CAT 2013 Topper: Siva Surya Teja, a math wizard, believes self study is the best practice

Meet Siva Surya Teja, one of the eight CAT 2013 toppers who scored 100 percentile. Having completed his graduation from JNTU (Jawahar Lal Nehru Technical University), Anantpur, Siva is a native of Samalkot, Andhra Pradesh and is working with Infosys, Hyderabad for the past two and half years.  A pro at mathematics, Siva believes that self study is the best practice if you’re good at your basics.

Speaking to shiksha.com, Siva informed that this was his fourth attempt at the exam and he’s delighted to have cracked it.

Read this exclusive interview to know more about his preparation strategy and success so far.

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I haven’t taken any coaching to prepare for CAT, but, have taken an online test serious offered by TIME and IMS (simCAT).

No. This is my fourth attempt. I had given one trial attempt when I was in engineering. In my last two attempts, I did not get through the top 3 b-schools, so I left it and took CAT for the fourth time.

This year, besides CAT, I took IIFT and CAT. I cleared CAT and I am awaiting the results for XAT.  

I scored 89 percentile in my first attempt, 99 in my second and 96 in my third and finally 100 in my fourth attempt.

My father is a Maths professor, so I was good at this subject from my school days and thus, did not have any trouble preparing for the quant section.

Verbal, however, is my weak point. But, frankly, speaking, I haven’t put any extra efforts for it. I just went through the test series meticulously, then, checked for solutions once I had taken the examination. This really helped me a lot.

An ideal preparation will depend on the basics you have come up with. If you don’t have any idea about the syllabus related to CAT, then it depends from person to person.

But, if you are good enough at your basics, then maximum two months is enough. That’s, actually, the time it took me to prepare for CAT.  

I used to write as many exams as possible and used to analyse them after I took the exam. Moreover, I wanted to maximize the accuracy time in all the exams that I had taken.  

I was weak at the Verbal section. I had read various strategies online about how to crack the verbal section.

Verbal vocabulary is not a one-night issue. So, I thought it’s better to improve my accuracy and maximise my scores in LR and the reading comprehension sections. That helped me a lot.

I have, infact, improved my strategy and reading comprehension. I was able to work on my verbal section this year, which turned out to be a plus point for me.

My preparation basically consists of taking as much mock tests as possible. I did not take any coaching as such, as informed earlier.

According to me, if I am able to crack as many exams as possible, I will be in a position to cover as many modals that are expected in the exam, thus, I’ll be in a position to face any sort of question that might be asked in the exam.

I took two different online series from TIME and IMS (simCAT). I took these series as much as possible. After this, I used to go through my answers for each question, for about 2 hours exactly. I used to check – how have I attempted, what is the solution they have proposed and how can I approach the question in a smarter way going forward.

I have finally reduced my mistakes from test to test and it now shows!

I believe self-study is good-enough for CAT. Besides this exam, I had also taken SBI PO and IBPS exam and got through them and also got various offers. But, my point of writing and clearing the exam was simple. I just wanted to show people that if you’re good at your basics and you’re confident enough, then there is no need for any coaching institute.

These days, you see, coaching institutes offering CAT, MAT, IBPS etc coaching but that’s not required, if you stick to your basic, know your strong areas, can introspect yourself and analyse your weak point and work on them.

So, self-preparation is a good thing if you’re good at your basics.

Ours is a nuclear family. My father is a school headmaster and a Maths professor currently. My mother is a housewife. My younger brother is working with TCS, Chennai. We are just four members in the family.

Yes, I was always a bright student in my school and college.

IIM-Ahmadabad is my dream institute and this year, hopefully, I will get through. When I secured 99 percentile, I did get calls from the newer IIMs but I dint take the offer as I wanted to join the top league. I want to get through only IIM – A, B or C. These three top my lists; else, FMS Delhi is my fourth option.

I’ll make sure; I get into any one of them and hopefully IIM - Ahmadabad.

• Make sure you get to the depth of the concept you are studying. Don’t learn the problem but approach towards it. This is one important thing for the quant section.
• For the verbal section, the one thing that worked in my favour the most is the understanding of the paragraph.  Do not use your outside knowledge in the paper. Accept what is given in the paragraph only use that knowledge to answer the questions that are asked.  

Explore more Topper stories:

- CAT topper 2013: Tejawsi loves playing with numbers and reading

- CAT 2013 Topper: Abhiram Iyer loves fantasy fiction and wants to write his own series

- CAT 2013 Topper: PV Krishna Koundinya is a basketball player and loves playing guitar

-CAT 2013 Topper: Budding entrepreneur Suneet Kumbhat played Sudoku and Kakuro before CAT test

-CAT 2013 Topper: Delhi’s Anirudh Batra, a sports enthusiast, scores a perfect 100

-CAT 2013 topper: Abhinav Jain (99.99 percentile) loves to party and watch sitcoms

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