Aditya Jain (IIT Delhi)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know about your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Aditya: I never expected 99.98 after calculating my raw score but the scaling worked in my favor.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Aditya: I am currently in my final year of Civil Engineering at IIT Delhi. I come from Kota in Rajasthan. About my hobbies I play Hockey. I also participated in the InterIIT tournament last year.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Aditya: Yes, this was my first attempt.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that caking had in this journey.

Aditya: I was really struggling in the VARC section. I was barely able to clear the cutoff. But then I joined CATKing in the month of May. And since then my marks started to increase gradually and on the CAT exam day I was able to perform and got 99.63 percentile in the VARC section. All the RealCAT mocks and the sectional tests were really helpful.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation stratergy?

Aditya: I did not have any unique strategy. I just wanted to give my best. I knew that if I am able to do good in VARC then it will indirectly affect my whole paper.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Aditya: My weakest section was VARC and my strongest one was QA. My strategy was to stay calm and read carefully and maintain good accuracy in the VARC section. For DILR I used to select the sets and mark them with numbers and then I used to attempt in that order. For QA I used to attempt as many questions as I am able to because my accuracy was good right from the start of my preparation.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT prepartion?

Aditya: Definitely, CATKing played a crucial role during my CAT journey. I will always remain grateful of CATKing.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Aditya: I attempted around 40-45 mocks during my preparation. RealCAT mocks were very close with the real CAT exam. They were indeed REALCAT mocks.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Aditya: I just wanted to keep myself calm and made sure that I believe and stay confident about my preparation.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Aditya: Practise as much as you can and solve past year papers. Believe in yourself.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting?

Aditya: I am targeting IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Calcutta.

Yash Kumar (UPES Dehradum)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Yash: Breathtaking moment, given I took a drop as I was rejected by FMS despite converting IIM – BLACKS, SPJIMR, IIFT, MDI, and others in 2021, achieving a better score (99.97 from 99.67) fuelled me up to say this year FMS won’t reject me, my dream place will not say no to me even though it can happen again, the odds are more in my favor.

Immediately, called Sumit sir and he happened to put my recording on YT and I became a sought-after guy viral :p

So thanks CATKing and sir for the phenomenal push and the little moment of virality on YT.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies, and passion.

Yash: I have done my graduation in Business Administration Finance spz. from UPES, Dehradun in 2018, and have more than 54 months of work experience in a very diversified sense.

I happened to be working at SIS India Ltd. for 2 years+, which is India’s largest and only MNC in the business support and security solutions space as Assistant Executive Vice President – South Zone, and I was in the core P/L and M&A team responsible for Organic Growth and Inorganic Growth strategic implementation and operation.

Post 2020 July, I cofounded a start-up with someone who I play badminton with in the food and beverage sector under the name of Just Caffeinated Enterprise Pvt. Ltd. as a CFO. In more of a year in operation, we have been funded by a Dubai based Emirati at a valuation of 16.48 crores.

I also have simultaneous experience with an Israel-based corporate intelligence firm that specialises in corporate litigation investigation cases.

I belong to a service class family, my father happens to be a banker at SBI handling the Global Market Vertical as AGM and my mother is a homemaker who also teaches students of lower grades.

My personal interests are global financing, fintech, automobiles and watches. My hobbies are video gaming and I compete in global tournaments of FIFA every year, football as I happen to have represented India U-19 and building financial models for upskilling my finance edge.

My passion was to be a professional footballer and now it is to float a hedge fund in India that can compete with the likes of Bridgewater associates and make investment easy as well as reachable for the small-scale investor in India.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Yash: No, 2021 was my first (99.67%ile) and 2022 was my second (99.97%ile – current).

CATKing: Tell us the impact that caking had in this journey?

Yash: I joined CATKing on the recommendation of my brother who happened to be a student in 2021 and converted XLRI, and I found CATKing platform the most lucrative given I needed that sense of engagement and a constant push to study given I had already done well last year and reserved a seat at IIM-A. CATKing kept me engaged and I felt the responsibility to deliver for Sumit sir, and the whole family given so much effort everyone has put in for 2022 to be a success.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation strategy?

Yash: Everyday post class at 10 pm, its very important to solve the questions done in the class on the same day itself. That would be my 9-12 routine.

Besides that, spending 6-8 hours on average in the day, dividing the hours per section as per strength and weakness, topic wise – problem solving.

1 mock a week, 3 hours analysis and 3 sectionals a week

Strict adherence to the timeline of mocks and sectionals of which I had fixed the calendar.

Previous year papers to be given as mocks

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest sections? Tell us your section-wise strategy.

Yash: Strongest: QA, Weakest: DILR

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT preparation?

Yash: Yes, definitely it was.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Yash: 25 Real CAT Mocks and 13 Take home mocks and all sectional tests

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Yash: My CAT slot was the last of the day (SLOT 3), and I was allotted Delhi as my center city despite being a Mumbai resident. So I was due to travel a day earlier than my CAT exam.

The day of the exam, I brushed up my QA formulas, algebra questions given they come of a specific nature only, and grabbed a redbull can on the way to the exam.

The most important aspect of exam day confidence is believe in what you have done, now nothing can be changed, be calm and take one question at a time at a set duration and solve it, do not touch questions you know you can solve or don’t have confidence.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Yash:

1. Please finish the topic done in the class on the same day, (LOD 1, LOD 2) Do LOD 1 of the topic of the day before the class, and LOD 2 of the topic of the day after the class.
2. Keep in mind that CAT is a percentage game, you don’t have to solve everything, you have to solve 40-50% of the exam to land a good score for the next process.
3. Be thorough when doing any topic, end to end, devote hours, no distraction, learn short cuts, apply them in questions when solving.
4. Take your mocks religiously and on the time it is given.
5. Analyse mocks end to end and attend sessions when topper attempts are published and full length analysis and solving is conducted.
6. Previous Year papers are a must, solve them as mock end to end on Sunday post MOCK analysis and solving (9-11pm)
7. Take breaks in the day after 1.5 – 2 hours of study,
8. Read for VARC strengthening.
9. DILR – solve questions and see solutions and try to work them easier.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting?

