Sahil Bhagtani's Journey To IIM Shillong - CAT Preparation and Interview Experience

I followed 1 simple rule,
1^(365) = 1
(1.01)^365 = 37

The sheet contained my daily tasks for preparation, Mock strategy, Mock scores, efficiency, personal remarks to be taken into account. (This tracking and noting minute details helped me during my last 15 days before the D day).

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What a typical day during your preparation phase
A typical day for me would be reading editorials and articles in the morning followed by office work from 10 am to 6 pm. After a walk, I would focus on doing 3-4 LRDI sets each day and practice 10 easy and 10 difficult questions of a particular topic from Quant. My day would conclude by noting down the important questions or remarks for my future reference.
A typical weekend for me would be giving 2 mocks (Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning) and spending the rest of my time analyzing them. It is important you have a friend preparing alongside, which would help you in keeping up the motivation to give mocks even when you have not been performing consistently.
The last 15 days included Passive and Active mocks and their analysis.

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According to you, what are the important factors in cracking CAT?
There was an added element of surprise for CAT'20 aspirants. Due to the COVID situation, the exam time was reduced to 2 hrs and the number of slots increased to 3, to avoid crowding, however, the paper pattern or the number of questions were not disclosed until 15 minutes before the exam.
Intelligence Quotient and Emotional Quotient (IQ and EQ), both are important factors to crack CAT. I personally would weigh Emotional Quotient as an important factor for acing the exam, because no matter how well prepared you are, the slightest variance in Emotional Quotient during the exam would result in a drop in the percentile by a significant margin. This strategy helped me secure 99.42%ile in the exam.

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Now coming to the interview rounds - how did you prepare for the online interviews?
The next stage is very crucial - Interviews, because no matter what calls you have or what profile you carry, the interviews are the ultimate door to entry in a B School, as they carry high weightage in overall conversion.  I had categorized my interview preparation into the following -

1. Academics (Electrical Engineering basics)
2. Current Affairs and General Awareness
3. About your company and Industry
4. HR Questions

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Please share your IIM Shillong interview experience with our readers.
10:00 am 2 Professor, Male 20-22 min interview.

P1 - Good Morning Sahil, Please show your Identification Proof
Sahil - Good morning panel members, (displayed Aadhar card in front of webcam)
P1 - So before we start, tell me something about yourself.
Sahil - Hello Panel Members. I’m Sahil Bhagtani. I have completed my schooling in Vadodara. I’m a graduate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from VIT, Vellore. I have been a consistent academic performer throughout my schooling and graduation. Right from my college days, I have been an electric vehicle enthusiast. I have always been fascinated by Tesla. Pursuing my interest in electrical Vehicles, I joined Team OJAS during my 2nd year in college. We were a team of 30 members and we built an electric car. We participated in national and international Formula student events. I’m currently working at Ather Energy, an electric 2 wheeler startup in Bangalore. As a New Product Quality Engineer, I’m working on Ather Grid which is Ather’s Charging infrastructure. Apart from these, I like to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I like to go fo cycling or a Jog every morning.
P1 - Tell me some pros and cons of electric vehicle adoption in India
Sahil -
Pros:
1) Very low after purchase operation cost (~10 times less than we currently pay for a combustion 2 wheeler)
2) Nil carbon emissions from the vehicle.
Cons:
1) High initial purchase cost (1.5 times of what we pay for a combustion 2 wheeler)
2) The traditional MNCs will have to invest immensely to make a shift to new technology which is not widely accepted by the population yet.
P1 - What are the challenges that the Indian market face to adapt to Electric vehicles.
Sahil - The Indian market does not have a dense charging infrastructure network presence in the country, unlike traditional petrol stations. 700:70,000 is the ratio of charging stations: petrol stations. Having a dense network would in turn help in boosting up the sales of electric vehicles. Another challenge that the companies face is bringing down the BOM cost of the Battery and Motor which comprises 70% of the vehicle BOM cost.
P1 - Do you know the recent advancement in the Suez Canal?
Sahil - Gave the context of what happened, how long was the ship stuck and how was it bought back on track.
P1 - Pros and Cons of the Farmer Bill passed in my opinion.
Sahil - Gave a well-prepared answer.
P2- Are you familiar with electronics, what is a flip flop?
Sahil - No sir, I have majored in Electrical and not comfortable with electronics.
P2 - No problem, what are the losses in transformers?
Sahil - Answered (was prepared for this question)
P2 - What else did you do in college apart from academics
Sahil - I was a Formula student, was working with a team of 30 students to build an electric car. We participated in national and international formula student competitions.
P2 - What are your roles at Ather?
Sahil - Explained in detail about the project, my role and my contribution to the company.
P2 - Why MBA? Sahil - well prepared and validated answer. (everyone has their own reason)
P2 - Which branch are you looking forward to pursuing?
Sahil - Haven’t finalized the branch yet. I would like to explore my options in the first year in college and decide later. But if I’m asked the same question at a gunpoint, I’ll go ahead with operations (because of my profile and work-ex)
P1 & P2 - Thank you Sahil, that will be all. Do you have any questions for us?
Sahil - No sir thank you. It was a good experience for me.

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What'd be your advice to future MBA aspirants?

My advice to future aspirants would be to maintain composure during preparation. Ultimately, as I have said it before, consistency and dedication are the key to crack your dream B-School. No matter what situation you are in, what state of mind you have been in during the week, giving and analysing the mock on weekends will get you the score required on D day to get an interview call from your dream college. Just remember that when mocks score doesn't increase or improve, you need to just hang in there and that phase will pass away.

In the end, it's all about the hunger to get into the college you google so much about!

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