Hard work, guidance helped bell CAT, says Punjab student

Mohali (Punjab), Jan 10 (IANS) Pavneet Singh Gulyani, the 22-year-old mechanical engineering student who has secured 100 percentile in the Common Admission Test (CAT) for India's top management institutes, says consistency, hard work and right guidance explain his success.

Pavneet, a resident of Mohali district, is a final year student at the Punjab Engineering College in Chandigarh. His father runs a business while his mother works at Punjab National Bank.

'I dedicate my success to my parents and my teachers. My mother was the biggest support for me. Teachers of my coaching centre always motivated me and kept my morale high in every situation,' Pavneet told IANS Saturday.

He managed to bell the CAT in the very first attempt and is now busy preparing for the group discussion and personal interview. Pavneet aims to join IIM-Ahmedabad.

'I have been preparing for CAT for the last one and a half years. Everyday I devote around three to four hours for studies. Although I have got calls from six IIMs in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Indore, Lucknow, Kolkata and Khozikhode, my first choice is Ahmedabad.'

'Consistency, hard work and right guidance are the keys to bell the CAT. One needs to be consistent as we cannot bring right results in a fortnight. Reading books and solving puzzles are my favourite hobbies. I also like to hang out with my friends to take a break from studies.'

Pavneet, who trained at the PT Education coaching centre for MBA students in Chandigarh, scored 215 marks out of 356 in the CAT. The results were declared Friday.

'The 15 mock tests based on different patterns that I gave at PT were of immense help while giving the actual CAT. Mathematics and Data Interpretation (DI) were my strengths and I attempted around 60 questions in the test,' he said.

In CAT 2008, there were 90 questions of four marks each. The test was divided into 40 questions from the English section and 25 questions each from mathematics and DI section. One question from DI section was later cancelled from the test.

Normally there are around 10 or 12 students with 100 percentile in CAT but Pavneet has not only scored 100 percentile but also emerged as one of the highest scorers in the test in the whole country, claimed an official of PT Education.

Talking about his future plans, Pavneet said: 'I want to become an entrepreneur and do something for the welfare of education sector but before that I will certainly work in the industry for one or two years.'