Here’s the Interview of Mansi Sankhe who cleared CAT exam and converted all new IIMs being from a non- engineering background.
Q: Today we have Mansi Sankhe who comes from a very unique background, appeared for CAT and Converted All New IIMs being a Non Engineer. Mansi, please tell us more about yourself, what background do you come from?
MANSI: Hello, I completed my bachelors in Mass media and I am specialized in advertising and earlier I took science where I wanted to prepare for medical, I converted the medical exam but did not want to take admission because I did not think that doctor is something that I wanted to be in the long run which I realized while I was studying biology in the 12th standard so I thought I would not be a as good doctor as I would be something else so that was where I took a big stand that I had to take at that point of time so i completed my bachelors in mass media and then i worked for american express and a marketing firm called “Think Tank” and right now i am working for OAP which is into outdoor advertisement so I am working in a advertising firm right now.
Q: How did you overcome this fear of appearing for CAT being a Non Engineer?
MANSI: I would like to start with something that is a benefit to me. Generally if you are not an engineer, if you are from an arts background, one thing that is really encouraging is that you are good with the language section, which is one third of your CAT exam and you can really score well there and that really impacts your percentile in a positive way. About quants, it is not as easy as engineers do in this section my opinion as they are very familiar with mathematics and talking about me i studied mathematics like 10 years ago in the 10th standard and after that i didn’t touch mathematics at all so quant was something which was problematic for me and then i studied with IQUANTA where Indrajeet sir would solve all my doubts and i could put my doubts in the group even at 9pm and everyone would help to solve that and this thing really helped me in my preparation as my doubts were getting cleared quickly and i would not get stuck at any point and pace up my preparation. It is not something that is very difficult, if you know your strong areas and work on the weaker ones, you can overcome it and in my case it was possible to overcome this fear.
Q: As you were out of practice in quants for the last 10 years, how and from where did you pick up your basics and did you bring them to the CAT level?
MANSI: Being an Engineer it is not that difficult to start with the basics because somewhere you are already familiar with the basics of quants but me being a non engineer you are not that much familiar so your confidence gets a bit low there. So that’s where i had to work on and that helped me in the DILR section as I studied topics like Ratio and proportion, percentage and number system but for me algebra was an issue so i worked on that part and attended all the sessions of quant where Indrajeet Sir took the classes and i used to ask all the doubts on the group. Algebra was something where I was lacking so much but the quant classes helped me a lot and also i prepared algebra on my own too. You have to be pre – prepared too when you are not that good in any topic, that’s what I believe.
Q: Many CAT Aspirants get a problem with how to use mocks, So what was your mock strategy?
MANSI: Every mock strategy is different, I knew that I was doing well with the language part, so I just used to focus on the reading comprehension and in my case all of my questions in comprehension were going right. I did not focus much on the grammar part but as i was preparing for CAT so i focused more on RCs and solved all of them and for quant i used to solve the mocks, check the solution and note it down on the other book so that i could go back and revise quants every time I had any doubts
Q: How much time did you spend on the Mock Analysis?
MANSI: In the initial stage, it took me around more than 5 hours but it didn’t affect me because I knew I was starting from scratch and was a bit late too in starting my preparation, like towards the end of may. And talking about DILR, I believe practice makes the man perfect and it’s just all about practice.
Q: As you started your preparation in May, when did you start appearing for Mocks and how many mocks you attempted?
MANSI: Honestly, I don’t remember the count but I think I attempted around 19-20 mocks and a week before the CAT exam I stopped appearing for mocks.
Q: As you are a working professional, how did you manage your preparation along with your job and what did a day in your life look like?
MANSI: As I live in Mumbai, a 9 to 5 work culture is not as easy as it looks like, i had to work even on Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays too and there were times when i used to come home at 12 am and i even do that now. So, preparing and planning along with the job was really frustrating but I had to keep my focus so I used to solve sectional mocks. I used to do at least 3 RCs in a day and read newspapers in the office. I was good at the English language so I focused more and more on it as I believe that if I focus on my strengths more, my weak points will disappear and also I kept trying on things where I was not good at. For quants, I used to solve the questions which were in the group from my office time and mocks were something which really helped me in quants. I feel that you should take mocks, sometimes you are not completely done with your preparation but i would suggest please take the mocks
Q: A lot of aspirants have confusion in choosing whether to take online or offline classes, but as you chose the online classes, what was the reason behind it and how did it help you?
MANSI: I will tell you very honestly, there was a friend of mine who has already converted a college, he is in a very good B- school right now, was also a student of Indrajeet sir, and recommended IQUANTA to me. In the beginning i was really skeptical on how the things were going but later I gave it a thought and realized that i cannot afford to give 2 hours on traveling and go to an offline coaching but IQUANTA’s timing was something that suited me and if i used to miss any of the class i could go back and see the recordings. For me, doubt solving was always an issue and I always wanted it to be solved immediately and IQUANTA solved that problem for me as whenever I used to have any doubt, the groups were active 24/7, which I believe is not possible in offline classes. The time that you spend on traveling while having offline classes can be saved here and used productively and it is very important to manage your time during this preparation. So, the coaching was really good as in they do the entire classes in the Crash Course and the motivational videos were really helpful because sometimes things used to get really demotivating because of my work timings and health issues i faced from sleeping late at nights.
Q: One last question, if there is one good advice that you would like to give to all the CAT Aspirants, what would that be?
MANSI: Just believe in yourself, if mocks are not good then there is no mock percentile that can decide what you can do and what you cannot do, just believe in yourself and rest everything can be possible. If somebody else can do it, you can do it too. And I believe that people should not think that clearing CAT and getting into top B-schools can get your life all sorted. If you get a good job too, you will have good people around you and there will be opportunities where you can use your skills and prove yourself. Yes, B-schools will give you an opening into a whole new world but just believe in yourself, be ready to work hard and everything will be possible.