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CAT 2021 topper interview: “Quality over Quantity should be your aim” says Sareen Shah- 99.35 Percentiler
Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
Admit Card - 5 Nov '25 - 30 Nov '25
Read about CAT 2021 topper interview Sareen Shah in his latest interview with Shiksha. Know all about his preparation and exam day strategy.
Sareen Shah, a Graduate from MIT College of Engineering, Pune has bagged 99.35 percentile in CAT 2021. Sareen Shah in his exclusive interview with Shiksha shares his CAT exam day experience, section-wise strategy and preparation tips for the future aspirants. CAT 2021 topper Sareen believed in himself and began his preparation for CAT exam 2 months prior to the exam. With his CAT score, Sareen is willing to take admission to FMS, IIM K/L/I. Read the complete interview below.
CAT 2021 score
Overall: 103.03 marks (99.35)
Sectional: VARC - 39.43 (97.6), DILR - 38.07 (99.72), QA - 25.54 (95.96)
Q: Congratulations! Are you satisfied with your CAT result? How much scores were you expecting?
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A: I am happy with the score given my meagre preparation. I could have reached 99.5+ easily if I would have prepared well.
Q: Was this your first CAT attempt?
A: Yes this was my first attempt
Q: When did you start preparing for CAT exam? What was your overall prep strategy?
Q: What is sectional cutoff in CAT exam?
Q: What is the CAT cut off for IIM Lucknow?
A:
The CAT cut offs for IIM Lucknow is usually around 97-99 percentile. The two courses - PGP Agri-Business Management (ABM) and PGP Sustainable Management (some) are extremely popular among MBA aspirants who wish to make a career in these areas. The institute also offers PGP programme. The qualifying CAT cut off for IIM Lucknow's Written Ability test (What) and Personal Interview PI is 90 percentile for General category students, whereas for SC candidates, it is 70 percentile. For ST and PwD candidates, it is 60 percentile. Given below are the sectional and overall qualifying CAT cut offs for IIM Lucknow PGP course. General category: 85 VARC 85 DILR 85 Quantitative Aptitude 90 (Overall)
NC-OBC category: 77 VARC 77 DILR 77 Quantitative Aptitude 82 (Overall)
EWS category: 77 VARC 77 DILR 77 Quantitative Aptitude 82 (Overall)
SC category: 55 VARC 55 DILR 55 Quantitative Aptitude 70 (Overall)
ST category: 50 VARC 50 DILR 50 Quantitative Aptitude 60 (Overall)
PwD category: 50 VARC 50 DILR 50 Quantitative Aptitude 60 (Overall)
Click here for detailed IIM Lucknow admission and selection criteria: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/articles/iim-lucknow-shortlist-admission-criteria-blogId-18509.
Q: Can an average student get into an IIM?
A:
The answer to this question of whether an average student can get into IIM can be both yes and no depending on the definition of an average student.
- Based on Academics (Class 10/ Class 12/ Graduation): While a student with average scores in Class 10, Class 12 and graduation with a good CAT score certainly has good chances of getting a call from IIM-A, chances are less for someone with an average CAT score.
- Based on student category (General or Reserved): While it is tough for a General category average student to grab a seat at IIM due to high score requirements, a reserved category student can get admission being at average scores as well.
- Based on past work experience, diversity and other factors: Gender and academic diversity is also a factor on which students are shortlisted at IIM. IIMs judge the past academic category based on the degree obtained by the students before MBA and then a weightage is allotted based on that. For Engineers, the percentage for scoring the highest marks is higher as compared with other streams
- Performance in selection rounds: Once you make it to the final selection rounds, i.e., AWT/PI process, it can be considered a fresh start. At this stage, students can forget their past average-ness but definitely require good grasp over the past subjects as academics-related questions are asked in the interview.
Based on the above factors, it can be considered that while getting into top Management institutes, such as IIM is extremely tough, the past performance, CAT performance, student category and a lot of factors can be the reasons for a student to receive that final call.
A: I was studying for an hour a day for last 2 months and took a week off for the last week before CAT
Q: Please share with us your section-wise strategy.
A: I knew that Quant and DILR was my strong point. Had to attempt the most there. VARC was unpredictable and hence focused majorly on RCs rather than other questions
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Q: Which books did you refer to for CAT preparation?
A: For my CAT preparation I referred to Arun Sharma books.
Q: Did you join any coaching institute? How does coaching institute help in CAT preparation?
A: No, I didn't join any coaching institute.
Q: How many mock tests did you attempt and how important is a mock test series?
A: I gave 3 full-length mock tests and 3-4 sectional mock tests
Q: What was your exam day strategy?
A: Just keep calm and focus on the current question on the screen. Don't let the issues in a specific section hamper your other 2 sections
Q: Any tips for future CAT aspirants?
A: Don't delay your prep. Start as early as possible. Solve as many questions as you can. Understand RCs and DILR sets properly. Quality over Quantity should be your aim.
Q: Which IIMs /Institutes are you targeting?
A: Considering my profile (General / Engineer / Male), I'm targeting FMS, IIM Koozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Indore
Q: Tell us something about your educational background, family, hobbies, profession.
A: I completed engineering from MIT Pune in the Computer Science domain. I have around 1.5 years of experience in Analytics (1 year at ZS, remaining at Mastercard). My hobbies include reading, playing cricket and gaming.
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About the Author
Shruti Garg
Assistant Manager- Editorial
Shruti is a graduate in Education and Literature with expertise in exam preparation, admissions, and higher education content. She creates reliable guides and resources to help students acheive their academic and ca Read Full Bio
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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