This CAT 99.74%iler prepared for the exam in just 3 months

Pavan Priyatham

Cracking CAT is not a cakewalk, especially alongside a full-time job. Where numerous CAT aspirants put in years of hard work and practice, Pavan Priyatham prepared for the exam in just 3 months, that too alongside a full-time job. Not only did he prepare well for the exam, but scored 99.74 percentile in the exam with sectional scores being VA: 99.12, DI LR: 96.62, and Quant: 99.63. 

Having graduated from IIT (BHU), Varanasi, Pavan is now working as a Software Developer in an esteemed organisation. His hobbies include playing chess and badminton. 

Shiksha got in touch with Pavan to know his preparation strategy. Read his exclusive interview here:

I was totally surprised on seeing my result. I was expecting somewhere around 99.5 percentile, but I scored 99.74 – I am extremely happy with my score.

No, this was my second CAT attempt, but last year I gave CAT just because many of my friends were appearing for it. I had not prepared for it at all, and I had scored 96.21 percentile then.

I will be opting for Finance. I recently went to Chicago as a part of the Summer Scholarship where I got to know more about Finance, and this is when I started developing an interest in the same. My interest in the field grew gradually, and now I have made up my mind of opting for Finance.

I started my preparation in September and begun with the sectional preparations – this helped me gauge my strengths and weaknesses. Once I understood what my weaknesses were, I aimed at improving those. Next, I started attempted mocks and practiced as many mocks as I could. My focus was to improve my speed. Every day I used to practice 2 hours after office.

VARC was my weakest and DILR was my strongest area. Since I was not good in Verbal, I knew that I needed to put my efforts in improving the same. During mocks, I would generally miss out on at least 1 RC – I never had the time to even read that passage. I started reading a lot, and since I knew I would be opting for Finance, I read Economic Times frequently. Gradually, my reading speed improved. The irony is that eventually I scored better in VARC than in DILR in CAT. However, I feel that the length of the RCs in CAT was less, and it kind of worked in my favour.

I had joined a coaching institute when I was in college, but couldn’t continue with it due to my hectic schedule. I took the study material and thought of self-preparation. I think that if one knows the basics right, then joining a coaching is not necessary as they too focus on teaching you the basics. Though I believe that tips and tricks do play a major role and help in saving time in an examination like CAT, but I think enough of self-practice does the work.

Since I want to purse MBA in Finance, and I think IIM Calcutta is the best for the same, it would be my first preference. My second preference was IIM Bangalore, but I did not receive a call from there. I would also be happy to receive a call from IIM Indore.

I think that practice matters the most. CAT does not test once intelligence, rather it tests the hard work one puts into its preparation. You can clear the exam even if you put in 2-3 months of hard work, solve quality problems, and focus on speed and accuracy.

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