From 60.70 to 98.21 percentile: The secret to getting calls from IIMs -By Anubhav Singh from IIM Lucknow - Part 1

Meet Anubhav, a non-IITian/NITian/BITSian. In his first CAT attempt in 2017, he scored 60.70 overall percentile and 2.19 scaled score in DILR. this made him believe that he would never get a good B-School let alone an IIM. But here he is, with a convert in IIM Lucknow (and other top colleges) and writing an article for future CAT aspirants. Let’s dive in to see what he has to say about getting calls from IIMs.

So what is the secret that I missed out in his previous attempts?

What did it take to finally get the calls from IIMs and other top B-schools?

Let’s see. So, all it took was strategy, consistency, and preparation. And what about certain secrets?

The dialectics of strategy and consistency 

The strategy is something you need to develop. I can’t help you much in this part because everyone has their own style of writing mocks, and you need to figure out what is your style and what works for you. I will just say that prepare, give mocks, and slowly build your strategy for the D-day. Consistency will be driven by the level of your motivation and how badly you want to make it. 

Few things you should know

• When writing mock or actual CAT, do not ever try to compensate one section with the other. Don’t carry the burden of one section to another else it will ruin both.
• Whenever you feel that you are not doing well in any section, remind yourself that the same set of questions appeared on the screen of every other candidate, which means: IT IS DIFFICULT FOR EVERYONE.
• So, relax or best FORGET about the last section. Start fresh and try your best in the current section.
• Whatever is your strongest section, try to give it your best but don’t try to achieve some pre-determined targets, as the level of difficulty is something you cannot predict beforehand. 

Working on your weakness

“Our strength grows out of our weakness” -Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Our tendency is to avoid our weaknesses and keep focusing on strengths. This can be apt in certain situations, but definitely not here (you have to clear each section If you want to get calls from IIMs). So you need to give more time to your weakness. Figure out what is that makes you sweat in mocks, and practice that concept/questions on a daily basis. 

What I used to do was put 2/3 of my time on VARC (as it was my weaker section) and 1/3 of my time on other sections. You need to work a lot more on your weaker section to make it your stronger section. You need to challenge yourself to maintain the consistency, as it is very easy to give up when you are working on something you are not very good at. Keep yourself motivated, maintain a routine, discuss mocks with your mentors (if any) and relax, things will get better. Just don’t stop if you are not witnessing any sudden improvements, as it is rightly said that great things take time.

The secret is out

Here you go... the secret to succeed in any task is to believe in yourself. Everyone works hard but what is different from winners and losers is that winners have great faith in themselves (I hope the Kung Fu panda movie is relatable now. There is NO special ingredient, to make something special you just have to believe it’s special!). 

On days when I was preparing, many of my friends gave up even after scoring decently in mocks while I kept dreaming about IIMs even after getting negatives. The only difference was, I believed in myself, I didn't know how I am going to do it but I was certain about doing it.

I am leaving you with one of my favourite quotes, powerful enough to keep you motivated for days...

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”  -Robert F. Kennedy 

Good Luck!