Atish Naskar who bagged, 99.81 percentile in CAT 2022 shares his preparation strategy and important tips for aspirants. Check complete details here.
CAT exam was held on November 27.
Also Read:
Name and College: I Atish Naskar, am currently studying in my final year at the Government College of Engineering and Leather Technology.
CAT 2022 score-
Overall: 104.28 (99.81 percentile)
Sectional score
DILR: 31.96 (99.41 percentile)
VA: 35.42 (98.12 percentile)
QA: 36.89 (99.45 percentile)
Shiksha: Congratulations! Are you satisfied with your CAT result? How much score were you expecting?
Explore colleges based on CAT
Atish: To be honest I aimed for 99.9+ before the preparation but during the preparation as I am a GEM. I felt that I can not able to achieve that much but could reach near that. I felt that I could have done better in VARC especially but it’s okay overall I am satisfied.
Commonly asked questions
Yes, IIM Bangalore is one of the toughest business schools to get admission to, and every year, even CAT 99+ percentilers miss out on a call from the institute. IIM Bangalore uses multiple parameters, namely academic performance as well as candidates' scores in CAT/GMAT to select candidates for the PGP programme. IIMB adopts a two-phase selection process and accordingly, these selection criteria are applied in two phases. The first phase of the process is applied to all eligible candidates who appear for CAT to determine candidates to be called for a personal interview (PI). Candidates selected for the PI process will be additionally required to take a Writing Ability Test (WAT).
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. The institute sends call letter to aspirants with score equal or above qualifying cutoff for Analytical Writing Test (AWT) and Personal Interview (PI) rounds. 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.
Shiksha: Tell us something about your educational background, family, hobbies, profession.
Atish: I hail from a small-town Diamond Harbour which is 70km away from Kolkata. I completed my schooling at school in my town in state board school. I am currently studying in my final year of B.Tech in Leather Technology at the Government College of Engineering and Leather Technology. My hobbies are watching Football, and reading novels.
I am the only child of my parents. My Father works as a sales representative in an FMCG & my mother is a homemaker.
Shiksha: Was this your first CAT attempt?
Atish: Yes, this was my first CAT attempt.
Shiksha: When did you start preparing for CAT exam? What was your overall preparation strategy?
Atish: I started my CAT preparation back in January 2022. I set a daily target for all 3 sections that included daily 3-4 RCs daily 3-4 LRDI sets 20-30 QA questions or some QA concept understanding. The last 2-3 Months gave mocks and analyzed them properly.
Shiksha: Please share with us your section-wise strategy.
Atish: VARC: for RC I first build my reading habits by reading lots of online articles. Then solved daily 3-4 RCs & try to bring down 7-8 minutes for solving one RC. For VA practiced lots of questions from PYQs and Mocks.
LRDI: I did the past 20 years’ papers LRDI sets first then just try to solve different types of sets wherever I found them.
QA: In QA my strategy was very simple I always look for easy questions first then did the difficult ones. Always practice at least 20 questions from one topic.
Shiksha: Which books did you refer to for CAT preparation?
Atish: Quantum CAT by Sarvesh Verma.
Shiksha: Did you join any coaching institute? How does coaching institute help in CAT preparation?
Atish: Yes, I joined a Coaching Institute which is “iQuanta”. I think a coaching institute is very important for CAT preparation. In preparation for exams like CAT, it is very necessary to get cleared your doubt instantly & proper CAT-like questions. I found these two very effective from iQuanta coaching.
Shiksha: How many mock tests did you attempt and how important is a mock test series?
Atish: I attempted around 40 mock tests. For aptitude exams like CAT mock test plays a very important role. It gives you the opportunity to find your weaknesses and give chance to rectify those before the actual exam.
Shiksha: What was your exam day strategy?
Atish: Just stayed calm & relax. During the exam, I choose easier questions first and then went for the difficult questions.
Shiksha: Any tips for future CAT aspirants?
Atish: Study and not lose focus throughout the preparation. Hard work always pays off. All the best to every CAT aspirant.
Shiksha: Which IIMs /Institutes are you targeting?
Atish: IIM Calcutta
SP Jain Institute of Management and Research
Read More:
- CAT 2022 Topper Interview- Mohul Kishore- 99.08 percentiler
- CAT 2022 Topper Interview: "Consistency is the Key" Believes Vasu Reddy, 99.36%iler
- CAT 2022 Topper Interview: Apurba Das, 99.24 percentiler
- CAT 2022 Topper Interview- Tushar Sarkar- 99.80 Percentiler
- CAT College Predictor
- IIM Admission Criteria

News & Updates
Explore Other Exams
15 Jul '26 - 6 Dec '26 | XAT 2027 Registration |
Oct '26 | XAT 2027 Form Correction |
21 Aug '26 - 25 Nov '26 | SNAP 2026 Registration Process |
7 Dec '26 | SNAP 2026 admit card session 1... |
10 Oct '26 | NMAT 2026 Last Date for Regist... |
20 Aug '26 - 10 Oct '26 | NMAT 2026 Registration Window |
17 Oct '24 - 5 Dec '24 | IIFT 2025 registration and app... |
14 Dec '26 | MAT December 2026 PBT Registra... |
17 Dec '26 | MAT December 2026 PBT admit ca... |
18 Jun '26 - 1 Dec '26 | IBSAT 2026 Registration Test 1... |
24 Oct '26 | IBSAT 2026 Mock Test |
Student Forum
Answered 17 hours ago
Some frequent traps in CAT exam are:
- Confusing the counts of original and new members in replacement vs. inclusion problems.
- Weighting by values instead of quantities or frequencies in weighted average setups.
R
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 17 hours ago
Yes. Most CAT-level problems involving replacements, group additions, or combinations are designed to test logical shortcuts rather than heavy calculations.
N
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 17 hours ago
Direct questions on Averages typically range from 1 to 2 per slot in the CAT exam. However, the concept appears across several other topics, including Mixtures & Alligations, etc.
R
Contributor-Level 7
Answered Yesterday
Candidates can refer to How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma and DILR for CAT by Nishit K. Sinha.
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
Yes, Routes and Networks is an important topic for CAT DILR. It tests logical thinking, visualisation and the ability to analyse connections and pathways.
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered Yesterday
CAT does not have a fixed number of questions from Routes and Networks. The topic may appear as part of a DILR set, usually comprising 4-5 questions.
P
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 days ago
Many top scorers spend the first 8-10 minutes tackling independent VA questions, including Odd One Out and Para Summary, before settling into long RC passages.
Candidates preparing for CAT must devise a exam day plan based on how they perform during mocks.
V
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 2 days ago
In most of the recent CAT exam sessions, Odd One Out questions have appeared as TITA (Type In The Answer) questions with no negative marking.
L
Contributor-Level 7
Answered 2 days ago
Candidates can refer to How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma and DI & LR for CAT by Nishit K. Sinha.
P
Contributor-Level 10

Shruti Garg is a graduate in English and Education with over 7 years of experience in content writing/editing and education journalism. At Shiksha.com, Shruti covers UG and PG entrance exams like MBA entrance exams,
Read Full Bio