It is said that one should learn lessons not only from one’s own life but also from the lives of people who have walked the same road. With CAT 2018 around the corner, viewing the process of cracking CAT from a tactical point of view is very important. Thus, we bring to you, strategic and personal insights from some of the toppers of CAT 2017 who are presently pursuing their PGP from IIM Rohtak.
“There is no one single, perfect strategy when it comes to CAT. One has to manage everything according to themselves”, said Ritu Singh, a commerce graduate from Delhi University, who scored 98.34 percentile in CAT 2017. For Shashank Dev Srivastava, who scored a whopping 99.23 percentile in CAT 2017, the journey was about realizing his true potential. Navjot Bhatia with 98.41 percentile proved that cracking the management entrance exam, which is considered to be one of the toughest examinations in the country, is not a far-fetched dream for working professionals.
Through this article, we would explore the strategies followed by each of these students to bell CAT 2017.
“The Essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
It is extremely important for the aspirants to start with a section-wise strategy and then move to a more comprehensive game-plan for the exam. Each section demands a different game plan. For most engineers, VARC is the most dreaded section. Talking about his strategy in this section, Shashank said, “I would read the questions first if the topic of the passage were something that I was familiar with. This helped me avoid biases. In case I was unfamiliar with the topic, I would follow the conventional approach of reading the passage first”. He further added, “You have to take care that you treat the information in the passage as sacrosanct and do not superimpose your beliefs upon them.” On the other hand, Navjot made it a point that he solved as many RC sets as possible before the D-Day. He recalled, “In four months, I had solved more than 2000 RC sets”.
Ritu Singh, being a student of commerce background, was on the other end of the spectrum. “I was weak on the quantitative analysis front. To tackle this, I started with the very basics of mathematics by exhaustively studying NCERT books of 8th to 10th standard.” Speaking on her go to strategy for attempting quant section, she said, “I would gauge the level of the questions in first 30-40 seconds. I focussed on the questions which were my strengths.”
In recent years the DILR section has been the toughest of the three. “The strategy is to spend 70 Percent of your time in mapping the given information on paper. Once that is done the rest will be a cakewalk”, said Shashank who scored a 99 percentile in this section.
Once the section wise strategy is in place, it is important to attempt full-length mocks. Talking about his experience with mocks, Shashank said, “Mocks were something on which my entire strategy pivoted. I focussed on improving on my weak areas with each mock test and would take as many of them as possible”. Navjot added, “I would take mocks very seriously and made it a point that I spend a good amount of time analyzing them.” For Ritu, it was the most important piece of her strategy; she enrolled for four mock test series and would religiously take a mock a day.
Both Shashank and Navjot emphasized the importance of hard work. “Intelligence and Talent may fail you in situations but hard work never will,” said Shashank. CAT also tests aspirants on time management skills. Speaking about this aspect, Navjot said, “An aspirant should set targets for the number of questions to be solved per day and should try and attain the goal. Practice and time management are crucial, and students should focus on improving on these aspects”. Ritu, on the other hand, warned the aspirants against working too hard. “Work smart, be consistent and give yourself time to recover. CAT is the test of your managerial ability and your productivity decreases when you curse yourself for taking a break. Take regular breaks and find time to discover your passion.”
In the end, CAT is only a stage in the process, the subsequent stages are equally important, and the aspirants should start building the right strategy for them as early as possible.