SUCCESS STORY OF PRITAM SAGAR
Pritam Sagar is a Mechanical Engineering
graduate from NIT, Silchar. He completed
his graduation in 2015 and since then he
has been working in Bharat Petroleum.
He has converted his IIM Bangalore call.
Given below is an excerpt of his interview
with iQuanta
Past Academic Record and percentile.
I got 89.1% in 10th, 88% in 12th and passed with a CGPA of 8.65 in B.Tech. My CAT percentile (OA) is 89.11 with sectional percentiles of 93 in QA, 77.81 in LRDI and 82.34 in VA. I am currently working in Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) since Aug, 2015.
(He did some very valuable internship during his engineering graduation.
His project in IIT Guwahati was presented in a conference in S. Korea. His other internships were at Oil India Limited (OIL), which was in industrial applications of Oil and at Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), Mumbai. These inculcated in him professionalism and discipline. These helped him a lot in PIs as he is fluent in his subject matter.)
Why did you choose to pursue MBA?
Since I am from Oil Industry, I do not have many departments to juggle apart from Operations and Sales. As I was seeing my seniors, they were confined to these areas, but I wanted to increase my avenues down the line. So, what better than an MBA? MBA would provide me a platform to learn about different domains and will open a lot of new avenues for my profile. This is the reason I chose to pursue MBA.
How was your journey of MBA preparation and strategy?
After making my mind to eventually pursue MBA, I along with my friends started to prepare for CAT from April, 2016. Though it was very hectic to prepare while working but I always tried to maintain regularity and punctuality. I used to study early in the morning or late at night after a hectic day in office. This is where iquanta helped me a lot. Iquanta helped me in clearing the concepts and the timing of classes help a lot to aspirants like us who are working. Being from engineering background, I was already good in Quants but had to put extra efforts in LRDI and Verbal sections. After going through initial concepts and iquanta classes, I started giving TIME mocks. Indrajeet sir’s method of teaching is a big boon for every aspirant.
From which colleges did you get calls?
I got calls from IIMB, K, I, L, NITIE. I have converted IIM B (as you know) and awaiting results of other.
Something special in the interview at any Bschool that you would like to share?
Yah!
In IIM B interview, I was asked my hobby.
And I said I like watching movies and then they started digging deep into it.
They asked me about the recent movie I watched. I said ‘PIKU’ (bollywood).
Then they started asking about the plot, direction, screenplay and yes I have a good knowledge about it and I sailed through.
(Moral: No matter what your hobby is, you should know about it and should be able to answer questions regarding it and you will definitely sail through. You don’t have to be national level swimmer or olympian, just be true and honest to your hobby, it can be as simple as I mentioned above!!)
They want very genuine and honest answers. If you don’t know the answer to a question, just say them you don’t know. Beating around the bushing would prove to be futile.
One question that is asked in every interview i.e. Introduce yourself !. Prepare this question very well by linking your past, present with future and show your strengths. This question will decide your course of interview.
A lot of questions were asked from my domain and work. Prepare all these very thoroughly (This is after you get the call, prime focus as of now is on CAT).
Rest all interviews were good and I was honest in my answers.
How iquanta course helped him in his preparation?
Iquanta has helped me a lot in my preparation. Right from clearing concepts till clearing doubts, Indrajeet sir and other faculty members were there with us 24X7.
Indrajeet sir’s teaching methodology is commendable and has no match, which takes care of every student. He is GOD of quant and his shortcuts and tricks help a lot in exam environment
For LRDI, iquanta sessions were very helpful for me. The concepts and questions posted helped me brush my section to a great level.
The best thing about iquanta group is that when people post random questions and when one solves those questions, they help a lot in building concepts.
What do you think about online coaching?
For working professionals like me, online coaching is very helpful. Online coaching gives us flexibility of time and we can attend classes according to our own convenience. Moreover on Iquanta, the sessions on secret groups are recorded and saved and one could go back to them any time one wants. Offline coaching doesn’t give this pevilege.
Any suggestions for the future aspirants?
I would like to say to aspirants that CAT is a very balanced paper and every section needs a full focus. Verbal checks your communication skills, LRDI checks your decision making and analytical skills and Quant checks your problem solving skills. But a special focus on verbal should be given. Reading habits should be developed through articles, editorials, etc. Follow any newspaper from The Guardian, WSJ, the Economics Times, etc and read their articles religiously. Along with this, work a lot on your vocabulary and writing skills. Whereas for Quant and LRDI, concept clarity and lot of practice is required. To increase your percentile, give lot of mocks. They are very important in your overall preparation.
