Is CAT worth attempting again after a failed attempt?
CATKing’s Student Adarsh Nagar Aces CAT and shares his journey to 98.83 Percentile from 55 Percentile!
Getting a dream score in CAT is a dream of many and I was no different. I felt ecstatic after getting a good percentile and all the efforts and hard work felt worthwhile. It was a joyful environment around my family and friends.
Coming to my profile, I come from the small city of Nagda in MP. I completed my engineering in computer science in 2020. I have a total work experience of 20 months in the IT industry. Mine is a nuclear family, my dad works in the Aditya Birla Group Grasim Industries as a Senior Production Officer, my mother is a homemaker and my elder sister works in the IT industry. I like to spend my leisure time doing fitness, playing sports, and traveling.
This was my second CAT attempt. I scored a 55 %ile in CAT 2021. From 55 %ile to 98.83%ile, the journey was not easy at all. I am targeting to get into MDI Gurgaon and IIT Bombay – SJMSOM.
CATKing was super helpful in my journey. All the mentors ensured constant motivation and top-notch quality of education. I owe my success to the entire CATKing family. Thank you for everything, especially Sumit Sir who motivated me throughout my journey.
It is important to understand your weaknesses and work on them. I constantly worked hard on my weaknesses. Covering the syllabus comprehensively and attempting questions from LOD 1 to LOD 3 was a key part of my preparation strategy. Solving previous year’s papers helped me understand the pattern of examination questions. On top of it attempting was a major part of my strategy. Analyzing mocks and working on my weaker areas helped the most. I kept following my mentor’s advice and kept working hard.
QA was my strongest section and VARC was the weakest.
For QA, solved a lot of questions from LOD books, mocks, and previous year questions and attended all the sessions to have a concrete understanding in place. When it comes to DILR, I made sure to practice all types of sets. After practicing for a while, I understood my strong areas and planned my strategy accordingly. For VARC, I used to read AEON essays and solve previous year’s questions. Rahul sir’s sessions were very helpful. The dashboard was very comprehensive and sufficient to crack CAT. Thank you CATKing Family for everything.
Attempting and analyzing mocks is the most important part of preparation. It helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses. You can work accordingly and frame a strategy that works best for you. I attempted more than 50 mocks.
My D-Day strategy was to stay calm, be focused, and believe in myself. If you have worked hard and prepared well, it is going to pay off.
Talking about section-wise strategy,
VARC – Pick the easy RC first and try to replicate your mock strategy. Attempt the VA section at the end.
DILR – Pick the set you are comfortable with and try solving it within 10 min and then move on to the next set. If you’re stuck somewhere then move ahead and don’t waste much time. You can come back to it later on.
QA – Attempting the section with Sudhanshu sir’s round-robin technique. Solve easier questions first and then move to the medium and difficult questions.
My advice to all CAT Aspirants would be to stay consistent throughout your preparation. Keep working hard and I’m sure you’ll sail through. Believe in yourself. Trust the process. Start attempting mocks from June itself and remember nothing motivates better than success. Best of luck to all the CAT Aspirants out there! Believe in yourself and do well!
-Adarsh Nagar
CAT 2022 – 98.83 %ile
DILR – 90.87 %ile
VARC – 96.77 %ile
QA – 99.17 %ile