CAT 2016: It’s less about knowledge and more about aptitude, says 100%iler Akshay Mehndiratta

Akshay Mehndiratta from Gurgaon, who scored a perfect 100 percentile in CAT 2016, has already shifted his focus from celebrations to WAT and PI preparations. This 22-year-old IIT graduate hails from a family of engineers; his father being a DGM Mechanical and mother a Chief Engineer. And as he confesses that though VARC section was a problem area for him, it didn’t deter him a bit into putting more than hundred percent to achieve this remarkable feat. Soon after the CAT 2016 results were declared, Shiksha spoke to Akshay where he revealed his prep strategy and future plans.

Q. How satisfied are you with your score?

A. It is a moment of immense satisfaction. But to actually reap its rewards, a lot of hard work for PI and WAT has to be put in, and my focus is on that for now.

Q. Was this your first CAT attempt?

A. No, it was my second attempt. I scored 99.34 percentile in my first attempt in 2015.

Q. What area of specialization you intend you choose?

A. I have not decided upon my road map, but perhaps, from what I have heard from my friends in IIMs, I would like to take a finance exit.

Q. Tell us about your preparation strategy.

A. I never used to get time during the weekdays. I used to put in 5-6 hours on Saturday for preparation, and a mock test, followed by detailed analysis on Sundays. I started following this schedule rigorously from June onwards.

Q. What is the minimum time frame needed to prepare for CAT, and when did you start with your preparation?

A. CAT, I feel is less about knowledge and more about aptitude. And the right way to build that is by practice (mock tests). It is more about how smartly you prepare in the limited time you have. I guess a period of 5-6 months, with concentrated effort for 2-3 days in a week works fine. You would be able to see significant improvement with each passing week.

Q. What did you do to improve your weak areas?

A. Typical of an engineer, I was quite weak in Verbal and RC Section. So my preparation time on Saturday was basically spent on improving that. I used to prepare from TIME Workbooks, Internet and perhaps Sectional Tests. I won’t say my English has improved considerably, but the desired knowledge in Verbal was gained appropriately.

Q. Is it important to join a coaching institute?

A. Not exactly. It is more about your self-preparation and adopting the right strategy. However, coaching centers play an important role viz test series since they are well adept of the recent changes in the CAT paper. Also, solutions provided by them can really help you improve upon your weaknesses in a sustained way. As mentioned before also, these mocks play a major role in improving the performance.

Q. Which is your dream institute?

A. IIM-A, for sure.

Q. What are your hobbies?

A. I like travelling and playing the guitar. I also have a huge passion for graphic designing.

Q. Any tips for future CAT aspirants?

A. The most important thing to do is practice, practice and more practice. Mocks go a long way in improving your performance, so don’t compromise on that.

Also read:

100 percentiler Nilanjan Dutta attempted CAT 2016 to test himself

CAT 2016: Meet the 100 percentilers

This CAT 2016 aspirant scored 99.35%ile with just 45 days of preparation

CAT 2016: How Dhananjay Tripathi scored 99.89%ile in his first attempt

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