CAT 2020 TOPPER

INTERVIEWS
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

CONTENTS
Introduction 3
Vishesh Garg 4
Shivam Chandak 8
Aditya Devalla 11
Abhilasha Balakrishnan 15
Adit Sanjanwala 19
Ravi Prinshu 22
Shivam Kumar 26
Ashish Sen 30
Aaryan Kapur 33
Surya 37
Kshitij Singhal 41
Bhawna Pagaria 45
Gahana Agarwal 48
kaushal Shah 51
Aruneet Dutta 54

2
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

INTRODUCTION
Getting into one of the top B-schools on the basis of CAT is a dream come true for
a number of MBA aspirants in India. Approximately, 1.90 lakh candidates appeared
for the CAT 2020 exam. The number is less due to the covid-19 situation. CAT 2020
witnessed at least 10 to 15 candidates who scored more than 99 plus percentile. Most
of us are curious to know who the CAT 2020 toppers are and how they had prepared
for the CAT exam to come out in flying colours. We tracked some of the top scorers
and asked them to tell the experience that they think is crucial for successfully acing
the test. Read the full E-book to know the success mantras of the topper on how to
score more than 99 percentile in CAT.

3
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

VISHESH GARG

The second day of New Year 2021 brought a smile on the face of Vishesh Garg who
is the CAT 2020 topper as he scored 99.99 percentile in the exam. CAT 2020 top-
per Vishesh Garg, a B.tech graduate aimed at making his way to one of the premier
B-schools. It is with this determination that he started his CAT preparation and had
emerged out in flying colours. Often, while preparing for such competitive exams,
one tends to get a bit stressed. However, CAT 2020 topper Vishesh Garg, did not let
stress take a toll on him and he used to relax and recreate himself by playing music
and going for long walks. CAT 2020 was a bit different as compared to the past since
the duration of the exam was reduced and candidates were not aware of the total
number of questions that would be asked. Vishesh, did not let this deter him or lose
his focus. Careers360 spoke to CAT 2020 topper Vishesh Garg who shares his prepa-
ration strategy and other valuable tips.

Careers360 - Congratulations on your stupendous performance. What inspired you

to appear in CAT 2020?
Vishesh Garg - I appeared CAT last year as well and also secured a pretty decent
percentile which is 99.0 percentile. I always have a plan set for me to work in the
industry post B.tech and after that consider going to management college. Last year
seeing the fact that I scored very well without preparation, I thought of giving the
entrance test this year too. But along the work, I know I need someone to guide me
for preparation, so I joined T.I.M.E Bangalore. And I prepared really hard for CAT 2020.

Careers360 - Share your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Vishesh Garg - My overall percentile is 99.99 in which I secure 99.98 in Verbal Ability
and Reading Comprehension (VARC), 99.87 in Data Interpretation and Logical Rea-
soning (DILR), 99.6 in Quantitative Ability (QA).

4
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - How was your exam day experience?

Vishesh Garg - My exam experience was rather very smooth like one thing was that
there was a change in the exam pattern and got everybody surprised. But I was lucky
that I didn’t lose my nerve in the exam. The preparation definitely helped me and my
mentor guided me not to worry and just give my best shot. And that’s what I did. I
never had a score in my mind or this many questions I have to attempt and all. I just
went to appear for the CAT 2020 with one thought: that is to do the best what I can
do. It was a pleasant experience, there were no troubles with the COVID situation, the
organisers were quite nice and cooperative.

Careers360 - What are your exam strategies and mantras used to crack CAT 2020?
Vishesh Garg - One thing I experienced that last year I scored good without prepara-
tion was because I didn’t have the expectation of the result or whatsoever. So when
we don’t have any expectations we don’t have any nervousness. We can use our brain
in the best possible state without any pressure. So I tried to carry on this year as well
leaving the expectation behind. For preparation, I focused on the areas which I know
I was very weak. Like I was very good at Verbal so I revised it again and again and
read novels and solved some sample papers. But DILR was a comparatively weaker
section for me. So I used to practice a lot of questions, attend classes, and talk to
my mentors at the coaching institution. I trained myself to answer properly which I
knew I was weak.

Careers360 - What according to you is the toughest and easiest section?

Vishesh Garg - I was in Slot 1. I found the Quantitative Ability (QA) section to be a
little harder than expected. Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) was
the easiest section according to me. Verbal I am not the right person to judge since
I usually do well in Verbal.

Careers360 - Share us something about your background. What inspires you to

appear in CAT 2020?
Vishesh Garg - I did my schooling in St Luke’s Sen, Solan Himachal Pradesh. In 10+2
I have medical with maths, so I was preparing for both actually, but maths seems to
work out better for me. I did my B.Tech in Electronics and Communication from NIT
Hamirpur. And right now I am working in Bangalore as a software engineer.

Careers360 - You were working in industry as well? How did you manage your time
during the preparation for CAT 2020?
Vishesh Garg - Initially, managing the time was quite tricky for me. There were times
when I worked 12 hours a day. My preparation time was mainly focused in the week-
end. On weekends I used to spend time attending online lectures, attempting ques-
tions, and solving question papers.

5
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - How helpful was your coaching institute for you?

Vishesh Garg - Yes, it was very helpful. Study materials are available easily. But what
coaching was helpful to me was the target approach. Teachers in coaching help me
to realise what were the questions I should attempt and how many I should have
attempted. Again whenever I have doubt I can simply contact them and clear my
doubts. And it is always easier, the teacher explaining us over the topic rather than
just look around the book. Because sometimes we don’t get concepts in clarity.

Careers360 - How did you deal with your strong and weak points?
Vishesh Garg - Attempting the sample papers is how I realised there are topics
which were weak and strong for me. For topics I am strong in, I did not hamper much
because to attempt a question I need to free my brain as I have to answer logically.
For my strong point, all I did was practice based on the knowledge I knew. And for
my weaker section though I start with basics I used to attend online lectures and go
through the coach material I have. For my strong section, what I made sure was not to
leave out any question which I can score well that I have to attempt the best and for
my weaker section I prepared enough to get the easiest and medium level questions
done. I leave the hard question right away to save time.

Careers360 - What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed during
preparation for CAT?
Vishesh Garg - To be honest, I didn’t study for so long. I used to sit and study for 2
hours followed by watching my favourite series or movies on Netflix, seating with
parents at home, going out for a walk. I never went hard into the preparation, I used
to give my brain time to rest, sleep 8 hours.

Careers360 - Did you appear for any other MBA entrance exam?
Vishesh Garg - No I didn’t appear for any other MBA entrance exam.

Careers360 - What is your dream B-School? What career do you want to pursue after
completing your MBA degree?
Vishesh Garg - My dream B-School is actually a tie which are IIM Bangalore and
Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University. I haven’t analysed yet very deeply.
But I have plans to get my specialisation in finance and get work in technology. Since
I am a person with a technology background, I hope an MBA with B.Tech would fit me
to work in a good technology company.

Careers360 - What are your hobbies?

Vishesh Garg - Apart from watching series I love to play music. Whenever I get time
I try to play music. I love reading novels.

6
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - Who is your Idol?

Vishesh Garg - I have always been inspired by Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam.
I had the chance to meet him once and conservation with him really changed my life.
Apart from A.P.J Abdul Kalam, my father is my inspiration.

Careers360 - Any message you would like to give to the next CAT aspirants?
Vishesh Garg - Go to the exam hall without any nervousness leaving behind the
expectation. Treat CAT as an exam not the end of your life. A relaxed mind can help
to tackle the exam easily.

7
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

SHIVAM CHANDAK

The result of CAT 2020 was announced on January 2, 2021, and it gave the world a
lot of toppers scoring 99 and above percentile. One such person is CAT 2020 top-
per Shivam Chandak a graduate from IIT Madras who scored 99.98 percentile. In an
exclusive interaction with Careers360, CAT 2020 topper Shivam Chandak tells us
about his experience on the day of the CAT exam, his preparation strategy for CAT
2020, his strong and weak areas and how he tackled them and other such questions.
Read the full article to know how CAT 2020 topper Shivam Chandak prepared for one
of the toughest management entrance exam.

Careers360 - Congratulations on securing over 99.98 percentile in CAT 2020! What

was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Shivam Chandak - I was expecting this already. After the CAT percentile predictors
and all, I was pretty confident that I would score around 99.97 to 99.98. I was a bit
scared about the DILR section, but to my surprise, I scored 100 percentile in it.

Careers360 - What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Shivam Chandak - I scored 99.98 percentile in overall and In DlLR I scored 100 per-
centile, in Quant, I scored 99.87 percentile, and in VARC, I scored 94.68 percentile.

Careers360 - Tell us something about your background.

Shivam Chandak - I was born and brought up in Ahmedabad, did my schooling from
DPS, and graduated from IIT Madras with a dual degree in civil engineering of 5 years.

Careers360 - How was your exam day experience?

Shivam Chandak - It was pretty good, I had compared all the CAT mocks, I was happy
with the exam.

Careers360 - What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Shivam Chandak - I was really confident. My maths is strong so it helped me, I gave
section-wise mock tests on preparing days, and I didn’t do many theories in DILR.
my VA was weak, so I had to really work for it, like a lot of reading but was not pretty
consistent with it, which got me really scared.
8
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Shivam Chandak - For me, VA was tough, but Quant was easy this year. I found DILR
was tough too, but with the options that were given, I was able to solve all the ques-
tions and was able to score a 100 percentile.

Careers360 - How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Shivam Chandak - For the strong areas, I regularly practised, solved mock tests for
DILR and for the weak areas, I was consistent like my English and VA are slow, so I
was consistent with all the activities related to those sections.

Careers360 - What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Shivam Chandak - I had the third slot so I already knew the difficulty level of the exam
and how the exam pattern will be. I was more confident about RC, wherein I solved 3
questions out of 4, solved the summary-based questions, para-jumbles.
One mistake that I made was to start off with the tougher set, but I didn’t scan when
I was giving the exam, so that helped. Also, I was confident with the DILR sections, in
which I solved 26 questions out of 24.

