CAT Strategy

25/04/2023, 18:37 The Story of a GEM who wasn’t a gem but still made it to IIMA: | by Sai Krishna Kota
to IIMA: | by Sai Krishna Kota | Medium
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May 20, 2021 · 26 min read · Listen
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The Story of a GEM who wasn’t a gem

but still made it to IIMA:
Disclaimer: This is going to be a long post. Try to stay till the end as the
KXIP Captain does in every match of the IPL. Please go through the post
in a calm and peaceful state of mind without any rush (Remember how
https://saikrishnakota18.medium.com/the-story-of-a-gem-who-wasnt-a-gem-but-still-made-it-to-iima-62894786370 1/33
25/04/2023, 18:37 The Story of a GEM who wasn’t a gem but still made it to IIMA: | by Sai Krishna Kota | Medium
calm dhoni was in the India Vs. Bangladesh match of the 2016 T20 world
cup)
Every one of us has a story that needs to be told and heard at a certain
point in our lives. But not everyone tells their stories. I feel every story is
worth telling, but more than that it’s worth living. When we share the
stories of so-called turning points or defining moments of our life, it
gives us enormous satisfaction and makes us forget all efforts which we
had put in. (Even the cricket God Sachin summarized his 22 years
journey on 22 yards at the end of his final test match).
Here is my story:
All about me:
I am one of the lakhs of engineers graduating in 2021 but from an IIT.

My major is in Civil Engineering, which I still couldn’t figure out why I
opted for it. I was always an average student right from my childhood
and never excelled at any olympiads, competitive exams, or hadn’t done
anything phenomenal. My extracurriculars and other skills made me

appear as a bright student. This is called knowing the reality and everyone
should be ready to accept theirs. Why? Because this helps you to
understand yourself and plan your targets in a better way.
“Capability”, is a word that is regularly used to describe when people can do

something. I was told throughout my life that I am capable of excelling at
studies, I was told that I am capable of a 3 digit rank in my JEE preparation,
and even in engineering about branch change from Civil to CS. But somehow,
I was always short of them. (To be brief, my life was like Rohit Sharma’s
performance until he was promoted as an opener and became the “Hitman”)
I was very sure about one thing right from my childhood, “to become an
IAS officer”. As my age started to increase, the confidence that I would
become an IAS started to decrease. I never planned for a proper CV,
hadn’t done anything spectacular in graduation, and wasn’t even serious
about Campus Placements because I was residing in a bubble that said

“you will have a fresh slate to write when you begin UPSC preparation
and things happened until then doesn’t matter”.
The most encountered question in a student’s life is “What are you

planning to do next?”. People expect us to be ready with a plan for the
next 15–20 years of life. This question even started to haunt me from my
third year of graduation, and coming home during lockdown was like
adding fuel to the fire. I know it’s hard to convince my parents about
UPSC without having a solid plan B. So, I started figuring out my future
career options.
First Encounter with CAT:
A B.Tech friend of mine would either sleep during the class or play
games on the mobile. But one day he was seriously solving something as
if he was planning to prove the theory of relativity wrong. Later I found
out that he was preparing for the CAT exam to get an MBA admission
from IIM.
Why I decided to give CAT:
I need to have something to say when someone asks what I am doing.

