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I gave my first CAT attempt in 2019, to acquaint myself with the CAT pattern and experience the pressure in the exam. It is only 2020 when I firmly decided to pursue MBA and studied religiously for CAT.
Nonetheless, I would say: “When you fail, you feel like giving up. But if you contain yourself and rise up, you are already on the path of victory!”
MY CAT JOURNEY:
I started my preparation for CAT in the month of July last year. I enrolled myself with TIME Bangalore. I gave my first mock in mid July, where I scored a percentile of 81.62.
Due to the pandemic, I was working from home, which on most days led to extra working hours. I never compromised on my office work and thus ended up giving very less time to my preparation. I could only study for 2-3 hours(DILR, VA practice), that too only on some weekends. Since I was covering the syllabus really slow, I did not attempt a single mock until mid August. When I did, I scored a percentile of 87.76. It was in the last week of August that I decided to quit my job for CAT. (In September, I served my notice period.)
With no job in hand, I knew I had to do it this time. By the start of October, I had only worked on/was working on VARC and a little bit DILR. The entire quant syllabus and most of DILR lay in front of me.
I prepared a study plan. On an average, I studied for 12-13 hours (sometimes more) daily and gave equal time to all three sections. Every day, I used to select one topic from each section and practice it. First I covered the basics and then moved on to do numericals from the study material. Afterwards, I attempted 1-2 sectional tests for that topic. I also attended topic-wise workshops conducted by TIME on weekends. This way, I was able to finish all topics of quant and DILR in the month of October. All this while, I kept on giving full length mocks. Since my syllabus was still getting covered, my score fluctuated a lot. Stress levels kept getting higher.
In the first week of November, I attempted a full length mock, where I scored very poorly in VARC. Would you believe if I say that I got a score of 4 out of 72? I was shocked not only because I had already put in so much effort to improvise my VARC, but also because this was happening 25 days before the exam! This was the lowest point in my journey.
I was very upset for two days. I spoke to my friends and family. Trust me, this helped me a lot to overcome the situation and figure out that the reason for scoring bad was not because I did not know things, but because I was stressed. I decided to just ignore that test score and attempted another mock the very next day. And, I scored a 95 percentile in VARC and 99 overall!
I want to share what I learnt from this experience: “Don’t ever lose hope. You don’t know what is coming next. If you are working hard, it will pay off.”
I spent whole of November revising all the topics, attending workshops, giving a lot of sectionals and full length mocks. In all the AIMCATs I attempted in November (barring the first one ofcourse :P), I scored 98-99 percentile. By the end of my preparation, I had given 75 sectional mocks and 10 full length mocks. I stopped studying 4 days before the exam to relax myself.
As a TIME student, I feel the study material (mocks included) they provide is great. A lot of my friends vouch for CL and IMS as well. I think any of these should be okay as long as they are able to clear your basics.
Additionally, I used to solve previous year CAT papers in the allotted time. Since every year’s CAT paper was a novelty, the variety of questions I solved helped deepen my understanding of all the three sections. I suggest you to do the same.
I vouch for TIME’s mock series. The AIMCATs were generally a notch higher as compared to CAT. Since TIME usually has highest number of test-takers, the percentile you obtain is a good indicator of where you stand. They have a big bank of sectional tests as well, which is sufficient for topic-wise clarity.
My personal experience says that enrolling for one mock series is sufficient. I would suggest you to opt for two or more mock series in case:
- You have more time
- You want to practice more variety of questions
- The level of mocks you enrolled for isn’t up to the CAT level
Regarding the Do’s and Don’ts, all the following suggestions I present come from the learnings from my journey and the lessons I learnt from my peers:
1.) Start Early:
Starting early always helps. Since there is a varied set of topics in each of the three sections, starting early provides you the advantage of gaining expertise in your area of interest and also identifying your Achilles heel, sooner. This thus contributes to maintaining your mental peace, which often overlooked, is one of the primary deciding factors of our fate on the D-day.
2.) Do not procrastinate:
Often we have the tendency to first finish topics that we find easy and then move on to the tough/dreaded ones. This is a big no-no. I believe you should first start off with the tough ones so that you get more time to practice them and hence get comfortable.
3.) Give mocks regularly
I am sure all the converts cannot stress the importance of mocks enough. I gave a lot of sectional mocks (VARC-17, DILR-22, Quant-36) and 10 full length mocks. Mocks teach you to do questions in a time-bound manner.
4.) Do not skip analysis of mocks
Giving a mock and not analyzing it afterwards if of no use. Analysis is important as it helps you to understand your strengths and weaknesses and figure out the best way to approach the question paper.
5.) Talk and share your feelings
Cracking CAT with no job in hand and approximately two months of time was a tough and crazy journey. Often I felt low, spoke to people around me and came back stronger. It’s your family, teachers and friends who play a pivotal role in overcoming the obstacles that come your way.
6.) Do not Google: “Can I crack in x months?”
Since my religious prep started only in the month of October, I initially used to google the answer to this question. And I always found myself getting disappointed because every answer on different platforms said that it is impossible to do so in 2-2.5 months. But I did end up cracking the exam. If you ever end up in a similar situation, just remember that if your focus is set, nothing can stop you!
7.) Do revision
Please do not skip out on this step. Your last month must be used to attempt mocks, revise different topics in all three sections.
8.) Don’t study in the last week
I myself stopped studying 4 days before the exam. Keep your mind relaxed. It is truly rewarding on the day of the exam. Plus, studying in the last days will not change the fate of the exam. This only increases anxiety. What is meant to happen, will happen.