My name is Himanish and I come from Durgapur. I did my mechanical engineering from Jadavpur University. Passed out in 2017. After that, I worked with Reliance Industries for 22 months. After this, I decided to do an MBA. Actually the MBA decision took quite some time as I was interested in the operations and supply chain. So finally I cracked the CAT exam and then I got into NITIE where I'm currently pursuing my postgraduate diploma in Industrial Management.
I decided to prepare for the CAT exam from 2016. I was actually aiming for CAT in 2017, so 2016 was the starting of my preparations. But then my placements were going on simultaneously so I couldn't focus much on that and the CAT 2017, I won't say it was a blunder but it wasn't up to the mark. I got 97.52. I was getting IIM Shillong but then I decided not to join and work for a couple of years get the experience and then make the move much more gradual for CAT 2018, I actually started somewhere in July. That was because I felt that I had a base in Quant, VARC and a bit in LRDI and so the fundamentals were not that much of a concern for me.
I focused more on the strategy aspect I started with a mock which I think is very important that you start with a mock and analyze where you stand how deep you are in the water. Although I am an engineer and I normally prefer Quant over any other section but it was that I was not able to get the max score out of Quant so I needed to focus on each and every section. My monthly strategy would be like first I would go for the sectional mocks try to get my score as high as possible, speed accuracy or trade-off between both and finally during the weekends I would go for the full length mocks because that helps you develop the tendency to sit for the three hour exam which is very important in the long run. Actually I won't say that for me there was a weak section. For me the weaker aspect during my preparation and CAT 2016 would be the accuracy. So accuracy is something which I was not focusing upon I was focusing more on the speed so even in the VARC section although I was getting a lot of it correct, I was getting a lot of negatives as well even in the LRDI section.
Even after solving of sets I was not getting all the questions in the set correctly so this time around I focused on the accuracy part selectively and I showed to myself that I get as many questions as possible. Even though it would lead to a lesser number of attempts I would see that even among the three sections LRDI was one of my weaker sections because I felt that I could do more. Just the selection of the questions was hampering my effort so that is one area where I worked a lot. For LRDI what I did was I tried to solve as many mock papers as possible and what I intended to do was get a strategic look through all the questions first in the first seven-eight minutes. Before, early in 2016, I was not willing to give out that time the initial seven-eight minutes to just glance through all the questions and select which one to do or just random. Go one by this one cat exam strategy. It helped me a lot.
I segregated the attempts in level one two and three so I would definitely find a couple of questions in level one which I would definitely solve within 15-20 minutes, fetching me eight questions and after that I would focus on the level two and if time permits then I would carry on forward three to four sets and you should be good to go ahead as that should fetch you a good score in CAT. Even the mocks that would fetch you a really high score for VARC. I focused mostly on the mocks. Apart from that there's one more important thing that helped me a lot - was my reading speed. So I would go through any article that I would get in the day because the more I read, the faster the word-count is, the better it is to read the RCs in the exam. To get as much comfortable as possible so I would follow Live Mint on a daily basis and that helped me a lot. Apart from that I also focused on getting my RCs more accurate. For that, I signed up with Bodhi Prep and as well as I had taken mocks from Career launcher so both of them together actually helped me a lot in making my fundamentals much stronger as well as improving my accuracy.
For LRDI I focused mostly on the mocks and the number of mocks you give is actually very important. More the mocks you give the easier it gets and once you find the correct strategy for yourself then stick to it and then it helps in the long run. It's very essential to talk to a senior or some of your peers who have already gone through the same process and I'm pretty sure that everyone will say that you begin with the mock because the moment you take a mock you get to know where you are. For me, the first mock was an icebreaker and I ended up with a meagre eighty percentile but now I understood that where I made the mistakes like maybe I was lacking concentration during the three-hour mock which is very evident in the first few days gradually in the next two mocks. It started going par 90. It was 90 to 95 and towards the end, it was like between 95 to 97. That was probably in the month of late October November and I maintained that percentile. That's very important that you maintain a percentage. There may be difficulty mocks but it's all related so getting somewhere between 95 to 97 should ensure a good call. Doing the mocks I did one thing that was cracking each and every question and in the mocks, they would also provide how much time the topper took so I would compare my time and the topper's time. I would make a note of it.
I feel that most students would find that that you were good, better than the topper in some questions but there are few questions where you tend to take much more time so there those are the areas where you need to focus on. Either leave the question or maybe practice more such questions. So I found a pattern and I'm quite sure that everyone would have the pattern so you just need to figure out which are the sections which are the questions which you feel are your strengths or where you are investing more time and we just actually make you fall behind in the final on the d-day actually so you need to focus on those particular questions you need to eliminate them right at the beginning itself apart from that I also made a point that I analyzed a lot on the mocks this is one thing I need to emphasize on because taking a mock would take only one out for the sectionals but the analysis should be made for at least two to three hours.
