CAT 2018 Topper Interview: CAT 2018 result was announced in the morning of 5th January, 2018 and brough cheers on the face of several CAT exam toppers. Meet Jagesh Golwala, who is a final year engineering student from IIT-Bombay, who scored 100 percentile in CAT 2018. Read his full interview here to gain an insight about his CAT 2018 preparation and a few success tips that might help you become the next topper.
JagranJosh: Congratulations on scoring 100 percentile! What are your overall and sectional scores in CAT 2018?
Jagesh Golwala: Thank you. My sectional scores are
VARC: 99.23
DILR: 99.99
Quant: 100
Overall: 100
JagranJosh: Tell us something about yourself, your family and your interests beyond academics?
Jagesh Golwala: I am currently in my final year of electrical engineering at IIT Bombay. I am currently pursuing a dual-degree course B.Tech. + M.Tech. and my specialization is communications and signal processing. Regarding my family, so, both my parents are doctors. My dad being an anesthesiologist and my mom being a general practitioner. And I also have an elder brother who also followed the same path as me engineering + MBA and is currently an investment banker. With regards to my interests, I love to trek and travel. I have travelled across a lot of places in India and I have also done quite a few solo trips across Europe. And yeah, like millions of other Indians I am also a follower of cricket.
JagranJosh: When did you start your CAT 2018 Preparation? What is the ideal time required to complete the CAT syllabus before the exam?
Jagesh Golwala: I started to prepare for the CAT at the end of May 2018 with the Mock tests. They were really helpful in preparing for the CAT exam. For me, 6 month’s time was quite good to prepare for CAT 2018. Good background in maths also helped me in scoring a 100 percentile.
Also Read: CAT 2018 Result Declared: Download your Scorecard @ iimcat.ac.in
JagranJosh: What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT 2018?
Jagesh Golwala: My interest in the Mock test helped me prepare well for the exam. It helped me reduce the time to attempt the questions.
JagranJosh: Was there any particular section/area that you were weak at? How did you overcome this challenge? What strategies did you adopt to master that section?
Jagesh Golwala: Being from an engineering background, VARC was the section I found to challenging in the overall preparation for the exam. I invested my time in this section as I was not an avid reader earlier. I took up interest in reading the editorial of the leading Indian and foreign newspapers such as The Hindu and Guardian. Hailing from the engineering background, QA and DILR was not a tough call for me.
JagranJosh: Tell us something about yourself, your family and your interests beyond academics?
Jagesh Golwala: I am currently in my final year of electrical engineering at IIT Bombay. I am currently pursuing a dual-degree course B.Tech. + M.Tech. and my specialization is communications and signal processing. Regarding my family, so, both my parents are doctors. My dad being an anesthesiologist and my mom being a general practitioner. And I also have an elder brother who also followed the same path as me engineering + MBA and is currently an investment banker. With regards to my interests, I love to trek and travel. I have travelled across a lot of places in India and I have also done quite a few solo trips across Europe. And yeah, like millions of other Indians I am also a follower of cricket.
JagranJosh: Were you a part of any coaching institute? Do you think coaching is necessary to ace CAT?
Jagesh Golwala: I joined the test series of 3 leading MBA coaching institutes. I feel that my basics in the VARC section were not quite good and I required some help for it. As I discussed previously that we need to differentiate between very close options in the VARC section in CAT so, that is still a major turning point of that section and that is where I required help. And coaching at TIME Centre helped me with that section of my preparation. Taking up 25 – 30 mocks of each of these institutes helped me gain an edge in attempting the CAT exam. Coaching is not mandatory if your foundation in all the subjects is strong. But, if you are unable to prepare on your own then do not hesitate to enroll with a coaching institute.
You can also read: CAT 2018 Topper Interview: Rounak Majumdar scores 100 Percentile
JagranJosh: Any particular book or study material that helped you gain an edge over other candidates?
Jagesh Golwala: I did not refer to any particular book. It is only the mock tests that helped me keep up with my preparation strategy.
JagranJosh: How can an aspirant avoid negative marking?
Jagesh Golwala: So, with respect to avoiding negative marking your strategy should not be different from what you have practiced during your mock tests. So, make sure when you are writing your mocks you come up with a strategy of your own. It's a strategy that everyone has to develop for themselves and its nothing new that you have to do on the final exam day. It's the same strategy that you have to follow unless and until of course the pattern has been changed. Then you will have to give some time and think about what might be the best option for you at that particular time.
JagranJosh: What role did Mocks play in your success? How many mocks did you attempt before the exam?
Jagesh Golwala: Mock essentially play an important role to help a candidate analyse the aspects which they might face on the D-day. I took 35-40 mocks before the actual CAT exam day to give the exam with full confidence.
JagranJosh: Please share your exam-day strategy for the CAT 2018. What was your last-minute preparation? How did you plan your CAT test taking?
Jagesh Golwala: I had prepared a list of CAT formulas and some questions and concepts from the QA section which were hard to grasp. In this manner, I made sure that before appearing for the exam I take a look at the available study material which I had prepare for the exam-day. I also revised the CAT 2017 question paper so that it gives a bird’s eye view of what might be expected in the exam.
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JagranJosh: Do you think academic background plays an important role in CAT Prep and Why?
Jagesh Golwala: As you can see that all the 11 CAT toppers are from the engineering background, hence, background does play an important role in the exam prep. A person from engineering background has sharp analytical skills and an upper edge in the QA and DIRL section. However, they need to put hard work in the VARC section.
JagranJosh: Which institutes have you applied to admission and why did you opt for them particularly?
Jagesh Golwala: I am targeting IIM A, B, C, L, K, FMS, MDI, XLRI and SP Jain. My goal is to get good placements in the domain of Consulting and Finance.
JagranJosh: How are you preparing for GD – PI and WAT rounds of the selection process?
Jagesh Golwala: To clear the further rounds with the B-schools, I am putting my best to hone my interest in which I excel. I am also brushing up my skills that I acquired in my engineering classes. I am also focusing current affairs at present to stay abreast with the current and past happenings.
JagranJosh: What is your message for CAT aspirants? One crucial piece of advice that you would like them to follow and wish you had known.
Jagesh Golwala: My message to CAT aspirants is “process of appearing in the CAT exam is not going to be easy, there will be good days and there will be bad days. Be confident with your preparation strategy and focus on the mock tests.” It is important to analyse and learn from your mistakes to that the next time you sit for the mock, you do not end up with the same mistakes. This is the only way to improve your score in the exam.
JagranJosh: Why MBA after engineering background?
Jagesh Golwala: During my curriculum at IIT Bombay I did a couple of courses on economics. Apart from scoring good grades and doing a couple of projects during the courses, I developed a keen interest on the economic aspect of the things and understanding and analysing the business aspect of things. In addition to this, I also got an opportunity to intern at Procter & Gamble and during my internship I got live exposure, I got on-field exposure and that enhanced my interest and reconfirmed my decision to pursue MBA post my engineering.
JagranJosh: What is your dream career choice after completing your MBA?
Jagesh Golwala: I have got placement with the BCG as an Assistant Consultant and I wish to see myself in the consulting profile in future as well.
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