Yash: FMS, SPJIMR, IIM – BLCK, XLRI, IIFT

Om saboo (VNIT Nagpur)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know about your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Om: Not any thoughts just excited about interviews.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Om: I am civil engineer from VNIT Nagpur. My father is businessman, My Mother is housewife. I have interest in chess , cricket, trading.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Om: No.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Om: Actually I was very poor in the VARC section but Sumit (Rahul) sir’s vocabulary lectures helped me.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation strategy? What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Om: My weakest section is VARC and I improved my VARC section score by Daily reading few articles of different topics.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT prepartion?

Om: Yes and especially for verbal

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Om: I had an exam in the first slot So I slept early so I can take a good sleep. I’ve also done 20 25 minutes of physical workouts and just before the paper after reaching the examination hall, I meditate for 15-20 min.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Om: Solve the previous 6 years’ papers also before the CAT exam at least give 7 to 8 mocks on the same time which is your cat slot time.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting?

Om: FMS, JBIMS

Aman Bhardwaj (Ramjas College)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Aman: I was somewhat satisfied by the results (had this nagging feeling that I could have done better in quants on a normal day) but there was an element of relief associated with it as well. The percentile that I got was higher than what I had expected. Infact, the Catking percentile predictor had estimated a 99%ile for my raw score. All in all, relief admixed with a degree of satisfaction.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Aman: I come from an entrepreneurial background, with both my parents involved in running different businesses. I was until recently preparing for UPSC CSE but after 4 years, decided to move on. Ultimately I want to get into people management so I pivoted to an MBA. I love reading- fiction as well as non-fiction. I was like playing and watching matches of sports such as cricket and football. I find quiet walks in the neighborhood park relaxing and try to go for one everyday.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Aman: Yes.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Aman: A second cousin of mine who’s about to finish her MBA from Great Lakes Gurgaon advised me to check out CATKing when I asked her for coaching recommendations. I trawled the web for a couple of days and finally decided on CATKing; primarily because Sumit sir did all these AMAs on YouTube alongside daily motivation videos, among other stuff. CATKing’s resources provided me with enough material to study from in one place without scouring other places/spaces/books. In addition, the daily classes helped structure my studies. After each class, I would attempt the relevant LOD 1 questions. I kept at it.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation strategy?

Aman: Basic Strategy was to devote the most amount of time to Maths in order to get reacquainted with the subject. It has been 8 years since I studied it formally in school. Moreover, I had this exam exam-oriented approach instead of a purely learning-oriented one where i focused on the maths topics based on their relative importance (arithmetic, Algebra, and Geometry). I had never studied the number system so had to start from scratch. Despite this, I didn’t overlook the other two subjects. I studied them for briefer periods of time every day.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest sections? Tell us your section-wise strategy.

Aman: As a literature student, verbal ability is my forte and Maths is my weakness primarily because of having been out of touch. For verbal prep, I read an Aeon essay a day and practiced RCs each day, with increasing intensity as the exam drew near. I basically had to relearn maths so I completed LOD-1 books alongside classes before moving to LOD-2. To be honest I could have spent more time on LOD-2 maths bibles. Nonetheless, it was a slow and arduous process but also a nostalgia-inducing journey since I used to be good at maths in school. For Dilr my primary aim was to familiarize myself with all sorts of sets that come in the exam and practice questions from each. Again, I could have spent more time with them had I joined earlier than When I actually did- i.e. October.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT preparation?

Aman: Honestly, yes! Had I been preparing by myself i would probably not have scored the half-decent score that I have. What’s common to all institutes is that they provide resources in a gamified manner that allows you to track your progress. Moreover, I think we tend to overlook formal structures and attribute success to individuals. but in my limited experience, I find that institutions like school, colleges, and coaching centers play a critical role in the success of individual. Success really does depend on some sort of teamwork and nobody operates in a vacuum. Like Sumit (Rahul) sir says “ Find a guru jiske saath Layy judd jaye and lage Raho, Kuch Accha Hoga”.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Aman: About 10 in my 2 months of serious prep. I supplemented this was solving previous years’ papers from 2021, 20, and 19 and solved atleast some of the questions from other previous years’ papers from 15-19.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Aman: To remain calm and do my best. I did listen to Rahul sir’s analysis for the first slot before going inside the examination center for the second slot. From there on.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Aman:

1. Start early, ideally 6 months before D-Day and no later than 4 months before D-Day.
2. Work each day even if it’s for a little while initially and try to build habits and make studies a part of your routine. For instance, I used to read an Aeon essay in the morning after waking up with a cup of tea.
3. Have an exam-oriented approach from day 1 and allocate study time to respective sections accordingly, as per your strengths and weaknesses.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting?

Aman:

• IIM A, L, K, I
• XLRI
• FMS

Harbakshish (Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know about your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Harbakshish: I was expecting a good result based on my CAT score and percentile predictors, but the final result beat them all, so I was really delighted to have secured a result beyond expectations

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Harbakshish: I am pursuing final year of electronics and communication engineering at Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. Being from a business family, I always had MBA in the back of my mind to pursue post-graduation. I like playing cricket, travelling amd watching OTT in my free time.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Harbakshish: Yes, this was my first attempt at CAT, and hopefully the last one

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Harbakshish: I came across CATKing via youtube, had been following the channel even before making up my mind to appear for CAT. It was Sumit sir’s energy and motivation which pushed me to walk that extra mile to achieve things.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation strategy?

