ALERT: This is a 15-minute read.

If you can’t invest that much time to sky-rocket your

percentile, you should NOT be reading this

SUCCESS SECRETS REVEALED!

5 STEPS TO

99 PERCENTILE
IN CAT
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Step 0: Is this for YOU?

What is this 5-Steps to 99 %ile in CAT about?
This power-guide reveals 5-Steps that have
proved to be the common success factors
across 1000s of “average” CAT aspirants who
have cracked the 99 %ile barrier.
It is not some mantra based on some cool-
sounding (but actually bull-crap) theory – it is
drawn from actual, real facts, real cases of
super success achieved by CAT aspirants,
many of whom were unsure of themselves at
the start or somewhere during their CAT Prep.
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It comes from my observations over 15 years.

It comes from witnessing 1000s of “average”
CAT aspirants shatter the 99 %ile mark.

A lot has changed over these 15 years.

The CAT pattern has changed.
The sections have become pre-defined and
timed.
The number of questions has changed.
The duration of the exam has changed.
The mode of CAT has changed from being a
pen-paper test to being an online test.
But this 5-Step secret formula has withstood
the test of time, and the challenge of all these
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changes, like a rock! Infact, it has grown

stronger and gotten clearer.

Who is this 5-Steps to 99 %ile Guide NOT for?

It is not for those who are brilliant and will
anyways crack a 99%ile, unless of course they
let their talent lead them astray.
It is not for those who are good at finding
some bull-c**p excuses for not giving it their
best every god-damn day for something they
truly want.
It is not for those who don’t really really
really (the repetition is not a typo) want a
99%ile at CAT.
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It is certainly not for those who don’t believe

– in themselves or in those who want to help
them.
And it is most certainly not for those who
can’t invest 15 minutes of their time right
now for something they say they really want.

So, who is this 5-Steps to 99 %ile Guide for?

It is for YOU, if you intuitively label yourself as
“average” in English or Quant or overall as a
student.
It is for YOU if cracking a 99%ile at CAT is
something you really, really, really, REALLY
(again, repetitions are not a typo) want to do.
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It is for YOU if you decide to be a doer

instead of an excuse-maker.
It is for YOU if you are smart enough to know
that what works for YOU will be different
from what may have worked for others.
It is certainly for YOU, if you are a believer –
in the fact that smart work done consistently
can beat the shit out of talent 99% of the
times.
It is for YOU, Rockstar, if you are ready to slog
daily for your dream, starting this very day!

And it is most certainly for YOU if you are

ready to invest 15 minutes of your precious
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time right now for reading and absorbing this

secret 5-Step formula now.

The next 15 minutes of your time will help

you get the BIGGER PICTURE right. And you
will get to know the exact 5 Steps that will
get you that coveted 99%ile at CAT!
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But before that, why am I sharing these FACTS

with you?
And who AM I?
Irrelevant fact: I am a professional song-writer
and my name is Deekshant Sahrawat.
I’ve been in the CAT Coaching space for over
15 years.
I’ve trained, guided, mentored and
communicated with close to 1 Lakh CAT
aspirants during this time.
I’ve helped create the most loved, and the
Best rated on Google CAT coaching (4.8+ by
1000s of super happy students), in Delhi.
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I’ve cracked a 100%ile in DILR section of CAT

multiple times, including in some of the
toughest DILR sections in the CAT history.
I’ve even scored 99.9+%ile in VARC multiple
times, and that should give you hope if you
struggle with English like many engineers do.
Quant, well, my college (IIT Delhi) took care of
that fear some ice-ages ago ☺

More irrelevant facts: I’ve been interviewed

by/ featured by/ printed in the Times of India,
HT, Tribune, Dainik Bhaskar, CNN-IBN, ET
Now, Telegraph, Careers 360, MBAUniverse
(and practically every other media outlet
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worth its name) for CAT, education and

beyond.

