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Twenty-year-old Rachit Dhanania has scored 99.99 percentile in CAT 2023, result of which was released on December 21. A student of Economics, Dhanania is excited to take the first step towards his entrepreneur dream. Since his teenage years, the Kolkata boy wanted to start something of his own.
“MBA excites me. I have been dreaming about becoming an entrepreneur, and IIMs are the ideal place to make that dream come true,” Rachit told indianexpress.com.
Dhanania is currently in the final year of pursuing BA (Hons) Economics from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata. CAT 2023 was his first attempt. “My dream college has been IIM Ahmedabad as it has a great faculty, good internship and placement opportunities, and an even better campus and environment. But if I don’t get into either of the top three IIM, I will still be happy to get a seat in any of the 21 IIMs,” he said.
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It was his first cousin, who is currently pursuing a degree in IIM Indore, who inspired Rachit to pursue CAT. “I and my parents were a little indecisive about management, but my sister helped us decide. She has also been a guiding force for me who cleared my doubts and passed on the learnings from her preparation days,” he said.
While his family is celebrating his win, Rachit believes that his job is only half done. “I am happy to crack the exam, but I still have more rounds to clear before I bag a seat in any of the IIMs. I have already started focusing for the interview and the group discussion round,” he said.
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For this, Rachit has started attempting mock interviews. “I am increasingly engaging in quality discussions to improve my spoken skills for the group discussion rounds. Also, I am ensuring I am clear on the basic concepts of Economics since those can be asked in the interview round,” he said.
He also added that he is having more one-on-one interactions with people for the interview round. However, he is preparing while keeping in mind that he still has to clear his final year exams.
As someone who cleared the exam in the first attempt, Rachit believes that it is important to trust the process. “For an aptitude test, it is important to take breaks so that you can stay calm and level-headed. In aptitude tests, having a calm demeanor is important and that can be achieved only when you take proper breaks and let your mind and body relax,” he suggests.
CAT ’23 Results: 14 score 100 percentile, 11 of them engineers
Rachit also made sure that he took vacation whenever he got a chance, since he had to unwind while preparing for CAT and his Bachelor exams. In his free time, Rachit likes watching sports such as cricket, football and badminton.
He also added that students should try to enjoy the process and attempt CAT if they enjoy the subjects that the entrance exam is related with. “I loved studying for CAT because I enjoy mathematics so that made Quantitative Ability interesting for me. I also like reading, so Verbal and Reading Comprehension also became a fun section for me,” he said.
Rachit started preparing for CAT in January 2023 with Career Launcher and has since then been attending weekend classes there. He ensured that he gives proper time to his bachelors degree during the week and weekends were committed to CAT preparation.
One strategy that helped Rachit score 99.99 percentile is being practical. “One advice that I followed and would like to pass on to future aspirants is to not get too attached to questions. There will always be 8-10 quant questions that will be do-able. Identifying those and solving them first is the key to success in that section specifically. But if someone gets stuck to one question, then they can end up missing the questions that could have helped them score,” he said.
When asked how can students identify those do-able questions, Rachit quickly added that it is mock tests that help students identify these patterns. “Mock tests are essential for CAT. I had been attempting at least five mock tests per week since October, and I think I might have solved 70-80 mock tests from different institutes,” he added.
Another advice to CAT aspirants from Rachit is to stay consistent. “If you are not consistent, you will lose the habit and practice which is essential for CAT. It also helps you build speed and confidence with which you can solve a question. Even if I was busy, I used to study at least two hours everyday,” he said. Developing the habit of reading books and articles also played a huge role in his success.
