Meet the CAT 2012 Toppers!

Meet CAT 2013 toppers here.

By Ruchi Shrimali

Shiksha.com brings you true success stories and tried-and tested study tips from CAT 2012 toppers...

Rajesh Balasubramanian: 100 percentile once again!

Rajesh Balasubramanian

Rajesh Balasubramanian is what you would call an ultimate CAT expert. He already had a 100 percentile in CAT 2011, and he took the CAT for the fifth time in 2012 making the perfect cut once again! Read about his extraordinary success story here:

I graduated as an electrical engineer from IIT Madras in 2001, with a realisation that engineering was not what I wanted to pursue a career in. I appeared for CAT for the first time in 2000 and made it to IIM Bangalore.

CAT 2012 was my fifth attempt. In 2000, there was no concept of percentiles. However, I made it to Top 10 and managed to get Aditya Birla scholarship. In CAT 2004, I got 99.98 percentile. In CAT 2010, I got 99.83 percentile. In CAT 2011, I got 100 percentile just like this year.

CAT is like an adventure for my mind. I like to take it to keep myself sharp and aware. I plan to take CAT again next year, and perhaps again after that.

After IIM Bangalore, I worked as an investment banker for some time but I found my true career when I joined hands with 2iim.com, where I help my students to prepare for CAT. I oversee the Chennai centres. Taking CAT helps me to keep a track of the question paper format, understand the types of questions that are asked and to gauge their difficulty level.

Being in the business, it also helps me to make more meaningful and insightful question papers for other CAT aspirants and give them realistic mock tests.

Ranjeetha, Rajesh’s wife says, “He was always a bright chap. He scored 87% in Class X CBSE board exams and 93% in Class XII. In 1997, he cracked IIT JEE and ranked at #166.”

For the first time, we were not as hassled about competitive exams as students are now. I remember I had prepared for about five months and had not followed any particular timetable. I already knew Math fundamentals well as I already had prepared for IIT JEE. I used to study any one part of the syllabus that fancied me for the moment. The only trick for me was to take a lot of practice exams.

Later, of course, I knew the fundamentals and practice does make a man perfect.

No, I did not join any coaching centre ever. Though, a college senior who used to drop in at college did offer me tips and advice when I was preparing for CAT for the first time.

Overall, I scored 396 out of 450. I scored 222 out of 225 in Quant and 174 out of 225 in Verbal section.

It is very important to get your fundamentals right. Learn the basics. In the first phase, it is very important not to take any shortcuts or use any speeding tips. One must be thorough with the concepts first and then only try any tips and tricks. Lots of practice exams are the only way to success in CAT.

Siddharth Sharma: 100 percentile in maiden CAT attempt

Siddharth Sharma

Siddharth Sharma from Meerut is a fourth year student of electrical engineering at IIT Kanpur. Academically bright, he scored 97.2% in Class X (ICSE board) and 95.8% in Class XII (CBSE board). Though this was his maiden attempt at CAT, he had planned it well. This IITian is in command of verbal ability as well, in fact, he scored better in Verbal section than Quant!

I started preparing for CAT around January last year – about 10 months.

I was pursuing CAT preparation along with my college studies. So, I was not able to devote much time to it. During weekdays, I used to study on an average of 2-3 hours. On weekends, I could devote more time to it and study for about 8-9 hours. I was not able to study much during summers though, as I was doing my internship at the time.

I did not break up my time between sections. I just concentrated on finishing up the entire CAT syllabus and practice regularly.

Yes, I joined the classroom course offered by Career Launcher at Kanpur. I also subscribed to the Test Series offered by TIME. This year, many students from IIT Kanpur have done well unlike the previous years. A few of my friends have scored above 99.90 percentile.

Overall, I scored 379 out of 450. I scored 157 out of 225 in Quant and 222 out of 225 in Verbal section. These are the normalised scores though.

I haven't really thought about it. I am waiting for the call letters and then only will I decide on my options. However, I would prefer older IIMs, especially IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, and Calcutta.

There are two things one should keep in mind:

• Prepare comprehensively. Do not leave out topics. If you are weak in something, do not dump it. Work on it instead.
• Practice a lot. The key is to attempt maximum number of questions with maximum number of accuracy...and for it, you will need a lot of practice.