Careers360 - What was your take on the changedCAT 2020 exam pattern?
Shivam Chandak - Since my speed is a strength to me, the time duration really helped
me to hone it out by solving the questions in such a short time.

Careers360 - How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Shivam Chandak - I went to T.I.M.E Chennai which was outside the IIT campus. I
took the test series of IMS too, and the lectures of Unacaedmy were quite helpful in
preparation.

Careers360 - What are the factors behind your success?

Shivam Chandak - I think it is the consistency that matters, it is not necessary to
practise for 5-6 every day but an hour to two daily works like a charm if you are con-
sistent. Along with that, regularly solving mock tests is very important. I didn’t stop
solving the mock tests even after scoring low in them.

Careers360 - Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Shivam Chandak - No, I haven’t started the preparation for the same yet. I have just
started reading a few articles related to the same.

9
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Shivam Chandak - None, just CAT 2020.

Careers360 - What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Shivam Chandak - To be honest, my dream Bschool is IIM Ahmedabad, since it’s my
birthplace, but IIM Bangalore and Chennai are on my list too.
I want to have a career in finance but I am keeping my options open.

Careers360 - What are your hobbies?

Shivam Chandak - I like playing chess, or any sport for that matter. I have been a
champion in Chess for eight times.

Careers360 - What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Shivam Chandak - Playing chess online has been helpful. I was not really into TV
series before, but the lockdown left me with no other option.

Careers360 - Do you have any idol who you follow?

Shivam Chandak - No.

Careers360 - What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Shivam Chandak- I would like to suggest the next year’s test-takers to start early,
since they will be having a lot on their plates, like the final year stress, placements
etc. So starting early will be a good time for them to analyze their strengths and
weaknesses.

10
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

ADITYA DEVALLA

The New Year has truly brought about cheers on the face of CAT 2020 topper Aditya
Devalla, who has scored 99.97 percentile in one of the most coveted management
entrance exams. A chemical engineer fromIIT Bombay, CAT 2020 Topper Aditya
Devalla always wanted to take up a career in the field of management. Despite the
challenging circumstances in which the CAT exam was conducted, Aditya held the
view that the exam conducting body had taken all the steps to ensure the safety of
the candidates. CAT 2020 Topper Aditya Devalla holds the view that it is essential
that the future aspirants try to learn as much as possible from their own mistakes.
Read the full interview of CAT 2020 Topper Aditya Devalla to know how he prepared
for the exam.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing over 99.97 percentile in CAT 2020! What

was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Aditya Devalla: I am very happy that I have scored 99.97 percentile in CAT 2020. I
was confident that I would score well but a little nervous, before theCAT 2020 result
announcement. Definitely, I was expecting better but 99.97 is beyond expectation. It
is a big thing for me.

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Aditya Devalla: My overall percentile is 99.7 and the overall scaled score is 145.5 in
CAT 2020. In the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) section I have
scored 99.9 percentile, in data interpretation and logical reasoning I have got 98 and
in quantitative ability I have got 99.

Careers360: Tell us something about your background.

Aditya Devalla: I am from Hyderabad and completed by chemical engineering from
IIT Bombay. Before appearing for CAT, I was working as a data analyst in Axis Bank.
As I always want to pursue an MBA, I prepared for CAT 2020 and cracked it in my first
attempt.

11
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Aditya Devalla: As the exam is conducted in the midst of pandemic, proper guidelines
of social distancing were followed at the CAT 2020 test centre. We were advised to
give our ACT 2020 exam with masks on. Also there was a change in exam duration
which was a little bit challenging but apart from that everything was systematic.

Careers360: Did you face any challenges due to the change in CAT 2020 exam pat-
tern?
Aditya Devalla: As the announcements were made well before, we got enough time to
adjust ourselves. Although we were preparing on the basis of different exam patterns,
after the announcement, I started practising as per 2 hours pattern and got through it.

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Aditya Devalla: Since, this was my first attempt. I focussed on every section by giving
almost equal time. I give proper four to five months for the CAT exam preparation.
For Quantitative Aptitude, I made the short notes of all the important concepts of
quantitative aptitude. I managed my time for each section equally. I appeared in sec-
tional and overall tests every week to know my performance. Also, it is very important
to go through your wrong answers, this is what I used to do after all tests.
For English and DILR, I practised a lot. The more you practice the better you will be.
The practice helped me to attain accuracy in the CAT 2020 exam.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Aditya Devalla: I found the Quantitative section easy and I can say I solved easily. The
DILR section was definitely the toughest this year. It was not easy to answer the ques-
tions in one go. Meanwhile, Data interpretation and logical reasoning questions were
on moderate level, you can answer if you practiced and appeared for CAT mock tests.

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Aditya Devalla: Once, I checked all the questions of the DILR section,I know that paper
is tough. So, I chose the questions which are easy to solve from that lot and started
solving them first. After solving them, I was confident about my accuracy for the
questions I solved. It is always better to choose and solve easy ones than wasting
your time on lengthy questions.

Careers360:What do you think that the CAT new exam pattern is good for aspirants
in future?
Aditya Devalla: All I can say is that the CAT is a competitive exam. You need to per-
form better than others to get on top. So, it’s all about students’ adaptability for any
exam pattern. Although there was not much difference. However, the liberty to give
time over questions to choose and solve is now limited, You cannot spend too much
time just on reading questions. This is only a disadvantage.
12
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Aditya Devalla: As I already told I divide my time equally between each section. When-
ever I sit in practice, I try to solve one set from each section and then I go through
my wrong answers from the set I solved. My performance gradually improved in DILR
with practice.
For quantitative aptitude, I can say I have an advantage because of being from an IIT
background. I got a decent grip on the quant section.

Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you?Is it possible to succeed
through self-study?
Aditya Devalla: I joined T.I.M.E. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to attend any
offline classes due to the pandemic going on. I attended online classes for the basic
concepts of important chapters. Rest everything was my self study. I appear in
every test conducted on every weekend. As per the performance, I used to analyse
my preparation level and work on that. The institution gave us a chance for one to
one session with faculty. They let us know about our preparation and where we can
improve as per our mARKS.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Aditya Devalla: Well about factors I can say, the most important thing is hard work. I
gave my complete four months for CAT preparation. I was focussed on cracking the
CAT and preparing in the same manner. I used to learn from my own mistakes.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Aditya Devalla: I am appearing for the XAT exam.

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Aditya Devalla: As such there is no particular institute in mind, but I would like to make
my way to IIM Ahmedabad. I want to do an MBA in finance as it always fascinated me
to work in the financing industry.

Careers360: What are your hobbies?

Aditya Devalla: I love to play football and badminton. Apart from that I love to watch
movies and football.

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Aditya Devalla: Being a big fan of football, I love to watch football and relax myself
when I’m not studying.

13
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: Do you have any idols who you follow?

Aditya Devalla: Yeah definitely. I really admire footballers, being a big fan of Lionel
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, I’m following their career growth and how much hard
work they do to achieve the goal. That inspires me alot. Also, I look upto Elon Musk
for how much he achieved.

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Aditya Devalla: I can be very clear about goals like what you want to achieve. Focus
on your weaker sections. Work on your mistakes and try to improve. You need to
understand your preparation level and work accordingly. Most importantly, appear in
CAT mock tests regularly in both the sectional and overall test. Time management can
be learned through these tests. All I did was giving more and more tests.

14
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

ABHILASHA BALAKRISHNAN

CAT 2020 result has been declared on January 02, 2021. The new year took a turn
for the candidates who appeared in the CAT exam, by providing them with their most
awaited gifts, the CAT scores. From a wide list of CAT toppers, Careers360 got in touch
with Abhilasha Balakrishnan, who is a Chartered Accountant and currently working in
Kluber Lubrication (P) Ltd, Bangalore and scored 99.86 percentile.CAT 2020 Topper
Abhilasha Balakrishnan is Kerala based and cleared CAT in her first attempt. She has
been excelling in academics throughout and is a scholarship holder. On being asked
about the factors behind her success, CAT 2020 Topper Abhilasha Balakrishnan says,
“It is the support of my parents that kept me going and hence they were my motivat-
ing source for CAT”. Careers360 spoke to Abhilasha and in a candid conversation
she talked about her CAT score, preparation strategy and such other related things.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing 99.86 percentile in CAT 2020! What was

your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Abhilasha: Honestly I had always had a problem with the QAsection. I was very
scared. I was very worried that I would be clearing the cutoffs.I didn’t have confidence
and thought to first give it a try. God has been great to fetch me such good marks.

Careers360: What are your sectional and overall CAT scores and percentile?
Abhilasha: My overall scaled score in CAT exam is 128.24 and overall percentile is
99.86. My scaled scores are 47.4 in VARCwhich is 99.67 percentile. It is 55.37 inLRDI
which is 99.99 percentile. In QA, I have 25.46 marks which is 92.42 percentile.

Careers360: Tell us something about your background.

Abhilasha: I am a Chartered Accountant, working in Kluber Lubrications (P) Ltd, an
organization focusing on specialty lubricants for the automotive industry. I have been
excelling in academics throughout (School topper and scholarship-holder). I belong
to Kerala and currently settled in Bangalore.

15
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Abhilasha: From my mock test preparation, I already knew one thing that is, the one
thing that puts me off is the timer. I always start getting worried whenever I see a
timer. So I made it a point that I will never see a timer unless only a few minutes are
left. That really helped me to keep calm. Since one of my strong sections was VARC,
the first section was pretty good so I had the confidence that I can scale through with
the exam.

Careers360: What is your take on the changed CAT exam pattern?

Abhilasha: I think it was actually a boon in disguise because more than a three hour
paper, when we have two hours we know we have no time to relax . We tend to be
more focused that multiplies our efforts and preparation.

