Mr Siddhartha Tiwari scored 98.94 percentile in CAT and accepted an admission offer from one of the new IIMs. Siddhartha who had a working experience of 25 months along with his high CAT percentile, received final admission offer from multiple B-schools including most of the new IIMs.
MBAUniverse.com has published a series of articles based on Toppers Mantra to help CAT aspirants to prepare well for the exam and achieve high percentile. Links of past Toppers Mantra is below:
http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/7113/
http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/7103/
http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/7064/
http://www.mbauniverse.com/article/id/7076/
In this Topper’s Mantra session with MBAUniverse.com, Mr Siddhartha shares his CAT prep strategy and talks on the challenges he faced during his preparation while being a working executive. He also speaks on his GD/PI strategy and suggests MBA aspirants to prepare the same along with their preparation of CAT.
Q: What was your CAT percentile and which B-schools offered you final admission?
A: I scored an overall percentile of 98.94 in CAT. I got final admission offers from many B-schools including IIM Raipur, IIM Rohtak, IIM Kashipur, IIM Udaipur. I finally chose IIM Raipur.
Q: What was the toughest & easiest section for you in CAT? Why?
A: For me, Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension section was the toughest in CAT. In this section, I was low in accuracy and also my reading speed was not satisfactory for the Reading Comprehension part. Quantitative Ability was the easiest section as I have always been a good student in Mathematics and so was confident of scoring high in this section.
Q: What were your strategies to handle the difficult part?
A: I enrolled for test series and wrote mock tests regularly. It helped me to identify my strengths and weaknesses. I used to analyze my test performance in detail and determine the areas where improvement was required. I was also very particular with the selection of questions while giving mock CATs so that I could maximize my scores. In short, my approach was totally mock CAT-centric. Also, I read a lot of novels and blogs to enrich my vocabulary and improve my reading speed.
Q: How did you manage your weekly study schedule? Ideal duration for study in a week?
A: As I was a working professional, time management was very crucial for preparation. I used to study during the weekends. I did not plan my schedule in terms of no. of hours. Instead I prepared a study plan based on course contents and made it a point to abide by the plan religiously. While studying, one should ensure that things are being assimilated well and properly revised for better retention. Studying for 2 hours a day with full attention is anytime preferable than stretching oneself for long hours without concentration.
Q: One preparation area which influenced your selection to this Top B-school heavily. How?
A: Scoring well in CAT doesn’t necessitate the final selection. The real competition starts in the second phase i.e. WAT/PI stage. The WAT topic that was given to me was based on traditional Indian family system and its viability. For WAT, I would suggest students to manage the time properly so that the write-up can be finished within the stipulated time-limit. I was interviewed on questions ranging from my hometown to fashion industry. The panel also asked about my viewpoints on some contemporary issues like scams and FDI. Apart from academic knowledge, their main focus was on current affairs.
With a very good performance in WAT/PI, one can stand out and ensure final selection. With selection criteria changing every year, the weightage given to CAT score for the final selection has lessened and more importance is being given to WAT/PI stage by IIM’s.
Q: Your long-term preparation strategy for GD/PI.
A:For Written Ability Test, one needs to have good writing skills along with sound knowledge of current affairs and contemporary issues to substantiate one’s write-up. For interview, one needs to have a very good knowledge base of variety of topics. Apart from current affairs, one should also be prepared for questions based on academic background, work experience and personal details. For WAT, my strategy was to write on one topic each day within time limit. For interview, I regularly read newspapers for current affairs, and also went through my course books. For personal questions, the best strategy would be to write as many questions one can write about oneself, and then prepare good answers for them.
To assess my performance in the GD’s, I attended mock GD’s and it helped me to get rid of hesitation and I could speak fluently.
Q: What was your biggest mistake during selection process beginning with CAT?
A: I should have started my preparation early considering time constraints. Had I done that, I could have done a lot better in Section 2 of the exam. Also for interview, I should have prepared the explanations of some basic questions well like the reasons to switch my job.
Q: Your advice for CAT 2013 Aspirants?
A: There is no substitute of hard work; but smart work is also important. Devise a viable study-plan and diligently follow it. Have faith in your abilities and success will be yours.
Q: What is the best part of doing/being an MBA?
A: MBA gives us detailed insights of all the major aspects of business world. The rigorous life style of a Top B school transforms the students’ life and makes them more confident, competitive and rational to take on the challenges of the corporate world.
Q: Mention one unique aspect of your Institute.
A: I am really blessed to be a part of IIM Raipur campus. The unique aspect of the institute for me would be peer-learning. With students from different regions of India and diverse backgrounds such as engineering, journalism, biology, chartered accountancy and fashion, a very good learning environment is created, and this is what MBA education is all about. Also, a very good representation of female students in the institute makes it gender diverse.
MBAUniverse.com schedules Toppers LIVE Chat every week on MBA Forum section to help aspirants interact with the CAT Toppers and get answers to their exam and preparation queries. Links of last weeks Live Toppers chat below:
LIVE Chat with Quant Expert and IIM CAT Topper on Saturday, 28th September from 1:00-2:00 PM
LIVE Toppers' Chat with CAT 2012 FMS DELHI Topper on Friday, 20th September at 3:00-4:00 PM
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more news and updates on Toppers Mantra and CAT Exam
