At the outset, I praise the lucidity with which Ritesh exploded the myths
associated with CAT. I attempted CAT twice in my life and was lucky the second time. I, too was occupied in a full-time almost 24X7 job and to be honest it was not very easy to gather time and energy to settle for CAT preparations. My failure in the first attempt taught me certain things which I am sure could be a reminder of sorts to some of the readers.
associated with CAT. I attempted CAT twice in my life and was lucky the second time. I, too was occupied in a full-time almost 24X7 job and to be honest it was not very easy to gather time and energy to settle for CAT preparations. My failure in the first attempt taught me certain things which I am sure could be a reminder of sorts to some of the readers.
1. No matter what, study regularly - It’s like a workout, you have to be consistent, even if that means cutting down on sleeping hours occasionally. Accepted you are the man friday in your workplace, you enjoy the pressure and adulation that come with workaholism, but still do grab those 2 hours from the whole day.
2. No, preparing for CAT is not a long-drawn process - It is no UPSC exam, nor it is defending your PhD thesis. A consistent 3 to 4 months is all what it takes with 2 to 3 hours of daily effort. It can be even lesser.
3. You are not a calculator - I guess enough has been said about it. Still, if you are indeed so fond of calculations, memorizing percentage-fraction (that too beetween 1 and 1/20) is all where you should check your hunger for numbers.
4. Take tests and literally brood over your scores - after taking a 2 hour test, at least spend as many hours just analyzing how you fared. Do not let your notions decide your strength and weakness areas to your notion. Usually we take our interest area as our area of strength. Watch out, that may quite well not be the case. I discovered this while attempting the RC section. Historically I have never been fond of reading, let alone books and I practically hated anything that was remotely associated with books, novels, articles, newspapers, etc. But surprisingly I was doing relatively better in the RC section most of the time. Similarly I was flopping miserably in the QA almost consistently despite an old “acquaintance” with numbers thanks to the B.Tech degree I had. Accept what your scores speak and prepare your action plan accordingly.
5. Develop your “own” plan for attacking various sections - for instance order of attempting the sections or for DI fixing no. of data points, types of questions or even in the RC making a trade-off between fact based and opinion seeking questions.
6. Maintain your calm in the exam hall - You have no idea as how others are faring, this could be the toughest exam in the history of CAT. Just try to do a little better than you were doing 2 minutes back. At least do not panic. This does not call for mastering any trick or technique. Just keep reminding yourself you have all that it takes to do well in this exam. Plan to enjoy your CAT. CAT is your friend, not a foe. It is more a test of mental toughness than intellectual prowess.
– Atulan Lahiri passed out of S P Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai and currently works with ECS Limited, a management consultancy firm. He took the CAT in 2002 (Percentile not applicable as it started after he took the test).
Have YOU cracked CAT? Post your experiences.Mention your name, age, CAT percantile, B-School and where you currently work.
yeah agreed , here is an another difference between CAT and UPSC which is that CAT exam’’s maths and quant is difficult if not absolutely then because of the time constraints hence people who had interest in these subject from the beginning have more chance to clear the exam, whereas in UPSC, interest can be developed
a good site for all management students and technical one is
http://competeindia.com/
last but not the least … very nice post…a different one
yeah agreed , here is an another difference between CAT and UPSC which is that CAT exam’’s maths and quant is difficult if not absolutely then because of the time constraints hence people who had interest in these subject from the beginning have more chance to clear the exam, whereas in UPSC, interest can be developed
a good site for all management students and technical one is
Competeindia.com
last but not the least … very nice post…a different one