XAT Toppers’ Interview

Kashish (Manipal Institute Of Technology, Manipal)

XAT Score: 99.8976 %tile

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know about your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Kashish: Thanks a lot. I was elated, Although I was expecting a good result. 99.89 percentile exceeded my expectations.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Kashish: I am working as a senior developer at ICICI Lombard for the last 18 months. I completed my degree in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT, Manipal in 2021. As a person, I am very adventurous. I am always up for a good challenge and an opportunity for growth. Beyond Academics, I have been involved in Sports such as sprinting, swimming, Cricket and Kabbadi. I also have a passion for driving cars and riding motorbikes. I have also been learning to speak French and play guitar.

CATKing: Was this your first XAT attempt?

Kashish: Yes It was

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Kashish: Most of my knowledge regarding MBA exams comes from Sumit Sir. I started watching him around November in 2021. Its been more than a year and I have learnt strategies to use while attempting the exams, general mistakes to avoid and a lot of other important things from him. Most importantly, he keeps us motivated to do our best. Sudhanshu sir has been of great help to me for scoring good marks in quants. His daily lectures are fun and informative. The Mock analysis sessions are priceless for an aspirant. It offers us a window into the minds of toppers. Anisha Ma’am has also been with us throughout the journey, guiding us towards better decisions and keeping us up to date with all the news regarding the exams. CATKing has been a constant companion throughout this preparation and I will forever be grateful for that.

CATKing: What was your XAT preparation stratergy?

Kashish: I prepared for all major MBA exams and the basics were kept same for all of them. For XAT, as decision making is a unique section, getting a good understanding of what it entails is necessary. Checking out Sumit sir’s videos about it and solving previous year papers were enough for me to get a good score.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Kashish: Verbal has been my strongest section in all of my exams. Hence, I was able to score well in VA for XAT as well. Decision making also tests your ability to comprehend language just like VA. I practiced thinking clearly and filtering the answers through the filters such as morality, economic sense and general sense. It helps you eliminate the wrong answers in DM. For QA, I kept my approach same for all exams. It was to sprint through the paper while attempting the easy questions. Repeat the same process, this time, do the questions that are solvable but on a moderate level. I started off with VA, and then DM. Finished them off quickly and then I had ample time remaining to attempt multiple sprints of the QA section.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall XAT preparation?

Kashish: Yes, CATKing has been of immense help to me for the preparation.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Kashish:
For CAT: I attempted all the mocks and mock analysis sessions
For XAT: I focused mainly on Previous year papers.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Kashish: The strategy was to take it easy. I didn’t study a lot on the last day. I listened to some music and made some friends outside the test centre. Its important to switch off and relax before an exam. In the exam, strategy was to finish DM and VA first and attempt QA with the remaining time.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for Xat aspirants?

Kashish: Reading helps. Make it a habit. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself and enjoy the day.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Kashish: I have calls from XLRI, NMIMS, SIBM, SCMHRD. I plan to convert them all and then decide.

Shristi (Ramjas College, University of Delhi)

XAT Score: 99.58 %tile

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Shristi: Though I did know my cumulative score and had seen the predicted percentile by CATKing other institutes, I still wasn’t expecting the score I got so I was quite happy and somewhat relieved that the period of suspense was over.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Shristi: I studied PCM. I’m 11th and 12th and now am pursuing a B.A. in English and Philosophy. Quite an unusual progression but I enjoy what I’m studying. Both of my parents are teachers so you can imagine how important it is to keep learning (and score well in exams!). As for my hobbies, I am a complete bookworm so curling up with a book and a cup of coffee is heaven for me. Travelling and exploring is something I love. In the evenings, you’ll probably find me playing basketball.

CATKing: Was this your first XAT attempt?

Shristi: Yes

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Shristi: I started off as a member if the youtube family and sumit sir’s motivation is definitely powerful. It gives you the energy to get back up and keep going and that was true for me too. I used CATKings collection of study material, especially for the DM section and it helped.

CATKing: What was your XAT preparation strategy?

Shristi: Solve as many questions as I can!

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest sections? Tell us your section wise strategy?

