Lavisha Taneja, a driven and diligent individual who pursued CAT aspirancy with passion and perseverance. During her preparation, she faced a challenge in the LRDI section of CAT but gracefully moved on to XAT, where she secured a remarkable score and secured a position in XLRI. In a recent interview with collegedunia, Lavisha shares her insights on how practice and determination helped her improve her skills and boost her confidence. Despite being a science student until the 12th grade, Lavisha graduated in English and is currently pursuing a master's degree in the same field. She believes in focusing on her strengths, which helped her score an impressive 98.66 in XAT and 93.67 in CAT.

In this article, we will delve deeper into Lavish's CAT journey and how she overcame obstacles to achieve her goals. We will explore her insights on how practice and perseverance helped her improve her skills and confidence, and how she approached different sections of the exam. Lavisha's experience is an inspiration for many aspiring CAT candidates who face challenges and setbacks during their preparation. By sharing her story and strategies, Lavisha hopes to motivate and guide others towards success in their CAT journey. So, let's dive in and learn from Lavisha's experience!

Interview Questions with Answers:

Collegedunia: Lavisha, what is your profile?

Lavisha: I graduated in English and currently I'm pursuing my masters in English. And I was a science student till 12th, so I have a math background but after that, I had not been in touch with mathematics. So, when I started preparing, I was scared of Quant. Initially, when I took coaching, there were NITians and IITians with me. We used to get a worksheet of 20 questions which we had to finish in 20-30 minutes. I was so slow at quant that they were doing 15+ questions in 20 minutes and I was stuck at 7-8 questions. That scared me, and it felt like I was not improving at all. But I kept pushing by telling myself, so what if they’re good at quant, I’m an English graduate, and I have verbal. That was my mindset, that if I can ace one section, it’s ok to be average in the other two sections.

Collegedunia: What was your Quant strategy that overtook your VR score?

Lavisha: The mathematics sir in our coaching centre was really good. He taught everything - conceptual building, then the practice of questions, then mock tests, and then analysis in such a structured way which helped a lot in understanding the topics. He encouraged us to ask even the silliest questions, and he incorporated collaborative learning, to engage with our peers and learn from them. So, I did that, and mathematics started to become easy for me. If we make a graph, my quant started from zero and it grew exponentially. For verbal, I would say I was already at level 8 on a scale of 10, and it grew slowly to 9.5 as VR is such an arbitrary and unpredictable section that you can never be sure that you got the right answer. In Quant, you calculate, find the answer, and select the correct option. But, for VR, you’ve to experiment, figure out your way, and extrapolate to get to the right answer. Maybe that way, I was getting comfortable with solving Quant.

Collegedunia: How many questions did you attempt in Quant?

Lavisha: In CAT, I attempted 10 questions and 9 of them were right.

Collegedunia: What would your advice be for VARC?

Lavisha:

  • VARC section in CAT/XAT exams requires creativity and objective reasoning while reading the unseen passages.
  • Avoid adding subjective interpretations and focus on the points given in the question to find the answer.
  • To retain information, one needs to have a good reading speed and remember what they read, which can be improved with practice.
  • Developing a habit of daily reading can be helpful in improving reading speed and understanding which lines are important to retain.
  • It's important to note down important points and refer to them while preparing for the VARC section.
  • In the options, extreme options like "all" or "every" are usually not the correct ones.
  • There are numerous resources available, including YouTube videos, to prepare for the VARC section, but make sure to note down the important points and keep them in mind.

Collegedunia: How do we think objectively, and not subjectively?

Lavisha: Practice, because if you don’t, you won’t know it. Practice will help you in the long run. During my mocks, I was getting more marks if I attempted more questions. So, that worked for me for VARC. I practiced a lot and attempted as much as I could.

Collegedunia: That strategy worked for you because you’re an English major. For the rest of us, how do we get better in VARC if we don’t have much time left?

Lavisha: I’d say, do not just start reading any book, particularly not vocabulary because good vocabulary will not help you get marks. I would suggest taking mocks and analysing them. Keep track of your progress.

Collegedunia: Moving on, what would your advice be for LRDI?

Lavisha:

  • My LRDI section in CAT did not go well. I attempted one set and got it all wrong.
  • Practicing a lot for LRDI may not guarantee success as there's a limited repository of topics from which questions are made.
  • I suggest referring to sources and covering all the topics in LRDI. Once you understand the basics, you can identify your weaknesses and work on them.
  • Personally, I was better at DI, so I focused on that entirely. Unfortunately, all the questions in my LRDI section were LR.
  • Fortunately, XAT does not have LRDI, so if you're scared of it, focus on XAT instead. They only have a few DI questions included in Quant which you can choose to ignore or do if you're confident

Collegedunia: After your LRDI section in CAT went south, how did you get hold of yourself and moved on to XAT?

Lavisha: It is such an interesting story that I even kept it in my LinkedIn profile. I was devastated after CAT. My mood was ruined. From the start, I wanted to be in IIM ABC, and I believed in myself that I could do it. And after the CAT experience, I decided I won’t even give the XAT exam. I didn’t even do that many mocks. The day of the exam, my dad said, he’d treat me if I went and gave the exam. That was my sole motivation. Anyway, I gave the exam, and it felt like I did it pretty well. I think it was because I was without tension, I was calm throughout the exam. That’s one thing I would urge the applicants to focus on as well. Implement sessions of meditation in practice so you can learn to be calm under tension and develop patience. That calmness got me a good score in XAT.

Collegedunia: What is the name of your coaching centre and why did you choose it?