Harbakshish: I used to give mocks and analyse them so as to cover the syllabus, instead of preparing section-wise. Being from an engineering background, I found QA and DILR to be my strengths, so mocks were a way to test them under exam circumstances, which worked for me.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise strategy?

Harbakshish: I found DILR and QA to be my strengths and I was relatively weak with VARC, though on D-day it was VARC who saved me when QA ditched. For VARC, I simply followed the rules for concepts given by Sumit sir, which I felt were more than enough. For DILR and QA, I focused on attempting mocks and analyzing them.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT preparation?

Harbakshish: Yes, it was beneficial. The CATKing dashboard is the superset to CAT preparation for sure.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Harbakshish: In my case, it were the mock tests which sailed my boat through everything. I feel mocks are more important than preparing section wise because the 2 hours of attempting the CAT paper is a different ball game altogether as compared to solving particular sections or specific topics. I gave around 10 mocks before going for CAT, but its more important to analyze your moclk tests than simply attempting them.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Harbakshish: Having the evening slot, I tried to get a long night sleep so that there’s no scope for any anxiety to kick in. Did not touch anything related to studies on the day of exam. Moreover, I focused on keeping things simple, wore the most comfortable outfit, had a snickers before the exam as suggested by Sumit sir, and just went for it with a smiling face (I have my CAT scorecard for proof lol).

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Harbakshish: CAT preparation is a long journey, never rule yourself out of the game. Everyone has their ups and downs, and things won’t always go your way, but it is important to keep a good headspace and fight for victory. Also, focus on quality over quantity of hours of preparation.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting?

Harbakshish: Based on my score and profile, I am looking forward to getting a PI call from FMS

Kislay Kr Bhardwaj (Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Kislay: I had been refreshing the iimcat website at 5 pm every day since the revised answer key came out, so I think I was one of the first people in the country to look at my scorecard. I had seen some percentile predictors and all of them said I will score above 98.5%ile but seeing the scorecard for the first time I was pleasantly surprised and happy. I put the phone down and remembered the entire journey for a few minutes.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Kislay: I am a final year journalism and mass communication Student at IPU in Delhi. My academics are not out of this world and are not nearly good enough for IIM Indore(haha). I have 85% in both class 10th and 12th. My father is a government employee and mother is a homemaker. I have no siblings. I have lived in 3 different cities because of the transfers of my father. I am an enthusiastic football and cricket fan. My hobbies are reading and reciting poetry, reading books, public speaking, singing and quizzing.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Kislay: Yes this was my first attempt as this is the first time I am eligible for the exam.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Kislay: CATKing had a profound Impact on my journey as it was there I saw that an arts student like me can give the cat exam so all the preparation began with that.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation stratergy?

Kislay: My strategy was simple; mocks mocks mocks… I had 4 months to prepare and I just could not have beaten the people who are preparing for a year by studying the concepts so my strategy was that I will maximize my examination composure and make sure that the pressure does not get to me.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest sections? Tell us your section-wise strategy?

Kislay: VARC was my strongest section and quants was my weakest section. My section-wise strategy was to attack VARC and score the bulk of my marks there, consolidate in DILR and add more score to the total and go into a defensive mode while attempting Quants so that it does not take away from the hard work done in the other sections. Preparation-wise for VARC I gave a sectional test every other day and read an Aeon essay every day, I solved 3 sets of DI and LR each (2 avg and 1 difficult). While for quants I focused only on arithmetic and modern maths.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT prepartion?

Kislay: As I said earlier one of the reasons I started preparing for cat was because a video on CATKing made me believe that it was possible. Joining the institute hence was a no brainer and it’s a decision I don’t regret The bibles for arithmetic helped me prepare for quants peacefully while the mocks of varied difficulty helped me test myself at different level. Hence the institute aided my cat preparation very positively.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Kislay: Mocks are the most important thing for a CAT aspirant I can easily say that atleast 50% of my score is owed to mock tests. I gave about 50 mocks in my journey.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Kislay: I had my exam in the morning shift and the centre was 20 Km from my home so the biggest strategy was getting up at the right time, I didn’t study anything the night before I watched Ted Lasso( an American TV Show) and slept early. Before entering the exam centre I read my favorite poem and had a can of Red Bull. That’s about it.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Kislay: Nothing much just enjoy the journey and have fun with it. It’s a time of your life you will be proud of. CAT is not a very difficult exam to prepare for as the syllabus is not like that of UPSC. It is just a test of your nerves on the D day so give your mocks at uncomfortable times and at uncomfortable places.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting?

Kislay: I have a call from IIMA and XLRI among others but these are the 2 B schools I am aiming for.

Shubham (VIT Vellore)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know about your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the results?

Shubham: first of all, Thank you for giving me this opportunity to present my journey. The results was clearly something which I was not expecting . I thought I flunked my DILR section and because of which I didn’t even see the percentile predictors . so the result was kind of dream come true moment for me.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Shubham: I have done my under graduation from vit vellore in chemical engineering. I belong to a business oriented family, my father is an entrepreneur and my mother is a homemaker. So from a young age I have seen my father handling business, his clients and the workforce. So from childhood I wanted to explore more about the business world. In my fourth year I was given opportunity to work more closer to the corporate world, as I was able to bag a 6 months internship in Myntra . While working there I found that the curiousity that I had in my childhood was now transformed into a full fledged ambition and a passion for working as a category manager. In my leisure time I love to watch a premier league game and also I like watching historical documentaries.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Shubham: it was my second attempt, in my first attempt I scored 96.07 percentile but I was not able to DILR section

CATKing: Tell us the impact that caking had in this journey?

