CAT 2019 Topper Interview: How Somansh Chordia Scored 100 Percentile in First Attempt

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

A: I studied from TIME study material only.

Also Read: Best Books for CAT preparation

Q: Did you join any coaching institute? How does coaching institute help in CAT preparation?

A: Yes, I joined TIME for CAT preparation. Coaching for competitive exams basically helps in the initial phase as the experienced faculty guides you through the pattern and some tried and tested methods. So, this makes it easier to discover the best strategy that suites you. I didn’t attend many classes so can’t say much about that. Other than this having some friends to compete with helps in keeping yourself motivated, and this can be easily ensured through a coaching institute. Other than this, mocks and its basic analysis is probably the most crucial thing that a coaching provides

Q: How many CAT mock tests did you attempt and how important is a mock test series?

A: I practiced about 20-25 CAT mock tests and it was the most important aspect of preparation. This is how I identified my weak areas and could gauge my progress and know whether my approach is working or not. Apart from this it helps in trying different methods of solving an entire section and paper and identify which one suits you the most. And also it helps in practicing how to maintain the concentration for the entire duration and get a feel of the actual paper, which is what mocks are mainly meant for.

Q: What was your CAT exam day strategy?

A: Since I was allotted slot 1, I knew I would be required to start the day early as the center was also far from college. And being an engineering student it was exactly the time in which I usually slept so, a week prior to the day of the exam, I started waking up early so that I am able to maintain the required concentration level.

I knew that I could screw things up by being nervous and I wasn’t very confident about being able to perform on the day so I had decided to adopt a casual approach and just focus on giving my best without worrying about the result; kind of looking at it as a question a moment and not the entire exam at a time.

Other than this, I had my strategies specific for the sections decided through the several mocks that I had solved. This is important but I knew that depending on the difficulty and type of questions I might be required to change my strategy on the spot so I was prepared for that as well.

Q: Any tips for future CAT aspirants?

A: I believe what helped me a lot while CAT preparation was the fact that I loved CAT’s pattern and realised that the kind of skills I will be developing while preparing for it are actually useful in life as well. This helped the level of motivation especially when I got a bit busier with other commitments.

It’s good and important to compare your performance with others as essentially it’s a competitive exam but one should not get demoralised or overconfident in the process. So it would be best to keep competing with yourself and periodically comparing with others just to know where you stand and probably learn from others who are performing better or have improved a lot.

I strongly believe in the idea that we can achieve only what we can imagine and actually believe in. So believe in yourself and the fact that wonders are possible. I performed my best on the final day and none of my previous performances could be extrapolated to a 100 percentile, but I never let the dream of 100 percentile escape my imagination and belief system.

Q: Which IIMs /Institutes are you targeting?

A: I am targeting the top three IIMs – IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta.

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