Q) While deciding to appear for the exams, who did you take guidance from? How did you prepare? Self-study, self-paced courses, or coaching?
I prepared on my own, but since VARC was my weakest section among all, I took a preparatory course from one of the coaching institutes to build a strong foundation for the entrance exams. ~ Also, I was in constant touch with my college alumni who had cracked these exams a year or two before for their guidance and mentorship.
20-Hour Per Week Study Plan For CAT 2022 | Students & Working Professionals
Q) While preparing, what were some regular hurdles in the way, and how did you overcome them?
There was no specific hurdle, but since I started pretty late, I didn't have much time on my hand, and in that scenario, proper time management was essential. As I was preparing for my job, juggling between the two required a lot of time management. I used to study 2-2.5 hours after my workday; weekends were reserved for full-length mock and topic-wise tests.
Q) What is the most important aspect of preparing?
'Consistency is the mother of mastery.' If I have to name one thing that worked for me is the consistency in my efforts. Although I started pretty late, I was consistent with my studies and didn't take more than 5 day-offs during the course of my preparation. I am a firm believer in the quote, 'Try with the attitude of a warrior and fail with the humility of a saint.' Also, I tried to keep things as simple as possible.
1) Studied all the exam's relevant topics
2) Covered the basics well, and
3) Put a lot of time into analyzing my mocks and improving upon my weak areas
Check Out → 300+ Free CAT Sectional Mock Tests To Help You Ace CAT Exam
Q: Did you face any difficulty in terms of your preparation?
Among all the three sections, Verbal Ability was my poorest, and I used to score consistently poor in that section, barely low, which was not enough to pass the sectional cutoffs. I spent a lot of time analyzing the mistakes and trying different strategies. And still, the results were not coming in my favor during the initial two months. I was disheartened as results were not coming up my way in the mocks and thought of leaving the preparation midway. The thing that worked for me was patience around that time. You can't see a steep increase in your weakest section from Day 1. It will take time, but if you prepare the basics correctly and do the right thing while training, it will eventually happen.
Q: Tell us about your D-Day experience and how you felt about your months of preparation after the exam?
Ok, so I will talk about the XAT exam day instead of the CAT as most of the aspirants must have shared their CAT Day Experience. So, let me share the XAT Exam experience instead. The test center was 20kms away from my home. I took a cab, and to be honest; I was under a lot of pressure because, to my self-analysis, I had did not performed well in CAT and IIFT (which turned out wrong in the end, and I am glad that it turned out wrong) And as per my analysis, XAT'22 was my last shot at getting an excellent B-school admission this year, as I registered for only three exams. (CAT, XAT, and IIFT) But, somehow, after entering the exam center, I controlled my nerves and took a nice 30 mins nap on my seat, attempting the exam with a calm mind by picking the right questions and avoiding the ones not meant for the exam environment.
Q: Today, when you look back at your journey, Is there anything you would do differently or advise the upcoming aspirants against it?
I don't want to sound boastful, but I think I did most of the right things. Obviously, there is always room for improvement in every journey. But overall, I am pretty satisfied with my journey.
Advice for next year's aspirants: 1) Work hard (go all in like a poker player while preparing) 2) Be consistent And most importantly - You will not be answerable to anyone; if you put your 100% effort into your work, the result doesn't come in your favor even after that.
Q: What was your lowest point during the preparation journey?
I think a single low mock score after some consistent good mocks score can put anyone in self-doubt. I also faced the same situation many times, and it's the moment like these that eventually test your mental strength to check whether you are a long-term player or not.
Take A Look At → Most Important QA Topics - Analyzing Past Years’ CAT Papers | Quantitative Aptitude
Q) Please Share Your Month-Wise Preparation Insights For Upcoming Aspirants.
I began preparing for the exams in September and had exactly 3 months before appearing for CAT and 4 months for XAT. Month 1: Covering the basics topics and appearing for the topics tests Month 2: Covering the intermediate and advanced topics and appearing for the full length/sectional mocks Month 3: Appearing and analyzing full length and sectional mocks
Q: Do you think you needed more time to prepare?
There is no correct answer to this question. Approximately 300-400 hours are required to prepare for CAT or any other management exam depending upon your comfort level with the exam topics. It depends upon the candidate to the number of days they need to cover the majority of the topics.
Q: Which month was most crucial for you during the preparation season. Please elaborate.
October. Many aspirants would give up by this time due to different reasons. If you can stick to the process even after October, you will be way ahead of the others when the results come.
Read -> Score Required To Fetch 99%ile In CAT 2022 - Analyzing Past Data
Q) Is There Anything Else That You'd Like To Add?
Add an element of gamification to your preparation; it will motivate you to boost your performance. While practicing, I used to give a rank to my day's performance, and my only motive for a single day was to outperform myself as compared to the previous day. In comparison, I used to visualize three sections of mocks as the three sessions of the test match day. Each section has its significance, like the three sessions of a test match. And you can compensate for one bad session by playing exceptionally well in the other two sessions.
CAT Notification is released, Now is the time you take your preparation seriously and go the extra mile. To aid CAT aspirants, we have compiled a few sectional tests as a giveaway. Take them now and see how your accuracy turns out!
| # | Section Name | Test URL |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | VARC Sectional Test | Click here |
| 2 | DILR Sectional Test | Click here |
| 3 | QA Sectional Test | Click here |
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