Shubham: CATKING has helped in so many ways that I cannot even reckon. As I mentioned earlier I had prepared for cat before, so I was just looking just for some guidance and some worthy mocks. I saw one of Sumit sir’s video on cat preperation and I thought that CATKing will tick all the boxes for my preparation . And oh boy it helped more than what I had expected. The mocks were at a notch higher difficulty than CAT exam and it will give a plethora of time to ponder on your strategy.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation stratergy?

Subham: I started preparing for this year in first week of August, so obviously I had no time to waste. I revised all the basic topics of quants, started practicing more questions of LR and started sectional mocks for VARC. After 3 weeks I started giving full length mock test and analyzed my attempts when I got time.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Subham: surprisingly my strength was varc and weakest section was dilr ( as I am an engineer, various folks told me it was clearly opposite what they have heard about an engineer giving CAT). For VARC I was just giving mocks , sectional tests . For DILR , I gave some extra effort and time . I finished some important topics of dilr from Arun Sharma along with sectional test . For quants I revised all the important topics and started giving sectional test .

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT prepartion?

Subham: yes absolutely, the mock analysis video helped me a lot in terms of time management and strategy. The mock series were one of the best and intuitive part of my cat journey.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Subham: It played a very very crucial role , as for me my whole strategy was built on practicing first , strategizing later hypothesis . So I had no time in practicing irrelevant question. The mock series were spot on with what I wanted as it gave a plethora of relevant questions with previous year question which will test your ability to think outside the box from time to time.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!

Subham: no such strategy, I stopped giving any mocks four days before d-day and I thought I was just giving another mock , and whenever I was in a state of panic during the exam ( happened quite often during VARC section) I took 10 second break and thought of delightful cuisine which I will be devouring after the exam.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Subham: in my perspective ( might be totally wrong), CAT is not a game of showcasing your strength, it’s a game where you have to hide or improve on your weakness till the end of time. What’s the point of scoring 99. Something when you will not able to clear a sectional cutoff right?

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting?

Subham: IIM Shillong, NITIE MUMBAI, MDI, IIT MUMBAI, IIM CAPS

Anish Uppal (College of Vocational Studies, Delhi University)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Anish: I had mixed feelings when I saw the results. I was happy for a decent score but sad for the lost 0.02 marks.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Anish: Class 10 – 10 GPA
Class 12 – 94% (commerce with maths)
Graduation – 8.3 (BA-H-Business economics)

Family – my family is filled with CAs and runs its own Audit firm.

Personal interest/hobbies – Reading, gym, stock markets

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Anish: This was officially my second attempt for CAT. I wrote CAT last year also, that too in peer pressure and without any external help, secured a 95. But this year I wanted to write it properly so went for CATKing.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Anish: CATKing has been a major area of focus for me for the last 1 year. The timings were way too comfortable for me as they never clashed with anything. Didn’t miss even 1 lecture in the past 5 months of CAT.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation stratergy?

Anish: I didn’t follow any strategy plan as such but I tried minimising my wrong attempts while increasing my accuracy at the same time. This helped me a lot in LR and Quant.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Anish: Weakest – VA
Medium – LR
Strongest – Quant

LR – practising questions for every type (even 1 would suffice in some cases) made this section stronger.

Quant – concepts are king. Doing one type of question multiple times really makes the technique sit in your brain.

VA – was the weakest area. I got most questions wrong in the RC earlier but I practised a lot of passages to strengthen this section. Eventually got almost all questions correct in RC but lagged a bit in jumbled sentences.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT prepartion?

Anish: Yes. Joining CATKing made me imbibe the habit of studying everyday. It became a routine part of my life to switch on class at 9 and revise everything from 11 till 12.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Anish: CATKing Mocks have been the best asset so far. They are exactly what the real CAT offers. I took 5 mocks (The last 5—#15-#20). By far the most accurate mocks I’ve taken.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!

Anish: No strategy as such. Just tried staying calm for 3 long hours. While doing the DILR session I could not make even 1 set in the first 25 minutes. But did the last 2 sets and got them all correct in the last 15 minutes which got me a 99. I didn’t panic at all but I could feel everyone around me panicking especially in this section.

Also, Not talking to any student around is a game changer. Just stay in your game, relax, focus on your screen. A lot of times 1-2 students around me wanted to talk but I simply avoided them for the sake of the exam. I would highly recommend this.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Anish: Relax. Just make sure your concepts are clear. When you are at a stage when your concepts become clear, work on your speed. Post that accuracy.

Concept > speed > accuracy

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Anish: Calls – IIM K, I, S – SPJIMR – MDI (filled only selected few and got them all except A,B,C & L)
Target – IIM K

Adarsh Nagar (SGSITS, Indore)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Getting a dream score in CAT is a dream of many and I was no different. I felt ecstatic after getting a good percentile and all the efforts and hard work felt worthwhile. It was a joyful environment around my family and friends.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Adarsh: I come from the small city of Nagda in MP. I completed my engineering in computer science in 2020. I have a total work experience of 20 months in the IT industry. Mine is a nuclear family, my dad works in the Aditya Birla Group Grasim industries as a Senior Production Officer, my mother is a homemaker and my elder sister works in the IT industry. I like to spend my leisure time doing fitness, playing sports, and traveling.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Adarsh: This is my second CAT attempt. I scored a 55 %ile in CAT 2021

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Adarsh: CATKing was super helpful in my journey. All the mentors ensured constant motivation and top-notch quality of education. I owe my success to the CATKing family. Thank you for everything.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation strategy?

Adarsh: It is important to understand your weaknesses and work on them. I constantly worked hard on my weaknesses. Covering the syllabus comprehensively and attempting questions from LOD 1 to LOD 3 was a key part of my preparation strategy. Solving previous year’s papers helped me understand the pattern of examination questions. On the top of it attempting was a major part of my strategy. Analysing mocks and working on my weaker areas helped the most. I kept following my mentors advise and kept working hard

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise strategy?

