There are three types of non-working aspirants:
- College-Going who follow college schedule strictly : mostly 9 am to 4 pm: They need to follow the same time-table as Working Professionals (Time-Table for Working Professionals)
- At home mostly
- College going but they study for CAT even in college or can manage to be at home with low attendance.
Below time-table is for ii) and iii), the first type should follow the plan for working professional.
Note: The plan is strictly for serious aspirants aiming for 99+ in CAT.
First, you need to evaluate how you can achieve 99%ile. There are two ways –
1) You are damn good at two of the sections, like QA and LRDI, OR VA and LRDI, OR QA and VA, while average at the third one.
One example of CAT 15 :
QA : 99.7
LrDi : 99.9
VA : 88
Overall : 99.68 (IIM C)
2) You are equally good at all the three sections QA, LRDI and VA. (Balanced Prep)
97%ile in each of the three sections will land you close to 99%ile overall. And 99%ile in all three sections will land you more than 99.6%ile overall.
Considering that you start your preparation from 5th July onwards, you have roughly 150 days till 30th November.
Basically, you need to put an extra effort to reach your goal because those having working experience have a bit of an edge over non-working people and for that, you have got more time than working people.
You need to put at least 9-10 hours /day. (Please change according to your requirement if you feel exhausted)
Firstly, I would like to recommend you to take 2 mocks of different levels, say today and tomorrow, and do a thorough analysis of the same (take 1-day minimum for Analysis). Without analysis, there is no use of taking Mocks.
Pen down all your strengths and weaknesses and start with your preparation.
Following are the important areas of each subject:
1. Quant chapters:
Approx number of Questions asked :
Numbers (4-5),
Geometry and mensuration (7-8),
Modern maths (6-7),
Algebra (4-5),
Arithmetic (7-8),
Functions and inequalities (4-5)
(Considering you want to complete your portion in this order only; change if you wish to)
Chapter Wise Plan: (Starting from 5th July)
- Numbers (3 to 4 hours daily for 20 days learning concepts and solving sums from past papers as well [5th July to 24th July]
- Modern Maths (2 hours daily for 14 days from [26th July to 8th August]
- Geometry and Mensuration (3-4 hours daily for next 20 days [10th August to 30th August]
- Algebra (2 hours daily for next 18 days. [1st to 18th September]
- Arithmetic (3-4 hours for 20 days. [20th September to 10th OCT]
- Functions Inequality/leftover chaps (3-4 hours daily for 20 days [11TH to 31st October]
- Revise and practice above topics (3-4 hours for 30 days) [1st till 30th November]
- Keep solving and practising questions on CAT Preparation-iQuanta Group daily and whenever you see the questions, because solving randomly prepares you better than solving them chapter wise for a competitive exam. (Most Important)
Source:
- Click here for Books and Tips Suggestion from past CAT toppers: Follow CAT Preparation Group posts / events. Try to attempt questions there and ask doubts, if required. (Most imporant)
- Solve Past CAT papers (you may find them on google or in the file section of the group).
- Follow iQuanta articles for additional help (www.iquanta.in).
- You may join iQuanta Quant Course which is of immense help to develop concept and methodology to tackle CAT questions. Regular sessions by iQuanta till CAT will help you stick to your plan and be regular which is the most important part of CAT Preparation : Regularity.
Verbal Area:
- Reading comprehension
- Sentence Corrections
- Critical Reasoning
- Para Jumbles and Para Completions.
RC and Verbal Area (Starting from 5th July):
- Keep a daily practice of reading for at least 30 mins. Basically, read some editorials and also try to summarise from what you read.
- Reading comprehension (2 hours daily). Start with at least 3 passages per day then increase to 4-5 passages once you gain Accuracy. Likewise, till November you will be able to complete almost 300+ passages).
- Here quantity is not important, quality is, focusing that you gain at least 90% Accuracy.
- Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning, Para jumbles and Para completions. (It’s up to you how to do it. Generally, one should keep 2 days for each topic above).
Source :
- Click here for Books and Tips or follow GMAT Books.
- FB CAT Prep Group/iQuanta Events.CAT Past papers.
- Past papers and mocks.
- For an extra edge help, you may join iQuanta Verbal Course which is taught by 10 years experienced faculty of IMS and other institutes.
LRDI Area :
This area generally needs lots of practice to get a variety of sums.
Keep practising one day LR and another day DI: 2 hours daily (5th July– 30th Nov)
Source :
Any coaching institute material.
Papers from institutes or mock papers from other coaching classes or practice tests available for free on the internet / group.
CAT Past papers (Most Important for CAT)
For video classes of CAT level, you may join iQuanta LrDi classes.
Sectional Mocks (All the 3 Areas) :
There are coaching institutes which provide sectional tests / mocks; also there are some sectional mocks which are readily available on the internet as well.
Get hold of those for sure. Why? Because you need to test yourself on topic wise as well once you are done with your study to gain confidence and to ensure you have covered all the areas.
Give 2-3 sectional tests on weekends after you complete your topics.
Full Mocks :
Take at least 1 mock per week until 30th November. Once you are done with the syllabus; start taking mock every alternate day till CAT.
Note :
1) Try to solve questions in CAT Preparation Group, whenever you see a question, that too fast, if possible try to be the first one to solve. Make it a competitive environment. This has helped me get speed and all my friends / students who got phenomenal percentiles this year.
2) Keep solving Questions from your materials and in case you have doubts, post them in the CAT Preparation group. Somebody will help. If no one helps, then tag me, I’ll try to clear it.
Now let me help you to create 1-day plan :
(Disclaimer: considering one can study 9-10 hours with breaks in between)
Day 1 : (Using same plan as mentioned above)
9.00- 10.00 – Start with reading editorials or newspaper for 30 mins and vocab for next 30 mins
10.00-12.00—Number System
12.00-12.30—Break
12.30-01.30—Reading comprehension of 1-2 passage
01.30-02.30—Lunch time
02.30-05.30—Modern Maths
05.30-06.00—Break
06.00-07.00—Reading comprehension (1-2) passage
07.00-09.30—Either LR/DI
09.30-10.00—Dinner/Break
10.00-12.00—Verbal Area (SC, CR, PJ, PC)
12.30-01.30—FB group — (CAT Preparation-iQuanta)You can keep notifications of the FB group on, to solve any question being posted randomly. Solving randomly helps more than solving topic wise.
Disclaimer:
This is the rough plan; one can definitely change according to one’s strengths and weaknesses. Do not consider it fool-proof, it only helps you to drive your plan. The aim here is not to complete the portion but to have thorough conceptual knowledge. Considering the number of hours I mentioned, you can definitely change as per your wish but ensure that you cover the syllabus in the defined period only. Please compete with yourself and not with others. Every time you take a mock test, ensure you improve and do not take mocks unless thorough analysis of the previous mock is complete. Give time and definitely, you will see some progress. Keep developing shortcuts which can help you save time in the exam. Join the iQuanta course for tricks / shortcuts and understanding. It starts from basics and goes up to a bit above CAT level. Try experimenting with your mock paper. For example, try using elimination method while answering or using shortcuts to see how much time is saved.
Work hard as much as you can. Work Hard Now to Enjoy Later!
All the best.