'I got calls from all 6 IIMs'

Ashish Makhija, a final year student at VJTI, Mumbai, was one of 2.3 lakh IIM aspirants who took the CAT 2007, this last November 18. Having scored in the 99.88 percentile, something a vast majority of test takers can only hope for, we speak to him about his CAT strategy and career plans.

About your percentile, were you expecting to score as well as you did?
I scored in the 99.88 percentile. I was a bit worried about Verbal. I was expecting about 37 in it, but the high percentile score of 98.77 in verbal was a pleasant surprise.

Since quant was tougher compared to earlier years and I was confident of my answers, I was expecting a great percentile score in it. Also DI/LR was one of my stronger points throughout and I was confident that it would not be an obstacle in CAT.

The overall high percentile score was not completely expected but neither did it come as a complete surprise. I had performed consistently well in the SimCATs and was hoping that I perform well on the day it mattered as well.

Obviously, to have received all 6 calls was an amazingly happy feeling. The feeling now is of extreme joy and excitement at the prospects ahead.

My section-wise scoring was: 99.56 percentile in quantitative ability (QA) with 50 per cent; 98.75 percentile in data interpretation (DI) with 57.29 per cent and 98.77 percentile in verbal ability (VA) with 37 per cent.

Which institute are you hoping to get into?
IIMs are world renowned MBA schools and all of them maintain very high standards. Since I have received all six calls, I now want to put my best foot forward and get as many admits as possible. If I can get through, the future decision will be taken on the basis of my research and after talking to students there.

How are you preparing for the next stage of admissions -- the group discussions and personal interviews?
I just attended the GD/PI sessions held by IMS last month. I also intend to attend all workshops and sessions organized by them in Jan and Feb since I found them extremely useful.

I read The Times of India and The Economic Times daily. Also, I read various business magazines and magazines like The Week to keep abreast of current happenings.

How did you tackle each of the sections: verbal, data interpretation, quantitative reasoning?
Verbal: I always tried to maximise my attempts in this section as my accuracy was a problem. I did a lot of general reading in the build-up to CAT which helped me with the reading comprehensions and the general grammar questions.

DI/LR: My accuracy and speed for this section was good. Practice questions from the IMS study material and the numerous tests helped to constantly improve myself.

QA: Here too my accuracy had been consistently good. Solving a lot of quant questions increases your speed because by practice you can reach a better way to solve the same question. Also it makes you conceptually strong.

DI was a section I did not particularly enjoy. I scored well in it though. I liked the Logical Reasoning part most.

Tell us about your section-wise strategy.
Verbal: I liked to solve this section first. That helped me in maximising my attempts for this section. Also, since I was fresh I could tackle the comprehensions with a greater level of concentration. Since I attempted a lot of questions, I did sacrifice a bit on accuracy, but this strategy worked consistently for me.

Quant: I usually solved this section at the end since quant was a bit tough in many of the SimCATS. I aimed at giving it 50-60mins. My accuracy for this section was very good.

DI/LR: This was one of my stronger points and I always aimed at maximising attempts in minimum time here. This enabled me to give a lot of time for verbal and also quant, if it turne dout to be on the tougher side.

Tell us a bit about your educational background so far?
I did my schooling in Pune. I was a student of Kamalnayan Bajaj School and stood first in my school, securing 90.7 per cent in the SSC. My junior college was Fergusson, also in Pune. I scored 93 per cent in the HSC. Currently I am in VJTI, Mumbai doing electronics engineering. My CPI so far is 7.9.

Why did you decide to do an MBA given your background?
I have always been more interested in the management side of things. The financial and marketing aspects of any product or any event have always aroused my interest. I also believe that engineers with strong analytical skills make great managers. Thus, it's no surprise that so many students in IIMs are engineers.