Lavisha: It was IMS Faridabad as it was close to my home. At first, I wanted to take online classes, but I felt the need to get out of my comfort zone. And there were my classmates, juniors, and seniors in IMS Faridabad, and I felt comfortable there. Not just that, I liked the way they taught Quant, which I was bad at.

Collegedunia: Moving on, how should mocks be analysed?

Lavisha: First thing, for verbal, do not check the answer after giving a mock. Analyse why you selected that choice as the answer and try to find out if it is the correct one or the wrong one by yourself. Never forget to take notes of things that you think will help you. Eventually, as you keep giving more mocks and analyse them, you’ll find out where your strength lies. As for LRDI, the trick is all about choosing the right sets. Choose the set you’re familiar with and comfortable with. It’s almost the same for mathematics. Do those questions first that you’re familiar with, questions that you’ve already solved many times before. Next do those questions that you think you can find the answer to but can take a little time. After that, you can try the remaining questions.

Collegedunia: For mocks and books, you’ve limited yourself to just IMS Faridabad. Why is that?

Lavisha: I didn’t feel the need for additional mocks as there is a lot of free stuff online. There are good YouTube channels that discuss mocks, and I would just watch them when I was too lazy to give mocks myself. As for books, firstly, I was doing my master’s degree, so I didn’t have any extra time to read other books. Secondly, IMS Faridabad is a big centre and if they’re providing study materials, those books must be well prepared and planned. It is a well-known centre, so they cannot just copy and paste the entire book.

Collegedunia: Let’s say, a student has just 6 months to prepare for CAT/XAT, how would you suggest they start preparing?

Lavisha: Clear all concepts in the first three months. For the fourth month, give mocks every weekend and analyse them. You can even give sectional tests. In the fifth month, you can start looking at the past year’s question papers. For the last month, give mocks every alternate day.

Collegedunia: Can you share any tips on how to revise?

Lavisha: Keep formula books handy. I kept it with a vocabulary book, a pen, and a bottle of water all the time with me. The rest is just experimenting and finding what works best for you.

Collegedunia: Why did you go for an MBA after graduating in English?

Lavisha: I had an audio-visual study subject in my second year that taught me about advertising and that developed my interest in it slowly. I did some research, wrote some papers, and I found that marketing is very closely related to advertising. Then I researched marketing. As I kept researching, I got more and more interested, and I wanted to be in that field. For that, the primary thing was taking the entrance exam and the exam was CAT.

Collegedunia: How did you convince that in your interviews?

Lavisha: I had a lot of problems in the IMT interview. I explained my answer, yet they kept asking why MBA when I could do an internship and go into advertising. I replied that an MBA is something that integrates pure learning. There are real-time case studies, and I can bring my unique perspective to the table. And since I have a literature background, I’ll be able to bring social perspectives with me and that’s important. Someone with an engineering background can bring a statistical perspective. And that is needed, to see from different perspectives.

The following are the questions that were asked specifically during the Personal Interview (PI) round of the XLRI admission process:

Collegedunia: And finally, can you share your experiences of the XLRI interview?

Lavisha:

  • I found that XLRI is known for its grilling interviews.
  • My interview started 10 minutes earlier than the allotted time, and there were three male panellists present.
  • The interview lasted for about 25-30 minutes.
  • My coaching centre taught me various techniques for navigating interviews, and I had a good idea from all the workshops and mock interviews I had attended.
  • I mentioned that I was a story writer and researching a story during the interview.
  • I knew the panellists would ask about my research papers, and that I was comfortable with the topic.
  • During the HR round, the panellists asked me all about my research papers.
  • It's important to give topics that one is comfortable with during an interview, as not knowing the topic can impact one negatively.

Collegedunia: Can you share any specific questions?

Lavisha:
Place of XLRI Interview: Online
Number of Panelists: 3 male panelists
Duration of Interview: Lasted for about 25-30 mins.
Exchanged pleasantries

P1: Where are you right now?
Answered: I am at home sir. (I know it's very silly, I was trying to make it light and breezy).

P1: (amused)- No I meant where are you, as in the place?
Answered: Oh, I am in Faridabad as of now.

P1: Introduce yourself. Tell us about your strengths and weaknesses.
Answered: I answered the question.

P1: What is your paper about? What resources are you referring to?
Answered: I told them about my research paper on women in partition, and the books I'm using for references.

(Topic now diverted to books)

P1: What's the last book that you read?
Answered: I told them that the last book I read was Kamila Shamsie's Kartography.

P1: What is cartography?
Answered: It is the study of maps, sir.

P2: Have you read business books like The Monk who sold his Ferrari or Rich Dad, Poor Dad? And how do you manage your finances?
Answered: I did not have a solid answer for the finance question. So, I told them that I’ll read Rich Dad, Poor Dad and I’ll have a better perspective on how to manage my finances.

P2: You may log off now.
Answered: Thank you sir.

Collegedunia: Before ending the interview here, do you have any final words for the CAT aspirants?

Lavisha: I’ll just suggest not being stressed about the result. Just focus on the present right now and the preparation will teach you a lot of new things. Take all you can in the preparation because it’s a journey, and the journey is more important than the final destination. Keep experimenting, keep practising, and keep doing lots of mocks. Listen to your mentors. They have a wider knowledge base and know better than you. And listen to everyone, all their perspectives, and choose the ones that work for you.

Collegedunia: Perfect. That being said, let’s wind up the interview here. Thank you, Lavisha. Thank you very much for the insights.

Lavisha: Thank you.