Soumadeep is pursuing his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. He is a mechanical engineer and has almost 4 years (46 months) of work experience in diverse roles in the oil and gas sector before joining his MBA. He completed his graduation from Jadavpur University with a CGPA of 9.47. He completed his 10th and 12th from the West Bengal state board with 87.29 and 88.43 percent respectively. Soumadeep scored 99.69%ile in CAT 2021, and in this article, he shares his preparation strategy and why he feels people usually drop out from CAT preparation around September/October. Read on!
Q) Please Share Your Score And Percentile With Our Readers.
CAT 2021 Score - 112.54, Percentile -99.69 |
VARC Score 44.58, Percentile - 98.89
LRDI Score 27.78, Percentile - 97.26
QA Score 40.18 , Percentile - 99.51
XAT 2022 Score- 48.8667,Percentile - 99.2366 |
QA-Score 50.9857,Percentile - 94.9764
VALR Score ,44.3923,Percentile -93.1560
DM Score ,51.5810,Percentile -99.5140
Take A Look At → IIM Lucknow Selection Criteria 2022: CAT Score the Leading Selection Parameter
Q) Shed light on why and how did you decide to take the exam in 2021?
In my first company, my role was purely technical. Even though I was liking it, I clearly noticed my interest in other domains. With an urge to move into other roles, I switched to another company in 2019 where from the very beginning I was given the responsibility to manage and operate a plant. I also got involved in several internal competitions that sought ideas regarding business diversifications and energy transition. Somewhere around April 2020, while working on these ideas I felt the urge to learn and understand various aspects of business in a formal manner. And that's when my CAT preparation journey began!! I got 97.55 percentile in CAT 2020 and converted SPJIMR, MDI, IIML PGPSM, and CAP calls. But I decided to give it another try because (a) I didn't want to do online classes and (b) I felt that "I can do much better and I deserve another try"
2)What is the most important aspect of preparing?
Discipline and consistency - That's it. CAT is an exam that tests your skill not your knowledge and you develop a skill only when you are consistent in whatever you do. You can have a hectic schedule at work or a hundred other commitments. But what matters is how you prioritize your stuff.
3)While preparing, what were some regular hurdles in the way and how did you overcome them?
I worked in shifts and thus my work schedule was highly flexible and could change at any time. As a result, initially, I was facing issues in planning my stuff. But within a month or two I sorted a way out. I would decide what things I need to do over 3/4 days and then would hop on my preparation whenever I used get time. There were days when I couldn't study much but I ensured that at the end of those 3/4 days I finish my target.
4) Tell us about your D-Day experience and how you felt about your months of preparation after the exam?
To my surprise, I was pretty chill and calm on that day. I had a morning slot and the center was 15 mins from my place. Since the pattern was unknown I had the philosophy that "If I falter then everyone else will". After the exam, I was hell anxious. Even though my attempts were fine, you would never know what you have done unless the key is out. Unsure about my performance I decided to focus on XAT and GMAT afterward if required. (Yes GMAT was my plan B which never got executed, fortunately)
Check Out → 300+ Free CAT Sectional Mock Tests To Help You Ace CAT Exam
Q) Please Share Your Month-Wise Preparation Insights For Upcoming Aspirants.
Since this is my second attempt I would say a bit about my initial prep days. My CAT journey started in April 2020. In those initial months, I figured out that I was pathetic in VARC, LRDI, and good in quants. Accordingly, I started focusing on my weak sections right upfront. I took a few mocks as well, which gave me an idea about my progress. Starting September 2020 my focus on only be on taking and analyzing mocks. Now for CAT 2021 as my basics were sorted I just focused on mocks. Right from April 2021 I took and analyzed all scheduled mocks diligently.
Art Of Analyzing Mocks: Road To 99%ile | Guide By Soumadeep, IIM Ahmedabad
Q) Please Share The Section-Wise Strategies Followed By You During Preparation.
VARC: VARC was my weakest section. I started with just an 8/9 absolute score and the journey was full of ups and downs since then. I felt what really worked for me in VARC was reading, reading, and reading!! I used to spend around 3-4 hrs reading daily initially and gradually built my "stamina". I read long articles from Aeon, Psyche, Economist, and various other magazines which made me well-acquainted with diverse subjects and topics. Apart from reading, I felt sectionals were very helpful especially in VARC because you need to develop the optimum attempt strategy for yourself. For example, after several permutations and combinations, I came up with my strategy of solving all VA questions in 8 mins and then RCs for the rest of the time. I feel you should take at least 2 full VARC sectionals every week (including 1 mock)
LRDI: The only way to improve this section is to practice as many sets as you can. Pick up last year's mocks and solve them thoroughly. Bookmark the difficult ones and revise them again and again. I don't think sectionals would be of huge help over here. What really matters is how diverse kinds of sets you are solving.
QA: If you are weak in quant my suggestion would be to join coaching and get your basics done. Once you are done with the basics try solving as much as you can and try to use options while solving. In CAT at least 40 percent of the questions can be solved either using options or some other "jugaads" like saying odd-even concept, prime no, etc. You need to identify those and solve them. That's it. Again in quants, I didn't find sectionals to be of much help. You can take a few of them to decide on your attempt strategy. But according to most, it's more important to sit with every question you encounter and sort out an alternative "jugaad"ish way of solving that.
Is Your Profile Good Enough To Make It To The Top B-Schools In The Country? Check InsideIIM's AI-Driven Profile Evaluation Tool!
Q) Please Talk About The Role Of Mock Tests While Preparing.
If I were to sum up my CAT preparation then it would be MOCKS. This is the most important tool that you have to decide what to do next. I started taking mocks right from the beginning. To all those who are thinking that how can you take a mock without "completing" your syllabus, let me say to you that CAT has no syllabus!! It tests your Class 10th level skill and you just need to polish that. And mocks play an important role in highlighting the area you need to polish!! So, start taking mocks right now. Having said that, if you are already scoring well I would suggest you take as many mocks as you can. If your score is either fluctuating or not that good start analyzing them well.
After every mock, I would categorize the questions into four types (a) Correct attempts within time (b) correct attempts but take more time than expected (c) Wrong attempts (d) Couldn't attempt. I would leave (a) and start analyzing (b) (c) and so on in this order. I would like to add here that you will see your scores fluctuating a lot.
Pls, don't get carried over by it. The key is to hang on in the journey. Sept/Oct is the time when lots of people usually drop out from the preparation due to low scores. But, only those who keep trying to succeed in the end.
CAT 2021 Score Vs. Percentile - Check Details Here
CAT Notification is released, Now is the time you take your preparation seriously and go the extra mile. To aid CAT aspirants, we have compiled a few sectional tests as a giveaway. Take them now and see how your accuracy turns out!
| Verbal Ability And Reading Comprehension | Data Interpretation And Logical Reasoning | Quantitative Aptitude |
| VARC Sectional Test 1 | DILR Sectional Test 1 | QA Sectional Test 1 |
| VARC Sectional Test 2 | DILR Sectional Test 2 | QA Sectional Test 2 |
| VARC Sectional Test 3 | DILR Sectional Test 3 | QA Sectional Test 3 |
Chat
Comments