it contains articles from vari-
ous fields of life ranging from psychology to biology which is similar to the
Reading Comprehension section of CAT. The verbal ability section was a
tough nut to crack for me but thinking about the question from an examiners
perspective and allocating it a greater percentage of time during the actual
exam (feasible due to fast reading pace) did help me a lot.
For DI/LR: Data Interpretation and reasoning section during my preparation
phase was attempting a wide variety of questions from the previous year
papers of CAT and then re-attempting them. During the mocks, I made sure
that I read all the question sets first and then picked out the ones that were
easy and could be managed instead of doing the questions in order of ques-
tion paper. After all, CAT is never about attempting all questions but getting
one more right than your competitors.
For Quantitative Ability: My approach was to practice a lot of basic arithmetic
questions (profit and loss, Percentage, etc), Number system and geometry
as these have been the key areas of focus for the CAT exam. This combined
with quick calculation speed (developed over 6 months) helped me ace the
exam. The advice from my seniors to mark important questions and concepts
so that a quick revision is possible did help me a lot during the final leg. I did
coaching books of quant twice. My focus during mock and actual CAT was
on the fact that I shouldn’t miss out any easy or medium question and hence I
deliberately left the difficult question for the last

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Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Lakshya Kumar: I was always fond of reading novels and hence easiest sec-
tion for me was the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension. This is no way
implies that I did not practice the Verbal section, I was practicing at least 3-4
RCs every day during the final month of preparation. The toughest for me was
DI/LR, the sole reason is the volatility of this section as the questions are not
bound by any specific topic and hence practising a large number of previous
years is a way out.

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Lakshya Kumar: Strong and weak areas evolve, one mock you score high
in verbal and in the next your scores dwindle. A balanced approach which
includes regular testing is the way to measure your performance and identify-
ing areas of improvement. Generally, my scores in Verbal Ability and Reading
comprehension were amongst the best scores and hence I felt confident
while attempting it. Nevertheless, I maintained a strong pace of preparation
on that section with regular readings of novels and newspapers aided by regu-
lar articles provided by the coaching institute. For the weak area, there was no
synonym to hard work there. If practicing 2-3 hours didn’t cut it then I worked
4-5 hours on that section. Geometry as a whole is a very wide topic and I
always had the fear that there were a lot of concepts that I had not prepared.
To counter that, I carefully understood the pattern and extent of the topic and
prepared accordingly.

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to prep-
aration as well as exam day?
Lakshya Kumar: Time management should be considered as the fourth sec-
tion of the CAT examination. It is not just preparing Verbal Ability, Reasoning,
and Quant but preparing all these 3 and attempting them within 3 hours of
the stipulated time. For Reading Comprehension, I made sure that I complete
it in the first 40 minutes (skipping any difficult questions) and then gave 20
minutes for the Verbal ability section. For Reasoning, I gave the first 7-8 min-
utes reading and deciding the difficulty level of each question set and then the
rest 52-53 minutes in attempting the sets with the easiest being attempted
the first. For quants, the rule of them for me was to attempt in order of ques-
tion paper but skip the question if within the first 30-40 seconds the approach
does not strike your mind.

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Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible
to succeed through self-study?
Lakshya Kumar: For any competitive exam, a guide or mentor leads to better
results. For people giving their first time attempt, it is all the more important.
A coaching institute did this job for me along with my friends and family who
encouraged me throughout the preparation phase. TIME’s mock test series
was an important asset and the sheer number of mocks and analysis made
it easy for me to learn from home itself. Forming a focused friend circle with
the same objective helps you clear your doubts and formulate a test strategy.
This helped me stay focused on the end goal.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Lakshya Kumar: Hard work is the key. Practising from 2:30 PM - 5:30 PM (My
exam slot) every day for at least a month before the exam set my body clock
right and a positive outlook during the exam were the factors.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Lakshya Kumar: Yes, I have started preparing for the further stages of MBA
entrances.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing

for?
Lakshya Kumar: I only appeared for XAT apart from CAT.

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you
want to pursue?
Lakshya Kumar: My dream B-Schools are the old IIMs famously called as A, B,
and C and I would like to try consulting post my MBA.

Careers360: What are your hobbies?

Lakshya Kumar: I love reading novels and have been passionate about it
since a young age. Also, I also like to explore various facets of pop culture
and am a meme lover.

