3 from IIT-Bombay score a 100 percentile in CAT

MUMBAI: Three boys from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay are among the 16 candidates who scored a 100 percentile in the recent Common Admission Test (CAT) 2014, an entrance exam for admission to India's premier Indian Institutes of Management and 70 other top B-schools in the country.

Vibhu Gupta and Anurag Reddy, both fourth year students of the institute and Harshveer Jain, who graduated from IIT-B in April both have scored a 100 percentile. The total number of candidates from Mumbai who scored a 100 percentile was not available. "We do not yet have city specific details on the number of candidates who have scored a 100 percentile yet. These might be available later in the week," said CAT convenor, Rohit Kapoor.

Gupta a resident of Kandivali, is pursuing mechanical engineering at IIT-B and aced the examination in the first attempt. "I did not take any full time coaching but practiced regularly through test series and mock CAT tests. The paper this year was relatively simple and with the new pattern I could attempt more questions," said Gupta. With a placement offer already in hand, Gupta is hoping to get admission at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

Reddy, who is pursuing electrical engineering at IIT-B is originally from Nalgonda near Hyderabad. He aims to secure admission at IIM-A and specialize in Finance. "When I joined IIT, I was introduced to economics and finance and I developed an interest in it," said Reddy. His interest for mathematics as a child helped him ace the test. "From when I was young, I would solve a lot of mathematics and aptitude problems and thanks to that I did not have to prepare for mathematics at all," he said.

Jain had to juggle work and preparation to secure the top spot. "I took up a job in a startup soon after I graduated so preparing for the CAT did not mean long hours of theory. I spent the weekends solving practice tests and looking at the solutions to know how to be able to do my best in the three hours," said the 22-year-old. Jain's hometown is Indore but he has been in Mumbai for his undergraduate studies in engineering physics at IIT-B and work. He aspires to get through IIM-A or Calcutta.

Among the other top scorers in the city is 22-year-old Jay Shah who secured 99.51 percentile. "I prepared only up to October and after that I had to start studying for my CA exams which were scheduled for November," said Shah, a B.Com graduate from NM College, Vile Parle. Pranay Shah, a final year student of VJTI, Matunga scored a 99.59 percentile.