Indore based Prateek Bajpai, who is the first known topper of CAT 2015, did not attend any coaching class. In fact, in all the time that he was preparing for CAT, he was in Algeria, working for a real estate firm! “I took up all test series, and worked my way through them. I had to work, and study, back in Algeria, so the test series is what I took seriously to prepare for CAT 2015,” Prateek told PaGaLGuY.
In fact, Prateek returned to India only 10 days before the CAT date. “I returned to India on November 15, so that also did not give me much time to prepare either,” he added.
Prateek’s father, who works in the Indian railways, and his homemaker mother were speechless when they heard of their son’s feat earlier today. His younger sister is also proud and hopes to follow his footsteps some day.
Prateek owes a lot of his triumph to NIT Trichy, from where he graduated. “I met some lovely people there, and learnt a lot of things. Those years of my life were some of the best,” he says. After graduating, Prateek worked in a Chattisgarh-based steel plant. Then, he joined a real estate firm, which sent him to Algeria.
It was sometime in April 2015 that Prateek decided to earn himself a post-graduate degree. He explains, “After working, I felt that some more academic grounding would help me get further, so I thought of MBA. I started preparing in April itself but I soon found myself in Algeria.” Even in a foreign country, Prateek did not give up on his MBA dream. “I studied as much as I could. I did not give myself excuses since I used to work the whole day,” he stated.
How did Prateek manage to keep his focus when in Algeria? “I have been away from home for the last six-odd years. So I got used to doing things on my own. Hence, even studying for CAT was something I had to take seriously for myself.”
The CAT 2015 topper has also taken XAT, but right now, his mind is busy with GDPI prep. “Having come so far, I will need to put in my best for the next round of selections,” he says. Like so many others, Prateek’s dream is joining IIM Ahmedabad, but any of the top five IIMs will do. “Finally, it is what a person makes of his studying and college life. An institute can do only some part,” this topper believes.
Prateek who goes by the name never_settle has lived up to his acronym. While he cannot thank PaGaLGuY enough for helping him in his journey.
This is Prateek’s first attempt at CAT and he adds modestly that luck may have played a role in him scoring full marks since he was expecting only 99.9 percentile!