An economics graduate from the Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi; Harshita Arora, is currently in the second year of the Post Graduate Programme (MBA) at IIM, Ahmedabad. She has secured a 99.59 percentile in CAT and has been the recipient of numerous accolades in both academic and professional sphere. In this article, she has shared insightful snippets from her CAT 2018 journey along with her word of advice for CAT 2020 aspirants. Read on!
"I secured 99.59 percentile in CAT 2018. I'm an economics graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi and joined IIMA as a fresher.
I would dedicate around 13-15 hours a day to my preparation. I took a total of 30-35 mock tests and some 70-80 sectional tests (all three combined). Towards the end, I focused all my energy on mocks and I spent ample time on revising concepts/shortcuts that I'd come across in the old mocks. I had also fine-tuned and fixed my strategy of approaching each section; i.e. how much time I would devote to what type of questions within each section and the priority order which I'd follow for each section. I made several sticky-notes to internalize some key concepts in the QA section and would occasionally go through the readings to revise my weak-spots. For VARC, I only gave sectionals/mocks and revised old mocks and sectionals. For LRDI, I found it immensely valuable to go through the mistakes made in old mocks and try out all questions of that nature in all the mocks for practice. I think taking a rich mix of proctored and un-proctored mocks on a regular basis really gives you the much-needed confidence at this stage.
I also worked a lot on my routine during this time and tried my best to fix my sleep cycle. To avoid burn-outs I'd go on a walk each day and have all meals with my friends to lighten the mood. I spoke daily to my family and crib about preparation and burnouts, they were a huge support system :)"
What'd be your advice for the CAT 2020 takers?
Work on your schedule, so it's more in sync with the slot that you get for CAT. Take more proctored mocks so it inspires discipline while you're taking the exam. And DEFINITELY take time to revise the ones you have already taken. Do not start learning new concepts now, that ship has already sailed. Work more on your strengths.
Try to remain calm and composed, panicking is the worst thing you could do to yourself at this point. Even when you appear for exam, make sure that you judiciously maximize your attempts and do not be overly cautious while answering questions. Consciously get in a positive fearless mindset and have faith in all your preparation and hard work!
All the very best :)
Stay tuned for our video interaction with Harshita, where she goes in great details on how one should prepare in the last few days to CAT 2020.
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