CAT 2021 Topper Interview: Know How Rounak Das Made it to the 99 Percentilers Club
Common Admission Test 2026 ( CAT )
Registration - To be notified
Read about CAT 2021 topper Rounak Das in his latest interview with Shiksha. Know all about his preparation and exam day strategy.
Rounak Das, a software engineer of Kalyani Government Engineering Colleges, scored 99.56 percentile in CAT 2021 exam. He hails from Kolkata and likes playing football. He is a travel buff and also likes watching movies and going on treks. He believes that consistency is important for CAT preparation. Shiksha got to talking to Rounak and he shared his CAT 2021 success mantra. Read the article below to know more.
CAT 2021 overall percentile: 99.56
VARC percentile: 96.53
DILR percentile: 98.99
QA percentile: 99.31
Q: Congratulations! Are you satisfied with your CAT result? How much score were you expecting?
A: Thank you, I am quite satisfied apart from a few d-day blunders I made. In this paper, I was expecting a score of about 120.
Explore colleges based on CAT
Want better recommendations?
There is a 90% more chance of getting best college recommendations by sharing preferences.
- Chat with our counselor
- Get your personalised list of colleges & exams matching your preferences
Q: Was this your first CAT attempt?
A: Yes, this was my first CAT attempt.
Q: When did you start preparing for the CAT exam? What was your overall prep strategy?
A: I started my preparations in February 2021. I didn't follow any strict schedule but I used to do daily classes according to my time and practice in whatever time remained after my job. Since it's almost a one-year process, I used to take breaks from studying when I didn't feel like it.
Commonly asked questions
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
Qualifying CAT cut off percentiles of Iims for Written Ability Test (What) and Personal Interview PI are listed below. Candidates who MET the qualifying CAT cut off, were eligible for What-PI round. These qualifying CAT cut offs are for General Category. The cut offs for Reserved category students are lower:
- IIM Ahmedabad: 95 percentile
- IIM Bangalore: 85 percentile
- IIM Calcutta: 85 percentile
- IIM Lucknow: 90 percentile
- IIM Kozhikode: 85 percentile
- IIM Indore: 90 percentile
- IIM Udaipur: 93 percentile
- IIM Shillong: 75 percentile
- IIM Trichy: 93 percentile
- IIM Visakhapatnam: 80 percentile
- IIM Rohtak: 95 percentile
- 1IIM Nagpur: 85 percentile
- IIM Jammu: 93 percentile
- IIM Ranchi: 90 percentile
- IIM Sirmaur: 92 percentile
- IIM Bodhgaya: 93 percentile
- IIM Sambalpur: 93 percentile
- IIM Kashipur: 94 percentile
- IIM Raipur: 93 percentile
- IIM Amritsar: 90 percentile
For complete details of IIM selection and admission process read this article: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/iim-shortlist-selection-admission-criteria-blogId-18787.
Q: Please share with us your section-wise strategy.
A: For VARC, I started with the RCs, and then slowly built up expertise in Verbal Ability.
For DILR, I practiced different varieties of sets as you will rarely get anything common in the exam. The main aim should be to get an idea of how to attack different problems with the clues provided.
Explore more MBA exams with upcoming dates
15 Mar '26
12 Jan '26 - 31 Mar '26
5 Apr '26
31 Oct '25 - 12 Apr '26
1 Feb '26 - 15 Mar '26
12 Feb '26 - 16 Mar '26
5 Feb '26 - 17 Mar '26
22 Mar '26
16 Mar '26 - 10 Apr '26
For Quant, I cleared the basics first and tried not to leave out entire chapters. I gave extra time to chapters that took time to master. Focus on the quality of questions during preparations rather than quantity.
Q: Which books did you refer to for CAT preparation?
A: None. I bought Sarvesh Verma's Quantitative Aptitude book initially but hardly used it. I practiced from the materials provided by iQuanta and tried to do all the practice questions shared by them. I felt books have too many questions and being a working professional, this wouldn't have worked out for me. Instead, I practiced a variety of quality questions from the sectional mocks and other practice sessions set up by iQuanta
Commonly asked questions
CAT cutoffs are usually not announced with the CAT result. The CAT cutoffs are also not released to the public.
They are published after a few days of the result announcement when the IIMs and other colleges start their shortlisting process. The IIMs opens their shortlisting 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.
Q: Did you join any coaching institute? How does coaching institute help in CAT preparation?
A: I joined iQuanta. For me, it helped me to maintain discipline throughout the year and provided a well-defined structure to the preparation apart from clearing doubts.
Q: How many mock tests did you attempt and how important is a mock test series?
A: I attempted approximately 25-30 mock tests. Taking and analysing mock tests is very important as it helps to identify the areas where one requires to work upon more.
Also Read:
- 13 things to do to crack GDPI
- PI Preparation
- Top GD topics for MBA
- How to Crack GD-PI/WAT Rounds of Top B-schools
Q: What was your exam day strategy?
A: The only exam day strategy was that I tried to be as calm as possible on D-day and perform to the best of my ability.
