Hello, I am Vishnu Jonnavaram. I scored 95.17 in 10
th, 97.5 in 12
th. I have done my graduation from NIT Bhopal. I graduated in 2017 with 7.38 CGPA. Since then, I have been working as an R&D Engineer at Dassault Systemes.
I was a classroom student at TIME, Bhopal for my first year of preparation. After attending a few classes, I felt it is better to prepare on my own. Every person requires a different approach towards his/her goal. I would suggest to get hold of appropriate material along with TIME and IMS test series and prepare by yourself.
Understanding the fundamental concepts in QA, getting accustomed with data sets in DILR, and having reading habit helps you big time. To achieve this, sectional tests are the key. There are various levels of difficulty in sectional tests. I have completed 70-80% of the sectional tests every year. Mocks and analysis are the most important aspects of preparation. They help you to devise your strategies in each section. Practising different approaches and selecting the best approach to maximize your score is the key to crack CAT. I enrolled at TIME for my first two attempts and TIME+IMS for the next two attempts. The number of mocks I took has varied through the years with 25-30 being the least and around 70 mocks being the highest. Interestingly, in both the years, I didn’t get the desired result.
Being an engineer, QA was my strong section. I had a daily routine to practice QA for at least 45 mins so that I don’t go out of touch. VARC was my Achilles Heel. I read newspapers and novels to inculcate reading habit and to improve my comprehension skills. I used to read diverse topics for 45 mins every day. I practised odd sentences out and jumbled sentences to polish VA skills.
There were 2 moments in my preparation which can be deemed as troughs of my journey. In CAT 2017, I scored 99.23. Yet, I didn’t have calls from ABCLIK. This has left me shattered. After taking 65-70 mocks in 2018 season. But the success in mocks didn’t translate to success on the D Day. Gathering courage to go for another attempt took immense mental strength. This was the lowest point in 4 years of my journey. It was difficult to go for a 4
th attempt. I lost all the confidence. But I didn’t give up. Prepared well in 2019. Analyzed my mocks well. This time, I aced the test. Scored 99.79 in CAT 2019.
I would suggest getting either TIME/IMS material or Arun Sharma’s books. Keep practising. The more you practice the better you’ll score. There is no alternative for practice to crack CAT.
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