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed
amidst preparation?
Lakshya Kumar: I made sure that I was involved in my college activities even
during the prep face, this helped me relax from the CAT preparation. Music
was a good way to relax my nerves before any mock test and eve before the
actual CAT. Apart from this, hanging around with friends who know the impor-
tance of exam helps a lot as this leads to a time-bound fun period where in
your friends start asking you to start studying post a decent amount of rec-
reational time.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: Do you have any idol who you follow?

Lakshya Kumar: For the personal aspect of life I always regard my father as a
role model, the way he balances his personal and professional life along with
his outlook towards education is exemplary.
Apart from this for the ethical and moral aspect, I hold Mahatma Gandhi on a
high pedestal and his views about non-violence and ahimsa are cherished by
me.

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Lakshya Kumar: CAT is an exam that not only tests your subject knowledge
but also an exam that tests your mental grit and determination. Everyone
faces low points during preparation and there will be a time when even you
would. Working hard and not achieving the desired result is a very common
phenomenon in CAT preparation but what separates a winner is the next
step. Not giving up is the only way ahead. I have seen people scoring 50-60 in
mocks go onto achieve 99 percentile in CAT. Even I did not clear the cut off in
the reasoning section of a mock test but achieved 99.98 percentile in reason-
ing in the actual CAT. The gist of the story is that low scores are a part of the
cycle and it is your job as a CAT aspirant to figure out what went wrong and
work harder than before to conquer it.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Rahul Manglik
Play your strength & work on your weakness

In life, there are instances when hard work accompanied by pleasant surprise
comes like an icing on the cake. Similar is the case with CAT 2019 topper
Rahul Manglik, who scored 99.9 percentile in CAT. Apart from his dream to
make his way to a reputed MBA institute, he is not just confined to books
and has Interested in varied sports like skating, basketball, table tennis, and
elocution. In a candid conversation with Careers360, CAT 2019 topper Rahul
Manglik shares his preparation tips, how his sister guided him and some valu-
able tips for future aspirants as they aim to take CAT.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing over 99 percentile in CAT 2019!

What was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Rahul Manglik: I expected a good percentile after calculating my score. But
99.99 is a pleasant surprise.
CareRahul Manglik: The overall percentile is 99.99, with a scaled score of
231.08

Careers360: Tell us something about your background

Rahul Manglik: I was born and brought up in Delhi. My father is in a senior
position with finance major Motilal Oswal Group and my mother is a chemis-
try teacher in Ahlcon Public School, Delhi. My sister has done her MBA from
IIM Ahmedabad.

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Rahul Manglik: I focused first on finishing my syllabus to ensure accuracy,
then I focused on becoming faster at solving the questions. Solving CAT
mock tests was a major part of it.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Rahul Manglik: All sections were a challenge in their own way. In VA I had to
focus on accuracy and in Quant, I focused on time management.

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Rahul Manglik: Initially I used to take a lot of time in solving reading compre-
hension questions. Then I started reading the questions first before reading
the paragraph in depth. This helped me increase speed and accuracy in RC

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible
to succeed through self-study?
Rahul Manglik: I had joined TIME coaching classes and Career Launcher
mock tests. However, I didn’t attend many classes and rather focused on self
study. My sister guided me through the process. I don’t think coaching class-
es are necessary if one has the discipline for self study on a regular basis.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Rahul Manglik: Regularly taking mocks and analysing them helped me score
better and speed up.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Rahul Manglik: I have joined Career Launcher PDP personalised to prepare for
interviews. I’m also making sure to give a lot of mock interviews to prepare
myself better.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing

for?
Rahul Manglik: I am taking the XAT

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you
want to pursue?
Rahul Manglik: I have applied for top IIMs and XLRI, based on MBA college
rankings and feedback from my sister’s friends who are alums of these col-
leges.

Careers360: What are your hobbies?

Rahul Manglik: Since school, I’ve been interested and active in basketball,
skating, table tennis, debates, and elocution. Currently, I am a senior member
of IIT Bombay’s Racing team which makes electric race cars to compete inter-
nationally. I’ve participated in the Formula Student in Silverstone, UK as part
of this team. This year, I’m preparing the business plan and finances of our
racing team for this competition.

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed
amidst preparation?
Rahul Manglik: Spending time with my friends is the best way to relax for me.

