Sushmita scored 99.27 percentile in CAT 2020. Driven by a desire to serve the public, engineering graduate Kagitapalli Susmitha prepared for the civil services exams. Failing to qualify in her three attempts, Sushmita changed her focus to the Common Admission Test (CAT). She cracked the CAT in 2019, but she wanted to secure a place in one of the top B-schools. And she did by scoring 99.27 percentile in this year’s results.
“I tried the UPSC route, even though the number of attempts and age are still on my side, I decided to go for an IIM as a B-school degree can prepare me with newer skills. MBA too prepares one for administrative jobs only in the private sector. However, the door to public dealings still remains open,” says the 25-year-old who says her goal is to implement positive changes in society.
Susmitha says administration and public dealing are the two spheres she wants to work in, but she is more interested in serving the education sector. “Even though there are fewer females than men in higher educational institutes, the trend is slowly changing. I am first among my entire family to have scored enough to crack CAT. Given a chance, I would wish to ensure that every woman has the opportunity to pursue her dreams irrespective of her background,” says the graduate from NIT-Trichy.
What worked for Sushmitha in CAT 2020 was her focused attempts. “DLR was my weak point in 2019. So I had enrolled in online courses dedicated to the section. I had not only registered in the mock test series for the entire test but also attempted sectional mocks which helped me improve my understanding of the concepts and analyse my mistakes. Mocks not only help in self-assessment but also improves time management and question-solving skills under pressure. I also had guidance from my mentor at Kitabee (test preparation platform),” says Sushmitha.
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She has scored 99.27 percentile in CAT 2020, her DLR score is 99.04 or 34.75 scale score. Her highest marks came from the verbal ability section with 98.7 percentile followed by the quant with 95.84 percentile.
“Those who want to pursue higher education and are not sure if they can or cannot crack CAT should give it a go. It just needs 8-9 hours of practice a day or about 500 hours of practice, however, one breaks it as per their routine. Attempting mock tests is also a very integral part of the preparation as it is a comparative marking exam,” she said.
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Sushmitha’s father is an engineer and her mother is a homemaker. Sushmita says she has drawn inspiration from her mother to work in the field of administration.
