He Read 30 Pages a Day to Fix His Weakest CAT Section. It Took Him to 98.80 Percentile in VARC
Manikandan S was comfortable with numbers. As a Mechanical Engineering graduate and the first-rank holder of his batch at the College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Quantitative Aptitude was never his biggest concern.
VARC was different.
His scores in the section stayed low, and he knew that solving more random questions would not fix the problem. So he changed the way he prepared. For months, he read editorials, newspapers, magazines and long-form articles every day, covering at least 30 pages of content.
That reading habit helped him score 98.80 percentile in VARC and 97.27 percentile overall in CAT.
He also scored 91.74 percentile in DILR and 83.64 percentile in Quantitative Aptitude. After CAT, he converted calls from IIM Shillong, IIM Udaipur, the JAP institutes, SJMSoM, VGSoM and IIT Madras. He joined IIM Shillong.
The problem was not comprehension alone
Manikandan’s CAT preparation did not begin with full-length mocks. His first priority was improving the way he read.
For four months, he read four editorial articles every day. He used The Hindu, The Indian Express, The Times of India and The Economic Times, along with magazines such as Down to Earth and government publications including Yojana and Kurukshetra.
The reading covered politics, economics, geography, business and public policy.
His aim was practical. CAT VARC passages can be long and unfamiliar. Manikandan wanted to become comfortable reading difficult material quickly without losing the argument or the author’s point of view.
He completed this groundwork before moving into intensive CAT preparation.
How reading became his VARC preparation
Manikandan’s VARC scores had been consistently low. He considered reading ability a problem that needed daily practice, rather than a section that could be fixed through a short revision plan.
Reading across different subjects helped him in two ways. It increased his speed and made it easier to process unfamiliar ideas.
Over time, he became more comfortable with complex passages. He also developed the habit of understanding how an argument was built, which helped him handle questions based on inference and the author’s viewpoint.
“My biggest weakness was VARC. Improving my reading ability was non-negotiable if I wanted to perform well in CAT.”
The change did not come from one book or one shortcut. It came from reading every day, even when the material was outside the usual CAT syllabus.
His DILR strategy was built around patterns
For DILR, Manikandan did not solve random sets without a plan. He focused on five or six major question types and spent about a week on each one.
During that week, he solved around 20 questions a day from the selected type. The goal was to understand the pattern behind the questions and recognise the right approach faster.
After four or five weeks of this practice, he began taking DILR sectional mocks. In each practice session, he aimed to solve three or four sets.
This helped him move from familiarisation to selection. During the exam, he was looking for the method that matched the set instead of treating every question as completely new.
How he prepared for Quantitative Aptitude
Manikandan already had a strong academic and engineering background, so he spent comparatively less time on Quant than on VARC.
He maintained consistency by solving 20 to 30 questions a day from each chapter. This helped him keep his concepts clear while improving speed.
His preparation covered both the fundamentals and their application in exam-style questions.
The final two months were for mocks
By the last two months before CAT, Manikandan had covered the major topics. His focus then shifted to full-length mock tests.
He took at least five or six mocks through AIMCAT. The purpose was to test the strategy he had built, identify weak areas and make adjustments before the actual exam.
The mocks also helped him understand how reading speed, set selection and time management worked together across a three-section paper.
His final CAT score was 71.39, which placed him at the 97.27 percentile.
The preparation pillars he relied on
Manikandan identifies two habits as the foundation of his preparation: reading and pattern recognition.
Reading helped him improve in VARC, the section he found most difficult. Pattern recognition helped him approach DILR with more structure.
His engineering background gave him confidence in Quantitative Aptitude, but he did not assume that one strong section would be enough. The effort went into the area that was most likely to hold back his overall result.
The confidence to appear for CAT came from seeing measurable progress in reading. Once VARC became manageable, the rest of his preparation felt more balanced.
Preparing for interviews through self-awareness and current affairs
For the interview stage, Manikandan focused on knowing his own profile in detail.
He prepared his academic background, work experience, achievements, hobbies and reasons for pursuing an MBA. He also worked on questions such as:
- Tell me about yourself
- Why do you want to pursue an MBA?
- Why now?
- What are your short-term and long-term goals?
His work experience at Ashok Leyland required additional preparation. He revised the company’s business model, recent developments in the automotive sector and the impact of economic and policy changes on the industry.
He also revised engineering subjects that he had studied in depth or mentioned in his application.
For current affairs, he followed developments in economics, business, geopolitics and public policy. He focused on forming balanced opinions instead of memorising isolated facts.
The interview connected his work to wider business questions
Manikandan’s interview at IIM Shillong focused heavily on his academic background, his work in corporate strategy and the projects he had handled at Ashok Leyland.
The panel asked about hyperlocal marketing, digital lead generation and vehicle scrappage-related business planning. They also discussed marketing metrics, SEO, data privacy regulations and the effect of AI on business.
The conversation then moved to government initiatives for manufacturing, trade developments and economic opportunities in the Northeast.
Some questions tested analytical thinking and general awareness, including probability and issues related to the region.
Manikandan found the interview conversational and engaging. The panel appeared interested in how he approached problems at work and how he connected those experiences with broader economic and business developments.
From a weak VARC score to IIM Shillong
Manikandan’s CAT strategy began with a simple diagnosis: his reading ability was limiting his VARC performance.
He responded by reading at least 30 pages every day across newspapers, editorials, magazines and government publications. For DILR, he studied question types and practised pattern recognition. For Quant, he focused on steady daily problem-solving.
The result was a 98.80 percentile in VARC, a 97.27 percentile overall and a place at IIM Shillong.
His preparation shows why identifying the weakest section early can change the entire CAT strategy. Once he knew what was holding him back, he built his preparation around fixing it.