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Rahul Manglik: Play your strengths and work on your weaknesses. Regular
practice and a lot of mocks can help achieve your goals

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Anumay Ashish
My Calm attitude and ignorance to neighboring allowed
me to be myself

Common Admission Test is one of the most reputed and difficult entrance
examinations in India. The paper is the gateway to the prestigious IIMs.
Yes! We are talking about the Indian Institute of Management which are the
dreams of every MBA aspirant in the country. Achieving a decent percen-
tile in the paper is not an easy task or a snap that can be achieved within a
few days. The tasks are difficult but not impossible and so high the cost to
achieve. With proper dedication and hardwork in the right direction one can-
not only perform better in the examination but also ace in it. One of those
who achieve that milestone is Anumay Aashish. Keeping a dream of IIM
Ahmedabad, Aashish has secured 99.98 percentile in CAT with a scaled
score of 217.26 marks which is a result of months of preparation, dedication
towards his goal. Let us see what Anumay has to say regarding his prepara-
tion.

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled
scores in CAT 2019?
Anumay: My overall score was 219(217.26 in scaled) and my percentile was
99.98. My sectional percentiles were 99.35, 99.69, 99.98 in VARC, DILR and
Quant.

Careers360: Tell us something about your background

Anumay: My parents are both doctors. I come from Patna, Bihar. I completed
my 10th and 12th from Patna itself and currently am a fourth-year undergrad-
uate in IIT Bombay under the mechanical department. I have also completed
my minors in Management from Shailesh J Mehta School of Management.

Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Anumay: My exam day experience was quite simple and easy. It was smooth
and things did go as I had planned. However, I believe half the work was
done as I maintained my calm and composure. It was, however, one of those
days when I really felt the pressure of the exam. When I reached the CAT test
center, things seemed to be more serious than I had imagined, but still as I
said, my calm attitude and ignorance of the neighboring noise allowed me to
be myself.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Anumay: I can break my entire strategy into 3 parts. The first part included
developing vocabulary skills, reading habits, newspaper reading and exploring
different topics of CAT with utmost detail.
The second part was more sort of practice types. I was involved in solving
questions and finding shortcuts to each question, developing a strategy to
solve maximum questions in minimum time.
The last part was the CAT mock tests, I gave around 25-26 mock tests and
evaluated the performance of each of them properly; highlighting my disabili-
ties and weaknesses.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Anumay: My easiest section was Quant, and all that was because I was from
a math background. It was more of a bias that I enjoyed.
VARC undoubtedly was something I was sure to fail at.

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Anumay: My not so strong vocabulary and loose English speaking abilities
made me realize the need to work upon the VARC section in particular. So as I
already said, I started with the first part of the preparation. Reading a lot, from
books to articles to newspaper cutouts. I focused on reading different genres
and expanding my vocabulary with a new word every day. I made it a rule to
read the newspaper every day like Hindu and economic times.
I continued this for the entire preparation period and believe that it did affect
my overall personality and skill sets for the exam.

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to prep-
aration as well as exam day?
Anumay: Since I was in my last year I had a lot of things to cover. What did
help me was clear sketching out of my daily work and allowing dedicated time
to both my college academics as well as CAT prep. I usually used to study
for my college acads in early morning and afternoon taking out time from my
class schedules, and the evening time was solely dedicated to CAT prep. Late
nights that is after dinner I usually used to read, novels, articles and other
stuff. The time in between classes I used to read newspapers like Hindu and
ET.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: Have you joined any coaching? How helpful was it for you? Is it
possible to succeed through self-study?
Anumay: I was a part of a full-time cat preparation course with TIME. I believe
coaching is not the most necessary part but yes something like TIME really
helps to keep u up for the exams. Not only this, the entire concept of coach-
ing makes you ready for sitting in 3 hours for an exam since most of us have
lost that ability.
The coaching part also provides you simpler practice schedules where you
just need to take the classes as per the routine provided.
Also the materials provided keeps you updated with the latest pattern of
examination.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Anumay: I have started reading more and studying about different topics that
could be asked in WAT or the PI round, however, I have not really started a
dedicated preparation for the GD/PI/WAT, I intend to start it from the second
week of January.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing

for?
Anumay: I have not been preparing for any other exams specifically sInce i
look to take a job if I don’t get any of the top IIMs

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you
want to pursue?
Anumay: IIM Ahmedabad is my dream B-school and the answer stands
unchanged irrespective of the fact that I account for national or international
schools. Post my masters I look forward to working as a consultant and once
I gain knowledge of the industry and market I wish to start with my own busi-
ness idea.

Careers360: What are your hobbies?

