CAT 2019 Topper Interview: 99.93 Percentiler Ahsaas Sharma Shares his Exam Strategy

Ahsaas Sharma from Faridabad scored 99.93 percentile in CAT 2019. Read his exam preparation strategy, here.

Ahsaas Sharma

CAT 2019 Overall Percentile: 99.93

VARC - 99.79

LRDI - 98.95

QA - 99.82

Ahsaas Sharma from Faridabad was brought up in a house where there was equal focus on STEM and Non-STEM fields. A BTech Mechanical Engineering student at IIT Ropar, Ahsaas tried to balance both of them with debating, quizzing and acting. Founder and president of the debating society at IIT Ropar, Ahsaas scored an impressive 99.93 percentile in CAT exam with only six months of preparation. Shiksha spoke with Ahsaas on his success.
Read on to know his CAT preparation strategy.
Note: Check the List of CAT 2019 Toppers Here!

Q: Congratulations! Are you satisfied with your CAT result? How much score were you expecting?

A: Well to be very honest, with what I was scoring in mocks and how much I had practiced I was expecting somewhere around 99.6-99.8 but a raw score of 200+ and 99.9+ percentile was a very pleasant surprise. I am really ecstatic and content with the percentile I have secured.

Q: Was this your first CAT attempt?

A: Yes, as I am in the final year of my undergrad at IIT Ropar this was my first attempt at CAT.

Q: When did you start preparing for CAT exam? What was your overall prep strategy?

A: I started preparing for CAT somewhere around March, 2019 when I was in the 6^th semester of my graduation. I had to take a break of 3 months (May-July) from CAT preparation as I had to go Malaysia for my internship. My strategy was very simple, before starting preparation for anything I first give a mock of that exam which gives me an idea of how much I need to focus on what areas. So back in March, before starting with the preparation I gave a mock and got a raw score of somewhere around 150 with VARC/LRDI/QA, splits being 55/40/55, and this is when I realized I am I decently placed in all the three areas and I need focus on all three equally. Thus I maintained a very balanced approach with focus on giving a lot of sectionals for the first three months to build my speed and momentum in every section.

Q: Please share with us your section-wise strategy.

A: My section-wise strategy was as follows-

VARC - The most important thing here is not knowing a lot of difficult words or the synonyms as most people presume it to be but this section is about how much command you have over the language. I have a daily habit of reading the full newspaper either the hard copy or online since the age of 8 and also read books on varied topics such as philosophy, finance and technology so that sufficed with regards to preparing for both RC’s and VA section.

LRDI - My strategy here was to solve as many sets as I can as I couldn’t really see any other way to prep for it effectively. I had prepared a lot of this section when I had cleared NTSE in class 10 and thus my basics about how to go about tackling LRDI sets were clear when I started my prep and thus I had to devote less time to learning and more time to practicing in this section.

QA - The main focus here was on speed and accuracy which was effectively achieved by giving sectional tests. Being an engineer I was through with most of the concepts in the QA syllabus and only had to revise them and practice a bit topic-wise tests to get back into the groove. I here focused on trying to get as many questions correct as I could without worrying about total attempts thus building my accuracy first and speed came automatically with practice.

Q: Which books did you refer to for CAT preparation?

A: For VARC, I feel it is important to have a clear understanding of the language thus it is better to read as much as you can and that is what I did, regularly reading newspapers and non-fiction books. I complemented my reading with mocks, both sectional and full tests to keep track of my prep.

For LRDI, I was through with my basics and only practiced in mocks but when I was preparing for NTSE I had practiced with Tata McGraw Hill’s NTSE package for LRDI specifically and that could be a good option for those wanting to start from scratch.

For QA, TIME’s study material was what I followed as the concepts were explained pretty well in them and I practiced the questions in the study material to brush up my concepts and that is what really helped me.