CAT is round the corner. It is that time of the year again, where all that revolves in mind is, time is too less, the workload is so much, how will we ever be able to crack CAT. For the students going through the same situation, we tried to gain some insights from the CAT topper. We interviewed Masnogya Jain to understand his strategy for attempting and clearing CAT.
Q. Tell us a little about yourself and your background
I am Manogya Jain from Jaipur. My Acads were 9.2 CGPA in the 10th Standard, 94% in 12th. I did my graduation in Electrical Engineering from Delhi Technological University in 2018 with a CGPA of 8.46. Post my graduation, I joined Fractal Analytics as a Consultant. After my 18 months stint at Fractal, I joined an Early Stage Startup, EazyPG as their Product Manager.
CAT 2020 was my first attempt, wherein I scored 99.74%ile. I received calls from IIM C, L, K, S & Cap and would be joining IIM C.
Q. What were the major roadblocks you faced while appearing for CAT?
Before starting my preparation for CAT, the last time I legit studied was in my final semester, almost 2.5-3 years back. Having work experience has both pros and cons, given that it helps you in your interview and brings perspective, but with being in a job and staying entirely away from academics, I was not in a space where I could easily put in the hard work required to crack CAT.
I needed to enhance my sitting capacity and concentration, as all the work I was putting in was not producing any results. So to improve this, I took a break from preparation and started reading and studying stuff I liked to get into the zone.
Q. What was your weakest section, and how did you overcome it?
My weakest section had to be definitely the VARC section. My mock scores would fluctuate, I used to panic a lot during the section and constantly remind myself that this would be the thing that would stand between me and my dream. The first thing I started doing halfway through my journey was stop being afraid and started working on not panicking during the mock. Tried different strategies just to find out what works best for me. I would also like to mention the course I Joined, VARC 1000 by Gejo (Career Launcher), which helped me improve my basics and attack this section like a warrior.
Q. How many mocks you attempted, and what was your strategy for Mock analysis?
I attempted at least 30 mocks and took almost 10 sectional mocks for each section. From June to Sept, I was taking one mock post that increased my frequency as required. The things I was looking through mocks were improving my stamina for test-taking and training my brain so that on the D-Day, I was concentrated and performing my best till the last section.
I used to follow the below-mentioned strategy for Mock Analysis for various sections:
VARC: During analysis, I used to redo all the RCs without any time pressure. For most of the mocks, I also used to write the logic for why I was rejecting any option of the passage or what could have been the other possible sequence for ParaJumbles according to my reasoning and then parallelly check it with the solution. I also developed the habit of bookmarking the question so that I can revisit it in the future.
DILR: DILR was my strongest area, and I used to keep things very simple for it. Post every mock or sectional I used to reattempt every question properly on pen and paper. I used to use two different colour pens in DILR, which helped me develop logic more easily.
QA: During Analysis for QA, I attempted only those questions again, which I did in my Mocks' second and third rounds. I used to do the paper in three rounds, first solving the easiest and quickest. And following 2 rounds for the questions which were time-consuming or were prone to be getting wrong.
Mocks are the most crucial aspect of CAT preparation, and one should see them as a mode of improvement rather than some sort of anxiety machine. Take them seriously and improve as much as you can. Understanding your weakness and strengths become very easy if you can analyse your mock religiously.
Q. What was that one thing you would like to change in your preparation strategy now that you have given CAT?
I would have liked to bring Previous Year Questions more into the central frame of my preparation a little early. PYQs gives you confidence as well as helps you gauge the difficulty level of the paper.
Also, I would have known now that everyone has slumps in the preparation; it is not something that one should worry about.
Q. What would be your advice for current students?
My advice to current students would be to work on the basics, improve their speed and enhance their accuracy. CAT is a very demanding exam, and the key to cracking it is practice. CAT is not like a 100m sprint but a marathon, so the most essential thing during the preparation phase is Consistency.
There could be times when things won't go in the way you like them to, but always remember, "Why were you doing this"? Don't be hard on yourself.
Take a Break, Chill a little and get back into the fight
All the very Best!!