Here’s the Interview of CAT topper Harkiran, a law graduate who cleared the CAT exam with 99.41%ile and converted IIM Ahmedabad and all other top B- Schools
Q: Congratulations Harkiran on clearing CAT and converting the final call to IIM Ahmedabad. Let’s start with your profile, your sectional percentiles and all the B-Schools that you have converted.
HARKIRAN: Thank you so much. I am a company secretary by profession and I am a Law graduate. This was actually my first CAT attempt and my overall percentile was 99.41%ile with 99.9%ile in VARC, 88.5 in LRDI and 95.75ile in quant. With my CAT score along with the academic diversity I have, I was able to secure a call from all the B-Schools that I applied for and I was fortunate enough to convert a few of them. I was able to convert IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Indore and I am waitlisted for IIM Calcutta. I was able to convert FMS Delhi, MDI gurugram and all the CAP calls.
Q: You were a commerce student in the starting and then did your graduation in Law and now you are going to be a management student. So please let me know how this transition happened and what was the reason for pursuing law and then management?
HARKIRAN: CSL law is basically a corporate law background and they are said to be sister fields because they compliment each other. So, that was my plan to pursue them jointly. MBA came into picture because the role of a company secretary is focused on compliance requirements of a company but I was more interested in how business works, how decisions are taken in a business including compliance. So, for that I believed that pursuing MBA is necessary for me and then I decided to pursue MBA.
Q: While preparing for the CAT exam, were you a working professional?
HARKIRAN: No, it was my last year of LLB and as I am from a non-mathematics background so I had to put in more effort. This was my first attempt so that is why I decided not to work at that point of time. Basically I took a break for my CAT preparation.
Q: What hurdles did you face initially while preparing for the CAT exam?
HARKIRAN: Mathematics was the most obvious one of course as I had been out of touch for quite a while. I had not studied mathematics after 10th standard so that was my biggest hurdle. I had to start right from the NCERT because I was not good on the basics as well. Most of my education has been theoretical based as in law there are mostly theoretical subjects. So, studying practical subjects and attempting multiple practical questions was a bit of a change for me, So, this can also be called a hurdle. The major hurdle I faced in Quant was algebra. I was good in arithmetic, I was quite decent in geometry but in algebra as long as I was doing the basic questions it was good but as soon as I would try advanced questions, it was hard for me.
Watch Harkiran’s Full Interview here :
Q: What if someone studies only arithmetic in Quant, so would he/she be able to score a good percentile in the Quant section?
HARKIRAN: Just arithmetic I would say it might not help because you don’t know what questions can come. In my case, I was quite fortunate that around 50% of the Quant section was arithmetic in the CAT exam. If that had not been the case, then I would have faced deep trouble. Apart from algebra, I was strong in all the topics of Quant but in algebra also, at least my basics was good. So according to me if you are not that good in one topic, then you have to really work hard on the other ones. You have to aim for around 95-100% accuracy in the other topics then in overall I think it is somehow possible to score good in Quant.
Q: What were the resources that you used in your CAT preparation?
HARKIRAN: I started with brushing up the NCERT right from the 6th standard level to the 11th standard. Apart from that I was registered for the ABC batch of iQuanta which was a great resource for me. There were so many questions that I used to practice and once I was done with the classes, video lectures and all the other resources, I used to self practice a lot. I did purchase some other books, but I ended up not using them that much.
Q: Can you please give some details about this ABC batch of iQuanta?
HARKIRAN: In the ABC batch of iQuanta, I was provided a repository of questions for all the sections. There were roughly 7000 questions in all and I believe it was all that I needed. Apart from that I took the iQuanta mocks also.
Q: How did you get to know about iQuanta?
HARKIRAN: I got to know about iQuanta from quora. Basically, I did not want to join any of the classes, I just wanted to study on my own. I was searching for some online resources for my preparation and that was the point from where I got to know about iQuanta from quora. Then I did some research on it and finally I liked it. I was a part of the first batch and I joined in January 2022. The classes had started soon but my actual preparation started from the month of June as I was quite busy giving my final year LLB exams. So yes it is possible to prepare for the CAT exam in 4-5 months but you have to work hard.
Q: You mentioned that you brushed up your basics through NCERT. So, how much time did you put into that?
HARKIRAN: It was like a couple of hours a day, it used to go side by side with my preparation.
Q: While you were preparing for the CAT exam, what did a day in your life look like? What was your schedule and how were you managing all the things?
HARKIRAN: I would wake up at 6:30 in the morning and would go for a jog to make sure that I get some sunlight everyday as I believe it is something that is also important when you are doing some serious preparation. After that I would see the recorded sessions in the morning itself because I thought that it was productive to go through them early in the morning and then I would practice for most of the day. In the evening, I used to teach English to high school students and then go for a small walk again. At night, I used to practice Quant, because I believe at night, it’s the best time to study mathematics.
Q: How was your performance in the mock tests?
HARKIRAN: Being honest, it was terrible. Initially, I got under pressure and messed up in the first mock test but later with practice, I started scoring good in the mocks. I did not give many mocks, It was just around 20 as I was more focused in practicing sectionals. I used to practice individual questions by setting a time limit and did this a lot. I was more focused on analyzing the mocks and working on the weak points.
Q: So how much time you used to give in analyzing the mocks?
HARKIRAN: After the completion I would take a 25 minute break and then take 30-40 minutes to analyze. So, in total it would take me an hour to analyze the mocks.
Q: What according to you are the 3 most important things that a CAT aspirant should keep in mind?
HARKIRAN: The first thing is that you should not be overconfident. Even if you are good in any of the sections, you have to practice. Do not leave the Interview preparation until you get the result. Always think positive and assume that you will clear the exam and sit for the interviews. Start preparing for the interviews side by side while preparing for CAT. Keep yourself brushed up with your graduation subjects and the current affairs of course. Be informed about your background because the current affairs will also be asked according to your profile and background.
Q: What were the questions that were asked from you in all the B-Schools you interviewed in?
HARKIRAN: After a while, the interviews had become a little predictable because I started to understand what questions can be asked to someone who belongs to my profile. My questions were a lot related to the national company law tribunal or any insolvency cases that were going on at that time.
Q: As you were a part of iQuanta GDPI + WAT course, How did it help you in the initial interviews?
HARKIRAN: I was always good at public speaking so I thought that I would handle any situation confidently in the interviews. But sometimes the interview progresses in such a way that you are unable to handle the conversation. So the initial interviews taught me how to keep my calm. Even if the interview is not going according to me I had to remember that it is a conversation and not an interrogation. I remember in one interview, I was called ‘Jobless”. But I knew that it was just to shake me a little bit and I have to keep my calm and then later on I ended up clearing that interview. So this is what the GDPI WAT course taught me.
Q: One last question, How would you rate iQuanta and what’s the feedback that you want to give?
HARKIRAN: I had great fun. I wanted something that was made according to my requirements, like I could take the classes anytime and get good guidance rather than just sitting and paying attention to classes only. So, for that I think iQuanta is the best. The GDPI course was also very helpful for me to crack the interviews. I got to know about my competition and the future classmates that I could get. So, that exposure was also a must.
