For DILR - Focus on right selection of sets, accuracy, mock to mock strategies of leaving and attempting. Take up national level mock series by CL or IMS or TIME and practice well. Don't increase attempts without accuracy, it can cost huge.
For Quant - Just sticking to basics can seal the deal. Selection of questions is the key here. Identify your strengths and polish them. Work on your weak areas and convert them into strengths. Take more sectional tests here so as to know what you lack from a particular area.
Above all, do not compare your mock scores with your friends and get disheartened. Everyone has different speciality, different strength, a different way of thinking and a different way of performing. Just focus on yourself, improve yourself and stay happy.
Comments
amit kumar
What calls you received and converted finally ? :)
30 May 2017, 03.40 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
I had many calls this year but could convert scmhrd, dse only. New iims and iim shillong are waitlisted as far as IIMS concerned
30 May 2017, 07.13 AM |
Abhishek Mahur
How important were your graduation marks?
30 May 2017, 12.52 PM
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siddharth kella
Graduation marks have consideration ranging from 5 to 15% at various IIMs and IITs. Apart from it, shortlisting also includes some weight of graduation marks.
30 May 2017, 07.04 PM |
null null
So are u going with any new iim?
30 May 2017, 01.34 PM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
Most probably yes as far as there are no changes in the plan.
30 May 2017, 07.05 PM |
goutham shashank yadav
Bro, which books did u refer for cat?
30 May 2017, 11.03 PM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
Books as such you can pick any institute's material. TIME modules are good for quant and di lr. Arun Sharma is good for DI,quant. For verbal, only reading and mock RC can help. However, refer some websites like cracku and wordpandit for RC tips and VA tips.
30 May 2017, 11.50 PM |
swati tiwary
How important were your 10th and 12th marks ?
30 May 2017, 11.32 PM
+Read Replies (2)
siddharth kella
For shortlisting, IIM Indore gives 40% to 10 and 36% to +2. Apart from Indore, other IIMs also have some weights for 10 and +2. Check admission criteria of various IIMs for more info.
30 May 2017, 11.48 PM |
siddharth kella
I did not have a single old IIM call due to engineering background and academic scores of graduation. So, yes 10,+2,graduation scores are crucial.
30 May 2017, 11.52 PM |
Avneetpal singh Khosa
Management aspirant and engineer by profession
Can you please suggest some online portals from where I can practice RC's which are compareable in difficulty to Actual CAT.Thankyou
1 Jun 2017, 12.46 AM
+Read Replies (4)
siddharth kella
For RC, you can refer www.rcprep.com where you find a combo of RC's from GRE and GMAT. You can also refer websites like cracku,wordpandit, 2iim for RCs and VA. Other than that, keep reading articles from newspapers like the indepedent, the wsj, the NY times, the Huffington Post, the telegraph and so on.
1 Jun 2017, 01.04 AM |
siddharth kella
There is nothing like cat level. CAT is unpredictable. It changes its difficulty level year on year. Practice past cat papers from 1990-2008 to understand the pattern where cat has moved on.
1 Jun 2017, 01.08 AM |
Avneetpal singh Khosa
Management aspirant and engineer by profession
Thankyou for valuable advice. I read editorials from The Hindu and recently started refering to wordpandit as well.Hope it will help ace verbal section to an extent :)
1 Jun 2017, 07.41 AM |
siddharth kella
Editorials are must. Try summarising them after reading.
1 Jun 2017, 07.57 AM |
Thohid Thohi
Can you please share your strategy for geometry n parajumbles? I suck at it.
1 Jun 2017, 01.18 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
Frankly, I was not good at geometry on the whole. However, you can always do certain things which you are good at. Try knowing the properties related to lines, angles, triangle and circle, trapezium and so on. Properties knowledge and utilization of that in application will make geometry easier. Just know how the properties are used. Triangles and circles are a must as far as properties are concerned. For parajumbles , Check noun pronoun appearances in sentences, check articles a, an , the in sentences describing something, check time frame like some years mentioned, check tenses like past, past perfect, future , check the activities in terms of reasoning, etc.. just understand the logic of solving pj. Daily solve 6-7 pj and understand your mistakes and correct them. Over a period of time , you will be on higher accuracy. Practice them from all areas like science ,philosophy, politics, history and so on.
