CAT 2024 Topper Interview: From 93 to 99.89 Percentile, Know Aniruddh K Singh's CAT Success Story

CAT Topper 2024, Aniruddh K Singh, a bright and determined Mechanical Engineering graduate from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, bagged an impressive 99.89 percentile in CAT 2024 exam. Read full interview here.

CAT 2024 Topper Interview: Aniruddh K Singh

CAT Topper 2024, Aniruddh K Singh, Mechanical Engineering graduate from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, bagged an impressive 99.89 percentile in CAT 2024 exam. Aniruddh believes unwavering support from his family, serves as an inspiration for pursuing MBA. In this exclusive interview with Shiksha, Aniruddh opens up about his academic background, preparation strategies, and the challenges he faced along the way. He shares valuable insights into section-wise strategies, the importance of mock tests, and his thoughts on balancing professional commitments while pursuing a top MBA entrance exam like CAT.

Read this full interview of CAT 2024 topper, Aniruddh K Singh sharing his tips for aspirants, and the plans he has for his future in management.

Shiksha: Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Aniruddh: I completed my early schooling from DPS Mathura and then my High School from Hillwoods School Gandhinagar in 2019. I went on to complete my under-graduation in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra in 2023. My college provided me with ample opportunities to grow not only professionally but as a person as well. While at BIT Mesra I completed an Internship at PwC, working in their Technology Consulting arm. Then I secured a PPO from the same. I then went on to intern with Flipkart’s Neev Program as an SCM intern. Both the companies I have worked for have provided an extremely pleasant environment perfectly suited for growth, for which I am eternally grateful. I then went on to work full time at PwC for a year before leaving the firm in September 2024, to pursue my CAT preparation whole-heartedly.

I come from a family of four, my mother was a Sanskrit teacher till 2014, father works in Gujarat and elder brother, after finishing his MBA from XIMB, is working for an MNC in Bangalore. They have been my pillars of support always, and I thank god for blessing me with such a supportive family.

My hobbies include everything football. I am a huge FC Barcelona and Leo Messi fan. Their recent triumphs and the fact that they overcame such turbulent situations, teaches me resilience. Mes Que Un Club!

Shiksha: Was this your first attempt at the CAT exam?

Aniruddh: This was my second attempt, I gave the first one in 2022, without preparation and ended up with a 93-something percentile.

CAT 2024 Score

• Overall Score: 122 (99.89 percentile)
• Sectional Scores:
• DILR: 39.42 (99.29 ptile)
• VA: 45.42 (99.55 ptile)
• QA: 37.16 (99.59 ptile)

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Shiksha: When did you start preparing for the CAT exam?

Aniruddh: February start, but took a month and a half off, in between for personal reasons.

Shiksha: Can you walk us through your section-wise strategy?

Aniruddh:

VARC:

I started with a pretty slow reading speed. Even though my vocabulary was strong thanks to the trillions of hours spent watching Netflix, I read very slowly. So that was my number priority, an area where I knew I could significantly improve. I bought a lot of books, thinking I could force myself to read but that just did not work. I went back to essays and coaching material RCs. By August end, when my notice period was about to be over, and my workload became lesser, I was doing 4-5 RCs a day, in a single seating and noting down my time to read and time to solve the questions. Practice, practice, practice! That’s the mantra for improving RCs. Do not go back to read the RCs repeatedly. That would be my number one advice.

By the end my strategy was to do as much of the VA as possible in the first 8 minutes, go to RCs, solve all four in 25-30 minutes and come back to attend Para-Jumbles at the last if time allowed. Though thankfully CAT 2024 had no PJs.

DILR:

I was most afraid of this section, doing badly in some mocks right before CAT. However the improvement in this section is exponential. Just keep practising. You will get there, trust what your teachers are telling you. Solve four sets a day, and time yourselves.

My strategy was to read all the sets in the first 5 minutes, make a priority list, and attempt in that order.  Do not let your ego win, and stay stuck on a set. While preparing, give hours to solve a single set, but when in mocks, if unable to solve a set, move on within a set time limit. I had favourite types of sets by the end of my preparation, I favoured doing those first because I was faster.

