CAT 2020 Topper Surya 99.97 percentiler says,”Focus on mocks, analyse your mistakes and rectify them”

An IIT Madras engineer has another reason to cheer as he scored 99.97 percentile in the CAT 2020 exam which was held amidst COVID 19 pandemic. The change in the CAT exam pattern did not let CAT 2020 topper Surya and 99.97 percentiler lose his focus and it was due to less time that he felt that there was more pressure on the candidates. Now the CAT 2020 topper Surya is aiming to make his way either to IIM A, B or C. On the day of the CAT 2020 exam, Surya found the paper a little bit difficult but he kept his calm and gave his best. CAT 2020 topper Surya’s parents are his biggest motivators and support as the preparation journey was slightly stressful. Read the full interview of CAT 2020 topper Surya where he highlights how he overcame the hurdles and what different he did to score such an emphatic percentile.
Latest CAT Update: CAT 2020 result declared on January 2, 2021. Also check CAT cutoff 2020.

Careers360 - Congratulations on securing over 99.97 percentile in CAT 2020! What was your reaction? Were you expecting this?

Surya - Thank you. I think after the marks came I had a good idea that I would get above 99.9. But the 99.97 percentile is a little higher than what I expected. Yes, I was pretty happy that I got a higher percentile.

Careers360 - What are your overall and sectional percentile and scaled scores?

Surya - My scaled score is 147.88 and my sectional percentile in verbal is 99.3, DILR 99.85, Quant 99.93.

Careers360 - Tell us something about your background.

Surya - I am doing my B.Tech Electrical engineering and Master in Data Science in IIT Madras. I am an engineering student. But very early in my IIT life, I realized that I was not as passionate about engineering as many of my friends in IIT. Then I started exploring other things and I realized that I am much more interested in subjects like Marketing, finance, and operations. Because of this interest, I did a lot of internships on the business side in ITC and TVS Capital. So that cemented my interest in the management field. So because of that, I thought of pursuing an MBA and I appeared for the CAT exam.

Careers360 - How was your exam day experience?

Surya - Immediately after coming out of the exam, I didn't expect to get a good percentile. I found the exam much tougher than I expected. Especially Verbal, which was one of my major strengths. But the paper was pretty difficult for me. So I thought that if I did the other two sections well, I would score above 99 percentile in those, and verbal I would get around 90 percentile. But, then after the CAT answer key came, I was surprised and happy that I scored well in verbal ability. So, basically after the exam, I was not very happy with my performance.

Careers360 - What was your preparation strategy for CAT?

Surya - I didn't follow any unique strategy. For CAT, the only important thing is to give a lot of mocks. I gave around 30 to 35 mocks from both TIME and IMS. Other than that, I did nothing else for CAT preparation. I used to give the mocks and analyze them. Verbal wise, I have always been reading a lot. In the other two sections, since I am an engineering student so I have a good foundation in DILR and Quants.

Careers360 - What according to you were the toughest and easiest sections?

Surya - I felt that the verbal section was the toughest compared to the other two.

Careers360 - How did you tackle your strong and weak areas?

Surya - I felt that my weakness was in DILR. There was too much time pressure and I used to get flustered if I was not able to solve a set immediately. So for the other two subjects I was confident of doing well. They were my strengths. But for DILR, I think the only way anyone can better is by taking more and more tests. There is no theory or concepts to understand. The more you do, the more you get used to handling pressure.

Careers360 - What was your time management strategy with respect to preparation as well as exam day?

Surya - I think that you build the strategy up while giving mocks. So my CAT exam strategy is different for every subject. I was stronger at comprehension than verbal ability, so I picked all the comprehensions first and solved them. In DILR, like everyone says, try to pick the easy sets and I attempted those. I left one set because I found that it was difficult. Later on I realized, the choice I made was correct. In quant, I did not have any strategy. I attempted whatever questions came and the CAT 2020 quant was easy. So, I think there is no need for a strategy for this section.

Careers360 - What was your take on the changed CAT 2020 exam pattern?

Surya - It was much more difficult for me as compared to the old pattern. The difficulty level of the questions didn’t increase. But because of the time pressure, the overall difficulty increased.

Careers360 - How helpful was your coaching institute for you? Is it possible to succeed through self-study?

Surya - I think without mocks of coaching institutes it is very difficult to do well in CAT. The coaching institutes helped me with a few doubts here and there and they gave mock papers which were very helpful. I believe that without a coaching institute, it is difficult to clear the CAT exam.

Careers360 - What are the factors behind your success?

Surya - Obviously, my parents are my biggest motivation. During the entire CAT process, if I felt demotivated, in such times they were always there to help and support me to take the next step in my journey. So, I think they were the major motivating factor. Other than that, my mentors from both TIME and IMS were very helpful and they taught me how to answer in the best possible way and score a high percentile in CAT.

Careers360 - Have you started preparing for GD/PI/WAT?

Surya - No, I have not started my full preparation for group discussion and personal interview. I have just started revising a few subjects which I had studied in the first and second year of IIT. I will start through preparation and the mock interview by mid January.

Careers360 - Which other MBA entrance exam have you appeared/appearing for?

Surya - No, I did'nt appear for any other exam.

Careers360 - What is your dream B-School? After that, what career do you want to pursue?

Surya - I think all the three IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta are equally good. I am yet to decide where I will like to go. So, any of them would be good for me. All of them equally reputed. When it comes to a career, I would like to make it probably either in the field of marketing or finance. I will have to choose between these two. There are a lot of options like you can become an entrepreneur or you can join the government. But everything will depend on where my life takes me.

Careers360 - What are your hobbies?

Surya - I read a lot of books and am writing a book myself. Apart from that, I play tennis and am a huge sports fan. I also run a podcast for young students that tries to provide different career options and great career advice to them. I interview people between the age group of 30 to 35 and above who have acquired a certain degree of experience in their career.

.Careers360 - What were your relaxation and recreation methods you followed amidst preparation?

Surya - The preparation was slightly stressful actually. Not too much. I didn’t need any particular recreation method. It was mostly life as normal life.

Careers360 - Do you have any idols who you follow?

Surya - No. When I was young I used to idolise people like Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. Right now I don’t have any. I really want to see everyone’s journey and how they move from their lives after they are 22 years old. My philosophy is that each person is unique. So, you have to craft your own life. You need to learn from what others do. So I don’t have any specific role model.

Careers360 - What is your message for next year's CAT takers?

Surya - I think it is possible to clear the CAT by just preparing properly. Doing a mock test is very important. Besides, keep calm and take as many mock tests as possible as this will enable you to know how you will perform under pressure and will enable you to enhance your skill.