Ahmedabad boy cracks CAT, scores in 99.85th percentile

AHMEDABAD: Results of Common Admission Test (CAT) 2016 were declared on Monday. Ayush Agrawal, a finance trainee from Ahmedabad, scored 99.85 percentile and was among estimated 60 students from Gujarat to score more than 99 percentile. Close to 50 students are from Ahmedabad.
Ayush appeared for CAT for the second time. “The challenge was working for 16-17 hours a day at times and yet managing to prepare for the CAT.While part of my work and preparations were in line with one another, it was difficult managing at times. I wanted a better score to get into the IIMs. The best is after all the best,” said Ayush who works with a Gurgaon-based firm after his graduation in June last year.
An entrepreneur from Rajkot, Shahbaaz Akbani, is among the top scorers. “This was my third attempt at CAT and finally I not only have a good score but also work and business experience to be able to fulfil the criteria and get into the IIMs,” said Shahbaz, who runs his recycling business in Rajkot at the age of 22.
This year more non-engineers have scored above 99 percentile as compared to last year. “Engineering students have an inherent advantage because mathematics is part of their curriculum which is not the case with non-engineering students,” said Parasharan Chari, academic head of a leading coaching institute in the city.
Some of them who are still studying had a hard time preparing for CAT as it coincided with their college exams.
“Exams were going on and CAT was on a Sunday in between. It was really difficult to balance between the two things but somehow we managed to do so. Other classmates who did not take CAT helped us to a great extent in preparing for the college exams,” said Delcy James, a student of Nirma University who scored 99.84 percentile.