Shantanu a final year student of IIT Bombay says that on the night before the test he attempted the CAT 2006 paper and checked the PG forum archives to see how he had scored. He saw that he would have scored 99.9 percentile and went to sleep at around 11 30 PM which was early considering that the usual time to sleep at IIT Bombay is 2 AM. He had a good nightas sleep, got up at 6 30 AM and reached his CAT center about 40 minutes before the paper. aFor breakfast, I made it a point to only have a big bar of Dairy Milk chocolate as I thought that anything else would make me sleepy,a he quips.
It was quite difficult for Nishant who is a fourth year student at IIT Delhi to squeeze out time for us. Since three in the afternoon he was fielding questions from the media with some people asking him for five minutes, others for ten and some more who wanted him to sit with a laptop while answering questions. aIn the week leading up to CAT I read through some questions I had marked in mock tests which I had solved earlier. On the day before CAT, I solved some DI caselets. I think a person should definitely solve some questions before the actual CAT as this helps to get into the exam mode. I didn’t sleep well before the test and this quite normal for me as I never get sound sleep on the night before a competitive examination,a he explains. What did he have for breakfast on the day of CAT 2008? aWell, I stay in a hostel and so I didnat really have a choice.a What did he choose to wear as test attire? aI made it a point to look good as I was meeting some friends from school at the test center. And, I always want to look good.a
On a more serious note, what three aspects of their CAT preparation do these toppers think were crucial to them scoring 100 percentile? Shantanu had realized that his weakest area was English and before the test he had decided that he would devote disproportionate amount of time to English. Secondly, when he first saw the CAT 2008 paper he saw that questions were unequally distributed between English, Maths and DI and spent half of the paperas duration on the English section. The remaining time he spent equally on Maths and DI. Lastly, he slept very well before the paper and this he felt was very important. It was slightly different for Nishant. aIave been reading since childhood and this majorly helped in CAT preparation. The preparation that I underwent for IIT JEE ensured that my basics were in place. Further, I had a very good study group with which I prepared for CAT.a
As far as CAT coaching and balancing that with college work is concerned, Shantanu had enrolled for the TIME test series and would take his mock CATs very seriously. During the week he would be involved with college studies. Nishant had registered for classroom coaching and test series with Career Launcher and managed to strike a balance between CAT preparation and college studies.
On being asked whether he thought after CAT 2008 that he would be one of the toppers, Shantanu says, aUntil last week I had not checked anywhere to see how I had done in CAT 2008. On the basis of my attempts in CAT 2008 I knew that my score would be 180 plus or minus 30. The worst case scenario was a score of 140 and getting one or two IIM calls.a Why hadnat he checked his scores all this while? aI couldnat do so because of lack of time. I would check my scores after the mock CATs as they were preparation for CAT. On the basis of how the paper went for me I was sure that I would secure about 99 percentile,a he says simply. Nishant had checked his scores after CAT 2008 and coaching centersa predictions were in the range of his eventual score. He had been expecting a CAT percentile of about 99.9.
Nishant felt that a common mistake test takers made was to not keep the format of the paper in mind while they are attempting to solve it. He says, aI always focused on the fact that I had 150 minutes to solve the paper and that even if I attempted less number of questions it wouldnat really matter if I got them right. I was relying more on my exam temperament rather than knowledgea aItas very important for people to have an open mind while taking the CAT. A lot of test takers faced problems because they had not expected a higher number of questions in English as compared to Maths and DI,a adds Shantanu.
So, howas life now for these CAT 2008 toppers? Shantanuas already been brought down from cloud nine by college faculty who reminded him that he has a final semester project to submit. Nishant is not sure that if an IIM call were to be converted whether he would choose that over his job secured through campus placements. Theyare both obviously looking forward to the subsequent IIM GD-PIs.
Nishant signs off by saying, aI am probably one among ten-fifteen CAT 2008 toppers. They are probably many more people at IIT Delhi itself who could have scored 100 percentile if they had focused on CAT 2008. There are good people here with top JEE ranks who could have done as well as I did. I really do not think it to be an issue which deserves to be hyped in the way that it has been.”