CAT 2024 Topper Interview: The Indian Institute of Management, IIM Lucknow announced the CAT 2024 result on December 19, 2024. Since the results have been declared, the CAT 2024 topper list is also live. A lot of aspirants must be wondering about the journey of the toppers and how they managed to attain success against one of the toughest entrance exams in the country. In this article, we will be shedding light on the journey of Tanishq Gupta- An Engineering Graduate from IIT Delhi who achieved a 99.99 overall percentile in CAT 2024. In an exclusive interaction with Jagranjosh.com, Tanishq shared insights about his preparation strategy, study material, last-minute preparation tips, challenges, and more.
Excerpts from the Interview!
Question 1: Congratulations on cracking CAT 2024! What are your overall and sectional scores
in CAT 2024?
Answer: Thank you! I got an Overall score of 147 - 37 in VARC, 56 in DILR and 54 in the Quant section.
Question 2: When did you start your CAT 2024 Preparation? What is the ideal time to complete the CAT syllabus before the exam?
Answer: I started my CAT prep in the month of October. Since I had covered most of the topics during my JEE preparation, I just had to brush them up once and give a lot of mocks. I think for an exam like CAT, giving around 30+ mocks is a must so that you know the best way to attempt the exam. Hence one should try to complete the syllabus by September/mid-October and then focus on giving mocks.
Question 3: What was your overall preparation strategy for CAT 2024?
Answer: My overall preparation strategy was to minimise my calculation mistakes in quant, increase my accuracy in VARC by attempting fewer questions and increase my attempts in DILR.
Question 4: 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?
Answer: I was weak in the DILR section as my overall speed of attempting those questions was slow and I used to get stuck on one question and waste a lot of time there. I started to allot a particular amount of time to every question beyond which I used to leave that question if I couldn’t solve it. I also started to read all the questions before solving any so as to know which ones to solve. Also, it is absolutely necessary to write everything down and draw proper diagrams in that section. It might take 2-3 minutes extra to do that but it will help you avoid missing the small details which are required to solve the question. I also gave some sectional tests to improve my performance in this section. TIME’s sectional tests helped a lot in this.
Question 5: Tell us something about yourself, your family, and your interests beyond academics.
Answer: I come from a small town Bulandshahr which is in Uttar Pradesh. My mother used to be a teacher and my father was a manager at Extramarks Education. But now my parents have started a business a few years ago. I have a younger sister as well. Also, I am an electrical engineer from IIT Delhi and I am currently working at Blinkit. I am a dancer by heart, I was also the president of the dance society of IIT Delhi. Apart from this, I like to sing, play the guitar and sometimes go to the gym in my free time.
Question 6: Were you a part of any coaching institute? Is coaching necessary to ace CAT?
Answer: Yes, I joined TIME Institute for my preparation of CAT ‘24. I think that it is absolutely necessary for an individual preparing for an exam to opt at least for the test series of an institute. For me, I personally felt that TIME was the best hence I took it.
Question 7: Is there any particular book or study material that helped you gain an edge over other candidates?
Answer: I think that TIME’ AIMCAT series was a big help for me. Most of the tests were either difficult/ at par with the standard of the CAT exam which helps you prepare for the worst situations possible during an exam.
Question 8: How can an aspirant avoid negative marking?
Answer: For Quant and DILR sections, I think avoiding negative marking is easy if the question is not tricky. You just have to read all the questions carefully. The challenge is to reduce your negative marking in VARC where a lot of options appear to be similar. I think the key is to understand the essence of the options, understand the difference between extreme words that are being used in the options (all and mostly all etc.), identify the topics/sections you are weak at (VA or RC) and not attempt a question if you are unsure about it
Question 9: What role did Mocks play in your success? How many mocks did you attempt before the exam?
Answer: Mocks were the base of my preparation - I did not study a lot of topics for the exam but gave mocks to figure out sections where I was losing marks. Then I used to study those topics separately. I gave around 30-35 mocks for the exam.
Question 10: Please share your exam-day strategy for the CAT 2024. What was your last-minute preparation? How did you plan your CAT test taking?
Answer: My exam-day strategy was just to remain calm and composed. I was standing outside the exam hall and listening to songs for around 30 minutes as it helped me stay composed and distracted me from the exam-day pressure. I stopped studying 2 days before the exam as I knew it would not help much and only make me more nervous. My only concern at that point was to eat healthy and get proper sleep so that my mind and body were fully prepared and in their best shape.
Question 11: Do you think academic background plays an important role in CAT Prep and Why?
Answer: I think academic background does play an important role in CAT prep to an extent because students who have studied maths have an edge over others in the quant section. But I think it is easy to overcome this because the topics CAT covers are mostly taught to everyone during 10th standard.
Question 12: Which institutes have you applied to admission and why did you opt for them particularly?
Answer: I have applied for IIMs - B, C, K, L and I and FMS. All of them are top-tier institutes for doing an MBA and have good placements. The entrepreneurship culture at IIMB is also good.
Question 13: How are you preparing for the GD-PI and WAT rounds of the selection process?
Answer: I am mostly focussing on preparing my profile for the interviews, learning how to give answers, how to present yourself, what should be your mindset while answering questions and of course my giving mock interviews.
Question 14: What is your message for CAT aspirants? One crucial piece of advice that you would like them to follow and wish you had known.
Answer: My message is - give as many mocks as possible, try to increase your score in DILR/VARC as it can make a lot of difference and give you an edge over others, and don’t ever get stuck on a question, it is not a game of if you can solve that question in the exam or not but of how many questions can you solve- learn to move on.
Question 15: What is your dream career choice after completing your MBA?
Answer: My dream career choice is to get into product management
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