The option of giving GATE or IES was ruled out because of my
enthusiasm towards Civil Engineering. I am left with CAT or GMAT, and
the patriot inside me would never accept studying in a foreign country.
It was also maybe to convince myself that I can achieve something and
to be amongst the best.
Reintroduction of the Old Friend:
After coming home for the corona break, I was occupied with online
classes, semester exams, and internships in the summer while thoughts
about CAT took a backseat. I was done with my internship by June end.
On a fine day during my internship, I received a message regarding the
IMS Scholarship test. I immediately opened the CAT syllabus to have a
glance at it. After looking at it, I felt I would easily ace it because
everything seemed pretty easy for the engineer inside me. An hour
prior to giving the test, I was just browsing about CAT scores vs
percentile details about previous years. I found out that anything above
180+ would be a safer score. I was confident to cross 180+ right in my
first test and even had a plan for the same (VARC-40, DILR-60, QA-80). I
did not practice or prepare anything but depended on my
overconfidence and the so-called logical and reasoning skills I had.
The burst of the Bubble:
The exam began with the VARC section and I started attacking RCs and
it was taking much time. So, I switched to VA questions and gave some
random answers for TITA questions since they don’t have any negative
marking. I could answer 27/34. I started to float in the sky thinking “Is
the CAT exam really for an IIM admission? If yes, why is it so easy?” The
running clock brought me back to the ground as my DILR section is yet
to begin. I could find and solve 2 DI sets in the first 15 mins. For the next
30mins, I couldn’t crack even 1 LR set. In the last 15 mins, I started to
select options based on some approximations and assumptions (we
engineers call it jugaad). I ended up at 14/32. And finally, the most
awaited section was here, QA. I could solve around 20 questions when
the exam window got submitted automatically.
And the result was displayed as 82.00/300. I was astonished and couldn’t
believe the displayed score. Some part of myself started mocking me.
The so-called confidence bubble of mine burst and brought me back to
the ground. I closed my laptop without any further thought and went for
a short nap. Later I decided not to worry much about it and tried to
focus on my internship. As days passed, this 82 wasn’t willing to leave
me and I finally decided to give CAT and prove my worth (felt that it
might also be a backup plan for UPSC)
Keeping it simple:
I did not tell about my CAT attempt too many people and even my father
came to know about it when I asked him for the money for the
application fees. The simple reason being- I wanted to spare myself of
the melodrama and unknowingly to get involved in career-related
conversations with self-proclaimed experts. (Do you remember the day
when India was called an underdog and a team without many
experienced players, but still managed to clinch the T20 world cup).
(The other example being Dipa Karmakar’s performance in the 2016
Olympics at a time when most of us don’t even know about her). At the
same time, I also had to accept the fact that my preparation journey was
going to be slightly lonesome, as I was not ready to discuss my ups and
downs, my mock experiences with many people. I just used to message
a couple of friends about their mock scores just to ensure whether I am
on the right path or not. The self-imposed isolation served me a dual
purpose — it taught me self-reliance and to work hard in silence.
(Chanakya’s thought- “not revealing your plans until you see them to
completion”.)
Be your own personality. It isn’t just improving your reasoning or logical

skills. Try becoming a better version of yourself because a CAT score
can get you an interview call but can’t guarantee a B-school admission.
You need to have something unique to sell yourself to the interview

panelists. Do not depend too much on online CAT preparation groups
and forums like Pagalguy, where your return on investment might not
be too high. Some people benefited a lot and made good friends from
them also, but the ultimate call is yours to decide how much time to
invest. (I came to know about pagalguy after I completed most of my B-
school interviews). In the Facebook groups which I was part of, I came
across posts like “How do I improve my score in Verbal/DI/QA ?” being
dodged easily while appreciating things like “Dude, how did you get
such a high score?” being heaped upon a good performer. By seeing
these, I used to get JEE Coaching feels where peer comparison is at best.
Well, I felt scrolling down and looking at other people’s performances is
not going to get you anywhere or improve your performance drastically.
The act of scrolling down can never be a source of motivation, rather I
suggest you read journey’s of some truly inspiring people who might
pull you up when you are low (Sohum Sen’s journey to IIMC)
Let me give a break to the so-called gyaan. I know it would become

boring and heavy if I continue. Let me move right away into my
preparation strategy, sources I followed section-wise
My Rough Preparation Timeline:
July, August 2020 — Worked on required Concepts and other Basics
September, October 2020 — Attempted IMS Mocks and previous year

mocks of IMS, TIME (Overall 40+ mocks)
November 2020 — Worked on the mistakes I made in mock tests, solved