Shristi: Quant was my weakest and Verbal the strongest, so I’d glide through verbal in 15–20 mins, DM about the same time and then leisurely work on quant.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall XAT preparation?

Shristi: Yes

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Shristi: I actually didn’t attempt that many mocks for XAT – probably only 1-2 but had a lot of experience with CAT mocks.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!

Shristi: I read a whole novel the day before XAT just to stay calm and keep my mind away from stressing out about the exam. On the exam day, I was super calm and just sat down and gave the paper.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for Xat aspirants?

Shristi: Prepare well and on the D-day, believe in yourself and do what you know. Good luck!

CATKing: Which IIMs/Top B-Schools are you targeting for?

Shristi: I haven’t thought that far ahead but XLRI will definitely be one if my top choices!

Vedant Kapil (NIT Nagpur)

XAT Score: 99.58 %tile

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Vedant: I was extremely happy when i saw the result, specially when my cat result got messed up because of not clearing sectional percentile for iim’s. I had my hopes high for XAT, and it kind of brought a relief and my confidence back.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Vedant: So I am a mechanical engineer , Male with aroung 16 months of workex in IT Sector as of now. I live in aurangabad, maharashtra with my parents and grandparents, with me being the only child. I am a state level basketball player, so I do love playing it at times, and recently I have even caught up a liking for solo travelling and exploring some new places.

CATKing: Was this your first XAT attempt?

Vedant: No, this was my second xat attempt. First one was in 2021 in which I scored somewhere around 98.5%le

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Vedant: CATKing has been like the oxygen to my mba preparation journey. The concepts taught, the style of teaching, extensive material on each topic available on the dashboard, and not to forget some awesome mocks. CATKing just made my journey much more structured, easy, and motivated as well. Special mention to all the youtube live , by rahul sir, I remeber we used to wait for him to come live, the topics he picked up, the way he used to adress us just motivated us and brought that confidence which we were lacking. Apart from it , I feel one of the best part is mock analysis and moinack sir solving the actual mock. These 2 things definitely helped me build my basic and improve my score. CATKing didn’t stop after cat, they held all of us together, gave us the motivation to study for cat, taught us all the new topics and even the approaches on how to solve DM questions in XAT which were taught by rahul sir worked like a charm for me.

CATKing: What was your XAT preparation stratergy?

Vedant: I was totally motivated for XAT, when I knew I am gonna have a bad cat score. So I started off preparation with DM – this is an altoghether different section, which we never came across in cat preparation. I knew DM is all about practise, my approach was, I saw some previous year videos of dm on dashboard and even attended all the live classes, and then started solving loads of DM questions. Second one was VALR-i was a bit afraid of this section, because of my low score in cat in varc. So I kinda practised a lot of passages from the dashboard. But my strategy for the section was that ill try to score as much as possible from non-passage questions. Like fill in the blanks, rearrange sentences. I was even aware that there are high chances that the poem will be easy. So I kept this strategy in mind and started solving a lot of questions. I found a good chunk of questions on the dashboard itself. Quants- Being an engineer, my quants was on a stronger side, so I just revised my concpets and formula. But I made sure to solve atleast 20-30 q daily in my preparation so that I dont loose the touch. Now I had to plan a test taking strategy- for which I gave xat mocks from CATKing dashboard itself, it gave me an idea of the difficulty of questions, the analysis after mock is submitted helped me analyse what im doing wrong. And since doesnt has a time barrier for any section, I had tried various approaches , but the default one suited me the best and that was start with VALR – solve as much as you can, and mark some questions for review which you are doubtful in, then go to DM and then Quants. One of the main reasons to select this approach is, for me personally I cant solve anything like passages or the long DM questions (questions which requires me to read long paras) in the last hour of my exam, because I feel my brain gets tired till then, so I had used this strategy.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Vedant: Weakest section was VALR: I was a bit afraid of this section, because of my low score in cat in varc. So I kinda practised a lot of passages from the dashboard. But my strategy for the section was that ill try to score as much as possible from non-passage questions. Like fill in the blanks, rearrange sentences. I was even aware that there are high chances that the poem will be easy. So I kept this strategy in mind and started solving a lot of questions. I found a good chunk of questions on the dashboard itself.

