"The Process Is More Important Than The Result" - CAT Tips By Priyanshu Dhawan, IIM K '22

I took coaching from Tathagat which is in Connaught Place, Delhi. I think taking up coaching or not depends on the candidate itself. With coaching, you get a proper support system and guidance on how to go about things. There is a particular discipline in your preparation you get if you follow what your mentors say. I was never into reading novels and newspaper but it was after I enrolled for coaching I started doing these things. The number of hours I devoted varied each day. With relaxed attendance norms in my college, I could afford to miss my college classes for preparation. I started my preparation for CAT almost a year and a half prior to CAT 2019 which gave me good enough time to prepare. But still, I think it is very much possible to crack CAT even with self-preparation. Many people do it. If you are focused and can have the discipline in your preparation, the self-preparation is good to go.

I think the most important aspect for not just for the preparation of CAT but even for the further processes afterwards it not to get bogged down after receiving a setback during the journey. There would be various instances where a candidate might feel that things are not at all going right for me, be it not able to solve questions from a particular topic, getting low or inconsistent mock scores, few entrance exams not going well, etc. It is going through these times and not backing out which is extremely important. It is important to trust the hard work you have put in and not to start doubting the time devoted and hard work put in by you. It is important to take it in your stride and work towards the next part. Adding to it, it is okay sometimes to take a break if you are feeling mentally exhausted. It is important to be positive and in the right frame of mind during your preparation.

Mock Series and Approach:

I had enrolled for IMS test series and also had Tathagat’s test series along with it. I don’t remember the exact number of full-length mocks I took, but it would be between 30-35 and 40-45 sectional mock tests.

I am a big cricket fan so I tried to make an analogy of a CAT mock with a cricket match. I think a CAT mock is like when you are setting a target in an ODI. Before the match, you don’t know exactly what would be a good score and as you start batting you try to analyse what can be a good score to reach based on the pitch and the conditions, what are your team’s strengths and weaknesses and how the opposite team is bowling. Similarly, when you are giving a mock it is not advisable to have a target score in your mind right from the start. Based on seeing the difficulty level of the questions, time the questions are taking and whether there are more questions from areas where you are comfortable or not, you need to assess how to go about it. In the end, it is important to take note that the pitch or the question paper is same for everyone. If you are having a hard time so would the others. It is important though to cash in on any loose delivery or sitter questions.

Set selection and passage selection becomes really crucial in both LRDI and Verbal. Even in Quant picking up the easy questions and doing them first is important. This is similar to a back end of a tight run chase in any limited over game. This requires the MS Dhoni strategy of a run chase. If you need say 50 runs from 5 overs, you need to see which is the weak link in the opposite team’s bowling line up and target them. Similarly, before starting any LRDI set or an RC passage it is important to see which are the easier ones to do and would take less time. If you get a loose ball when you are facing a top bowler or an easy question in any of the difficult sets which might not require too much time and effort go for it.

I think mocks played a really important role in my preparation. Solving questions is one thing and doing it with time constraints is another. More important than giving a mock is analysing a mock. It was by giving mocks I understood what would be the ideal strategy for me and where I am lacking. It was through mocks I constantly tried to change by strategies especially for Verbal till I found the right one for myself. It is also important to go in a mock with the mindset that you are giving your main CAT exam. So I think all the proctored mocks which take place at the centre are really useful as it to some extent provides the same kind of environment like that of a real CAT exam.

Section-wise Preparation (Strongest Section and Achilles Heel):

I still don’t have an answer to which section I was the strongest in. Verbal is definitely ruled out. I really enjoyed doing LRDI but I wasn’t that consistent in mocks in LRDI. Quant was somewhat better in terms of consistency for me. But if I have to choose one then I would pick LRDI as I eventually performed my best in this section in CAT and really enjoyed solving LRDI sets. The time distribution for preparation between all the 3 sections wasn’t such a problem for me. As there are more internal topics in Quant, so there was a tendency to invest more time in Quant but I tried to balance it out. Like for Verbal, you need to develop good reading skills which I constantly looked to do by reading novels and newspaper.