Adarsh: QA was my strongest section and VARC was the weakest. For QA solved a lot of questions from LOD books, mocks, and previous year questions and attended all the sessions to have a concrete understanding in place. When it comes to DILR, I made sure to practice all types of sets. After practicing for a while, I understood my strong areas and planned my strategy accordingly. For VARC, I used to read AEON essays and solve previous year’s questions. Rahul sir’s sessions were very helpful

CATKing: Was joining CATKing beneficial for your overall CAT preparation?

Adarsh: CATKing was super helpful in my journey. All the mentors ensured constant motivation and top-notch quality of education. I owe my success to the CATKing family. Dashboard was very comprehensive and is sufficient to crack CAT. Thank you for everything

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Attempting and analyzing mocks is the most important part of preparation. It helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses. You can work accordingly and frame a strategy that works best for you. I attempted more than 50 mocks.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Adarsh: My D-Day strategy is to stay calm, be focused, and believe in yourself. If you have worked hard and prepared well, it is gonna pay off. Talking about section-wise strategy:

VARC – Pick the easy RC first and try to replicate your mock strategy. Attempting VA section at the end.

DILR – Pick the set you are comfortable with and try solving it within 10 min and then move on to the next set. If you’re stuck somewhere then move ahead and don’t waste much time. You can come back to it later on.

QA – Attempting the section with Sudhanshu sir’s round-robin technique. Solve easier questions first and then move to the medium and difficult questions.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Adarsh: Be Consistent. Keep working hard and I’m sure you’ll sail through. Believe in yourself. Trust the process. Start attempting mocks from June itself and remember nothing motivates better than success

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Adarsh: MDI Gurgaon and IIT Bombay – SJMSOM

Karan Bhalani (Amity University Rajasthan)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Karan: I was actually on a holiday in Rishikesh when my friend called and said that the results were out. I was actually thinking of skipping the result until I came back home. But my friend said ‘jo hoga dekha jayega’ so lets get it over with. But much to my surprise and shock I saw a 98.75. I was half expecting that the first 9 was an 8 and maybe its an 88.75. Took me a week to finally come to terms with it.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Karan: I am an associate systems engineer at Tata Consultancy Services. I have 22 months of experience. I completed my Btech in Computer Science and Engineering from Amity University Rajasthan in 2020. I also have a Minors in Management and have studied French at University. I was born and brought up in the UAE and immigrated to India in 2010. I am currently in Rajkot Gujarat. I am an avid car enthusiast. I also love consumer electronics and am a keen investor in the stock market.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Karan: No. I actually give these exams for practice/Fun. I have given the CAT twice before. As well as a UPSC and GPSC once. I was always interested in pursuing an MBA and wanted to make sure that when I was finally serious, no exam jitters or other disturbances came in my way. But this was my first real attempt at it. I had a 92%ile and 90 %ile in the first two.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Karan: I would say that the hardest part of the CAT exam is going from 90%ile to 99%ile. CATKing played that crucial last minute role of getting me to invested in going at full throttle, motivating me to stay focused and inspiring me to leave nothing on the table. Plus the trophy feature on the CATKing dashboard really kept me competitive until the end. Other than that I knew what my weakness was in Quants so studied all the lectures by Krishna Sir and all the live classes with Sudhanshu Sir. Also I liked that the classes were one hour each. This kept me going even on the days I didn’t feel like studying.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation stratergy?

Karan: I already had good experience in my last two CAT attempts. I started some light studies in september. Then upped the ante in october and gave it my all in November. I would divide the month into sets of 10 days. I had nine sets in total. I practiced Quants for the most part. And Gave a mock test here and there. I decided to join a fast track course in the final month and had heard great reviews about CATKing so signed up for the rocket batch.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Karan: My strongest section was VARC. I got a 99.66 in it. I would say my weakest section would be Quants as that needed the most practice. LRDI was a wildcard. In my first attempt I had a 99%ile score. In the second one I got a 70%ile score in LRDI. For VARC I understood that my only weakness was lack of an attention span and if there was a really long passage I would lose focus and start skimming and lose important details. So I read The Economic times daily. I cut back on anything that would be detrimental to my focus. Social media, TV all that was at a minimum in my last month. In my first two attempts I had seen that I was scared of attempting the parasummary questions which were quite easy when I analyzed the answers afterwards. I was so scared of losing marks in those that I wouldnt even read them thinking that I was saving time and would surely get the marks in parajumbles. Doing the preparation in CATKing I saw that the answers for parajumble questions were usually what I was marking and I became confident with practice.
For Quants, I made a lot of notes with a lot of tricks. The problem with tricks is that unless they dont come naturally to you in the exam, you might end up wasting time thinking what the trick was or in your haste, use an incorrect trick. It all comes down to how much practice you have done. .So I solved atleast 2-3000 questions. I did a ton of revision questions. I was great in arithmetic. Decent in modern maths and just terrible in geometry. So in my last one month , I spent one set of November only on Geometry and Modern Maths and focused on those.
For LRDI. I just did the basics. Nothing too advanced. But I had practiced a lot of those questions. So many in fact that I was confident that I could answer the questions without a pen and paper.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT prepartion?
Karan: YES. As mentioned before, I gave me the inspiration to give it my all and motivated me to do so until the end.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?
Karan: I attempted a lot of mocks in November. In the last 9 days I attempted around 20 mocks in the first 7 days and then 1,1 each on the 8th and 9th day.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Karan: I woke up early and gave a mock test just to warm up the engines but I didn’t check the result. I was in the second slot that day. I didn’t even the watch paper analysis from the first set. I didn’t want anything to bring in doubt. I was calm and cool. The main piece of advice that I was given was either go to war acting like you have already one, or you’ve already lost. Decide on the outcome beforehand so you aren’t worried about it during the process. I had a chat with the people sitting next to me before the start of the exam so that I remained cool and confident. That last thing you want is to sit in silence and overthink to failure. I was very analytical and alert in the writing section. The passages were easy. I made sure to not to guess the answers to any questions. I came back to the paragraph questions I missed after finishing up on the summaries and jumbles. For the LRDI I found the Easiest set and went for it. Double checked and went ahead. Then I found the second easiest with a lot of TITA questions. Same with the third. Guestimation is alright in TITA but dont do it in the others. In the LRDI sections, I knew that I had to find 10 questions and I would clear the QA part. I double checked all the 10 I attempted. I think I was confident in 8. and I was 80% sure in 2-3.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Karan: Practice Practice Practice. No amounts of secret tricks and formulas can make up for hours and hours of dedicated practice. Don’t runaway from mock test results. At the last minute dont get lazy or so nervous that you don’t even look at the books. Because after the Last Sunday of November, you cant improve your CAT result. Its alright to keep a plan B, but that doesnt mean you dont give it your all in your plan A.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Karan: I have a GEM profile. So MDI, CAP IIMs, IITs, IMT, BITSOM.

