Q&A session on "How I reached IIM - Indore?"

Q1. Congratulations! Palash for completing your graduation from IIM Indore. Tell us about your journey to IIM. Did you join any Coaching institute?

Thank you, Team TBL. I am glad that I got this opportunity to share my journey to IIM and hope, this will influence the youth of our country to some extent. So, when I started my preparation for CAT, I relied only on self-study unlike other aspirants who take up coaching classes. I dedicated about 10 months to this preparation.

Q2. Please, share with us your section wise strategy?

It’s very important to be clear about the course of the exam i.e. what does the syllabus of the exam cover. For me, I went to the seniors who had already given this examination to seek the guidance.

Basically CAT Exam syllabus consists of three sections: Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning, and Verbal Reasoning To begin with the preparation, one should target the section that is ‘most comfortable’ to them. For me, it was Aptitude. So, I gave 3 months of my preparation to study the Aptitude section only. If someone is weak with the basics, taking coaching can help them to some extent. But at the end of the day, CAT tests speed and aptitude more than knowledge which can only be developed by practicing a lot. In my opinion, the working professionals who are interested in management field should also give this exam in order to boost growth in their career but they must be very clear and confident about their interest in the respective domain because it’s a matter of 20-25 lakhs i.e. the fee of the top 6 IIMs. 

Q3. During Graduation, most of the students are worried and anxious about starting their preparation for CAT because it seems like they are always too late? What would you address to these students?

For the preparation of CAT, there is nothing like early or late. It totally depends upon individuals because for me 10 months were good enough but for other aspirants, 6 or 12 months would do better! One thing I would like to highlight here is that the CAT exam is not as complicated as it seems to be. The paper contains a total of 35 questions and one need to attempt 25-30 questions correctly within 1 hour. So, my strategy is to solve one question in 100 seconds i.e. one minute per question. The other strategy that helped me is that I used to focus on the higher level exams such as RBI exam and has started to solve the mock papers available on the internet during my graduation only. I liked solving these papers as it used to give me a sense of achievement even if I could solve one question! And somehow I knew that this would also help me in CAT as these papers are tougher than the CAT exams.

Q4. Most students as we see try very hard for this exam, take a drop year and still not get the results. What did you think worked for you in your preparation?

See, I focused on only one portion at a time and not everything. I prepared that potion in such a way that if there would be an exam on that potion tomorrow, i must understand and know everything regarding to that portion. Hence, I did each and every problem very seriously. Apart from that, I wasn't a geek all throughout. I also pursued my hobbies like writing, playing cricket because I didn’t want to take much pressure on me for the CAT exam. I never thought that the world would collapse if I didn’t clear it. Instead I built my mental strength while preparing for CAT by doing yoga and meditation. These activities used to rejuvenate me from my hard-core schedule that I was going through which constituted going to college and then giving 5-6 hours for preparation every day. And I would like to mention here that I never bothered in asking people, how and what books they are preparing from, because as per my opinion, that would just distract me. Instead I concentrated and focused on my way of preparation and was confident about it. I took a note of my mistakes in order to correct myself at that part and be better day by day. I would also like to advise young aspirants to make short-term goals instead of going for long term goals like two months.

Q5. Which books did you refer to?

The book I referred to was Arun Sharma. I identified that there are hardly 15-20 type of questions from previous 20 years CAT papers. They just vary the questions by inserting new data, new twists or changing the form of it. Hence, set three levels for yourself i.e. easy, medium and hard. Start practicing the hard part from the first day itself. Also, In order to clear the interview rounds and to be updated with all the current affairs, I used to read The Times of India for one and half hour on daily bass.. This reading habit has not only helped me in clearing CAT interviews but also in my placements.

Q6. It’s said that it is very important to manage Time with the number of questions you have to solve in a competitive exam Like CAT. How did you manage your time to solve so many questions?

In the CAT exam, we have a total of 30-35 questions to be done in an hour. Hence, I made a strategy to give only 45 minutes to me in order to solve the same amount of questions. While solving practice papers, I used to time myself and would get up after 45 minutes even if I knew I had 15 minutes extra. This way I actually trained myself to solve the paper in only 45 minutes so that I could spend the rest 15 minutes in revision and rechecking my paper. This technique helped me in coping up with the time instead of having a crisis at the last moment.

Q7. How did you manage your college and your preparation for CAT at the same time?

As I was in the final year, I had ample of free time so I utilized it in giving one mock test daily for 90 days. No matter what my preparation is, one hour for one mock test, one hour for formula and one hour of just reading the concepts. In the beginning, I used to get 20-30 percentiles but it never demotivated me because I believe that “I will be better with practice”. I have given 300 plus mock tests in 10 months because it makes you familiar with the pattern of the exam. As I mentioned, I was giving the final CAT paper. So, I gave mock tests regularly in two time slots i.e. Morning slot (9 am to 12pm) and after noon slot (2pm to 5pm). So psychologically it functions your brain to be active in those time slots so that you are mentally prepared with the time and pattern.

MANTRA OF CRACKING EXAM: “KEEP IT CLEAR, KEEP IT SIMPLE, BE YOU.”