CAT 2015 aspirants are preparing hard with the solo aim to get into the flagship MBA/PGP 2016-18 batch of IIM A, B, C, L or the top B schools like FMS & SPJIMR where not only the learning experience is great but an excellent career opportunity is also assured after completion of the course.
How important is to achieve the 99 and 100 percentile in CAT 2015 and more importantly how you should prepare and remain focused on your goal is shared below by the CAT 2014 toppers and 100 percentilers with expert comments from Prof S K Agarwal, Verbal Ability expert and mentor on CAT 2015 preparation.
According to Prof S K Agarwal, although all the CAT aspirants who are in the serious mode of CAT 2015 preparation adopt different preparation strategy as their preparation plan is prioritized in accordance with their routine and availability of time, one thing is very much same in preparation plan of 100 percentilers at the ground level and it is that they all remain motivated, inspired, unbiased and focused throughout their preparation journey.
A few of the CAT 2014 toppers like Neha Manglick (100 Percentiler); Pranjul Gupta (100 percentiler); Vishesh Patni (100 percentiler); Anuraag Reddy Padigepati (100 percentiler); Harshveer Jain (100 percentiler); Aashish Chiller (100 percentiler); Soumyadeep Chakraborty(100 percentiler); Kartik Raj Rewar (99.93 percentiler) had devised a bit different preparation plan but had one thing in common that all of them have engineering background. The regular and tough study schedule at BITS, IITs and other top notch engineering institutes made them conversant with their abilities which helped them to develop their respective preparation strategy to crack CAT with high sectional as well as overall percentile.
Neha Manglick, CAT 2014 topper and 100 percentiler scored 99.84 percentile in Quant & DI section and 100 percentile in VALR section. It was around May/June 2014 when she started her CAT 2014 preparation journey seriously. Neha was the student of BITS Pilani and was working as intern at Hindustan Uniliver while preparing for CAT 2014.
Although Neha took some help from offline and online coaching in her preparation for CAT 2014, her major focus was on self study instead of running here and there to prepare for the exam. Her preparation strategy consisted of doing away with her weakness on relevant topics, improving her speed and accuracy by attempting as many mocks as possible and searching for more than one way to attempt and solve the questions with accuracy. She analysed the mocks well and ensured not to repeat the mistakes. No preference to either of the two sections was given by her as she considered all the parts in both the sections equally important. Neha has been solving puzzles since child hood and this practice has helped her also in cracking CAT 2014 with such a high sectional as well as overall percentile.
In her view, Questions on Data Interpretation (DI) used to take a lot of her time to solve. She tried Vedic mathematics pattern to improve the speed of her calculations. Sharing on how to prepare for CAT 2015 she emphasizes less on procuring too much of study material but more on taking greater number of mocks, analyzing them and not to repeat the mistakes.
Pranjul Gupta and Vishesh Patni, CAT 2014 100 percentilers,are from IIT Kanpur. While Pranjul was pursuing B.Tech (final year) in Electrical Engineering Vishesh was doing M.Sc Physics from IIT Kanpur. Both are freshers although had job offers and after scoring 100 percentile in CAT 2014 had made up their mind to join top rated IIMs.
Both of them made sure to go for serious self-study apart from joining need based coaching classes. They focused on more mocks and analysed them well to eliminate their weak points. CAT 2014 was the maiden attempt for both Pranjul and Vishesh.
Pranjul scored 99.99 in Quant & DI Section and 99.97 in VALR section. He devoted 2-3 hours regularly to CAT 2014 preparation and ensured that he was taking mocks without fail. This strategy in his view improved his skills and strengths to ace the exam.
Vishesh scored 99.98 percentile in Quant & DI and 99.97 in VALR section. Vishesh who wants to launch his entrepreneurship venture after completing his MBA in 2017 also remained very particular in taking Mocks and analysing them regularly to overcome his weaknesses. Vishesh focused more on his strengths and attempted the types of questions in VA on which he could further improve his accuracy level. According to Vishesh he was not very strong in Verbal Ability. Another weak point of Vishesh was Geometry where he tried not to attempt the questions from.