1 Jun 2017, 04.06 AM |
Tanya Sharma
plz share your strategy june onwards --- since i have started preparing now from the basics
1 Jun 2017, 03.28 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
See Tanya, it's about how much time you can give to preparation. If you can give 16+ hours a week, then try finishing basics in June itself. So that, you can solve more and more in phase of July and August. Solving more on quant and di-lr will give you idea about how good and speedy you can be at your strengths. For verbal, nobody can assure anything because it depends on way of your interpretation and reasoning. Practice DiLR daily. RC's too. Give mocks and analyse them. 3 hours mock and 5-6 hours in analyzing.
1 Jun 2017, 03.59 AM |
Ishan Chourey
Hey Siddharth, Your story was inspirational for me. I have a doubt regarding the work experience. I have about 1 yr of experience (till june) and i am planning​to leave my job in July. Do you think it will affect my profile. I scored 83.3 in CAT 16
1 Jun 2017, 03.38 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
Looking at your cat percentile I feel you can crack it with job too. If you can give 8-10 hours a week, do it with job. Please don't leave job if you are not confident and even have little doubt over your efforts :-) Everyone has different mindset and different way of getting the things in life.
1 Jun 2017, 03.55 AM |
Ishan Shah
Hi Siddharth, Congrats for scoring such good marks!! I see your score to be appropriate for recieving calls from IIM I,L,K. Could you specify why you didn't mange to get the same?
1 Jun 2017, 06.48 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
I will not stretch this long. IIM Indore gives heavy weightage to 10 and +2 so I don't have that creme marks in 10 and +2. For Kozhikode and Lucknow, I think other candidates would have fulfilled their criteria more better than my acads and score :-) For more info, you can check their criteria for pgp 2017-19 admit.
1 Jun 2017, 06.55 AM |
Shwetali Dhamapurkar
I am a energetic , enthusiastic , curious to learn new things and improve on earlier learnt skills. I try to be the best version of me every passing month. My hobby is dancing and have learnt many forms of it since my childhood. Bharatnatyam, Kathak , Bollywood and Belly dance are to name just a few of them.
What was ur score in snap(both marks and percentile)? What did u refer for gk preparaction?
1 Jun 2017, 08.02 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
In snap, I had scored 99.79% 86.xx marks. For gk, you refer CL's PDFs which are available during September period. Try arranging them. Also refer some websites like jagranjosh as well. Apart from all that, newspapers are most helpful resource.
1 Jun 2017, 08.07 AM |
yash patel
Hi Siddharth, I too did my B.Tech from DDIT (2012-16). My acads are - 10th - 92, 12th - 88 and grad - 6.52(with multiple backlogs). Looking at my acad , should I prep for CAT as I see less chances of getting a good B school admit ?
1 Jun 2017, 01.43 PM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
Your 10 and +2 are well balanced. Your grad score can keep you in trouble. You can try for exams like IIFT, SNAP where grads marks are not given that importance. Through CAT, you have chances for FMS since 85% weightage is to the CAT score. I am not sure about the calls you can get at such grad score but scoring 99.8+ can only work.
1 Jun 2017, 08.20 PM |
Shayan Zaman
Great performance buddy. What are your chances of converting the new IIMs based on last year waitlist movements? The reason I am asking is because I too have A low engineering GPA and am planning to give the cat another shot this year. Did you apply to MDI Gurgaon?
1 Jun 2017, 01.55 PM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
I will let you know the converts once the admission process gets completed at various institutes. If you are taking cat again, ensure you score 99.7-8+ to fetch a call from old IIM.
1 Jun 2017, 08.28 PM |
Vedant Hamirwasia
Hi Siddharth . Congrats on your score . I appeared for CAT 2016 and could only score a 72.2 percentile in the Verbal section because of which my Overall Percentile fell remarkably . What should be my strategy to get 99+ in Verbal this year ?
