About Us

Who are the CAT-holics?

The CAT-holic blog is the brain child of two IIM graduates, J and T, under the aegis of our employer IMS Learning Resources Pvt Ltd. We’d like to briefly introduce ourselves below:

J is a graduate of IIT-B and IIM-C and a 11-time 100-percentiler in the CAT (’02, ’08, ’10, ’12, ’14, ’15, ’16, ’17, ’18, ’19, ’20). He is also a nationally ranked Scrabble player and cruciverbalist and is fond of solving lateral thinking riddles and crossword puzzles. In his spare time he reads Fantasy and Science Fiction, photographs sunsets and consumes entirely too much caffeine. He teaches Quantitative Aptitude and is also an expert in Vocabulary.

T is an MBA from IIM-L and a standardised test junkie with scores of 750/800 and 1500/1600 on the GMAT and GRE respectively. For the better part of his career he worked at the Academics Dept. of IMS developing courseware for the CAT, GMAT and the GRE and and ended his stint as the head of the department. He currently operates out of the IMS Head Office and spends most of his spare time reading and travelling.

IMS is India’s leading institute for Test Preparation and Admission Consulting with over 35 years of unmatched experience in shaping success stories. The institute has been ranked 4th in the education sector and 44th amongst the Top 50 Most Trusted Service Brands across India (AC-Nielsen & Brand Equity, December 2003). Today, IMS has spread its wings across India with more than 90+ centers and over 50,000 students, successfully making it to some of the most prestigious institutes in India (IIMs, FMS, JBIMS, XLRI, ISB etc) and abroad (LBS, Stanford, Wharton, Harvard, HEC, INSEAD, NUS, etc).

IMS offers comprehensive training programs for not only the CAT and other prominent Indian management entrance tests like the XAT, CMAT, IIFT, NMAT and SNAP but also for international tests like the GMAT, GRE, SAT, IELTS and TOEFL. Our motto is to mentor, motivate and guide our students and all those who interact with us in order to enable them to make the right career decisions.

86 thoughts on “About Us”

  2. hi J & T,
    You’ll are doing a great job. Just one suggestion. Blogging on a domain would be more preferable. And as a matter of fact I am trying to make a student network and have a plan in mind. Would love to discuss it with you. Kindly email me if you would like to help.
    Myself: another CAT aspirant

    Reply

  3. Hi J and T,

    Thanks for your blog. It’s really helping me a lot in my preparation. Here is one problem which I came across and I am getting two answers when applying two methods explained by you above.

    If a+b+c+d=20, then find the number of solutions possible when

    (i) a,b,c,d<=8

    by method one: it should be 23C3 – 4*14C3 + 6*5C3 = 375

    but by alternate method

    maximum values taking a=b=c=d=8, will be 32
    total obtained= 20 (given)
    loss = 12
    a'+b'+c'+d'=12
    so 15C3= 455 ways..
    could you please tell me where I am wrong ?

    Reply

    • Okay. No problem. Still, I will be back on 4th to check if it gets uploaded. *optimist* 😀
      Otherwise it would be helpful for the remaining exams.
      Thankyou

      Reply

  9. Hi J & T,

    I am writing this reply, just to say thanks. I have been preparing for CAT 2012 and your work in this blog helped me in several ways. All i can say is thanks.

    Thank you for your tremendous work and as always I will keep visiting this blog ( atleast for one more year 😛 ).

    Regards
    Pavan Kumar.

    Reply

    • If you mean 700+ as the number of questions, I’d say good luck waiting for that 🙂 As they used to say in Kolkata “hobe na, dada!!” If you mean 700+ level on a GMAT, well, there are already quite a few (see the last several posts under the tag PnC; practically any problem of PnC which you are likely to encounter in a GMAT, or even a CAT, can be solved if you are acquainted with those concepts). If you plan to write a JEE or Maths Olympiad, well, then this won’t be enough.