Careers360: So in terms of covid situation going on right now, did you face any dif-
ficulty at the exam centre?
Abhilasha: No, I didn’t face any difficulty. They were very considerate and there were
proper social distancing norms followed.

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Abhilasha: I did join the coaching way back in April. Since I was working as well
and with WFH( work from home), the timings were a little more hayway. The actual
preparation started two months back otherwise I was making a point to attend all the
classes and solve all the questions that were being discussed in the class.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Abhilasha: With the mock tests, I realised that I had an issue with QA, that was prob-
ably because I am from a non-engineering background and I was pretty good in LR
nad VARC so I wanted to make sure that I do well in my sections so that I can manage
the time even if QA ditches me.

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Abhilasha: Since my weak area was QA, which requires maximum preparation so I
was focusing most of the time in solving questions provided to me from the T.I.M.E
material in Bangalore and I must say they did a good job with that. I was also trying
to be in touch with VARC and DILR sections so that if something goes wrong, I can
take advantage of my strongest section.

16
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Abhilasha: With respect to preparation since I had office five days a week and since I
am in Finance they expect more from me also as it is covid. So most of the prepara-
tion happened on the weekend. But my office was also supportive. My manager was
also fine and was more concerned that work should be done and not that I should
spend 8 to 10 hours daily. So I could squeeze in some time at night. Since I am from
a CA background, where they expect to study 12 hours a day so I was with it over the
weekends.

Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Abhilasha: According to me most of the paper is about aptitude so it is possible but
then we have to be ready for giving those extra hours. Coaching is something that if
you have to study for 100 hours, with coaching you can probably study 60 to 70 hours.
That is what I believe that the coaching provides an advantage.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Abhilasha: It is the support of my parents because anytime when I felt low they said
no you can do it. They were my motivating source.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Abhilasha: No, I was waiting for the CAT results.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Abhilasha: I wrote NMAT and SNAP. I decided against XAT because it is more HR
based while I am planning for a Finance MBA.

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Abhilasha: I don’t want to mention the dream B-school. I am based in Bangalore so I
have this special affinity for IIM Bangalore. Since I used to pass that road more often
whenever I see that school, I was like I want to be here.

Careers360: What are your hobbies?

Abhilasha: I like reading novels and I like travelling.

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Abhilasha: Firstly I was not very stringent about timings because I felt that if I can give
enough time in a a day,it doesn’t really matter when I study like i studied in morning
or afternoon whatever suited my schedule and for recreation I used to read novels
which in a way helped my VARC section also. 17
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: Do you have any idols who you follow?

Abhilasha: I idolise my parents because they give me the strength of who I am and
who I want to be. And my father has been pretty good in all academics and my mom
has been a moral support and being the only child I get the best of both the worlds.

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Abhilasha: Anyone who is writing an exam, just calm down because if we are in a situ-
ation where if we don’t interact with people or even if we do, we feel to underestimate
our own efforts and our own abilities. So being scared is something that is very natu-
ral and there are a lot of people who quit because they are scared, I would recommend
them not to do that and just give it a try, no matter what! Being calm is the myntra.

18
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

ADIT SANJANWALA

Scoring a 99.85 percentile in the CAT exam is like a dream come true. This dream
of scoring a high percentile was accomplished by CAT 2020 topper Adit Sanjanwala
who scored 99.85 percentile. Adit is in the final year of engineering at NIT Surat and
is pursuing B.tech in Electronics and Communication. He was confident of scoring
well in the CAT exam but 99.85 percentile came as a pleasant surprise for this young
graduate. CAT 2020 topper Adit Sanjanwala is of the opinion that one should remain
calm during challenging situations and this is exactly what he did. He did not let the
difficult questions affect his peace of mind. During the course of CAT 2020 prepara-
tion, Adit used to meditate, read and walk so as to remain calm and composed. Read
the full interview of CAT 2020 topper Adit Sanjanwala to know more about the strategy
that he adopted to crack the exam.

Careers360 - Congratulations on securing over 99.85 percentile in CAT 2020! What

was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Adit Sanjanwala - It felt great. I knew I would score somewhere above 99.5 but wasn’t
sure what would be the exact percentile.

Careers360 -What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Adit Sanjanwala - Section wise percentile: 97.25/98.66/99.9
Section wise score: 36.07/32.51/58.79
Overall score: 127.37, Overall percentile: 99.85

Careers360 - Tell us something about your background.

Adit Sanjanwala - I am currently in my final year of engineering at NIT Surat pursuing
B.tech in Electronics and Communication.

Careers360 - How was your exam day experience?

Adit Sanjanwala - The paper did not go according to my expectations and I could
attempt relatively lesser questions. Almost thought I ruined the paper.

Careers360 - What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Adit Sanjanwala - All I did was completed the CAT syllabus on my own and then took
CAT mocks. Giving mocks and improving from one mock to another kept me going.
19
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Adit Sanjanwala -Data Interpretation and logical reasoning I felt to be on a tougher
side as compared to VARC, Quant was easy and VARC had some questions with dif-
ficult options to choose from.

Careers360 - How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Adit Sanjanwala - My weak area was VARC. I kept a calm mind throughout and just
answered what I found most suitable which worked. My strong part was Quant,
despite that, I practiced a lot of questions beforehand so that I didn’t lose the flow of
solving as this time, speed was an important factor as well.

Careers360 - What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Adit Sanjanwala - As far as preparation is concerned, half of all the time I devoted
in covering the CAT syllabus well. The rest was completely for solving mocks and
analysing them. On the exam day, I decided to go with the flow and if I get stuck on a
question for more than a stipulated time, I’d leave it and move forward.

Careers360 - What was your take on the changed CAT 2020 exam pattern?
Adit Sanjanwala - It created a bit of chaos which could be easily seen from marks vs
percentile of this year as well. But as we know all changes are chaotic in the begin-
ning. So I feel if this same pattern stays for the next year too, it would be big issue.
Things will roll out smoothly.

Careers360 - How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Adit Sanjanwala - I didn’t join any coaching institute. And it is definitely possible to
succeed by self study. If scoring 99.85 in the first attempt without coaching is pos-
sible for me, it’s possible for anyone else too.

Careers360 - What are the factors behind your success?

Adit Sanjanwala - Being self motivated alone is sufficient, nothing else is needed.

Careers360 - Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Adit Sanjanwala - Yes, I have started preparing for the group discussion and personal
interview but just the very basic stuff

Careers360 - Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Adit Sanjanwala - I have appeared for CAT and will also appear for the XAT exam

20
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Adit Sanjanwala - I want to make my way to IIM Calcutta. I want to make a career in
the field of finance.

Careers360 - What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Adit Sanjanwala - In order to beat the stress I used to meditate, read, take walks and
speak to friends also.

Careers360 - Do you have any idol who you follow?

Adit Sanjanwala - Elon Musk for work ethic, Narendra Modi for dedication

Careers360 - What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Adit Sanjanwala - There’s enough time to achieve any goal you set for yourself, so
set high goals and get going!!!

21
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

RAVI PRINSHU

CAT 2020 Topper Interview Ravi Prinshu, 99.78 Percentile - CAT 2020 result is out.
This year the unique part of the CAT 2020 exam was that it was conducted amidst
COVID 19 pandemic. The students had to face double stress, one was a change in CAT
exam pattern and the other was the guidelines that had to be followed due to novel
coronavirus. However, CAT 2020 topper Ravi Prinshu who scored 99.78 percentile
kept his calm and focused on the goal and did not let the adverse situation deter him
from achieving his target. Coming from an engineering background, his aim was to
leave the information and technology field and switch his career towards manage-
ment. An ardent reader, and a fan of Japanese animation, CAT 2020 topper Ravi Prin-
shu used to beat the stress by watching football and cricket matches. CAT exam was
conducted on November 29 in three slots. Read the full interview of CAT 2020 topper
Ravi Prinshu as he provides valuable insights with regard to preparation for the exam.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing over 100 percentile in CAT 2020! What was
your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Ravi Prinshu: I scored 99.78 percentile. After giving the CAT 2020 exam, I was not
expecting anything since there was a chance in the CAT exam pattern. However, I was
confident that I had done well and was hoping to score 99 plus percentile.

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Ravi Prinshu: My Overall percentile is 99.78 and in VARC i got 99.59, inDILR I got 99.73
and in QA I got 97.22

Careers360: Tell us something about your background.

Ravi Prinshu: I am an electronics engineer by profession and completed by B.Tech
in 2017. Since 2017 I have been working and ten days before the CAT exam, I left my
job since I did want to have any kind of stress. I belong to Bhagalpur and my father
is a principal in a training institute.

22
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Ravi Prinshu: I was in slot 1 of the CAT exam and since IIM Indore had not speci-
fied how many questions would be asked in each section. Hence, there was a bit of
anxiety. It was a new kind of experience for me and I had spent 5 minutes, first going
through the questions. Moreover, due to COVID 19 also I was a bit stressed and the
authorities at the test centre had checked our temperature three times.

Careers360: What was your take on the changed CAT 2020 exam pattern?
Ravi Prinshu: I am glad that we had a change in the CAT exam pattern 2020. Since the
exam was of two hours, I could keep my focus throughout the exam. If the exam is of
three hours then it is a bit exhausting and I normally used to lose focus while solving
the questions in the last section. However, the exam conducting body should keep in
mind that the questions should be in accordance with the time limit. As in each slot
different sections, the questions were quite lengthy. Hence, if the CAT exam is of two
hours, then questions should also not be very time consuming.

