Ayush Matcha Profile

• Graduation College: BYK College of Commerce
• Programe: B.Com
• CAT score: 99.78
• Year of Passing Out: 2021
• Work Experience: FieldAssist
• Profile: Customer Success
• Years of Experience: 1

How difficult is it to prepare for CAT being a working professional ?

Ayush Matcha: It's not that difficult, in fact, I will say that it's much easier as you know you will have a limited amount of time for preparation and you just need to be consistent throughout. It's not about quantifying your study time (I'll study xx hrs) but staying focused and being efficient during that study period. Always remember Quality > Quantity.

During weekdays, I used to study for around 2-2.5 hrs, an hour in the morning before leaving for the office, and again 1-1.5 hrs at night. On the weekends I used to write mocks followed by detailed analyses. I mostly practiced by doing questions from the previous year's CAT papers and the mocks which I had purchased.

When and why did you think of appearing for CAT?

Ayush Matcha: I decided to appear for CAT in 2020 primarily because I wanted to pursue higher education and I felt MBA was the best choice for me as it is one such degree that develops you holistically in terms of technical, practical, and emotional knowledge. A management degree can boost/accelerate your career and it can be even more rewarding if you pursue it from a top college.

Did you join any coaching institute ? If yes, which one and why ? If not - Why did you go for self preparation?

Ayush Matcha: I did not join any coaching institute as I felt that my basics were pretty much in place and I just needed to work on my test-taking skills. Talking about the confidence of self-preparation, I was aware of my potential and it was just a matter of executing my strategies properly.

What was your preparation strategy for Verbal?

Ayush Matcha: Verbal was my weakest section, so I knew I had to work a lot on it. Upon thorough analysis, I realized that my comprehension and retention skills were not that good. So firstly I started reading articles, and newspapers on a daily basis, initially it was difficult but then slowly I started to comprehend things. The important point to note over here is that you won't see the results overnight in this particular section, you just need to be patient with it. For me, it took me almost 2.5-3 months to see the improvement in VARC.

What was your preparation strategy for DI and LR?

Ayush Matcha: DILR is probably the toughest section to crack given the amount of uncertainty and unpredictability involved in the type of sets asked, and this makes it the make-or-break section. The best way to approach this section is to practice regularly and to keep revising and revisiting the sets you have solved previously. You can also bookmark those sets which you found were challenging or had a unique way of solving and keep revising them on a weekly basis, so that the next time you encounter a similar kind of set, you will know the approach to solve that set.

I regularly practiced sets and also revised the sets which I had encountered in the mocks (especially those which I couldn't solve or had got them wrong). You can also look at the past 3-4 years sets and you'll see that DILR has become more dynamic in the sense that it does not ask you conventional DI or LR, but a mix of both.

What was your preparation strategy for Quant?

Ayush Matcha: I was pretty decent in QA despite being a non-engineer. For QA too, one should keep practicing and revising on a regular basis. The majority of the questions are asked on the topics of Arithmetic, Algebra, and Geometry. One can focus on these 3 areas and just brush up on the other remaining topics. Difficult topics like Modern Math, PnC, Numbers, etc can be ignored if you are not aiming for a high score in quants. The topics mentioned earlier should be good enough to get you a 95-97%ile range.

I primarily relied on solving mocks and revising them on a regular basis. Also, one should maintain a formula book and should go through it once or maybe twice on a daily basis.

How were the last few days before the exam?

Ayush Matcha: In the last few days, I stuck to my schedule which I had created for myself. This included revision of mocks and the question which I had bookmarked. I also went through the past year papers from 2017-2020. Apart from this, one thing which helped me remain calm during the lead-up to CAT and on the D-day is my early morning walks. This was my way of refreshing my mind and engaging into positive self-talk. I feel this is the most important part because if you are not calm and focused, no matter how much you have prepared, you won't be able to execute your strategies perfectly. So engage in those activities which make you feel good and relax you.

Which mocks helped you crack CAT?

Ayush Matcha: I opted for the CL test series as it provides good-quality questions and also excellent video solutions to each mock. The mocks were at par with the actual exam. I would suggest the aspirants to opt for any one of TIME/IMS/CL mocks.

I used to go through the entire paper section-wise and used to analyze why I got the question wrong. (Misread/Miscalculated/Random Marking). I also used to analyze the questions which I got right, whether I got it right by logic or was it a fluke (especially in VARC). Once you do this exercise for a few mocks you will see a pattern emerging in your mistakes. Try to work on those areas after giving your mocks and you should be fine.

One mistake which you think you should not have made (During the exam or during the preparation phase)?

Ayush Matcha: It's important to not take your mock scores too seriously as no one is going to give you an admission basis on scores in mocks. You should take each mock as a learning opportunity and note down key takeaways from each mock and keep revising them.

Also, do not get demotivated or do not ever lose hope if you aren't scoring as per your expectation in mocks. I personally did not ever cross the 100-mark in mocks but on D-day, I managed to get the best score of my season. So just stay positive and always keep in mind, "The Match is not over until the Final Delivery is bowled".

Please recreate the moment for us when you first saw your result?

Ayush Matcha: I remember I was in the office when I saw the notification that the results were announced, I opened the website and the moment I clicked on the result and opened it, I was numb. It took me a good 10-15 mins for the reality to sink in. At the same time, I was a bit emotional too, for all the hard work had finally paid off.

What next? Which colleges are you targeting based on your profile and percentile ? And how do you plan to clear the GD PI?

Ayush Matcha: I am primarily looking at the top IIMs (BLACKI), FMS, MDI, etc. GDPI is a different ball game altogether as you would be competing with the cream of the aspirants. It is important to focus on your GD PI preparation and not get carried away by the percentiles you get.

Which other exams did you appear for?

XAT, IIFT

What are your long term goals and how do you think getting into your dream college will help you achieve that?

Ayush Matcha: My long-term goal is to lead the Marketing Agency of a top MNC and I feel that the top IIMs will offer the perfect platform in terms of practical knowledge and the industry connections required to get into that role.

What should be an ideal 6 months strategy to prepare for CAT?

Ayush Matcha: I won't be mentioning any specific plan as it may depend from individual to individual, but all I would say is that just be consistent with your prep and stay focused. Never lose hope until D-day as you might score your best on the exam (the same happened to me).

"All the Best!"