      I know that I have done only 1 or 2 demonstrative examples of each variety, since I intended to cover as much portion as possible in a limited time and trusted that my readers would have the gumption to follow up with self-practice. I do intend to do more examples this season (and perhaps some probability as well) but later in the year – for now I will be focusing on puzzles for about 3 months (at least till interview season is about done, basically)…

      regards
      J

      Reply

      • Well I mean questions of 700+ level, the more difficult ones on PnC.
        I shall be grateful if you post some questions.

  14. Geometry has always been a weak area for me. Discovered this website on the eve of cat 2014 and went through your posts on geometry. Don’t know if it is a coincidence or not, I was able to solve all the geometry problems. I like to believe it is not a coincidence. Thanks a lot guys. Hopeful of getting 99.5+

    Reply

  16. Hello Scrabblar can you please tell me how did you convert the blog crackthecat.wordpress.com to cat100percentile.com. Have you bought the domain name from godaddy and then forwarded it to your blog. Because I have a blog and i am trying to forward this but my tags don’t change when someone clicks on that link. Did you buy something extra from wordpress?

    Reply

  17. Sir I want to do mba but I from vernacular medium.my communication skill is weak so what to do for improving my com skills.I am graduate in 2014 from B.A. I am not touch in study since one year. Now I want to do cat in2015. Sir how I prepare
    Plz guide

    Reply

    • Read a lot. Speak English every chance you get. Study. There is no magic to it, just hard work. You have to be in the top 1% or so of the aspirants. Do whatever it takes.

      regards
      J

      Reply

    • The thing is, those are relatively straightforward topics and hence there is very little “value add” I can offer in them. Hence have been focusing on those topics (PnC, Remainders, Plotting, etc) where I can add some significant value to the stuff you will find already floating around.

      regards
      J

      Reply

  21. hello & hi J and T

    i am mariya ! studying B.E 3rd yr , i have a basic knowledge in mathematics but i have doubt in how can i implement to do these Quants…….

    Reply

    • I’ve put several posts on modulus plotting in the past, and a few on algebra as well. In general, though, algebra and inequalities are not really my strongest areas and I see little I could add to what I already find in books and material readily available. So haven’t made an effort in that direction as yet. Am planning to put a few posts on quadratic plotting at some future date but have not yet managed to organise or structure those in my head so I doubt it will happen this year, at any rate!

      regards
      J

      Reply

      • Hi J , Thanks for the reply.
        I am planning to give CAT this year , can you please suggest what all , are the types of question can we see in Algebra , Inequalities , Modulus , Graphs , as you must b aware of the pattern. In general i want to boost my confidence in this section.

    • Ever since the CAT has gone online, test-takers have had to sign a non-disclosure agreement stating that they will not disclose the questions. Accordingly, you will not find the papers legally available anywhere online (and certainly, not on this blog!). However, some unscrupulous elements do recreate the paper from memory and post it online; I am sure you will be able to find such (admittedly unreliable) papers with a Google search, if you wish.

      regards
      J

      Reply

  27. Hi , J & T
    I have started my CAT preparation last week .I am confused in my Quant prep plan . I have ims study material .There are Level -1 & Level 2 exercises & area tests .How should i do till what time ?

    Reply

  28. Dear Sir,
    I have recently started my CAT 2016 coaching.
    I am ready to work hard. But a planned hard work bore fruits.
    Can you please sugget me a plan on my preparation from the beginning? i am aiming for 100 percentile

    Regards

    Reply

  29. Dear Sir,
    I have recently started my CAT coaching and preparation.
    I am aiming for 100percentile.
    Can u help me out in preparing a plan to follow so that i will achieve my aim.

    Regards.

    Reply

    • There is no magic, just hard and smart work. If you want to get a 100 percentile in 3 months, ideally you should be at almost a 99 already. Just be sincere and do the best you can…

      regards
      J

      Reply

  30. Hi Boss,
    You are yet to update CAT-2016 score on your profile 🙂

    Thank you for writing this Wonderful blog. It is a gold mine for Quant prep. No Coaching institute/forum can match the content of this blog. Instead of just providing the solutions, you have focused on explaining the thought process behind the problem. This has helped me to understand the concept better and also improved my problem-solving ability. This blog is my only source for quant prep. Following each and every article on this blog has helped me to score 99.8 percentile in Quant. Apart from this blog, You have also guided me through the tough times.

