The Common Admission Test (CAT 2018) was conducted by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta on November 25 at various test centers across India. As per the candidates, the overall level of difficulty of the entrance examination was rated moderate to difficult which could have a direct impact on CAT Result. However, there are mixed reactions of students. Some candidates felt that the questions in the Verbal Section were difficult whereas some said that this section was the easiest. Some find Quantitative Aptitude as difficult whereas for some it was the easiest section. As per experts, the second slot of CAT 2018 was on a similar pattern to that of the first slot. The VARC section of CAT 2018 slot II was pretty easy. However, for some students, the DILR section of the second slot was difficult in comparison to the first slot. Quantitative Aptitude remained the toughest of all the sections.
As per the statements were given by the CAT 2018 topper, Rickshesh Manchanda finds CAT 2018 tougher than the last year’s CAT. Rickshesh Manchanda has cracked two most competitive national level examinations i.e. JEE in 2014 and CAT in 2018. He said that he totally believes in self-study as it plays a significant role in one’s success.
Even though Rickshesh cracked CAT 2017 with 99.99 percentile, he appeared again for CAT in November 2018 and this year, he is among the top 11 candidates who scored 100 percentile in CAT 2018. Rickshesh is an alumnus of IIT-Delhi and is currently working with a bank in Pune, Maharashtra.
As per statements made by the CAT 2017 topper, he said that when he cracked CAT last year, he got a call from IIM-Calcutta. He needed some sort of work experience in order to boost his confidence, so he appeared for CAT again. Rickshesh found CAT 2018 tougher than 2017 and when he got 100 percentile, he got surprised.
He also said that the DILR section of CAT 2018 was pretty difficult and also the Quantitative Aptitude Section was not the easier one. In comparison to the previous year’s CAT paper, the questions in the Quantitative Aptitude section were really very difficult. Manchanda said that he was less confident about the English section. He improved this section just by reading books and periodicals for a period of one year. As he was working, so it was pretty difficult for him to maintain the right balance between his job and his CAT preparation. It is not an easy task to top this one of the toughest examinations while doing a job, but, Rickshesh succeeded in cracking this test.
In an interview, Rickshesh said that his basics were crystal clear and he was highly confident. But he also confessed that it was really very hard to find time to practice mock tests regularly. According to him, self-study is the only gateway to crack any competitive examination. It is also very important to revise the topics regularly and make a habit of making short notes of each and every topic that you study. He advised the CAT aspirants to keep revising all the important topics of CAT and appear for mock papers regularly in order to analyze their preparation.
As per Rickshesh, he was not an extraordinary student. He was an average student in studies. He scored an aggregate of 88.8% in Class 12 examination and in 2014, he managed to crack JEE. As he was brought up in a Business woman’s family, he always wanted to set up his own company. He always thinks about plans of starting his own business on recycling waste for the sake of the environment.
Candidates preparing for CAT 2019 must remember that they need to study very hard in order to get admission to top IIMs. The difficulty level of the CAT is increasing every year. So, students need to work pretty hard.
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