Areesh Mittal:  100 percentile in maiden attempt at CAT

Areesh Mittal

Studying in the final year of Industrial and Production Engineering at IIT Delhi, Areesh Mittal also took his first attempt at CAT. He is from Ludhiana, Punjab. The surprising thing about this 100 percentiler is that he was not even serious about giving CAT until last year. It was only when his friends started applying for the exam that he decided to give it a shot too.

If the truth be told, I had not even decided to appear for CAT 2012, till the applications were out. I only started preparing for CAT around mid-August last year. However, during these 1.5 to 2 months, I studied with full concentration.

I used to study for 2-3 hours daily. Only in the last 15 days, I studied for 5-6 hours. I am good at Quant, so I straightaway started with mock tests there. But I had to stress on improving my verbal skills and devoted more time to that portion of the CAT syllabus.

As I told you, I was not planning to give CAT last year. In the last minute, I just took class-notes of 6-7 of my friends who were preparing for CAT and had joined various coaching centres, including Career Launcher and Tathagat. These are all my classmates from Delhi. I used their notes to get familiar with CAT syllabus and used their mock tests to practice for the exam.

There was not enough time to join a coaching centre then. Had I been planning to CAT, I might have joined one too.

To improve my vocabulary, I relied much on Internet where I found several good sites to help me with it.

I scored 378 out of 450 overall. In Quant, I scored 202 out of 225 marks; in Verbal, I scored 176 out of 225.

I am proud to say that 4-5 of my friends have scored above 99 percentile. I am fortunate to have such a good study group.

Any IIM will do for me but of course, I do prefer the top 3 IIMs. If I were given a choice, I would choose IM Ahmedabad at once, which is right at the top.

I think stress can only deter your chances to crack CAT. Find out your weak points and work on them. In the end, luck also matters. I guess I was fortunate to choose the exam date when question paper was comparatively easier. There is no use being stressed about it. Work hard and practice more.

Jaskaran Singh Sachdeva: 100 percentile in fourth attempt at CAT

Jaskaran Singh Sachdeva

Jaskaran Singh Sachdeva’s parents are from Punjab. But since his father is in Indian Navy, he has lived at a lot of places across India. He did his graduation in electrical engineering from NIT Bhopal in 2010. He is working with Infosys for the last 2 and half years and is staying at Bangalore.

No, this is my fourth attempt. I gave CAT in 2009, 2010, 2011, and finally, last year in 2012. But I seriously started preparing for CAT only in 2011. Though I did attend coaching classes before that, but I was never really serious about it.

In CAT 2009, I scored 88 percentile. In CAT 2010, I scored 95 percentile while in CAT 2011, I scored 96.4 percentile. However, 95 and 96 percentiles were not enough to get me in one of the Top 15 management institutes of India, which I was aiming for. In CAT 2012, you already know that I managed to score 100 percentile.

Overall, I scored 373 out of 450. In Quant, I scored 199 out of 225 while in Verbal section, I scored 174 out of 225 marks.

Last year, I joined the crash weekend course at Byju coaching centre in Bangalore. This helped me to change my approach to CAT preparation. This year, I was in touch with them for revision.

Study plans may differ from individual to individual. I used to study one hour in morning and two hours in evening. Besides, I made sure that I solved at least a couple of mock tests every week. Besides, I used to attend coaching classes on weekends.

I am hoping to get into one of the Top 3 IIMs, especially IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Kolkata. I am not expecting a call from IIM Bangalore because they send out calls on the basis of profiles. I think to get a call from IIM Bangalore, you need to have more than 80-85% marks in graduation. I had 77.6% in graduation.

I have realised that exam stress is not going to do anything for you. If you have prepared well, you can solve all the questions in the paper in 3 to 4 hours. The only trick is to be able to maximise your score in the given time frame on the day of the exam. You have to be mentally prepared for it.

Besides, CAT preparation is different than preparing for a school exam. There can be many ways to solve a question. You have to experiment with different ways and find which one takes the least time for you. This can help in optimising your scores.

Also, do not get emotionally attached to a question. Don’t get stuck on one question and waste 10 minutes on it. If you can’t solve it within 2 minutes, move on. This year, I solved all the questions. I came back to the questions I couldn’t crack at first, only when I had done the ones I knew.

