I have always been a huge fan of the InsideIIM portal as it has often proved extremely useful in giving me fresh insights into the world of b-schools. However, the limited time I have spent on various CAT prep portals and the manner in which the discussions and comments are portrayed had, at one point of time, made me believe that those who were fortunate enough to have made it to the top b-schools in the country are nothing less than demigods while the rest of us are mere mortals who aspire to but are seldom able to attain said demigod status. I am here to tell you that top b-schools are not a distant dream but an attainable reality and that the right attitude and technique can at the very least, I hope, get you a foot in the door.
I will begin by telling you why I am qualified to speak on this matter. I graduated with a B.Tech degree from a state government college and immediately joined what is supposedly the best IIM for the postgraduate program (PGP). At IIM, I interned in a highly coveted marketing role and was placed at one of the best (MBB) strategy consulting firms. As far as my CAT credentials go, I was an engineer by qualification but scored more like a non-engineer. I scored a 99.6 overall with a 99+ in VARC, 98+ in quant and 96+ in DILR. Although I was a ‘GEM’, great past acads ensured that I got all the calls at 99.6 but hey, scoring more than 99.5 is dependent to no small extent on your luck the day of the exam.
My credibility, hopefully, being established, I wish to share with you fine folks my two cents worth on preparing for the CAT.
One – Never look at the odds
‘Odds’ are perhaps the single most discouraging statistic one can look at before starting preparation.
Two – Believe you can and you are halfway there
I have always believed that you can achieve whatever goal you ‘think’ you can achieve. I find that an easy way to make yourself believe you can is to meet and talk to people who have been where you want to go. This serves two objectives: you get the inside scoop and secondly, you now have a face to a once unattainable target. When I began my IIM journey, I met an IIM Ahmedabad student and when I realised that the two us were extremely similar in our love for binge-watching television shows and chilling the f**k out listening to obscure artists, I instantly began to believe that if this SOB can make it, then so can I and that has made all the difference!
Now that we have gone through the two principles that I believe are fundamental to success, let’s get down to brass tacks - Preparing for the CAT.
Contrary to popular opinion, the CAT is not a test of intelligence but of diligence. In my humble opinion, the easiest way to ace the CAT is not to be exceptional in two sections but to be above average in all the three.
A few pointers to bear in mind while preparing to ace the exam:
- Prepare one section at a time until you feel you are doing reasonably well in it and then and only then start preparing for another section. The reason I tell you to prepare one section at a time is that there is a learning curve and the benefits of preparation only accrue when you spend a lot of time on a section continuously. Of course, once you have attained mastery, it takes little practice to retain that level of skill.
- Forget the sectional tests, focus only on full-length mocks. It is okay if you are doing badly overall as long as you are doing better in the section you are practising now.
- The frequency of giving mocks: One a week from July to October. Two a week until two weeks before the CAT and none in the weeks immediately preceding the CAT for a bad mock score at this time can spell disaster for your confidence and by extension your chances. Spend this time in reviewing every mock you have ever given.
- Keeping track of performance: If you are in the top 500 ranks overall in the mocks by September and manage to be in the top 200 ranks in your October mocks, you are set to score 99.5+ overall assuming ceteris paribus. Also if you are able to score over 75 percentile in a section in the mocks you will most probably clear the sectional cut-off.
Preparing for Verbal: If verbal is not one’s strong suit, the GMAT official guide and the Manhattan series for GMAT verbal are the only keys to salvation.
Preparing for Quant: For the mere mortals like me not blessed with ‘calculator brains’, your goal is to be able to solve 30-34 questions in the CAT and hope to get 25+ correct. While I have never been a champion of rote learning, I have to unabashedly admit that it was rote learning that got me a 98+ percentile in quant. As I began giving the mocks I soon realised that nearly 80% of the questions were the same in all the mocks with just the numbers changed. Once I stumbled upon this discovery, I did what I think any rational person would have done, I made a key and memorised the method to solve these 80% questions. I realised that this helped me save time as I was able to now attempt between 20-25 questions in half an hour and whatever I could do in the remaining thirty minutes was a bonus. A good place to start preparing for quant is to get your hands on TIME’s three books titled ‘Basic Quant Material’. Solve these three books cover to cover and ensure that you have committed to memory the method to solve every question in this book. When you see a question in the mock and are immediately able to say “Oh this is like the one in Book 2 Chapter 3 Question 5” you know your quant prep is complete. Also after giving every mock, ensure that you memorise how to solve every problem that was there in it before going on to give the next mock.
