How I Scored 99%ile in CAT, XAT & SNAP

Profile & Other Details

Common Admission Test(CAT) is a highly competitive exam and preparing for it can be a very daunting task. Every year around 2 lakh students appear for it, all of them trying to get their hands on a handful of seats at IIMS and other B-Schools. So, in order to be in that top 1 or top 10 percentile, one needs to have a definite strategy with which he/she is going to prepare and attempt the exam.

The very first step should be to understand the exam. CAT is not about solving each and every question. Almost every year, scoring 50 per cent marks ensures 90+ percentile. One must tune oneself to try and find out all the easy questions and attempt them with high accuracy. What I did to practice this was attempt mocks and then analyse them. After each mock, I would look at the unsolved questions and understand their solution and also analyse which questions I should have attempted to maximise my score.

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The next important thing to understand is the syllabus. CAT syllabus usually revolves around 10th to 12th class portions (for quants). Try to brush up on the concepts as early as possible so that you can start giving mocks confidently. You need not know the full syllabus as you can always properly understand the concepts which you couldn’t solve while analysing the mocks or through a coaching class if you are enrolled in one. For VARC and DILR, get familiarised with the pattern before attempting mocks.

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Cultivate a good reading habit. This is not just for VARC, but also for other sections. Questions can sometimes be very tricky if they are not comprehended properly. I started reading newspapers regularly, which later on helped me in my interviews as well.

Next comes the tough part. Practice, practice and practice. Have a clear study plan. I used to solve 2-3 RCs every day, 5-6 DILR sets and a bunch of quant questions. Bring in a few mocks to your plan, and you will solve more than enough questions before D-day. Joining a coaching institute really helps here, because you might tend not to know where to solve from. I joined iQuanta last batch and got more than enough daily material there. Every morning I would log in to the doubts group of iQuanta and try to solve all the doubts questions. They were a really good source for quality questions.

A usual day during my prep used to start with me opening the iQuanta Facebook doubts group and trying to solve as many questions as possible. What’s better is that you get to see many different solutions to the same question. Then I would analyse any previous mocks that I had attended or attend a fresh mock. It is really important to sit for full-length mocks as they will be your practice for the actual exam. The late evening and post-dinner classes by Indrajeet sir, Abhishek Sir & Sajjan Sir would be the highlight of the day. Small competitions among the peers on who would solve the question sir gives first came a long way in motivating the whole batch. I would not miss these classes at any cost as they made sure that I do not have even a small concept not covered for the examination.

CAT preparation can be challenging and overwhelming, but it is essential to stay motivated throughout the process. Surround yourself with positive influences. I sometimes found myself in very difficult spots. Small breaks come in handy at times like these. I used to watch YouTube videos like ‘Life at IIM A/B/C…’. It really motivated me to give my best. One mistake that I made in my preparation was not being ready for surprises. CAT 22 brought in a few changes to the pattern and that caught me by surprise and had an impact on my attempt. Keep your basics strong, and that will make sure that these surprises do not surprise you!

After all the hard work and preparation, we do not want bad health to come in the way of our dream. Exercise regularly and eat healthy food. Be confident and believe in yourself. Hope I could be of a little help to those preparing for CAT. All the very best!

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