Mr Rohit Anand Garg cracked CAT 2012 with an overall 99.16 percentile and secured admission to an IIM. Mr Garg, who worked for Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for 34 months after his Engineering degree, says that speed and accuracy matter the most in the CAT examination. He however feels that WAT/PI stage requires even more efforts than the CAT examination itself.
In this interview with MBAUniverse.com, The IIM Raipur student advises CAT Aspirants to ‘practice’ as much as possible. Mr Garg also shares his success strategies, weekly study plans, D-day strategy and also speaks on how he handled his difficult areas during CAT preparation.
What was the toughest & easiest section for you in CAT?
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension was the toughest section for me in CAT. During mocks, I was usually able to attempt a good number of questions in this section, but was low on accuracy. On the other hand, the Quant & DI section was relatively easier than VA & RC. It involved applications of basic quant fundamentals and was my area of interest as well. My speed and accuracy in this section helped me to maximize the score.
How did you handle the difficult part during your preparation and CAT test date?
I identified my strong and weak areas for VA. A cursory glance at the section helped me to have a fair idea of the complexity level of the questions. I attempted the easier and less time consuming questions first. This increased the accuracy and saved time which I could utilize for logical reasoning section. This strategy was practiced thoroughly in the mocks before I implemented it in on the D-day.
How did you manage your weekly study schedule?
I was a working professional while preparing for CAT. In order to balance my work commitments and CAT preparation, I designed a schedule to devote minimum 30 hours per week to my preparation assigning appropriate weightage to all the sections. I devoted 2-3 hours daily after work and 7-8 hours on weekends to meet my targets. I believe an average of 4-6 hours a day of serious efforts would surely help a student to bell the CAT.
Which is the one preparation area which influenced your selection to this Top B-school heavily?
The WAT/PI stage of the admission process checks your mettle. I knew that the WAT/PI stage requires even more efforts than the CAT examination itself. My extensive current affairs knowledge and sound know how of technical and functional areas of my work experience helped me a lot in this. Apart from that, good writing skills are also required in WAT. In the WAT/PI process, my topic revolved around government reforms in India. I was well-versed with the current topics which helped me substantiate my article with facts.
How was your long-term preparation strategy for GD/PI?
WAT/PI preparation could be divided into two parts – Knowledge Building and Practice. For WAT, It is beneficial to take a random topic and write an essay on that daily. Writing skills can be significantly improved with this exercise. I read newspapers and prominent magazines regularly to build up knowledge. Also, I browsed through various blogs and articles and videos of group discussions and learnt a lot from them. Reading editorials from prominent newspapers helps in analysing current issues from various points of view and develops perspective about prevalent issues.
To assess my performance in the GD’s, I attended as many GD’s as possible conducted by my coaching institute and worked on possible areas of improvement.
What was your biggest mistake during selection process beginning with CAT?
Since I was a working professional with more than 30 months of experience, I believed that my interview would be focussed more on my work experience and rather than my graduation subjects. So, I didn’t concentrate much on brushing-up my graduation subjects and concentrated more on preparing other areas. This proved to be a huge mistake as I was asked a large number of questions that required thorough knowledge of the graduation subjects. Somehow, I managed to evade those questions in the interview by requesting the interviewers to ask questions on my Work experience.
Your advice for CAT 2013 Aspirants
I believe that speed and accuracy matter the most in the CAT examination. To improve upon this, the only Mantra is ‘practice’. I would advise to solve a large number of problems with various levels of difficulty. Also giving Mock tests regularly helps in analysing the performance. Taking mocks will help one to identify weak and strong areas. An important advice will be to work hard on one’s weak areas, while side by side polishing strong areas. As most of the top B-schools in the country have individual sectional cut-offs, it is important to score high in each of the sections.
What is the best part of doing/being an MBA?
MBA develops one’s interpersonal skills and decision making capabilities. These skills become important when one is required to handle bigger responsibilities and lead a group in an organization. The diversity in the class room ensures that you learn a lot from people of different backgrounds.MBA nurtures you to see things from business perspective. The teaching methodology and the overall learning environment of an MBA college ensure that you learn a lot about how businesses are operated around the world, what are the various aspects of a business, and how firms interact with the world. I personally felt a change in perspective after joining IIM Raipur. Before joining the institute I had a mindset that I would be joining the corporate world after completing my MBA, but now after spending about two and a half months my plans have changed and I am more inclined towards being an entrepreneur.
One unique aspect of IIM Raipur
One unique aspect of the institute is the close proximity of the hostels and academic building which facilitates group studies that help in peer learning. It also helps in increased involvement in student activities which is crucial for personality development in a B-School.
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