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When a serious aspirant cracks the CAT with a 99.97 percentile, it’s not just luck. It’s strategy, hardwork, and disciplined preparation. Today we dive deep into the journey of Akash Dwivedi, a working-professional-turned-top-performer who refused to settle, chose to re-attempt, and struck gold.
Akash’s Background: Profile, Work Experience & Education
Akash is 26 years old, hailing from Uttar Pradesh. After finishing his under-grad in Chemical Engineering from BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus (2021), he worked for a year as a Business Analyst at EXL Service and then joined ICICI Bank in their Treasury Back Office, where he has been for over 2.5 years.
With this profile, many would say: “You’re already on a good path.” But Akash wasn’t satisfied with “good” because he wanted the best.
Why Akash Re-attempted CAT After Scoring 99.7%ile in 2023
In his CAT 2023 attempt, Akash scored around 99.7 percentile. He converted top calls, including some prestigious institutes like IIM Kozhikode. But instead of joining immediately, he made a bold choice: he declined and decided to give CAT one more shot. He believed he could do better, and he did.
Many aspirants shy away from another attempt once they hit 99+. But Akash was not satisfied with the college that he was getting.
Key Changes in Akash’s CAT 2024 Preparation Strategy
Early Start + Deeper Analysis
In prior attempts, Akash started his prep late (work commitments). This year he began in June–July, giving himself more runway.
He followed his usual schedule such as CAT daily targets, CAT Mock Tests etc, but added two major changes:
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In-depth analysis of every mock and sectional, time spent on every question, wasted time, alternative actions.
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To improve his reading habit, Akash used articles from a football-news app daily, as VARC was his weak section, to build reading stamina and comprehension depth.
Section-Wise CAT 2024 Preparation Strategy by Akash
VARC Preparation: From Weakness to Strength
Akash transformed VARC from his weakest section into a major strength by changing how he read passages. Instead of skimming, he focused on the author’s intent, tone, and logical structure behind every idea. Daily reading through football articles helped him build familiarity with different writing styles and improve comprehension speed. With this mindset shift, his accuracy rose significantly in inference-based questions, helping him comfortably cross the 99 percentile mark in VARC this year.
DILR Preparation: Set Selection and Smart Progress
In LRDI, Akash’s biggest improvement was his set-selection strategy. He scanned all sets first, identified the ones he could solve most confidently, and did not hesitate to leave time-consuming ones for later. He also used partial solving to ensure continuous progress instead of getting stuck on a single idea. This smart decision-making helped him achieve a good score making LRDI a major scoring section for him.
Quant Preparation: Accuracy Over Ego
Although Quant was a relative strength, Akash focused on accuracy and time management rather than ego-based attempts. He scanned through questions in chunks, attempted the easier ones first, and skipped quickly whenever he felt stuck. This strategy allowed him to maximize his correct attempts while minimizing silly mistakes. Solid fundamentals and efficient question selection made sure Quant gave his overall score a strong push on exam day.
Also Read, CAT 30 Days Preparation Strategy 2025 with Study Materials
Final Weeks Before CAT 2024: Mocks, Slot Practice & Focus
Simulating Exam Conditions and Building Resilience
Two-three weeks before the exam, Akash gave mocks in his actual slot (Slot 2: 12:30–2:30) and even simulated external disturbances (loud reader next row etc) to build mental resilience.
Exam Day Routine and Focus
His day-of ritual: 10 minutes of meditation, deep breaths, relaxing earphones with white-noise (initially) but later learned to work with disruptions.
On exam day, he slept well (woke at 9 am with exam at ~1:30), had his plan ready, and executed with calm confidence.
CAT 2024 Exam Day Performance
| Section | Performance |
|---|---|
| LRDI | Attempted 16 questions, all correct ✅ |
| Quant | Attempted ~19, confident on 13–14 |
| VARC | Improved accuracy helped recover previous gap |
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Raw score: ~41
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Believes he could have scored ~10 marks more without time leaks and ego-driven mistakes.
Important Takeaway: I didn’t give mocks just to give them. I analysed every attempt for time spent, questions wasted, order of attempt, etc. This moved me from 99 to 99.97.
Also Read, CAT Study Material 2025, Questions, Test Series, Formula PDF
Lessons from a CAT Topper: How to Move from 99 to 99.97 Percentile
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Start early. Give yourself enough time to improve weak areas rather than just maintain strength.
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Daily consistency matters, even 15–30 minutes counts when you keep the streak alive.
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Analyse mocks deeply, know what you did, how long you took, what you should’ve done instead.
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During exam day prepare for the unexpected, noise, delays, distractions. Simulate them.
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Maintain humility and presence of mind. Even high scorers can slip because of ego or time-wasting.
IIM Bangalore Convert: Akash’s Final Result
Scoring 99.97 percentile in CAT is a huge achievement but what made it even more special for Akash was converting IIM Bangalore. After getting 99.7 percentile in CAT 2023 and receiving top calls, he made a bold choice to try again, aiming only for IIM B. That decision worked out perfectly. With steady effort, smart mock analysis, and better strategy, Akash cracked CAT 2024 and got into his dream B-school. For many aspirants, getting into IIM Bangalore is the ultimate goal, and Akash’s journey proves it’s possible with consistency, clarity, and belief.