Bhavya Jain (Nirma University)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Bhavya: I can’t explain my thoughts literally I was crying because from what I have gone through this process was all over before my eyes I pushed myself hard every time I scored less in mock those early morning hardwork has payoff

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Bhavya: I have done my graduation in electrical engineering from nirma university then I have joined cognizant.

In my family 5 members are there including me my father and mother both are teacher and I have a younger brother studying right now and I have a grandmother who is always there for me

My hobbies is playing cricket and badminton and I found now interest in book reading also because of Rahul sir

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Bhavya: No this was my third attempt

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Bhavya: CATKing plays a big role in this journey all those mocks, Monday and Wednesday with rahul sir was fun. I tries tofollow each and every tips rahul sir give me in this preparation I would say unke sath leh lagyi

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation stratergy?

Bhavya: I woke up early in morning at 5.30 am I start with 40 minute of vocab and reading then next 2 hour I do 3 sets of lrdi and 3 rcs and then I wrote down mistakes and then in last 2 month I write down mock every alternate day at 8 am and next day I analyse it

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Bhavya: My strongest section is quant and weakest section is verbal
In verbal I tries to solve 2 RC Calmly in first 20 minutes and then I solved verbal a ability
In LRDI my first priority was to select 2 sets and solved it if I am able to do 2 in 30 minutes and then I will go for 3 rd set in last but I prioritise that I have to solve at least 2 sets
In quant my strategy was simple in first 25 min I go through all 22 questions and try to solve 13 question and in remaining 15 minute I attacked remaining questions

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT prepartion?

Bhavya: It was extremely beneficial for me

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Bhavya: Mock in CAT hold big importance I have given around 65 to 66 mock

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!

Bhavya: My strategy was simple I was in morning slot I told my self you have done so much handwork try to remain calm every single second it will be worthwhile

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Bhavya: Keep calm and believe in your preparation it will definitely give you good result

CATKing: Which TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting?

Bhavya: NMIMS, IIT DELHI , IIT KGP

Ankita Paul (Maulana Azad College)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know about your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Ankita: I was not expecting to crack cat this yr only. I was happy.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Ankita: My hobbies are chess and cooking. My father is govt employee and ma is a homemaker. I come from Malda, West Bengal.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Ankita: Yes

CATKing: Tell us the impact that caking had in this journey?

Ankita: I took the tests only. And it was extremely helpful.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation stratergy?

Ankita: Honestly, because i was scoring low in mocks, at last my strategy came down to not quitting. I was very demotivated seeing my mock scores

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Ankita:
Strongest Section: QA
Weakest Section: Varc

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT prepartion?

Ankita: Yes. The Mock tests were helpful and gave me a perspective in terms of where I stand among 1000 students. The dashboard was really helpful. The explanation videos provided were extremely detailed and covered everything.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Ankita: I attempted nearly 50-60 mocks

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!

Ankita: I was only trying to keep myself calm.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Ankita: Do not quit. U are much closer to dreams than u think u r.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Ankita: IIM INDORE and SPJAIMR

Aayush Parkar (Jai Hind College Mumbai)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Aayush: To be honest, I was quite surprised. I was not very pleased when the paper was submitted and was slightly dejected as it was very long. I was returning home from office on 21st December when I got a news alert stating the CAT results would be announced soon. I initially ignored the message as I was not expecting a high score. After reaching home I received a notification stating the results were out and I logged onto the website expecting around 80 percentile. I was elated and almost shrieked out when I realised I scored 98.28 percentile when I was barely expecting 80.
The first thing that came to my mind after rejoicing was that now I had a chance to get into my dream college. So, I was both overjoyed and relieved.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Aayush: I scored 88% in my 10th standard ICSE, 90.92% in my 12th standard HSC. I completed my Bachelors of Commerce specializing in Accountancy and Finance (BAF) from Jai Hind College with 88.83%. I also have full time work experience of 6 months as a management trainee at Alkem Laboratories. I like to track the stock market and invest occasionally. In my free time I like to read books, play sports with my friends and I enjoy travelling with my family. Currently, I reside in Mumbai with my parents, grandmother and younger sister.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Aayush: Yes, this was my first CAT attempt.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Aayush: CATKing has played one of the most influential roles in my journey to acing CAT. I joined the CATKing Mock Test Paper series to practice for the exam almost 1.5 months prior to the exam date. I got a proper exam experience as the layout of the mocks was an exact replica of the CAT exam. Each mock helped improve my reasoning and speed phenomenally and took my capabilities to a whole new level. Furthermore, Sumit sir’s youtube videos were really motivating and helpful. I believe scoring 98.28 would have been impossible without CATKing.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation strategy?

