Know how Viraat Gupta prepared for CAT 2016 during his metro rides

Viraat Gupta

Viraat Gupta, a graduate from IIT Roorkee appeared for CAT 2016. His first attempt at CAT was in 2014 where he had scored 97 percentile. Not satisfied with his score, Viraat decided to put in immense hard work to crack the exam. However, being a working professional he did not have much time to study for the exam. Nevertheless, since he was determined to score well in the exam, he made utmost use of his metro rides while traveling from home to office and vice versa. This toil finally paid off in CAT 2016 where he scored 99.82%ile. He shared his success story with Shiksha.  

Q. Was this your first CAT attempt?
Answer: No, this was my second attempt. My first attempt was in 2014, during the final year of my Graduation. I scored 97.xx then. 

Q. How satisfied are you with your score?
Answer: My paper did not go as well as I would have liked it to. So my expectations were around 99 percentile. 99.82 was a pleasant surprise for me. 

Q. Tell us something about yourself.

Answer: I am born and brought up in Delhi. I graduated from IIT Roorkee in 2015 and was placed in a derivative trading firm, where I got the opportunity to do front end trading in the global markets. I shifted to a strategising role in a start up in August this year. I am currently working in the field of digital Marketing. 

Q. What area of specialization you intend you choose?
Answer: Having worked in Finance as well as Marketing, I have a slight inclination towards Marketing and would like to take it up as the specialisation during MBA. 

Q. Tell us about your preparation strategy.

Answer: I joined my current organization in August, it being a startup literally left no time for me to study during the weekdays. I started my preparation in early September and made sure that I was attempting mocks on every Saturday and Sunday till CAT. During weekdays I used to study in the metro, while going to and coming back from my workplace (1.5 hrs one way journey). I subscribed to an online course which operates on FB. That was quite handy as I could study on my phone and did not have to carry big books. 

Q. What is the minimum time frame needed to prepare for CAT, and when did you start off with your preparations?
Answer: I feel 6 months are optimum for CAT preparation if someone is starting from the scratch. For engineers, the quant part is already half done whereas verbal seems to be a nightmare. For non-engineers I guess it is the other way around. LRDI is a neutral section and it completely depends upon the structured thinking one possess, which can be enhanced by consistent practice only.
I got a bit late in starting my preparations. I started in September and was completely into it by the start of October. 

Q. What did you do to improve your weak areas?
Answer: My weakest section was Verbal, I used to be afraid of it. But one fine day I started reading the editorials and made it a daily habit. That improved my reading and comprehension skills to a great extent. In CAT it is a necessity that you are habitual of reading things out of your comfort zone, and the VIEWS section of MINT is perfect to practice for it. Analysis of Mocks helped me a lot in improving my Verbal score, I figured out my strengths n weaknesses and attempted the exam accordingly. 

Q. Is it important to join a coaching institute?

Answer:  Yes and No. For quant, I feel there is a need of guidance. There are various tricks and methods that can be used to solve problems in few seconds. These are generally taught in coaching institutes but students who prepare by themselves remain unaware of it. For LR DI and Verbal, I think it is all about practicing things as much as possible. 

Q. What’s your dream institute?
Answer: FMS. The only reason is I will have no financial liability and I can do anything I feel like after MBA. In IIM’s the fee kills the entrepreneurial instincts.  

Q. Tell us about your hobbies.
Answer: I love to choreograph and dance; I used to lead the dance crew of IIT Roorkee. I like photography but I still have to learn a lot to be really good at it. I am fond of playing flute as well. 

Q. Any tips for future CAT aspirants?
Answer: CAT is not an exam where you can feign smartness. Be completely honest with yourself while preparing for it. Accept your weaknesses and work hard to transform them into your strengths. Give lots of mocks and try to get a little better every time.

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