Palash is a fresher with B.Tech in Computer Science from SRM University, Chennai. He scored 99.51 percentile in CAT 2018 and converted call to MDI Gurgaon.
Palash belongs to Surat in Gujarat. His father is a Chartered Accountant and mother is a teacher in secondary school.
Exam:
Q. What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT?
A. I had opted for a number of online platforms for self-preparation. I had started my preparation in a very unconventional method, I attempted a few mock tests. But, this approach gave me the current standing in all the sections. I realized that I needed to first revise all the concepts, fuzzy since the school days and then dramatically increase my speed of solving questions by practicing, a lot. So, I spent the months of July and August learning and memorizing all the key concepts and types of questions. Then, the last three months, I practiced almost 8-10 hours daily, spread equally throughout the sections and gave a mock test every Sunday and analysed it the next day. This analysis formed the practice plan for the next week, and I continued this rhythm till the D-day.
Q. Please share your preparation strategy for VARC Section in CAT
A. Being an avid reader, the RCs didn’t trouble me as much. I faced the major difficulty in the parajumbles. I couldn’t get a single PJs right in the first few attempts, but slowly I got the hang of it. The key is to practice, a lot. I also read business newspapers and analysed the structure of the articles to form summaries. This helps in both RCs and PJs.
Q. How did you prepare for Quantitative Ability (QA) in CAT?
A. No shortcut here. I just practiced a lot of questions from the book on QA by Sarvesh Verma. I mastered the topics, one by one, and revisited topics occasionally to be in touch. I also had a list of 3-4 topics which I was not particularly good at, so I spent more time and effort on them. It is advisable to keep in mind the weightage of each topic and then proceed with the preparation.
Q. What was your preparation strategy for DILR Section?
A. The trickiest and unpredictable section of the exam. But, I didn’t particularly have extra trouble here. I practiced from Question Bank from Cracku and joined the Learnquest classes as well for better techniques to solve these questions in minimal time.
Q. Was there any particular section/area that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge?
A. I was weak in QA in the beginning of my preparation. To overcome that I set practice goals of about 50 questions a day from QA to improve my accuracy and efficiency. I attempted topic wise tests to identify my weak seat of topics and revised their concepts to increase my accuracy in them too.
Q. What role did Mocks play in your success? How many mocks did you attempt before the exam?
A. Mock tests have played the greatest part in my success in CAT’17. I had attempted about 30-40 full length mock tests and 50 sectional tests before the D-day, which helped me identify the weak areas and created a superb practice and strategy for when I actually attempted the exam.
Q. Did you self-prepare or attend a coaching centre and why?
A. Given my pre-existing hectic schedule in the 6th semester of my engineering, I decided to prepare for CAT 2017 without attending any regular coaching classroom program. Instead I opted for a number of online platforms for self-preparation.
