MAT Feb 2014 Topper: Ashish Patial; a biker, a reader and now a topper too!

Madiha Jawed | shiksha.com

An avid reader, a football player, a bike rider and a partial engineer is how the MAT Feb 2014 Topper decribes himself as. Ashish Patial from Chandigarh, who topped the exam with an impressive 800/800 score, holds a diploma from Indo-Swiss centre, CSIO, Chandigarh. This topper has also completed his AMIE course - equivalent to a BE degree- from the city based Institution of Engineers.

Patial who is currently employed with Global SGS, Chandigarh, aims to get through Jamana Lal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), his dream institute.  

“In the last two years, I studied way more than I studied in the last 22 years of my life. I guess, my hardwork helped me crack the exam”, shared an elated Patial.

Read this exclusive interview to know more about his success story.

Also, listen to the exclusive podcast of MAT Feb 2014 topper, Ashish Patial on Shiksha.com.

Yes. It’s my first attempt .

Besides MAT, I have also taken CAT, which was my second attempt at the exam this year. Last year, when I appeared for the exam, I wasn’t a graduate. This year, I completed my grads and then took the exam.

I also appeared for TISS and IIFT.

MAT: 99.99 percentile (800/800)

CAT (1^ST attempt): Around 97 percentile (don’t exactly remember)

CAT (2^nd attempt): 98.5 percentile

IIFT: 52.3

This year, my performance was very similar to that of last year’s. I was not very good in English. I was just ok. I scored around 76 soothing in the English section in CAT and I don’t know how. But, my overall percentile was good as my mathematics is good. I scored around 99.83 in maths.

The scenario was similar. I scored similar marks in both the subjects last year and this year.

I was actually preparing for CAT, so the groundwork for MAT was already done. Normally, it takes around 2-3 hours a day. Since, I am working, I generally don’t get the time for my preparations.

There are times, when I have to work for 24 hours, so I have to skip the studying part. So, I manage my studies during holidays.  On holidays, probably, I study for around 9-10 hours.

On an average, around 3-4 hours of study every day is required.

Actually, my strength lies in mathematics. I was good in the subject but for the exam, I aimed to be excellent to increase my overall score. I also aimed to be good in English and thus focused more on this subject.

If I have to rate myself on the scale of 10 (before my preparation), I would say, I was 2-3 in English and 6-7 in maths. But after my preparations, I was 9-10 in maths and 6-7 in English.

Ultimately, I checked my weaknesses and strengths accordingly, I made my plan. 

I have done my 10+2 from correspondence unlike other students and now I am an engineer, a partial engineer to be precise. My weak areas in Maths were Functions and PMC.

I actually spent around 1-2 months just to clear all my doubts and basics and practiced 2000 questions per section. This helped me to diversify my question bank.

Taking about Verbal, I read newspaper every-day. I also read some famous novels which helped me improve my reading skills.

I was not very good in English, so whatever, I had in front of me, I read it every-day which ultimately helped me increase my speed in English and improved my vocabulary base.

In the last months before the exam, I only revised. I made a plan and time-table for everything and worked accordingly.

I took 10 days leave from office just before the exam and worked really hard in that time span. On the last day, in fact, I kept myself very relaxed and took things quite easily. I dint take any mocks on the day before the exam. The same strategy follows for every exam. It helps in increasing my overall performance.

You know your weaknesses and strengths. If you think, you need guidance then you should for coaching. But, if you are a self-motivated person, then there is no need.

You have to be confident in whatever you do. It’s not necessary you take coaching classes. It just the mentality that we have since childhood, that coaching classes/tuitions are important for scoring well.

I consider my coaching institute as a source of increasing my question bank. You know, in case they know 10 questions and I might be aware of five of 5 of them. And may be the rest 5 questions are the ones that would come in my exams. And this is where; coaching institutes come to your rescue.

 Coaching institutes are into the very business and they know the strategy. Talking about me, my mentors helped me alot in my preparations.

It actually depends on the background of the student. If I talk about XAT, XAT specifically targets some functional subjects/topics of Mathematics. It is more difficult for non-engineers.

If non-engineers have to rate the easiest of the exams, ATMA would top the list followed by MAT, CAT and XAT.

While for a CAT aspirant who is an engineer, the first two exams will the same. The list would be - ATMA, MAT, XAT and CAT. XAT would be easier for them as they would have studied engineering mathematics in their graduation.

Last year, the maths section in CAT was very easy. This year, the difficulty level increased. While, the maths section in MAT this year was average to difficult. Overall, MAT is easier than CAT.

I was very notorious in school. Academically, I was bright. I scored 100 in mathematics in my boards. I always knew I was good in maths but I was not the brightest student. I was not the crème of the batch.

I studied in a government school. Probably, the foundation was not very good. But, in my adolescence, I studied a-lot which helped me crack the exam.

If I have to compare the past 22 years of my life with the last two years, I think I have studied more in these two years than I have studied in those 22 years.

I will be the happiest, if I get through Jamna Lal Bajaj Institute. It have been targeting this through CMAT too, it’s my dream institute. I think, I deserve it but let’s wait for the result.

If not JBIMS, then any of the top 15 B-school of India. However, I already got calls from SP Jain, IIFT and some IITs and have appeared for the interviews too.

I belong to a middle class family, a semi-urban one.  I am from Himachal Pradesh but staying in Chandigarh. My father is in Chandigarh Police and mother, a home-maker.

I have an elder sister. She is an assistant professor of physics in one of the engineering colleges here.

• Know your strengths and weaknesses
• Practice mocks
• Good speed is a  must
• Leave your ego outside the examination area
• You should know which section you should target first

Everyone has a different strategy and you need to find yours.