This 99.84%iler highlights the importance of SWOT analysis

Ranjan Chattopadhyay

Nayan Ranjan Chattopadhyay attempted CAT 2016 for the second time, this time with an aim to clear the exam with flying colors. His dedication and hard work paid off when he obtained an overall percentile of 99.84 in the exam. His sectional percentile was VA-99.13 DILR-97.05 QA-99.92. Talking about his preparation strategy, this is what he told Shiksha.

Q. Was this your first CAT attempt?

Answer: No

Q. How satisfied are you with your score?

Answer: I expected to do a little better, but given the unpredictable nature of CAT, I am very much satisfied. Also QA being my strongest suit, I expected to close in on the 100 percentile mark, so a little dissapointed.

Q. Tell us something about yourself.

Answer: I am from Jamshedpur. I have completed my B. Tech in Ocean Engineering and Naval Architecture from IIT Kharagpur. Besides solving puzzles, I dabble in music related activities like playing Guitar and Tabla.

Q. What area of specialization you intend you choose?

Answer: As I am interested in number crunching and have an inclination towards the financial aspects of the corporate world, I would like to specialise in finance.

Q. Tell us about your preparation strategy.

Answer: My preparation started in Jan 2015. I had set a target for myself of completing the basics by the end of April. I stuck to my plan. In May, I ended up solving all previous CAT papers and by June started giving mocks. I ended up taking atleast 60 mocks which is a little more than I had planned. The optimum number of mocks would depend on how well you analyse them.

Q. What is the minimum time frame needed to prepare for CAT, and when did you start off with your preparations?

Answer: I feel if you are done with basics or you're giving your second attempt 5 months would be suffient with 3 hours mock, 3 hour analysis on alternate days. For a fresher, 8 months would be a good enough time – 3 months to complete all basics and 5 months for attempting mocks.

Q. What did you do to improve your weak areas?

Answer: My weakest area was Verbal due to which last year I missed out on calls from the top B-Schools. I started from January and set aside an hour every day for VA preparation. I worked on solving 4 RC and 10 OMO/PJ/PC/FIB everyday within that time limit. It worked up to an extent, as my mock scores improved and I managed a decent percentile this year in VA.

Q. Is it important to join a coaching institute?

Answer: It would vary from person to person. For a person who is also working, an online coaching would be more beneficial rather than traditional classroom coaching. But for people whose basics are shaky should go for a regular classroom coaching.

Q. What’s your dream institute?

Answer: For me it would be IIM Calcutta as it's one of the best Institutes for offering Finance specialization.

Q. Tell us about your hobbies.

Answer: Anything related to music interests me, be it listening, playing or making up stuffs. Besides that I like solving online puzzles and like to explore new places.

Q. Any tips for future CAT aspirants?

Answer: I would like to advice people to beware of falling into trap of mugging formulas and shortcuts without working on your basics. Taking mocks is a very important step in the preparation but analysing the mock along with SWOT analysis will benefit you more than the quantity of mocks you take.

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