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Ravi Prinshu: Since I was working , I could take up the I could merely devote one to two
hours for the CAT preparation. However, I used to study more over the weekends and
I had taken the CAT test series by Career Launcher.One of the preparation strategies
that I adopted was to take the CAT mock test before I seriously began my preparation
so that I could understand my strong and weak areas.
VARC- This was one of my strong areas as I used to read a lot of novels and while
preparing for VARC, I used to just give the mock tests. I had attempted all the ques-
tions in this section as I was confident that I would do well.
DI and LR - While preparing for data interpretation and logical reasoning, I had taken
the test series by Career Launcher since they have sectional questions as well as tipc
based questions also.
Quantitative Ability - I searched Facebook groups from where I could get to know
about the formulae and their short cut and I could execute them while solving the
questions.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Ravi Prinshu: Quantitative ability in CAT was most difficult. I found the DI and LR was
easy and I solved the three sets of questions. One thing which the candidates should
remember while solving the DI and LR questions is not to panic and do not aim at
solving everything. If one is able to solve three sets, then he or she will do very well.

23
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Ravi Prinshu: After every CAT mock test, I used to analyse the questions and see
where I had made a mistake and work accordingly and ensure that i fix my mistakes
at the earliest.

Careers360: What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Ravi Prinshu: The CAT mock tests helped me to know the areas in quantitative ability
and in logical reasoning, where I was making mistakes. As far as VARC is concerned,
I was able to figure out easily what the correct answer was.
For Quantitative ability I used to give four to five hours in a week and for data inter-
pretation and logical reasoning, I used to practice three to four sets.
On the day of the exam, my advice to the candidates is not to panic. First and foremost
I went through all the questions that were asked in the CAT 2020 exam. I identified
which were the easy questions and I aimed at solving all the easy questions first and
foremost. Later on I came to solve the slightly difficult questions. In the first attempt
I did not spend more than four to five minutes on each question. The main focus was
to solve all easy questions in the paper

Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Ravi Prinshu: It is possible to study for CAT without coaching on your own. With the
right kind of strategy, one can study on their own and can take test series from a good
coaching institute.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Ravi Prinshu: One of the factors behind my good performance wsa that I wanted to
leave the IT sector, hence I was determined to crack the CAT exam. My patents also
supported me when I told them about my decision to leave the job.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Ravi Prinshu: Right now I am taking help from my friends who are already in the IIMs.
I am also reading a lot of newspapers and keeping track of the latest events that are
taking place presently or have occurred in the past.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Ravi Prinshu: I will appear forXAT 2021, IIFT 2021 and TISSNET

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Ravi Prinshu: My aim is to make way either toIIM Ahmedabad, or FMS Delhi or TISS.

24
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: What are your hobbies?

Ravi Prinshu: I enjoy reading novels and watching Japanese animated movies.

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Ravi Prinshu: Watched animations, played strategy games and watched cricket and
football matches.

Careers360: Do you have any idol who you follow?

Ravi Prinshu: Since, my childhood, my idol has been Sachin Tendulkar

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Ravi Prinshu : Believe in yourself. If you have decided to take the CAT exam,then work
towards it wholeheartedly. Be consistent in your preparation, remain focussed on your
goal and do not take unwarranted stress.

25
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

SHIVAM KUMAR

CAT 2020 Topper Interview - Shivam Kumar, 99.95 percentiler: Overwhelmed on scor-
ing 99.95 percentile in the Common Admission Test, CAT 2020 topper Shivam Kumar,
a chemical engineer from BITS Pilani is elated at cracking the exam. Identifying the
mistakes after taking the mocks, discussing it with friends and mentors, CAT 2020
topper Shivam Kumar used to rectify the wrong doings at the earliest during the
course of the preparation. In an era where there is cut throat competition, CAT 2020
topper Shivam Kumar kept himself motivated with the help of the support that he
got from his family, mentors and revitalized himself with his closed ones also. Being
confined to one’s room while preparing for the CAT exam due to COVID 19, the young
engineer entertained himself by watching netflix. Read the full interview of CAT 2020
Topper Shivam Kumar, as he shares insights about the exam.

Careers360 - Congratulations on securing over 99 plus percentile in CAT 2020! What

was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Shivam Kumar - I was overwhelmed by the result. I was expecting 99.8 to be honest.
99.95 came as a pleasant surprise to me.

Careers360 - What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Shivam Kumar - OA: 140.09 (99.95)
VARC: 52.56 (99.91)
DILR: 26.61 (96.2)
QA: 60.91 (99.93)

Careers360 - Tell us something about your background.

Answer - I come from Muzaffarpur, Bihar. I completed my undergraduate degree in
Chemical Engineering from BITS PILANI.

26
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - How was your exam day experience?

Shivam Kumar - It was a roller coaster ride. My paper was in slot 3 and I could not
resist myself taking inputs from the people who had appeared in earlier slots. During
the paper, I blanked out after DILR. I could solve only 2 sets. But then I gathered myself
as I knew QA was my strong point which had the potential to compensate for DILR.
After the exam got over, I was not satisfied with the performance especially in DILR.

Careers360 - What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Shivam Kumar - I took 35-40 mocks, analysed it properly. Mock and its analysis is
80% preparation. I also took sectional mocks of the past years. For a few topics in
which I was not comfortable, I solved topic wise questions as well.

Careers360 - What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Shivam Kumar - Quant was the easiest (probably because of my engineering back-
ground) and DILR was the toughest.

Careers360 - How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Shivam Kumar - Since Quant was my strong suite, my focus was on improving the
timing and efficiency while solving questions. After mocks, I used to discuss the
questions and their solutions with friends. Those discussions led to new insights
which helped me a lot. For DILR, I religiously solved all the sets which were there in
the mocks. I maintained a list which detailed my analysis of all types of sets. It helped
me in categorising the sets into easy, medium, tough buckets.

Careers360 - What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Shivam Kumar - Proper time management helps in maximizing the output as one has
limited time. I focused more on VARC and DILR as I was struggling with those during
the preparation period. I used to reassess where I was lacking the most in terms of
achieving my highest potential. Though result says otherwise, I allocated my time in
the ratio of 1:2:1 in VARC, DILR and QA (if I have to quantify it). On D-Day, you don’t
have much options. You have a timer ticking in which you need to hit the ball and
maximize your score. But you need to play the ball to its merit. You need to respect
the tough question keeping your ego aside. I made sure I solved all the easy questions
first before moving to the tough ones. And 60-70% of the paper is easy to moderate.
You need to do those first.

Careers360 - What was your take on the changed CAT 2020 exam pattern?
Shivam Kumar - One needs to understand that in exams like CAT, relative performance
counts. So if there is any change, it is for everyone. You need to be prepared for any-
thing and everything that comes your way. Yes, it was surprising but I reframed my
mind accordingly
27
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Shivam Kumar - The mocks were quite helpful, it prepared me well for the exam. most
importantly, it prepared me for the uncertainties.Self study is the key, if one is self
motivated and follows a disciplined schedule, then he/she can ace the exam with
self study.

Careers360 - What are the factors behind your success?

Shivam Kumar - If I have to list it down: (a) Self motivation (b) Composure (c) Family
support (d) Friends-cum-mentors: They were the backbone during the entire prep
period (e) Revitalizing myself with my closed ones periodically.

Careers360 - Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Shivam Kumar - Yes, as soon as the response key was released, I started preparing
for the next rounds

Careers360 - Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Shivam Kumar - I will be appearing for XAT 2021

Careers360 - What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Shivam Kumar - Mt dream B-school is IIM Ahmedabad. I want to pursue a career in
Operations post-MBA. The chaotic nature of this field excites me towards it.

Careers360 - What are your hobbies?

Shivam Kumar - Watching/Playing Cricket. I like to play Chess as well. I love travelling.

Careers360 - What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Shivam Kumar - Unfortunately Covid kept all of us in our rooms. So I needed to find
something online to relax myself during this phase. Online Chess and Netflix came
to my rescue.

Careers360 -Do you have any idol who you follow?

Shivam Kumar - Honestly speaking, I have never thought about it. However, I have
grown up admiring Rahul Dravid. One can learn a lot of positive qualities from him.

28
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Shivam Kumar - CAT exam = Skill/Knowledge + Exam Temperament.
CAT not only tests your knowledge and your preparation, it also evaluates your com-
posure to handle pressure situations. So while preparing and taking mocks , try to
simulate the exam condition as close as possible. It will help you build your exam
stamina. And during this phase, believe in yourself and enjoy the journey.

29
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

ASHISH SEN

A Mechanical Engineering graduate from IIT (BHU) Varanasi and one who refreshes
himself by playing guitar is upbeat after scoring 99.99 percentile in the CAT 2020
exam.The young engineer from BHU and CAT 2020 topper Ashish Sen who scored
99.99 percentile enjoys watching Formula 1. Though CAT 2020 topper Ashish Sen was
slightly flustered after he saw the change in the exam pattern, but quickly adapted
to the change and gave his best on the day of CAT exam.While discussing about
his preparation strategy CAT 2020 topper Ashish Sen highlighted the importance of
the CAT mocks. Read the full article of CAT 2020 topper Ashish Sen to know how he
cracked the exam.

Careers360 - Congratulations on securing over 99.99 percentile in CAT 2020! What

was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Ashish Sen - Thank you! If someone had told me three months ago that I would be
scoring 99.9+ in CAT 2020, I would have laughed it off. But my exam went well and
after the answer key was released, I knew that I would get a high percentile, but 99.99
was not expected and I was really on cloud nine.

Careers360 - What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Ashish Sen- I scored an overall percentile of 99.99 (Scaled Score of 153.78) with
sectional percentiles as 99.98, 99.95, and 99.46 in VARC, DILR and QA respectively.

Careers360 - Tell us something about your background.

Ashish Sen - I am a Mechanical Engineering graduate from IIT (BHU) Varanasi. I am
currently working as an Analyst in Deloitte Consulting (Offices of the US).

Careers360 - How was your exam day experience?

