Here’s the Interview of CAT Topper Rishav Banerjee who cleared the CAT exam with a huge score of 99.83%ile and converted IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore & Calcutta.
Q: Congratulations Rishav on clearing the CAT exam. As we know this was your second CAT attempt where previously you had scored 95%ile. But this time you have converted both IIM Ahmedabad and IIM bangalore by scoring 99.83%ile. So, what are your thoughts on this?
RISHAV: Firstly, thank you so much for having me here. I would like to go a little backwards in time in the year 2020 where for the first time I decide to do an MBA. I had prepared for the CAT exam but unfortunately was not able to appear for it. Then I got a job later that year in December and then decided to have some work experience. So, after 2 years of work in 2022, I gave my first CAT attempt where I scored 95.6%ile. It was my first CAT attempt and also you know that the CAT exam is unpredictable and you do not know what questions might come in the exam. I studied well but unfortunately was not able to score well. But this time in 2023, in my second CAT exam, thanks to iQuanta I have scored really well and have gotten calls from all the Top B-Schools. I would like to thank the iQuanta community as well for helping me achieve what I have today.
Q: As we know that you gave the CAT exam last year as well but did not make it but this time you did it with flying colors. So, what motivated you to go for the second attempt?
RISHAV: On this, I would like to say that I knew that I had given my best in the first attempt but the results were not in my favor. But, I continued with my job as I believe that my job is something that always taught me things related to business and also motivated me to go for an MBA. Apart from that, as I had already given the CAT exam once and was aware of the syllabus and how the preparation needs to be done.I decided to go for another attempt and this time with the help of iQuanta I was able to score well and convert IIM Ahmedabad and IIM bangalore as well. Here, iQuanta really helped me a lot because the curriculum is designed in a way that is very helpful for working professionals especially because it gives you the liberty to take the classes at any time of the day and the community is active 24/7.
Watch Rishav’s full interview here:
Q: Apart from IIM Ahmedabad what all interviews did you give and which was the most grilling one?
RISHAV: Through the CAT exam I received calls from all the Top IIMs including IIM Shillong. I got calls from SP Jain and FMS as well. This was actually My last CAT attempt and if this would not have not cleared then I was about to plan for an MBA abroad.
Talking about the most grilling interview IIM Lucknow was the most grilling one as but IIM Ahmedabad was also quite tough. In the IIM Lucknow interview, the interviewers were trying to put me under pressure to see how I perform under pressure.
Q: What was the toughest question asked from you in the IIM Ahmedabad interview?
RISHAV: The interview was actually good and went smoothly. It was mostly a conversational kind of interview and was based mainly on my interests, background and politics. There was no tough question asked but there was a tough situation that I faced during the interview. Before the interview, there was an analytical writing test and what I did was that I refuted the argument that was given in the test by a biologist who has won a nobel prize and when I entered the interview room, I was greeted with someone who was a mechanical engineer and knew more than a biologist. So, it became an awkward situation but I defended myself and kept my calm throughout the interview.
Q: Can you give a brief about your profile and what were the sectional percentiles that you got?
RISHAV: Talking about my profile, I did my 10th and 12th from the state board where I got 94 and 95%. After that I did my mechanical engineering from Jadavpur University and secured a decent CGPA there too. I got 8.9 CGPA and along with that I had some other responsibilities there. I was the Class representative (CR) and also was the placement coordinator. After that I did an internship and also got a job at St. Gobain which was an amazing experience. And now, from the last 2-3 years I am doing a sales and marketing job in pune.
Coming to the sectional percentiles, my overall percentile was 99.83 and the sectional percentiles were also quite balanced. In VARC I scored 98.82%ile, In LRDI I scored 99.72%ile and 98.83%ile. I made a major improvement in the LRDI section this time as I had scored only 60%ile in my last CAT attempt. I believe it is very important to have a balanced score in all the 3 sections because If you score less in any 1 of the 3 sections then it might happen that you do not get the calls from these top IIMs or you may not score well in overall. So, you have to do your preparation in such a way that you are able to score well in all of the 3 sections and also in a balanced way. Along with that you have to take care of the time limit as well because sometimes it happens that you know the answers of most of the questions but you are not able to attempt them in the given time frame.
Q: You broke the misconception that engineers score the most in the Quant Section and also it was your second CAT attempt. So, what was your approach this time?
RISHAV: I agree that yes, engineers do have an upper hand in the quant section but as you know out of 3 sections, my quant section score was lesser than the other 2. Though it was 98.83%ile but still among the 3 sections, it was lowest. So, what I believe is that it does not matter much whether you are an engineer or someone else, you can score well in quants and also in any other section. Despite being from a non-engineering background, there are many people who are good in mathematics and there are many people who are from engineering background but still manage to score highest in their VARC section. So, with practice and dedication, anything can happen. In my case, I had scored the lowest in the DILR section in my first CAT attempt but with practice this time my scores in the LRDI section was the highest. My approach this time in DILR was that I cannot attempt all the sets in the given time so I have to prepare myself to attempt 2 sets faithfully in a way that both of them have to be correct. So, that’s how I practiced and did the same in the exam as well.