Q: Any tips for future CAT aspirants?
A: Try to be consistent throughout the year and don't get burnt out during prep. It is better to study two to three hours every day rather than studying 9-10 hours a day on an irregular basis. Take breaks when you are not up to it.
Q: Which IIMs /Institutes are you targeting?
A: I am targeting IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow and IIM Indore along with FMS, MDI, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and IIT Kharagpur.
Read More:
- IIM shortlist process 2022 to begin soon; check details
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Chirag Gupta scored 100 percentile in CAT 2021
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Vinay Kotwal made it to the 99 percentilers club
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Vishal Gowda made it to the 99 percentilers club
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Vinayak Prabhu scored 99.82 percentile
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Chetan Bhatt scored 99.77 percentile
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Sagar Sengar scored 99.48 percentile
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Mohit Babu scored 99.85 percentile
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Mahrashi Nagori scored 99.68 percentile
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Aakash Chaudhary scored 99.68 percentile. Know how?
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Ved Vineet scored 99.4 percentile
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Mayank Kapur made it to the 99 percentileres club
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Palash Kashyap scored 99.34 percentile
- CAT 2021 topper interview: Know how Sareen Shah secured 99.35 percentile
News & Updates
Explore Other Exams
Jul '26 | XAT 2027 registration dates |
Sep '26 | XAT 2027 mock test |
9 Jan '26 | SNAP 2025 result announcement |
20 Dec '25 | SNAP 2025 session 3 |
Aug '26 | NMAT 2026 Registration Window |
Aug '26 | NMAT 2026 Scheduling Window |
17 Oct '24 - 5 Dec '24 | IIFT 2025 registration and app... |
8 Mar '26 | MAT Feb 2026 CBT |
5 Mar '26 | MAT Feb 2026 CBT admit card |
Jul '26 | IBSAT 2026 Registration |
27 Dec '26 - 28 Dec '26 | IBSAT 2026 Exam Date |
17 Feb '26 | CMAT 2026 result |
31 Jan '26 - 2 Feb '26 | CMAT 2026 exam answer key obje... |
7 Apr '26 - 8 Apr '26 | MAH MBA CET 2026 exam |
9 May '26 | MAH MBA CET 2026 exam 2 |
16 Mar '26 - 10 Apr '26 | TANCET registration window |
Apr '26 | Release of TANCET provisional ... |
Mar '25 | IRMASAT 2025 Final Result Anno... |
Feb '25 | IRMASAT Personal Interviews |
Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 17 hours ago
No, the application fee for Amrita CAT can only be paid online. There is no provision of offline payment.
R
Contributor-Level 6
Answered Yesterday
CAT exam conducted only once a year in the month of November. It is conducted in three shifts on a single day.
M
Contributor-Level 7
Answered Yesterday
CAT exam is conducted in computer based test mode. Candidates have to visit a designated test centre to give the exam on a computer system. They have to login their answers with the help of computer mouse.
Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
Maximum marks in CAT is 204. There are 68 questions each carrying 3 marks. VARC is of 72 marks and DILR and Quants are of 66 marks each.
P
Contributor-Level 7
Answered Yesterday
CAT exam is of 120 minutes. Each section is of 40 minutes. PwD candidates get extra time of 53 minutes and 20 seconds per section.
N
Contributor-Level 7
Answered Yesterday
Yes, CAT exam is MCQ type, meaning there are no subjective type questions wherein you have to write a lot. In CAT every question is to be answered in one word or option. However, all questions don't have MCQ options, some are Type In The Answer (TITA) questions.
J
Contributor-Level 7
Answered Yesterday
Yes, students can prepare for the KMAT exam along with the CAT exam. However, CAT is comparatively a difficult MBA exam. The difficulty level of KMAT is easy to moderate, but CAT retains high difficulty levels. Students can use CAT books for KMAT preparation
A
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 3 days ago
Yes, IBSAT syllabus is based on CAT syllabus. The IBSAT question paper covers similar topics as of CAT exam. However, IBSAT is comparatively an easier exam whereas, CAT exam has exhaustive syllabus and difficulty level is moderate to hard. IBSAT exam is conducted for a duration of duration of two ho
N
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 3 days ago
Common Admission Test (CAT) or ICFAI Business School Aptitude Test (IBSAT) serves different purpose. Among CAT or IBSAT exam, better option can be decided upon the preferred college.
If a candidate is seeking admission to top B-schools like IIMs, IITs, FMS, SPJIMR, then CAT is better option to appear
D
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 5 days ago
GIBS Business School Bangalore offers 8-10 week summer internships with 80+ companies across IT, finance, FMCG, consulting, and manufacturing, achieving near 100% placement.
Live Projects
Students undertake cross-functional live projects in marketing, sales, finance, HR, operations, and business devel
G
Contributor-Level 10
Saumya Jain is an English Literature graduate from the University of Delhi. She has over 8 years of editorial and content writing experience. At Shiksha.com, she has spent more than six years creating research, stud
Read Full Bio