CAT 2021 Topper Chetan Bhatt has scored a total of 99.77 marks, with each section having 98+ percentile. While sharing his success story, Chetan talks about using mock tests and practice papers as part of his preparation process. Chetan also mentions section-wise preparations, time management, self-study, and reading preparation books like Arun Sharma CAT Prep Books.

As part of the preparations, he used to read newspapers, non-fiction books and worked on many CAT Mock Tests. For the VARC section, Chetan found that reading a lot of books and newspapers is very helpful. For the DILR section, he practiced a lot of previous years’ question papers. For those attempting CAT 2022, he mentions skimming through CAT Paper Analysis of previous years will give them an idea of what to expect for the exam. Aspirants can also find preparation tips and strategies that may help them. Check Preparation Books for CAT 2022

Interview with Chetan Bhatt who Scored 99.77 Percentile in CAT 2021

Ques: What were your CAT overall and section-wise score in the exam?

Ans: My total score for CAT 2021 was 99.77.

• VARC - 99.2
• DILR - 99.07
• QA - 98.78

Ques: Do you have any work experience?

Ans: No

Ques: When and why did you think of appearing for CAT Exam?

Ans: Post my graduation from IIT Jammu in BTech Electrical in 2020, I wanted to keep my options open and not just limit myself to technical/core roles, so I thought an MBA from some of the oldest IIMs would be the right stepping stone for me to learn and explore more. I started my preparation around late April. Check IIMs Shortlisting Criteria

Ques: Did you join any CAT coaching institutes? If yes, which one? If not, why did you go for self-preparation?

Ans: Before starting CAT Preparations, I gave a couple of cold mocks to see where I stand. After attempting, I realized my basics were in place and all I needed was a lot of practice to gain speed and increase my attempts, so I found that self-study was the right way to go along. So I didn’t attend any CAT Coaching Institute or CAT Online Coaching

Ques: What was your preparation strategy for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension sections?

Ans: This was a dreadful section for me, which is ironic because I scored a major chunk of my score in it. During mock tests, I could never rely on my scores, because they used to fluctuate too much. In the last mock, I gave before the actual examination I ruined my VARC section, so I was very nervous regarding it on the actual d-day.

• Fortunately, I was able to keep calm and do well there. As part of CAT VARC Preparations, I just read a lot of books, on diverse topics.
• I learned to read critically and tried to get the author's perspective in any passage or article. I used to read newspapers, non-fiction books, and a couple of websites like aeon, psyche.

Ques: What was your preparation strategy for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning sections?

Ans:

• I used to find DILR the most fun section among the three. In the beginning, I was really slow and could barely attempt 2 sets completely.
• However, with practice, I was able to make tiny improvements on things like representing the data properly on the rough sheet to make the problem more structured and using options to eliminate it.
• Often in DI sets you can use factors or multiples as a way to get to the answer (remembering ratios and their corresponding percentage equivalent helps).
• As part of CAT DILR Preparations, I used a lot of mock tests and previous year’s papers as my primary source of practice. I also found games and tournaments questions very tricky so I practiced a lot on it, however, to my luck there were none of them in my slot.

Ques: What was your preparation strategy for the Quantitative Aptitude section?

Ans: Coming from a JEE background helped me a lot in this section. QA was a reliable section for me throughout the preparation phase, even though I couldn't score up to my expectations in the actual exam, so I was a bit disappointed about that.

• Whatever I said about DILR holds for this section too. Sometimes you'll have to unlearn the conventional methods that you learned in school and adopt some creative approach to arrive at the solution.
• This approach saved a lot of time and will help increase optimizing attempts.
• While it's a good thing to try to maximize your attempts, it shouldn't come at the cost of accuracy.
• As part of CAT QA Preparations, I read Arun Sharma books and solved sectional and full mock tests and previous year’s papers.

Ques: How was the last few days before CAT exam?

Ans: The last week was horrifying for me, I scored my all-time low mock score on the Sunday before the exam day, and on top of that, I fell sick.

• Luckily I had given enough mock tests to help me get a good score at the end.
• In general, I would say it's important to not take too much stress during the last few days.
• However, when you stress out, you can watch some shows/movies, read something light, or do whatever calms you down.
• If you have put in work, it will reflect in the scores at the end.

Ques: Which mock tests helped you crack CAT 2021?

Ans: I majorly used two mocks; SIMCATs (IMS), because they had very helpful video solutions, and AIMCATs (TIME), because they had a very large pool of test-takers and also they were on the tougher side and helped you prepare yourself for the worst.

• After attempting the mock tests, I would take a day's rest to clear my head.
• After which, I’ll revise the analysis part where I look through the attempted questions that I couldn't solve or solved incorrectly before jumping to the solutions.
• Then I look at the solutions to learn from them, what I could do better and if any alternative approaches could save me time, I feel these things led to my improvement.

Ques: One mistake which you think you should not have made (During CAT or preparations)

Ans: I think during the exam in the last few moments, I panicked and attempted more questions and got three incorrect, which could prove to be a game-changer in the end.

Ques: Please recreate the moment for us when you first saw your CAT result

Ans: I was in the office and was waiting for the result since morning, post 4 o'clock I expected the result to be out the next day, but at 5 my friend texted me that the results are out. When I saw the score I felt so relieved, told my colleagues the score, and then called my parents to convey the news.

Ques: What are your next plans? And how do you plan to clear the GD-PI?

Ans: I'm looking forward to a couple of calls from BLACKI/FMS. I'm hopeful of converting C and FMS based on my profile, but I do need to work on my PI skills for that. I'll figure it out as I go along.

Ques: What are your long-term goals and how do you think getting into your dream college will help you achieve that?

Ans: In the long term, I want to excel at whatever field I choose coming out of the b-school, a reputed college like IIM ABC would certainly be the right stepping stone in that direction.

Ques: What should be an ideal 6-month preparation strategy to equip for CAT?

Ans:

• For the first two months, you should work on your concepts and build on your basics.
• Attempting one mock test a week will help you figure out where your strengths and your weaknesses lie.
• With each passing month try to increase the frequency of the mock tests, you take and simultaneously revise the mocks you gave in the past (especially the inaccuracies you made).
• By the time exam month approaches, you should be giving a mock every alternate day, to the point, CAT should just be another mock test for you by the end.

CAT is a 2-hour long exam that will test mental strength using questions from difficulty levels ranging from moderate to difficult. Using a good preparation strategy will help you know your strengths and weaknesses. Check CAT Paper Analysis

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