This 22 Year Old IIT Bombay Lad Scores 99.99 Percentile in CAT 2021 in First Attempt

Touted as one of the toughest entrance exams not only in the country but in the world, Common Admission Test (CAT) can intimidate most of the aspirants. But, Yash Mandana, a 22 year old boy from IIT Bombay, cleared CAT 2021 with 99.99 percentile in his very first attempt!

Who is Yash Dinesh Mandhana?

Hailing from Pune, Yash Dinesh Mandhana is a student from IIT Bombay, where he is pursuing his Mechanical Engineering. He scored 99.99 percentile and his sectional scores were 99.96 in the VARC section, 99.37 in the DILR section, and 99.97 in the Quantitative Analysis section.

Yash is a single child. His father is an engineer working with Thermax while his mother is a homemaker. He likes reading, trekking, and anything related to sports. He loves exercising and watching Formula One races. He also stressed the importance of giving time to his other interests, “First, don’t leave your hobby or spend your time. It’s the only way to refresh your mind. Otherwise, at some point you’ll be mentally tired and your performance will suffer in all quarters.”

On being asked about how he joined any coaching center for the exam, he answered, “He started preparing for the CAT 2021 exams by the end of July 2021. I took correspondence classes with TIME and Career Launcher. I have been appearing for the Olympiad Exams since Class 3 which helped me with the overall CAT approach. Although many find the QA section a little tough, since I am from an engineering background it kind of helped me in taking the exams. So personally I did not need to be a part of coaching full time. But for someone who comes from a different background, may require coaching classes to prepare for the CAT Exams.”

Yash’s Preparation Strategy

Yash went on to share his CAT preparation strategy. “On average, I gave 2 mock tests a week for close to 16 weeks which means that I have roughly given about 35 mock tests. As far as the role of mock tests is considered, I used mock tests as a way to prepare and analyze them which helped me in cracking the CAT Exams.”

He further added, “Some days I completely gave my two hours to solve the mock test, other days I divided the time. For one hour I would solve the paper and for the rest, I would analyze my mock tests.” He added, “After solving any mock test, I would not just leave it and go to another one. I used to make sure to analyze my paper to see where I have made mistakes. I would categorize those mistakes like if they are silly mistakes, or calculation errors or bound to happen then I would work on them.”

He also gave some useful insight on how to prepare for different sections, “Since there are three sections I prepared for the exams section-wise. For the VARC section, as the major part is reading paragraphs and answering the given questions I started reading a lot and have been an ardent reader for the past few years. This has helped me improve my reading skill which in turn helped in the Reading Comprehension section. Those who do not have the right skills for the VARC section can start by reading newspaper articles, editorials, books, etc to improve their reading skills. Also practicing helps in understanding and preparing for the section better.”

“For the DILR section, I solved sectional tests and mock tests since this section is totally based on practicing. As you keep practicing over time you get an idea of how to approach the section better and increase their scores accordingly.”

“For the QA section, there are close to 10-15 subtopics. I went through the theory and practiced the basic questions. One can gradually start increasing the difficulty level of the questions and keep solving sectional tests and mock tests.”

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What after clearing CAT?

Yash said he is planning to attend interviews for IIM Bangalore, Ahmedabad, and Kolkata. “I have not yet figured it out yet. I am currently in contact with a few seniors at IIM for a perspective. My key strategy now is to keep myself updated with all the latest topics, tailor my resume as per the IIMs, go through the Resume and work on it along with general questions about myself and what the current situation is in the country.”

On being asked about his dream career, he said, “I am not very sure but either I would take up a role in Finance or a General Management or Strategy role in any FMCG company.”

He signed off by giving one final suggestion to future CAT aspirants, “Those who are trying to offer CAT must be consistent and patient. And if you get a bad score on some of your mock exams, take it with just a little salt and never leave the practice.”