Last Week CAT Prep Tips By An IIM Calcutta Student

CAT is now less than a week away. A lot of you might be filled with trepidation. Preparation may not be up to the mark. Perhaps your mock test scores still aren’t encouraging. Some may be wondering whether to give CAT a miss this year and give it later.

But what is reassuring is that everyone goes through the very same thoughts. Almost every candidate is dissatisfied with her/his preparation. So cast aside those thoughts and instead focus on how you can still improve your D-day score. And trust me, you can. CAT is an aptitude based exam and therefore a lot is about your frame of mind going into the exam.

Mock Tests: Take a couple more mock tests in the next 3-4 days. More mock tests always help. It is not so much about gaining new knowledge than it is about staying exam ready. It is even more important if you have been unable to take mock tests at all in the last month.
Holidays: Take leave for the last 3-4 days. If you are working, take official leaves. It is essential that you are very relaxed in these last few days.
Exam Venue: Plan your accommodation and travel to the venue now itself. If it is in another city, get there a day in advance. If it is a far off venue in or around your city, keep a reasonable margin and reach. This seems rather basic advice. But it does cause unnecessary panic when you get stuck in traffic and it seems like you are cutting it tight.
Waking Up: Get used to waking up early, in case your exam is in the morning slot. This is particularly difficult if you are a college student. This happened to me. I was unable to sleep till 4 am although knowing that I had to leave at 6 in the morning. This meant me being drowsy when the exam began. This was out of habit and happened with my friends as well. If nothing else works, try this. Force yourself to wake up early a day before. That will result in you naturally drifting off to sleep very early that night.
Revision: Refer to your formula book or notes that you might have accumulated over your preparation. It is also fine if you have none! But do not try to solve many new kinds of problems.
Analysis: Analyse the past mock tests and check if there are recurring mistakes. Read up the solutions to those as well.
Clear Cutoffs: This one is only for those of you who are still faring poorly in any one of the sections. All of your prep may add up to nothing if individual cutoffs of your preferred colleges are not cleared. For instance, if you are afraid of DILR section being below par, take multiple 1-hour tests rather than overall mock tests. It will definitely be an improvement.