previous CAT papers to gain some confidence, stopped everything 3
days before CAT
Just before we go section-wise, let me give you a few important pointers.
Firstly, you need not be (like Rafel Nadal in clay court) a peak performer
in every section. Try to be a decent performer in all the sections (like
Federer who won the highest number of grand slams with decent wins
at every grand slam)
VARC:- a so-called nightmare for engineers (similar to short ball phobia

of Suresh Raina)
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, This section is not about

how good you are at the English language. You neither need to be an
ardent reader nor a person like Shashi Tharoor or a Non-Engineering
girl who is best at the language. The section doesn’t aspire to test your
language, but it tests your reasoning abilities. Any aspirant with good
reading speed, average vocabulary, and better comprehension skills can
sail through this section comfortably.
One major question which many people ask is how to start and where to
start?
I would suggest starting with the basic TIME institute booklet. It has a
couple of exercises through which you can check your reading speed
and ability to summarize things
The other major question has always been whether to read the passage
first and then solve the questions or read the questions first and then go
to the passage. With most of the test-takers, the first method doesn’t
work. Because they might start with the best of intentions, but by the
time they reach the middle of the passage they start losing interest or
couldn’t retain what they read till then, starts to take a look at the
questions, somehow manages to reach the end or start going back and
forth between the questions and the passage. On the other hand, if we
start looking at the questions first, it becomes a match for the following
exercise but not an RC. So that is something which I would rule out
straightaway.
The strategy which I followed and would suggest to most of you is a third
way which addresses the problems of the first two.
1.Start with the first paragraph and read one by one paragraph, check if
there is any question related to it. If there is, try to solve it immediately
this will increase your accuracy and confidence since you have just read
the specific part of the passage.
2. If there is no question related to it, go ahead to the next paragraph

and continue with the same exercise.
3.Keep all Summary Questions to the end because you need to finish the
whole passage for answering it.
4.If the paragraphs are short in length, say 4 lines or fewer, you can read
two at a time and then answer the relevant questions
Sources I followed:
1.Word Power made easy by Norman Lewis to improve vocabulary
2. Time booklets for initial preparation
3.Word Pandit Website for daily practice
4.Gejo VARC youtube videos
5. RC 100 by IMS (Level of difficulty is a bit high)
6. Previous year mocks of IMS, TIME, CL
7. Read articles from websites like Aeon, The Wire, Quint, Guardian,
Bharat’s curated list, Aldaily
You can start with either RCs or VA questions according to your comfort
levels. Mocks help you decide whether solving all RCs at a single stretch
works for you or solving a couple of RCs followed by VA questions and
remaining RCs.
DILR:
In cricket, there are a few mystery bowlers suddenly appearing as a

flash and dominating the game in a short period and troubling the
batsmen of all stripes, most of them also disappear suddenly — the
Srilankan spinner Ajantha Mendis epitomized this phenomenon. Why
do they cause so much destruction? Because they defy expectations and
test a different kind of skill or mindset that most batsmen take time to
figure out. The same is the case with the DILR sets.
DILR has somehow always been an arch-nemesis. For me, the DILR
section is one that either breaks or makes my overall score. I have seen
both 60 percentile and 95+ percentile during my mocks. This is the
section for which I had put a lot of effort and learned many new things
ranging from set selection to approaching and cracking a set. Let me
share some of the insights which I learned
1. You should be unbiased and fair towards both DI and LR.
I have seen people saying, “ I am good at DI sets, I can crack LR sets in a