Preparing for DILR: This is pretty much the same as preparing for quant except a good place to start is to memorise every DILR set in the ‘paper and pen’ version of the CAT and then memorise every DILR set that you come across in the mocks. Again, after giving every mock, ensure that you memorise how to solve every problem that was there in it before going on to give the next mock.
I sincerely hope that you find this article useful in your preparation. If you do not, leave behind your thoughts in the comments and I’ll try writing a follow-up.
*The author wishes to be anonymous.
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Comments
Ansuman Mishra
I agree to the fact that prohibition of marijuana has its own problems. But is legalising use of marijuana a solution? If marijuana was sold openly in markets and are readily accessible, there is every chance that it could lead to abuse of the product, especially among the youth who would try to experiment with it. Use of marijuana is promoted by people who have already used it, and once people try it, they would be willing to use it again and again.And with a readily available market, abuse of marijuana could very well lead to serious health problems. One may argue that it is an individual's choice. Fair enough. But how far is legalising marijuana going to help people? It would just give them another alternative of such products. Medically marijuana might have some benefits, but one must agree the most potential uses arise due to a need to relieve stress, peer pressure and curiosity (http://drug.addictionblog.org/why-people-use-marijuana-top-10-reasons/). Non-legalisation has its own problems, but legalisation is definitely not a solution. Rather a nationwide awareness campaign is a necessity.
27 Aug 2014, 10.24 PM
Purvabh Surana
Legalizing is not even close to setting up a mandi for marijuana. In Uruguay, for example, there are very strict rules regarding who can buy it, how much can they buy, and under the many what circumstance can any such sale be disallowed. Our point towards marijuana is actually allowing people to experiment with it, on their own terms, in safe, regulated environments, instead of having to deal with dodgy characters, and shady areas which the current laws actually help flourish As far as abuse goes, more people kill themselves with painkillers every month than marijuana has ever. In fact, not only is marijuana far less addictive than almost every other stimulant, half as addictive as alcohol and almost a fourth as addictive as nicotine, but in fact, the active components, can in no physically deliverable dose ever be fatal. To put things into perspective, there are doses at which coffee can kill you, much more easily. Out of the limits of moderation, anything can become a serious health hazard. Legalizing it will allow people to make informed choices, just as we allow people to make regarding say alcohol, or nicotine. It will break the underground nexus that currently deals in marijuana, bring regulation and control. It will allow you keep track of consumption, and demand, along with the consumers. The money saved on meaningless policing, and zero significance arrests, along with the human cost of all the lives meaningless destroyed by incarceration for what's hardly a misdemeanor can all be avoided. And all this, is without even considering the financials. The precise point of this endeavour is to allow people to decide what they want to use it for, and not be at the mercy of the local dealers prohibition spawns. We wholeheartedly agree. Reasonable individuals across the nation have the right to full, free and fair information regarding this sensitive issue, so they can make informed choices, instead of having dogmatic, moralizing judgement shoved down their throats.
28 Aug 2014, 03.27 AM
+Read Replies (1)
Abhishek Karekar
To implement and ensure a safe and regulatory environment for consumption in India would have its own huuuge costs, I believe surpassing the costs of ban. Beside corruption would aggravate the matter further, regulatory officials would make money at the expense of social damage at large
28 Aug 2014, 06.09 PM |
Ankur Dewan
Today you are vociferously campaigning for the legalization of marijuana, so what is next on your checklist – legalization of METH?
28 Aug 2014, 04.03 AM
Hemant Agarwal
Having expertise in Automation testing and framework Development using a technical knowhow of JUnit backed Selenium RC & Webdriver. Multi Browser and Cross client testing. A good understanding of SDLC Methodologies. Along with Automation testing working on Functionality Testing , Browser Certification Testing, Sanity Testing, Regression Testing. Knowledge about version control systems. Test Design, Test Plans, Test cases development and management. Accessibility Testing
Yes I believe you, after all who are these big brothers regulating us everything should be allowed there should be no restrictions ... anybody can murder anyone ... anybody can do what they want... regulations are a waste aren't they .. I don't say we shouldn't evolve and ward of traditions and rules which are non coherent with current times but legalizing everything anything doesn't go well.