Anumay: My hobbies are mainly reading and listening to music. I love listen-
ing to different kinds of music and then singing along. Also, in the case of
reading, I like reading political news and biographies. I like reading about
different markets and industries as well as people and their life, people who
made it big as well as fell off the top.
My other not severe hobbies include playing cricket however, I have lost con-
nection with the game for a long time now due to other curricular loads in col-
lege.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed
amidst preparation?
Anumay: One of the major methods that I followed as I stated in my hob-
bies was listening to inspirational videos and music. I listened to music that
could inspire me as well as listen to the inspiring speeches of people like Elon
Musk, Ratan Tata, Sajjan Jindal, MS Dhoni, and other such legends. This really
helped me regain my zeal and passion and get back to my work with double
enthusiasm.

Careers360: Do you have any idol who you follow?

Anumay: Yes everyone has someone who he or she looks up to. I really do
not have any career idols, but in terms of person, I really look up to MS Dhoni.
His calm and composure make me fall for him. The attitude that Dhoni has
is really something that I worth teaching to everyone. His ideas such as what
doesn’t kill you make you stronger and it is as important to know what you
cannot do as what you want to do is intensive and great. His life is seriously
enlightening.

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Anumay: I believe that i do not have such great insights to give great advice
but what I would suggest is that do not study to clear the exam; study hard
and develop your personality holistically, CAT is not just a competitive exam it
is an experience to build yourself

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Ankit Desai
Drive your efforts in the right direction

Overcoming the fear in one’s mind is the first step towards success. Once this
is done, half the battle is won. This is the view of CAT 2019 topper Ankit Desai
who scored 99.91 percentile. There was initial hiccup that he had about how
he performed when the answer key was released, however he was excited
after he calculated his score. Ankit Desai, CAT 2019 topper did not lose hope
when he did not fare well in the mocks or was not able to overcome his weak-
nesses. He relentlessly worked hard, took mock tests, analysed his mistakes
and overcame them. While preparing for the exam, he did not miss the oppor-
tunity of having a conversation with his mother and at the same time watched
cricket when he was bored with everything else. CAT 2019 topper Ankit Desai
enjoyed reading about finance and also read philosophical and biographies
that inspired him. In conversation with Careers360, Ankit Desai talks about
how he prepared for the exam and different sections as well as his hobbies
and what he did to re-energise himself as he prepared for CAT.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing over 100 percentile in CAT 2019!

What was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Ankit Desai: Thanks a lot. I wasn’t really very thrilled as the answer key of CAT
had already been released and I was expecting a good percentile. I was more
thrilled when I first calculated my scores.

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled
scores?
Ankit Desai: My overall score is 99.91%ile (199.36). My sectional scores are:
● VARC - 97.01 (54.60)
● DILR - 99.99 (79.18)
● QA - 99.29 (65.58)

Careers360: Tell us something about your background.

Ankit Desai: am currently in my final year of engineering. Pursuing Computer
Engineering from Vishwakarma Institute of technology, Pune. Completed my
10th and 12th in Aurangabad from Podar International School and Deogiri
Junior College respectively

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Ankit Desai: My CAT exam centre was Jaipur and it was 30 km from my
home. I had to leave early to reach there on time. Once, I reached, I started to
feel a bit nervous. Also, it was a bit too cold which made me shiver now and
then. I completed the mandatory checks and biometrics process and reached
my desk 1 hour before the start of the exam. With enough time in hand, I
made myself comfortable and tried to calm my nerves. Overall. it was a very
good experience. An experience which taught a lot of things.

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Ankit Desai: I had joined TIME’s classroom program in November 2018.
Though I actually started my preparation in August, the classroom lectures
helped me to stay in touch with my basics. During this time (Nov’18 - July’19),
I just used to attend classes and appear for a few mocks and then analyse
them. This helped me understand my weaker sections and also where my
strengths lie. So, when I actually started in August, I knew what I had to study.
I appeared for around 40 mocks (35 of them from TIME), and analysed them
to understand my mistakes and worked on them. Starting August, I practiced
50 questions for each topic in Quant, around 200 sets for DILR and solved
over 100 RCs (excluding mocks). This way I had studied all topics by mid
October and then started to strengthen my weaker sections. The last 15 days
were all about giving mocks (one in three days) and analysing them and going
through past year papers.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Ankit Desai: VARC was the toughest. VARC was also my weakest section so
being on the difficult side, it troubled me. DILR was the easiest according to
me, which eventually was also my strongest section.

