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CAT 2021 Preparation Tips: Past year CAT toppers share their hacks to ace the exam

D2C Admin

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CAT 2021 Preparation Tips: Past year CAT toppers share their hacks to ace the exam

0 min read

CAT is the gateway for MBA aspirants to get into the top IIMs and other B-schools of our country. Every year, around 2 lakh candidates appear for CAT and many of them prepare diligently by solving booklets and taking mock tests. As CAT 2021 is just a month away, candidates would be keen on improving their mock test scores as well as looking for some strategy tips.

Here, we bring you some of the important tips from previous year’s toppers to help you find your best strategy for CAT 2021.

Also Read: 8 Best Books For CAT Preparation: Know How Can You Ace CAT 2021

1. Shivam Chandak- IIT Madras, 99.98 percentile, CAT 2020

Shivam started his preparation for CAT 2020 in August 2019. He practised for an hour daily till October 2019. But, then there was a hiatus, a long one indeed. After the lockdown was announced, he again started devoting time to CAT preparation. He devoted three hours daily with small breaks in between examinations, final-year project and placement preparation.

“To streamline my preparations well, I took the complete package of TIME, mock test series of IMS, and used Unacademy from August 2020, to be precise. All three resources helped me a lot. I used TIME and IMS for practice (taking all India mocks and sectional tests) while Unacademy lectures helped me in improving my VARC section, as I was really weak in it,” Shivam said. For the entire interview, click here.

2. Shivam Kumar- BITS Pilani, 99.95 percentile, CAT 2020

Shivam Kumar invested 5-6 months for CAT 2020 preparation. He is an alumnus of BITS Pilani and a working professional. When he started his preparation, VARC was his Achilles heel. Before prepping for CAT, he was not into reading, so that made VARC quite difficult for him. To tackle the VARC beast, he started reading a variety of topics from a variety of sources. He used to check the explanation of answers to the VARC mock test questions to get aligned with the thinking process to arrive at the correct answer. He managed his time well by devoting his maximum time to his relatively weaker areas: VARC and DILR.

He said, “In mocks or in the actual paper, you need to respect the tough question keeping your ego aside. I made sure to solve all the easy questions first before moving to the tough ones because 60-70% of the paper is easy to moderate. You need to do those first!” For his entire story, click here.

3. Nitish P Nair, 99.67 percentile, CAT 2019 | IIM Bangalore 2022

Nitish found only 3 months to prepare for CAT 2019 as he was working for the Indian Railways as a maintenance engineer. His work required a lot of time commitment, hence it was difficult for him to manage CAT prep and work. He enrolled only for 20 TIME mocks. But, analyzed them thoroughly so that he could take care of the mistakes that he made. Additionally, he saw some free videos by cracku for getting more clarity in quantitative ability.

“So all in all, TIME mocks and Cracku online free videos by Ms Sayali Kale were my only resources. I would endorse both of these resources to future candidates as they were very helpful.TIME mocks did a great job in modelling DILR and QA sections in a near to perfect fashion while doing a good job in the VARC section. Cracku videos on geometry and the total quant summary videos were very helpful in brushing up concepts and also for revision,” he added. For the entire interview, click here.

4. Avdhoot Waghmore- 99.44, CAT 2019 | IIM Ahmedabad 2022

Avdhoot prepared for CAT 2019 in just two months. He was managing his CAT prep along with the job of a management consultant at PwC. So, despite having less time at his disposal, he managed his time well. There were three key aspects of his preparation strategy: prioritization in the study, maximum online test practice, and dedicating at least 5-6 hrs per day for CAT preparation(exclusive of his job time).

“Once I understood these things, I just brushed my strengths and worked on my weaknesses extensively. I also focused on solving one mock every day (if it’s office day) and two mocks every day (if it’s a holiday). I also focused on doing a quick analysis in the second month of preparation. So, this is my secret of getting into IIM Ahmedabad.”, he said. For the entire interview, click here.

Also Read: Is it possible to crack CAT without coaching?

5. Mohit Verma- 98.85 percentile, CAT 2019 | SJMSOM, IIT Bombay

The best thing about Mohit’s preparation strategy was he did not even refer to any of the coaching material. He relied on previous year CAT papers and test series by IMS and Cracku.

Sufficient practice of those papers coupled with proper time management as per his strengths helped him cross the 98+ percentile mark. He was good at VARC and QA, so it did not require him much effort. For QA, he focused on the approach rather than memorizing the formulae. For VARC, he used to solve at least 8-10 RCs along with sectional tests daily. For DILR, he believes recent CAT papers are the best source for candidates, and they should be well-versed with those sets.

“The last 1½ months were completely dedicated to full-length mocks. I made it a habit to give at least 4-5 mocks per week. To properly prepare for CAT, it is equally important to do a thorough analysis of these mocks to refine your preparation and realize your strengths and weaknesses. From here on, I focused on the topics which troubled me during the mock tests. This helped me to constantly improve my mock scores rather than hitting a plateau,” Mohit said. For the entire interview, click here.

6. Apeksha Gupta - 97.7 percentile, CAT 2019 | IIM Lucknow 2022

Apeksha had only 120 days to prepare for CAT 2019. She had a busy schedule and her preparation timings were dependent on the office meetings schedule. Apeksha believes in the power of self-study and suggests the same to all the CAT aspirants. Given the time constraint, she followed a particular strategy given below:

She watched QA concept videos for concept clarity while commuting to and from the office.
She solved some questions on those concepts during the night hours.
She Tried reading newspaper articles during office hours.
She Solved 2 RCs daily with a study group on Facebook (with serious aspirants).
She gave mock tests on weekends.

For the entire interview, click here.

Candidates should take note of these strategies by the toppers. But, they should understand that everyone is unique and has different time constraints, so it’s imperative to balance your studies/work and CAT preparation as per your sectional strengths. Also, it’s equally important to not get demotivated by low mock scores as your CAT performance depends on staying calm on the D-day. Finally, have faith in yourself and you’ll see the power of self-confidence unveiled in the form of your CAT results!