CAT 2019 Topper Interview: How Rishi Mittal scored 100 percentile
Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
Exam On - 30 Nov '25
Rishi Mittal, is one of the top 10 CAT 2019 toppers who made it to the 100 percentilers club. Read the interview below to know his success mantra.
Rishi Mittal
CAT 2019 Overall Percentage: 100
VARC percentile: 98.76
DILR percentile: 100
QA percentile: 99.99
CAT 2019 result was declared on January 4, 2020, and 10 students scored 100 percentile. Among these 10, Rishi Mittal, a Civil Engineer, made it to the 100 percentilers club. Rishi hails from Mumbai and is studying at NIT Surat. He said that appearing for CAT exam was one of his dreams and scoring 100 percentile was “just delightful”. Shiksha got to talking with Rishi to know the secret of his success in CAT 2019. Know what he has to say about CAT 2019 score, his preparation strategy and more in the article below.
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There is a 90% more chance of getting best college recommendations by sharing preferences.Q. Congratulations, Rishi! Are you satisfied with your score? How much score were you expecting?
A. After the official CAT answer key and response sheet came out, I knew I was scoring about 240 and my final scaled score was 241.45. But after I came out of the exam and before anything was declared, I was pretty scared if I’ll be crossing 200 or 220, but this was a pleasant surprise.
Sectional cut-off in the CAT exam refers to the section-wise percentiles required by the candidate to make it to the Personal Interview round of the IIMs or other top MBA colleges. The sectional cut-offs are lower than the overall cut-offs of any institute. To understand better, check the table below for sectional CAT cut-offs for IIM Ahmedabad:
Category | VARC percentile | DILR percentile | QA percentile | Overall percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
General | 70 | 70 | 70 | 80 |
NC-OBC-Transgender | 65 | 65 | 65 | 75 |
SC | 60 | 60 | 60 | 70 |
ST | 50 | 50 | 50 | 60 |
PwD (General, NC-OBC-cum-transgender, SC) | 60 | 60 | 60 | 70 |
PwD (ST) | 50 | 50 | 50 | 60 |
For sectional cut-offs of all IIMs, check this article – IIM shortlist and selection criteria
Q. Was this your first CAT attempt?
A. Yes, this was my first attempt.
Q. When did you start your preparations for CAT? What was your overall preparation strategy?
A. I started my preparations in July 2018, which is when I started my third year of engineering. I joined IMS classes for CAT and the online study group iQuanta. I gathered the study material from TIME, IMS and iQuanta. Then for 5 to 6 months I was referring to these study materials and understood concepts and went through what all needed to be done and how should I go about my CAT preparations. In March, I started attempting mocks and analyzing them. Even in mocks, I was consistently getting a decent rank, usually, I was in the top 10 all over India. Apart from that my strategy was that I initially tried to recognise my strengths and weaknesses so that I knew that I need to work on my weak areas. Quant and DILR were my strengths and the verbal section was the weak part. So once I knew that I started working on my English to get a decent score and in the Quant and DILR sections I was doing fairly well.
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Around May or June of 2019, I stopped studying the study material, I was only solving CAT mock tests and analyzing my performance. So six months I devoted to only mock tests and no new study material at all.
Q. Please share your section-wise strategy. How did you go about each section?
A. VARC: Initially when I started my preparations, I was inconsistent scoring 62 out of 102 or even 18. Later my seniors [and] my mentors at the classes told me that I need to work on RC separately and for each type of question I prepared a strategy on how to approach this section. So the major change that helped me in my strategy was discussing the paper with a friend as far as VARC is concerned because it is a very subjective section. So, if you are consulting a friend who is also preparing for CAT, you can have a lengthy discussion on why the answer is right or why is it wrong. After this, I started scoring decently in mocks. So mainly knowing why the answer is correct and why it is not is important and just practicing by yourself and solving mocks, I don’t think works out. Apart from this, people have the notion that if you read a lot, you can score well in VARC. I think even a non-reader can score in this section, I haven’t ever read a single novel.
CAT cut-offs are not announced along with the CAT result. The cut-offs are also not released publicly. They are known after a few days of the result announcement when the IIMs and other colleges start their shortlisting process. The IIMs will open the shortlist window based on the CAT cut-offs two to three days after the result announcement. The CAT percentile of candidates shortlisted for the Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussion (GD), and Personal Interview (PI) can be considered the cut-off for that IIM. For example, if a candidate with a CAT percentile of 99 belonging to the General category is selected for the WAT/GD-PI of IIM Calcutta, then the CAT cut-off for IIM Calcutta is 99 percentile. Only those candidates who make it to the WAT/GD-PI round of IIMs will get to know the cut-offs.
14 candidates have scored 100 percentile in CAT 2024, out of a total of 2.93 Lacs candidates. Out of 14 toppers, 1 is a woman candidate. Check below CAT 2024 result data:
Check the below table for data and statistics of CAT 2024 test takers and toppers.
