‘It’s all about confidence’
Interview of the guy who got 100 percentile in CAT 2008

By Jyotsna Singh
He was an average student throughout. He was never among top five in his class. The first time he came first in an exam was CAT 2008. Nishant Sinha, a 4th year student of electrical engineering at IIT Delhi has got 100 percentile in CAT 2008 and is targeting the best B-schools of India to pursue further studies. He comes around as a humble and straight forward chap. The guy from Patna does not have qualms about sharing his weaknesses the same way he does not mind telling about his strengths. He is not well conversant in English, but he believes he will improve upon it in the next few months. He came to Delhi while in 11th standard to do schooling as well as prepare for engineering. He stayed in a paying guest with a friend. Such hardships since young age have brought independence, focus and an attitude to learn in Nishant. No wonder his mantra to success is confidence. Management Compass did an interview with the young achiever. Excerpts:

What was your strategy to crack CAT?
I used to read lots of novels, so my English was okay. I focused on vocabulary. I joined a reputed institute a year ago. I was very regular with classes there and missed some only when pressure of course work at IIT increased. I went to Bangalore for internship in summers. Then I had to quit the institute. I joined test series of two coaching centers and studied extensively on my own.

I attempted past years’ question-papers. In CAT there were questions from previous years’ papers and mocks. I had done a good revision of all of this. There was one question that I could not do during mock test. But as I practiced it later I did it correctly within 15 seconds in the CAT exam.

What was your main strength to get 100 percentile?
My basics in mathematics were quite clear as I had studied well for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) during 12th standard. I didn’t have to work hard to increase speed. When basics are not clear, people have to work extra. But unless basics are strong, you can not improve speed. As I was not afraid of numbers, I was confident in Data Interpretation (DI) too. I think DI is a matter of confidence and nothing more. I was weak in English. I got less marks, but it was covered in other sections.

Even if somebody is not from engineering background, one can improve by devoting a lot of time to fundamentals. There’s no shortcut to success. One has to have clear basics to outshine. The whole course should be prepared.

What quality is required to be a winner?
One has to have confidence on oneself that ‘I will be able to find a way out.’ Suppose you can’t solve a question. Then keep in mind that may be others are also not able to solve it. Try to apply a different approach to that question. May be it is not exactly like how you have solved problems before. There could be something small that you are missing right now. I have a simple approach. If I am not able solve a question for a long time then I look at it again afresh to find out if I went into wrong direction. That really helps. This approach comes only when you have confidence in yourself otherwise you start to question yourself; you think that you are stupid and inefficient.

Did you have butterflies in the stomach before the exam?
Yes, I was a little scared. I had attempted paper of 2006 two days before the exam and I could not cross the English cut-off. Till then I had always crossed the cut-off. I felt that things were going wrong with me just before the exam and that made me a bit nervous. But then I had many friends in the college who were appearing for the same exam and we just talked it out.

Do you think environment at your college helped you in getting through?
It helped me in building confidence. Had I been in some other college I would have thought that ‘who am I to get a 100 percentile? There are better students out there at IITs.’ But then as I was a part of IIT I knew I could crack it. Even if there is only one month left, you know you can do it. But if you can generate that confidence in a relatively less celebrated college too, then nothing like it. At the end of the day it’s all about confidence. You need to think that you are the most intelligent person around. People call me “snob” but such confidence, rather over-confidence is good during exams as I do not get nervous easily.

How do you plan to go about PDP?
I have joined an institute for preparation. In addition I am also taking classes from a private teacher. The discussions and sharing knowledge with friends will also help. I am feeling more scared about GD/PI. I had cleared written exams before and was comfortable with the pattern. In personality assessment they check the soft skills part. How you talk, how you present yourself etc. I think I am not well conversant in English. But never mind, I have three months to prepare and I will work hard to do well. Mehnat kar ke to kuchh bhi ho jata hai (Anything is possible with hard work).

Did you ever think of doing MBA from a foreign university?
I want to do MBA now. For a foreign institute I will have to wait and gain work experience. You also need to be financially strong. In any case I see my future career in India and I therefore I am targeting IIMs.

There is news of job losses and it seems that companies are not hiring many people. Do you think there are still good prospects out there for you?
I think education is independent of the market situation. When you do MBA you add something to your personality. You develop leadership, you learn to do things you could not do before. And these qualities are always required by a company. Good times or bad times – you always need people who can lead the company and take it forward. In any case you see whenever there is recession people run towards education. They try to utilise time to gain degrees which will benefit them during boom time.