Aayush: I started my CAT Prep a little late in June 2022 when I also started working. The most important factor to remember is to ensure you give equal time to prepare for each section on a daily basis. Initially, I studied only Quant for the first week so my progress was slow but I then changed my study plan to include all three sections. I utilised the Arun Sharma CAT Prep books.
I studied all the subjects daily and gave priority to Quant as the portion was large. I prepared a separate sheet with all the quant formulas and read them every week to ensure I remembered them. Also, while preparing for quant I would try to do basic calculations without a calculator as even though on-screen calculator is provided, operating it is a little time consuming.
I followed a similar practice for DILR and practiced calculations. For VARC I would practice 3-4 passages daily and read articles to learn new words.
I started taking mock tests in October by solving at least 1 mock daily. On completion of each mock I would check the solutions to see where I went wrong. The CATKing answers were detailed and useful, especially for the VARC section that helped improve by analysis and reasoning skills. I gradually increased the number of mocks to 3 daily.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Aayush: My strongest section was the Quant section and weakest was the DILR section.
For the QA section I focused on solving the questions that I knew well first as well as from chapters I liked. I would solve probability and permutation combinations questions in the end.
For VARC I focused on the reading comprehension first and kept an eye on the timing. On the basis of the mocks I solved, I identified that I needed approximately 12-14 minutes to solve the Verbal Ability questions and so solved accordingly. Also I had a different strategy depending on the number of RC passages which varied from 4-5.
Lastly, for DILR I would identify on the basis of the information provided if the question was time consuming and solve accordingly. I could never complete all the questions in this section and hence would be selective in this section.

CATKing: Was joining the CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT preparation?

Aayush: Yes, it definitely was. The mock test structure and layout were similar to that of the actual exam. The mock tests helped improve my percentile significantly. Also, Sumit sir’s motivational videos were really helpful and helped maintain positivity.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Aayush: I believe without the practice mocks my percentile would have been 50-60. The solutions after each mock were beneficial in identifying where I was lacking. They were really useful for the DILR and VARC sections as they helped improve my critical reasoning. After each mock, my score kept increasing and I was able to ace my final hurdle. I solved all 40 full-length mocks as well as all sectional mocks. I also saw all the previous CAT papers.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!
I was assigned a center in Nashik and thus I had to travel for 4-5 hours. During this, I focused on remembering the Quant formulas and DILR notes I had prepared. Also, I saw the solutions to some of the mocks I hadn’t seen yet. Lastly, I looked at some of the idioms and phrases along with the synonyms/anonyms from my language book.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Aayush: Practice all the subjects daily. Do not focus on 1 subject only as it becomes monotonous and you won’t remember the chapter. After each Quant chapter transition to VARC for 2-3 hours. Study VARC after either DILR or Quant as it is lighter and can be a stress buster too. Remember to see previous year’s papers to identify the chapter weightage, especially in the Quant section. If you are a working professional I recommend you keep some notes like maths formulae or VA idioms etc on the phone. Study these notes whenever you are free in the office or on your way back home. It will help save time at home. Never overexert yourself, especially in regard to the number of mocks you do daily. Do not solve more than 3-4 as by the last mock you won’t be able to concentrate.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting?

Aayush: I am targeting IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Indore, and Kozhikode. I am also targeting SPJIMR Mumbai for their PGDM Finance program

Ritvik Maurya (Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology, Gorakhpur)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Ritvik: Thank you, sir. Well, I was expecting my result to be on the range of 97%ile at max, that was what all predictors were suggesting. But when I saw the result, it was 98.18%ile. That was a big moment of happiness for me.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Ritvik: I was born and brought up in Prayagraj, UP. I did my schooling there. Currently, I am in the final year of my Bachelor of Technology in civil engineering from Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology which is in Gorakhpur, UP. So, I have 10 CGPA in 10th, 84% in 12th, and my current CGPA in BTech is 8.05.
Coming to family, my father is a shopkeeper, mother is a homemaker, and my sister is a software developer. My hobbies include photography, I was also named as ‘Genius Photographer of the week’ by Parle-G on their social media handles for the shot which I have taken of their biscuit. I enjoy travel a lot, I have done numerous trips in the last few years. My last solo trip was to Uttarkashi for a week-long retreat at J Krishnamurti center. Book reading is something I enjoy and I read non-fiction books mainly. Last book which I read was Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. And in sports I play table tennis.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Ritvik: Yes, sir. This was my first attempt, I purchased the turbo course of CATKing on 1st August 2022 and then from there I started my preparation.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Ritvik: CATKing helped a lot, Dashboard is something on which I spent a lot of time. I watched most of the content, previous year questions solved in the video format and available categorically to us year wise, section wise, and slot wise was really helpful. I used that in the last days of my preparation extensively. Regular live classes were something that bound me on regular basis, which helped me to stick with my preparation.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation strategy?

Ritvik: My strategy was to prepare section wise, I do daily classes and read that topic after class. But other than that, I only focused on one section at a time. I firstly completed 80% material of VARC section available on dashboard, then gone for Quant section there also 80% material and then DILR in the last. I coupled the video lectures with the LOD-1 pdf, I solved it with the videos and then came back to LOD-2 in the second round. I also stared giving mocks with that.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise strategy?

Ritvik: My strongest section was VARC and weakest was DILR, problem with DILR was that if you solved a set, you will get 4 questions straight but if you can’t that’s a big loss. I was not able to practice much on logical reasoning part, but Data Interpretation was good for me. But my worst performing section in actual CAT paper was Quant with 74.23%ile, and reason for this is that I was not able to follow the round robin technique and get stuck with few tough questions in starting of the section and wasted my time in solving that where few easy and doable questions were there at the end of the section. For VARC other than dashboard I tried to read a Aeon essay daily that helped me a lot in increasing my reading speed. In DILR previous year solved questions available on dashboard helped me greatly, and same goes for quant.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT prepartion?