short period”. Your job is to choose the right sets irrespective of whether
they belong to DI or LR. Irrespective of your strengths, you might solve 4
DI, 2 LR sets in one test, and in another, it can be 1 DI, 4 LR sets. Your
selection should vary according to the paper but not as per the preset
mindset. (Never try for a pull shot even when you get a yorker ball). The
tougher the DI-LR section gets, the harder it will be for you to
differentiate between where DI ends and where LR begins, the lines
between the two have gotten blurred. Tune yourself and try to set a goal
so that you would choose and solve 4–5 sets among the given 8 sets in 60
minutes.
2. Spend enough time in selecting and judging the sets:
From my experience of solving almost 500+ sets, I found out sets can be
of the following categories. Standard or Unique, Plugging in the values
or Deduction, Closed or Open Sets. As each of these three settings —
Standard, Plugin, Closed starts to change, the sets will get progressively
harder with the toughest type ones being Unique, Deductive and Open
Sets. Before solving, try to go through all the sets in 3minutes and
evaluate them through the above lens. I know this is easier said than
done but if you solve enough sets you will develop this judgment. But the
key is to look deeper when you look. There is a lot of difference between
spending 30 seconds and viewing the surface of the question and
spending 45 seconds and seeing through to the bottom of it.
3. A few DON’Ts in terms of how to evaluate a set:
A tabular data or pie chart doesn’t imply a simple and easily solvable set.
There are such types of sets that need enormous calculations and much
time. At the same time, don’t assume all the lengthy sets are complex.
There might be many lengthy sets with most of the information
redundant
4. One doesn’t need to crack a set completely to solve the questions:
Most of us while attempting the test would be left with a couple of

minutes in the end. We think it’s not possible to crack any set in such a
span of time, so we start thinking about the next section. The point to be
noted here is there might be sets in which you can solve 1 or 2 questions
just by going through the set. So, try to use even the last couple of
minutes wisely and precisely
5. The thing which still surprises me is, in spite of the number of sets
you practice, CAT still throws something new at you every year. There is
no point in wasting time in solving specific kinds of sets since you will
never get mirror replicas. I would rather suggest that you try to solve as
many types as possible and keep learning from them. Try to focus on
these things, ability to judge a set, work on the best way to represent the
given data rather than blindly writing everything given, don’t get stuck
between the conditions.
One of the things that you need to remember about the DILR is that if it’s
tough for you it’s tough for everyone else and the cut-off can be much lower
than usual. So do not get tense if you find most of the sets in a particular test
tough.
The sources I followed:
1. Solved few examples of all the set types in Arun Sharma Book
2. Elites Grid Youtube Channel (Downloaded their previous year sets

compilation and solved 5–10 sets per day)
3. Unacademy tutor Riya Agarwal Telegram Channel
One more thing, don’t have a thought that you need to solve 500+ sets to
get 99+ percentile in DILR. I have seen people getting it even by solving
less than 100 sets. And remember “one size strategy doesn’t fill”. Plan
your preparation according to your abilities and strengths. The final
exam score would be a combination of many factors such as luck, ability
to handle pressure, set selection, etc.
Quantitative Aptitude:
Unlike the other two sections of the CAT, QA is a section in which most
of the test takers are familiar because of its connection to what you have
learned in school and college. But the major problem here is that the
teachers in the school never taught us to solve, they taught us solutions;
similarly, we never learned to solve, we memorized the procedure and
solutions. If you want to be a high scorer in Quant, you should stop
memorizing solutions and solve problems.
Leave no concept unturned:
I was very good at numbers and arithmetic, but I also struggled a lot in
the geometry part. Many aspirants would be in a similar situation,
strong at some topics, not good enough in some topics. This in itself
indicates how each topic of Maths requires different skills to tackle,
making the QA section similar to a Heptathlon or Decathlon, which
requires you to be good at 7 and 10 different events.
To compete in such an event you need to know how to perform in each

individual event. You cannot know how to perform only 5 out of 7 events
in a heptathlon (100 meters hurdles, High jump, Shot put, 200 meters,
Long jump, Javelin throw, 800 meters) and then try to compete.
It goes without saying that to succeed at such an event you need to be