Strongest section was Quants : Being an engineer, my quants was on a stronger side, so I just revised my concpets and formula. But I made sure to solve atleast 20-30 q daily in my preparation so that I dont loose the touch. I knew I had to use this section to maximise my score. So apparantely in the last 3 days to xat I extensively solved quants.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall XAT preparation?

Vedant: Undoubtedly! The motivation to not give up after cat, and push ourself for one more month was very uselful for me, If rahul sir, wasnt there I probably wouldnt have done a proper preparation for xat and would never have achieved 99.58. Even all the concepts and test taking strategy was very useful, concepts were taught in a beautiful manner. And last but not the least, contents available on dashboard, be it practise questions,mocks and even prev year paper were very useful as we got a proper understanding of what type of questions are asked in xat and in which direction should we approach the questions.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Vedant: Mock test series, helped me prepare a proper test taking strategy for xat, and the best part being the q were actually xat level questions, so that helped me a lot. I attempted around 3-4 mocks and gave some previous year xat papers during my preparation.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!

Vedant: My exam day strategy was pretty clear, first I assured that I get a good sound sleep, had some light food before the exam and ya coffee which definitely works for me. I had decided to approach the paper in the default setting i.e go in the same order Valr, DM , quants. I felt this strategy to work pretty good for me as I was kind of used to this approach while preparing for cat. Verbal being one of my weak sections, I had decided to allot more time to it, as I knew I could cover up the time in quants (stronger seciton for me). One more reason to select this approach was : personally I cant solve anything like passages or the long DM questions (questions which requires me to read long paras) in the last hour of my exam, because I feel my brain gets tired till then, so I had used this strategy.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for Xat aspirants?

Vedant: Id suggest xat aspirants that, please dont give up after cat, cat is not the ending of your mba preparation journey, you have to stretch yourself for one more month. DM being a different section, which is not in cat. Please try to solve as many q as possible for DM and do decide on a proper test taking strategy.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Vedant: FMS, XLRI

V Viswajeet Krishna (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore)

XAT Score: 99.4362 %tile

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Viswajeet: Thank you sir!.it’s good to finally meet you in person. I have been personally following your videos for a while Sir I graduated from college in 2019 and have spent the last 2 years preparing for the civil services examination, came very close to clearing it twice.. lost out the cut off by single digit marks. so after 3 attempts, I decided to change gears and try CAT and other MBA exams…I prepared for about 6-7 solid months and yet had a pretty lackluster performance in CAT this year..just had 89 percentile.. I was expecting around 95-97 percentile.. but 3rd slot was really tough. Then was pretty upset for a while and your morning motivational videos and inspiring words really did help me and gave me confidence to keep trying for XAT and I did just that. Honestly sir, I was relieved when I saw the results. I was relived that I don’t have to spent another year preparing for more examinations. Last 2 years have been really exhausting and depressing at times. And it took a toll on my parents too to see me struggling for 2-3 years. I’m grateful that I was able to score well and clear the exam and I’m happy and relieved.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Viswajeet: Sure sir, I’m a railway kid sir, my dad he is an officer in the railways and luckily we have had the opportunity to travel across the country and studied in multiple schools.

I have completed from 10th from Kerala ICSE board with 94 percentage. And 12th with 92 percentage ISC board, after that I graduated from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, coimbatore with B.Tech in chemical engineering. I had a GPA for 9.44/10 and was the gold medalist of my batch.

After graduation like I said earlier, I spent the last 2 and a half years preparing for civil services examination and came very close to clearing it twice..the decided to change geers and try for MBA.

Hobbies include singing, I am a self taught guitarist, reading a bit and a bit of photography as well sir. And I have 2 dogs at home who keep me both busy and happy!

CATKing: Was this your first XAT attempt?

Viswajeet: No sir, this was my second attempt at both XAT and CAT . While I was still preparing for upsc examination,my dad suggested that I should give an attempt at mba as well and keep my options open. Not to keep all the proverbial eggs in the same basket.

