The English Press Club spoke to Vidhi Shah of the 2016 batch, who scored 99.98 percentile in the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2019, making her the All-India female topper. She prepared for CAT during her psenti semester—a reduced academic workload allowed her to concentrate on preparation for the exam after placements in September. 

Vidhi recommended signing up for test series offered by coaching institutes like T.I.M.E. and IMS. She felt that the conditioning provided by mock tests was sufficient to prepare for the examination. She had solved about 60 papers in the three months that she devoted to preparation. As an engineering student, there was nothing she had to learn anew—the paper consisted of mathematics, English, and logical reasoning. The primary challenge in CAT for the BITSian would be to get accustomed to the requirements of the examination and prepare accordingly. 

CAT consists of three sections—Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC), Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR), and Quantitative Ability (Quant).

Quant consists of general mathematics, statistics, number systems, and combinatorics. The major challenge is in interpreting word problems. Having done more advanced mathematics during her coursework in BITS, Vidhi did not find this to be a big hurdle. 

The Reading Comprehension section involved the interpretation of paragraphs, where her English skills served her in good stead. The Verbal section included exercises on resolving jumbled paragraphs. 

The Data Interpretation section consisted of drawing inferences from tabular data. It also had logical reasoning problems, which Vidhi felt was her strength. As someone who had grown up solving puzzles, she felt she was equipped to do well in this section. 

Vidhi devoted about three hours every day for her preparation. She also took some time out for her hobbies and to relax. Currently pursuing PS-2, she has applied to the six biggest IIMs and will be giving interviews for them soon.

In closing, Vidhi remarked that CAT is not difficult, at least for the average BITSian. Solving the paper efficiently is the key to success, for which solving mock papers is crucial.