In his view CAT 2015 aspirants should take the mocks seriously and should focus more on their strong areas. His piece of advice is to go for self study although coaching can help save your time on topics and questions where you are stuck. CAT 2015 taker should remain unbiased and must aim to crack around 85+ questions with accuracy in CAT 2015.
Anuraag Reddy Padigepati, Harshveer Jain and Vibhu Gupta, the trio with 100 percentile score in CAT 2014 are from IIT Bombay. They find that a regular study of 3-4 hours a day, taking more mocks and eliminating your weaknesses are the key to success in CAT 2015. In their view there is no substitute for self-study and coaching should be joined not as the main source of preparation but only as a support.
Aashish Chiller who has scored perfect 100 percentile is from IIT Delhi. He was a final year student when he was preparing for CAT 2014. Aashish is an artist and has hobby of designing. CAT 2014 was his first attempt which he cracked with such a high score. He was regular in his studies and used to spend time in improving his basics like grammar and therefore did not need too much of his time on preparation for CAT 2014. In his view serious preparation could be started one or two months prior to the exam if one remains regular in his studies prior to this. He suggests the CAT 2015 aspirants to focus on their strengths, overcome the weaknesses, take more mocks, analyse them and avoid recurring mistakes.
Soumyadeep Chakraborty, a student of telecommunication engineering from Jadavpur University is another 100 percentiler with 99.97 in Quant & DI and 100 in VALR. He also favours taking more mocks, focusing on strengths and not leaving anything to chance.
Kartik Raj Rewar currently enrolled in the PGP programme 2015-17 at IIM Ahmedabad, is a student with multiple interests. A final year student of B Tech in Chemical Engineering at IIT Bombay while preparing for CAT 2014 Kartik is a fresher as he has passed out in 2015. Kartik scored 99.93 percentile in CAT 2014. His success mantra for CAT 2015 aspirants is not to get bogged down by a very complex topic/concept. In his view CAT only tests Class 10 level maths. CAT 2015 aspirants are advised not to study in a haphazard manner but should structure a daily/weekly schedule and follow it in a disciplined manner.
Another key to success shared by Kartik is to try to balance sectional scores. Focus more on weaker sections/topics during the first half of CAT preparation. During the second-half, CAT 2015 aspirants should try to refine your strong subjects/topics.
CAT 2015: Advisory from expert
CAT 2015 aspirants should be aware of this surprising fact that IIMs need a high balanced sectional percentile instead of only high overall percentile. All the IIMs fix a minimum sectional cut off. Usually, the minimum sectional cut off is above 85+ for newer IIMs and 90+ for older ones especially IIM A, B, C, L. A candidate scoring 98 overall percentile might have scored 100 percentile in quant and 83 in Verbal. Despite such a high score, his sectional percentile is not to the minimum prescribed standard. He would not be shortlisted by any IIM unless his sectional percentile was above the minimum prescribed cut off point of 85 or 90.
No IIM prefers to offer any grace percentile option and therefore even if you are short of one percentile in scoring the minimum cut off percentile, you wouldn’t be shortlisted nor any generosity from any IIM must be expected in this regard.
On the other hand candidates with good sectional percentile of 85+ in each section or 90+ in each section, despite having lesser overall percentile say 96 or 97 not only receive the calls from older IIMs but also would stand fair opportunity to convert them.
CAT 2015 Preparation expert on Verbal Ability Prof S K Agarwal is of the strong view that ‘candidates should target a high percentile in both the sections of CAT 2015 exam else it will be difficult to even get shortlisted by any IIM’. There are two most important angles that would be instrumental to help you achieve the high sectional percentile in CAT 2015 and get you shortlisted for final admission round. The first one is CAT 2015 score and the second one is your Profile.
You can deploy every effort to get the best out of CAT 2015 but may not do anything substantial in improving the profile part now. So better strategy is to focus on the right preparation strategy for CAT 2015 and ace the exam.
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