CAT IIM Toppers Success Strategies

CAT IIM Toppers Success Strategies: Preparation for the CAT exam mainly depends on the individual strategy and what suits the candidate. Every candidate is different in terms of skills and abilities, ranging from working professionals to students and quick learners to comparatively slow learners. So, what should be the approach? There are two ways to crack the CAT exam 2024 - join a coaching institute or self-study. Most CAT toppers in the last five years were self-taught with little guidance from mentors and plenty of CAT mock test series.

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Careers360 brings to you the CAT toppers preparation strategy to ace this MBA entrance exam with a high percentile. Know How to crack CAT by the toppers, which is the best way to prepare for the CAT exam in the last days. CAT 2024 is expected to be held on November 24.

CAT Preparation Strategy by Toppers

For those candidates who are planning to appear for CAT 2024, we have compiled a CAT Preparation Strategy with past years' toppers. Read below for their experiences and suggestions on how to prepare for CAT 2024.

IIM Kozhikode- Tanya Gupta

Tanya Gupta achieved a high percentile of 99.47 in CAT and secured admission to IIM Kozhikode. Tanya, who worked with JP Morgan in the Investment Banking Division prior to her admission into IIM, aims to become a financial market expert post her management course at IIM K. Tanya shares how she strategically prepared for the CAT exam by practising extensively for all the four sections of the IIM CAT paper.

CAT Topper Strategy: Start preparing for CAT five months in advance. The strategy is to first solidify the basics for all four sections and then deep-dive into each one of them. Go for an exhaustive numerical practice and individual topic tests for each section.

Sectional tips: For the Quantitative section, practice numerals as much as you can. Read newspaper editorials, and other online material regularly to help you with grammar and also your reading comprehension ability for the Verbal section.

Exam Day Formula: Divide time judiciously between your strengths and weaknesses. Build theoretical knowledge first, and then move on to extensive practice. Move to write CAT mock tests about 1.5-2 months before the exam, and devote at least 4-5 hours after each test to understanding your weaknesses. Practice more questions to deal with these points. On the day of the exam, remember to keep your calm, a positive frame of mind will always yield better results than a nervous one.

Know : How to Crack CAT: Strategies from Toppers

IIM Indore- Soumik Biswas

Soumik Biswas scored an admirable 99.94 percentile in IIM CAT and secured admission in one of the top B-schools of India- IIM Indore. The ex-IBM India employee shares the right strategy to be followed by the CAT aspirants, which can support them in scoring a high percentile.

Success Mantra: CAT does not require extensive study sessions as long as your basics are strong. The main concern is to develop speed which automatically comes if you are able to systemize your mock test. Around 140 minutes per week from your study and work schedule are enough to let individuals focus on IIM CAT preparation and achieve a great score.

Section Wise Strategy: For Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation stress 3 points- speed, technique, and choices. A positive approach and reading all the questions in the stipulated time are very important for answering the questions correctly.

In Verbal Ability and Logical Reasoning, students can score maximum marks. For this section, the focus should be on increasing reading and vocabulary capabilities.

Exam Day Tip: Time Management is the key. Plan your time perfectly for each section. Winning over time will let you win.

IIM Calcutta- Arijit Kumar Gorai

Arijit Kumar Gorai cracked IIM Calcutta PGDM admissions with his high CAT percentile of 99.87. He had worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers before joining his MBA programme at IIM Calcutta. A strong believer in practice and time management, Arijit shares his success mantra for IIM CAT.

Preparation Strategy: The primary focus should be on accuracy rather than maximizing the number of attempts. Analyzing the mock exams is a major help and should be meticulously done.

Sectional Tips: If your verbal section is weak, pay extra attention to topics like para-jumbles, and comprehensions. Try to increase your speed along with accuracy. Practice reading newspapers or magazines with the aim of learning new words.

Exam Day Formula: Time management is very important in the actual IIM CAT paper. The focus must be on accuracy. Be sure that you spend around 2 minutes on each problem. It is important to let go of problems if you are stuck in a question. Wasting time on one question is a huge disadvantage. It is important to go through all the questions since the last 5 questions of a section might have some really simple problems that are very scoring and should not be missed.

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IIM Udaipur- Sneha Mittal

An Engineering graduate, Sneha Mittal prepared for IIM CAT while working for Cognizant Technology. She cracked CAT with 97.91 percentile and got admission to IIM Udaipur. Sneha’s entrepreneurial ambitions motivated her to join an MBA programme.

Key Strategy: Regular study, practice, self-analysis, and adaptability to tricks are the main stakes for preparation. Traditional methods may seem to be easy but always use the tricks to solve the IIM CAT questions with speed and accuracy. And lastly, practice even before the exam day.

Sectional Plan: Quant & DI: The most important point to keep in mind is to stay calm and focused. While solving the QA & DI section, browse through the entire paper once. Attempt easier questions first, and do not waste a lot of time solving the difficult ones. This strategy helped me achieve a score of 98.23 percentile in the QA&DI section.

VA & LR: For the VA & LR section, solve the LR questions first. With the VA section, if you don’t know the answer, do not mark anything. This saves you from negative markings and lets you maintain your percentile.

Exam day Tips: IIM CAT is not a difficult exam. The right strategy paired with a lot of practice will guarantee you a good percentile in the CAT examination.

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IIM Rohtak- Gagandeep Singh Pannu

Gagandeep Singh Pannu achieved a high percentile of 99.97 in IIM CAT and secured admission to IIM Rohtak. An Engineer by education, Gagandeep aims to become a financial market expert post his management course at the IIM. He also talks about his Time Management strategy which led him to crack CAT with a high percentile despite his hectic work schedule.

Key Advice: One word: Practice. You must practice to your full capacity. At the end of the day, just practice what you have done and learned.

Sectional Strategy: Learn basic Quantitative concepts, self-preparation would suffice. The focus should be more on brushing concepts and later switching to higher-level questions.

VA and LR require speed to read and answer correctly. For this section, focus on increasing your reading abilities.

Exam Day Tip: On the day of the exam, first go through the entire questions and then attempt formula-based questions first. Keep a target of 15 Questions in 15 minutes.

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