28 Aug 2014, 11.57 AM
Anurag Ghosh
A VERY SIMPLE GUY........THOUGH HAVE SOME GREAT EXPECTATIONS FROM LIFE......JUST LIVING MY LIFE FOR THEM..........HOPE THEY COME TRUE ONE DAY.........
Lifting prohibition for the sake of money in the form of taxes & duties is totally unacceptable .
28 Aug 2014, 07.50 PM
Anurag Ghosh
A VERY SIMPLE GUY........THOUGH HAVE SOME GREAT EXPECTATIONS FROM LIFE......JUST LIVING MY LIFE FOR THEM..........HOPE THEY COME TRUE ONE DAY.........
Further I did not understand that how prohibition of marijuana can generate violence or spread aids? This is really outrageous.
28 Aug 2014, 07.51 PM
Ashish Verma
A youngsters, with a cigarette in one hand and a buzz in his head. If that's how you want to see the country, then by all means, legalize marijuana. and there is no proof about the claims that Marijuana does not cause brain damage, genetic damage, etc. whereas there is plenty of research matter which proves the exact opposite. I mean, on what grounds can you claim such things?
28 Aug 2014, 09.25 PM
Vinti Narula
This stand is simply outrageous. The society, already reaching deplorable levels of moral corruption, does not need any more narcotics.
28 Aug 2014, 09.46 PM
Purvabh Surana
@Ashish, I welcome your stand, and by all means, please give me the links to this legendary research you refer to. Till then, please chew on this What you refer to as "studies" showed structural changes in several brain regions were found in two rhesus monkeys exposed to THC. Because these changes primarily involved the hippocampus, a cortical brain region known to play an important role in learning and memory, this finding suggested possible negative consequences for human marijuana users. However, to achieve these results, massive doses of THC - up to 200 times the psychoactive dose in humans - had to be given . In fact, studies employing 100 times the human dose have failed to reveal any damage. In the most recently published study, rhesus monkeys were exposed through face-mask inhalation to the smoke equivalent of four to five joints per day for one year. When sacrificed seven months later, there was no observed alteration of hippocampal architecture, cell size, cell number, or synaptic configuration. The authors conclude: "while behavioral and neuroendocrinal effects are observed during marijuana smoke exposure in the monkey, residual neuropathological and neurochemical effects of marijuana exposure were not observed seven months after the year-long marijuana smoke regimen." Slikker, W. et al, "Behavioral, Neurochemical, and Neurohistological Effects of Chronic Marijuana Smoke Exposure in the Nonhuman Primate," pp 219-74 in L. Murphy and A. Bartke (eds), Marijuana/Cannabinoids Neurobiology and Neurophysiology, Boca Raton: CRC Press (1992). I tried looking for all the genetic damage marijuana causes, but all I could find were more judgements, no facts. Please do help me find these reports?
28 Aug 2014, 10.59 PM
Purvabh Surana
@Vinti How sweet. You continue to use the imperative tone IN a judgement type sentence structure, as usual without the slightest hints of any supportive evidence. But then I'm sure that the high perch you're on doesn't need mortal contrivances like supporting statements, any research, or even a logic based argument for that matter. By thy divinely endowed rights on deciding the state of entire societies, you can pass decrees on what we need and what we don't. I'm sure there's a cave full of Taliban leaders taking careful notes for their next fatwa from your speech. Please send them my regards.
28 Aug 2014, 11.07 PM
Siva M
@Ankur Dewan legalizing pot -> legalizing METH = My name is Khan -> You're a terrorist
28 Aug 2014, 11.09 PM
Nikhar Mattu
Nice article....although some points are more relevant to the American society than Indian(The Gun example) but all in all an articulate and well structured article.
29 Aug 2014, 01.05 AM
Nikhar Mattu
@Purvabh You are trying to use logic with people who harbour dogmatic views, it's like using rationality with religious people...it never works!
29 Aug 2014, 01.07 AM