My Achilles Heel has to be Verbal. It took me a lot of mocks to find the right strategy to approach the verbal section and it took me a lot of time to figure out solving RCs. Especially in mocks, I had a really tough time in Verbal in the beginning. I tried numerous strategies for this section like attempting RCs first and then non-RCs or attempting non-RCs first then RCs or doing a mix of both. But I had been trying to develop my reading skills by reading classic novels like 1984, Animal Farm, Crime and Punishment, etc as instructed by my coaching institute and I believed in the process that I had followed till then would eventually help me perform better in this section. Slowly and slowly I started to figure out how to go about it and started improving. But despite that, I never had consistency in Verbal. I had developed this unusual habit of doing well in Verbal in alternate mocks and I was most scared for this section for CAT as well. Even in CAT this time, Verbal was a little difficult in comparison to the last couple of years and I remember during CAT as well I was taken by surprise in the first 5 minutes but I eventually recovered and luckily I performed decently in this section.

Lowest Point In The Journey To IIM Kozhikode:

I think the lowest point would be when my initial interview results of SIBM Pune and SCMHRD didn’t go my way. I was waitlisted 400+ and 300+ respectively with having absolutely no chance of converting. I started thinking that I might be doing something terribly wrong and a lot of self-doubts started creeping in. This happened almost a week before the start of my most important interviews which were of IIM Shillong, MDI Gurgaon and IIM Kozhikode. For a couple of days I was shocked but it gave me an opportunity to sort of contemplate and revisit those interviews in my mind. I think the CAT journey is all about standing up after such setbacks. You always need to start looking ahead and this is what exactly I tried to do after that. This is why being stuck in the waitlist for more than 2 months was also somewhat a little more difficult for me because there is nothing in your control. I was on the waitlist for both of my best calls IIM K and MDI( I got HRM in the first list). I just used to contemplate the whole day whether I would make it or not and it became a little frustrating. Even more frustrating was that the waitlist movement of both these colleges was really slow this year compared to the last few years. But eventually, when you convert after being on the waitlist for such a long time, that feeling is something which I can’t explain in words.

Suggestions To CAT 2020 Aspirants

I think if you have joined a coaching stick to its material and what your mentors suggest you. For Quant, you can try Arun Sharma books. For Verbal reading is really important. You can start picking classic fictional novels and read them. Reading a good newspaper including its editorial is also really helpful because it helps you keep a track of things happening all over the world and also formulate opinions on various topics which is important for GD-PI-WAT as well.

Do’s

Enjoying the preparation journey is important and embracing this as an opportunity instead of a burden is crucial. Try enjoying the process of reading, solving questions and taking mocks. Try to remind yourself that it is the hard work put in now which would land you in your dream b-schools
Focus on your weak points but don’t neglect your strengths. Eventually, CAT is about maximizing your score provided you clear the cutoffs of all the sections. So strengthening your area of strength to maximize your score is also important
It is important to take breaks in between your preparation. There might be days when you are really motivated and can go with the flow by spending hours solving questions but there might be days when you don’t feel so motivated, so in this situation, it is okay to take a step back and then restart with a fresh mind.

Dont’s

Don’t overdo giving mocks. When a mock doesn’t go your way there is a tendency of giving another mock quickly right after it. I have been guilty of doing this.It is important to take your time and analyse a mock before jumping on to the next one.
Don’t miss out on any topic. Even if you are not comfortable in any topic make sure that you spend time on the topic and take it to a level where atleast you are not missing out on the sitters and the easy questions.
Don’t give a mock in the last 2-3 days before CAT. It is important to relax in the last few days before CAT and don’t overdo things in the last few days. This is because it is important to be mentally fresh on D-Day and not carrying any baggage of a bad mock in your mind.

Suggestions

There are some good test series of IMS, TIME and Career Launcher. You can take anyone or two of those. If you have the time then I think 2 different mock series is the way to go because certain test series sometimes have mocks which are inclined on difficulty level towards certain sections. So it is good to have a mixture of 2 so that an aspirant can be prepared for different types of situations.
I am a very big MS Dhoni fan. There are many learnings from him but I would like to point a few of his sayings which I think is important for the CAT journey-(a)The process is more important than the result- If you focus on the process and take care of each and every small process in the journey then the result would ultimately take care of itself.
(b)There is always more time than you think you have- Many a time we panic considering that we don’t have much time and our focus shifts to other things. But in hindsight, there is always more time. Even if you have 6 months,3 months, 1 month there is always more time than what your mind thinks and if used wisely the time should be enough.
(c) Keep things simple- Make a plan and break down your preparation into small parts which will help you to keep things simple.
(d) Finally, believe in yourself. Keep believing that you are good enough and you have the capability to crack CAT and you would do wonders.