Software Engineer, daughter of IPS officer among CAT 2018 Ludhiana toppers

Two Ludhiana-based students made the city proud by being among the highest scorers in the city in the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2018. The result of CAT 2018 was out on Saturday in which Software Engineer Vineet Bajaj (24) scored 99.53 percentile and Simran Jalhotra (20), daughter of an IPS officer, scored 99.48 percentile.

As many as 19 students in city have scored above 90 percentile including Gaurav Garg (98.58 percentile) and Ishan Singla (97.93 percentile).

Bajaj is presently working as a software engineer at a Gurgaon based firm. He started working there after completing his bachelor’s in technology from Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana in 2017.

“This was my second attempt. Earlier I attempted in 2016 but then I had achieved 87 percentile. I had a strong belief that I can do better. Therefore, I attempted it again but I decided to earn some work experience also before appearing for the second attempt.”

Bajaj said he is focusing on pursuing MBA in operations or finance from IIM Banglore, Calcutta or Lucknow.

Sharing what went for preparations, Bajaj said that after 2016, he was in regular contact with the teachers of the institute. “I was preparing side by side for CAT. But now for last three and half months I started devoting around five to six hours daily for the preparations. I also took an online test series program from institute which helped to me a lot,” he said. Bajaj added that he is used to work till 6pm and then from 7 pm till 1 pm he used to devote all his time study.

Simran Jalhotra said she used to devote around five hours daily. Daughter of Punjab Superintendent of police, posted at Malerkotla, Jalhotra said that she decided to go into business, not civil service, when she was in class 11th. Presently, Jalhotra is pursuing bachelors in commerce (final year) from Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management, Ludhiana and started preparing for CAT around one and half year ago. “I wanted to take admission in IIM Ahmedabad and that too in finance. I am also doing my bachelors with finance honors,” she said.

Munish Dewan, Director of IMS institute Ludhiana said that it is the myth that only science or engineers can do well in CAT. Jolhotra has set an example by not only scoring a good percentile by being a commerce student but also it is the highest ever score by a commerce student in the city.

English remained the weak subject for them

Whether it was Bajaj, Jalhotra or Garg, every student mentioned that the English was their weak subject and they devoted maximum hours to overcome their weakness.

Bajaj said that his strong areas were Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation. “During my preparations I focus on English as I was weak in it. I am happy that I was scored 95 percentile in Verbal section,” he said.

Jalhotra also shared a similar thought. She added, “Earlier I ignored English and made LR and DI my strong areas but when the exam was approaching, I felt that my Verbal section was weak as I was not scoring in it during the test series. Therefore, I practised a lot for the same.”

Garg said that he used to devote 10 hours daily for the preparations of CAT exam of which he used to spend five hours on practising English section as he felt that he was lagging behind. He added that he used to stay in his room for whole day. “I used to be in my room all day. I had stopped playing and going out with friends. Yes, I just come out of my room when I have to go the institute,” he said.