CAT Topper Tips: 99.81 percentiler tells how he cleared the exam in the first attempt

Mradul Verma

CAT is one of the biggest and toughest management entrance exams, and every year lakhs of aspirants put in all their hard work to secure a percentile that can get them into any of the top B-Schools. Like many other test-takers Mradul Verma too attempted the exam and was expecting around 97 percentile in the exam. However, once the result was announced, a score of 99.81 percentile left Mradul ecstatic. His sectional cut-offs are:

Verbal: 99.91

DI/LR: 97.48

Quants: 99.06 

A final year undergraduate in Computer Science & Engineering from JK Institute of Applied Physics & Technology, University of Allahabad, Mradul has also been a co-founder of two ‘failed’ startups, one in healthcare domain and other in IT/Electronics domain. He thinks he has ideas but for executing them and scaling the business he would need a set of tools which only a Management course can provide, and this is when he decided to attempt CAT and get into a renowned B-School. He believes his family is his strength and considers himself lucky to have their support in every venture. 

His hobbies include playing badminton, gymming, learning new programming languages or thinking about the products and services that can help humans in making their life better. 

Shiksha got in touch with Mradul to know what one should do to clear the exam in the first attempt. Here’s what he shared with us:

I felt euphoric. I was expecting a score around 97 percentile, but this 99.81 percentile was a surprise.

Yes, I attempted CAT for the first time.

I am willing to opt for Finance.

I focused more on mocks (both sectional and full-length) and their analysis, and my strategy varied as per my performance in the mock tests. For example, you might think that your Arithmetic is stronger and your Algebra is weaker, but you’re able to solve questions of Algebra not Arithmetic, then you should focus more on Arithmetic. Focus on the data and the results you’re getting, not on your beliefs. 

Section-wise:

VARC: I read whatever I could

DI/LR: I practiced sets with the time limit of 10 minutes

Quants: is all about getting the basics right

As a typical engineering student who only picked up books for academic purposes and less so in the age of Internet, English was the weakest area. I tried to read as much as possible. Nothing would help you more than being a well-read person whether it is CAT or anything in your life. 

Coaching is important in the sense that it keeps you in the loop. You have regular classes and they keep you on track.

My dream institute is IIM-Calcutta.

When only few months would be left for the D-day, there would be surge in your feelings about whether you can pull it off or not. Don’t think too much, do your job, practice as much as you can, analyse as many mocks you can. Believe in yourself, you can do it, you just have to manage it better than others.

CAT scores are used for admission to 20 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and various other top B-Schools. Are you eligible for the IIMs? To know more, click on the image beside.

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