A percentile of 100 in CAT would perhaps top the wishlist of every youngster in the country. The fact that I have actually achieved it hasn?t really sunk in. I wouldn?t say it has been a dream come true for honestly, I didn?t even dream of scoring a 100. All I had aimed for was a decent score so that I could get into either IIM Ahmedabad or Bangalore. The score came as a pleasant surprise to me. And hopefully, this is going to be a turning point in my career.

I had always dreamt of making it to an IIM one day. So, when I got into the electronics stream of IIT Kharagpur, I looked at it as a step closer to IIM. But it?s not that I have been working very hard for it for a long time. In fact, I started preparing quite late, only around the middle of July last year. And it was far from methodical. I had my regular studies and semester exams to take care of. It was by taking the mock tests conducted by the coaching centres that I got off the blocks. I also availed of a correspondence course but I didn?t even subscribe to that. A friend of mine who was also preparing for the exam lent me the study material. And it turned out to be pretty useful. I was cursing myself for not having got hold of it earlier.

But the mock tests made the real difference. In fact, my preparation revolved around them. I took no less than 20 to 25 of them at test centres and almost as many at home. Believe me, there?s no better way to prepare. Mock tests get you into the test-taking mode very fast and expose your strengths and weaknesses. Once you know the areas you need to work on, half the job is done. For instance, time management is the key to CAT. Your chances hinge on how much time you allot to which section. You must get it right but there?s no set formula for this. It comes with practice. Also, mock tests let you experiment with your answering pattern that helps to increase your speed. If you take tests regularly and learn from your mistakes, you need not go for tuitions.

It helped that I was preparing for GRE at the same time. There?s a section on data analysis in GRE so it took care of my CAT preparation as well. Thankfully, data interpretation ? another important section in CAT? comes naturally to me which meant I didn?t have to work too hard on that. Engineering students like me do have an edge in CAT since they are strong with numbers. There?s no doubt that it makes your task easy. You just need to revise a few questions and formulae and you are more or less ready.

Was it difficult juggling GRE and CAT? Remember, I also had my engineering classes. It sounds insurmountable but it was not such a tall order. Just a little clever distribution of your time is all you need to do. Attendance was not a big issue at IIT so I did bunk classes now and then. Fortunately, it didn?t affect my semester results.

Eventually, what you need to attain is a degree of consistency that, as I said, comes with practice. Selecting the right questions to answer is also crucial. And there?s no better way to learn the tricks than to actually answer question papers. It also prepares you to face any eventuality. This year, the CAT format was changed which came as a big surprise to many. But it didn?t throw me off guard for by the time I took CAT, I was ready for almost anything. But I would be lying if I said I was not nervous at all. I had the normal butterflies-in-the-tummy feeling that you get on every big occasion but didn?t feel any pressure. I guess that helped me to perform better.

Finally, did I expect to do so well? Not really. I expected a score of around 90. But it does feel great to have bettered my own expectation.

As told to Prithvijit Mitra