CAT 2021 Topper Interview: Know How Vishal Gowda Scored 99.92 Percentile
Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
Admit Card - 12 Nov '25
Shiksha got in touch with CAT 2021 topper, Vishal Gowda, who scored 99.92 percentile. Read the exclusive interview here and know CAT section-wise preparation strategy.
CAT 2021 score
Overall: 125.98 (99.92 percentile)
Sectional:
- VARC - 40.43 (97.93 percentile)
- DILR - 41.89 (99.89 percentile)
- QA - 43.66 (99.74 percentile)
Vishal Gowda, a CAT 2021 topper, was able to secure 99.92 percentile with a six-month preparation. He passed out from RV College of Engineering, Bangalore with a BE Computer Science degree in 2020. This was his second attempt at the CAT exam, in his first attempt, he secured 99.5 with a preparation span of fewer than two months. He finds solving CAT mock tests and past question papers is the key to acing the exam. Shiksha got in touch with Vishal Gowda for an interview; read below to know his preparation strategy and future aspirations.
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Q: Congratulations! Are you satisfied with your CAT result? How much score were you expecting?
A: Yes, I am very happy with my result. Before the exam, I was a bit tense as the number of questions was not known. Overall, I was confident about my QA and DILR sections but was a bit skeptical about VARC. After completing the paper, I was quite confident that I had done well. I was expecting a percentile in the range of 99.9 to 99.95 as predicted by various coaching institutes and websites.
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
No, one can't join IIM without CAT. Candidates seeking admission to the IIM Ahmedabad MBA course must appear for CAT and secure 90 percentile. The Institute considers Writing Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) rounds for final admission to IIM Ahmedabad along with CAT results. Students must meet both, the overall CAT cutoff percentile and the sectional cutoffs.The Institute does not release CAT cutoffs in the public domain and are exclusively accessible only via account login to candidates who have appeared for the exam.
Q: Was this your first CAT attempt?
A: This was my second attempt. I took CAT 2020 with a month of preparation to analyse my performance and was able to secure 99.5 percentile. I did not prepare seriously for CAT 2020 as my aim was to gain some work experience before joining an MBA course. I also got my first taste of B school interviews and was able to convert IIM Udaipur and a few other newer IIMs.
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Q: When did you start preparing for the CAT exam? What was your overall prep strategy?
A: I started to prepare for CAT around June. Initially, I spent an hour or two every day reading articles, solving quant questions, and working on DILR sets. I scheduled CAT mock tests did an in-depth analysis on the weekends. My overall preparation strategy was to solve as many mock tests and previous years' question papers as possible and analyze my mistakes from them. Once I knew my strengths and weaknesses, I went for the concepts that I was lacking.
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Q: Please share with us your section-wise strategy.
A: I followed a different approach for all sections as mentioned here:
VARC: Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension had always been my weaker section. I had to put in a lot of time and effort to improve my score in it. Reading articles on diverse topics from the same sources where the CAT RCs are taken and regular practice helped me understand the content quicker. Additionally, it gave me an idea of what to look out for while answering questions.
DILR: I was comfortable in taking questions from Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. One can prepare for DILR in multiple ways. Familiarity with the sets came with a lot of practice. The key was to identify the easiest sets to solve and leave the difficult ones. A few general pointers I used were to make use of the options to gather data, not to get stuck on a set if there is no progress in solving it, and most importantly, to keep my rough work for this section very clean in case I have to come back to it at a later point of time.
Quant: Besides DILR, I was quite comfortable in solving questions from Quantitative Aptitude. Coming from an engineering background it was a sweet spot for me. I did not put a lot of effort into this section, unlike VARC. The concepts and answers came naturally with practice and I was able to analyze mistakes and identify my weak points. I gave topic-wise and sectional tests to cover these weak points and finalize my preparation. My strategy was to solve the section in two rounds: the simple and familiar questions in the first round and the difficult ones in the second round.
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Q: Which books did you refer to for CAT preparation?
A: I did not refer to any books for my preparation. Any concepts, formulas, and questions that I didn't know could be learned through a quick google search from free online forums. I focused on the mocks and past year’s CAT question papers.
Also Read: Best Books to Prepare for CAT
Q: How many mock tests did you attempt and how important is a mock test series?
A: Mock tests are the single most important thing while preparing for CAT. Every person who scored well would have given a good number of mocks before taking the exam. Through CAT mock tests, you can compare your performance with all the other candidates who are preparing seriously. Taking quality mocks from good sources with around 10,000 candidates taking them will help you understand where you stand and gauge the scope for improvement. Analysing mocks is another very important task. Just giving a certain number of mocks does not help unless you spend sufficient time analyzing them to understand the weaknesses. I attempted around two mocks every weekend and around 50 in total.
Q: Did you join any coaching institute? How does the coaching institute help in CAT preparation?
A: I did not opt for any coaching institutes and decided to prepare on my own. Being a working professional, there were times when I was working continuously for 2 weeks, and other times when I was relatively free for an entire week. Hence, with such an uneven schedule, self-preparation was the best option.
Also Read:
| Articles for CAT Preparation |
|
|---|---|
| CAT preparation: Your love for reading can get you the desired result |
|
| CAT Preparation plan for data interpretation & logical reasoning |
|
Q: What was your exam day strategy?
A: In VARC, reading speed was an issue for me till the end, so I decided to leave an entire RC unattempted and focus on accuracy which worked out well. In DILR the plan was to attempt all the sets. I was able to complete three out of the four sets and solve the last one partially. In QA, I had planned to solve at least 20 questions overall in my two rounds; unfortunately, I was only able to manage 16. Overall, the most important thing was to believe in me and the effort I had put in till that day, not panic and do the best with what I had in hand.
Q: Any tips for future CAT aspirants?
A: Take mocks regularly, analyze them, identify what you are good and bad at. Improve your strengths and work on your weaknesses. Time management is key. Experiment with your attempt strategy in mocks and finalize it at least a month before CAT and stick to it. Take breaks in between your preparation if things are not going well and don't feel guilty about it. This is a controversial one, but I'll say it - compare your scores with others. CAT is a relatively graded exam. You can get ranked at the first position with a 50 per cent score on a tough day and ranked 1,000 with a 90 per cent score on an easier day. The key here is to derive motivation and have a mindset of 'If he/she can do it, so can I'. Try to connect with people who have similar aims and form a group to discuss all topics related to CAT. Mock tests scores are not your final result, learn from them but never take them to heart. Finally, remember that CAT is just another exam and not the end of the road. Don't lose touch with everything else for it and have a set of friends who are not preparing for CAT to talk to when you are feeling low.
Q: Which IIMs /Institutes are you targeting?
A: Due to my past academic record not being the best, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore are pretty much out of the picture or next to impossible to convert. I expect IIM Calcutta, FMS Delhi, and IIM Lucknow to be my best calls and would love to secure an admit from any one of them.
| What After CAT Result? | |
Q: Tell us something about your educational background, family, hobbies, profession.
A: I was born and bought up in Bangalore. I completed my Bachelor of Engineering from RV College of Engineering in 2020. Currently, I am working at Intel since January 2021 and got to experiment with some powerful pieces of technology as a part of my job. Both my parents are doctors and work in a hospital. They have supported me throughout the year and have been a huge part of my journey in achieving this milestone. In my free time, I like to play video games, chess and solve interesting puzzles. I also swim and exercise regularly to stay physically fit.
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