above average in all events and great at a few, success in the quant
requires something very similar, you need to know the basics of all the
topics and be competent enough to solve at least Easy and Medium
questions from all of them.
Once you are thorough with all the basic concepts, the three traits which
pull your score higher are Accuracy, Selection & Speed.
What might be the reason behind low accuracy?
The run machine Sachin Tendulkar who scored many runs used to get
out for low scores because of improper shot selection or judgment. The
same is the case with us, which is maintaining a high accuracy rate
consistently. The following are some of the reasons which generally
reduce the accuracy of a test taker.
We tend to ignore or somehow miss the crucial information given in the

question or have a poor judgment in assessing the complexity of the
question. The other thing might be doing simple calculation errors.
Firstly, to improve your accuracy, do a complete diagnosis of every

mistake you commit in a mock test. Get to know why you committed
each mistake and how it could be avoided in the next mock you take.
You cannot do the same thing and expect different results — For
instance, none of us expected that Sachin would take 33 innings to
achieve the mark of 100 centuries. The 100th century wasn’t easy for the
cricket demigod. He wasn’t at his best and over-cautious while batting.
Even King Kohli, who had a disastrous tour of England had to work on
certain things for improvement. Virat Kohli with the help of Sanjay
Bangar identified that the reason for him getting out so frequently to
Anderson was that his right toe was pointing towards cover and the left
one towards mid-off, making his stance very straight on this resulted in
Anderson squaring him up. So before the first test in Australia, they
changed the stance to a more side on the right toe pointing towards
point and the left towards cover that helped him play beside the line and
leave the ball.
How to become good at the selection of QA questions?
What does anyone look for when they invest some amount in stocks?
You expect a good return on your investment. Similarly, you aspire for a
return on the time you are investing in CAT. This is difficult to achieve
particularly in the QA section because there are no sets for you to
choose questions in bulk. So how does one go about question selection?
You should be spending enough time before you begin to solve the
question to evaluate the question correctly, Never let your ego come in
between nor spend more than 2.5–3 mins on a single question. By the
time you finish reading a question, you should be able to put the
question in either of the three baskets,i.e. NOW (A), LATER (B), or
NEVER ©. So, the basket for a particular question should be decided
based on the difficulty level, the time required to solve the question but
not using the familiarity or your comfort levels with the topic.
As it is famously said, “The person you love the most can hurt you the
most”. Applying similar logic to QA, The area or topic you love the most can
hurt you the most. This is because all of us have our favorite areas and
sometimes
Open in app it can be our favorite areas that hurt us the most in terms
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taken to solve them.
Since we are deeply attached to some particular topics, we tend to solve

them without judging the difficulty level. You have to be aware at any
point of the time about the most precious commodity in an aptitude test
time.
I could solve only 20 questions in QA in my first mock. Later on, I was

able to increase it to attempting around 30 questions. According to my
opinion, increasing your speed by at least 2x is a function of changing
three things in the way you execute a solution: increasing your number-
crunching muscle, reducing your dependence on writing extensively,
viewing problems through an alternative lens
Sources I followed:
1. Arun Sharma book for concepts and initial practice
2. Questions from previous year mock of IMS and TIME
3. QA questions from Takshashila booklets (Recommended if you have

time)
Is Coaching necessary? Which institute is better? What’s the ideal number

of mocks to be taken?
If you are scared of mathematics or don’t have a proper maths

background, I would suggest you opt for coaching. They guide you and
help you cover the topics smoothly. Otherwise, you can self-study and
purchase a test series for mocks. This leads us to the next question
about which institute to choose.413I would suggest
6 opting for IMS because
of two reasons, the first reason is the number of test-takers is high and
the other reason is difficulty level and Analysis of a mock test are very
good. The ideal number of mocks to be taken varies from person to
person. You should at least take 10+ mocks at any cost to get the feel of
the exam. And the number can move onwards and upwards based on
your interest and need.
What is the ideal time/month to start the mocks?
Firstly, this is not a school/college test where taking a test means

