The first step towards FMS was cracking the dreaded CAT examination. Here's my journey of scoring 99.47 percentile (OA)
When is the ideal time for preparation? (Where I screwed up)
If you are reading this around Jan-March, it definitely is the right time. People in general all around the world prepare for 3 months approx. for exams like GRE and GMAT. I don’t see why CAT should be any different. Being a tougher exam in terms of vigor, I think nine to eleven months is an adequate period for preparation. However, I think we really lack in staying motivated these 8-9 months. We take too many breaks, study too little and lose hopes with any failed AIMCAT.
In my case, I started too late. I hardly gave it 2 months, making life miserable for me in those two months (Somehow, I got lucky).Trust me, you don’t want that to happen. Start early, stay consistent!
Should you leave everything for CAT? (Something I did right)
Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Heard of that? Well, when you put all your hopes, expectations and happiness dependent on an exam and its preparation, you are bound to be frustrated.
300*5 hours are ample to give you a result that can surprise you. Give time to your hobbies at the same time. Go out, have fun with friends and family. The happier you are, the better you will perform and prepare.
In spite of starting late, I used to go roaming on the streets of Hyderabad every single day after my 2 hours of allotted time. Kind of like a treat to myself for having performed well.
Don’t leave yourself behind for an examination, no matter how important is it.
How frequently should you take mocks? (At least partly right)
As frequently as possible
I used to be scared of taking mocks in the beginning. Specially, because I knew that one bad mock will go a long way in demotivating me. Trust me, initially I used to get cold feet just thinking about mock day. But once you are done with 4-5 of them, it will become a practice. And you will get used to seeing the unexpected. And at times not getting expected results.
Is giving mocks the end of it? (Wish I had done this)
In spite of everyone suggesting so frequently to analyze mocks, I failed to do so on a regular basis. Mainly because I found it extremely boring. And once you see the solution it looks pretty easy, right? Hence more the reason to push towards it. Trust me, there is so much more I have learned from the limited mocks I analyzed as compared to any other source. I really wish I had taken more.
Mood swings and depression during preparation
Even though this is not what everyone goes through I know a lot of people who had depression bouts when there scores get stagnant which is bound to happen.
It works like this to my understanding:
Before starting your preparation when you give mocks, basically it's your inherent knowledge or how you have built your understanding till now comes into play. Which is roughly 30-60% of your best. (Mathematics tends to be a little easier for engineering grads and VARC easier for people who read often)
Now, in the next 2-3 months, you will work on basics, give sectional tests and your score will shoot up. But after a certain point it will get saturated. This is where students generally get frustrated. Keep analyzing, keep pushing and don’t give up. If not in the coming mocks you will see the difference in D day.
In the worst-case scenario what would happen? What would happen if you don’t ace CAT?
Ask this question to yourself. It’s the best motivation ever. (Something a friend told me)
Happy preparation