Prabhat Ranjan

Ranchi, Jan. 13: He is a CAT with eight lives, but unwilling to make the most of any.

Meet Prabhat Ranjan, the 30-year-old state topper of Common Admission Test (CAT) 2010 who has cracked the prestigious exam eighth time in a row since 2003, but does not wish to chase the much-cherished IIM-to-MNC dream. Reasons two: the exam is a means of honing his own aptitude and the best possible way to boost the confidence of his students.

Prabhat — who has chosen the life of a faculty member at AMS Career, an MBA coaching institute in Ranchi, to that of a corporate honcho — notched 100 percentile in quantitative aptitude, besides scoring 99.9 percentile in overall.

IIM-Ranchi has called him for GDPI (group discussion and personal interview). Compared to other IIMs, the Ranchi cradle has the highest cut-off of 99.66 per cent for management studies. But Prabhat isn’t looking forward to admission.

“Earlier, I didn’t want to take admission to any IIM because I did not want to leave Ranchi, but now the city has its own management cradle. However, I am still not eager to join because a plum job is not my goal. I want to do something more significant for the people of my state,” the CAT veteran told The Telegraph.

So what keeps him going through testing times? “A dual objective,” he said. “First, I hone my skills as a teacher of CAT aspirants. Second, my students get confidence seeing me take the test along with them.”

On a more philanthropic note, Prabhat added: “Everyone wants to crack CAT, get into some elite B-school and earn a fortune elsewhere in the country or abroad. Nobody wishes to stay back and guide youngsters. So, I have taken the onus on myself. I am happy with whatever I earn teaching my friends and students.”

This year’s CAT, held last month, was important after the switch to online exam format that took a toll on results nationwide in 2009. The state topper, however, called the format glitch insignificant. “The hue and cry is baseless. If you have knowledge and aptitude, you will score well,” he said.

What is his mantra for CAT aspirants? “Earlier, you had to answer 225 questions in two hours and 15 minutes. Now, it is 60 questions though the time is same. So, the ability to understand a question is the key to score well,” he said.