Ritvik: Yes, It helped me in approaching the whole preparation in a very structured way and I did not have to look here and there for any material to study everything was available categorically.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Ritvik: Mocks helped in my journey of CAT preparation, they gave me window to analyse my weaker section and they also introduced me with variety of questions. I gave around 15 mocks.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Ritvik: My approach was to get all 4 RCs done then solve Para summary and then go for Para jumble. I left the question which were of new type to me that was sentence completion. In DILR I firstly took a look through all of the sets and then attacked the one with data interpretation part and then after that gone for LR part. In quants I made a mistake for which I paid the heavy price, I tried to solve the questions which were in start even they were hard for me but after spending 2-3 minutes on it, it feels like it is going to solve. But due to spending chunk of time on those questions I wasn’t able to look at all questions in the section and left some easy and doable questions given in the last.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Ritvik: Start early, as early as possible. Something I didn’t did. Give a lot of mocks, analyse them. Read aeon essay daily, CAT actual RCs are of same pattern as aeon essays. In the amidst of the journey many times you will feel that this year you might not be able to perform and you feel like leaving the preparation, but keep going, be regular and give your 100% so that no scope for regret is left.

CATKing: Which IIMs/Top B-Schools are you targeting for?

Ritvik: I am targeting IIM Calcutta, FMS, and IIM Lucknow. Hoping for the best, fingers crossed.

Pratik Agarwal (S.R.M. Institute of Science and Technology)

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Pratik: As it was my second attempt and my mocks were also going well, So I thought of targeting above 98 percentile. So, at the first glance when I saw my result, I was happy to score this much percentile but yes too disappointed when I saw the VARC percentile as it was way below my expectations.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Pratik: I had completed my schooling from Salt Lake Point School from Kolkata. My academics were good as I scored 90% in X boards and 87.17% in XII boards. Then I had done my Undergraduate in B.Tech (E.C.E) from S.R.M.I.S.T, Chennai where also my overall percentage was 91.52%.

I lived in a joint family in Kolkata. My father works in a manufacturing company – Ahmed Jurak Pvt. Ltd. My mother is a housewife and my sister is studying dental and preparing for Masters. From the beginning only, I like to play and watch sports, be it cricket, football, badminton, tennis. I was the goalkeeper for my school house team and also played many cricket tournaments in my locality. I also have the leadership quality which I gained from being the Committee Head of our National Level- Techno Management Fest of our college – Aaruush.

I also like to be socially active and interactive person and love to have the peer-to-peer learning which I will get by doing MBA from this college.

CATKing: Was this your first CAT attempt?

Pratik: No, I had given CAT2020 and scored 92.5 Percentile. Then I gained the work experience by working in TCS and reappeared for CAT2022.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Pratik: I joined Catking in May2022 and from then only I was following the schedule and attending classes regularly and practicing the problems as it was taught in the class.

CATKing: What was your CAT preparation strategy?

Pratik: For the first 40-45 days, I was learning and practicing dilr, quants and little bit varc. Then I started giving mocks at regular intervals. As I was working also, So mainly I study at night starting from 7-8pm for 2-3 hours daily. I completed Arun Sharma LOD1 and LOD2 also and follow the strategy given by Catking faculties which helped me to have a schedule for whole week.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise strategy?

Pratik: I considered DILR as my strongest section because I love to think and solve analytical puzzles While the weakest section for me was VARC and that only costs me to score more than 98.5 percentile.

Section wise strategy
1. DILR – I practiced all types of problems which were available in the dashboard, that helped me open my thinking and how to approach every question. I also solved from other sources because for dilr, the greater number of questions we practice, the more we get comfortable with the questions.

2. Quants – I like to solve Maths questions since from school, my favourite subject was Maths only. I practiced all the questions from dashboard and also watch all the videos of Sudhanshu Sir and Biswadip Sir which made me comfortable in approaching the questions.

3. Varc – As this was my weakest section, So I practiced a lot and also read aeon essays and follow Sumit Sir regularly for that and at the latter Stage, I also had the confidence in varc because I was getting good enough marks in mocks, but don’t know what happened at the D-day for varc section.

CATKing: Was joining Catking coaching institute beneficial for your overall CAT preparation?

Pratik: Yes joining Catking was I think one of the good decisions of mine for preparing of CAT2022, not only because of the dashboard and faculties who were teaching us but also because of the platform which it gives other than studies and also the motivation provided by them.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Pratik: The mocks tests series was one of the best which I had taken, as it had all levels of mocks from easy to medium to difficult. And the videos of the strategies by moniack Sir, all the solutions of mocks by Sudhanshu Sir was the best I came across because to give 3 hours of analysis for every mock was very helpful for us. I had given all the 25 Real Cat mocks and also 5-6 mocks from other sources too. So, I had given around 30-32 mocks till the D-day.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Pratik: My slot was 3 which was in the evening, So, I had not done anything specific on the exam day. I just saw the Catking video after every exam slot and analysed what was coming in the exam. I reached the centre way before the exam time and had my lunch and then sat quietly and tried to calm down my nervousness.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for CAT aspirants?

Pratik: I think joining Catking can only be the tip which I can give them now, Baaki toh Sumit Sir and faculty will take care off. The strategy, motivation, schedule, mocks and the most important thing the dashboard, provided by Catking will be enough for the students to crack CAT and other exams.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Pratik: I am targeting for IIM Rohtak, Udaipur, Ranchi, Trichy, Raipur. And I have also applied to 5 IIT’s namely, Bombay, Kanpur, Kharagpur, Madras and Roorkee. I also had given NMIMS interview and waiting for the result. These are mainly the colleges which I am targeting.