Soham Katkar, a Computer Engineer and drama aficionado from Mumbai’s K.J. Somaya College of Engineering, received a perfect score on the CAT 2021. He is also the author of Ajinkya Bharat, a Kindle e-book. Soham Katkar took the CAT test in 2020 and again in 2021, getting a perfect score of 100 per cent in CAT 2021. Read about his journey towards this milestone and what advice he has for 2022 CAT Aspirants –
Excerpts from the Interview:
Ques 1. Congratulations on this milestone. What were your sectional marks in CAT 2021?
VARC 47.73, DILR 53.06, and Quants 58.35 are my scaled scores across the subjects, making a total of 159.13. The Percentile was – VARC 99.33, DILR 100, Quants 99.99, and Overall 100.
Ques 2. Tell us something about yourself and your interests?
I am a Mumbai-based computer engineer. I enjoy playing instruments, particularly the flute. Cricket is something I enjoy watching. I also write and have a book called ‘Ajinkya Bharat,’ available as an eBook on Kindle. My college theatre team, Rhapsody KJSCE, my college theatrical team also featured me.
Ques 3. What was your preparation strategy for the examination? How many months did you put in for scoring this percentile?
I previously gave CAT in 2020, and this was my second attempt. I prepared for about two to three months in the previous attempt, and for the 2021 CAT examination, I prepared for 2 weeks. My preparation entirely consisted of solving mock papers and analysing them in-depth. I had a good hold over quants and LRDI since I have prepared for JEE, but to strengthen my Verbal Ability, analysing mocks was a great help.
Ques 4. Do you think that joining a coaching institute is necessary for CAT preparation? Were you affiliated with any?
Personally, I don’t feel that coaching is necessary for CAT preparation since the test component covers all of the concepts learned up to the high school level and is more focused on their application. But I got a lot of support from the TIME and IMS mock exam series, which was my whole preparation. The most crucial part, in my view, is to grasp the test structure since it is not necessary to answer all questions fast but rather to answer all questions correctly.
Ques 5. What is your advice for CAT 2022 Aspirants?
My advice to CAT 2022 candidates is to trust themselves and not be concerned about the test. I feel it’s more about learning management and the thrill of the attempt rather than the pressure. Moreover, throughout the test, the emphasis should be on correctness rather than solving the complete paper. It all comes down to how you choose, manage, and attempt the paper, not how many questions you attempt.
Overall, we can conclude that it all comes down to strategy and how a student tackles the stress and looks at the paper, which is more towards the ability and desire to learn something new rather than as a weight or tension about scoring.
You’ll get through this road if you believe in yourself and seek to improve your weak points.
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