Common Admission Test 2025 ( CAT )
Exam On - 30 Nov '25
Atish Naskar who bagged, 99.81 percentile in CAT 2022 shares his preparation strategy and important tips for aspirants. Check complete details here.
CAT 2022 Topper Interview
CAT 2022 Topper Interview: CAT 2022 result was declared two weeks earlier on December 21. CAT 2022 Topper Atish Naskar, scored 99.81 percentile and aims to make his way to IIMs and other top Non-IIMs institutes like SP Jain and MDI Gurgaon. He is an ardent novel reader and enjoys watching football. CAT 2022 topper, Atish Naskar emphasis on importance of coaching institutes and taking the mock tests. In his exclusive interview with Shiksha, Atish Naskar shares the preparation strategy and important tips for CAT aspirants. Read this complete article to know about CAT 2022 topper Atish Naskar.
CAT 2022 exam was held on November 27.
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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?
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.
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.
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.
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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.
The table given below mentions IIM Calcutta sectional and overall cutoff 2024 across all sections and categories:
| Category | Section - 1 (VARC) | Section – II (DILR) | Section – III (QA) | Overall Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPEN | ≥80 | ≥80 | ≥75 | ≥85 |
| EWS | ≥70 | ≥65 | ≥65 | ≥75 |
| NC-OBC | ≥70 | ≥65 | ≥65 | ≥75 |
| SC | ≥65 | ≥60 | ≥60 | ≥70 |
| ST | ≥55 | ≥55 | ≥55 | ≥65 |
| PwD | ≥45 | ≥45 | ≥45 | ≥55 |
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
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