Meet The Cool CAT

How to bell the CAT? Do not learn by rote, get concepts clear, says 24-year-old Apoorv Agarwal.

The IT manager with Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, has scored 99.99 percentile in his third attempt at the prestigious exam to shine brighter on the country's A-list. He had scored 99.27 in his first attempt and yet missed the IIM bus.

The modest Meerut boy, who completed his chemical engineering from the Institute of Technology, BHU, and boasts a professional stint of a year and a half, however, believes he has miles to go. "My work is only half-done. IIMs analyse your academic background and not just CAT score. Interviews are to be faced," he said.

The youth is yet to make up his mind on the cradle he will rock, but has already set his ultimate goal — entrepreneurship. "Which IIM? Well, it depends on from where all I get a call. Generally, any successful CAT candidate will aim for Ahmedabad, Bangalore or Calcutta. I wish to take up finance and become an entrepreneur," he said, pinning hopes on his percentile scored by only 50 aspirants across the country.

Apoorv shares some of his glory with electronics student of NIT-Adityapur Parag Jain who has notched a 99.67 percentile and Abhinav Kumar, a student of BITS-Pilani, who has scored 99.27. Two other NIT students from the electronics discipline — Ritesh Ranjan and Diwakar Vikrant — have secured high percentile. While Ritesh has received 97.86, Diwakar followed him with 97.10.

Atul Mishra, a Tata Motors employee, too has crossed the commendable 90 mark, with a score of 96.75. "I will aim for the best. There are factors to be taken into consideration since I have appeared for XAT too," he said.

Around 1.85 lakh candidates appeared for CAT across 36 cities over a 20-day testing window from mid-October. CAT scores are accepted by the 13 IIMs, besides the management studies departments of NIT and IIT. While those who have secured above 99 percentile will aim for IIMs A, B or C (read Ahmedabad, Bangalore or Calcutta), the others will be beckoned by Kozhikode, Indore or Lucknow.

Sandeep Kumar of MBA coaching centre Career Launcher in Bistupur, where Apoorv honed his aptitude, said there were 114 IIM calls for Jamshedpur last year and this time they expected 200. "Scoring 99.99 is an achievement. Only a handful manage to do so. Cent percentile is rarer," he said.

(Courtesy: The Telegraph)