Keep It Simple, Silly! - CAT 2021 Tips By Nikita Warkar, IIM A, CAT 99.44 %iler

I was pretty engrossed in the process and didn't bother myself with the pressure of getting a particular percentile or converting a particular college through CAT.

I didn't even know which score range fetches what percentile or how much percentile one needs to convert any specific college. You might wonder how I did not let the pressure get to me; I was playing a different league altogether. For a reasonable amount of time, my target college was IIFT-Delhi. Somehow, their specialisations fascinated me, and I kind of felt that aiming for IIM ABCs would be silly! IIFT seemed to hit the sweet spot of ambition and reality. With this mindset, I started my preparations, completely unbothered by the competition for ABC. The irony being, I couldn't even clear the sectional cutoff for IIFT.

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Throughout my preparation, I diligently attended classes(owing to my FOMO) and attempted a considerable amount of mocks. I focused a lot on the mock analysis; I used to analyse the mocks right after and assess my approach, strengths and weaknesses. This helped me devise a strategy, taking into account my natural abilities and fears.

But, the CAT is an examination that tests your presence of mind and the ability to think on your feet, more than your ability to tell the apt sequence of sentences and time taken to fill a water tank!

One doesn't only need to practice the three sections and give mocks, but also train the brain to solve any kind of question thrown at them. Mugging up formulae, solving thousands of questions and knowing tips and tricks just can't be enough.

After researching a bit, reaching out and reading blogs on InsideIIM itself, I realised I did a few things differently. I used to solve a Sudoku every day and also indulged in jigsaw puzzles. That acted like exercises to prepare me for the 'UNKNOWN'. And I can certainly say adapting these practices in my everyday life positively impacted my aptitude.

A month before the CAT exam, I had attempted my first previous year-paper and the score gave me some hope. But just like every story, mine had a villain too- a tiny four legged, blood-sucking insect from the Aedes family. I caught dengue, was hospitalised for 2 weeks and had completely given up. I had convinced myself that I should probably aim for CAT 2020 and considered not appearing for the exam altogether. After discharge, with 15 days in hand and barely being able to focus for an hour, I went for the examination without any expectations.

Now on the D-day, as per my rituals, I solved sudokus on my way to the exam centre. Doing mental calculations during the waiting period helped me get into the zen mode and utilise the next three hours with utmost efficiency.

Something that worked out for me was apt question selection; I traded an entire RC for para jumbles and fetched myself some sure shot points. And something that didn't work out was- I got stuck onto a set in LR and spent around 15 minutes on it. DI-LR used to be my scoring section, so I very well knew I had to cover up the mess in Quants. I was neither satisfied nor upset after the paper, I knew exactly where all I had gone wrong.

The answer key for CAT was out within a week and my enthusiastic friends calculated my score, which counted up to 169. Like a naive aspirant, I checked the predicted percentile ranges for this score across websites and YT videos. To my surprise, many of them predicted it to fetch over 99%ile. Realising that things had gotten serious, I started preparing for the interviews. Finally, the official results were out, and the scorecard read 99.44%ile. I was happy with the results, though anxious for what lay ahead. What followed was a month of rigorous mock interviews, current affair sessions and WAT practice.

This was when I actually started aiming for an IIM and just to have a target college in mind, I chose IIM B, owing to some absurd theory of always going for the second-best thing.

The interviews were scheduled and I moved to Mumbai for 2 weeks. All my interview experiences were poles apart, right from gossiping at the Calcutta interview to being grilled at the Ahmedabad one. They all were unique and the whole process was an experience in itself.

Fast forward to 8th May 2020, it was a typical day till noon because that's when IIM Ahmedabad released its result. I didn't want a lot of drama around it, so I decided to see it myself(lesser people to disappoint). Thankfully with god's grace, it said "Congratulations!". It wasn't very easy to process, actually still isn't.

Now here comes another twist. A few days later, the admission process began, and my friend suggested that I consider the provision of deferment, which I was totally against initially. But I gave it a thought and I felt there was a lot to do before heading for an MBA. Hence, I deferred my admission by one year.

Before B-School, I wanted to travel(the joke is on me), get to know myself, experience different functions and see which suited me the best, talk to people and learn from them, get some understanding of the corporate.

But most importantly, I wanted to fail. I wished to use this time to do things I usually wouldn't have had and push my boundaries. I tried my hands on a start-up, worked on a social initiative, did a corporate job, tried learning a sport, inculcated new habits in my everyday lifestyle and failed at most of them. But I am glad I tried; this period helped me grow on both, professional and personal front.

On my birthday, I visited the IIM-A campus for the first time to get some documents verified. I had many questions on my way there- What if I feel like I don't belong there? What if I am a misfit again? As I entered the campus, I felt a bit overwhelmed, but with just one thought in mind- this place strangely smells like home. (YUP! My olfactory senses gave an approval!)

Two months from now I would finally be joining IIM Ahmedabad and I am really looking forward to it. :)

My advice to CAT aspirants-

• Be a bit unaware, don't subject yourself to the norms
• Don’t let the pressure get to you, enjoy the journey
• Have weaknesses, but be aware of them
• Always remember, YOU DO YOU!