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Ankit Desai: Weak sections - I knew I wasn’t good at VARC. So in the first few
CAT mock tests, I tried to understand the questions I could solve correctly in
the section. This is where analysing the mocks comes to the rescue. Once
I understood that I wasn’t comfortable with inference based questions and
para jumbles, I started practising more RCs and more para jumbles daily. Also,
I started reading an article or two daily for one month to increase my reading
speed.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Weak sections - I knew I wasn’t good at VARC. So in the first few CAT mock
tests, I tried to understand the questions I could solve correctly in the section.
This is where analysing the mocks comes to the rescue. Once I understood
that I wasn’t comfortable with inference based questions and para jumbles, I
started practising more RCs and more para jumbles daily. Also, I started read-
ing an article or two daily for one month to increase my reading speed.
For quant - I was weak in Geometry and Numbers. So, first I revised all the for-
mulas and wrote them down. After that, I solved around 50 questions more on
these topics to understand the concepts better.
Strong Areas - DILR was my strength. Until October I devoted equal time to
all three sections. But then with less time in hand, I would solve less sets for
DILR and the ones I solved were from topics I wasn’t comfortable with.
The topics in which I was comfortable in Quant, for them I would just revise
the formula and solve a few questions randomly every 2-3 days to ensure that
I still remember the concepts.

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to prep-
aration as well as exam day?
Ankit Desai: I tried a few strategies before zeroing down on one strategy. The
one that I used maximum was -
VARC - Solve as many RCs possible in the first 40 mins. Then for the next
10 mins solved Verbal Ability. And depending on the difficulty and number of
questions left, the last 10 mins would be distributed. Since, the difficulty is
never known before solving the paper, devoting sufficient time to both RCs
and VA is important.
DILR - I would scan the sets sequentially and stop on the set which seemed
easy. It could be the first set or even the last. But whenever I felt the set to be
easy, I would just start it without scanning all the sets. This would go on till
I reach the last set and till then usually I would have solved 3 sets in around
20-25 mins. Then I would choose a couple of sets which were of moderate
level and solve in next 20 mins. I would further move on to the last 2-3 sets
left and solve as many as I could (if less than 10 mins left). In the last mins I
would just solve the questions which could be solved with either specific data
or less data and eventually would end up doing 4-5 complete sets and around
2 partial. Even on the D-Day I attempted 6 complete sets and 2 sets partially.
DILR is more about accuracy than speed.
QUANT - Go sequentially. SOlve the questions you can. Mark for review the
ones that were lengthy. And leave the difficult ones. Sometimes, when I used
to find 3-4 consecutive difficult questions, I would randomly jump to some
questions and start the sequence from there just to find a few easy questions
quickly.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible
to succeed through self-study?
Ankit Desai: As I have already mentioned, I had joined TIME. It did help me as
I wanted a source to guide me and keep me focused. It is definitely possible
to succeed with self-study. The major factor would be constant self-motiva-
tion. Also, I didn’t want to go 10 places, hence joining TIME gave me access to
their study material and mocks and the classroom lectures synced well with
the material and hence less confusion for me. But someone who is confident
enough to clear their basics and does not need external push can definitely do
it themself.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Ankit Desai: Keeping yourself constantly motivated is very important.
Although I studied alone and had no group of friends to study along with, I
feel having a few people preparing for the same helps a lot. For me, my desire
to get into a top B-School never allowed me to relax and I always tried to push
my limits. I didn’t study long hours but studied in interval of 1-1:30 hours.
Also, I had moved to my home to stay with my parents for one month (fortu-
nately Diwali vacations), which helped me a lot. I had no distractions and stay-
ing with my parents, talking to them for sometime would relax me and make
me feel comfortable. More than studying for hours, CAT tests your mental
stability and talking to my parents, studying and breaks and the desire to get
the best helped me stay stable.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Ankit Desai: Yes, to some extent. I have started revising my technical subjects
and also started reading news and staying updated with current affairs.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing

for?
Ankit Desai: I didn’t appear for any exam other than CAT not do I plan to this
year.

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you
want to pursue?
Ankit Desai: My dream B-Schools are IIM A and IIM C. I want to pursue MBA
in Finance and work in the investment banking industry.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: What are your hobbies?

Ankit Desai: I enjoy reading stuffs related to finance. Also, I am a part of an
investment club in college, so I try to read as much as possible regarding
markets and different financial topics. Also, I love sports. Occasionally, I play
badminton. I do read often too, but restricted to philosophical books and biog-
raphies.

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed
amidst preparation?
Ankit Desai: I used to sit with my mother and talk to her on random topics.
Occasionally, I would go out for a walk and spend some idle time. Other than
this, I watched cricket when I was bored with everything.

Careers360: Do you have any idol who you follow?

Ankit Desai: Not really. I don’t idolize a single human being. But there are
many who have inspired me and keep doing so. Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s devo-
tion to knowledge, Richard Bransons’ lifestyle, MS Dhoni’s ability to handle
pressure and stay calm are few.

