Caution-THIS IS NOT "SURE-FIRE-ALL-MAKING IT TO-IIMs SUCCESS STORY“---
cat 16th nov 2008
the day before(15th nov)--read "bouncing back"-chapter 3--autobiography of samuel moore walton(MADE IN AMERICA)...was quite motivational...left for chandigarh by around 1 pm with sameer & nipun ,reached there by 5,..watched tv, had dinner and went to sleep
Next day-----16TH NOVEMBER 2008----- was a big day, both in terms of length and importance, was ready for the test by 9:15, left for the venue....there was a big horde..traffic jammed around the D.A.V college, somehow parked my scooter struggling to get inside the parking, was in my class by 9:50,searched for my seat....it was middle coloumn first seat...know what...I was the first one to know the pattern, question booklet bundle was right in front of me though upside down, read it upside down.... was something that last happened 10 years back, more weightage to one section(no marks for guessing which section it was--VERBAL ABILITY AND READING COMPREHENSION)
was familiar with such a pattern….was there in two cl's mocks.--.performed average in both….decided to increase my attempt proportionately to clear 10 % marks in the section(from tested strategy of 8/9x4 to 13/14x4)..overall from around 35(out of 75) to 40(out of 90)....that's why they say...all pre-determined strategies don't work on THE CAT DAY....
changed my another test strategy...started with va/rc first unlike the 98% of the mocks that I practiced with ....attempted 13 questions(8va & 5rc question)..marked the circles...45 minutes over....
came to di/lr.....the section termed the toughest of the CAT 2008....decided not to look in to the share prices set(5 question...3 with cbd option and 2 with none of these option)...it worked...found rest of the section easy...finally in around one hour time solved around 18 question..
time 12:20 pm...40 minutes left for the quant section....with already 31 attempts...thought will do around 9/10 ques...but was wrong.. Time--1 pm and marked only six q.a ques...
total attempt--37 ques...Knew missed out atleast 3-4 ques in quant. and overall.....came out... there was a big horde (i am using this word 2nd time in this post because it costs me 5 marks)....heard someone saying to his friend..."YAAR...CAT IS OVER"
1:15 switched my phone on .... received two calls in the next 5 minutes...."kaisa hua"....never wanted to answer more....switched it off again...
Around 3 pm--switched the tv...but this time no news channel was with the analysts and cut-off pridictors(was also out of net access).read about a show to be telecasted at 6 pm...somehow passed the time...with bachna ae haseeno on a local cable channel....was not interested, with my mind somewhere else
6 pm ..a person from time predicted the overall cut-offs to be 120 with maths somwhere around 20-24...that was the first time I realised it was really tough... also came to know about the TOUGHEST SECTION… ACCORDING TO HIM it was...DI/LR...the one in which I had attempted maximum..... the only think I wanted was somewhere around 100-105
around 6:40 pm--with the courage, entered a cyber cafe...searched for the keys on different institutes sites....first came bullseye....qa--19 marks(5/6 correct)..was satisfied with what I did....also 6th one was a fluke...di 62(16 correct).....va 2 marks(3 correct) overall 83........
but didn't loose hope...another key....pt...17 marks in va ..now overall 98.....another key...ims.....12 in va...again overall 98...this time with 17 correct in di... Time and cl were still not out with their keys
Next day--17th nov....checked out time and cl's keys.....both same...total 98
By the time week ended all institutes were out with marks v/s %iles section--my %iles hovering between..91%ile and 95 %ile...(91(CL),92.5(IMS)and 95(as per Time)..also TIME revised its overall cutoff to somewhere between 106-110(for 97.5 %ile)
.............
yesterday(9th jan 2009)----came the cat results...I am more than happy now.. have scored more than expected
--a total of 103(proving all institutes verbal keys wrong)...22 in va/eu,19 in quantitative and 62 in lr & di(respective %iles---72.2,75.93 and 99.94)...and an overall %ile of 95.52........even though extremely happy with my cat score ....but there's one thing to regret about also...not scoring that well in my graduation--i lost IIM SHILONG gd/pi call because of it(all other conditions fulfilled as per their shortlisting criteria disclosure)..........but.......that's life.
Now, hope I get the calls from the institutes I have applied to…
