Four months is all it took for Tejaswi Kasturi from Secunderabad to secure a hundred percentile in his first attempt at CAT. Talking about this achievement, the 24-year old engineering student from IIT madras said, “It was when I was sitting for my placements at IIT that I thought of CAT 2013 as a back-up option. I prepared only four months for the exam.”

So, how confident was he about the exam? “I knew that my exam went well and I will score above 99 percentile. I was not sure about 100 percentile. My quant was good because I had prepared for my placements which require us to take a lot of Quant exams. I had some verbal material and also took some mocks,” he said.

While he wanted to work before pursuing an MBA, the plans might change now. He said, “Initially, I had planned to work before an MBA. I had also cleared my CFA level-I, so I was thinking about it. Now, with this good result, I think I will study first.”

He also plans to focus more on his interviews now. “Since, I had not prepared much for CAT, I wasn’t thinking about interviews. Now, since I have cracked the exam, I am speaking to some of my alumni for guidance.”

Currently, he is studying in the last year of his dual degree (BTech+MTech) program in Microelectronics and VLSI design. Like the other toppers of CAT 2013, he is also an avid reader.

Anirudh Batra believes a low-key approach helped him

Anirudh Batra is not new to topping exams. The engineering graduate from BITS Pilani had topped the CMAT September 2012 as well. Talking about his achievement, he said, “Last year, I had got 98 percentile and had some calls. But I could not convert any of them. Last year’s experience gave me a better idea of things. This time round I was more low-key and had a focussed approach towards the exam.”

Currently, 22-year old Anirudh is working with Atrenta in Noida.