Not all of us are star students who can crack the CAT exam in the very first attempt. In fact, average students struggle with CAT exam preparation. Let’s face it, CAT preparation is all about self-discipline and focus. Strategy, plans, strengths and weaknesses, all of these come later, First, you have to hold yourself to a high standard of discipline and make sure that you devote ample time to CAT prep. This is doubly true when you’re writing the CAT a 3rd/ 4th time! So how do you keep yourself motivated after retaking the CAT multiple times? How do you stay focused enough to not stray away from your goal to get into one of the top b-schools of India? How do you decide to choose another CAT attempt versus studying in a tier II b-school or studying abroad? In this article, find a list of stories from various ‘average’ students, who cracked the CAT after multiple attempts. Get motivated and find out how you too can do the seemingly impossible!
We start today’s list with a video story. Meet Raunaq Singh, IIM K PGP student, who cracked the CAT on his 3rd attempt.
Raunaq Singh studied B.A. in Economics because he wanted to do an MBA in the future. His logic? If he studied a core business subject, his path to MBA would be clear. In his very first attempt at CAT during his final year at the University of Delhi, he scored only 85%ile. But he didn’t settle for a Tier 2 b-school. Instead, he decided to challenge himself and give the CAT post gaining some work experience.
CAT Preparation Stories You Can Read And Learn From
“I gave CAT 2017 and ended up scoring a meagre 80% tile. Seeing the results, I was convinced that cracking CAT wasn't my cup of tea and almost gave up on my dream. But looking at my friends who had already converted big colleges was a source of motivation. I decided to appear for CAT '18 and scored 95.65 %tile. I knew it wasn't great considering how many people score 99+ %tile but on a personal level, it was a great achievement for me considering how poorly I had scored last time. With a good academic background and decent overall profile that I had, I received calls from BLIK, SPJIMR, NITIE, SJMSOM, New IIMs.”
- Prasad Antapurkar, IIM B
“I couldn’t even manage to cross 80 percentile in my first two attempts at CAT! Did I give up? No. I gave it another chance and here I am, sitting at IIM Kozhikode writing this article.”
- Rozly Gupta, B.Com (Hons.) from Hansraj College, Delhi with 2 years of work experience shares how to bell the CAT and go from 80%ile to IIM K.
“Let me put in the picture my own story; my journey with CAT had started when I was in my 3rd year of engineering. I worked fingers to my bone along with my engineering studies till the final year, but in the final year, I got so engrossed in placements and its processes, that the CAT preparation took the back seat. After leaving college, I own a good job with only 70 %ile in CAT, but then I decided that I will make a comeback after having two years of work experience. I did the same.”
- Jeetesh Varshney, IIM Udaipur, shares his CAT journey.
This article outlines the basics of cracking the VARC section. Verbal Ability section is nothing short of a Gordian knot, more so if you’re an engineer. The kinematics, mathematics, and dynamics that you study in your undergrad leave you with very less knack for reading genres like psychology, economics, sociology, politics or even fiction. Well, take a sigh of relief! You need not be a Milton or Shakespeare or even a voracious reader to ace the Verbal Ability section. Yes, you read it right, and that’s because VA is not equal to vocabulary or literature. It’s about your ability to comprehend while you read. It’s about filtering important information from a plethora of noise.
What difference does having a 95%ile make vs having a 99%ile? To be very honest, it can not only make you move from the New IIMs to the Old IIMs but also alter your B-School experience to an altogether different level.
This article outlines the strategy to bell the CAT if you are already 95% there. Find a break down separately for quant, verbal and LR-DI.
"Fast forward to 2016, when I started preparation for CAT’16, but I did not prepare well. I was so confident that I should get good percentile in QA and DILR. I appeared without any good preparation in CAT’16 and ended with 83.80 in CAT’16 meagre percentile in VARC (71.36) And QA (82.14). I was very disappointed after CAT’16 due to the poor result and I realised the overconfidence and lack of consistency were the reasons behind the failure. I asked following questions to myself:
- Is this my best performance
- Am I satisfied with my efforts
I thought that I deserved much better than this and I should learn from the failures and move on."
- Ramraj Nagar, IIM Lucnow.
“The third attempt turned out to be more adventurous than I had anticipated. I scored 97.67. I was pleased with the score because by this time I had developed enough confidence in myself to crack the best calls. For GD-PIs, I attended multiple mock PIs and GDs to hone my skills and build my knowledge.”
- Lalam Ravi, student of NITIE, talks about how he cracked the CAT on his 3rd attempt.
"CAT results were out. She scored 95.23 percentile. I was happier than her. She made into few IIMs. But, she did not join any. She had plans for an MBA from foreign universities. I was elated as because of her decision I can spend more time with her. Selfish fellow! Everything was going smooth. I still remember watching '2 states' in a theatre next to IIM Bangalore and I promised her that no matter what comes, I will get into IIM B."
Nikhil Kumar, IIM B alum, shares his MBA 'love' story.
"I will outline some guidelines regarding CAT which may be helpful to aspirants regarding mocks, resources, test-taking strategies, analysis etc."
- Siddharth Kella, Aspirant, talks about his CAT strategy.
"I am a Mechanical Engineer from BITS Pilani 2015 batch. I scored 99.89%ile in CAT 2016 and 99.63% in XAT 2016. I had calls from IIM C, L, K, I, S and XLRI. I have converted IIM C and will be joining it.
My story of CAT preparation started during 6-months internship in a core company in my final year of Engineering. One of my colleagues was preparing for CAT 2014 and had joined TIME test series. He used to give mocks on the weekends and analyze them in the free office hours. I used to join him as well and thus, my interest developed. I figured out that I am pretty good at Quant and would do well if I appear for CAT.
- Aditya Swalke, IIM C shares his CAT strategy and experience.
"The most crucial lesson that I have learnt is to keep moving in spite of a lot of failures. Failures are very important to help you succeed. Treat it as motivation to do better and you will go places."
- Mohit Jain, IIM C, shares his CAT story.
"In December 2013 I faced the third disappointment when my profile was not shortlisted by S.P. Jain. I kept wondering what I missed in my profile which I had started building in 2007. A 93% in class 10, 92% in class 12, 79% (till 2nd year) in graduation at St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, 5 papers of actuarial science from the Institute of Actuaries of India, and decent extra-curriculars which included writing for a local newspaper. What was even more demotivating was that all my peers had got a shortlist."
- Shryans Baid, IIM K Alum, shares his CAT story.
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