Ravi Teja Palla: 100 percentiler in second CAT attempt

Ravi Teja Palla

One of the ten 100 percentilers of CAT 2012, Ravi Teja Palla is from Vishakhapatnam. Having graduated in electrical engineering from IIT Madras this year, he is working with Tata Motors as an assistant manager in Pune since the last six months. This is his second attempt at cracking CAT. Last year, he secured 98.34 percentile but could not secure a seat in IIMs due to low scores in Verbal section.

You can say that. I did fairly well in academics. In IIT JEE, I had secured 236 rank.

I secured 367 out of 450 marks, overall. In Quant, I secured 185 out of 225 marks and in Verbal section, I scored 182 out of 225 marks.

In 2011, I had joined classroom programme at Career Launcher. In 2012, I only took mock tests and sought online support from the institute.

I do not believe in three-month CAT preparation. According to me, one year of hard work can take you a long way in cracking CAT. Since I am a working professional, I could not devote much time to CAT preparation. However, I did solve at least one mock test paper a day and then, used to analyse it for three hours. I used to focus on how similar or different were my though processes for solving individual questions in comparison to the solutions suggested by the coaching institute.

I am good at Quant. Still, I had to work more on probability and set theory to minimise time in solving these questions. I had to devote more time to Verbal section, especially questions related to grammatical errors.

I hope to get into IIM Kolkata. Since my younger brother is studying at IIT Kharagpur, IIM C will suit me more.

I don't think solving all answers is a good strategy. Mark answers only when you are sure of them. Otherwise, leave them unmarked. And one must focus on mock tests.

Sumit Patil: 100 percentiler in maiden attempt at CAT

Sumit Patil

Sumit Patil from Pune is a final-year student of mechanical engineering at IIT Madras. Scoring a 100 percentile in his first attempt to crack CAT, he claims he did it all by just studying for one hour daily for three-four months.

I started preparing for CAT around July last year – for about 3-4 months.

I solved previous years' papers and mock tests, analysed them and improved on my focus points. I always tried not to repeat any mistakes. I did not study too much...about an hour daily and just 5-6 hours a week. I did try to solve at least a couple of mock tests every week and analyse them in detail. Once you get accustomed to the format of CAT paper and different types of problems, it is just the question of practice.

I was a school topper in Class X. I appeared from Maharashtra State Board and secured 99% marks. In Class XII, I guess I was third in college with 89.5% marks. Currently, I am fifth in my class. So, I guess I am doing quite well overall.

Overall, I scored 383 out of 450. I scored 222 out of 225 in Quant and 161 out of 225 in Verbal section.

Yes, I did join one-year classroom course of TIME but actually never went to class. However, I did use their practice tests and benefitted from them.

I am still waiting for my call letters and will only decide from the options I am offered. Until then, I just want to savour the present moment.

There are just three steps to CAT success:

1. Practice regularly.
2. Try and understand the format of questions.
3. Analyse your mistakes and try not to repeat them.

Aditya Navali:  99.98 percentile in maiden attempt at CAT

Aditya Navali

Aditya Navali from Bangalore is a final-year student of civil engineering at IIT Bombay. He got 99.98 percentile in his first attempt at CAT! In fact, five of the 100 percentile scorers have achieved the perfect scores in their very first attempt to crack CAT.

I enrolled myself for weekend classes at TIME around August -September 2011. However, I actually started studying seriously for CAT only around late last summer.

I think it's all about focus and effective studying. There is no use having books in front of your eyes for hours when your mind is actually wandering elsewhere. Concentration, hard work, and practice might sound like cliches but that's the only formula to crack CAT or any other competitive exam for that matter.

I got 100 percentile in Quant, in which I scored 222 out of 225 marks and about 94.84 percentile in Verbal, where I scored 127 out of 225 marks.

I used to study for 4 to 5 hours every day, once I started studying seriously, which was around July - August 2012. Every day, I used to solve two sectional tests for one hour each, one mock test that used to take about two hours, and used one hour for general preparation and revising my concepts.

I joined TIME. I do think that attending classes is a must as they can actually appraise you well about theory. But, if you want to score more, you have to take the initiative to practice as much as possible. No one else can do it for you.

I will of course love to get into any of the top 4 IIMs – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, and Lucknow -  but my first preference is IIM Bangalore because I belong to that city.

Study well and practice. Focus and dedication are the keys to crack CAT.