It all started with a dream, a dream to be among the Top people in the country.
I started my preparation for MBA entrance examinations during my Final year at Engineering, keeping Campus placement and Entrance preparation side by side. Unfortunately, I wasn’t good enough to realize my dreams at that point. Having scored 87%tile in CAT16, I decided to have another go at the tests with job security at hand. And henceforth I learned major life lessons by handling my Job, Family, and Exam preparations. I had a firm belief during those times that, this would make me learn the intricacies of life and how I can manage myself with ‘N’ number of things. I learned a lot of life lessons during my stint at Job, but with a meager increase in CAT percentile to 92. The Outlook one requires towards life and how hard & unfair it can be, came into my life with my Third attempt at management exams. I gave NMAT18 at 103 Dengue fever, aced it (233 Marks), but my Verbal section tanked badly thereafter. CAT18 went abysmal with 68%tile in VARC and 98%tile each in rest.
Generally, People either don’t have an appetite for risk or want to play it safe either from the fear of losing or self-doubt. I had both. But I also believed that in order to achieve something big, you NEED to do something big. As one can’t keep giving exams for life, I took a drop from Job; I didn’t have any Job security (neither did my family) and so I approached the exam with a single point focus to ace all of them. I didn’t have IIMs in mind, I knew my ground reality and hence my aspiration became MDI.
A drop is harder than one realizes, as one continuously battles with none other than himself. Imagine getting a 60%tile in mock just 14 days before the actual CAT exam. It is devastating, it is unbearable and almost unconquerable. Well, almost conquerable! A little introspection and a calm mind can still bring you on track and you STILL can achieve your dream of an Impeccable Score and an Impeccable convert. And Hence gearing from 87%tile to reaching 99.56%tile and converting one of the top colleges of India, I surely have come a long way.
To all those who think CAT isn’t their cup of the tie, you still have immense opportunities. The trick is to never lose hope like I didn’t and aced all other exams as well.
CAT16 (87%tile) to CAT19 (99.56%tile) || IIFT (from 3 failed attempts to 99.3894% in ’19) || SNAP (from 92%tile to 99.98 in ’19) || XAT (from 87 to 99 in ’20).
My advice to my younger selves out there, if you believe it, only then you can achieve it.
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