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Ankit Desai: To all the CAT aspirants, believe in yourself. If there’s someone
out there getting a 99 percentile, even you can. It’s all about the mindset that
you build. Believe that you can score well and drive your efforts in the correct
direction, things will eventually fall in place.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Ronit Banerjee
If it fell in my wheelhouse of comfort, I’d attempt it
immediately

Ronit Banerjea who has always been scholastically inclined since his school
days has topped CAT 2019 by securing 99.80 percentile. Ronit along with his
interest in poetry and sitcoms and also being the senior member of the dra-
matics society of IIT Kharagpur, started his preparation an year in advance.
By devoting not more than 2-3 hours during weekdays, CAT 2019 topper Ronit
kept his academic pursuits in control through his consistency and adequate
head start. In his interview with Careers360 he shares his exam day experi-
ence and preparation strategy to tackle weak points. Further, CAT 2019 top-
per Ronit believes that with the help of study material from various coaching
institutes it helped him streamlining his preparation with consistency. Ronit
has another feather added to his cap as he was also among the IIFT toppers.
In the IIFT 2020 exam he had scored 99.98 percentile. Read this interview of
Ronit Banerjea as he sums up his entire journey of CAT preparation into few
key virtues.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing 99.80 percentile in CAT 2019! What

was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Ronit Banerjea: Thank you! At the beginning of November I’d hoped to score
around this much (if not more), so pre-CAT Ronit wouldn’t be too surprised!
However, the constant onslaught of pessimistic grumbling coupled with
creeping self-doubts made the eventual result feel a good deal sweeter!

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled
scores?
Ronit Banerjea: My scores are as follows -
● VARC: 61.51 (98.52%ile)
● DILR: 49.42 (98.58%ile)
● QA: 75.05 (99.78%ile)
● OA: 185.98 (99.80%ile)

Careers360: Tell us something about your background.

Ronit Banerjea: I’ve always been fairly scholastically inclined, as evinced by
my scores of above 90% in each year of school - although, to be fair, CBSE
does reward reasonable work quite handsomely. I was able to keep this trend
going through grades 10 and 12, and the entrance exam season thereafter,
securing an admission in IIT Kharagpur. I’m currently in my final year of a Dual
Degree course, enrolled in the department of Mechanical Engineering, and
have a GPA of 9.07.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Ronit Banerjea: Unlike many other students in my slot (slot 2), I was bliss-
fully unaware of the complexity of the VARC section. Thus, my first hour was
spent frantically trying to muster up a decent number of attempts in the sec-
tion. DILR came around as a bit of a relief thereafter, as it was a notch below
2018’s paper. QA, slightly unfortunately for me, was a rather straightforward
section - but was a distinct relief for all the aspirants after the gruelling first
couple of hours.
Besides the exam itself, my center was well-equipped with staff and facilities
to coordinate the entire examination, and the screening process was thorough
but quick. Management was efficient, and all personal effects were generally
accounted for.

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Ronit Banerjea: I’ve always had an inclination for maths, so my journey
started with joining a couple of the most prominent Facebook groups (such
as iQuanta, ElitesGrid and Quantifiers), in September 2018, and going through
all the questions and solutions posted by previous year’s aspirants. I spent
a lot of time analysing the shortcuts mentioned, and rigorously dissecting
their mathematical robustness. The 2-3 months I spent re-introducing myself
to mathematical concepts untouched since my JEE days were crucial to my
eventual confidence and consistency in this particular section.
I joined TIME in December, and began working on the material provided by
them - both to practice methods understood and retained from the months
prior, as well as to learn newer and more efficient approaches and enhance
my speed. I was also regular with my attendance of scheduled mocks and
attempting of sectional mocks, which help boost my performances in all 3
sections. I had an edge in VARC owing to my general comfort in the language,
but a constant fear of the LRDI section ensured I was regular with my prac-
tice.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Ronit Banerjea: In CAT 2019, I felt the VARC portion was the most challenging
simply because most of us (certainly I) weren’t prepared to tackle a complex
English section. This was reflected in many top scorers performing better in
LRDI despite the latter historically being the least amenable to reasonable
scores. As for the easiest, QA was unanimously considered a relieving palate-
cleanser after the initial 2 hour upward trudge!

