Quick profile intro
9/9/8 GEM 3 yrs work-ex,
Previous CAT attempt 92.XX%ile . Was a very casual attempt
So here it goes.
During one of my regular tea meetups with Aravind (The Tea Enthusiast), the idea of giving CAT a go with 2.5 months in hand came up. I have always felt a good 5–6 month prep is essential to giving the best at CAT. But somehow after that cup of tea, I felt a new spurt of optimism and a glimmer of hope. A structured prep and a favorable D day could just get me BLAKI calls. With a very short prep time in hand, I knew I had to give it my all. And so it began,
As every other aspirant, I had my fair share of ups and downs during my prep. Spl mention: VARC 1000 helped me a lot and I ended up scoring 99+ %iles is quite a few mocks.
D Day
The center was 45–60 mins from my place and the route had a long highway stretch. The pleasure of cruising is unmatched! Also driving always helped me clear my mind.
So I chose to drive to the center all by myself against the advice of everyone else. CAT started and my mind was all over the place for the first 20 mins. Nothing went into my head, I was re-reading sentences, losing my trail of thought, and was not in the flow at all. The anxiety settled in some time and I did my best to come back in VARC. DILR went really well, and QA was okayish.
Results
VARC 89.41
DILR 99.4
QA 95.15
OA 98.26
VARC , which was my go-to section to up the overall score ended up doing just the opposite. What happens on Day matters a lot!!
Got Calls from L, spjimr, mdi and iift and cap .( Flunked XAT despite a 98.55 OA with a 27%ile in DM )
SPJIMR — thought had done well in the interviews, but straight reject!
L( impossible waitlist) IIFT (high probability of a reject) — Really bad interviews
MDI WL299 — decent interview, unlikely to convert
The feeling of dejection and failure sunk in two days after MDI results, and this post is an outcome of that. I have always been the person who’d be happy to be among the top 10%age with minimal work rather than striving to be the best. That has finally backfired and I’d say for good. CAT 2020 has brought a major mind-shift change in me, which I am sure will last for a long time. With 3 years of work-ex already, I will be taking another and a final shot at CAT this year.
For all those who will join me in this journey for CAT 2021, let's make it memorable and finally
“Every Champion was once a contender who refused to give UP”. -Rocky