I would spend a considerable amount of time introspecting the questions why I was thinking in that direction and when I need to rethink or do I need to again go back to the fundamentals so that actually helps while analyzing mocks first the first thing which you get to see is that what was an activation for me, in the beginning, it was dreadful like I would attempt a lot of questions in the VARC, LRDI even in the Quants which was my strong affection but I was getting a lot of them incorrect so that is the first thing which people should focus on. The accuracy as well as the speed.
Like if you are very slow then you should focus on getting as many questions correct. From the next mock luckily for me speed was not that big a factor but yes accuracy is something which you need to have and apart from that I also took into account just like I mentioned that the time which we are taking for each individual question there will be difficult questions. You just need to strike them out and be way selfish in those aspects. That whatever happens even if I like that section but I am NOT going to do it. So that bit of selfishness is I think required for a competitive exam. For me, even in the LRDI section, there was one strategy that I needed to follow. That was which questions I was going to solve.
There would be some video solutions. I would find out that yes I had a lot of easier questions but I did not attempt those, so while analyzing I would find out that - okay so this might have been an easier set for me. But I just overlooked it because it was right at the end. So I needed to devise my strategy accordingly. In 2016 when I was still a fresher I felt that I was overburdened with my projects and my placements and I felt that I was having less amount of time and I decided to take CAT while I was doing my job, but little did I know that it would be a much bigger challenge because while working with Reliance Industries Limited, there was not just the pressure of time management but also the fact that you had to give an amount of physical effort in your day-to-day activities. My work hours were mostly from 9 to 6 but it would go on till 7-8 for a few days. What I did was during the weekdays I would take 3 section exams, 2 to 3 on alternate days, one day I would take the exam, analyze the mocks.
Next day I would rather go for whether I could improve my performance, maybe the fundamentals or maybe my strategy while solving a few questions here and there. The next day again I would go for a different section and take the mock and analyze and go on like that during the weekends. I used to find time and I ensure that I give at least one full length mock. It's ok if you do not start with the mock, full length mock so early but at least give the sections initially so that you know where you stand in every sections. From the end of September, I started with my full-length mock and I had roughly given around 15 to 20 full length mocks I think that's an optimum amount of mocks you can give but it depends from person to person so I feel that that was enough for me to crack CAT.
In the end in this journey something which kept me motivated was my dream to end up with a supply-chain career and that when the management role I was eyeing for NITIE for quite some time because a few of my seniors had already been there and that's how I came to know about NITIE back in 2015 and 16 definitely I wanted to go to IIM but yes supply-chain and operations was one of the areas where I wanted to grow myself into and that kept me motivating throughout the journey. When I started giving my mocks I was not really expecting a 99th first percentile but after I took the exam and then finally the percentile came out I was really really happy because ninety-nine plus for me was a big achievement. Ninety-nine point five plus that was a even bigger achievement for me.
When I told my parents and they were like come on you were telling that you would not even reach 99 and this is well beyond our expectations and yeah that helped that actually gave me a lot of confidence that yes if you believe in yourself you can achieve just anything. Have a composed nature throughout the process, have perseverance and determination. Stay motivated throughout the journey and that will definitely help you. Just do not think on the day of the exam if your strategy is right. It will help you cross the line. The first b-school which I got to was MDI and after that, I got through SJMSOM IIT Bombay and then I got through NITIE, IIM Shillong and most of the new IIMs.
The foremost thing that I would like to mention, which people should focus on is really that they should be disciplined during the preparation because even if you are doing everything right in the journey then you might alter in the long run, because CAT is a long process and doesn't end just at the exam but it goes beyond so it's very important to have discipline and as well as focus.
I'd also advise focussing on the accuracy aspect. For me I would like to mention that what were my attempts it was like 28 in VARC 14 in LRDI and 20 in Quant and I got only three or four mistakes in the entire paper so if you're focusing on accuracy and speed simultaneously that will really fetch you a high score because a lot of times people end up attempting a lot of questions but getting a lot of negatives as well.
Just because you think that paper is easier so you should be attempting a lot of questions if you attempt with a 95% plus accuracy then that will definitely fetch you a much higher percentile. Apart from that, I would also like to mention that to have confidence in yourself because it is very important to have confidence. If you don't have confidence in yourself you might not have that depth and you not have might not have that will to go forward carry on even during the times when you are not doing good. So you should just have faith in yourself and that will help in the long journey. Something which I would like to tell the aspirants don't overhype CAT and focus on it step by step. That could definitely lead you to success. Just don't get panicked in the long process. If you are good with your hard work and your determination good things will automatically follow up.
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