Sreetama Datta
Sreetama Datta Roy
Manager Content
Updated on Jan 7, 2021 16:00 IST

Kshitiz Singhal, a final year Mechanical Engineering student of IIT Bombay has cracked CAT 2020 with 99.99 percentile. Read the full interview here on his preparation strategy and future plans.

Kshitiz Singhal

Kshitiz Singhal

Overall CAT 2020 Percentile: 99.99

VARC Percentile: 99.58

DILR Percentile: 99.94

QA Percentile: 99.97

Kshitiz Singhal has maintained his track record of being a topper throughout his school and college life by cracking CAT 2020 with a whopping 99.99 percentile. A final year Mechanical Engineering student of IIT Bombay, Kshitiz has realised his leadership potential and wants to further hone it by pursuing management studies from IIM Ahmedabad. A stand-up comic by his hobby, he aims to explore a career in Consulting domain as he feels that it would complement his analytical and communication skills. In this interview with Shiksha, Khisitiz shares his CAT preparation strategy, aspirations and suggestions for MBA aspirants.

Q. Tell us something about yourself.

A: I am a final year Mechanical Engineering student at IIT Bombay. I hail from Ahmedabad. I have an academically oriented family and I have always had a leadership potential within me. I am currently the head of the Student Consulting group of my college.

Q. Tell us about your preparation strategy.
A:
I started preparing in July. Being from an engineering background helped me in my preparation as I am good in Quants. I started my preparation by knowing about the CAT exam pattern and syllabus. Once I completed the syllabus, I started taking mock tests. Although I did not enrol into any coaching institute, I bought study materials and took a mock test series from noted institutes for practice purpose.

Q. What were your strong and weak areas and what did you do to improve the same?

A: Quant was my strong area and Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) was my weak area. I think this scenario is common for all Engineers! To improve the VARC section, I took the help of my seniors who are currently pursuing MBA. They told me to work on fundamentals. I reworked on my approach to solving the question. I also analysed my mock tests in detail and identified the areas where I needed to improve. After following this method, my mock test scores started improving.

Q: What was your exam day strategy and test-taking experience?

A: Since my exam was scheduled in the third slot, I already came across the first slot analysis and reports and knew what to expect. There was much lesser time for each question as the overall duration was reduced to two hours instead of three hours. But the changed pattern did not bother me much since speed and accuracy were my strengths. Since CAT requires these factors, so I made the most of it to steer the exam in my favour.

As far as test-taking experience is concerned, it was indeed difficult to sit through the test wearing mask and gloves. Since I had anticipated that and practised taking the test with my mask and gloves on, I got a bit habituated. I made it a point to not let such issues hamper my concentration.

Q. How did you deal with the stress of CAT prep and exam?

A: The pandemic situation was really uncertain and scary which affected everyone. I made a time-table wherein along with the study schedule, I kept time for refreshments as well. I used to make targets, such as completing a topic within one or two hours, which used to follow with a 10-15 minutes break. Within this break, I used to listen to music or go for a stroll. This was a really calming exercise and helped break the monotony of continuous preparation.

Q. What are your hobbies? Did you follow these hobbies during the preparation phase as well?

A: My hobby is stand-up comedy and I have performed in college and being appreciated as well. Unfortunately, during the preparation phase, I could not practice much. Apart from CAT, I was also preparing for my end-semester exams and placements. Although I occasionally watched few videos on stand-up comedy but could not indulge much.

Q. What is your dream B-School and why?

A: My dream B-School is IIM Ahmedabad. I have always kept my targets high to be motivated enough to achieve it. Being a topper throughout I have always been in the best of the institutes. Since IIM Ahmedabad is the top B-School in India, it is my dream destination for MBA. Moreover, my family is based in Ahmedabad and that is another reason why I want to get into IIM A, as it would be closer home.

Q. What is your plan after completing MBA?

A: I plan to build my career in the Consulting domain as it aligns with my personality and strength. I think as a Consultant, I would be able to utilise my analytical mind and conversationalist nature.

Q. What are your suggestions for future CAT aspirants?

A: My suggestion for the aspirants is to work on your fundamentals, speed and accuracy. CAT is a fairly easy exam and if you devote enough time for preparation and study systematically, you will be able to crack it. It is possible to solve all the questions in Quant and DILR. It would be possible with constant practice. You need not study for 10 hours in a day but if you start early, say in January and February, and study for two to three hours in a day working on our fundamentals and solve a variety of questions, it would do the trick. Other aspects of CAT preparation is identifying your weak areas and working on them, and taking regular mock tests and analysing them thoroughly.

