2nd September 2022, I came back from my CFA Level-2 exam confident of passing the exam but I was not excited, rather I was anxious. This was because I still haven't started my preparation for CAT 2022 exam which was due in 3 months. This was my third attempt and previously I have scored 93.95 percentile in 2020 and 97.49 percentile in 2021.
I was unsure if I had it in me to crack CAT and questioned if it was worth taking the exam again. There were also thoughts of forgoing CAT'22 for taking time to prepare and give my best attempt in CAT 2024. But, the kind of exam CAT is you don't know how the exam will pan out in advance. So, I wanted to give whatever I can in those next 3 months and started preparing.
Recommended For You: Free CAT Masterclass - Ace CAT With A Free Online CAT Program By ARKSS (Ex-National Head - Career Launcher)
Since I was working, I planned to spend atleast 3-4 hours everyday with some time for each section and in the weekends, I planned to take atleast 3 mocks over the two days. To make myself accountable, I started tracking the time I spent each day on Google sheets in the below format:
The average hours per day was the most important metric for me because if I did not spend enough time on any day, the average dipped and it did not feel good. My preparation and test taking strategies for each section was as below:
VARC:
Preparation Strategy:
This was my favorite section because I like to read. Everyday, I spent some time reading books or long articles from sources like 2IIM's Bharat's Curated reading list, Finshots etc. Apart from reading, I also practiced 2-3 passages everyday to ensure that I was not just getting good at reading but also improving my critical thinking skills which was crucial for VARC. In my previous two CAT attempts, I was just trying to read and not critically analyse the structure and the reasoning in the passage. So, I wanted to practice solving passages everyday to not repeat that mistake again.
Exam Strategy:
I wrote down all the serial number of questions on the paper before I started the exam and once the exam started, I used to glance over the passage and wrote down the topic of the passage alongside the serial number of questions. In the verbal ability part, I noted down whether it was summary question or parajumble or odd one out and it's apparent difficult level. This had to be done in first 5 minutes. Then I started doing the passages starting with the one which I was most comfortable with and I fixed the average time per passage for 7 minutes.
So, after spending 5 minutes for the analysis and 28 minutes for 4 passages, I had 7 minutes and I spent this time generally starting with summary questions and then I went on to parajumbles and Odd one out questions. This was because reading comprehension was my strength and you should customise this strategy based on your strengths.
DILR:
Preparation Strategy:
The only preparation strategy I had for DILR was to do as many sets as possible. That's why I even had a separate column for number of sets done each day on my tracker attached above. I started with sets of previous year's CAT sets and then did the sets from my mocks which I could not solve within the exam. If I could not do any particular type of sets, I spent some time doing similar sets from the Time material. However, I would recommend to do sets from other materials as well because the sets in Time material were not very complex.
Exam Strategy:
While doing different kind of sets was my preparation strategy, my strategy while doing the sets in a test was strict time management. Initially, I went through the sets and noted down whether it is Data Interpretation(DI) set or Logical Reasoning (LR) set. I also noted down in short forms whether it was lengthy or not and if I was able to understand the set. Again, this had to be done in 2 minutes only. Then I started with solving the sets and I gave myself 3 minutes to start solving the set I felt I was most comfortable with and if I was able to make inroads in those 3 minutes, I would continue doing that set and if not, I would stop after the 3rd minute and move on to the other set.
Once, I started doing the set after third minute, I tried to complete the set in next 8 minutes. So, after inital 2 minutes of analysis and 12 minutes to read 4 sets(3 minute each), there would be 26 minutes and with 8 minute time limit, I could solve atleast 3 sets. I learnt this time apportionment strategy from Shweta Arora's youtube video of how to prepare for DILR.
Ace The DI Section With HitBullsEye's CAT DI Made Easy E-Book!
Quant:
Preparation Strategy:
This was the toughest section for me because I left Geometry and Algebra for choice in school and when I saw these chapters in CAT curriculum, it felt like they came back to haunt me. In my second attempt in 2021, I tried spending time in understanding the concepts of Geometry and Algebra. While I was able to understand Algebra, I could not solve even basic problems in Geometry. So, I had to double down on my strength in Arithmetic.
Even in arithmetic, I faced problem in Time, Speed and distance. So, I started from the basics and solved the problems in TIME material and Arun Sharma's material. This gave me confidence in arithmetic and I also got better in algebra, modern maths and other chapters. Whenever, I had doubts in any concepts, I referred to Rodha youtube channel which has a good catalogue of conceptual videos chapter-wise for quants and also for other sections.
Exam strategy:
In the quants section, I divided the section into blocks of 4 questions each. In each block, I tried to solve easiest question in that block and the time spent for such question should not be more than 1-1.5 minutes. This way in first 10-15 minutes, I attempted 6 questions and I have gone through the entire questions. Then, I went on to solve more complex and time-taking questions in each block.
I devised this strategy because in CAT 2021, I spent a lot of time in inital questions which seemed easy but were lengthy because of which I did not get to solve easier and small questions at the end because of which my percentile suffered in QA.
Download For Free: InsideIIM's Comprehensive Quant Formula Cheat Sheet For MBA Entrance Exams
Mock tests:
These strategies while suited me may not suit you as your strengths and weaknesses may be different. So, it is advised to take as many mocks as possible to fool proof your strategy and know what's best for you. I have taken mocks from TIME and IMS. TIME mocks were complex in DILR and Quant sections and IMS mocks were complex for the VARC part. This gave me good exposure to complex set of questions from each section. After each mock, I analysed the mock to understand the concepts I need to improve on and how to solve questions quickly and any changes in strategy I had to do to improve my attempt and accuracy rate.
There were mocks where I did very badly. Just like how a batsmen in good form can get out for a duck for a good ball, you can also have a bad mock inspite of good preparation. Don't let it affect your confidence. Instead, try to identify and improve on the areas you can do better.
Must Check Out: 300+ Free CAT Sectional Mock Tests To Help You Ace CAT 2023
CAT 2022 and interview preparation:
The results were declared on 21 December 2022, nearly 2 weeks before the expected date. What started with self-doubt and uncertainity ended up being my best CAT exam and I scored 99.64 percentile in CAT 2022 with 99.46 percentile in VARC, 99.73 percentile in DILR and 93.43 percentile in QA. I got calls from IIMA, B, K, L, Shillong, CAP IIMs and MDI and FMS Delhi.
For my interview preparation, I spent time in revising my academics preparing for the Current affairs and mock interviews. I choose InsideIIM's WAT-PI program for my WAT-PI preparation and the feedback I got from the mentors really helped me.
Interview:
The Written Ability Test was conducted online before the interview and the interview was held on 6th of March, 2023 at the Trident Hotel, Hyderabad. The interview of IIM Bangalore was the last of my interviews among my IIM calls and I wanted to make it count. The interview was nearly for 20 minutes and the questions were mainly base on my SOP(Statement of Purpose), my work experience, why MBA etc. I did fairly well and I tried to be candid but I still felt I could have done better.
April 25, 2023 8:00 pm, I got a message that the results were out. Just a week back, IIM Ahmedabad results were out and I got waitlisted. So, this was my only other chance to get into the holy trinity of IIM ABC. I logged in and it showed the status as "OFFERED". That was the surreal moment I had been waiting since the last 3 years.
Compare Top B-Schools Based On Batch Profile, Placements, and Rankings!