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Ronit Banerjea: QA in general has been my forté, and my natural proclivity for
mathematical puzzles allowed me to spend endless hours solving tricky but
relevant questions.
DILR, however, has always been my bete noire - and my approach to this
involved covering the DI portions of the section first, before moving on to the
LR topics I was more comfortable with (like arrangements and selections). I
avoided any sets that appeared new, a feature that is a staple of CAT papers,
and like in most cases encountered during mocks, I benefited from that
approach in the actual exam. In QA, geometry was a bit of a sore spot for me.
So, I would keep those questions for the end, and ensure I covered the other
topics in the paper first before picking off the sitters from here.

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to prep-
aration as well as exam day?
Ronit Banerjea: Due to my constant commitment to college activities, I knew,
I wouldn’t have more than 2-3 hours to spare for preparation on the week-
days, so I attempted to account for that by starting my preparation more
than a year in advance and being regular with my studies on a daily basis.
Consistency and an adequate headstart helped me keep both of my academic
pursuits under complete control.
Talking about D-Day, as VARC took me by surprise, so I had to ditch my initial
plan of finishing RCs before moving onto the VA portion. I instead spent 40
minutes on the RC section and skipped the set on British Colonialism, before
finishing the VA portion and coming back to that set. For DILR, I proceeded
set-by-set, studying each of them and understanding which topic the set
belonged to. If it fell in my wheelhouse of comfort, I’d attempt it immediately
before proceeding to the next. If not, I’d skip it for later. I also made the deci-
sion to skip the novel set in the section because of the variables involved,
which proved to be the right decision. For QA, I didn’t have a particular strat-
egy in mind. I was confident in this section, so I proceeded question by ques-
tion unless I found any of them excessively long (found only one of that vari-
ety).

Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible
to succeed through self-study?
Ronit Banerjea: I was part of the TIME Classroom Programme and also
enrolled with Career Launcher for their mock test series. Having not attended
a single class due to college commitments (we got the classroom programme
at an enviable discount owing to a tie-up between TIME and my college, IIT
Kharagpur), I was virtually preparing through self-studies and online resourc-
es. However, I do believe it’s important to gain access to study materials pro-
vided by at least one of TIME/IMS/CL to help streamline your preparation and
eliminate diversions due to inadequate knowledge on the part of the aspirant
themself. I also feel that interacting with fellow aspirants on online platforms
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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

can motivate one to study hard and perform consistently. The mocks and
their subsequent analysis form the backbone of one’s preparation, so I would
say it’s very important to join at least 1 if not 2 different test series - to test
your relative performance across a variety of different kinds of papers, and
critically analyse them to perfect your concepts and exam strategy.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Ronit Banerjea: I believe the entire year’s journey can be boiled down to a
few key virtues - drive, determination, hard-work, tenacity, perseverance, and
a general liking for the key elements tested in the examination. The unshake-
able support of my parents and the perennially reliable flattery of my friends
definitely helped the ride feel a lot less singular.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Ronit Banerjea: Yes, I’ve enrolled with TIME already and will join IMS soon.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing

for?
Ronit Banerjea: I’ve appeared for IIFT 2020 (99.98%ile) and XAT 2020 (results
yet to be released).

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you
want to pursue?
Ronit Banerjea: My dream B-school(s), like everyone else’s, is one of the
Holy Trinity (IIM A, B and C). I have an interest in Marketing, Operations and
Finance, and wish to explore these disciplines and their interrelationships - so
as to develop a wholesome understanding of various critical elements of the
business world, and use this holistic and rounded perspective to better drive
the business ideals of the company I’m employed with.

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed
amidst preparation?
Ronit Banerjea: I enjoy any time I can spend away from studies, really! I’m
a senior member of the college dramatics club, so I enjoy being on stage.
I enjoy debating, and like to invest time in a little poetry when inspiration
strikes. I also kill time watching sitcoms and action or horror movies, and
surfing YouTube channels to entertain myself with both humour and scientific
exploration.

Careers360: Do you have any idol who you follow?

