Here i am after 2 years of writing this post —
https://www.quora.com/profile/Gourav-Parida-1 So lets start with the story, But
Before we get on with the story , always remember -
“Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”
Now for those wondering who I am ?! I am a Physics grad who loves literature and currently pursuing MBA Degree , imagine a triangle the three vertices are my undergrads , my interests and my career- as far apart from each other as mathematics permits. Point of this paragraph is that i have not been an Ideal student nor a genius, just the plain old average guy.
So what should i begin with ? . Each and every step i took towards CAT was different . Without a sliver of doubt , CAT was a life changer for me , my ticket from mediocrity to extraordinary .
When i look back to as i started preparing and compare it to now , i feel the hell and heaven difference in the attitude and respect of my parents , relatives , neighbors and my friends towards me . So yeah , it has been a huge part of my life and it took a lot of work to get here. So lets get on with the story shall we ?
I started thinking about B-Schools when i was in the 1st year of my graduation , influenced by my seniors, it has always been at the back of my mind that i was going to a B-School next. As the days past and in a blink i was in the third year, i hadn't started full time preparation till then . Throughout my 1st and 2nd year i was taking classes from a coaching but as they say :
“Do not put each leg in a different boat”
It was a disaster . I somehow realized this and in my last year (i was a B.Sc grad so 3rd year was my last) i stopped attending coaching to prepare at home. It was January of 2019 I took up a test series from CL and signed up for Night classes from CL , and started preparing on my own . I started with syllabus ,Prepared charts and started watching motivational videos for CAT from insideiim , chamomile tea with toppers and other channels.
The wall in my room looked something like this .
Then for the next 2 months i focused on learning basics . I was not so serious or lets just say i underestimated CAT. After a while i started with the mocks . And as you can guess i scored a meager 47 percentile in my first mock , i was devastated . I thought to myself , “ What have i been doing these 3 months, was I going to fail myself at this too ? “. Then i realized it wasn't going to be that easy , i will have to change my habits and work harder. As days passed by I came across a quote by Robert frost -
“The woods are lovely dark and deep , but i have promises to keep and miles to go before i sleep , miles to go before i sleep”
This quote had a great impact in my life and has stuck by me since then, I remembered that i had to prove myself i had a long road ahead, any time complacency crept in this quote kept me going. After that i decided to move away from my hometown to my brother's place in Bangalore. Where the real struggle began. The struggle to get past 80 percentile . I worked on my quants most of the time as i was relatively good in VARC and LRDI . I spent a lots of time working on my Quants and practiced a lot. I used i give 3–4 mocks in a week in alternative days and analysis them the next day. My daily life looked something like this -
I used to wake up at 7 sharp . Brush and sit for 3 hours full length MOCK .
Then breakfast and AOE(Age of Empires) game on YouTube for 1 hour. (You can't study 24*7)
The from 11 to 1 or 2 i used to work on my LRDI and VARC . I practiced lrdi sets from my previous mocks and test series and RCs from test gyms.
Then cook food for myself . Yes, i cook. (As my brother and sis in law are working)
In the evening we used to go outside either for a workout or a pub/restaurant . And be back by 8 .
Then i used to work on Quants , and practice the study materials , previous mock problems , problems posted on PaGaLgUy , problems from my CL telegram group. Till 10. ( I have basically memorized each page of my CL study material 😆)
After that dinner and revision till 1 am of whatever i read that day .
Sunday was for rest and mock analysis of the whole week and of course to travel and enjoy . Yes, this is important , as they say -
‘"All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy"
This is the part of my journey what led to my success . This is why i could reach my happy place.
Some of my favorite places i visited are here -
TherPup Dog Cafe
IKEA Hyderabad
Mysore Palace
Manali
I discovered i like traveling !! and to be honest i want to travel more .(Its like a craving now)
The best part was i enjoyed my preparation because i knew this was going to change my life forever. I had wonderful teachers at CL and by the month of August i was consistently scoring above 85 in every month. After that all it took was polishing the concepts . 1 month before CAT i was scoring 90+ consistently and was pretty confident . And i did Get through. Remember the most important part is to Enjoy whatever you are doing. I would like to end my story with the saying-
“Work hard in silence , let your success make the noise !”.
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