CAT Topper Tips: Mocks are very important, says 98.99%iler Adarsh Srivastava

Adarsh Srivastava

Adarsh Srivastava, a BTech pass out from National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra attempted CAT in 2016, but not very satisfied with his scores, he decided to reappear for the exam this year. When he started preparing for CAT 2017, he made sure that he rectified the mistakes he had made in the past year. After months of hard work, he was rewarded when the result of the exam was announced – he had scored 98.99%ile with sectional scores of VARC – 95.65, DILR – 92.68, QA – 99.42. 

Adarsh is fond of playing cricket, badminton and chess, and likes surfing on Quora, and sometimes write answers on the platform too. Shiksha spoke to Adarsh regarding his preparation strategy, and this is what he told us:

I didn’t sleep properly since the speculation of CAT result announcement was doing the rounds. Since it was my 2^nd attempt, I wanted to score good this time. I woke up around 9 am and was constantly checking whether the result has come or not. As soon as I got a notification that the result was out, my heartbeat increased and I was shivering while entering the details. The moment I saw my result and saw that I had scored 98.99%ile, I was elated and was jumping with joy. I am happy that finally, my hard work paid off.

No, it was my 2^nd CAT attempt.

I am interested in Finance and Marketing, and will be opting for the same.

I started my preparation from July. I joined IMS Test Series for giving mocks and also joined I-Quanta. Since, I was working, so I used to initially study only on weekends 4-6 hours. In the initial 30-40 days, I first revised all the concepts and after that, I was into serious mode for mock tests. As the CAT exam day approached, I started studying on weekdays as well, mainly from 10 pm till the time I felt drowsy. I started solving questions which faculties or any students posted on I-quanta on Facebook. Sometimes, during my office hours to I used to solve questions.

Right from the beginning, my performance in VARC was pathetic. During preparation for CAT’16, when I used to get mock scores, my performance in VARC was always used to be <70%ile, no matter how hard I tried to improve. DILR section was moderate and QA was my strongest section. But when CAT’16 results came out, I had scored very less in DI, and VARC performance was good. So, when I started preparing for CAT’17, I primarily focused on VARC and DILR. Again in VARC, I wasn’t scoring well, so I enrolled with I-Quanta and I was practicing DILR from mocks and various sources. Although, my scores improved in DILR, but same situation was happening with me in VARC, although situation improved but not significantly. On the day of exam, when I started attempting VARC, I felt that the difficulty level has reduced, so I was happy. But when DILR section started, for first 10 minutes, I was finding questions which I could solve, but couldn’t get any. During mocks, I learnt the strategy of choosing questions wisely which I lacked in my previous attempt, hence it helped me in this CAT. Although I attempted only 11 questions, but I was confident on my accuracy and it was proven 100% when scores came out.

It depends from person to person. I personally don’t feel joining any coaching institute is required unless you are joining only for test series/correspondence. Self-preparation is the best, because CAT syllabus is not that hard. You can buy books of great authors, can learn basic concepts and then solve good questions. If you want to test your mettle, go for mocks and then analyse them to gauge your strength and weakness, and work upon it accordingly.

IIM A, IIM B, IIM C, though my percentile won’t attract these institutes to call me.

Just one tip. CAT is all about practice, practice and practice. The more you solve questions, the more your speed and accuracy will increase. Without any time constraint, it’s easy to solve the paper, but when you see the clock ticking, you feel the pressure, and only those aspirants who can handle pressure well will succeed with flying colours. Mocks are very important because they show your true self to you. You get to know which areas you are lacking in, which are your strong areas, and once you know this, you need to strategise accordingly. Also, never lose hope and always have faith in yourself. If the paper is difficult, just remember that it is the same for everyone, so don’t panic as most will certainly do. Instead, take advantage of this situation and give it your best shot. So, all the best everyone for CAT 2018.

CAT scores are used for admission to 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and various other top B-Schools. Are you eligible for the IIMs? To know more, click on the image beside.

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