My journey to B-School has been a gradual one. I first attempted CAT in 2022 and scored a 79 percentile. Fast forward to today, I’m grateful to be joining SPJIMR’s PGDM batch of 2025–27. Before sharing more about my story, here is a bit about me. I have an 8/8/8 academic profile and come with two years of work experience. I completed my high school education through the Cambridge Board (A-Levels) and went on to pursue a B.Sc. in Economics, Mathematics, and Statistics. Post graduation, I have been working full-time while preparing for CAT alongside. My preparation has been self-driven throughout, and I was able to achieve my goal in my second focused attempt.
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Finding the Right Balance Between Work and Preparation
Ever since I entered the corporate world, one of the challenges I had to navigate was setting boundaries between professional responsibilities and personal goals. My job demanded 8-hour days, six days a week, with limited flexibility for remote work. Moreover, the client-facing nature of the role often meant work extended beyond official hours.
Embracing this schedule, I decided to self-prepare. It was important for me to have ownership over the limited time I had outside of my professional life, and I didn’t feel comfortable committing to fixed class schedules. Preparing on my own offered the flexibility I needed, even if it came with certain challenges.
Through some initial research, I learned that successful candidates often invest between 300 to 500 hours in their CAT preparation. With a target of 400 hours in mind, I built a routine that allowed me to study consistently on weekdays and make the most of my weekends.
Here’s what a typical weekday looked like for me in 2023:
- 6:00 am – Wake Up
- 6:30 to 8:30 am – CAT Preparation
- 9:00 am to 8:30 pm – Commute + Office
- Post 8:30 pm – More Office Work / Rest and Recharge
Of course, life doesn’t follow your timetable. There were days I couldn’t wake up on time. Some days office hours extended beyond usual. However, with every deviation, I made an attempt to compensate in some other form. Occasionally, I’d try to squeeze in an hour in the evening. If not, I would aim to catch up over the weekend. My goal was not to be perfect every day. Instead, I tried to just to keep moving forward, even if the steps were small.
Two hours a day might seem too little to some, but I believed CAT was more about consistency than intensity. Over eight months, even with the occasional off day, that pace would still take me close to 400–500 hours
Falling Short on My First Try
In 2023, my first serious CAT attempt, I was able to secure a 95.3%ile. Unfortunately, however, that was not sufficient for me to receive calls from any of my target Tier 1 institutes. While, I wouldn’t say this was a terrible score but it was definitely an underperformance considering the amount of preparation that went behind.
On reflection, there were a few shortcomings in my approach that contributed to this. I was stressed about completing the entire syllabus and dedicated a disproportionate amount of time towards Quants chapters that have not been featuring in CAT for the last few years. This led me to start my mock attempts around the month of October when in fact August would have been far more ideal. Limited number of mocks meant I was not able to devise an attempt strategy that was best aligned with my strengths.
Keeping these in mind, I went ahead with my second attempt with a deeper awareness of what needed to be done. However, here is when I faced another unexpected road block.
Navigating a Job Hunt as an MBA Aspirant
At the time of my first attempt, my job required me to reside in Mumbai. While the city has its own charm, it was far from home. My family was settled in Bangalore, and it was there that I had access to a more comfortable and conducive environment, my own room, a dedicated study space and a sense of familiarity that I missed. I believed that moving back home would allow me to create the right conditions to give my next attempt my best shot.
At the same time, I was working in an industry where I appreciated the nature of the work, but it wasn’t aligned with my long-term aspirations or the career path I envisioned. This meant stepping into the uncertain and often challenging process of a job search. As someone with just a year of experience, looking to switch industries and stay location-bound, I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but it is a challenge I had to face.
I will share more about the nuances of my job hunt some other time though it certainly had its share of ups and downs. Fortunately, toward the end of February, I was offered an opportunity to join a growing e-commerce brand. With a new role in place and the right environment around me, I was ready to give my second attempt the focus and effort it deserved.
What I Did Differently in My Second Attempt!
This time around, my primary focus was to address the gaps and shortcomings from my first attempt. As I was already familiar with the syllabus, I decided to begin by developing a sharper understanding of my strengths and areas that needed improvement.
I started with mocks as early as April, initially focussing on sectional tests to establish a baseline. Gradually, patterns became apparent. In VARC, for instance, I noticed that my accuracy was fairly consistent. I would typically get 3 out of 4 questions right, regardless of whether I spent 7 minutes or 12 minutes on a reading comprehension. This insight led me to reevaluate my strategy. I chose to attempt all four RCs within 28 minutes and reserve the remaining 12 minutes for the VA section, with the goal of maximising my overall attempt rate.
On the other hand, LRDI required a very different mindset. Here, accuracy appeared to be a critical differentiator. The key lay in quickly identifying the right sets – those that had manageable conditions and fewer constraints. With time and practice, I became more adept at scanning through all the sets and zeroing in on the ones worth attempting.
Quant, meanwhile, demanded a delicate balance between speed and precision. It wasn’t just about solving problems correctly, but also knowing which ones to pick based on my comfort and familiarity and executing them swiftly.
As the months progressed, consistent exposure to a wide variety of questions helped me fine-tune my preparation. I began to clearly see where I could improve and where I could play to my strengths. This time, I devoted the bulk of my effort to mock tests and their analysis, a decision that helped me build both confidence and composure in the lead-up to the exam.
I secured a 97.2 percentile in my second attempt, a modest but important improvement from my first. While it wasn’t as high as I had hoped, I felt reasonably proud of the progress I made, especially considering I achieved this through self-preparation while simultaneously hustling for long hours at a fast-paced startup.
Final Reflections
The road to a B-school admission is rarely linear. It is a deeply personal path and wonderfully unique to each of us. Everyone moves through it differently and that is the beauty of it. What matters most is continuing to show up with intent and honesty. These processes can feel overwhelming, but I have learned that growth often happens quietly in the everyday effort, the small decisions, and the moments of doubt we choose to push through.
If you are currently in the middle of your own journey, I hope that sharing a glimpse of mine has helped, even if just a little. Thank you for taking the time to read my story. If there is any way I can support you, please don’t hesitate to connect with me on LinkedIn, I would be glad to assist in any way I can.