memorizing formulae from a book and reproducing them in an exam.
CAT is only 50% about knowing concepts, the other half is about
developing a test-taking strategy, i.e. managing the 60 minutes of a
section, gauging the difficulty of questions, and choosing the right
questions to solve. so you should always be not just ready but greedy to
take a mock.
D-day:
My center was 60km from my place and I had my exam in Slot 2 (12:30–
2:30 pm). I reached the center by 11:30 pm, and I then messaged a
friend who gave the exam in Slot 1. My message was “Was there any
surprises in the exam because of the time reduction?”. He replied
saying, everything was normal, only a new thing was 6question sets in
DILR. The reply gave me a sense of relief. I had little snacks and went
inside the exam center. We were not allowed to gather in groups due to
COVID restrictions. Now please note that I was not really worried about
it because this was my backup plan as I still had UPSC thoughts in my
mind. I had no preset percentile targets in my mind. I was very chill and
relaxed watching everyone and looking at the window frequently. I was
able to attempt decent questions in VARC and I was sure of clearing the
cutoff. This gave me a bit of confidence before my DILR section. The
thing which I learned about my DILR approach through mocks, if I was
able to crack the first set I selected, I would ace the section. So, I picked
an easy but lengthy 4question set. I solved cautiously which cost me
15mins of time. (Remember the way Kohli builds an innings while he
plans to chase huge targets). So, I was left with 25 mins. I managed to
solve both 6question sets. With a satisfying DILR section, I sailed
through QA quite comfortably. I took a deep breath and stretched my
legs after the clock ran out of time. I played defensive shots in VARC, hit
a fabulous pull shot in DILR, and finished with an out-of-park shot in
QA.
By the end of the day, I realized that VARC was moderate to difficult in
all the 3 slots, and LRDI was very difficult and quant was manageable.
These reviews left me wondering whether I had attempted the same
paper as these reviewers. I hoped that I would cross the 99 percentile
and stopped worrying much about it because I never had a thought of
getting B-school admission.
Checking the Key and Results day:
There was a notification in the IMS WhatsApp group saying the CAT
response sheet was out. I downloaded it and started to check the
answers. But I suddenly started to shiver and got a weird feeling. So, I
sent my response sheet to a friend and asked him to calculate the score.
He replied that you are getting above 125. Later at the end of the day,
IMS released the predicted percentile Vs Score. I expected to get 99.5+
according to IMS data. I immediately googled about the possibility of
getting interview calls from A, B, C and found that being a GEM you
need a percentile above 99.8 at least to get a call. I just informed my
parents the same and they were like you are finally getting what you
wanted. They asked me to find out which institute was best for UPSC so
that I could join coaching immediately.
There were many speculations that CAT results would be out in the first
week of January. But I was sick on 30th Dec. I had a temperature of 101F
on the night 0f 31st Dec. I still somehow managed to stay awake and
celebrate. I was so worried about starting the new year with sickness. I
took many antibiotic tablets which made me sleepy most of the time. So,
I was in a deep sleep in the afternoon of 2nd Jan. There were multiple
calls from my friends that day. After seeing them, I started to worry
about what happened. Then when I switched on my mobile data there
were messages saying CAT results were out. I was still sleepy but was
somehow able to login into the results page. I was completely taken
aback after seeing the results. My immediate feeling was “What the
fuck!! Did I enter my data wrong?”. After confirming it twice, I started
yelling and my parents were like “What the hell is wrong with him?”. I
informed them about the percentile and explained to them it was a very
good percentile and might get an interview call from B, C at least. I was
not sure about A because of my not-so-great academic performance in
UG. So, my parents started to discuss, thank god!! We didn’t pay fees for
UPSC coaching. Later I spoke with my IMS mentors and even they said
that you will get a call from B, C but you may not get from A.
January 2020- Please give me A ka call month
Interview calls started to come from mid-January. A was first to roll out
the calls followed by SPJIMR, L, I, CAP, B, K, and finally C at the end. I
got a call from A but couldn’t make it to B. I hadn’t applied to any other
institutes like XLRI, FMS, etc. I thought I didn’t get a B call because I am
a GEM fresher. And IMS mentors asked us to enroll in the GDPI course
and start preparing for the interview. I still had UPSC thoughts in my
mind due to which I wasn’t still serious about PI prep. But as they say,
sometimes you don’t get what you want because you deserve better. I
somehow lacked the zeal and driving force for PI preparation. Thanks to
Khozikode interview panelists who gave everything I needed to get a B-
school Admission.
It was 5 mins into the interview of IIMK, one of the panelists started
yelling at me as if I had committed some kind of terror act. He used to
cut me abruptly and never listened to me properly. His concluding
words were “Half of what you said appears to be bullshit, I wonder how
you are an IIT graduate. Your interview is done, you can get out of the
call”.
I was so devastated and felt very bad after that experience. My ego was
deeply hurt and I decided to not land up in such a situation in the
upcoming interviews. This became a now or never situation to me. I
revised my UG courses, worked on my HR questions, and brushed up on
my Current Affairs. I gave a couple of mock PIs and the feedback from
my mentors and seniors helped me a lot.
I feel there should be a special mention about the luck factor which I
had. My interviews were scheduled in a way of increasing order of
importance, i.e. CAP, L, C, A. I planned the preparation in such a way so
that CAP and L interviews should be sought as net practice for the C and
A interviews.
The tale of two opposites: underestimation and complacency
My brain played a double role in my GD-PI preparation. The first role

