Self-Preparation, Discipline, and Positive Outlook: How SPJIMR Student Paarth Jaitly Cracked CAT 2024 with 99.51 percentile by Self Study while pursuing B. Com (Hons) at DU

In this exclusive MBAUniverse.com CAT Toppers Interview, Paarth shares how he built a strong foundation through self-study, avoided distractions, and stayed positive through the journey. “Look at every mistake as an opportunity to improve,” says Paarth. Read this interview that offers invaluable lessons for aspirants who want to crack CAT on their own terms. 

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Q. What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT?
A: My preparation strategy was to first build strong basics and then work around going to a higher level. I didn’t have the conventional trajectory of a CAT student. I was doing self-prep, so I was accessing any and every resource. I believe that helped me to not become complacent with topics, and allowed for a holistic view. I never indulged in the conversations regarding colleges or cutoffs since I believe that having these conversations even before attempting the exam is not fruitful and it puts some invisible boundaries on your own capabilities thinking that you only need this certain percentile for a particular college. Though I strongly advise to find your own method of working since everyone has a different style of learning. Stick to one that doesn’t make you feel burdened or exhausted.

Q. How did you manage your CAT preparation along with your college studies or work commitments?
A: I started studying for CAT diligently after June so I realised that I really needed to put a schedule in place if I wanted to commit long hours daily. Accountability is the most important thing to establish here so I started it by tracking my weekly progress, shared updates with my family and friends who helped me realise that whether I even improved in comparison to the previous week or not. During the end, I found a daily hour’s trackers where I used to map out my daily hours studied and it helped me realise on which days I used to slack and when I was able to pull myself together. So just find what makes you feel responsible/accountable and just stick to it.

Q. Please share your sectional preparation strategy. How did you prepare for VARC?
A: For VARC I relied primarily on AEON essays to build my reading habit while it also helped me build a knowledge base on varied number of topics. I found it really fruitful to read essays on topics that I generally found “boring” or “difficult to grasp” to increase my attention span. Along with this, VA worksheets available online also helped me to work on them. Ultimately, I believe the mock tests helped me remain in the practice of working my time around the 40 minutes.

Q. How did you prepare for DILR?
A: DILR section is totally practice based section. I directly went into practicing case based questions. There are a lot of playlists on youtube which are based around this and the good thing was that they had solution as well. I used to set daily targets and then pause the video on question. Irrespective of whether I was able to solve the question or not, I used to see the solution to see what else I could have done different. 

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Q. How did you prepare for QA?
A: QA required intensive practice and a structured format. I initially begun with higher weightage sections by building basics and then again visiting questions online. Rodha’s Playlist along with Raman Tiwari Sir’s videos were really beneficial. I believe for QA what worked for me personally was that I did any question that I found online towards the end which helped me work my mind across topics. It is important that you keep a strong structured approach initially while towards the end you solidify your strong points while mitigating the weaker sections so that at least you can identify which questions you need to leave.

Q. Was there any section or area you initially found challenging? How did you overcome it?
A: I believe that VARC and DILR are based mainly on the self-practice you do and a bit of luck since they don’t follow any pattern. I found it a bit challenging to scale my score in QA especially with the transition from the DILR to QA section. Mocks were beneficial to simulate that situation and helped me on how to organise myself for QA in case I give a not so good attempt in DILR section. 

Q. What role did mock tests play in your preparation? How many mocks did you attempt?
A: Mock tests are critical as they will be the test of everything you have studied up to that point. I used to give mocks every week and towards the end shifted to bi-weekly mocks. I had exhausted my proctored mocks for IMS while also used the at home mocks as sectional tests. Mock tests really help you to put yourself in that exam mindset and see how you naturally progress through the sections. Time management also improves as you work your way through more and more mock tests. It’s important that you put sufficient time for the analysis of the mock as it will allow you to highlight the weaker aspects and what are the strong suits. Though in the week before the exam, I didn’t attempt any full time mock since personally I would have panicked if I would have been stuck at any place.

Q. Did you prepare on your own or join a coaching institute? What influenced your choice?
A: I prepared on my own. I took it as a personal challenge to really prepare while having full time college along with it. I had earlier appeared for IPMAT after my 12^th standard so believed that I had some basics in place. I also knew that I would have found more responsibility with self-prep rather than some coaching institute.

Q. Which books or study materials did you refer to? How effective were they?
A: For QA I initially focused on Arun Sharma to build my basics. Later on, I used the online resources like Rodha, Cracku, 2iim, etc. to have access to questions and lectures. While for DILR I solely used the YouTube playlists like that of Elites Grid and the mock questions. Lastly, for VARC I used to read AEON essays with help of the Verbal Ability questions which helped me understand whether I was improving or not.

Q. What was your approach and mindset on the CAT exam day? How did you plan your test-taking strategy?
A: On the exam day, I had my exam scheduled in the first shift. I was not in the best of my health since I had health problems one day prior due to which I lacked on last day revision. But in morning I just glanced through some QA formulas cheat sheet while I tried to remain calm and listened to some music. I believe it is very critical to remain relaxed in these situations since even a little bit of panic may hamper all the hard work you did before. I would highly suggest you to refrain from conversations related to the exam on that day especially when you have it in 2^nd or 3^rd shift. 

I didn’t have any particular test taking strategy because I believe the ones you see online like 9/9/9 questions is a very cookie cutter approach. For instance in my case last year we had an exam on easier side so if I would have went inside with that set mindset of questions, maybe I would have scored lower. It is important to remain flexible and work your way through the sections calmly. I did one particular thing for QA and that was to simply open each question, read a word or two, and get an idea what the question was asking. If I was confident, I went ahead with the attempt. This helped me maximise my correct answers and gain the initial confidence boost while the rest of the time was spent on thinking over the difficult ones.