    Thanks Boss for helping me out 🙂

    Regards
    Raghu Vinay

    Reply

  31. Hello Sir,
    I am a graduate planning to appear for the mba exams this year. Due to arrears i had to compromise for a general degree in addition to the loss of a year. Could you please tell me if there are any colleges i am not eligible to apply for?Which exams would you suggest me to appear for?

    Reply

    • I am assuming you mean you dropped a year. As long as your final aggregate in graduation is over 50% you will still be eligible for most of the top colleges (the notable exception being NM). Obviously, you will need to score that much higher in the respective exams to compensate. Other than NMAT, you can appear for all the other major tests – CAT, XAT, CET, SNAP, IIFT etc. Even in the top 10 colleges, I personally know people who have graduated from one of IIMC, XLRI, FMS and JB after having dropped a year (or more) during graduation but aced the exam.

      regards
      J

      Reply

  32. Hello

    Last year i got 75 percentile in cat…this year is my last attempt coz after which my work ex will exceed 5 years. How should i should?can i get any counselling from your team.

    Waiting to hear from you.
    Anjali

    Reply

    • Well, we are not really consultants – we are exam experts. So we would not be in a position to give an authoritative answer to your query. However let me share whatever thoughts I have; do take them with a pinch of salt. If your experience is already 4 years, then it is already on the high side and you might find it difficult to convince the IIMs to take you for their PGP program even with an exceptional score. Still, it does depend on your profile. However, should you consider taking the GMAT and looking at options abroad, or ISB and the IIM executive programs; you would stand a better chance there, with a decent score.

      As for how to study for CAT – well, no magic there! Hard work, smart work, lots of practice and lots of understanding. And a great deal of self-belief.

      regards
      J

      Reply

      • Thank you for your advice…I am also taking GRE in october as ISB consider GRE scores(including other mba institutes outside) and i completed 3 years in july and by the time i sit for interviews it will almost 4. Should i consider GMAT as well?

    • Difficult question….the answer varies from person to person. First of all you have to have your preparation in place. Then, you need to develop your self-belief. You don’t have the luxury of doubting yourself during those 3 hours. If you can train yourself to be confident, and are also thoroughly prepared for the test, calmness follows. If it helps, before the test you can try yoga, or music, or whatever works for you (for me, it used to be a sunset the evening before the test, with a good book preferably. Very calming.)

      regards
      J

      Reply

  35. Hi Sir,
    Do you have a page dedicated to LR questions.I am looking for one .Please put the link here.
    Thank You!

    Reply

  36. Hi. I have started preparing for CAT 2019 recently. I want someone who can help me strategise my preparations on the hair root level from now itself. I am enrolled into the IMS program but I feel the need for mentoring to improvise my prep stategise while I work on cutting back time leaks. Please revert to me on my email kchamaria1993@gmail.com so we can take the conversation on call.
    Look forward to it.
    Thanks,
    K

    Reply

    • I’m really sorry but I cannot provide individual mentoring here 🙂 I already have my hands full with the (several hundred) students at my regular centre! You can contact the mentors at your centre and they would be glad to help you plan your attack on CAT. All the best!

      regards
      J

      Reply

  37. Well J, then you can guide me with respect to Math. Einstein said, if you cannot explain it to a 6 year old then you have not understood it yourself. You are a multi-fold 100 percentiler and I’m much older than 6 years. I am confident given the favourable odds we can overcome the not-phone-personal problem (read alternate technology). Just need you to be willing help me reach my full potential. Willingness is 90% of the fight won.

    Reply

    • To reiterate, I cannot provide individual mentoring. I am but a single human being and I am already over-committed. I’m sorry if that isn’t the answer you want to hear, but it isn’t going to change.

      regards
      J

      Reply

    • Not as such. I don’t want to post just for the sake of posting; the idea is to provide different ways of looking at topics, different approaches. So if I come up with something else worth sharing (and if my health permits) I will update now and then. Meanwhile there are over 500 posts already here so hopefully you will find something worth your while 🙂

      regards
      J

      Reply

  39. Hello sir, as a resident of mumbai i wanted to focus more on CET than CAT, some videos on youtube have pointed out there is significant diff. in syllabus of cat and cet but coaching institutes tell both are same, sir i wanted your opinion on this whether while enrolling for classes will normal classes will cover CET (as it would be a bonus if i dont get good college in mumbai) or should i specifically enroll for cet?!