Ronit Banerjea: There are many people I look up to, for the achievements
they’ve made in fields that are of principal interest to me, as well as those
who’ve risen againts oppression and adversity to carve their names in gold.
However, there aren’t any individuals in particular whom I place on a pedestal
above all others.
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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Ronit Banerjea: A constant request I make to all my co-aspirants as well as
future aspirants is to start your preparation as early as possible, and spend
a lot of time developing a strong and unimpeachable mathematical founda-
tion for the QA section. Many aspirants panic because of the limited number
of months they leave themselves with, and are forced to memorize certain
algorithms or shortcuts to solve specific questions. However, this approach
backfired heavily in CAT 2018 and never works for tougher exams like XAT
and IIFT. Thus, spend a couple of months just building up your mathematical
foundation before completely immersing yourself into rigorous preparation.
Keep attempting mocks and sectional mocks, and analysing your perfor-
mances and lacunae the entire way. Keep tinkering with your strategy so you
can hit upon a winning combination, especially in exams like XAT and IIFT -
where there are no sectional time limits, and one has to focus on maximising
both attempts and performance in the stronger sections at the expense of the
weaker ones.
Lastly, develop a concrete idea of your strengths and weaknesses but remain
completely flexible to any systemic alterations to the actual question paper.
Your flexibility, self-understanding and calmness under duress will determine
your eventual performance during this entire competitive season.
The next year will be a long and often unforgiving period in your life, make no
mistake about it. But the journey will be both self-instructive and transforma-
tive, and the light at the end of the tunnel will be worth the relentless trudge
towards it.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Sukumar Chowdary
Start preparation now so that you can allot less time a day

IIM Kozhikode has declared CAT 2019 result on January 4, 2020. The difficulty
level and status of the paper can be determined by the fact that it is con-
ducted by the IIMs and most of the top Bschools in India accepts CAT score
for their admission. To achieve a decent percentile in the paper one have to
prepare months prior to the commencement of the examination and secur-
ing a 99+ percentile not only requires hard work but also in the proper direc-
tion. Sukumar Chowdary final year B.Tech Civil Engineering, NIT Trichy has
achieved this goal. Let us see what he has to say regarding his preparation for
CAT. Read the full interview to know his journey and how he achieved a mile-
stone 99.03 percentile get without joining any regular coaching classes.

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled
scores in CAT 2019?
Sukumar: OA: Scaled - 158.35, Percentile: 99.03
● VARC: S - 48.61, Percentile: 94.80
● DILR: S - 50.98, Percentile: 98.82
● QA: S - 58.75, Percentile: 98.64

Careers360: Tell us something about your background.

Sukumar: I am from Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. Currently I am in final year
B.Tech Civil Engineering, NIT Trichy.

Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Sukumar: I appeared for the exam with a pleasant mind and without any
expectations and gave my best. As I attempted mocks for CAT with various
difficulty levels, I could contain the element of surprise by VARC difficulty
level.

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Sukumar: Honestly, my idea was to have some work experience to improve
my skills and chances of getting into Top tier B-Schools, as I secured place-
ment in a company I wanted to work in. So, I planned to use this year to get
some calls and have some Interview experience so that I would know the
areas where I have to work on. My preparation strategy was, I took TIME test
series and came to know which questions I can do and which questions I
should leave rather than preparing for the content because time available for
my preparation was limited.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Sukumar: I felt, VARC was the toughest and DILR the easiest. ( Slot-1 ).

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Sukumar: As I am strong in DILR. I managed to maintain a bench mark in that
section during my mocks while improving other sections. I am weak in VARC,
so I tried to improve by doing sectional tests and reading articles online.

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to prep-
aration as well as exam day?
Sukumar: I think Time management combined with my knowledge on my
strong and weak areas benefited me to get 99+ which I never expected. I
managed to schedule the preparation time along with placement prepara-
tion. During the exam, I found 2 sections in DILR time taking and chose not to
attempt them. Coming to QA, I knew which questions I would solve in 60 min-
utes and attempted only 20 questions.

Careers360: Have you joined any coaching?How helpful it was for you? Is it
possible to succeed through self-study?
Sukumar: I had not joined in any coaching but I took TIME test series and also
did previous CAT papers. I think self study is sufficient when one has a clear
picture of his/her schedule. That being said, I think a good coaching will defi-
nitely improve one’s chances provided he/she maintains the self study along
with it.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Sukumar: I have started my preparation last month and reading newspapers
regularly.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing

for?
Sukumar: I appeared for CAT only.

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you
want to pursue?
Sukumar: Though I won’t be in a position to choose among top B-Schools, I
would like to join FMS Delhi or IIM Calcutta in coming years, if not this year. I
want to have a career in Finance.

Careers360: What are your hobbies?

Sukumar: I am a Movie Geek. Also I watch and play Cricket, Chess.

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 CAT 2019 TOPPER INTERVIEWS- KNOW HOW TO CRACK THE EXAM

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed
amidst preparation?
Sukumar: Every time I write a mock, I used to watch a movie after that and
later work on solutions.

Careers360: Do you have any idol who you follow?

Sukumar: No Idols as of now.

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Sukumar: Start the preparation now itself so that you can allot comparatively
less time per day in your time of convenience so that the preparation will be
efficient. Improve in weak areas and know what not to attempt in the exam.

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