My name is Vaibhav Mangla and I hail from a small town of Haryana. I completed my 10th and 12th from CBSE and graduated in B.Sc. Life sciences from Ramjas College (Delhi University). After graduation, I worked in the sales department at a retail jewellery showroom based in my hometown Palwal. I converted IIM Kozhikode in my second attempt. Sharing how I prepared for CAT, and my advice to you on CAT preparation!
Preparation – Self vs. Coaching
I was a person who never went to tuitions or any coaching institutes in my whole life because I firmly believe in autodidacticism. I think the more you depend on tuitions, the more dependent you will become. To be an autodidact, is not an easy task, as, you will not be having any mentor to guide or solve your queries and at the same time keeping yourself motivated is, altogether, a difficult task to attain. According to me, self-study gives us freedom to learn without any restriction and thus helps in broadening our thinking level. It forces us to bring the best from within us. Although, the only thing that a person lacks while self-study is the feeling of competition that we get in any coaching.
Most important aspect of preparation
For me it was consistency and dedication. In my opinion studying for only 3-4 hours in a day is more than enough if you are being regular with it. A person who studies for just 3 hours and 7 days a week is far better than someone who study 10-12 hours in a day but only two days a week. Apart from this, always try to remain calm and think positive no matter how bad you perform in your mocks as these tests are only to improve your understanding and are not a true picture of where you stand.
Mock series
Mock series was the major resource of my preparation. I enrolled in IMS test series and used to solve sectionals in mobile phone whenever I used to get free time at my workplace. Twice in a week I used to give full length mocks and analyzes them properly to know where I have had done better.
Preparation
Being a biology student I didn’t have a good grip on quant and DILR. DILR is regarded as the most difficult section of CAT and a nightmare to most of us. I used to solve around 40-50 questions of quant, 3-4 DILR and 4-5 RC passages of medium to difficult level on a daily basis. Major problem for me was the DILR section as video solutions are not easily available and text solutions are difficult to comprehend so I took the help of youtube and google to get my doubts cleared and finally managed to score from 48.87 percentile in CAT’18 to 99.35 percentile in CAT’19 in DILR section.
Now the next problem came after I got shortlisted for the interview,as this was the first time in my life I was going to appear for any interview and due to unavailability of any interview preparatory classes in my town I decided to work upon my oral efficiency at home itself.
I started using an application Opentalk (I’m not doing any promotion) from which I used to talk to random people from all over the world and thus improved my English communication skills which gave me confidence to express my opinions in front of the panelists.
Lowest point
Even after working so hard when you consistently score below average in mocks just before a week from the D day, is really a disappointment for any aspirant. But you should not let your spirit die, try to stay calm and motivated and instead of cursing yourself, analyze your test and work upon the mistakes.
Resources
IMS mocks, Youtube, Unacademy and opentalk application (for interview preparation).
Do’s and Don’ts
- Try to find out your weak-point by giving mocks.
- Analyzing the mocks properly.
- Try to solve questions of various difficulty levels as CAT is totally unpredictable.
- Don’t blindly follow the footsteps of other not even mine because everyone’s conditions are different.
- Make your own strategy and keep it flexible.
- In last don’t take too much stress and take a good diet to keep your mind and body healthy and fit.
Mock I would suggest
I would suggest IMS series as the online interface portal is both mobile and laptop friendly, in addition, there is a column where you can post your doubts and get them cleared from other aspirants.
Final advice
As final advice I want to say a famous quote by Dwayne Johnson, “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come”
All the best!!!
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