The Breakpointerer's Grand Slam

I dreamed. I believed. And really hoped that I could do it. So, I put in a lot of work and it paid off – Roger Federer

5 years (2015-2020)

That is the total time it took for me to consider myself eligible to write AIWTSAC. It has been a long journey. In our second year, in 2015 at the end of January, TIME distributed their pamphlets for CAT 2016 batches. Some of my friends were already prepared to take this route and they enrolled for the long-term classes. I didn’t know what I wanted to do at that point. But going for one of the entrance tests sounded logical back then. I was confused between GATE and CAT. I was not great at my technical subjects. So, I decided to go for CAT. Didn’t know IMS back then. So, I enrolled at TIME. Attended a few classes there and I didn't find them useful. So, I stopped going to classes. I knew that I was bad at VARC and on some experts' suggestion, in my winter vacation, started reading Word Power Made Easy. I completed the book by early March and AIMCATs started in January(for classroom students). I remember taking my first AIMCAT at 11:00 PM and I scored 117. I don’t remember how I found PaGaLGuY. This platform has introduced me to the world of MBA aspirants. After every AIMCAT, looking at all the scores here, I felt 140-150 is a great score. That was the year when Avidipto's scores were a constant source of jealousy. Throughout the year my scores hovered around 130. The placement season started in the final semester in July and preparation took a back step. I got placed in early September and I was back with the preparation. I covered all the basics in both DILR and QA. But what I lacked was analysis. I focused only on QA because I liked that section. Though my VARC scores were pathetic, I was over confident that on the D Day I would get them correct. I guess CAT was on December 4th, 2016 and I was in Slot 2. VARC seemed really easy. DILR was the toughest among the three. I did well in Quant. Results were declared on January 9, 2017.

 

VARC    - 73.76

DILR      - 92.32

QA         - 99.17

Overall - 95.18

 

I tanked VARC. XAT didn't go well. (XAT had an essay. Does anyone remember Jingoism in the essay? ). That was the last nail in the coffin for that year. Didn’t attempt SNAP and IIFT. I felt sad for a few days until Roger won the Australian Open. One of my friends made it to IIMC in 2017. Till then I had a belief that it is not possible for me to get an admission in the top IIMs. And there were no thoughts about CAT in the first half of 2017. We had our Convocation on June 8th that year(very early by any engineering college standards). @GEM_forever and I enrolled at TIME again.

In July, I joined my office in Pune and training period was 2.5 months. Monsoons and Pune are love. Weekends were spent in travelling to nearby places. I haven't prepared much except for a few mocks. August and September went like a breeze.

I shifted to Bengaluru office at the end of September. I was alone in Bengaluru and added to that I didn't like the work at my office. I wanted to resign and leave for home. But somehow, I stayed and started preparing diligently. I had a dream college for this year and it was IIMC. Took all the mocks from then. An improvement of about 10 marks was what I observed from last year. Occasionally I scored 160+ and that instilled confidence. In the last week prior to CAT, I took a mock test every day from 10-1 in the night. Scored well in those mocks. Those regular mock tests had helped me to get into rhythm. Those 2 AM thoughts about my future still make me smile.  I was in the morning slot in 2017. Again, VARC seemed easy and my attempts were higher this time. I was confident that I would score very well. From the next day, every hour I would check PaGaLGuY to see if there is any new speculation about scores and percentiles. That was the first time ever question paper was released after CAT went online. My score was somewhere around 175 and puys were saying that it would cross 99.5. I was elated to see this and was relaxed until the results. Didn’t attempt IIFT, SNAP and XAT. My thoughts were “If I am able to crack CAT, then why XAT?”. I was proved a fool later for this thought.

 

On one fine day, When I was about to leave for office, PaGaLGuY was on fire with posts "Results out". With trembling hands, I checked mine

 

VARC    - 96.64

DILR      - 90.58

QA         - 99.71

Overall - 99.23

 

Neither was I shattered nor was I happy. A few friends have sent me congratulatory messages but the real aspirants know that for a GEM this is nothing. ABC were out of question at this percentile. Going with the past trends, I expected KI calls and L was touch and go because of my undergrad CGPA(7.38).  I had a friend at IIM Indore and he was expecting me to join I as his junior.  On January 15, IIM I had released its shortlist for interview and I was not shortlisted. This was the moment where I felt crying. I was at home and I told my parents and they were shattered. Had huge expectations on Indore. I got calls from IIM S and new IIMs. I told my manager that I had calls from these colleges and I may leave. I attended CAP interview without any preparation(over confidence again) and performed very bad. I had two months’ time before Shillong’s interview but I didn’t prepare much for that. And as expected, Shillong’s interview was bad and didn’t speak much in its case discussion. I was hoping an admit from IIM Trichy since it had 50% weightage to CAT score. Meanwhile, I was shifted to another team at office and I told my new manager about my plans. He was very supportive and didn’t put much pressure on me. Skip to May 19, I was not even waitlisted in any of the CAP colleges. Done and dusted for the year.

So close yet so far (Wimbledon 2019 feels, though we are in 2018 as per this narrative ).