So, trust me, I know what it takes to get there,

be there, and do that (and I’ve been there,
and done that – at IIM Calcutta, preferring it
over IIM Bangalore – with whom our rivalry
was fierier than the Ashes, by the way.)
And be it the IIMs, or my coaching brethren, I
tend to write about stuff as I see it, (some)
popular notions be damned.
So, now that that’s settled – you can trust me
when I say, I know what I am writing about.
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And the next few minutes of this easy read

can change your approach towards your
career goal and help you see the true picture.
In this 5-Steps to 99%ile power-guide, you will
see what each of these steps means:
1. Don’t just sweat it, SWOT it
2. Don’t just dream it, Scheme it
3. Being a college diva/dude is cool, but you
need Strictness like early school
4. Don’t take it easy, until you perfect your
Strategy

5. You can’t fly, without Stimuli

SWOT! Scheme! Strictness! Strategy! Stimuli!

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P.S.: By applying these 5-steps right, almost

ANYONE can crack a 99%ile at CAT. If you are
skeptical, I don’t blame you – but I can tell
you this. It is because 99% of people are
sceptics, that only 1% really, really succeed.
That then is your starting point. If you are not
with me on this, you should QUIT NOW.
P.P.S: This free guide isn’t really free – and by
the time you get to know, you would have
paid for it already (with 12 more minutes of
your time)!
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STEP #1:
Don’t just sweat it, SWOT it!

As a manager, you will always manage some

resources. In finance, you will manage money,
shares, investments and more. In marketing,
you will manage communication, brands,
sales and more. In HR, you will manage entire
workforces and their career paths at multiple
levels. And so on. But can you ever use any
resource well if you don’t understand it inside
out?
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Let me take an example. Let’s say you head a

team of 4 for an event at the cult fest of your
college. You need to get (say) 10 tasks done.
How will you proceed?
You will do some sort of a division of work –
right? Maybe 2 tasks to each, including
yourself. Maybe not.
But would you just make your 4 team
members stand in a line alphabetically and
hand over the tasks in some random order?
I hope not ☺
You will give some thought to the criticality of
the task and who is best suited for the same,
whose strengths align with it – right?
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Why? Because you know that’s the best way

to do it – NOT just an equal division of
labour. Right?
Now, would you be able to do get the best
out of your team (your resources), if you
didn’t know the strengths of each of your
team mates. Hell, no!
It is exactly the same way with your CAT Prep.
CAT can be seen roughly as 55 topics/sets of
main topics (around 25 in Quant, around 15
each in English and DILR). Each topic has
several sub-topics, but that would be too
much of a detail to bother about at this stage.
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Maximum impact comes from impacting big

things.
For starters, put in around 6 hours in each –
on the concepts, and then atleast 2 levels of
questions on it.
Then label it as a SWOT for yourself.
Strength – something you are awesome at!
Weakness – something you suck at :P
Opportunity – something you can make a
strength with some effort.
Threat – something that could become a
weakness.
At MBAGuru, we help our students do it for
every single topic through the comprehensive
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and super-effective ADAPTIVE Prep

methodology, which is then recorded on the
ADAPTIVE Card for later use in strategy.
But even if you do it yourself, it will be much
better than any self-prep or any traditional
coaching.
So, don’t just make an effort blindly. Don’t
just sweat on every topic. Ensure that you
SWOT on every topic. Just put in 6 odd hours
and then slot/label each topic in the SWOT
framework.
What you do next with each topic, comes
later.
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To Summarize: Remember what you are

investing – time! To make best use of that,
you need to know where exactly do you need
to invest how much of it. And the first step for
that is to know where you stand in each topic
in the SWOT Framework!

