AIWTSAC 2020
Probably the first of the season but here it goes.
CAT started for me in my 3rd year of engineering. I joined IMS Tambram in 2017 for CAT 2018. Quant was always my strong section, verbal was weak. LRDI was something I found easy but my first attempt proved me wrong. I scored in the range of 110-120 in mocks but could manage only 20-25 in verbal. One day, I suddenly scored 60+ marks in verbal in a mock & got 99+ percentile. I made a false assumption that verbal is more luck based and I don't need to worry about it. Came the D-day, mine was Slot 2 and I was pretty excited for it tbh. I got a heads-up that DILR was one of the most difficult in the history of CAT and the rest was easy. After the exam, I had a neutral feeling about it and didn't see answer keys, hoping for lrdi cutoff to clear.
CAT 2018 - OA 94.67 (QA 97.9 DILR 84.94 VA 88.41). Calls- None
My placement at Musigma and the final year parties drifted me away. Did not join mu sigma, I had applied to LeadSquared for an internship in my final year and got a full-time offer from there.
June 2019, A fresh beginning.
Worked hard this time and trust me working and cat prep needs a lot of sacrifices. I had to ditch many plans just so that I could give mocks on weekends.
Came the D-Day, CAT 2019 Slot 2. Was fairly confident this time as I had prepared hard. The paper got over, I was confident that I had killed Quant and LRDI. My doubts with VARC proved to be true, CAT 2019 had a very tough verbal section.
CAT 2019 - OA 97.60 (QA 98.9 DILR 98.74 VA 78.81). Calls- SPJIMR
One of the biggest mistakes I made was not taking my interview prep seriously. I got out in GI1 itself at SP.
I was shattered but drawing inspiration from @Arsene96, I decided to give another fight.
Started preparing for CAT 2020 with full force as covid started. SIMCATS and AIMCATS became my best friends. I was scoring decently well in all my mocks and my verbal scores had also improved and then the pattern changed. The early mornings before office and late nights, I remember it all.
D-Day CAT 2020 SLOT 1. My centre was a 5 min walk from my home.
The paper started and it ended, it was damn quick. I was shattered after the paper as I had messed up my strongest section, Quant, and I knew this the moment the exam got over.
Decided to give NMAT and SNAP as well this time along with XAT and IIFT.
Results:
CAT 2020- OA 97.61 (QA 95 LRDI 98.5 VARC 89.4)
A 0.01 improvement in 1 year was heartbreaking.
NMAT 251
SNAP- 99.61
XAT and IIFT- Nevermind
Calls: NMIMS, SIBM P, SCMHRD, MDI, SPJIMR
One thing I knew this time was that the interviews can be a game-changer and prepared really hard for it.
SPJIMR 1st Feb
SCMHRD 17th Feb
NMIMS 19th Feb
SIBM P 21st Feb
MDI 6th April
This was the lineup.
3rd March- Converted NM
10th March- SIBM P, Waitlist 469
16th March- Converted SCMHRD
The SIBM P waitlist had hit me hard and I decided to join SCMHRD as SPJIMR seemed like a far fetched dream given the odds of conversion and I had lost all my energy to prepare for MDI.
Fast forward, 23 March 6:14 pm. SPJIMR Results were out. The feeling when I saw the word “Congratulations” cannot be explained in words. I had a flashback of the last 4 years. I was shaking for the first 1 hour and for a split second, I thought that they had given admits by mistake to everyone like the shortlist error of last year. Checked some groups to find some people with waitlists to realise that I had actually made it.
The feeling still hasn't sunk in.
My very dear friend @van_hohenheim has also made it through in his first attempt and believe me when I say he is a real OG.
To all those who feel demotivated or lost, I hope this post gives you some motivation that every single one of you can do it if the right efforts are put in. It is not over till you believe it is. PG has been a great family which has always stuck by.
Signing off.. SPJIMR 2021-23 #IamSPJIMR