| CAT Toppers | Gender and Discipline | State |
|---|---|---|
| 100 percentiles 14 - Nos | Female - 1 Male - 13 Engg – 13 Non-Engg – 1 | Andhra Pradesh 1 Delhi 2 Haryana 1 Kerala 1 Maharashtra 5 Odisha 1 Rajasthan 1 Telangana 2 |
| 99.99 percentiles 29 -Nos. | Female - 2 Male - 27 Engg – 25 Non-Engg - 4 | Chandigarh 1 Delhi 4 Gujarat 2 Haryana 1 Karnataka 3 Kerala 1 Madhya Pradesh 1 Maharashtra 5 Odisha 1 Punjab 1 Rajasthan 3 Tamil Nadu 1 Telangana 1 Uttar Pradesh1 Uttarakhand 1 West Bengal 2 |
| 99.98 percentiles 30-Nos | Female - 1 Male - 29 Engg – 20 Non-Engg -10 | Bihar 1 Delhi 2 Gujarat 2 Haryana 4 Karnataka 4 Madhya Pradesh 3 Maharashtra 3 Tamil Nadu 2 Telangana 3 Uttar Pradesh 2 West Bengal 4 |
IIM Trichy accepts minimum CAT percentile for shortlisting candidates for the Personal Interview round. For IIM Trichy MBA admission 2024, the estimated overall CAT cutoff for the General category students is 92 percentile. Candidates can refer to the table given below to check out the section-wise minimum CAT percentile required for various categories:
Category | PVRC | PDILR | PQA | Overall percentile rank (PT) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
General | 70 | 70 | 70 | 92 |
NC-OBC | 45 | 45 | 45 | 74 |
EWS | 40 | 40 | 40 | 70 |
SC | 35 | 35 | 35 | 54 |
ST | 25 | 25 | 32.5 | 40 |
DAP | 25 | 25 | 32.5 | 40 |
Yes, it is possible to score 99.99 percentile in CAT in first attempt. Many candidates have scored 99.99 percentile in their first attempt in previously. But for that one needs to have a preparation strategy which is comprehensive and covers all the aspects of CAT. Apart from covering CAT syllabus through books and sample papers, one need constant guidance and study sessions with mentors and subject matter experts to develop deep understanding and capability to crack any type of question.
DILR: DILR is more about the experience. The more time you give to this section, the more it will help you as simple as that. For DILR, I have solved the TIME and IMS study material. Also, I have attempted various mocks for various classes like TIME, IMS, Career Launcher and iQuanta. So the more mocks you give the more sets you solve, it’ll get easier for you to crack DILR because during CAT we have 8 sections that we are supposed to solve. So because of my experience and the practice that I have done for the DILR section I completed all the 8 sets with time in hand. So only practice will help when it comes to the DILR section.
Quant: Quant has been my personal strength, and I’ll like to take a little credit for [the fact] that I have a knack for Quant, but that does not mean I did not practice. I practiced a lot for this section as well. Similar to DILR, Quant is also experience-based. The more you solve [question] the more you learn about new concepts from online forums where people post their doubts and people are there who help you with different strategies and concepts and I received a lot of help from that when it comes to the Quant section. And definitely practicing Mental Maths, was pretty helpful. So, Quant is all about practice, the more number of mocks that you attempt and the more [sample papers] that you solve will help you. People think that there are a lot of shortcuts and tricks or you can remember the basics and then you can solve the Quant section but I am a person who cannot remember a single formula. But in CAT I was able to score 93 marks in Quant out of 102 so I feel with the right conceptual clarity and practice, Quant is a really easy section to clear.
Also Read:
Q. Which books did you refer to for CAT preparation?
A. Apart from TIME, iQuanta and IMS study material I did not refer to any other book. People refer to different publications (no offense) but I did not refer to any external help books. I was pretty content with the study material that IMS classes provided.
Also Read: Best books to study for CAT
Q. Did you join any coaching institute? How did it help?
A. I was enrolled with IMS which was my primary study help and I took up the TIME test series and used their study material for my preparations. I was also a part of the online study group, iQuanta. The study material was good enough, and I think a good study material is the secret of a 100 percentiler, but clarity and experience of the questions is also important.
Q. How many mock tests did you attempt?
A. I appeared for around 40-45 mock tests. 50 is the golden number but I could not touch it because I guess I was a little lazy at times.
Q. Did you make any exam day strategies for CAT?
A. Yes, I was actually really scared. I was nervous as I had my college exams during the preparation phase too. So I was under a lot of pressure as a month before the CAT exam I had made a plan of how to go on my preparations but I wasn’t able to follow it at all. So the exam day strategy was just to have a nice breakfast and my parents were really supportive on my exam day and kept on telling me to be calm. Their words of wisdom were of huge help. So my strategy, in all, was to be calm and give my best and save myself from doing silly mistakes. My thought was only that whatever I do, I have to do it well. Apart from that, one hour before the exam and after the reporting is what makes all the difference. It is really important to be calm in that one hour and meditating for a couple of minutes on the exam morning really helped me.
Also Read: CAT exam day strategy
Q. Any tips for future CAT aspirants?
A. I don’t have any fancy tips, but all I would say is that while preparing for CAT be honest to yourself and prioritize CAT results over everything.
Q. Which IIMs/institutes are you targeting?
A. Like any other aspirant, I am targeting the top IIMs like IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, etc.
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Saumya brings over seven years of editorial experience, with more than five years of wielding pen (and keyboard) at Shiksha. A graduate in English Literature from Delhi University, she is a storyteller at heart. A t... Read Full Bio
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The CAT (Common Admission Test) is a highly competitive entrance exam for admission to various management programs offered by top business schools in India. The percentile score in CAT exam is based on the relative performance of the test taker compared to all the other test takers.
The cutoff percentile for admission to top business schools varies from year to year and also depends on factors such as the number of candidates, difficulty level of the exam, and the number of available seats. In general, a percentile score of 90 or above is considered a good score and can help you secure admission to some of the top business schools in India. However, to increase your chances of admission to the top-tier business schools, a percentile score of 95 or above is preferred.