Now, carry on to the next step or Book a 30-

minute FREE Strategy Session with one of our
senior strategists now to get YOUR CAT Prep
blue-print.
 www.mbaguru.in

STEP #2:
Don’t just dream it, better
SCHEME it!
CAT is not a test of knowledge.
Ok, if you are a cricket fanatic like me, you
would have heard some of these names, even
if you didn’t know the facts following each:
Sehwag, almost never hooked unlike Dravid
who could hook to perfection; but Dravid
never played that upper cut over third-man
for a 6 like Sehwag nonchalantly did, again
and again. Both were legends in Test Cricket
and ODIs for over a decade.
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Kohli, rarely plays the sweep shot but

Tendulkar was the best sweep shot player
(and he had a variety of sweeps to play) of his
generation. Both are considered the best
Indian batsmen of their eras, and both belong
to the classical mould.
But what does it have to do with CAT you
think?
These were some of the most successful
Indian batsmen. But each was very different
from the other – in terms of talent and
strengths, and they had a few (different)
weaknesses too - yet each of them was a
massive success. Why?
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The most successful people in any sphere of

life are usually not the most talented ones.
They are the ones who make best use of
whatever talent they have.
That is the basis of Step No.2. It is almost
never about what you have. It is almost
always about how well you know and use
what you have. That’s the SCHEMING part.

What resources are you investing? Time (your

team) and talent (their strengths)!
And what do you need to really maximize?
Use of time! How best do you invest the 1000
odd hours in your CAT prep?
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One way is to do a simple division of labour.

Put in equal time in every topic and hope you
improve, which to some extent, you will. But
that’s like giving each of your teammates
(from Step 1) an equal number of tasks
regardless of their strengths.
So, a much much better way is to know what
you are good at and what you are not so good
at. And then invest time accordingly.
What does it finally mean for you?

Let’s say there are 2 topics A and B.

Suppose you currently rate 50/100 on Topic A

and 90/100 on Topic B.
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Should you be investing equal time, energy,

effort in both?

No! Right?

Where should you invest more time?

Or let me rephrase it, investing more time on

which topic will help you improve more?

The answer is obvious – Topic A. Why?

Because the scope of improvement is much

higher in Topic A (100 – 50 = 50) than Topic B
(100 – 90 = 10)

Even if you put in a few hours of focused

effort, that 50 could easily become 70 or 80
(an improvement of 20 to 30).
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On the other hand, a few hours on Topic B will

at best get you to 93-95 (an improvement of a
mere 3-5, if you are lucky).

Topic A deserves more time investment,

because it will get you better returns. You will
improve much much more.

So, if you spend 1 hour on Topic B (scope =

10), you should spend close to 5 hours on
Topic A (scope = 50). And so on.

This smart use of time, according to your

SWOT, is what the second step of SCHEME is
all about.
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So, once you have the SWOT for each topic

from Step-1, you should SCHEME to make
best possible use of the time you invest.

This is what every single ADAPTIVE session at

MBAGuru helps our students with. It tells
each student exactly how to invest his/her
time. This is why they demolish all success
benchmarks, year after year. They are ready
to put in the work, and they are good in some
areas, but it is how they invest their time
during their CAT Prep, that changes the game
completely. As weaknesses turn into
strengths, the effect of effort multiplies.
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You don’t beat others by doing what they are

doing. You beat them by outsmarting them,
by doing something different, by playing the
game according to your strengths.

This step is not about MORE number of hours,

it is about getting MUCH MORE from the
same number of hours. It is about
improvement from every minute that you
invest.

Over a year, this can add up to a phenomenal

difference and nothing else depicts the same
better than the following equation:
(1.01)365 = 37.8 whereas (0.99)365 = 0.03
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By gaining that 1% improvement each day,

you can become 37.8 times better than you
began. And by piling that 1% junk, you could
diminish your chances of success to almost
zero.

Which side do you want to lean on?

To Summarize: Blind, mad practice is a waste

of time and talent. SWEAT (invest time)
according to your SWOT. And you will leave
far more talented competitors so far behind,
they won’t even see you.

Book a 30-minute FREE Strategy Session now

to get YOUR CAT Prep blue-print.
 www.mbaguru.in

STEP #3:
Replace Coolness of College with
STRICTNESS of School

It’s not as bad as it sounds.

