A Winner Is A Dreamer Who Never Gives Up! | Vaibhav Mangla, IIM K 2020-22

Mock series

Mock series was the major resource of my preparation. I enrolled in IMS test series and used to solve sectionals in mobile phone whenever I used to get free time at my workplace. Twice in a week I used to give full length mocks and analyzes them properly to know where I have had done better.

Preparation

Being a biology student I didn’t have a good grip on quant and DILR. DILR is regarded as the most difficult section of CAT and a nightmare to most of us. I used to solve around 40-50 questions of quant, 3-4 DILR and 4-5 RC passages of medium to difficult level on a daily basis. Major problem for me was the DILR section as video solutions are not easily available and text solutions are difficult to comprehend so I took the help of youtube and google to get my doubts cleared and finally managed to score from 48.87 percentile in CAT’18 to 99.35 percentile in CAT’19 in DILR section.

Now the next problem came after I got shortlisted for the interview,as this was the first time in my life I was going to appear for any interview and due to unavailability of any interview preparatory classes in my town I decided to work upon my oral efficiency at home itself.

I started using an application Opentalk (I’m not doing any promotion) from which I used to talk to random people from all over the world and thus improved my English communication skills which gave me confidence to express my opinions in front of the panelists.

Lowest point

Even after working so hard when you consistently score below average in mocks just before a week from the D day, is really a disappointment for any aspirant. But you should not let your spirit die, try to stay calm and motivated and instead of cursing yourself, analyze your test and work upon the mistakes.

Resources

IMS mocks, Youtube, Unacademy and opentalk application (for interview preparation).

Do’s and Don’ts 

1. Try to find out your weak-point by giving mocks.
2. Analyzing the mocks properly.
3. Try to solve questions of various difficulty levels as CAT is totally unpredictable.
4. Don’t blindly follow the footsteps of other not even mine because everyone’s conditions are different.
5. Make your own strategy and keep it flexible.
6. In last don’t take too much stress and take a good diet to keep your mind and body healthy and fit.

Mock I would suggest

I would suggest IMS series as the online interface portal is both mobile and laptop friendly, in addition, there is a column where you can post your doubts and get them cleared from other aspirants.

Final advice

As final advice I want to say a famous quote by Dwayne Johnson, “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come”

All the best!!!