1 Jun 2017, 04.00 PM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
I don't about how to get 99+ because I never targeted any percentile. All I ensured was to give the best shot. For verbal, I have mentioned the things in my answer above and in some comments also. Apart from that, you can refer my answers on quora as well. One single tip would be READ, READ and READ alot.
1 Jun 2017, 08.26 PM |
Nitish Jadhav
My academic profile is 94%,84%and 74%(B.E). What are my chances of getting in old iims?
1 Jun 2017, 11.47 PM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
Old IIMs will be possible above 99.5+ other than Indore. For IIM A, check your AR. If around 22-23 then 99.7-8+ for Ahmedabad. For Calcutta, 99.7+ should be sufficient. Check the criteria later but main thing is percentile now. Bring the score first.
2 Jun 2017, 12.12 AM |
Ravishankar Siddula
Hi Siddharth ... my profile is 10th-85%,Diploma-67%,BTech(2015 passed out)-70%,had 9 months experience in Uber as a Consultant and presently working in CTS as a Developer,want to appear for CAT-17. Evn joined in TIME as well ... could u plz tell me What are my chances of getting in old 7 iims/FMS?
2 Jun 2017, 01.05 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
Believe in yourself and your hard work. Score hefty for FMS and IIMs. Above 99.6+ ideally. All the best.
2 Jun 2017, 02.39 AM |
Joydip Dutta
Hi Siddhartha, congratulations for your brilliant score at CAT. My X -81.43% XII-74%graduation in mechanical engineering from private college 65% My score for CAT 2016 is 86.42 I working for a year in marketing and sales for a dealer in pump Industry. Do I stand any chance for getting into IIM ? If then what should be I aiming at now?
2 Jun 2017, 01.43 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
Only single piece of advice is that you work hard. Live your dream by getting the score so that at least you get a token to enter GDPIWAT process at IiMS be it old or new. for old iims, you will have to score heavy seeing your background and academic grades. All the best. Give ur cent percent.
2 Jun 2017, 02.42 AM |
siddhartha sarkar
Hi siddharth, Congrats!!! What was your attempts and accuracy in CAT 2016 and SNAP, and other exams. Thanks.
2 Jun 2017, 01.53 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
I had attempted around 69 questions overall. VA 29 DiLr 15 Quant 25 Accuracy overall 80-85% Snap around 105 attempts. Accuracy 85-90%
2 Jun 2017, 02.37 AM |
Vamsi Krishna
Hi Siddhartha, congratulations for your brilliant score at CAT. I would to ask you two questions 1.) Are you a G.E.M ( General, Engineer, of course Male) ? 2.) How many and what are the colleges you have applied for other than IIMs and What are the other calls did you get other than IIMs ?
6 Jun 2017, 01.16 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
Yes, I am GEM :-D I had applied to colleges such as sibm p, scmhrd, iift, nm, xlri and so on other than iims
8 Jun 2017, 07.00 AM |
shreshtha sarkar
Did you get a call from FMS?
9 Jun 2017, 12.52 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
I did not apply for FMS.
12 Jun 2017, 10.38 PM |
surina kondillya
Hey Siddharth, your post is pretty helping. I need some advice. I am very weak with quants. Could you help in referring a book for quant please? do you think Arun sharma is more than enough?
12 Jun 2017, 02.38 AM
+Read Replies (3)
siddharth kella
Focus more on basics like basic formulas, properties, equations and how to apply them in various applications. Once you are thorough with basics and its applications, you are good to go for Arun Sharma. Solve more sectional tests to gain grip over a particular topic. Identify your strengths ,solve more and get the speed.
12 Jun 2017, 10.14 PM |
surina kondillya
Thank alot! Could you refer a book for the basics please?
13 Jun 2017, 12.26 AM |
siddharth kella
For basics, you can pick any institute's basic modules in quant. You can also refer RS agarwal. Try giving more sectional tests on basics so that application of formulas becomes strong.
14 Jun 2017, 12.40 AM |
Rajiv Ch
Hi Siddharth, Thank you for the article.
14 Jun 2017, 03.08 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
hope it helped :-)
14 Jun 2017, 04.37 AM |
Swagat Reddy
hello siddharth,please tell how you prepared for GK section in snap...how many mocks have you written before snap..strategy of how you have taken snap2017....
