6 Pointers on Getting Ready for CAT from Today

“Getting ready for CAT” is not the same as “Completing the syllabus for CAT”. For the time being, at least. It is July, and chances are you have not yet completed the syllabus. Beyond the prescribed do’s and don’ts, getting ready for CAT requires aspects that include syllabus completion while going far beyond that as well.

1) Keep learning, keep consolidating

Finish off Quant as early as you can. Because, it will require a lot more rounds of revision, reinforcement, relearning and remediation. It is highly unlikely that you can master any given topic in Quant at any point in time. EVER. Hence, learn a lot. This does not mean that you need to scratch the surface and get done with a topic.

Learn from first principles. Understanding the dynamics of percentage change is far more important than solving tons of problems from a gazillion sources. Do not choose questions that are obscure, obviously unsolvable, and do not have solutions or explanations to supplement them; it is a waste of time. Getting ready for CAT does not and should not involve solving diabolical problems – problems that remind you of Robert Langdon deciphering god-knows-what ciphers in Dan Brown novels.

2) Read daily

I cannot stress enough on this aspect. Read daily – at least for an hour – and do not keep thinking about Reading Comprehension passages in CAT while reading.

If you are to crack an RC passage in CAT 2020 quickly, precisely without negative marks, you have to take care of your

1. Reading speed
2. Understanding of diverse sets of topics
3. Ability to spot contrasting viewpoints
4. Sharpness to comprehend how a passage builds up from paragraph to paragraph

Reading editorials, opinion pieces, novels, journals, research papers, articles, short stories (in English) not only strengthens your knowledge of the language itself, but more importantly, it catalyses your understanding the pros and cons of an issue/argument/government decision, and more. Sooner or later, you will get to know that you can understand a passage without even knowing the meanings of some of the multi-syllable words in it.

3) Take tests. Take enough of them.

Getting ready for CAT 2020 involves getting acquainted with the examination as many times as possible. What do I mean by that? Take mock CATs. However, the second part of the point is equally important as the first one. Take sufficient number of mocks (anywhere between 30 and 45 is a good number). Do not shoot for one mock everyday or every two days.

You can read

1. More about mocks
2. Do’s and don’ts before, during and after mocks

If taking mocks is good, why should I not take a lot of them?

Apart from the fact that you simply CANNOT take mocks daily (unless you have a life, that is), there are obvious justifications to taking “just enough” number of mocks.

i. Analyzing mocks

This is an easily overlooked aspect when one starts their preparation, and are getting ready for CAT. Taking mocks is just like shooting a movie; you cannot release the raw footage. Analyzing mocks is akin to fine-tuning the visuals in post-production, adding more musical elements, enhancing the CGIs, and finding out if there is a need to re-shoot, and so on.

You need to know where you stand in terms of each section, namely, VARC, DILR and Quant. More specifically, you should have a gauge on at least three questions in each section that you should not have attended but you did, AND three others which you could have attended (I call them “sitters”) but missed out on.

This gives you a chance towards scoring 27 more marks, while avoiding a negative of 9 marks. That itself gives scope for 36 marks. In addition, if you get the methods to solving the ones you got wrong, brilliant. That adds up to 27 more prospective marks in your cumulative score.

ii. You (should) have a life outside while getting ready for CAT

You are not a machine. Your mind needs rest. You cannot go on taking mocks at breakneck speed. Furthermore, if you keep taking mocks, you are not analyzing your mocks. Which means there are high chances you are repeating the same mistakes you did in the n previous mocks. Plus, taking mocks without adequately spaced intervals can take a toll on your preparation time. It is like going to bat without helmet, thigh pads, abdomen guard and other protective gear, when Shoaib Akthar or Brett Lee is bowling. Remember, you might get away once or twice. But, doing it AGAIN and AGAIN is not such a prudent idea.

4) Intense learning vs. taking rest

Getting ready for CAT is all about going all guns blazing when needed, and switching off otherwise. You cannot prepare for 12 hours a day for CAT. This is not an exam where low-intensity-warfare type of preparation pays off. This is an exam where how sharp you are when you take the exam matters more than how much you know. There is no point increasing the knowledge base if your brain goes AWOL for 15 minutes during an exam. Stay well rested. Keep your mind uncluttered as much as possible. Try to remain focused as long as you can. A good day’s qualitative preparation must make you doze off the minute you crash in your bed.

5) Optimism vs. Pragmatism

Before attempting every short test, sectional test, mock CAT or whatever else you are taking, carry the belief that you can crack it. However, you must also be prepared to face it when your mock scores fall flat. Getting ready for CAT is about resilience. How much you are able to bounce back from a bad mock speaks volumes about the kind of manager you are shaping yourself to be, should you get into an IIM and become an entrepreneur or a C-suite corporate boss.

6) The world moves on, and you, probably, should as well

Another aspect that will keep you relaxed is the belief that everything does not ride this one examination. Getting ready for CAT, in some sense, is also about getting ready for life after CAT, irrespective of your performance.

The following is a rudimentary checklist of things you should not do at any cost.

1. DO NOT burn your bridges at office.
2. DO NOT throw away a job offer because you are anyway going to do an MBA.
3. DO NOT ignore XAT and other equally important competitive examinations pertaining to MBA.
4. DO NOT forget to keep in mind that there are other colleges beyond IIMs.

A great many things that I have mentioned here are easier said than done. As a student, I had forgotten to apply to FMS, had taken up XAT in an overconfident daze, had slept during an exam while doing MBA, and have generally committed all the mistakes stated above at some point of time or other. Don’t put undue pressure on yourself. If the CAT goes well, great. If it doesn’t, keep in mind that a majority of the successful businesses in our country are run by people who did not do their MBA from an IIM.

Best wishes for (getting ready for) CAT 2020.

Rajesh Balasubramanian takes the CAT every year and is a 4-time CAT 100 percentiler. He likes few things more than teaching Math and insists to this day that he is a better teacher than exam-taker.