But from losing weight to running faster, from
being great at painting to dancing better, you
need to sacrifice something. And you need to
be strict and disciplined while doing it, else
the gains wither away faster than they came.
It may seem painful at first, but that’s always
the case with getting something worth it.
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But first, let’s talk about college as we know

it. A college is a sequence of semesters. Right?
Each semester is nearly 4-5 months long. But
when do most of us study? I mean, really
study!
From IIT Delhi (where we had exams every 5
weeks … how the hell did I survive that, I now
wonder) to IIM Calcutta (where this became 6
weeks … yeah, lot more relaxed :P) to any
other school or college that I know of, the
story is the same.
It is that last burst, that 100-meter life-saving
dash, those last few days – when we become
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Captain America (or Shaktimaan if you prefer

made-in-India) and slog like anything.
That’s where we prepare for our exams.
And it works out alright.
We survive, and some of us even succeed.
But for CAT, the story is a little different. This
love story with the last-minute burst doesn’t
work as well.
Why?
Almost all of our academic lives, we gather
book-loads of information, often disguised or
presented as knowledge.
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We learn, we memorize, we are tested, we

score, and we forget most of what we
memorized.

The information that is finally lost has usually

been gained over a very short period of time.
That’s why our week just before the exams is
most productive. That’s where we memorize
the most. And generally, it suffices.

Skills, on the other hand, can’t be mastered

over a short period of time. Whether you
want to learn a sport, or excel at painting or
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music, it requires a longer period with regular

(daily!) effort.

A 10-hour practice session a day before the

match would probably cause more damage
than it would help. And most skills stay with
you long after you’ve been tested upon them.

Preparing for CAT is like building skills or

muscles. A little bit, daily, and you will be a
master by the end of it!

So, that’s where the college coolness needs to

be replaced with school-like strictness.
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The discipline of doing daily.

The zeal of ensuring daily improvement.
Something else may work. But this will work.

Why?
Because plans or dreams don’t work, unless
you do!
You need to have a weekly plan, with daily
efforts to make progress. The weekly plan will
make it necessary for you to work daily
(barring a weekly off, which is a must to stay
fresh).
So, once you SWOT and SCHEME, the SCHEME
needs to be put into motion daily.
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The effort needs to be regular.

The progress needs to be continuous.
The run needs to be a marathon.
At MBAGuru, the ADAPTIVE (compulsory)
Homework, ensures this for our students. It is
one thing that most successful students thank
us for the most.

When you search for and see Google Reviews

(of 1000s of MBAGuru students) as indicated
in the screenshot on the next page:
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And click on say the third link on the bottom,

which as of this moment (10.30 PM on Jan
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21st, 2020) shows 2000 reviews and a rating of

4.8 (phenomenal, isn’t it!!), you will see the
top summary shows homework as the most
frequently mentioned phrase in their
feedbacks.
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As you can see in the above screenshot,

homework finds the highest number of
mentions, followed by ADAPTIVE learning and
SWOT analysis (some other variants of which
maybe mentioned in several other reviews).
(The pic in the screenshot by the way is not of
one of our classrooms. It is of our annual
event, INSPIRA, which is the Biggest Annual
Inspirational Event for MBA Aspirants in India.
Our batch-size, or class-size, is limited to a
maximum of 30 to ensure ADAPTIVE
Delivery).
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To Summarize: CAT needs you to develop

skills, quite unlike the mugging that was
needed for most of our college/school life.
Skills are best worked upon daily. Hence, CAT
Prep needs a daily discipline, best seen as a
daily diet of homework, just like school.

Ready for Step-4? Or you could Book a 30-

minute FREE Strategy Session with one of our
senior strategists & get YOUR CAT Prep blue-
print.
 www.mbaguru.in

STEP #4:
Don’t rest easy, until you
Perfect your STRATEGY
Now you need to bring together the work done in
all the 3 previous steps and make it coherent.

#Step-1: You know your SWOT

#Step-2: You have invested time according to

your SWOT

#Step-3: You have ensured daily discipline

You know yourself, have worked upon your

weaknesses, and done so day-in-day-out, and
have improved significantly.
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Now would be the time to hone your execution,

and do it over and over again, until your perfect
your strategy.