21 Jun 2017, 04.34 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
For Gk, get CL's PDF. do read newspapers daily. Snap is 150 questn test. Do not go with rigid mindset. See the paper and differentiate easy from tough questn. Decide your strengths and perform better in them. Keep the speed and accuracy the foremost. I had written 4 mocks for SNAP
25 Jun 2017, 04.50 PM |
Rushikesh Kavathekar
Hi here a student from gtu I am having 50%marks in 12th and 86% in 10th continuing my engg degree 7.20 upto 7th sem ,which colleges can i target to get admission ,which exam should i take?
26 Jun 2017, 12.05 PM
Kanika Madan
Hey siddharth, I am an mba aspirant and my academics score are 9.2 goa in 10th and 91 percent in class 12 what are my chances to get a good b school and how uch percentile is needed
28 Jul 2017, 01.51 PM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
It solely depends on what efforts you put now. Your academics are well set. Next milestone for you is to score decent. Post which your next milestone would be clearing GD PIs. Hope you understand the logic behind dividing this journey into milestones. Push yourself to all extents and go aggressive on preparation. You can refer my answers on quora for more queries :) All the Best
6 Aug 2017, 01.04 PM |
Vikash Singh
First of all ..congrats to u sir...sir i appeared in cat 16 ...and my percentile is 61 ...93 in quant and 72 in lrdi and only 14 in verbal....i start working on my rc ...but i don't know whether i'm doing it in the right way or not ...so please suggest me that what should i do on regular basis in these remaining 4 months..so that at least i can get 85 plus in verabal section
29 Jul 2017, 01.02 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
For verbal, read a lot and apply proper reasoning to choose an answer. Work in reverse manner which is to eliminate the options and close down to 2 options. Now apply close reasoning in terms of context, grammar, tone and read options twice.
6 Aug 2017, 01.01 PM |
Dilip Kumar
thanks for sharing,it was inspiring
29 Jul 2017, 01.35 AM
Kushal Thakkar
MBA aspriant
Here is LDCE pass out electrical engineer working in torrent power i am refering whole endeavour material plus cat snap xat iift paper solution of Career launcher and for quant arun sharma Lod 1 2 for Lr also arun sharma di depend upon past paper and va rc past paper plus NL plus ims rc 100 rc 99 book after that I am planning to take ims 30 full plus 30 sectional test Am i going right?
21 Aug 2017, 11.55 AM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
practising is a good thing but make sure the applicability of what you are doing gets reflected in mocks. The sources are just the means of settling your momentum for the CAT. However, analyzing the mocks is of the utmost importance as of now. Do practice 4-5 RCs a day and take sectional tests for quant and DILR to improve the selection and accuracy.
11 Sep 2017, 08.25 PM |
Anil D
My plus two marks is little low(67%). And am from engineering background. Do i have a fair chance to get into one of the IIMS? And one more thing. I wont be able to spend whole time for CAT. My planning was like 3hrs on weekdays and 6-8 on sat & sun. Is this ok?
21 Aug 2017, 12.07 PM
Shilpa Thakur
I have decent academic record 93% in 10th, 91% in 12th and 82% in grad (physics hons) but i am not getting a consistent score in mocks. What will be a safe cat score for me to get a call from old iims? I am quite worried
21 Aug 2017, 07.18 PM
+Read Replies (1)
siddharth kella
You have stellar acad scores. Around 93-95+ should suffice to get majority of the calls. Try focussing on getting the things in right place as of now rather than worrying for scores. Do as many mistakes as you can , in mocks. Post which you will refrain from repeating those if you analyze the mocks threadbare.
11 Sep 2017, 08.28 PM |
Mayur Jungi
looking for myself in life.
thanks sid for sharing this info of ours. I am starting to prepare for CAT from a scratch and I bet this will serve as torch for my path.
22 Nov 2017, 12.59 PM
Bhavik Prajapati
Were you working during second attempt or do you have any gap after graduation?? Is that effect?
22 Nov 2017, 08.56 PM