QUANTS:

Spend 70 per cent of your time preparing Arithmetic and Algebra, they carry the most weightage. But Geometry, PnC and Number systems are not to be ignored. Start giving sectionals for these as soon as possible. While preparing you might think you are doing good, solving a lot of questions, but doing them under a time limit of 2-3 minutes per question is a different game.

Strategy by the end: A lot of people suggested a 2-waves strategy, where you solve the easiest 5-6 questions in the first 15 minutes and solve the rest in the remaining time. But it just did not work for me, I stuck to a single-wave strategy where I solved a question when I read it for the first time, then and there. Getting stuck on questions is the biggest waste of time, and learning which questions to leave would be the greatest challenge. Give various sectionals and mocks, and see what works for you.

Shiksha: Which books did you refer to for CAT preparation?

Aniruddh: 95 per cent of my preparation was from my coaching, Iquanta’s online material. Year-round they have different classes, programs, and quizzes to keep one engaged. Apart from this, I had Arun Sharma’s CAT reference books, but again the online material was more than sufficient.

Shiksha: Did you join any coaching institute?

Aniruddh: Yes I joined the full CAT 2024 batch of Iquanta which started around the start of February 2024.

I can’t express how grateful I am to everyone at Iquanta. They had an approach where live classes were immediately followed by application classes, where we solved questions related to the topics we just studied. This really solidified basic concepts. Apart from their classes, and the material they provided, I would especially like to give a shout-out to the ICAT mock series. It is extremely close to actual CAT, the dashboard and UI are amazing and one can easily analyze with video solutions. I will most definitely recommend to juniors, especially the mock series, and even to people enrolled in other coaching institutes.

Simply buying a coaching of course won’t guarantee results, one must completely utilize them, putting in the work and hours.

Shiksha: How many mock tests did you attempt during your preparation?

Aniruddh: I attempted close to 50 mocks. Upon suggestion from mentors to give as many as possible, apart from Iquanta’s ICAT series I also enrolled for Career Launcher’s CDC series. They also had amazing mocks and sectionals, no doubt, credit where it is due. So both combined these were approximately 40 mocks, and 21-23, all three slots, so a total of nine past year papers, I gave as well.

I can’t stress enough the importance of mocks and their analysis. It is THE MOST IMPORTANT factor in your preparation. Ensure you give these mocks at the various actual CAT slot timings. They are a reflection of your preparation at any stage and provide great insight. Even after finishing CAT syllabus ,I have even scored in the 40s and 50s, so bad mock scores must not discourage you. And NEVER be afraid of mocks. That is the worst thing one can do to one’s preparation.

Shiksha: What was your exam day strategy?

Aniruddh: I was hardly able to sleep the night before. So I was very anxious. My parents calmed me, and I listened to anime music throughout the ride to the exam centre to hype myself up. The hour I had to spend watching the screen before I could begin the exam was the longest hour of my life. So you can’t plan for these things. Exam-taking strategy I have already mentioned above, but having faith in yourself is the most important part. Believing that you can do it.

Shiksha: Who is your role model?

Aniruddh: The people I look up to the most are my parents, who have worked hard their entire lives to build everything from scratch. But the most important thing I have learnt from someone is not to take life too seriously and that is from my brother. Regardless of the result, he keeps moving. Life is supposed to be relished, ups and downs are a part of the journey!

Celebrity role models include Leo Messi, Samay Raina and Ratan Tata. I wish I could remain as humble as them, by god’s grace, should success ever find its way to me.

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Shiksha: Do you have any tips for future CAT aspirants?

Aniruddh: Give and analyze mocks, complete syllabus and classes on time. Practice a lot. Believe in yourself, if an idiot like me can do it, so can you! And build a circle, do not prepare alone. I had my engineering friends who were also preparing, and that really helped.

Shiksha: Which IIMs/Institutes are you targeting for your MBA?

Aniruddh: Of course, all the top IIMs, IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Shillong, MDI Gurgaon, FMS Delhi, XLRI Jamshedpur, SP JAIN, JBIMS, IIFT, SJMSoM IIT Bombay, DMS IIT Delhi, NMIMS, SIBM and so many more! Can’t wait for the GD-PI-WAT rounds to begin!

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