So I had written and I had gotten 89 percentile sir. I had only applied to xlri at that point sir and Was still preparing strongly towards upsc and didn’t follow it up and I think I didn’t clear one sectional of quant sir.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Viswajeet: More than anything sir, it was your morning motivational videos that helped me a lot sir. Also the unique thing I found out about CATKing was that whenever I had any doubts on anything regarding the exam like the marking scheme, the negative marking or how percentile is calculated.., I could always simply search on YouTube and I would find a video of sir explaining the very same thing.

Also, the mocks I felt were on par with the real xat. When other coaching institutes conduct mocks , I often found them unnecessarily hard and difficult.. but CATKing ka mocks I found just right . not so hard that it demotivates you at the same time reminds you to work harder.

And now as I’m preparing for the interviews, I find the functional doziers on marketting ,HR, finance , consulting etc very useful. It was a like a one stop solution to prepare well for the interview.

CATKing: What was your XAT preparation strategy?

Viswajeet: Preperation strategy sir, was first to prepare the basics ofcourse,which was the same for CAT as well. As I was preparing for upsc last 2 years I had to put seriously effort into making sure I got the fundamentals of quant down. And wrt to XAT I knew I had to get DM section down.

For quant , I knew that CAt was much more difficult that xat level so if i prepared well for CAT, I knew it would be useful for XAT as well.. and so i didn’t specifically focus on XAT wrt quant.

For DM particularly , I knew it is a very subjective in nature, so to understand the view point or the thought process of the question paper setter , I did the past 4 5 years DM questions with answers to get to know what the examiner expected as an answer to DM questions.

Also sir, wrt to DM questions, I learnt to trust my Gut feeling ..I have found that whenever I think too much on a question , I tend to get it wrong.and so the strategy I used was that I would first take my time and mindfully read the question and then go through the options.. and whatever I felt was the right answer I would mark that… I feel that my going through the pyqs and then trusting my gut ,helped me get a good score in DM.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Viswajeet: Sir, right from the get go I knew verbal was my strong suit and quant was my weekest link. And DM something in between.. I would always make some unforced errors in calculation in the quant section. And even while writing the mocks i would follow same strategy and I would usually do about 20- 22 questions out of 28 in the exam..and of that I would get around 15- 17 correct.. and usually i would get around 85 ish percentile for quant. And I was happy with that.. because I knew the areas in quant in which I was strong like work time, geometry, time speed distance, etc. And i would make sure I get those correct.. ..This time however with the same Mark I could only get 78 percentile.. but still managed to clear the cut off so I’m happy sir.

I knew I had to maximise my verbal score and maximise my DM score so that I can capitalise on them to increase my overall percentile..

My plan was to first tackle verbal ( being my strongest area, I wanted to make sure I don’t loose any marks in that). Then went on to DM and finally last 45mins to 1 hour I would have for quant.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall XAT preparation?

Viswajeet: Yes sir definitely like I said earlier, sirs videos really did help.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Viswajeet: Mock tests are absolutely necessary sir . Even if you don’t prepare anything else, you should give atleast 5 and as much as you can. I myself gave around 7 mocks sir for XAT and more than 2 dozen CAT mocks…

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!

Viswajeet: My plan was to first tackle verbal ( being my strongest area, I wanted to make sure I don’t loose any marks in that)..so around 30- 35 mins for English VARC.. another 35 – 40 mins for DM Then went on to DM and finally last 45mins to 1 hour I would have for quant. That was my strategy for the exam sir And wrt to GK , and essay, I was lucky enough or call it serendipity, but i was already well versed in the current affairs and different issues and news and editorials that come in news due to my civil service preperation.. so I managed to get 96 percentile in GK sir.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for Xat aspirants?