was full of underestimating me and self-doubt. I constantly kept
demotivating myself, kept worrying about my academic knowledge, and
much about my why MBA and other HR answers. This made me very
nervous and it was clearly reflected in my mock PIs and I was sweating
really bad in all the interviews. The feedback of my first IMS was “if you
have a thought that your percentile would get you an IIM admission,
please come out of it. You need to work a lot on your confidence and
answers’’. I failed to realize that it’s a game of selling yourselves and
what you know in the best possible way and being confident and
believing in what you know.
Now, I was complacent at the same time, because I somehow felt that if
I could drive the interview panel into my strong zone, I would be able to
ace it. The Ahmedabad interview was a so-called perfect interview, the
panelists were coming with me wherever I drove them. They gave me an
opportunity to showcase and pitch myself why I was a suitable
candidate for IIMA admission.
Verdict: Converted IIMA, IIMC, and Rejected by IIMK. I am planning to

join IIM Ahmedabad
The mistakes which you shouldn’t make:
1.If you really aspire for a B-school admission, integrate your PI

preparation with your CAT preparation. Try to know yourselves better,
build a good profile, do some online courses and enjoy the learning.
2. If you spend 3 hours writing a mock, spend at least 6hours analyzing

it. You can learn a lot from your mistakes, even there might be better
methods to solve a question which you got correct
3. Don’t ask someone how to improve your scores or performance. This

