CAT 2015: Success mantra 'Mocks beneficial if analyzed' says Suyash Bajpei, CAT topper

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
August 26, 2015
Wishing all the best to CAT 2015 aspirants Suyash has shared with MBAUniverse.com his story of successful journey to IIM Ranchi through CAT 2014
The benefit from mocks will not come by just solving them but by analyzing them Suyash Bajpai CAT topper and IIM Ranchi student

The success Mantra from CAT toppers is an inspiration for CAT 2015 aspirants. One of such CAT toppers in 2014 Suyash Bajpai has taken admission in IIM Ranchi.  Wishing all the best to CAT 2015 aspirants Suyash has shared with MBAUniverse.com his story of successful journey to IIM Ranchi through CAT 2014.

Currently enrolled in the PGP programme 2015-17 at IIM Ranchi, Suyash Bajpai is a student with multiple interests. Suyash scored 98.74 overall and high sectional percentile in CAT 2014. His experiences in preparation and strategy to take CAT gives very clear ‘success mantra’ to the CAT 2015 aspirants

MBAUniverse.com:What was your preparation strategy? Please share some key do’s and don’ts
Suyash (CAT topper): Well, the preparation strategy depends a lot on what your surrounding environment is i.e. whether you are into a job or not or if your job is very demanding or not, etc. What basically you should do is go through the previous year’s questions and understand the underlying concepts. Study material from various coaching institutes might help you in this.

Do’s for CAT 2015 Aspirants
Know your strong and weak topics. Make your weak points strong and your strong points stronger!

Prepare a schedule to complete your conceptual study at least 2 months before the exam. After that the focus should me more on giving mocks.

The benefit from mocks will not come by just solving them but by analyzing them. By this I mean that after you analyze your mock you should be able to identify your weak and strong zones, your comfort or discomfort in solving some particular type of questions, the time you invested in questions and things like this.

Read a lot (as many people would have told you by now). The benefits from reading just don’t end after you write CAT, they just start!

Don’ts for CAT 2015 Aspirants
Never ever procrastinate anything. Time is not fair to us!

MBAUniverse.com: What was your strategy in testing room to attempt the questions from different sections: Quantitative Ability & DI, Verbal Ability & LR?
Suyash (CAT topper): we had the option of choosing the section we want to attempt first and the time we want to invest in that section. But with some changes in CAT 2015 you no longer have that advantage (or disadvantage!). So whatever section comes first go with the questions you feel comfortable with. Just keep one thing in mind, questions which look easy may not take very less time and also vice versa, so please keep track of the time you are spending on each question.

MBAUniverse.com: Which all exams did you write? How did you prepare for them? What score did you get?
Suyash (CAT topper): I appeared for IIFT and CAT. I tried to follow what all I have mentioned in the ‘Dos’ column above. I was more involved in taking mock exams as I had already written CAT before and therefore had a basic idea of concepts. I could not cross the cut-off in IIFT. In CAT I scored 98.74. So the thing is that just keep faith in yourself.

MBAUniverse.com: How many GDPI did you take part in? What were your GD/WAT topics?
Suyash (CAT topper): I had just one GD in MDI where the topic was “MBA is a qualification and not education”. I had two PIs.

MBAUniverse.com: Few questions that were asked to you during PI round?
Suyash (CAT topper): I was asked about my work experience: what, why and how I did whatever I did there. Some questions about the Union Budget 2015 and some general knowledge questions. Along with these were the basic personality questions and the most common question of all – WHY MBA!!!

MBAUniverse.com: The institutes that offered you admission?
Suyash (CAT topper): I was offered admission in all the new IIMs.

MBAUniverse.com: Which is the institute that you have decided to take admission and why? 
Suyash (CAT topper): I decided to take admission in IIM Ranchi which interested me because of the companies that visited the campus and also because of the general perception about this college. Before deciding on which college to join,  go through the placement reports of all the concerned colleges. Don’t take ‘average salary’ as your only parameter while comparing colleges.

MBAUniverse.com: What advice and tips you would like to share with the candidates preparing for CAT 2015?
Suyash (CAT topper): My advice for the CAT 2015 aspirants would be to keep calm and stay focused. With every passing day try to increase your knowledge and also get better at what you already know.

MBAUniverse.com: Your message to future MBA aspirants.
Suyash (CAT topper): My message to all the future MBA aspirants would be to try to know themselves better in every possible way they can. MBA is not just a sure shot success story, it is just a tool to achieve success in whatever field one wants. The better you know about yourself and what you want to do in your future, the more you will get by doing MBA.

MBAUniverse.com: Why did you want to do MBA?
Suyash (CAT topper): My reason for doing MBA was very basic. I had a prior experience in a manufacturing company where I developed an interest in operations (managing inventory and maintenance activities) and so I decided to enhance my knowledge and better my skills that would help me in building a career in this field.

Don’t narrow your vision about the specialization you want to take, there is ample time for you to decide that in your first year. You get to know about the different specializations in detail in the first year and then you can decide what is best for you.

MBAUniverse.com: Would you like to share any special story experienced by you in your journey from being a CAT aspirant to a successful topper (any special thing which motivated you )
Suyash (CAT topper): I would like to share a story which motivated me a lot and is responsible for a drastic change in my outlook and attitude. This story is about my HOD to whom I reported during my job. He entered the paper manufacturing industry as a fitter (the lowest technical position in the company) having just an ITI diploma. But he had a vision and determination that helped him reach the level he was currently at. Many of the people who started their career with him could not grow like him, some even worked under him in the same company. The biggest differentiating factor was his will to learn and adapt. By the time I left the company he became well versed in using the new software that we installed for monitoring maintenance activities (not an easy task at the age of 56 and with no formal computer education). So what I basically learnt from him is that we should not limit ourselves in what we can achieve. It all depends on how far we are willing to go.

MBAUniverse.com: Thanks for sharing such a valuable guidance for CAT 2015 aspirants 
Suyash (CAT topper): Thank you very much

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