CAT 2015: 100 percentiler Prateek Bajpai; How he prepared, his dream B school and more

Speaking with MBAUniverse.com, Preteek revealed his preparation strategy for CAT and also shared about his dream B-schools. Edited excerpts follow:

MBAUniverse.com: Congratulations, Prateek. After scoring 100% in CAT 2015, how are you feeling now! Prateek: Thanks. Its a positive feeling. Actually i am more happy to see the smiling faces of my family members. They are very happy to see me doing well in CAT. So its a good feeling...

MBAUniverse.com: So were you expecting 100% in CAT 2015? Prateek: I did very well in the CAT exam and was confident of 99.9% or so. But no one can really predict that he/she will get a 100%. CAT is very unpredictable test so one can never be sure.

MBAUniverse.com: Pls tell us about your academic background and worklife? Prateek: I am a B Tech from NIT and was working for last 15-16 months at a leading Construction company Shapoorji Pallonji at their office in Algeria in Africa. I quit my job a few days prior to CAT 2015 to come to India to take CAT. I am from Indore.

MBAUniverse.com:So how did you prepare for CAT 2015 in Algeria! Wasnt it tough to prepare away from India with limited study material and no friends... Prateek: It was tough but i was determined. I started preparing for CAT in the month on May. More than 90 percent of my preparation was Online. Internet was very helpful! I took all mocks online, and had some study material with me.

I was working 12 hours a day (7.30AM to 7.30PM). I used to study for 2-3 hrs a day, but i made sure that i did it very sincerely. One of the important things that helped my preparation was that i will always make a note of what i will study next day on my smart phone.

Being an Engineer, my Quant and DILR were ok, but i was concerned about my English. So i worked on it carefully.

MBAUniverse.com: Moving forward, how are you planning to prepare for personal assessment stages for IIMs? Prateek: I think this last hurdle is all about knowing yourself very well. So i am focusing on introspecting myself...I want to dig deep into my own self to prepare for facing IIM interview panel. Ofcourse, i am online all the time to prepare for current affairs etc.

MBAUniverse.com: Finally, whats your dream B-school! Prateek: Like with everyone else, i will love to be study IIM Ahmedabad. But any of the top 3-4 IIMs are very good. I am also very interested in FMS Delhi. I have also take XAT for XLRI. So lets see how things go.