    Reply

    • They are not the same, but a significant chunk of the CET will be covered by studying for CAT. CAT has a far larger expectation from you. Most institutes will therefore offer an option of CET alone or of CAT + CET (since once you have genuinely prepared for CAT, the remaining topics can easily be covered up in the 3 months between CAT and CET). If you are only interested in CET colleges, you can take a CET only course. But do remember that your competition will have prepared at a higher level.

      regards
      J

      Reply

  40. Hello sir,
    I think my mock test performances have been satisfactory so far. At what point do you know that you are in the 100 percentile league? Scores/ ranks/ percentiles, any kind of an indication will do.
    Also, if you don’t mind sharing this, what kind of a lead did you generally have when you attempted mocks over the years? Say, different ranks within top 10 vs a consistent 1st rank with a huge lead over the next guy?

    Reply

    • It varies from year to year (and, other than last year, we don’t actually know the raw scores), but typically in the last few years the last 100 percentile has been somewhere in the range of 210-230 out of 300 (last year the required raw score was roughly 234 in slot 1 and 224 in slot 2, both of which scaled to ~230). Again, in most of those years there were about 20 100s awarded, everyone above 99.99, but last year they changed that to 11, everyone above 99.995. So, no guarantee what it will be this year!

      My preparation was very different as an aspirant and I had no idea what the competition was doing. But one friend of mine who got a 100 last year was consistently among the top 5 ranks in pretty much every single mock across test series. Another varied between rank 1 and beyond 150 in practice. So, you need to put yourself in that top 100 kind of league, maybe crack the top 5 or 10 at least a couple of times, and then hope for some luck on the day.

      regards
      J

      Reply

  41. Sir,
    First of all, thank you for your efforts.
    I have been scoring decent overall marks but poor in QA. I have covered most of the concepts twice already. In the mocks, I miss out on questions which I otherwise would have solved while practicing that particular topic. And to compensate for that I just go randomly solving problems from different topics (Quant) and from various sources, which doesn’t seem like the right way to do it. Could you please suggest me a better way to revisit/revise topics in a manner that helps me be fluent and solve problems during mocks?

    Reply

  42. Hello J and T,

    Greetings for the day,

    I have one question for you. Many people do say that for imprving your verbal ability for cat, one should read a lot. I buy their point but how to keep a check whether whatever you are comprehendinhg, is it to the mark or not?

    Regards,
    Puneet Malhotra

    Reply

    • If you pay attention while reading and can recall a day later the broad strokes of what you have read, that should be fine. Automatically you will improve in this aspect. If you do need a way to check, make a habit that at the end of the day (or early next day) try to write a one-para summary of any one thing you read during that day, then go back to that particular thing and see if you missed any salient point.

      regards
      J

      Reply

  43. Hello J&T,
    I am a CAT aspirant aiming for CAT20 and discovered your blog by chance. The things you put on here are commendable but I noticed you havn’t posted since a long time. Any plans to come back?

    Reply

    • No immediate plans, Gunreet. One of the main reasons is, I have already posted on the topics where I felt I had significant value to add. Things like basic TSD etc I don’t have anything fancy to say which is not already easily available in many other places. Don’t see a point in posting just for the sake of posting 🙂 Additional factors like health (my eyes have been troubling me and I am supposed to reduce screen time) have also contributed to this decision.

      Having said which, if I think of something which I feel is worth sharing, I will definitely put it up here.

      All the best for your prep and take care in these difficult times!

      regards
      J

      Reply

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  48. Hello J and T,
    It’s a great blog and it’s helped me a lot. I stumbled upon it looking for puzzles for LR practice and you had some really good questions and tricks. Thank you so much for keeping this material free to access! My best wishes for all your future endeavors too.

    Reply

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