Ashish Sen - Exam day was really smooth. I was allotted slot 2, so I got to know about
the number of questions asked section-wise in slot 1 from some friends of mine. So, I
had a rough idea of what to expect. The other procedures before the test were seam-
lessly executed by the team. Proper precautions were taken and social distancing was
maintained at theCAT 2020 exam centre.

30
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Ashish Sen - My preparation strategy was different for all three sections. For QA: I
first focused on strengthening my concepts in all the topics asked in CAT, for this I
completed the entire module provided by TIME, after which I was pretty confident
about my Quant. For DILR: I didn’t have to work much on this section as I already had
a knack for solving such problems.
All I did was practice CAT-level questions by sectional tests, previous year papers, etc.
VARC: This was the section that troubled me a lot in mocks and I put a lot of effort into
it. I used to read articles daily from sites such as aeon (aeon.co) and aldaily(aldaily.
com). Along with that, I used to solve at least 3 RC Passages daily. Consistent practice
improved my performance in this section considerably.
After a basic level of prep was reached in all sections, I started giving mock tests and
then analyzed them to identify my strong and weak areas. I gave over 40 mock tests.
I believe that giving mocks were the most important tool in my cat prep.

Careers360 - What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Ashish Sen - Honestly, I’m not a good judge of tough or easy, But the VARC section
seemed tricky to me. There were a lot of close options and anyone could end up being
on the wrong side. I felt that the quant section was relatively on the easier side.

Careers360 - How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Ashish Sen - I identified my strong and weak areas using mock tests. I paid special
attention to my weak areas and took topic wise tests to improve on them. I also
learned from the video solution of the mock tests on the best approach to be taken
in such cases.

Careers360 - What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Ashish Sen - My major prep was during weekends, as I was working along with my
prep but I had some daily tasks/exercises that I would do without fail like reading
one article, solving some RC Passages, Solving one quant exercise, etc. Apart from
that, a major chunk of my prep (mostly the mock tests and their analysis) were done
on weekends. For the Exam, I just keep an eye out for the timer, so that I don’t end
up spending too much time on one question. Also, I had kept the last 12 mins of the
VARC section solely for the VA questions irrespective of how far I had progressed on
the RC part.

Careers360 - What was your take on the changed CAT 2020 exam pattern?
Ashish Sen - Initially I was frustrated with the change in theCAT exam pattern as I
had given many 3 hr mock tests and my time management strategies were suited to
that pattern, but then I took it up as a challenge, rejigged my strategies, and adapted
to it. Also, the 2 hr test meant that I could do more mock tests, So that gave me more
practice. 31
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Ashish Sen - I was not a classroom student of any coaching, I prepared through self-
study, but I was a test series student of TIME, IMS, and CL (Again, these test series
helped a lot!). So,

Careers360- What are the factors behind your success?

Ashish Sen- I would attribute this success to the support and the motivation from
my parents.

Careers360 - Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Ashish Sen - I have just started preparing for group discussion and personal inter-
view, I haven’t progressed much yet.

Careers360 - Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Ashish Sen - I only appeared for CAT.

Careers360 - What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Ashish Sen - My dream B-School isIIM Ahmedabad. Post that I would love to pursue
a career in consulting, and hope to get an opportunity to work in one of the MBBs.

Careers360 - What are your hobbies?

Ashish Sen - I like reading fiction, I am learning to play guitar, apart from that I follow
Formula1 and Cricket.

Careers360 - What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Ashish Sen - I used to watch F1 races or spend some time on my guitar to unwind
myself. Apart from that, I would call up some of my friends or talk with my mom/dad
whenever I wanted a break.

Careers360 - What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Ashish Sen - Strive to develop a proper concept base for the QA section. Be thorough
with all the topics that are generally asked and then keep on practicing. For VARC,
start early and read good articles to improve your reading speed as well as to aug-
ment your inference power. Try to maintain consistency in your prep and you will be
good to go.

32
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

AARYAN KAPUR

Scoring a 100 percentile in the CAT 2020 exam is like accomplishing a big milestone.
This milestone has been achieved by CAT 2020 topper Aaryan Kapur who scored 100
percentile in the CAT exam which was conducted on November 29. CAT 2020 topper
Aaryan Kapur and 100 percentiler is a final year student of Electronics and Instrumen-
tation at BITS Pilani. Sharing his success mantra, CAT 2020 topper Aaryan Kapoor
says, “Mock till you drop,” thereby highlighting the importance of the CAT mock tests
as it will give the much needed boost to one’s preparation.Beating the stress during
the CAT preparation is essential and CAT 2020 topper Aaryan Kapoor took onto bak-
ing and cycling. An avid real Madrid fan, Aaryan had sleepless nights as he watched
their matches. Read the full interview of CAT 2020 Topper and 100 percentiler Aaryan
Kapur as he talks about the preparation journey.

Careers360- Congratulations on securing 100 percentile inCAT 2020! What was your
reaction? Were you expecting this?
Aaryan Kapur - Thank you very much! I would have been happy with a 99.8 and
expecting the same but the 100 was unexpected and thus even happier.

Careers360- What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Aaryan Kapur - VARC - 48.23 (99.71%ile)
DILR - 56.84 (99.99%ile)
QA - 67.53 (99.98%ile)
Overall - 172.59 (100%ile)

Careers360- Tell us something about your background.

Aaryan Kapur - I am a resident of Garhshankar in Punjab. I am a final year student of
Electronics and Instrumentation at BITS Pilani. My father is a businessman and my
mother is a teacher in our hometown.

33
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360- How was your exam day experience?

Aaryan Kapur - It was filled with anxiety as I had the Slot-1 which meant I did not
know the details about the number of questions. For the most part of it, I wanted to
distract myself about thinking too much of it. I found my nemesis VARC tricky and
which ended up in a slow start to DILR, but I, fortunately, managed to complete it.
QA was lengthy again, I was so numb I didn’t even check how much I had attempted.

Careers360 - What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Aaryan Kapur - “Mock till you drop”, let no one tell you otherwise, are the numero uno
source for prep. I took mocks every weekend and analysed them diligently. Analysing
CAT mock and fine-tuning accordingly is more important than attempting the mock. I
tried to maintain an error log for mistakes I committed and worked on them. In addi-
tion to it, I think even a small notebook for smart tips and tricks in quants can be very
helpful. I was weak in VARC, hence I had joined a specific course for it. I joined 2 test
series and an online coaching class to help me. Plus I was fortunate enough to have
an awesome peer group which helped me a lot. Also, previous year papers are very
important.

Careers360- What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Aaryan Kapur - In my slot, I think VARC was tricky and DILR was relatively easier than
in the other sections.

Careers360- How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Aaryan Kapur - As I mentioned earlier, VARC was my nemesis, so I joined a specific
course for it. To add to it, I read a few books and articles online and attempted sec-
tionals.
For QA, which was my strongest suit, it was important to not make any silly mistakes,
so I focused on my accuracy there.

Careers360- What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Aaryan Kapur - This exam is for MBA, and thus time management is generally
required. I was balancing my internship alongside this and studied on weekends for
the most part. In the exam, it is important to keep the ego aside and leave the tough
questions as the clock doesn’t stop.

Careers360- What was your take on the changed CAT 2020 exam pattern?
Aaryan Kapur - The changed CAT 2020 exam patternwas a new challenge, it felt wor-
risome at first, but with enough practice, I think one would have been comfortable
enough to encounter anything on the D-day. Minutes per question was decreased
which shows in the lower scores relatively this year.

34
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360- How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Aaryan Kapur - As I said I needed classes for VARC and another online course for
strengthening the core concepts. If someone feels confident enough, and I have seen
many friends doing the same, you can succeed through self-study too and one can
do away with coaching.

Careers360- What are the factors behind your success?

Aaryan Kapur - My parents have been a strong support system throughout my prep.
Plus all the friends, the list is so long, who have supported me and stuck with me. I
am thankful to all of them. A huge shoutout to all of them. This is as much their suc-
cess as it is mine.

Careers360- Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Aaryan Kapur- Yes, I have started preparing recently for group discussion and per-
sonal interview.

Careers360- Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Aaryan Kapur - I have taken XAT for XLRI Jamshedpur.

Careers360- What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Aaryan Kapur - My dream B-schools almost like everyone else, are Ahmedabad and
Calcutta. I wish to pursue a career in Finance, preferably Investment Banking at the
moment.

Careers360- What are your hobbies?

Aaryan Kapur - I am an avid Real Madrid fan, I have spent many sleepless nights
watching them play. Also I follow Formula 1 as well. Recently, I have been trying out
baking and cycling as hobbies.

Careers360- What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Aaryan Kapur- I listened to songs by Satinder Sartaaj or played some games to relax.
Also, I used to take a walk if I needed to zone out.

Careers360- Do you have any idol who you follow?

Aaryan Kapur - My family is my greatest idol. I have learnt a lot from them and still
have a lot to learn.

35
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360- What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Aaryan Kapur - Believe in yourself and stay calm. It is ok to be nervous, but it should
not rule over you. Build on your low mock scores, and be confident.

36
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

SURYA

which was held amidst COVID 19 pandemic. The change in the CAT exam pattern did
not let CAT 2020 topper Surya and 99.97 percentiler lose his focus and it was due to
less time that he felt that there was more pressure on the candidates. Now the CAT
2020 topper Surya is aiming to make his way either to IIM A, B or C. On the day of
the CAT 2020 exam, Surya found the paper a little bit difficult but he kept his calm
and gave his best. CAT 2020 topper Surya’s parents are his biggest motivators and
support as the preparation journey was slightly stressful. Read the full interview of
CAT 2020 topper Surya where he highlights how he overcame the hurdles and what
different he did to score such an emphatic percentile.

Careers360 - Congratulations on securing over 99.97 percentile in CAT 2020! What

was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Surya - Thank you. I think after the marks came I had a good idea that I would get
above 99.9. But the 99.97 percentile is a little higher than what I expected. Yes, I was
pretty happy that I got a higher percentile.

