CAT 2015: "Learn which questions to skip" success Mantra from Aastha; CAT topper & IIM Lucknow student

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
October 21, 2015
The fact that Big success stories can emerge from small towns in CAT 2015 also, has been proved by CAT topper and IIM Lucknow student Aastha Sneha who secured a percentile of 98.87 in CAT
Learn which questions to skip this is at times more important than knowing which questions to solve Aastha Sneha CAT topper and IIM Lucknow student

Big success stories can emerge from small towns in CAT 2015 also, the fact has been proved by CAT topper and IIM Lucknow student Aastha Sneha who secured a percentile of 98.87 in CAT and 99.97 in XAT. A consistent performer in academics and in various competitions, Aastha  completed her school education from 7 different schools, due to the frequent transfers her father had to undergo in his job.

All her education has been carried out in towns of Bihar and Jharkhand. Aastha  did her 10th from Carmel School, Giridih and 12th from DAV JVM Shyamali, Ranchi. She secured 96.4% in 10th and 87.4% in 12th class.

How positive Aastha thinks can be understood by the fact the frequency of change in school education is considered by her as an opportunity instead of a problem. According to Aastha “I believe that the fact that I have changed so many schools, goes a long way in developing my personality and confidence.”

After 12th, Aastha appeared in the Special Class Railway Apprentices (SCRA) exam conducted by UPSC and cleared it with a thumping success.

A versatile personality Aastha loves reading. This has helped her to have a strong footing in grammar and verbal abilities areas. Aastha has a great interest in music and loves singing very much.

With full of gratitude to her parents’ sacrifices for their chirlden, Aastha gives the entire credit of her success to her parents. Her father is in the Jharkhand Administrative Service and her mother is a homemaker who gave up a potential legal career to take care of Aastha and her brother. Although Aastha has grown up in small towns of Bihar and Jharkhand, her parents  have never let their children feel any disadvantage. They provided Aastha and her brother with all the facilities. Books were something they made Aastha fall in love with. Success in CAT  and conversion of call to IIM Lucknow is the result of such motivation and support which Aastha received from her parents in choosing a career.

MBAUniverse.com has brought a round of CAT toppers’ success mantra stories for the benefit of CAT 2015 aspirants. Aastha’s success is one of such inspiring stories that will help CAT 2015 aspirants to steer through the exam and to convert the call after first stage shortlisting.

MBAUniverse.com:What was your preparation strategy? Share some key do’s and don’ts
Aastha Sneha (CAT topper): I had taken CAT in 2013 too. I had scored 99.15 percentile then and had converted IIM Lucknow back then as well. Due to personal reasons, I could not take admission then. For CAT 2014, I started preparing for the exam in the month of September. The concepts learnt during last year’s preparation came handy. Since it was already quite late, I focused on taking tests and learnt from my mistakes. I joined the test series and practised free tests also. I used to go through MBAUniverse.com for the latest information and briefing of concepts. I made it a appoint to analyze every test I took, went through their solutions and noted down the concepts I had made a mistake in/ had forgot.

Do’s:

-- Practice a lot. Take care of time and accuracy. For engineers, most of the concepts of Quant, DI and LR sections are not new. All it takes is a bit of brushing up of concepts and practice.

-- Maintain a notebook of concepts where you tend to make a mistake.

-- Identify your strengths and weakness areas.

-- Learn which questions to skip- this is at times more important than knowing which questions to solve.

Don’ts:

-- Mug up. There is nothing to be gained by rote learning in these exams.

-- Do not panic. Every second is important and it is very natural to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the exam.

-- Do not study just the day before the exam. Relax and sleep well. Eat healthy. These little things go a long way in keeping our mind fresh on the d-day.

MBAUniverse.com: What was your strategy in testing room to attempt the questions from different sections: Quantitative Ability & DI, Verbal Ability & LR?
Aastha Sneha (CAT topper): I divided the 170 minutes into 100 for quant and 70 for verbal, as I leant I took more time in quant. On the day of the test, I read a question briefly, immediately identified if it was solvable or not and went ahead accordingly. Some of the questions, I skipped entirely; others I marked for review and came back to later. I had attempted to reserve the last 10 minutes in each section to review the marked questions. I took special care in DI, LR and RC sections, because they come in blocks of 3; you make or break 3 questions at on go.

MBAUniverse.com: How many GDPI did you take part in? What were your GD/WAT topics?
Aastha Sneha (CAT topper): I took part in GDPI process of IIM Lucknow and Kozhikode, FMS(Delhi) and XLRI, Jamshedpur.
The GD topics were:

-- Should a B school student be asked to leave the program if he/she fails in more than 2 subjects in a semester? (IIM Lucknow)

-- Are Nobel peace prizes becoming politicized? (IIM Kozhikode)

-- Is the HR department of a firm the most political department? (XLRI-HR)

-- Women in business (XLRI –BM)

MBAUniverse.com: Few questions that were asked to you during PI round?
Aastha Sneha (CAT topper): Most of my PIs revolved around my profile of education and work in Indian Railways. Current affairs in Railways were also asked. Apart from that, questions from my graduation (mechanical engg) were asked in IIM K interview.

Some questions asked:

-- What do you think about the tatkal system of reservation in railways?
-- Salient features of the Rail Budget. How is it different from other rail budgets?
-- What did lalu Yadav do to turn around railways?
-- Questions specific to mech engg
-- Who would you marry and why: Rahul Gandhi or Arvind Kejriwal?
-- Your favourite singer and some of his songs
-- Who is kiran majumdar shaw?
-- If you were the HR head of Biocon Ltd, and Kiran Majumdar shaw asked you about a problem in the most important department of her firm, which department would you look into?
-- Which other colleges you have a call from/have converted?
-- What would you choose, FMS or XLRI, and why ?( I had converted XLRI by then)
-- XLRI BM or HR and why?
-- Some questions related to the GD which was just conducted

MBAUniverse.com: The institutes that offered you admission?
Aastha Sneha (CAT topper): I got admission offers from IIM Lucknow, Kozhikode, the new IIMs( which take GDPI scores from older IIMs), and XLRI (both HR and BM)

MBAUniverse.com: Why did you decide in favour of IIM Lucknow only?
Aastha Sneha (CAT topper): I had initially taken admission in XLRI- BM, as they had come out with their final list in April itself. Later on, when I converted IIM L, I was in some confusion as both these colleges are similar ranked. After a lot of discussion and deliberation, I chose IIM Lucknow mainly for the brand IIM and the fact that I was not going for XLRI- HR anyways (which is the best in its field in the country).

MBAUniverse.com: Your message and tips to CAT 2015 aspirants?
Aastha Sneha (CAT topper): In view of the new pattern, preparation strategy should change. For this, take as many practice tests as possible. Divide your time in the test according to the section you find tough/easy. Do remember that the pattern has changed for everybody and there are your fundamental concepts which will help you in the end. The concepts remain the same, whatever might be the pattern. In these last couple of months, hone your strength areas and work on your weaknesses enough to solve at least 1-2 questions from them. Take care of accuracy. More than solving so many questions, solving them correctly is important.

A different strategy is needed for XAT. The exam is pen-paper based. Take care to fill up the OMR sheet and allocate time for that. General knowledge, decision making and essay writing need to be practised for XAT.

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

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