CAT 2022 Percentiles:
Verbal 85.65, DILR 96.89, QA 98.95, OA 98.12
Q1: Tell us about your background – education
(engg/non-engg, academic record), any work-ex?
I studied in ICSE in school in Xth I scored 78% I then
studied in a junior college as it is the case in Mumbai under the state board
or HSC and scored 87.54% in XIIth My degree which I am currently pursuing is
BSc Actuarial science and there is a little ambiguity here, some people say it
is engineering some say it is not and some say for IIMA it is engineering
otherwise not so it will get clearer to me as I get my calls, however this
won't be a problem for many as very few people pursue Actuarial science and
then go for an MBA I am in my third year of graduation so no work ex as of now.
Q2: When did you start preparing for CAT?
I started preparing for CAT in May 2021 and this is my first
attempt, I had not appeared for CAT 2021.
Q3: Did you take any coaching/tuition for CAT? How was your
experience?
I took the Career launcher offline programme and it is great
for CAT and XAT others it's not so good.
Q4: What other self-study resources did you find useful for
your preparation?
I did not use any self-prep material but Rodha is a great
source for learning quants end to end if preparing by self.
Q5: How did you pace your CAT preparation, i.e. how did the
daily time spent on preparation change over the course of your journey?
During 2021 I didn't study much and it was very less, maybe
2-3 hours of study per week other than 3hrs of lectures in the whole week (2
sessions of 1.5hrs each) Then in 2022 I found a study group and we used to
study 4-5 hrs almost every day and some days we wouldn't as well. During the
last leg which would be Oct, Nov I used to study on my own and I would give
mocks or some past paper everyday almost. And in November some days I gave 2
mocks a day as well.
Q6: What were your strong areas/subjects, and how did you
prepare for those (time devoted, specific resources used etc.)?
My strong area was quants specifically arithmetic and
algebra, I did not practice much as such I used to solve past yr papers from my
friend's Arun Sharma book and that was pretty much it, but one thing that did
come in clutch was that many people knew I used to do well in the mocks and
they would ask me doubts so solving them was a major part of my practice.
Q7: What topics/subjects were challenging for you, and how
did you prepare for those (time devoted, specific resources used etc.)?
DILR and Verbal were both weak areas for me.
Verbal: I just stuck with giving mocks and then in October
end I scored 40 in verbal in a mock and that was the paper where verbal was
tough so I got 99.5 in verbal in that paper and that gave me the confidence
boost I needed and then I start scoring 35-50 in verbal itself I think I
started to be able to look at the traps set by the paper setter and able to
walk my way through the section my strength was RC where I would score 30+ in
RC and whatever I get in VA was complementary.
DILR: For this section I haven't done any special work other
than just solving as many sets as I could (this is what most of the people will
say as well!) I never performed great in DILR other than my last ever mock for
CAT where I scored 46 and a 99.6/7 so I felt that I was sorted for the paper
but as everyone knows CAT 22's DILR was meant to give a hard time to everyone
and I managed to crack 8 questions in the paper (1 full set and 2 questions
from 1 set and 1 question from the other) The only thing I can say is that DILR
is getting questions correct rather than sets, if I had gone for cracking sets
then I would've gotten only 1 set rather I got 3 extra questions as well so
that boosts your score tremendously.
Q8: How easy/difficult was it to keep yourself focused and
avoid distractions through your journey?
Being focused was very easy for me, I have always considered
myself as an average person, so I looked at CAT as my challenge to excel and go
to a top institute, I made a lot of sacrifices and it didn't hurt or
demotivated me in any way whatsoever, so I would say being focused was never an
issue for me The only thing on my mind was visualising sitting in the class of
IIMA of course that is not feasible now but it did help me.
Q9: Were there occasions (during preparation or the exam)
when you felt stressed or dejected, and how did you manage it?
There was this one instance where I felt that my peers were
very toxic in the preparation, great people of course but that time it felt
very toxic to me, so I took a weekend off where I didn't study at all and just
played or went out I don't know what I did exactly but I didn't study.
Q10: Are there any good habits/lifestyle choices that helped
you succeed and you’d recommend others to follow?
I don't know about habits that I had but the process of CAT
made me committed and disciplined for a go getter Another recommendation that I
have is take every mock as it comes don't procrastinate or delay because a
backlog in mocks demotivates you further to not take mocks and that won't lead
to a good result.
CAT should be a priority if you are looking to get a great score. In my
study group, it disheartened me that no one but one excluding me scored a
90+%ile. I saw all of them doing other things. Many people did mock me saying
that all you do is CAT and nothing else, but today they are congratulating me. Of
course, my friends and family were supporting me and now they are celebrating
with me.