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Q. Looking back, what was the most important learning from your CAT preparation journey?
A: The most important learning was that to remain patient as everything will work out in the end. At the end of the day, you can’t cheat yourself and if you believe that you have put in the diligent hard work, you’ll reap the benefits. Also, the CAT exam itself is only a step in the journey while the larger fight remains that if of Personal Interview.

Q. How did you manage stress and stay motivated throughout your preparation journey?
A: Stress is a part of that journey but you need to remain focused on the end goal. Before the exam it is not really fruitful to think about the past trends or the general cut offs of those colleges since that will sway you away from the important stuff. It is important that you find out time for yourself as well and do the things that you find joy in. I used to look forward to the hangouts with my close friends which really took my mind off this CAT preparation. Take it as a personal challenge and you will remain motivated throughout. I wanted to give a good attempt since I usually used to have a “jack of all trades” approach and had my mind over everything, but I wanted to prove it to myself that I can work diligently and stick to a certain promise that I make.

Q. If you could change one thing about your CAT preparation, what would it be and why?
A: It is not exactly the preparation before the exams but definitely my approach to the GD/PI/ WAT rounds. I believe that during that period if you have a mentor who is guiding you through every point will reap great benefits. I believe that a focused outlook with detailed feedbacks will certainly help a lot. I tried to self-prep my way through this as well which was not that great because you need one-on-one review from a person and personality grooming for the interviews.

Q. How did you prepare for the GD/PI/WAT rounds?
A: As I earlier mentioned, I tried to self-prep my way but from what I have observed it is better if you start early as soon as you know your percentile. You need to work upon your general awareness from the very get-go and really internalise the answers to the common questions. Additionally, please don’t dishearten yourself things that are not in your control. You will see that the process will have biases but don’t attach yourself to them and move forward.

Q. SPJIMR requires applicants to choose specialization when filling application form. Which specialization did you choose and why?
A: I chose Finance since I enjoyed my time studying finance during my under-graduate as well. I was really excited to learn a new skill set altogether especially from such a talented pool of peers. Though I didn’t had any internships in the finance aspect but the internal drive to be a part of this really helped I would recommend the freshers to really think about the specialisations and see whether you personally align with them or not because that natural “person-specialisation” fit needs to be there specially for the freshers.

Q. What were your top selection criteria for choosing a B-school? What motivated you to choose SPJIMR?
A: My top three selection criteria for selected a B-school were— (1) the institute should have a value-based learning ecosystem, (2) the quality and diversity of peer learning, and (3) strong placements across specializations, particularly in finance and consulting.

I was drawn to SPJIMR primarily because of its unique value-based approach to management education and its emphasis on social sensitivity through initiatives. I really believed in the idea of going rural as well. After joining it, I can surely say that the values are not just a statement on board for SPJIMR but in fact is instilled in every person associated with this institute. The institute’s approach of combining academic rigor with self-awareness and leadership development resonated deeply with me.

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Q. How has your experience at SPJIMR been so far? 
A: SPJIMR is the B-school that really stands on its values. I have never met such a cordial set of professors who are always there to really push us to improve. I really enjoyed the peer relations that we have here which builds on the idea of healthy competition while also helping out each other. Seniors here have always been invested to help us out even if it means to go the extra mile outside of their routine. I enjoyed the term 1 specially where we had courses as well as the Personality Growth Lab focused on really preparing students for the MBA journey ahead. The level of honest conversations that I have seen at SPJIMR has no match!

Q. Whom would you like to credit for your success? What role did your family and friends play?
A: I’m grateful for my family, since it is because of them that I have reached to this place. I would be thankful towards my parents and especially my sister who guided me throughout this journey. Every member in my joint family continues to hold a key role to play in my life. Apart from this, I was blessed to have great friends in college who were present at my highs and lows. Indeed, I am thankful for God to be able to have that energy and mindset to really work hard. 

Q. What were some key challenges you faced during your academic journey or CAT preparation, and how did you overcome them?
A: The biggest challenge was maintaining consistency while having multiple responsibilities and managing self-doubt during phases of slow progress. There were times when mock scores did not reflect the effort I was putting in, which was quite frustrating. To overcome this, I shifted my focus from short-term scores to tracking long-term progress and improvement in accuracy. I also made sure to take short breaks, engage in creative art, and reconnect with friends who helped me rebuild momentum whenever I felt drained.

Q. In your view, how can B-schools make the MBA admission process more applicant-friendly?
A: The admission process can be made more applicant-friendly by providing a clearer evaluation framework and more accessible feedback after interview rounds. Transparency helps aspirants identify areas of improvement rather than being left uncertain. Additionally, conducting counselling sessions or preparatory webinars can reduce anxiety, especially for first-time applicants. Simplifying the documentation process and ensuring interview slots accommodate students' academic calendars can also enhance inclusivity and fairness.

Q. Finally, what message or tips would you like to share with CAT 2025 aspirants?
A: Every aspirant’s journey is unique. So, don’t get overwhelmed by comparisons. Focus on developing consistency instead of chasing perfection. Make mock analysis your strongest tool and look at every mistake as an opportunity to improve. Equally important, take care of your mental health and remember that one exam doesn’t define your potential. Stay curious, keep faith in your process, and success will follow naturally.

Also Read: 
Read CAT 2025 Exam Overview and CAT Preparation; Take Free CAT Mock Tests 2025 on MBAUniverse.com. 
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