Read More:

CAT 2020 Toppers, Scores and their Percentiles

IIM Shortlist 2020: Check Dates and Process

How to Crack GD-PI/WAT Rounds of Top B-schools

Check CAT cut offs and predict calls from IIMs and Non-IIMs accepting CAT score for admission. Check Fees, Placement Reviews, Admission, Shortlist Criteria and Eligibility of all CAT participating colleges by clicking the link below:

Predict CAT Admission Calls
About the Author
author-image
Sreetama Datta Roy
Manager Content

Sreetama has over a decade of editorial experience in the higher education beat. A wanderlust by passion, she is also an avid reader and a music lover. Among friends, she is popular for her sense of humour.

Download Important Dates for MBA/PGDM Exams

News & Updates

Latest NewsPopular News

Explore Other Exams

Jul '25

XAT 20256 Exam registration

Dec '25

XAT 2026 admit card download s...

8 Jan '25

SNAP 2024 result announcement

21 Dec '24

SNAP 2024 session 3

Aug '25

NMAT 2025 Registration Window

Aug '25

NMAT 2025 Scheduling Window

17 Oct '24 -

5 Dec '24

IIFT 2025 registration and app...

18 Jun '25 -

14 Jul '25

MAT CBT July 2025 registration

17 Jul '25

MAT CBT July 2025 admit card

13 Feb '25

CMAT 2025 Result

31 Jan '25 -

2 Feb '25

CMAT 2025 Answer Key Release a...

28 May '25

MAH MBA CET 2025 result out

28 Apr '25 -

30 Apr '25

MAH MBA CET 2025 answer key do...

5 Jun '25 -

30 Jun '25

TANCET Counselling Registratio...

14 Jul '25

Release of TANCET Rank List fo...

Mar '25

IRMASAT 2025 Final Result Anno...

Feb '25

IRMASAT Personal Interviews

The list of exams are recommended based on what other exams do the students in your area show interest in
qna

Student Forum

chatAnything you would want to ask experts?
Write here...

Answered Yesterday

a

abhishek gaurav

Contributor-Level 9

Answered 2 days ago

CAT is one of the accepting exams for admission to MBA programme of KL Business School. However, it is not compulsory for aspirants to have CAT score for admission. Aspirants with MAT, XAT or ICET scores can also apply for MBA. KL University also conducts KLMAT for admission to MBA programme. Candid

...Read more

N

Nishtha Shukla

Guide-Level 15

Answered 3 days ago

Yes, candidates can apply for Surana College Post Graduate Departments for the MBA programme without the CAT exam. The Surana College Post Graduate Departments' MBA eligibility criteria state that the selection of candidates is based on the score achieved in the accepted entrance exams. Surana Colle

...Read more

N

Nidhi Madavi

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 3 days ago

...Read more

a

abhishek gaurav

Contributor-Level 9

Answered 4 days ago

VMSB UTU CAT Cutoff 2024 has been released by the affiliated colleges. For the General-All India category candidates, the overall cutoff rank ranged from 60. For the Quants, VA-RC, DI-LR category candidates, the cutoff rank was 40. Interested candidates can check out the following table for the past

...Read more

S

Shiksha Divya

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 5 days ago

Yes, candidates can get admissions to MBA courses at  DY Patil Institute of Management and Research without CAT scores because the college accepts several entrance examinations for admissions to MBA courses, such as MAT/ CMAT/ MAH-CET/ XAT/ ATMA. Therefore, candidates can get admissions to MBA cours

...Read more

R

Rachit Kumar

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 5 days ago

Candidates seeking MBA admission at Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (RCSS) are required to submit the scores obtained in one of the accepted entrance exams. The college accepts the exam scores of three Management entrance exams. These exams are CAT, CMAT and KMAT. Candidates with a valid score i

...Read more

H

Himanshi Pandey

Contributor-Level 10

Answered 6 days ago

Candidates can select up to 21 IIMs in CAT application form for PI shortlist and admission. There is no cap on selecting campuses. Candidates must however, make an informed choice but first checking CAT cut off, course specialisation and fee of all IIMs and basis that select campuses in the CAT appl

...Read more

A

Anyam Kalra

Beginner-Level 5

Answered 6 days ago

Unlike other MBA entrance exams such as SNAP and XAT, there is no extra charge for selecting IIMs in the CAT application form. For overall CAT application form you will need to pay only INR 2500 (INR 1250 for SC/ST/PWD candidates). You can select as many IIM campuses, and courses as you want to.

M

Manisha Singh

Beginner-Level 5

Answered 6 days ago

Once the CAT application form has been submitted, an acknowledgement slip will be generated and mailed to the registered email ID. If the acknowledgement is not received within 24 hours of CAT application form submission, candidates must check the status of application by calling at the CAT helpdesk

...Read more

E

Esha Singh

Beginner-Level 5