So finally, it’s that time of the year, when all your year-round efforts will bear fruit. You have persevered a lot throughout the year, burnt a lot of midnight oil to solve those mocks, solved tests just to improve your accuracy, struggled just make sense of that abstract RC. But you can’t lose your steam quite yet, as the last week is equally important for your success. So here I am going to share what I did in my last week before the “CAT” 2016 exam. Relax and read on!
- Health is wealth: A lot of candidates tend to overwork just in this last week, attempting 2 mocks a day, skipping breakfast or lunch just to give a mock. But first and foremost, you need to take care of your health. Don’t eat out outside this last week. Have lots of water and keep a simple diet. And most importantly sleep well. You can’t let a stomach cram or ill health come in your way to your year-long hard work. Try to meditate if possible. Just try to relax through this week. This is just a test, don’t let it be more than that in your head. As one of my teachers used to say-“Students tend to see this exam as Lion or Tiger, when it is just a little cat”.
- At most 2 mocks: Try to take about 2-3 mocks to solve every alternate day and analyze those the next day. Also, try to take those tests in your actual CAT time slot so that you feel at ease during your CAT exam. But be careful to stop all mock test solving well before Saturday. Even if you don’t score well in those, don’t let this get into your head. Remember, mocks are not your reflection of your performance in the actual test. So just go through the mistakes you made, solve those again without time, but make sure you understand the approach. Don’t take any test on Saturday, as it can be detrimental. Just revise your formulas and techniques on that day. Try to watch motivational movies.
- No new tricks: Do not try to learn any new tricks in this last week. You learned what you could over the year, now it’s time to keep revising and bolster your learnings. You should have all your tricks at your fingertips.
- Speed Reading: I can't stress on this enough about how important this is. Reading is something you need carry on even after CAT. So even if you are getting good scores in RC and para jumbles, don’t get complacent. Instead, go for more abstract pieces and editorials and read within a time bound in your free time. Continuous reading habit is something that will sail you through the exam.
For D-Day, select few easiest quants questions that you can solve even with eyes closed. Solve those 2-3 hours before the exam. Solving those will give you the immense boost of confidence you need for the exam. But be careful not to select even a slightly trickier one, that you might not solve. This is just a confidence-boosting activity, not practice for the test.
So, I wish you all the best for CAT 2017. Keep faith in your hard work and you will do your best. Hopefully, I will see some of you around in my campus next year
The author of this article is Subhadeep Chakraborty, from batch 2017-19, IIM Ranchi.