Careers360 - What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Surya - My scaled score is 147.88 and my sectional percentile in verbal is 99.3, DILR
99.85, Quant 99.93.

Careers360 - Tell us something about your background.

Surya - I am doing my B.Tech Electrical engineering and Master in Data Science in
IIT Madras. I am an engineering student. But very early in my IIT life, I realized that I
was not as passionate about engineering as many of my friends in IIT. Then I started
exploring other things and I realized that I am much more interested in subjects like
Marketing, finance, and operations. Because of this interest, I did a lot of internships
on the business side in ITC and TVS Capital. So that cemented my interest in the
management field. So because of that, I thought of pursuing an MBA and I appeared
for the CAT exam.

37
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - How was your exam day experience?

Surya - Immediately after coming out of the exam, I didn’t expect to get a good per-
centile. I found the exam much tougher than I expected. Especially Verbal, which was
one of my major strengths. But the paper was pretty difficult for me. So I thought that
if I did the other two sections well, I would score above 99 percentile in those, and
verbal I would get around 90 percentile. But, then after the CAT answer key came, I
was surprised and happy that I scored well in verbal ability. So, basically after the
exam, I was not very happy with my performance.

Careers360 - What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Surya - I didn’t follow any unique strategy. For CAT, the only important thing is to give
a lot of mocks. I gave around 30 to 35 mocks from both TIME and IMS. Other than that,
I did nothing else for CAT preparation. I used to give the mocks and analyze them.
Verbal wise, I have always been reading a lot. In the other two sections, since I am an
engineering student so I have a good foundation in DILR and Quants.

Careers360 - What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Surya - I felt that the verbal section was the toughest compared to the other two.

Careers360 - How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Surya - I felt that my weakness was in DILR. There was too much time pressure and
I used to get flustered if I was not able to solve a set immediately. So for the other
two subjects I was confident of doing well. They were my strengths. But for DILR, I
think the only way anyone can better is by taking more and more tests. There is no
theory or concepts to understand. The more you do, the more you get used to han-
dling pressure.

Careers360 - What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Surya - I think that you build the strategy up while giving mocks. So my CAT exam
strategy is different for every subject. I was stronger at comprehension than verbal
ability, so I picked all the comprehensions first and solved them. In DILR, like everyone
says, try to pick the easy sets and I attempted those. I left one set because I found
that it was difficult. Later on I realized, the choice I made was correct. In quant, I did
not have any strategy. I attempted whatever questions came and the CAT 2020 quant
was easy. So, I think there is no need for a strategy for this section.

Careers360 - What was your take on the changed CAT 2020 exam pattern?
Surya - It was much more difficult for me as compared to the old pattern. The dif-
ficulty level of the questions didn’t increase. But because of the time pressure, the
overall difficulty increased.

38
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Surya - I think without mocks of coaching institutes it is very difficult to do well in CAT.
The coaching institutes helped me with a few doubts here and there and they gave
mock papers which were very helpful. I believe that without a coaching institute, it is
difficult to clear the CAT exam.

Careers360 - What are the factors behind your success?

Surya - Obviously, my parents are my biggest motivation. During the entire CAT pro-
cess, if I felt demotivated, in such times they were always there to help and support
me to take the next step in my journey. So, I think they were the major motivating fac-
tor. Other than that, my mentors from both TIME and IMS were very helpful and they
taught me how to answer in the best possible way and score a high percentile in CAT.

Careers360 - Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Surya - No, I have not started my full preparation for group discussion and personal
interview. I have just started revising a few subjects which I had studied in the first
and second year of IIT. I will start through preparation and the mock interview by mid
January.

Careers360 - Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Surya - No, I did’nt appear for any other exam.

Careers360 - What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Surya - I think all the three IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta are equally
good. I am yet to decide where I will like to go. So, any of them would be good for me.
All of them equally reputed. When it comes to a career, I would like to make it probably
either in the field of marketing or finance. I will have to choose between these two.
There are a lot of options like you can become an entrepreneur or you can join the
government. But everything will depend on where my life takes me.

Careers360 - What are your hobbies?

Surya - I read a lot of books and am writing a book myself. Apart from that, I play
tennis and am a huge sports fan. I also run a podcast for young students that tries to
provide different career options and great career advice to them. I interview people
between the age group of 30 to 35 and above who have acquired a certain degree of
experience in their career.

39
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Surya - The preparation was slightly stressful actually. Not too much. I didn’t need
any particular recreation method. It was mostly life as normal life.

Careers360 - Do you have any idols who you follow?

Surya - No. When I was young I used to idolise people like Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.
Right now I don’t have any. I really want to see everyone’s journey and how they
move from their lives after they are 22 years old. My philosophy is that each person
is unique. So, you have to craft your own life. You need to learn from what others do.
So I don’t have any specific role model.

Careers360 - What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Surya - I think it is possible to clear the CAT by just preparing properly. Doing a mock
test is very important. Besides, keep calm and take as many mock tests as possible
as this will enable you to know how you will perform under pressure and will enable
you to enhance your skill.

40
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

KSHITIZ SINGHAL

It is not just academics but extra curricular activities also in which CAT 2020 topper
Kshitiz Singhal excels. An engineer from IIT Bombay, CAT 2020 topper Kshitiz Singhal
kept his calm during the course of CAT preparation. At the same time, exam day was
a bit frustrating for CAT 2020 topper Kshitiz Singhal as his test centre was almost 40
kilometres away. However, his patience and perseverance did pay off as the young
engineer was delighted after he saw his CAT 2020 result as he had scored 99.99 per-
centile and is now pinning his hope to make way to either IIM A, B or C. Being a night
bird CAT 2020 topper Kshitiz Singhal used to go for walks in the morning and listen
to music. The interesting part is that Kshitiz was preparing for his placements and
had appeared for the CAT exam with an aim to understand what it is like. Read the
full interview of CAT 2020 topper Kshitiz Singhal to know more about his preparation
strategy, how he overcame his weak areas etc.

Careers360 - Congratulations on securing over 99.99 percentile in CAT 2020! What

was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Kshitiz Singhal - I was not expecting this at all and I was shocked to see my result.
I just started preparing for CAT 2020. I was only focusing on the placements since I
am in my 4th yr from IIT Bombay. I didn’t plan it, I just gave it as a mock.

Careers360 - What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Kshitiz Singhal - My overall percentile is 99.99. I scored 99.94 in DILR, 99.97 in Quant
and 99.58 is VARC VA 99.58.

Careers360 -Tell us something about your background.

Kshitiz Singhal - I live in Ahmedabad, and academically, I am graduating in mechani-
cal engineering from IIT Bombay. I am always exploring opportunities, I am a stand-up
comedian. I was Mr Fresher in the first year and I do open mics in Mumbai.

41
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - How was your exam day experience?

Kshitiz Singhal - Honestly, it was frustrating, since my CAT 2020 exam centre was 40
kms away, which took me 2 hours to reach, the COVID-19 scenario was challenging,
the masks were problematic since they were itching. Since the CAT exam pattern
2020 has been modified, the number of questions have been increased and the dura-
tion of CAT 2020 decreased, so it was difficult to answer all the questions. But, being
used to pressure, I was calm and it helped me in maintaining speed.

Careers360 - What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Kshitiz Singhal - My preparation strategy was to have fundamental knowledge, a
good strategy. Since my Quant and DILR were strong, I gave more importance to the
CAT 2020 mock tests. Apart from that, I started analyzing the CAT mock tests 2020,
I gave 6 to 7 hours in analyzing them, I analyzed the wrong questions. Found various
other better methods to attempt the correct answers and then practised those vari-
ous methods. Basically, I was experimenting with the methods till I got the best and
easiest method.

Careers360 - What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Kshitiz Singhal - Being an engineering student, VARC was quite tough for me. But
I won’t say that Quant and DILR were easy, they had random questions, they were
moderate.

Careers360 - How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Kshitiz Singhal - I think that the strong areas don’t become weak, so the weaker areas
are what I approach. I practise, give various tests, be it sectional or topical tests, I
learn how to get the wrong answers right and other such details.

Careers360 - What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Kshitiz Singhal - To be honest, the lockdown due to COVID-19 was a golden oppor-
tunity to practise, since my classes were held in online mode, there was extra time to
work on CAT 2020 preparations. In the beginning, I used to give 4 hours to practise
and then I increased the practice duration. I was being regular, since being regular
and giving 4-5 hours a day to preparation were enough.
On the exam day, I attempted the easy questions first. I knew that out of 4 passages,
1 passage will be tough, so I didn’t attempt it. Then I tackled the hard questions later.
I mistakenly gave a lot of time on one question. I felt like CAT exam 2020 had easy
questions but they were time-taking. What students do is that they take it on their
ego to solve it. But being in IIT Bombay, I knew that attempting as many questions
as possible was the key.

42
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - What was your take on the changed CAT 2020 exam pattern?
Kshitiz Singhal - I think it was difficult for everyone as you have to solve more ques-
tions in less time. I hope the CAT exam pattern gets normal next year. But this surely
helped the candidates in honing their speed and accuracy.

Careers360 - How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Kshitiz Singhal - I took some test series from Career Launcher and T.I.M.E. as I was
instructed to take those. Yes, one can succeed through self-study, but I feel like giving
tests is necessary. Since CAT is based on fundamentals.

Careers360 - What are the factors behind your success?

Kshitiz Singhal - Practising the weak areas is one of the most important things. This
will help in improving speed and accuracy.

Careers360 - Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Kshitiz Singhal - Yes, I have started preparing for CAT 2020 GD/PI/WAT.

Careers360 - Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Kshitiz Singhal - No, just CAT 2020.

Careers360 - What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Kshitiz Singhal - My dream bschools are definitely IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore and
Calcutta.

Careers360 - What are your hobbies?

