Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
After converting the calls from all top IIMs lots of people asked me for tips of CAT preparation and post CAT preparation for GD PI and WAT. I thought about writing my approach and experience here. It will be of help to whoever wants to do good at CAT or is confused about the approach.
First of all you need to inculcate discipline and start valuing time more than you value anything else at present. This is the first rule else the initial enthusiasm to crack CAT will fade away in 2 - 3 months(I have witnessed many of my friends giving up after 2 - 3 months of taking an oath of cracking CAT) and you will end up wasting one more year on your precious life. No now let me share my personal approach to crack CAT.
Start with reading the syllabus of the exam for the coming year(if it is not available then of past year). You will get an idea of what is asked from you and what you need to do. Then collect material from wherever you can. If you are going to some classes like TIME, IMS, CL etc they will provide you with books. Start solving CAT sample papers from day one. Solve one paper on your first day in real CAT like scenario with timing and seriousness. Yes, you will be miserable. Or some of you may not be able to solve even 5 questions out of 60. The goal is to find out your
Once this is done; jot down the topics where you found it difficult to even understand what is asked from you and how to approach it. Similarly, note down the areas you think you can do very well. Now allocate time to different topics. I will say start working on Quants and speed maths as early as possible as they require more and more practice. You have to be fast at computing the multiplications and percentages. Learn the short-cuts of multiplying 2, 3 and 4 digit numbers. and finding out percentages of different numbers. Practise makes a man perfect. There can be no short-cut here. It will save your time in the data interpretation(DI) section of CAT (9 odd questions). Learn to master the formulas (not many) and their applications. I will write further blogs on specific areas of quants and later on of verbal. This blog is to get people started on CAT preparation. Make it a habit to read and by heart the multiplication table from 1 to 20 (at-least). I pasted the table on the wall in front of my study table. Whenever I am free I can just look up and read out a table of multiplication. Similarly, by-heart reciprocals from 1 to 20. ie 1/2 = 0.5, 1/3 = 0.33 and so on. Same with percentages.
This all will tiring at first but believe me in the long run it will only make things very easy for you when you solve the DI and quant question where fractions and percentages are required. It will also help you save a lot of time by not calculating them on paper in exam where every second saved counts and gives you that much more time to increase your attempts or recheck your results. The difference between a 90+ percentiler and 95+ percentiler will be those extra 5 questions he or she could solve and get them correct in CAT because his/her speed was better. I have taken admission in IIM A. My classes will start in June and then I will not be getting time to pen down my experiences and take up your queries, so I am trying to blog whatever I can in this free time I have right now. Feel free to contact me on facebook, twitter or email (Look at top right corner of this page) I will be happy to answer your queries.
First of all you need to inculcate discipline and start valuing time more than you value anything else at present. This is the first rule else the initial enthusiasm to crack CAT will fade away in 2 - 3 months(I have witnessed many of my friends giving up after 2 - 3 months of taking an oath of cracking CAT) and you will end up wasting one more year on your precious life. No now let me share my personal approach to crack CAT.
Start with reading the syllabus of the exam for the coming year(if it is not available then of past year). You will get an idea of what is asked from you and what you need to do. Then collect material from wherever you can. If you are going to some classes like TIME, IMS, CL etc they will provide you with books. Start solving CAT sample papers from day one. Solve one paper on your first day in real CAT like scenario with timing and seriousness. Yes, you will be miserable. Or some of you may not be able to solve even 5 questions out of 60. The goal is to find out your
- strongest
- strong
- average
- weak and
- weakest areas.
Once this is done; jot down the topics where you found it difficult to even understand what is asked from you and how to approach it. Similarly, note down the areas you think you can do very well. Now allocate time to different topics. I will say start working on Quants and speed maths as early as possible as they require more and more practice. You have to be fast at computing the multiplications and percentages. Learn the short-cuts of multiplying 2, 3 and 4 digit numbers. and finding out percentages of different numbers. Practise makes a man perfect. There can be no short-cut here. It will save your time in the data interpretation(DI) section of CAT (9 odd questions). Learn to master the formulas (not many) and their applications. I will write further blogs on specific areas of quants and later on of verbal. This blog is to get people started on CAT preparation. Make it a habit to read and by heart the multiplication table from 1 to 20 (at-least). I pasted the table on the wall in front of my study table. Whenever I am free I can just look up and read out a table of multiplication. Similarly, by-heart reciprocals from 1 to 20. ie 1/2 = 0.5, 1/3 = 0.33 and so on. Same with percentages.
This all will tiring at first but believe me in the long run it will only make things very easy for you when you solve the DI and quant question where fractions and percentages are required. It will also help you save a lot of time by not calculating them on paper in exam where every second saved counts and gives you that much more time to increase your attempts or recheck your results. The difference between a 90+ percentiler and 95+ percentiler will be those extra 5 questions he or she could solve and get them correct in CAT because his/her speed was better. I have taken admission in IIM A. My classes will start in June and then I will not be getting time to pen down my experiences and take up your queries, so I am trying to blog whatever I can in this free time I have right now. Feel free to contact me on facebook, twitter or email (Look at top right corner of this page) I will be happy to answer your queries.