Viswajeet: I don’t think I’m in any position to guide anyone sir. But from experience I can tell a few things sir which other aspirant might find helpful. 1 thing sir, it’s a long and ardous journey. We have to be patient and stay focused . Like sir stays.. we have to stay glued. I’ll tell another thing.. you will never be able to get consistently good marks in every mock.. there have been mocks where I get 95- 97.. then suddenly one mock I’ll get 67 70 percentile . the mocks are designed to be such that some are easy and some are difficult.. the key thing to remember is not get too excited with the good marks and not to get too upset if you get bad marks in some mocks…. UPs and down are normal …we are all humans. We have to analyse each mock with the same level of intensity and ferver and keep at it. And at the end of the day it’s a mind game in the end we have to convince ourselves that we can actually clear the exam and believe in it and that we have what it takes to clear it. We have to be confident and reaffirm our minds and subconscious that we can and we will clear the exam . Then we will. And to all Ex-UPsc aspirants I want to say that. It’s not impossible to change gears and work towards an MBA. Lot of people say that it’s difficult to prepare for CAT and XAT particularly from the quant and DI preperation.. I’m proof it is possible.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Viswajeet: Sir, I was planning to IIM B knowing it is a good college for engineers..but sir I was not able to clear the cut off for CAT to get any good IIM. So XLRI was my next best shot and I’m grateful it worked out sir.

Pradhyumn Pradeep (Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore)

XAT Score: 99.3 %tile

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Pradhyumn: I was very anxious for the exam since I did not perform well in CAT. But after getting the result I was happy to see that I had scored a good percentile and that my hard work had paid off.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Pradhyumn: I graduated from VIT Vellore in 2018 where I had studied BTech Information technology, and since then I have been working in Deloitte. I am currently working as a consultant. My dad works with MRF, and my mother is a home maker. I also have a younger sister who is currently in 12th standard. My hobbies are to watch sports and like music, and I am an avid follower of F1.

CATKing: Was this your first XAT attempt?

Pradhyumn: Yes, this was my first year applying for my MBA (be it CAT, XAT etc), though I had given GMAT last year as well, just to see where I lie and how much I can score.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey? Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall XAT prepartion?

Pradhyumn: I got introduced to CATKing from the YouTube Channel when I was researching various examinations for MBA, and later joined in for the Mock Test Series for both CAT and SNAP. Through doing these mocks and working on the LOD1 and LOD2 books I got to identify the areas of improvement I need to focus on. My weak point was time management and working on mocks really helped me get better at managing time, which allowed me to take my time solve the Quant section increasing my accuracy a lot.

CATKing: What was your XAT preparation stratergy? What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Pradhyumn: Soon after my CAT I realized that Verbal was strong suite, and I would be able to score well if attempted most of the questions in XAT. My weak point was time management, and the way I aligned my sections, I was often left with no time for Quants, which was my weak suite. So, for XAT, I prepared a lot with managing time by solving the Verbal and DM sections quickly and keeping a lot of time at the end for the Quant section. I personally found the DM section very interesting and was excited for this new unique challenge for XAT. For Quant, I prepared LOD1 thoroughly so that all my basics were right and with the adequate time I would be able to score high in all sections. Since my main strategy was to solve Quant at the end with maximum time left, I started with Verbal and Logical quickly , followed by DM was relatively also done swiftly.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!

Pradhyumn: On the day of the exam, I just referred to my notes for Quants followed by a quick glance and the basic GK questions, as I knew that would also play a pivotal role in the selection process. But post that, I focused on being calm and composed, and not distracting myself too much before the exam.

Rohit Mohanty (KIIT University)

XAT Score: 98.85 %tile

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Rohit: Very happy at seeing the percentile after the disappointment of the CAT. Extremely grateful to Rahul sir and CATKing for the success in XAT.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Rohit: My schooling is from Bhubaneswar, Odisha. I have completed B.Tech in Electrical Engineering (Honours) from KIIT University, BBSR.
My Father is a lawyer and Mother is a homemaker.
My hobbies are reading adventure and mystery novels and playing cricket.
I also volunteer in social pro bono. I have a brown belt in karate and national silver medallist in sudoku.
I love travelling and enjoying new experiences in food, places and people.

CATKing: Was this your first XAT attempt?

Rohit: Yes

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Rohit: I started my preparation very late in the year. CATKing proved pivotal in fast forwarding my preparations for the examinations. The tests were very inclusive and real mocks.

CATKing: What was your XAT preparation stratergy?

Rohit: I gave emphasis on BDM section in the days after CAT. Prior to that all my other sections were over and I only focused on mocks. Previous years papers were very helpful .