This is best done through a series of mock CATs.

At MBAGuru, students get a series of 20 AIRCATs,

that are administered in our labs and cover all
likely variations of the upcoming CAT.

The fact that most of our faculty members (who

form the Biggest Faculty Pool of CAT-99+ %ilers in
Delhi) appear for CAT each year guarantees that
these AIRCATs are the real deal.

Join any good test-series and you should be fine

as long as you don’t make the following common
blunders:
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1. Blindly believe that more is good

2. See test-series as a platform for competition

with others

3. See the test series as a pure practice platform

4. Get affected by scores – good or bad

I know it is counter-intuitive for (most of) you to

see any/all of these as blunders, but trust me,
that is precisely where 99% of the CAT aspirants
demolish their chances of success to a big fat
zero, zilch, shunya!

The above 4 are not mistakes only for the really

talented ones – for whom anyway it will be a case
of missing out and messing up; who probably
never needed a coaching and needed just this
little practice to get rid of their rustiness.
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But for 99% of the aspirants, normal, not-so-

brilliant ones, these are BLUNDERS, HOWLERS,
GAFFES!

So, next time you see a CAT Topper’s interview

with “I just took lots of mocks” or “I joined 2-3
test series at X, Y and Z” – remember, this gal or
guy isn’t you, and will never be you. She/he didn’t
need much else apart from that practice. It
worked for her/him. But if you are different, it
simply won’t work for you.

That’s why I am not even suggesting what worked

for me. I am simply sharing what I have seen work
for a 100s and 100s of CAT aspirants, just like
you. Aspirants who weren’t the most talented
ones, but were committed enough to desire that
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99%ile and work their ass off for making it

happen.

So, what should the purpose of test-series be for

you, if you belong to the rest of the 99% of the
aspirants?

It should simply be perfecting YOUR strategy.

Strategy for CAT would typically revolve around

just two questions:

1. How would you select questions during the

actual exam?

This will impact your time-management, your

accuracy, your speed – in short, your score and
your percentile!

For this, you will need to know (and be ready to

use)
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a. Strengths – questions to be definitely tried

b. Weaknesses – questions to be avoided unless
they are very easy
c. Opportunities – questions to be assessed
closely, and done, unless they are very tough
d. Threats – questions to be considered
carefully before attempting

2. How can you improve between every 2 mocks?

That will come from the analysis of every single

mock, broadly figuring out

a. Which questions should you have done but

couldn’t do because of a lack of knowledge/
practice/time-management?
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b. Which questions did you pick up but should

have avoided because they either slowed you
down or brought down your accuracy?

c. Where did you waste maximum time & how

can you avoid that in the next mock?

d. Were you able to take a look at ALL the

questions in the test?

You nail these 2 steps after every mock, and

chances are you won’t need more than 10-12
mocks to hit your peak. I have seen students
more than doubling their %iles in merely 5 mocks
using these simple steps to fine-tune their
strategy. Just remember that their strategy won’t
work for you. Only your strategy will. And that is
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what YOU will need to develop. It doesn’t exist

until you create it, sharpen it, and perfect it!

So that you can extract the last drop from every

single minute in a mock CAT and hence the final,
actual, real CAT!

To Summarize: Your SWOT, SCHEME,

STRICTNESS need to blend powerfully in a
mock test series to form that PERFECT
Strategy for you. This strategy will propel you
to that 99%ile that you are aiming at.
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STEP #5:
You can’t fly without continuous
STIMULI
You already have all that you need. Steps 1 to 4, if
done the way they should be done, will sky-rocket
your CAT percentile to that rare 99 mark and
beyond.

But are you sure?

Are you 100% sure?

Or are you still a little doubtful?

Would you be just a little doubtful, when you get

that devastating score on one of your mocks?

When that Quant topic flies past over your head?

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When that RC passage makes you wonder if the

English you know is any good?

Chances are you would be shattered, shocked and

distressed!

