City boy tops CAT, eyes IIM- A

A place at the Indian Institute of Management is the living, waking dream of every MBA aspirant who slogs for the Common Admission Test (CAT). But burying your nose in the books is not a sure fire formula to secure a seat in the business school of your dreams as Varun Manganpoori found out. When the Hyderabadi, studying at IIT-Chennai, scored 100 percentile in CAT-2009, he ensured a place in the record books of CAT-toppers.

A student of Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Begumpet and Little Flower Junior College, the young genius is pursuing a five-year dual degree — B. Tech and M. Tech — in engineering drawing.

He says he can reveal no secret formula to top the exam, but preparation was the key and he made sure not to over-extend himself. “I made sure I didn’t follow too rigorous a study schedule. Although I attended a few coaching classes initially, I soon stopped going for them. Instead I attempted several mock tests, in both the computer and written formats, before I sat down to the actual CAT exam,” he says.

Varun’s excellent scores in the preparatory preliminary examinations increased his confidence while appearing for the finals. “I scored over 90-95 percentile in the mocks. When I finally did write the CAT, I was confident of doing well and receiving a call from one of the IIMs. But I never dreamt that I’d top the exam,” says Varun.

Varun did not allow himself to be thrown off gear by problems at his exam centre. “Although the centre where I was scheduled to give my exam had experienced several technical glitches the previous day, it did not bother me. Thankfully, there were no major problems during my exam and I just went with the flow.” While the Quant section was a breeze for Varun, English proved to be his Achilles’ heel, he says.

Holding his excitement firmly in check, Varun says the process has yet to be completed. “I still have to get through the interview, group discussion rounds. So far I’ve received letters from IIM-Ahmedabad and Shillong.” Varun says the response he received from peers once the results were declared was overwhelming and very encouraging.

But Varun has to wait to see if he gains entry into IIM-A, his dream business school. “I don’t want to jump the gun. Let’s wait and see how the interviews unfold, my dream school would definitely be IIM-A. At the same time I am also applying to a few B-schools in the USA.”