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Rohit: Strongest- VALR. No such section specifically as weak.
For VALR-Daily reading of AEON essays, practicing parajumbles, parasummary and RCs for 1 and half hour. 30 mins of LR qs practice everyday.
For QADI- Daily 2 hours of quant qs and 1 hour of DI sets practice
For BDM- Daily 3 hours with 1 hour each between other sections.
Previous Papers Complete practice. Last 5 yrs

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall XAT preparation?

Rohit: Yes , definitely for a person who is starting his journey late , guidance is definitely required. CATKing provided the guidance and all the materials at our fingertips.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Rohit: Mock Test Series were instrumental in me getting primed up for the actual tests. I attempted a total of 12 mocks.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!

Rohit: On Exam day, I was clear that I would tackle the VALR section first, then BDM and last of all QADI since this has been the pattern that I was used to since CAT. I had stopped giving mocks 2 days before the exam day and only focused on AEON essay, Newspapers and BDM qs on the last 2 days.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for Xat aspirants?

Rohit: Follow Sumit (Rahul) Sir’s Advice blindly and make your own strategies for the D day. Everyone reacts to the pressure differently. So strategy should also be different.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Rohit: I am targeting for XLRI Jamshedpur, XLRI Delhi, XIMB and NMIMS Mumbai

Ritin Krishna Bhukya (NIT Calicut)

XAT Score: 98.8384 %tile

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Ritin: Initially, I was shocked to see the results as it was unexpected. Later, felt happy and satisfied.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your educational background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Ritin: I did my graduation in civil engineering from NIT Calicut. My father is a central government employee working in Indian railways and my mother is a home maker. I like to play chess and lawn tennis. I am also passionate about photography and editing videos.

CATKing: Was this your first XAT attempt?

Ritin: Yes, this was my very first XAT attempt.

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Ritin: CATKing has helped me to join a community of like-minded people aspiring to get into top B-schools. I actually liked the whatsapp groups created by CATKing. It helps me to discuss, get doubts solved, and to learn from others.

CATKing: What was your XAT preparation strategy?

Ritin: For quant and verbal and logical ability, it was covered in my CAT preparation. For decision making, I went through few videos of sumit sir wherein he has solved few questions. This gave me a direction to solve decision making questions. Other than this, I started solving mocks. For me, deeply analysing my mocks helped me to improve my score.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise strategy?

Ritin: My strongest section was decision making. In this section, my strategy was to set aside personal bias and stereotypes aside. We must look at the question from ethical point of view and solve the keeping in mind the greater good of the problem.
Coming to Quant and verbal ability, I only focussed on the CAT material wherein I went through the questions and solved many sectional mock tests.
My weakest section was verbal and logical ability, I am always confused between the right and wrong options. I don’t have any strategy for this but only thing I followed was to solve questions and to learn from the solutions.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall XAT preparation?

Ritin: CATKing has a tons of resources on its dashboard. It depends on you as to how you use the resources. I have gone through many sectional mock tests for CAT and had read many e-books provided. Overall, I am satisfied with the materials provided on the dashboard.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Ritin: Mock test series are actually very important because you learn to manage time during the tests. Moreover, solving mocks helps you to create a strategy for yourself based on your strengths and weaknesses which will make you feel confident during your actual examination. While writing mock, make sure you complete the test fully, try to analyse your mistakes and learn from the mistakes you have committed or from the questions you were unable to solve. Focus on analysing your mocks. Mock test are also very important as they help to consolidate your knowledge so that you can easily recall the subject during exam pressure.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day strategy!

Ritin: I just try to remain calm and imagine myself solving the paper before the actual exam starts. This helps in preparing your mind for the actual test.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for XAT aspirants?

Ritin: Just keep your focus and be consistent, results will follow sooner or later.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Ritin: XLRI is my topmost target. But, I have other top IIM calls as well but I am more interested to enter XLRI Jamshedpur.

Ashwin Tijare (G.H Raisoni Institute of Engineering & Technology Nagpur)

XAT Score: 98.11 %tile

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?

Ashwin: I had mixed feelings I calculated my score and compared it with previous year cuttoffs and I was on cloud 9 for some time but after that realised that paper was easy and cuttoffs would go higher.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.

