The Common Admission Test (CAT) is the entrance examination for MBA/PGDM programmes to the 20 IIMs as well as many other management institutes in India. The English Press Club interviewed Aaryan Kapoor from the 2017 batch, who secured the 100th percentile in CAT 2020, making him one of the nine toppers in the country. 

The test is divided into three sections—Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (QA). For years, the exam has followed a standard format of a hundred questions in three hours. This time, however, the total duration was reduced to two hours and the format was not disclosed. It had 26 VARC questions, 24 DILR questions, and 26 QA questions for a total of 228 marks. 

Aaryan’s introduction to the exam was in 12th grade, when his hostel mate secured the 100th percentile in CAT 2017. He started preparing for it in early 2020 and amped up his preparation after he returned home in March due to the pandemic. He solved many mock tests while he managed his Practice School project in his 4-1. In the month before CAT, he solved practice papers while wearing gloves and a mask, as he would have to during the actual exam.

According to Aaryan, it is essential to know one’s strengths and weaknesses and use them to one’s advantage. As an engineering student, he found the other sections easier than VARC. He therefore allocated his preparation time accordingly—spending about 60–70% of his time practising VARC and the rest on other sections. 

While preparing for QA, his primary focus was on reducing the number of silly mistakes. Higher accuracy took precedence over the number of questions attempted. This strategy paid off as in the final exam, he got 21 correct answers out of the attempted 22.

‘We say that it is English, but VARC is many subjects in one.’ Aaryan pointed out. He regularly read articles on business, history, psychology, and social sciences and solved a lot of practice papers to master the section. For most, VARC is the hardest section in the paper due to its diverse range of topics.

CAT is a test of speed and precision. Aaryan said that it is important to remain calm while attempting it. A lot of applicants were thrown off by the new pattern this time. To succeed in solving the questions, he stressed the importance of setting aside one’s ego and having a flexible strategy. He was used to solving the VARC questions as they came, but he changed the order in which he attempted it in the final paper. 

Aaryan has applied to many IIMs and received interview calls from most of them. He hopes to get into one of the top-ranking IIMs—Ahmedabad, Bangalore, or Calcutta, but does not have a particular preference among the three of them yet.  

Alongside engineering, Aaryan pursued a minor in finance and was also active in Nirmaan and Public Policy Club. His extracurriculars have helped him manage his time better and he hopes that the experiences he has gained will help him in his IIM interviews. 

Aaryan feels that anyone can crack the CAT with dedicated effort. With an open mind and a smart and efficient work ethic, success is guaranteed.