Madhur Gupta, 100 percentiler, gave up his lucrative job for CAT 2017

Madhur Gupta

Overall score: 100 percentile

VARC score: 99.78 percentile

Quant score: 99.96 percentile

DILR: 99.94 percentile

For Delhi’s Madhur Gupta it was a big decision to give up his highly paid job at Amazon for CAT 2017. But that risk paid off. Madhur scored 100 percentile and has already been selected by IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta for interview round.

An aspiring entepreneur, Madhur left his job as Operations Manager at Amazon in August 2017 to focus on CAT. His mantra for cracking the CAT was cracking all kinds of mock tests. Madhur attempted more than 70 mock tests, to ensure there is no loose end left to tie by the time CAT arrived.

A Mechanical Engineering graduate from Delhi Technological University, Delhi, Madhur loves to read entrepreneurial books and watches TV series Friends to unwind. During DTU days, he was the team leader of  Team Defianz Racing, the formula Student team of DTU (40 members), which designs and fabricates a fully functional, single seater formula race car every year and participates in world-wide Formula Student competitions organized by Institute of Mechanical Engineers (ImechE).

In an interview with Shiksha, Bal Bharati Public School, Pitampura, alumnus Madhur shared his CAT prep strategy and future plans. Here’s what he said:

100 percentile
It was my first attempt and I had expected around 99.9 percentile. So scoring 100 percentile was really great. I was naturally elated.

Preparation Strategy
I started preparing for CAT 2017 from January and joined TIME for coaching. I ramped up my preparation only in August after quitting my job at Amazon, as Operations Manager. I joined a small start-up alongside CAT preparation from August onwards. In the last-three to four months I gave over 70 mock tests, of different mock series. I attempted mock series of TIME, Career Launcher and IMS as I believe, the number of mocks don’t matter alone. What is important is that one attempts variety of questions so that the possibility of surprise questions in the actual exam is negated. To be able to handle surprise questions is important and that can be done only by attempting a wide variety of mock tests.

Secondly, VARC was my weak area and I was really worried about it. CAT 2017 is the only test among all the mocks and actual tests I attempted in which I scored 99.78. My VARC score was low in mocks and this gave me considerable stress.

Since I belong to GEM (General, Engineering, Male) category, the cut-offs are very high for this category so I was really stressed about whether I will make it to the select 200 or not. So, on the advice of my mentor, I started focusing on my strengths first and once I had saturated my preparation of those subjects, I moved to VARC. I took 3-4 days off and devised a strategy to tackle VARC. I would spend 2-3 hours on the RC part to ensure my weakness turned into strength.

Importance of joining a coaching institute
I would say coaching institutes are helpful but not necessary. In the sense that they give regularity and structure to your exam preparation; and provides you a competitive environment so that you don’t slow down. However, many aspirants score 100 percentile without joining a coaching institute. Among twenty 100 percentilers this year, 4-5 five are the ones who didn’t join any coaching institute still managed cent percent score.

Family support
I had a lucrative job at Amazon. I was the youngest Operations Manager at Amazon across India so it was not only lucrative but reputable as well. But when I expressed my desire to prepare for CAT, my parents were totally supportive of my decision. They told me to pursue higher studies without worrying about giving up my job. “Jobs will come and go, but you do what you wish to do”, they told me. The confidence your parents show in you helps you take risks. So, I’d say my family played a pivotal role in my success in CAT 2017.

Future Plans
I have got interview calls from IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta. I hope to join any one of these to pursue management. I am interested in entrepreneurship so I plan to foray into that post my MBA. If not entrepreneurship then I will go for consulting.

Tips for future CAT aspirants
They should really focus on attempting lot of mocks but do so only at the later stage when they have completed the course. If they start attempting mocks in the initial stages, without completing the course, they will not score well and that will make them anxious. So don’t start with mock test series before you have completed your course.

Also, analyzing your performance is really important as it will help you judge yourself. You’ll know what’s to be done next.

Do as many mocks as you can, I did above 70. There are many aspirants who relied just on the mock tests and scored very well in CAT.

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