Kshitiz Singhal - They are diverse. I do standup comedy, and I like to explore all the
opportunities. IIT Bombay helped me in that. I like music, dancing, I am learning to
play guitar, flute, and piano. In IIT Bombay, we used to paint the road. And I have been
a teaching assistant for the first-year students of the biology course.

Careers360 - What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Kshitiz Singhal - I am a night owl, so in the day time, I used to go out on walks and
listen to calming music.

43
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - Do you have any idol who you follow?

Kshitiz Singhal - Elon Musk is my idol because he says things that seem impossible
to achieve, but still, he does it.

Careers360 - What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Kshitiz Singhal - I would like to tell the aspirants to practice regularly. It is not impor-
tant to practice for 10 hours a day, but being regular is important. Also, it is important
to give as many tests as possible and stay calm. It will help in giving the exam without
any haste.

44
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

BHAWNA PAGARIA

Every aspirant in this country who aspires to crack the most challenging manage-
ment tests like CAT, dreams to ace it by any way possible. But very few of them burn
the midnight oil and make their dreams come true and these are the aspirants who
are particularly known for achieving high percentile in such management entrance
tests. Bhawna Pagaria is also one of those who have secured a distinguished place
for herself by securing 99.80 percentile in CAT 2020. Despite the dominant rate of high
percentile of male candidates, Bhawna Pagaria being a female made everyone proud
by making her place in such dominancy. In an exclusive interview with Careers360,
Bhawna shared her success mantra and said “With Commitment, Passion and con-
sistency, I have worked diligently with faith and I am blessed to have been mentored
by the best teachers”. Read the full interview to know about the preparation journey
and strategy of Bhawna.

Careers360 - Congratulations on securing over 99.80 percentile in CAT 2020! What

was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Bhawna - Thank you so much! I felt ecstatic for clearing the first stepping stone to
achieve my goals. Based on the CAT raw score, I was Surely expecting good results.

Careers360 - What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Bhawna - My overall scaled score is 123.24 - 99.8 %ile.
In Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension my scaled score is 42.02 - 98.97 %ile
In Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning my scaled score is 39.18 - 99.57%ile
In Quantitative Ability my scaled score is 42.05 - 98.84 %ile

Careers360 - Tell us something about your background.

Bhawna - I am a Jain native to Ladnun, Rajasthan. I have been born and brought up
in Howrah, West Bengal and currently I am domicile to Vizag, Andhra Pradesh.
I have done my schooling from St. Thomas’ Church School, Howrah followed by a
Bachelors in Business Administration from J. D. Birla Institute, Kolkata. I have always
been sincere and goal oriented in academics which helped me in securing top ranks
both in school and college.

45
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - How was your exam day experience?

Bhawna - I was both eager and anxious for the exam day, it was one of the most
important days in my life.
I maintained my calm throughout my preparation and so the exam day experience
turned out to be efficient.

Careers360 - What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Bhawna - My preparation was designed into four phases.
The first one being the mastering of theoretical concepts, the second one was taking
topic tests and sectional tests to practise the application of the concepts, the third
phase was taking Mock tests and analysing them thoroughly and lastly was keeping
concentration on continuous recaps.

Careers360 - What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Bhawna - I felt that English section was of a good level whereas the Maths section
was just of usual standard.

Careers360 - How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Bhawna - First of all, I knew my both weak areas and strong areas and I maintained
my strong areas and strengthened my weak areas with rigorous practice and consist-
ent analysis.

Careers360 - What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation
as well as exam day?
Bhawna - While preparing in the first and second phase I gave equal time to English
& LRDI but comparatively more time to Mathematics.
When I started taking full length tests, I used to take the test in the first half and then
analyse it thoroughly in the second half.
On the exam day, for each section I spent five minutes going through the question
paper and selecting the questions and the rest of the time was spent in solving them.

Careers360 - What was your take on the changed CAT 2020 exam pattern?
Bhawna - I believe the change was beneficial for we all students as the core concepts
remained the same and just the duration got truncated.

Careers360 - How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Bhawna - My coaching institute, TCC Management Systems is the fulcrum of my
success in CAT.
My teachers gave me direction and support with a plan of action for studies, exam
strategies and beyond. Ofcourse, one can succeed through self-study.

46
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - What are the factors behind your success?

Bhawna - With Commitment, Passion and consistency, I have worked diligently with
faith and I am blessed to have been mentored by the best teachers. My family always
supported me in realising my goals. By god’s grace and everyone’s blessings every-
thing culminated into good results.

Careers360 - Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Bhawna - I have appeared for both NMAT and XAT.

Careers360 - Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Bhawna - Yes, I have begun my preparation for the second stage.

Careers360 - What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Bhawna - IIM Ahmedabad is my dream Business School. I am very passionate about
Marketing and I want to pursue my career in the same subject.

Careers360 - What are your hobbies?

Bhawna - I am very fond of reading books and cooking food. I also like doing Yoga.

Careers360 - What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Bhawna - Spending time with my family and friends was my best relaxation. I also
watched web series and played games like carrom, cards and ludo for recreation.

Careers360 - Do you have any idol who you follow

Bhawna - My idol is Shri Ratan Tata and I believe his words as follows “ I don’t believe
in taking right decisions; I take decisions and then make them right “ RATAN TATA

Careers360 - What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Bhawna - I would like to wish them All the Best for their preparations. With focused
preparation and diligent practise, they will also come out successfully with flying
colours.

47
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

GAHANA AGARWAL

CAT 2020 result was declared on January 2 in online mode. 2020 may not be a good
year,however, with the announcement of CAT result, it definitely brings a smile on the
face of Gahana Agarwal. With only 4-5 months left until CAT 2020, Gahana Agarwal,
a Deployment Engineer at Comcast started preparing for the entrance test and scored
99.39. Changes in the CAT exam pattern has doubled the exam stress to candidates,
but Gahana Agarwal did not let stress take a toll on her and hamper on her perfor-
mance in the entrance test. During her preparation time, Gahana Agarwal watched a
video of a mentor on youtube to keep herself motivated. Read the complete article to
know how CAT topper Gahana Agarwal prepared one of the most competitive man-
agement entrance test.

Careers360 - Congratulations on your stupendous performance. What was your reac-

tion? Were you expecting this?
Gahana Agarwal - Thank you so much! I was delighted when I received my scorecard.
I wasn’t expecting this score because I had not done very well in the mocks during
my preparation phase.

Careers360 - Share your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Gahana Agarwal - Overall percentile: 99.39. Sectionals are 93.19, 99.4, 98.66 for VARC,
DILR and QA respectively.
Overall score: 108.69. Sectional scores are 30.49, 37.22, 40.99 for VARC, DILR and
QA respectively.

Careers360 - How was your exam day experience?

Gahana Agarwal - I prepared myself to be calm on the exam day. Since my exam
center was about an hour and a half from my house, I created a playlist of speeches
which motivate me to listen to on the drive. Another thing that helped me boost my
performance was to not let external factors affect my performance.

48
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - Share us something about your background. What inspires you to

appear in CAT 2020?
Gahana Agarwal - I am an engineering graduate from VIT University (Batch of 2019).
I currently work as a Deployment Engineer at Comcast. The reason I want to do an
MBA is to advance my career for now and start my own business someday.

Careers360 - What are your exam strategies and mantras used to crack CAT 2020?
Gahana Agarwal - My exam strategy in VARC was to solve questions on a first come
first serve basis, because I was quite comfortable with the section. For DILR, I rated
the given sets from easy to difficult within the first 5 minutes and then proceeded with
solving the easy ones first. For QA, I browsed through the questions and solved the
easy ones quickly during the first round of browsing and repeated the same process
until the time was up.
I had only 4-5 months to prepare for CAT. So, I started with taking a mock without
preparation so I could see where I stand and to figure out how much time I needed
to give to studying each day. My prep started with the basics from the popular Arun
Sharma books for QA and DILR. I was quite comfortable with VARC so I did not give it
much attention until later. Mocks played a huge role in the preparation phase. I gave
around 40 to 45 mocks from various different institutes and analyzed them well. This
helped me most to figure out which test taking strategy worked best for me.

Careers360 - What according to you is the toughest and easiest section?

Gahana Agarwal - Personally, I was average-good in all three sections, so I didn’t find
any section especially tough or easy.

Careers360 - When did you start preparation for CAT 2020? How did you tackle your
strong and weak areas?
Gahana Agarwal - I started my CAT prep in July. So, I had only about 4-5 months for
preparation. As I mentioned, I did not have any strong or weak section as such. But,
adjusting my strategies for every mock I took, helped me maximize my score in the
end.

Careers360 - What are the factors behind your achievement in CAT 2020?
Gahana Agarwal - During the preparation phase I listened and watched videos of a lot
of mentors on youtube which helped in keeping me motivated at all times. Secondly, I
kept my options open incase CAT doesn’t work out so as to not put too much pressure
on myself during the test. Thirdly, lots of practice is the only key to success, there are
no other shortcuts and testing out strategies is required.

Careers360 - Which books you preferred while preparing for CAT 2020? Did you take
any coaching for this exam?
Gahana Agarwal - I used Arun Sharma’s books extensively for preparation.
49
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Gahana Agarwal - Yes, I have started reading the newspaper on a daily basis and
preparing answers for basic questions for the interview.

Careers360 - Did you appear for any other MBA entrance exam? If yes then how did
you manage your time with respect to preparation as well as exam day?
Gahana Agarwal - No, I did not.

Careers360 - What is your dream B-School? What career do you want to pursue after
completing your MBA degree?
Gahana Agarwal - My dream B school is one of the top 3 IIMs (IIM Ahmedabad, IIM
Bangalore, IIM Calcutta).

Careers360 - What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed during
preparation for CAT?
Gahana Agarwal - As I am a working professional, I was juggling office work with my
CAT prep, so I didn’t have a lot of time for relaxation. But on the weekends, I made
sure I took out time to hang out with my family or friends.

