Common Admission Test comes under the basic eligibility criteria to sit for admission process of IIMs (Indian Institutes of Management). Although CAT aspirants with low academics have always this dilemma whether they would be able to convert a top B-school or not as their past academic pursuit is not that strong. But the fact is that even if you have low academics you can definitely convert a top MBA college if other aspects makes your profile strong. A perfect example for this is the CAT topper – Karan who converted FMS Delhi with less than 60% marks in his graduation. Karan scored an overall 99.56%ile, 99.71% in VARC, 94.66%ile in DILR and 98.66%ile in the QA section. So here is our CAT topper journey that highlights his strategy of scoring a 99.56 percentile in CAT and converting FMS with low academics. This is considered as the inspiring journey for those candidates who fear from low academics background.
With the proper dedication, consistency, time management and proper strategy, it is possible for the students to crack the toughest examination in the field of management. Let’s deep dive to discuss the inspiring journey of iQuanta’s CAT topper Karan Dutta.
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Who is CAT Topper – Karan Dutta (99.56%iler)?
Coming to the background of Karan then right from the school days he wanted to do something out of the box. He went for JEE and got admission at BITS, Pilani. But that was really not enough for him as he wanted to do more than just being an Engineer. As he always wanted to set his limits high and that’s what always motivated him to do bigger things in life. CAT topper Karan scored around 99.56%ile in the CAT exam (Common Admission Test) where 99.71%ile in VARC (Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension), 94.66%ile in DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning) and 98.66%ile in QA (Quantitative Ability) section.
CAT Topper’s Journey – 99.56%iler and FMS Converted
He started his preparation at the starting of the year from January itself right after his graduation has ended. Campus placement was not an option for him as he wanted to do something of his own. So, he contacted his network, discussed with them what he should do and what would be the best thing for him. That’s where a friend of him suggested and encouraged him to go for MBA.
Talking about the time, initially as he was working for 10-12 hours a day, sometime it would happen that he used to take things lightly. There were so many things that he had to take care of, so it was quite difficult for him in the beginning. But for an average person he would stay someone to start the preparation from the month of March or April and then take it forward through as structured strategy.
Later, he had started a business, there were lot of new things and the marketing was quite difficult to do as the pandemic had hit. So it was a challenge for him to take out some time for the preparation and maintain a proper schedule along with balanced lifestyle. Some days he was able to put only 20 minutes in his preparation and that was really difficult.
CAT Topper Preparation Strategy Across DILR, VARC & QA
Talking about the sections, he would talked about DILR (Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning), as he think that DILR is the breaking point for someone as the most tricky and toughest thing to do is to pick the right set of questions. Apart from that, there is no specific source for the preparation of DILR. So, it turns out to be a breaking point for most of the aspirants.
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Talking about the VARC section, he was always good in English because he used to read a lot. But initially in the mocks, he was not scoring well in VARC and by seeing that he got demotivated. Then, he addressed this issue to Akash sir and he told him that CAT is something which is not an easy exam and is also unpredictable. And on the other hand, mocks are a part of preparation and one should not get demotivated as the scores do get improved with practice and hard work. So, he just focused on doing a lot of practice and then at the end the CAT result was that he scored 99.71% in the VARC section.
How iQuanta Helped CAT Topper Karan in CAT Preparation?
There were some practice series in the iQuanta coaching, like the RC 16 and QA 250. So, he took that series for practice and stuck to it till the end and what he found was that there were 3 questions of QA in the CAT exam that were exactly the same as what he saw in the QA 250 series. So, these series help him a lot and are really good for practicing QA.
There was one thing about iQuanta that really helps and it is that the groups always remain active and whenever he would feel disturbed or distracted he used to get the notifications where people used to post questions and put their doubts. So, this would get him motivated at that particular time only to start solving that question or doubt and get back to studies. Apart from that, there were two people who motivated me a lot and that was Akash Sir and his mother. Akash sir helped him a lot in tackling VARC and his mother was the one who was always there to look after him and motivate him to give best.
iQuanta’s CAT Topper Karan’s Advice for Aspirants
Sometimes you need to have some competition alongside you which can motivate you. In iQuanta, he used to see that most of his fellow aspirants used to be active every time even at the late night and were always up to post questions and ask for suggestions and motivations. So, this moved him a lot and gave him a fire that he have to beat them all and that’s what helped him to score 99.5 plus percentile.
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For the interviews he would say that you have to sell yourself in a way that the interviewers would get impressed by you. You have to showcase your domain of work and your profile in the best way possible and have to keep the interview going and that’s the key to clear the The other advice that he would like to give to all the other aspirants is that CAT and MBA are not the only things that will set you in your life. There are many other things and for that you need to have a clear vision and a belief in yourself that no matter what happens, if you have set a target then you have to achieve it. If you want to do an MBA you should give your best on it and target your desired B-School and that is the only thing that is going to help you.
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