MBA after graduation is a rewarding career path that many aspire for. Makes sense to pursue one as you are then eligible to be a CEO of a top multinational right? But it is a long journey to that dream. So let us start off with the story of this one guy. For the sake of confidentiality, let us call him Sachin. Sachin was born in a middle class family in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. He was raised as a single child by his father, a government employee and his mother, a very hard working home-maker. Sachin was brilliant. He cracked IIT JEE and ended up being in IIT Bombay after 2 gruelling years in a coaching centre in Kota. IIT Bombay was a revelation. First thing he learnt was that he was not cut out for science and engineering. Second thing that happened was the exposure to a multitude of different fields and opportunities for him to explore. Third was the amazing set of friends and seniors he had. Sachin was a part of the organising committee of one of India’s top cultural fest for all his 4 years at IIT-B. But now came the time of placements and he had to make a choice. He did not want a tech role which 60% of the companies coming to the campus were offerring. He knew he was good in managing people and getting things done. His seniors advised him to get into a B-school. So he planned to give CAT that year.
It was March. CAT was in 7 months time in November. Sachin wondered, “What now?”. He started off with brushing up his basics from the CAT study material handed down from a senior of his. Sachin spent 2 months just going through the entire course and planned his practice for the next 5. He gave his first mock in June. 48%ile. Devasted, Sachin sought help. He connected with a teacher at his coaching class. He advised Sachin to take his first mock as a diagnostic tool to understand where he lacks the most and prepare accordingly. Sachin saw that his Verbal section was extremely poor. Single digit marks in the first mock. So he worked on his verbal that week. Next test 87%ile. Significant improvement. He knew this was the way forward. He gave mocks and analysed them. Resolved his weak areas and strengthened his strengths. In the next month, he was scoring 99+%ile in his mocks.
But now he faced another issue. He saw that his performance was getting stagnated. He thought to himself, “Is that good or bad?”. There was still scope for improvement. He just had to know what was going right and what was going wrong. He analysed his mocks again and again. His attempts were good. 90%. His accuracy wasn’t. 65%. The guy who had AIR 1 in the mocks had a similar amount of attempts(sometimes lesser) but his accuracy was above 90%. Sachin found his pain point. But how could he increase his accuracy? His teacher advised him to:
- Manage time properly. It would help him deal with the challenge of a time crunch.
- Strategise your paper solving pattern. e.g. easier first, then the tougher ones.
- Be aware. Read what is being asked and what your options are.
- Be focussed. Helps maximise efficiency.
Sachin worked on it. He decided a time limit for each question. He practiced in a timed environment. He developed different strategies for his paper and over the course of the next 6–7 mocks, he finalised upon one which worked well for him. And he learnt to condition himself before every test giving each of them as though he was giving the final exam. He consistently scored 99.9+%ile in his subsequent mocks. Boosted his morale especially since there was less than a month left for the CAT.
D-Day. CAT day. Sachin calmed his nerves with a breathing exercise he had learnt over Youtube the other day. The paper began. It seemed neither too tough nor too easy. He did not give into the temptation of solving every question. But he ended up solving the entire paper. He remained calm and let his months of preparation do the work for him. Sachin knew he had given his best. 6 weeks later, the results were announced. His sweaty palms ran across his keyboard as he punched in his roll number and pressed enter. 2 seconds later. Boom! 99.99%ile. Months of hard work, support from his teachers, his smart approach to preparation and a little bit of luck worked out well for him. And that is the story of Sachin, a 99.99%iler.
Key takeaways:
- Work hard. Practice is the key
- Work smart. Giving mocks is good but it’s more important to analyse them
- Manage your time and have a sound paper solving strategy
- Be focussed and be aware
- Don’t stress out. CAT is not the end of the world
After the results, he got calls from all the IIMs. He went ahead to convert his IIM Ahmedabad call but we will write about it post CAT. Till then, all the best and happy prepping!
