Mocked my mocks, Made by CAT.
In 2024, I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Life Science. Zero business background, no corporate exposure, and no idea I’d one day sit for the CAT. My only brush with the marketing world came through freelance gigs, managing the social media for my college magazine and a sports broadcasting company. It was there that I discovered my fascination for marketing and its creative pulse. That tiny spark lit the fire.
With limited time and no clue where to begin, I officially began my CAT preparation in May 2024. I enrolled in coaching classes, aware that my first priority was to rebuild my relationship with maths, which I had left after Class 10. Simultaneously, I had to train myself to read and think critically under pressure, a skill I’d need for both VARC and DILR.
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I set daily targets: 15-20 math questions from the day’s class, 3-4 reading comprehensions, and 2-3 LRDI sets. After three weeks, I took my first mock. A disaster, 31 overall (21 in VARC, 9 in DILR, 1 in QA). But weirdly, I didn’t feel defeated. I had just begun. I needed practice, not panic.
The next month, my scores barely moved. It stung. But I realized feeling bad wouldn’t help, working smart would. I had covered a lot by then, and with weekly mocks, I began recognizing patterns in my performance. VARC felt like home, DILR felt like war. I knew where I stood.
Still, I stuck to my schedule, now doubling down on weak areas. In September, I began solving CAT PYQs. Everything changed. Getting questions right from actual CAT papers? That was a high. I’ll never forget the first time I cracked a DILR PYQ, it felt surreal. Confidence began to replace fear, even though I never crossed 90 percentile in mocks. I stayed grounded and honest with myself. I knew I had done the work.
November 24th, 8:30 AM. CAT D-Day. I had a plan. Attack VARC, survive DILR, do my best in Quant. But pressure messes with your head. Doubt crept in during VARC, but I kept going-17 attempts. Then came DILR with a twist: 5 sets instead of 4. My strategy collapsed. I improvised, tackled sets with 4 questions first, solved the first in 5 minutes, the second in 10. I ended up solving 16 questions, my best ever. Quant was tough, but I managed 7. I walked out unsure, but proud.
Four days later, I got the answer key. Too scared to check, I asked a friend. He called and said, “Dekh toh.”
Score: 101 (36-48-17). Percentile: 99.13. It was real.
I was ecstatic. Surely this meant top calls? Not quite. No BLACKISM, not even new IIMs like Sambalpur and Vizag. The lack of work experience hit hard.
Still, I got calls—SPJIMR (rejected), IIFT (waitlisted), MDI-HR (converted), and several new IIMs (declined). Then came BITSoM. My best interview of the season and a convert. A new-age B-school, yes, with its risks. But it felt right.
Exactly One year after I’d started this journey, I officially paid the fees for MBA Class of 2027 at BITSoM. From clueless to confident, what a ride.
