Never be bogged down during CAT 2012 preparation: CAT 2011 98.9 percentiler Anurag Rai

Aug. 9, 2012 - PRLog -- Anurag Rai is a B.Tech in Computer Engineering from Krishna Institute of Engineering & Technology Institute, Ghaziabad. Hailing from Allahabad Uttar Pradesh, Anurag plans to start his own venture after gathering some work experience after his MBA. In today’s Topper Mantras, Anurag would share his success strategy for cracking CAT 2011, where he scored 98.9 percentile.

After getting the final admission calls from IIM Kashipur, IIM Trichy, IIM Raipur and NITIE Mumbai, Anurag decided to join IIM Raipur.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: Why and when did you decide to do your MBA?
A: I started developing interest in the intricacies of economics and business in the second year. I became more interested in it than my Computer Engineering. So I felt the need to change my stream, and finally decided to go for MBA.
After I complete my MBA, initially I would be looking for a good job, basically to generate revenue for starting my own venture.

Q: What is your CAT 2011 percentile? Apart from CAT, what are the other MBA entrance exams you took?
A: My percentile in CAT 2011 was 98.90. The other exams which I wrote were XAT 2012 & IIFT 2011.

Q: Which institutes offered you final admission? Why did you choose IIM Raipur?
A: The institutes that offered me final admissions were IIM Kashipur, IIM Trichy, IIM Raipur and NITIE Mumbai.

I decided to go for IIM Raipur for the IIM brand, location in the fastest growing state of the country, faculty and performance of the pioneer batch.

Q: How did you start your preparation and what was your overall strategy?
A: To kick start my preparations, I joined a coaching institute. My overall strategy was to find my weak points with the help of my mentors and overcome those with rigorous practice.

Q: Do you think it is possible to crack CAT without taking formal coaching? What would you suggest the CAT 2012 aspirants who would like to prepare by themselves?
A: The word itself says “I M POSSIBLE”. And CAT is an exam which is actually quite easy than it is portrayed to be. So it is definitely possible to prepare for CAT without formal coaching. In fact, many of my peers here at IIM Raipur, with work-ex, did not get time for coaching and so they prepared by themselves. However, I would suggest the aspirants to join a Test Series of their choice just to be in regular touch and practice. Regularly writing tests benefits a lot on D-Day.  

Q: CAT saw a major change in the format & pattern in 2011. How did you prepare for it? Did this new pattern cause any hindrance in your preparation or exam taking strategy?
A: Personally I believe that the discussions on change of pattern were overdone, and it was not a big issue for people who were serious about CAT 2011, because eventually they had to work in the same domain, the change in pattern could have been taken care of by a corresponding slight change in strategy, which was taken care for me by the practice tests which I used to take regularly.

Q: What was your preparation strategy for the Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning?
A: The overall strategy was to improve on my weak areas, also be in regular touch with my strong points and primarily analyze the practice test in an exhaustive manner. Regarding the study materials, those provided by the coaching institute which I had joined was more than sufficient.

Q: What was your strategy for time management?
A: Time Management emerges to be one of the main skills to inculcate before writing the CAT exam. The strategy for Time Management differs from person to person and I deciphered my methodology by regularly writing the practice tests.

Q: What is your message for the MBA aspirants who will take CAT 2012 and other exams of the season?
A: The message from my side to this year’s CAT and other exam takers is that never be bogged down by any adverse circumstances that comes your way in your preparations, ‘relentless pursuance’ is the ultimate key to success. All the best!