You would be wondering if you have it in you.

You would be doubting yourself big time.

That whisper in your head will start becoming a

warning trumpet.

And giving up would actually be a very enticing

option.

Why am I bringing this up here in the 5th step?

Because it WILL happen!

For the ordinary ones seeking extra-ordinary, this

is a sure-shot event (sometimes multiple, and
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sometimes a sequence of events) that WILL

happen.

I’ve seen it in so many cases that I’ve lost count.

But I remember atleast a dozen who finally

landed nothing short of IIM Ahmedabad.

Why?

Because they were able to see past these

haunting images that the mind conjures to cause
you to surrender! To lay down the arms! To take
the easy way out! Basically, to chicken out of
effort.

And what helped them stay afloat?

Big dollops of motivation, inspiration, stories of

people who were just like them, went through
such panic attacks just like them, and finally won
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the war, notwithstanding the few lost battles

along the way!

That’s the one kind of stimuli you need to stay

immersed in – the one that fills your pores with so
much positivity, inspiration, motivation, self-belief
that no stumble stops you, no hurdle beats you,
and no challenge defeats you!

That’s the role that the faculty at MBAGuru and I

try and play for our students. We just don’t allow
them to give up or give in to their fears.

The source of motivation can be any – but ensure

that there are many. Infact, as many as possible.
As continuous as possible.

The first 4 steps just fall flat like a house of cards,

if the 5th step doesn’t protect them.
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That positive, intoxicating, mad, blind, deaf

stimuli is the wind beneath your wings as you fly
sky-high.

It is so mad it sees no data.

It is so blind it sees nothing but the goal.

It is so deaf that it doesn’t hear what negative

people say.

It is so powerful that it blows away everything

that stops it.

That is the belief, that you my dear, need to let

flow in your veins!

To Summarize: Whether you think you can, or

you think you can’t - you are right!
-Henry Ford
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SWOT

STRATEGY STIMULI SCHEME

SCHEDULE
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The 5 Steps outlined in this Power Guide are

all you need to hit that 99%ile at CAT. If you’re
serious about giving your best at CAT
maximizing - down to that last decimal place in
your percentile - your performance, you must
ensure these 5 steps!

Remember, a minute wasted, allows 100s of

your competitors to pass you by. And that you
can’t get ahead of others by doing what they
are doing. You have to do what works best for
you. For example, when you choose ADAPTIVE
Prep at MBAGuru, we target significant
improvement (typically ranging from 40% to
160%) in your weaker area through
continuous SWOT analysis and ADAPTIVE
Learning modules. We ensure you put in work
where you need it most. And that you stay
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motivated. Our goal is to help you become

your best – most efficiently and most
effectively.

I’ve given you what you need to get going. But

if you have any question, or would like our help
on implementing any of the above, get in touch
today.

For wisely investing 15 minutes of your time

today, you have shown some seriousness that
deserves a reward! Here it is:

Book a 30-minute FREE Strategy Session now

to get YOUR CAT Prep blue-print.

You have nothing to lose and

everything to gain!
 www.mbaguru.in

For a limited time, we’re offering you a 30-

minutes strategy session where we’ll discuss
your CAT goal, your individual challenges and
draw up a CAT Prep Blueprint for you for free.
We typically charge up to Rs.4000 for it – but
for a limited period of time, we have a limited
number of slots available, completely for free.

Please note this will NOT be a sales call. You

will be speaking with one of our trained and
highly experienced CAT Prep Strategists.

Claim your no-obligation free 30-minutes

strategy session now and get your custom
CAT Prep Blueprint FREE (normal cost
Rs.4000)!
 www.mbaguru.in

WARNING: Before you claim your free strategy

session you must understand that this is only
for people serious about CAT Prep/Career and
willing to put in every ounce of their energies
to achieve success. We’ll do the brunt of the
work, but to truly get you CAT Percentile into
battle-ready mode we need your commitment
and dedication, if you’re not ready for that
please don’t waste our time!

But if you are ready to kick your CAT Prep into

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