CAT or the other MBA entrance exams are more about practice and understanding the concepts which are can be aced by self-preparation. Coaching classes in the case of CAT act more like guiding light which gives you a regular reminder of what all needs to do. It is perfectly possible for anyone to score well in CAT without any coaching class.
I was working with an IT MNC in Pune, I didn’t have the bandwidth to attend a coaching class regularly. Like me, there a lot of people with such constraints, it didn’t hold back any of us to score well in CAT or get a decent b-school. If you are planning to take a shot at CAT without joining any coaching class, then this is how you can prepare really well.
Understanding the Exam
To conquer the enemy, you first know it really well, better than they know themselves. To bell the CAT, one must understand the pattern, sections, difficulty level, various important topics etc. These details are available online on many credible websites. You can also test your current level by trying out some questions.
Material for the Preparation
Even if you don’t need a coaching class, you need material and
books to start your preparation. The complete material of many coaching classes is available, books from various noted authors can also be referred to. There is a tendency amongst aspirants to look for questions on the internet. There are many websites which have CAT questions but don’t have credible sources for the answer, try to avoid such websites.
Ace the Base
Assuming that aspirant is new to CAT, the first thing that they must do is start with basics and concept building. Whichever material or the book that you pick would have a level 1 section or the beginner section. This section is the concept building part, do this very seriously. For example; In Geometry, one should understand the various formula, rules and where they should be applied.
One can find great articles on InsideIIM regarding preparing for each of the three sections in CAT really well.
Mock Tests
Mock tests are the most crucial part of any CAT prep. Usually, during the practice, one takes the liberty of time while solving questions and don’t really have the pressure to solve x number of questions in x minutes. Mock tests show the aspirants their real standing. My Performance was really bad in initial mocks and couldn’t attempt all the questions, accuracy was really low. I was demotivated and also considered dropping the option of CAT, without coaching and while working. After consulting a few people who did really well in previous years, I took mock tests as an opportunity to find my pain points and then work upon them.
Almost all the mock test providers have advanced analytics that tells in depth about the performance of the taker. This analysis should be used to identify the areas where the accuracy of the test taker is low, the time taken per question is high.
Role of Internet
A lot of websites on the internet just copy paste questions from here and there, many people in Facebook groups can give an answer which may be flawed. Don’t rely on solutions and questions from unverified sources. CAT Material creators spend considerable resources to create credible solutions, please refer them only.