I didn’t want to give up. Third time is the charm is what people say. I enrolled at TIME and IMS this time and started preparation at the end of July. IIM A was the dream college for this season. Though I have pathetic CGPA in undergrad, I never felt that that should hamper my preparation. I had prepared a mock schedule for myself. I took a test on every Tuesday and Thursday and regular AIMCATs and SIMCATs on weekends. I have almost attempted 60-70 mocks in the span of 3.5 months. My mock scores started touching 150s and 160s. Also secured a few AIR 50s as well. But VARC was the same story. I had 50% accuracy, so I used to attempt 28-30 questions so that I would score around 35 on a normal day and if I was fortunate, I would score 45+. On reading the explanations for RC questions I felt that because certain option was the answer they were explaining in that direction. So, I stopped caring much for VARC.  I was comparing my scores with the scores posted by toppers here on PaGaLGuY. Though I was a regular user of PaGaLGuY, I never posted my scores because of VARC. Like last year one week prior to CAT, I have taken mock tests on every night. Had many thoughts about what if I don’t score well this year and many sleepless nights. Maybe I was overly pessimistic. I was in the second slot this year. I felt I could do better than last year because of all the mocks. I have heard that DILR was a bit easier than last year and QA was a bit hard from slot 1 people. For the first 15 minutes, I couldn’t decide which RC to attempt and I failed at executing my strategy in VARC. Again, I under performed on D Day.

VARC       -  87.61

DILR         -  92.22

QA           -   98.09

Overall    -   96.28

After this, I was crushed mentally. All these efforts for just 96.  A few times, I considered GRE to go ahead. I told my manager about my score and he suggested to move on and focus on the current job. But I couldn’t leave CAT. All the puys who were posting scores started to post their success stories. @mayur_arora’s AIWTSAC was one of the inspirations. Even I wanted to write AIWTSAC.  I wanted to give this one last shot. IIM B was the dream B School this time. Meanwhile, my friend @GEM_forever also had a string of failures and I had one friend to talk everything about this journey. I shifted to a flat with my college friends and it was one of the best decisions. My friends who joined B schools in 2017 have graduated. Here I am, still dreaming to get into a B school. I started preparation in July again. Enrolled at TIME and IMS. I practised DILR well this time and got comfortable with LR especially. This has started reflecting in my mock scores. I got below AIR 100 a few times. But, VARC was my Achilles heel. I didn’t find a direction in VARC to follow. I just kept reading whatever I found hoping that luck would be on my side on D Day. I didn’t attempt as many mocks as I did in 2018. I took all the mock tests on weekends and I had the same scores as last year. But this time I analysed the mocks well. I was consistent. Attempted many sectional tests on VARC and kept reading newspapers and did what I was best at (hoping for the best). I increased mock tests frequency from September. Took tests in the night a few days and a few tests in the morning at 5 ‘O’ clock. Waking up was very hard. But I didn’t have other options. This is going to be my last attempt at CAT and I should make it count.  I was in the second slot again. And no serial mock tests the week before CAT like I did in the last 2 years.

 

On the D-Day, I reached the centre at 12:30. As soon as the test started, started with RC and it was tough. Maybe tougher than last few years. The toughest I have seen in this season. And British colonialism passage just made the things worse. VARC being my weaker section and CAT 2019 had tougher VARC, I felt I would tank this section again But I was positive and felt that even the other candidates might feel it tough. I didn’t lose my calm and finished the section hoping for the best and as I didn’t have much expectations on this section, I didn’t feel bad about this. I picked up right sets in DILR. In the last five minutes, I have solved one set and I felt all the efforts I have put in DILR have paid off. I did well in QA. I was satisfied with my performance. As soon as I reached my room, I realized that I have made a few silly mistakes in QA.

On November 30, I have gone for lunch with my colleagues before I saw on PaGaLGuY that the key was declared. My body was quivering in fear that I may not cross the 85-percentile mark in VARC. I couldn’t check my score at the restaurant and came running to office. I went to meeting room and checked VARC. Only 4 out of first 10 were correct. Gathered some courage to go ahead. By the time I finished VARC I scored 41. I was not sure if that would cross 85. Checked DILR and QA later. Scored 178. Tranquillity. Happyness. A few hours later Cracku toppers list went live. I uploaded the html and checked my score. 180 it was and 43 in VARC. Made a mistake while checking manually. I kept refreshing the page whole December along with PaGaLGuY. Looking all the calculations and predictions, I was expecting above 99.7 . On January 4^th, at around 11 AM, I checked my score

VARC      -  91.26                                                                             

DILR        -  99.96

QA           -  99.64

Overall    -  99.79

I had calls from IIM C, L, XL, FMS, MDI, IIFT, CAP.

After 4 CAT attempts, I achieved a respectable score.

XAT was on the next day.

XAT     -  99.811

SNAP  -  99.63

IIFT     -  97.50

After all the interviews and improbable waitlists, on June 28^th when I woke up at 5:15 AM, a friend who I met at IIT Bombay’s process has texted me congrats and sent me FMS’ third list. I informed my parents and they don’t understand the magnitude of this convert. But they are happy because I am happy. And that is what you live - for their happiness, isn’t it?

Converts – FMS, MDI, SIBM

VARC was always a heavy topspin forehand to my single handed backhand.

I chipped, sliced, dropped on the defence (VARC), hit a monstrous forehand winner(DILR) and finished with an Ace(QA).

Waitlists – C, L, XL.

I can't thank @GEM_forever enough for all those conversations we had and the inspiration he had been for me throughout this journey. I wish the best to all the aspirants out there. Keep pushing yourselves.

A few things that were in my favour during preparation and pushed me to take CAT one more time were a stable job and no converts in any of the seasons. If I had converted new IIMs in any of those years, maybe I wouldn’t have attempted one more time. I inculcated perseverance and discipline in this journey. I might miss preparation this year as I am habituated to that from the last four years. Finally, this journey has come to an end with an admission at The Red Building of Dreams.