is because no one knows you better than you. You will have to put effort
to find out what floats your boat.
4. Don’t delay giving mocks saying you aren’t 100% ready to take the
mock. Trust me, you would be never 100% ready to take a mock. There
will be a topic or area which might still trouble you. The path only
becomes visible as you move ahead
5. Treat every mock as an original CAT exam. Give your best shot
6. Don’t spend time asking people about how much percentile you need
to get a particular institute call. In the end, none of us can predict it
since it’s a function of many factors.
Let me summarise my experience and bring an end to this long story:
Whatever happens, it happens for the best. Things might not occur
according to your plan. Keep your plan updated accordingly. Never
demotivate yourself for a couple of bad mocks. You do not know what’s
in store for you. (My best percentile in a mock is 99.45, and that too I got
it once. But, still, I managed to get a decent percentile at the end). Stop
making excuses, it doesn’t boost your score or helps you in any way.
Never ever stop dreaming!! Believing in yourself is the best thing you
can do to yourself. Keep your loved ones close. They are the ones who
are going to help you sail through. Anything is possible. You just need to
plan and put in those efforts. Even if you fail, you will learn a lot and
grow as a person. “It’s not who you are within, it’s what you do that
defines you”. Remember why you started this journey, and why this is
important. Give this exam its due respect and be positive. Feeling low,
anxious is a part of the process. Those who clear it are not from Mars,
they are from this planet only. Always wear a smile, be humble.
If you have made it to this end, I would be deeply grateful to you for
taking the time out to read this. If you felt that there are a couple of
things to take away from this, do share it with more people. It would
mean the world to me :). Since this is my first post, I hope you would be
able to accept the errors or mistakes in the blog.
All the aspirants who are planning to appear for CAT can reach out to
me for any sort of queries through LinkedIn. You can also mail me at
saikrishnakota18@gmail.com
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25/04/2023, 18:37 The Story of a GEM who wasn’t a gem but still made it to IIMA: | by Sai Krishna Kota

to IIMA: | by Sai Krishna Kota | Medium

Sai Krishna Kota Follow

May 20, 2021 · 26 min read · Listen

The Story of a GEM who wasn’t a gem

All about me:

I am one of the lakhs of engineers graduating in 2021 but from an IIT.

anything phenomenal. My extracurriculars and other skills made me

“Capability”, is a word that is regularly used to describe when people can do

about Campus Placements because I was residing in a bubble that said

The most encountered question in a student’s life is “What are you

First Encounter with CAT:

Why I decided to give CAT:

I need to have something to say when someone asks what I am doing.

Reintroduction of the Old Friend:

The burst of the Bubble:

Be your own personality. It isn’t just improving your reasoning or logical

You need to have something unique to sell yourself to the interview

Let me give a break to the so-called gyaan. I know it would become

My Rough Preparation Timeline:

July, August 2020 — Worked on required Concepts and other Basics

September, October 2020 — Attempted IMS Mocks and previous year

November 2020 — Worked on the mistakes I made in mock tests, solved

Just before we go section-wise, let me give you a few important pointers.

VARC:- a so-called nightmare for engineers (similar to short ball phobia

Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension, This section is not about

2. If there is no question related to it, go ahead to the next paragraph

1.Word Power made easy by Norman Lewis to improve vocabulary

2. Time booklets for initial preparation

3.Word Pandit Website for daily practice

4.Gejo VARC youtube videos

5. RC 100 by IMS (Level of difficulty is a bit high)

6. Previous year mocks of IMS, TIME, CL

In cricket, there are a few mystery bowlers suddenly appearing as a

1. You should be unbiased and fair towards both DI and LR.

I have seen people saying, “ I am good at DI sets, I can crack LR sets in a

2. Spend enough time in selecting and judging the sets:

3. A few DON’Ts in terms of how to evaluate a set:

4. One doesn’t need to crack a set completely to solve the questions:

Most of us while attempting the test would be left with a couple of

The sources I followed:

2. Elites Grid Youtube Channel (Downloaded their previous year sets

3. Unacademy tutor Riya Agarwal Telegram Channel

Leave no concept unturned:

To compete in such an event you need to know how to perform in each

It goes without saying that to succeed at such an event you need to be

What might be the reason behind low accuracy?

We tend to ignore or somehow miss the crucial information given in the

Firstly, to improve your accuracy, do a complete diagnosis of every

How to become good at the selection of QA questions?

taken to solve them.

Since we are deeply attached to some particular topics, we tend to solve

I could solve only 20 questions in QA in my first mock. Later on, I was

1. Arun Sharma book for concepts and initial practice

2. Questions from previous year mock of IMS and TIME

3. QA questions from Takshashila booklets (Recommended if you have

Is Coaching necessary? Which institute is better? What’s the ideal number

If you are scared of mathematics or don’t have a proper maths

What is the ideal time/month to start the mocks?