Careers360 - Any message you would like to give to the next CAT aspirants?
Gahana Agarwal - It is necessary to keep yourself motivated by any means possible
through the entire preparation phase and not to let mocks, scores and percentiles
affect your mindset.

50
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

KAUSHAL SHAH

It is a delight to score a 99.74 percentile amidst challenging circumstances when the

world is grappling with the worst pandemic. However, it was during this time that CAT
2020 Topper Kaushal Shah 99.74 percentiler turned the challenge into an opportunity
as he geared himself to prepare for the CAT 2020 exam and came out in flying colours.
Pursuing B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering Department at SVNIT (NIT Surat), CAT
2020 topper Kaushal Shah suggests to the future aspirants to analyse the CAT mocks
carefully and adopt different test taking strategies. Read the full interview of CAT 2020
topper Kaushal Shah to know tricks of the trade to crack the CAT 2020 exam.

Careers360: Congratulations on securing over 99.74 percentile in CAT 2020! What

was your reaction? Were you expecting this?
Kaushal Shah: Thank you. I was really overwhelmed with the result. I did expect 99+,
but this was unexpected.

Careers360: What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Kaushal Shah: My overall CAT 2020 score was 99.74% and 120.7 Sectionals:
96.08/96.73/99.9 and 33.98/27.72/59

Careers360: Tell us something about your background.

Kaushal Shah: I am currently in my final year pursuing B.Tech in Mechanical Engineer-
ing Department at SVNIT (NIT Surat).

Careers360: How was your exam day experience?

Kaushal Shah: I was in 3rd slot. Reviews about slot 1 were already out. I didn’t read
about it as it would have affected my mindset.VARC and DILR didn’t go well as
expected but Quant did. Treat all 3 sections as 3 separate papers and do not let one
section affect another.

51
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Kaushal Shah: Complete your syllabus. Take tests regularly. Make a detailed list of
your weak and strong areas. Work on weak areas initially. Set a goal in every mock of
which area you want to improve upon. For example, don’t consider Quant as a single
entity, break it down into chapters or set of 4-5 topics and focus on those topics for
next mock. And the most important thing, practice every day. EVERYDAY. Don’t go for
6-8 hours straight, instead go for 4 hours but EVERYDAY. Consistent effort is the key
here. Also, choose “A” mentor/ senior who can guide you and follow what they say .
Try different test-taking strategies every 2-3 tests and stick to the most optimum one
for the last 1 month and D-Day.

Careers360: What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?
Kaushal Shah: I found DILR challenging. VARC was moderate and QA was easy.

Careers360: How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?
Kaushal Shah: For strong areas, practice it just enough to be thorough with it, just
enough to maintain your flow with the topics. For weak areas, I used to choose 2-3
topics at a time, practiced chunks from each of these 3 topics for some days but
everyday, instead of practicing each of them one at a time. Also, always keep an eye
for the small mistakes you make, concepts you forget often within your strong areas
and practice them till you get it correct but after improving your weak areas as there
is greater scope of improvement there.

Careers360:What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation

as well as exam day?
Kaushal Shah: Complete the syllabus thoroughly as soon as you can.Start taking
mocks even if you have not done with the syllabus and analyze them thoroughly. List
down areas on which you need to improve. As I said, practice everyday, improve upon
something everyday and you are good to go.

Careers360: What was your take on the changed CAT 2020 exam pattern?
Kaushal Shah: It did create some chaos and panic initially, but so it did for everyone.
So, don’t waste your energy worrying about it as the pattern changed for everyone. I
focused my energy on getting accustomed to the new pattern. But yes, the was neg-
ligible scope for mistakes and blunders during the test in new pattern as compared
to the previous pattern.

52
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360: How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to suc-
ceed through self-study?
Kaushal Shah: Coaching institute proved very much helpful. They often used to say
“Technique hi galat hai tumhara” which really helped me to optimize my test-taking
strategy. But, I can’t emphasize much on Self-Study. Self-study is the key here. Put
in your sincere efforts and study regularly. Do take breaks but plan them.

Careers360: What are the factors behind your success?

Kaushal Shah: To be honest there are innumerable factors here. But the most impor-
tant ones: My family, my mentors and seniors who guided me throughout and of-
course, myself.

Careers360: Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Kaushal Shah: I have started preparing for the GD and PI at the very basic level.

Careers360: Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?
Kausha Shah: CAT and XAT are the two exams for which I had appeared.

Careers360: What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to
pursue?
Kaushal Shah: IIM-C. I want to pursue a career in corporate finance.

Careers360: What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst
preparation?
Kaushal Shah: To relax, I used to listen to music and often explore new genres and
artists. I also used to go for drives and walks. Both of them helped me think and see
things clearly. And above all, a couple of hours with friends and I was good to go for
a week.

Careers360:Do you have any idol who you follow?

Kaushal Shah: For me it was not a single person. Sometimes I used to look up to great
personalities of our era and sometimes around myself. Important thing here is, both
of them kept me going.

Careers360: What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Kaushal Shah: You have to put in effort in something today or tomorrow. Better put
in your efforts when you still can. Be honest to yourself and don’t give up. Things will
turn around.

53
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

ARUNEET DUTTA

CAT 2020 Topper Aruneet - IIM Indore announced CAT 2020 on January 2 in online
mode. It was a big day for CAT 2020 Topper Aruneet as he cracked the entrance test
with 99.52 percentile. CAT 2020 Topper Aruneet who is currently working as Design
Engineer in one of the most reputed Indian MNC cracked CAT 2020 in his first attempt
with flying colors. After working in industry for two years CAT 2020 Topper Aruneet
wants to explore more in the field of business management. The unprecedented
situation of COVID 19 pushed him more to appear in CAT 2020. Aruneet used to talk
with his family and friends to recreate and relax his mind whenever he had stress.
Careers360 spoke to CAT 2020 topper Aruneet Dutta who shares his preparation
strategy and other valuable tips.

Careers360 - Congratulations on your stupendous performance. What inspired you

to appear in CAT 2020?
Aruneet Dutta - I passed out in Chemical engineering in 2018 from Jadavpur Univer-
sity, Kolkata and I got a job Indian MNC, based in Mumbai as a Design Engineer. I got
the job directly from campus placement. After working as a Design Engineer for two
years, I found that doing an MBA not only helps to escalate higher up the ladder but
also assists in learning and understanding the whole business. I have a very narrow
perspective of business. After working in various mega projects and witnessing how
Project Managers lead the project and make decisions, then I thought why I couldn’t
be this. That actually motivated me to deal more into the subject and then I study
what are the aspects and prospects after doing the MBA. So I found out I will have
more flexibility after doing an MBA as I won’t be restricted in one field only. I can face
different kinds of challenges after completing the MBA. That motivated me to appear
for CAt 2020. And all this unprecedented situation due to the COVID 19 pandemic
pushed me to appear CAT 2020.

Careers360 - Tell us something about yourself.

Aruneet Dutta - I am from Kolkata. I have completed my schooling from St. Joseph
& Mary’s School and completed my engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata. I
presently work in a highly reputed Indian MNC, based in Mumbai as a Design Engineer
for the last 2 years.

54
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - Share your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?
Aruneet Dutta - My overall percentile is 99.52 in which I secure 97.92 in Verbal Ability
and Reading Comprehension (VARC), 99.64 in Data Interpretation and Logical Rea-
soning (DILR), 96.96 in Quantitative Ability (QA).

Careers360 - Is CAT 2020 your first attempt and did you expect your score?
Aruneet Dutta - This is my first attempt. With the changes in the exam pattern, there
was no clear cut scenario like how the percentile will turn up and how it will be going.
After releasing the answer key I found that I did pretty good but not sure I would get
99 above percentile.

Careers360 - What was your preparation strategy and exam tactics?

Aruneet Dutta - I am working professionally. Due to COVID 19 I stuck at Mumbai and
did work from home. While staying all alone in Mumbai I have to do the household
chores as well as office work. And it makes me more responsible. I did n’t have much
time left with me to join a coaching institute and do formal preparation after engaging
with office work as well as household work.
So I started collecting online study materials. I also took study material from my
colleagues who have previously appeared for the MBA entrance test. I do self study
with all those materials I have and started preparation around May. I started prepar-
ing for CAT 2020 with the DILR section because it was something new to me, quan i
already did in class 10 and 12. The basics were cleared but I have to revise it. I started
preparing for the quan section around June and verbal was going all along with that.
After May June, when I had an idea how this thing worked, how the cat exam was,
then I enrolled in a mock test from July before even completing the syllabus. Mock
test gave me a clear scenario of the exam. Bcoz in CAT not only the understanding
and knowledge help to crack the entrance test but time management is also equally
important. That’s why I started giving mock quite earlier and in August I finished the
syllabus. I gave 50 above mocks.
Analysis of mock help me alot in cracking CAT 2020

Careers360 - How did you deal with your strong and weak points?
Aruneet Dutta - When I started DILR preparation in May it was quite new to me, how-
ever, I found the DILR section to be quite comfortable with me. After giving the initial
mock my percentile for Quan was around 75 to 80, so I was quite worried about it.
Being an engineer I thought quant should be a strong point for me. So I found some
silly mistake of mine. During August, I listed down all the topics then I took 1 topic for
2 days and I looked through all kinds of questions in the materials as well as mock
tests. And this tactic I continue for two months and help me to tackle my weak areas.

55
 CAT 2020 TOPPER INTERVIEWS

Careers360 - Apart from CAT 2020, do you appear for any other MBA entrance test?
Aruneet Dutta - I enrolled for IIFT.

Careers360 - What is your message for next year’s CAT takers?

Aruneet Dutta - It does not matter when you started preparing for CAT. What matters
is how much intensity you are doing it. Whenever you start you should be sure of what
you are doing. There may be days when you are down but don’t give up.

56