Take It Slow But Keep It Steady || Last-Mile Advice From Ankita Goomer, IIM L '22

Revise with your heart. All the concepts and all the important formulas revise them all. The important questions which you had once bookmarked, it is time to pay your visit to them. Leave no chapter, no concept unrevised because our mind forgets more quickly than it remembers.

Step 4: Solve past year question papers

Along with the mocks, it is time to solve all the CAT past year question papers. But what is crucial is not just solving but how you are attempting. Attempt these tests in a similar manner you are going to attempt CAT. Get dressed, set up the atmosphere, no disturbance and enter into the room just like you are going to do in the D day. This will make your mind comfortable with facing situations like this and make you feel strong.

Step 3: Focus on your strengths

Your strengths, by now, assuming you have identified them and if not, please do. Your strengths will make you feel confident. For example, for me, it was arithmetic in quants, and I knew, if any questions come out if it, I will be able to solve. This confidence is what differentiates you from others.

Step 2: Make strategies and try it on:

My strategy was, for quants section, I will not visit the entire paper, instead look for my strong areas or the questions which look very short in length and easy to attempt, attempting it then and there, and coming again in the second round to see which questions I have missed.

In the third round, the questions which are left are ideally from my weakest batches/ the ones which were too difficult for me. So, even if I attempt 1 question out of it, it is my bonus.

This worked for me but always frame your own such strategies.

Step 1: Remember to breathe

CAT can be very unpredictable. A person who knows how to calm his sense in worse situations will win this game. CAT is not about testing your genius skills, rather your patience, your knowledge, your wittiness and more importantly, tour attitude towards a situation. So, the key is always to believe in yourself and stay calm.

Follow the steps, and you will find your way. One more important thing, in CAT, don't keep a fixed count that if I attempted 15 questions in DI LR, I am going to get 99%ile. It might happen that the paper was too easy and ideal attempt was 24. The ideal attempt depends upon the question paper, and it is all relative. So, just keep a bare minimum target but never ever stick to it.

All the best!!