Ashwin: I am a persuing CSE from a tier 3 college -9/6/7. My family consists of me my mom and my dad.I am a FIDE rated chess player and I am also into gardening and I like to keep a watch on geo politics and current affairs.

CATKing: Was this your first XAT attempt?

Ashwin: yes

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?

Ashwin: It was really helpful it gave structure to my preparation . Rahul sir, sudhanshu sir and moinack sir were amazing.

CATKing: What was your XAT preparation stratergy?

Ashwin: I got 95.09 percentile in cat but messed my DILR score. Then XAT was the only option a second chance you can say. I saw videos of DM on dashboard saw entire past year papers solved by faculties. I got 98.xx in verbal in cat so I ignored it, just saw your video on poem and got both the questions correct. I basically just focused on DM and gave xat.I regret it because I couldn’t clear verbal cuttoff for HRM.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?

Ashwin: Verbal and quants were moderate. I really loved DM as they are based on real life senarios. I divided the paper into 4 sections I solved DM first followed by verbal and quants . and I used to utilise the remaning time in solving the solvable questions at the end.

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall XAT preparation?

Ashwin: Yes offcourse

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?

Ashwin: For CAT I gave around 12-13 mocks but not a single mock for XAT it was basically a first day first show thing will not recommend it to anyone.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!

Ashwin: Did nothing a day prior to exam. I found out that I score better when I take a long sleep and immediately give paper as I am fresh and focused so I slept late that day and woke up at around 11:30 and directly went for paper.

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for Xat aspirants?

Ashwin: CAT is not the end of the world and for guidance follow what sir says.

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?

Ashwin: XLRI, JBIMS, IIT KGP/Roorkey

Autri Boruah (Assam Engineering College)

XAT Score: 97.6735 %tile

CATKing: Congratulations! it is a pleasure to know your journey. What were your thoughts after you saw the result?
Autri: To be very honest, when I first saw the result I was overcome by a feeling of utter disbelief and shock which gradually evolved into pride and humility. Pride because I fulfilled my promise to Sumit sir and gave my best in XAT. And humility because my reasult was not the outcome of my efforts alone but the efforts of entire CATKing faculty. I am really thankful to the entire CATKing team.

CATKing: Please, tell us something about your eduactional background, your family, personal interests, hobbies and passion.
Autri: I live in a nuclear family of 3 in Guwahati, Assam. I am currently living in a small town called Barbil in Odisha and employed as an electrical engineer in Vedanta. I have a total work experience of about 6 months now. I did my btech in electrical engineering from Assam engineering college (2018-22) with a cgpa of 7.79. I did my higher secondary and matriculation from Guwahati Public School with 81.4% and 9.6 cgpa respectively.
As a hobby I like to draw sketches. I also like gaming and reading books. I also have a B.muse degree in tabla

CATKing: Was this your first XAT attempt?
Autri: Yes, it was!!

CATKing: Tell us the impact that CATKing had in this journey?
Autri: My journey started with a 12am live of sumit sir in youtube. Till then I had no intention of doing an MBA. So that 12am live session brought mba in my radar. After that I pondered over it for a week or two and then I bought CATKing intensive. And the rest is history.

CATKing: What was your XAT preparation stratergy?
Autri: Consistent hard work and a lot of caffeine. Focused a lot on the dm part and my cat preparation from a month earlier took care of the rest.

CATKing: What were your strongest and weakest section? Tell us your section wise stratergy?
Autri: Strongest section- VARC, Stratergy- 1 Aeon essay per day and Weakest section- Quants, Strategy- Consistent practice

CATKing: Was joining CATKing coaching institute beneficial for your overall XAT preparation?
Autri: Yes!! Very much.

CATKing: How important were mock test series for you, how many mock tests did you attempt?
Autri: Unfortunately I only gave a total of 1 or 2 CAT mocks. I am a working professional so I don’t get 3 hours in a stretch. And this was the major reason for my downfall in CAT.

CATKing: Please tell us about your exam day startergy!
Autri: Redbull and Sneakers!!!

CATKing: Any further guidance or tips for Xat aspirants?
Autri: Believe in yourself and half the battle is won!

CATKing: Which IIMS/ TOP B SCHOOLS are you targeting for?
Autri: XLRI Jamshedpur