Q: Attempting more questions in the CAT exam or solving questions with more accuracy. What do you think is a smarter approach?
RISHAV: I will talk section wise, In VARC I think that attempting more questions is important. I attempted 20 questions in the VARC section where 13 were correct and I got 98.92%ile. There are people who get 50+ scores in VARC and that is possible only when you attempt more questions. Of course accuracy is important too but attempting more questions in this section is the right thing to do according to me because it increases the chances to score better.
Coming to LRDI, most of the people are not able to score 3 out of 4 questions and end up scoring less. So, I think attempting only 2 questions with more accuracy can definitely help you score good in this section. Hence, in LRDI accuracy is more important.
In Quants, It depends from person to person. If you are good in quants then obviously attempting more questions will help you score better but if you are not good in the Quant section then try to attempt selective questions with more accuracy.
Q: How did you come across with iQuanta?
RISHAV: In the final year of college, I started searching for institutes that provide CAT coaching so from there I got to know about iQuanta from quora and facebook. Then, I joined a facebook event class and also saw the community that iQuanta had and got to know about the classes and everything that iQuanta was providing and what I found was that it was really good especially for the working professionals and students as the timing of the classes were according to my schedule and I could go through the classes and study material at any time of the day. So, finally I decided to go for iQuanta classes and seeing the results that I have got, I am very happy with my decision.
Q: How much time exactly did you take to prepare for the CAT exam?
RISHAV: I will talk about my study schedule here. It took me 2 attempts and talking about my first attempt, I used to study 2 hours on the weekdays and 4 hours on the weekends and focused more on the full mocks. Then, in this attempt I started my preparation with a full fledge in the month of May and the schedule was quite the same. I used to study for 2-3 hours on the weekdays and on the weekends I used to give 4-5 hours. I knew that for a working professional it is quite difficult to manage time and maintain a balance between job and CAT preparation but still I did my preparation very religiously.
Q: As you know, here at iQuanta we provide a rigorous curriculum. There live classes, Application classes, conceptual videos, assignments and daily practice sessions. So, were you able to complete all these things on a daily basis?
RISHAV: Frankly speaking, on a daily basis I was not able to do everything as I had limited time in a day because of my job and as I had already given the exam once so this time my approach was just to get a right strategy for my preparation and payed attention to what improvements I had to do this time. But, someone who is preparing for his first CAT attempt should definitely try to do everything because practice along with the classes is a very important thing. In my case, I had that freedom because it was my first CAT attempt and I was already done with almost everything and the only difference between my first and second attempt was the process and strategy that I followed but on the same time you still have to take the classes and be aware of the study material that you are getting because you do not know what question can come in the CAT exam.
Q: What was your ideal day as a CAT aspirant and according to you what it should look like?
RISHAV: In my job, it was like some days the work hours were long and sometimes it was short. So, I had a target set for a day that on the weekdays I have to give at least 2 hours for preparation and on the weekends I have to give 4-6 hours and that too with rigorous practice and dedication. Then in the month of august or september when a candidate completes most of the syllabus, he has to give more focus on the mocks. You can go for sectional mocks for VARC and LRDI or if you it’s your first attempt, you can give the full mocks as well and you need to have a good flow in solving the mocks because time management is equally important as you have a limited time in the exam and you have to attempt as many questions as possible and that too with accuracy. I focused more on the sectional mocks but at the same time both sectional as well as full mocka are important for practice.
Q: What was your strategy to resolve the doubts that you used to have during the preparation?
RISHAV: Whenever I used to get doubts, the mentors were always there to help and I would ensure that I would move on to some other topic only when all my doubts were cleared. So, this was my strategy to clear the doubts.
Q: Were there any distractions during the preparation?
RISHAV: I used to travel a lot as I was having a sales job so for the sake of work I had to work on the field also and on weekends, sometimes I used to go to other places like Lonavala, which was not so far from the place where I was staying. But, it was not something that I would call a distraction because after 8-10 hours of daily work and of course the CAT preparation, you need to have some refreshment and it was like a refreshment to me.
Q: You were a part of the iQuanta IIM ABC batch too, so how would you rate the questions that were given in the batch?
RISHAV: Firstly, I would like to say that the IIM ABC batch helped me a lot because due to this I was able to get all the IIM ABC calls. The questions that were provided by the IIM ABC batch gave a daily practice on all the 3 sections simultaneously and it was the best part of it. In quants, we used to have approx 10 questions, in LRDI it was 3-4 and in VARC we used to get a combination of 3-4 RCs and some VA questions. For someone like me who is going for his second CAT attempt, the IIM ABC batch is really helpful because it gives you a good strategy to master all the 3 sections with a right approach and right set of questions.
Q: One last question, how was your performance in the mock tests?
RISHAV: Last time, I remember the lowest score that I had got in the mocks was 12 but this time my basics were already cleared. So, On average the score used to come around 50-55 but if you want to score 99+ percentile in the CAT exam then you need to score between 75-85. For that, with practice I was able to score better later on and I remember the highest score that I got in a mock was 102. But, at the same time you don’t know how the real CAT exam will come and what questions you can get on the exam day.
