XAT 2025

Excerpts from the Interview with Ambika Banerjee- CAT’20- 99.48 %tile

INTERVIEW CALLS: IIM-Indore, IIM-Shillong, New IIMs, SJMSOM, IIT B

Ambika Banerjee scored 99.48 percentile in CAT 2020. Ambika, has completed his engineering from BIT Mesra, Ranchi

What made you join Elites Grid?

When I got into engineering, I didn’t get into the college of my choice for my bachelors. Thus, after a year or two, I had this clear in my mind that I want to pursue MBA and therefore,  appear for either GATE or CAT exam. Although initially I was tempted to appear for the exam because of the perks associated with it(like high package) but eventually, I realized that I want to work for the growth of our nation while working with institutions such as RBI.

While I started studying for CAT back in my fourth semester, I believe, the kind of preparation I was doing, was not good enough and thus, I joined Elites grid wherein my actual preparation plan was set up. My first attempt was CAT was in last year- 2020.

There are a lot of MBA institutes, what made you choose EG?

I actually heard about EG from a friend of mine. He really was very impressed by EG and actually convinced me to start my preparation from here as well. Without doubt, joining EG was a really good experience and it actually helped me with my CAT entrance.

Did being in a coaching institute gave you an edge over others? 

Yes, personally according to me, it really gave a lot of edge over others. While preparing on my own, I not only had to devote all my concentration and attention towards studying but I also needed to find the relevant material for the same. At coaching, I didn’t have to worry if I was studying the correct and relevant material. The only task for me was that I am able to devote my time to the studies and learn what all has been taught to me- that really made things simple and efficient!

Apart from entrance exams, there are many other rounds like PI and GD. How did you work on them?

For the subsequent rounds, I took help of various B-school pages over social media who give you tips, tricks and strategies regarding PI and GD. Apart from that, I worked on my GK. I made it a point to go through the paper daily and skim relevant questions and situations that could be asked in the GD and interview round. 

What role did EG’s mocks and sectional tests play in your CAT preparation?

The sectional test series of EG are structured very efficiently- especially the quantitative aptitude section. These tests  really helped me focus on each and every part of the exam and rather than concentrating on the entire exam in one go, I could take my time working on each section. By working on these, I could know what all I was doing okay and what needed more work from my end.

How did EG helped you with individual sections of the exam? 

There are specific teachers for particular subjects at EG. The faculties conduct live sessions, provided video materials, question-answer sets, and encouraged us to make notes, regularly revise them and so on.

EG also regularly posted ‘daily reads’ to help us get a hang of the language, communication and increase fluency as well. Along with articles for daily reading, they also recommended books. 

I believe, EG and it’s faculties were really helpful and efficient in their working and what eventually matters is the kind of efforts you put in at an individual level!

What are your views about the EG faculty? 

Although I took an online batch for my preparation and the only contact, I had with them was through our video lessons, I really liked how all of the faculty used to, time and again, give us suggestions and tips while teaching us the lesson. I remember when one of the faculty, Hunny sir, told us, “if the question is taking too long, you are probably going in the wrong direction.”

This statement, although seems simple, really helped me to look at the questions from a different angle and thus, helped me solve them easily in no time. 

Due to the pandemic, most of us are obliged to study online and it might get a little difficult as compared to the offline setting. How did you cope up with that?

For me, when it comes to studying online, it all depends upon the students’ end of the bargain. I believe that teachers do their part- be it offline or online. But as for students, their dedication and concentration is sort of ‘tested’ as there is a lot less pressure to interact in classes, listen carefully and so on. Yes, it might be a little difficult to cope up, but we need to take care of that! 

Any advice/ experience  that you got from your mentors that you would like to share? 

One phrase that I always keep with me is “The game is never over.” 

Moreover, I would just like to say that I feel that I took the right decision by joining EG for my CAT preparation. I didn’t have to worry about secondary things and could concentrate on my work completely. To make me reach  at my current position, EG really helped me a lot.