9 Pointers to Combat Stress in CAT Preparation

9 Pointers to Combat Stress in CAT Preparation

It’s been almost a year since the lockdown was imposed nationwide due to the pandemic. In this time, we went through a roller coaster ride of witnessing complete lockdown, social distancing, wearing masks, restraining ourselves into the four walls of the home, not partying or meeting loved ones, standing in queue to buy groceries, and most importantly work from home. Thanks to this today we have reached a point where it is not possible for us to differentiate between work and leisure – it has managed to blur the lines between our work and the idea of taking rest ( work-life balance 😛 ). In all of this, the condition of all the people who belong to the species known as CAT-o-sapiens is more painful, because they have to manage their preparation with their work ( or college ), which is giving rise to unnecessary stress and anxiety in their happy lives. So as always, we have your back folks. In this article, we will try to look at how can someone mitigate stress and also have some fun while preparing for CAT. All you CAT-o-sapiens, this one’s for you!

1) ‘Stay hungry, stay foolish’

Enjoy your learning. Take joy in learning the intricacies of the Number system. Be ready to explore new ideas from Geometry. Always try to have an attitude of openness and eagerness. Take joy in reading interesting passages. Puzzle over that para-jumble for the sake of decoding. One can train their mind to be happy while doing something. Do that. That’s one of the first steps to reducing CAT Prep stress.

2) Keep it in perspective!

CAT is not everything. Whatever happens in your exams, you can still be successful in life afterward. So if you don’t do as well as you’d hoped, try to keep things in perspective. Exam success doesn’t define you as a person. Think about how far you’ve come already. You’ve already done incredibly well to get to university or to get a great job, and the outcome of an exam at this point isn’t ‘throwing away’ your past success. Keep your connections and maintain your relationships. Don’t quit your job or rubbish your college scores. Live life and continue to think that your life will go on without a fantastic CAT score.

Prepare for the exam like everything depend on it but write the exam as nothing depends on it

Rajesh balasubramanian

3) Don’t (always) listen to others

As the old saying goes: “comparison is the thief of joy”. While it is helpful to discuss topics with fellow CAT aspirants and often to revise together, try not to compare other peoples’ revision or performance in mock tests to your own. Chances are you’re doing just fine, and listening to other people talk about what they’ve learned will only stress you out and may make you feel like you aren’t progressing as well as them. Plus, if they themselves are stressed this can rub off on you and other people’s stress is not what you need right now. So Create a schedule that is in sync with your work hours, and then own your preparation.

4) Talk it out

CAT preparation is like kaun Banega Crorepati hot-seat. When a question throws a googly, what do you do? You phone a friend. When you’re feeling pent up and anxious about your studies and exam, the pressure can feel overwhelming. A really great way to get a handle on the situation is to talk to your peers about what you are going through. You might find they are feeling exactly the same way and, as they say, a problem shared is a problem halved! If it’s all getting too much at your desk, take time out to call a good friend or parent and talk out your study stresses. You’ll feel so much better just for voicing your worries and will come off the phone with newfound focus and determination.

5) The greatest relaxant is WORK

You can watch tons of motivational videos and self-help philosophies, and maybe some more quintals on “Crack CAT in 7.5 days” (The shortest, and most obvious, time-frame, by the way, is just 3 hours of that actual examination; so, why go for 24 hours!). But, none of these will matter if you are not doing your things right. Working hard is highly underrated, especially when it comes to CAT preparation. There is no substitute for WORK. As cliched as it may sound, it is true. If you had a bad mock, fretting over it and watching countless videos on “Getting over the fear of mock CATs”, the best way is to buckle up and start analyzing that particular mock in extensive detail. Stress cannot survive in the presence of hard work!

6) Get your heart pumping

Not only will regular exercise relieve stress but it can also improve concentration and mental awareness – two things that are vital while studying for CAT. Tiring yourself out with exercise will also improve your sleep, which further reduces stress levels. You don’t need to go all-out to get the stress-relieving benefits of exercise, even a 10 minute walk can be as effective as 45 minutes of rigorous exercise. Even better, it doesn’t really matter what form of exercise you choose as anything will be beneficial. Getting outside for some cardio would be a great way to boost your mood, but equally a yoga break will help relax the body and mind for your next study session.

7) Write down the things you’re grateful for

I’m sure you’re grateful for many things in your life. Maybe you’re grateful for a loving family or loyal friends. Or maybe you’re just grateful you passed your last math exam (ahem!). But perhaps you don’t express that gratitude often. So when you’re taking a break from studying, why not write down the things you’re grateful for? It could be something you take for granted, like the invention of the Internet (I’m extremely thankful for that!), or something like the fact that you get to read this article and wondering about your CAT prep, one way or another, you likely belong to a lucky minority. Whether that’s a 1% or 5 % or 10% minority, it is still a minority. But scores and scores of people are in a far worse position than we are. So remind yourself of that every day. Your emotions and struggles do matter. But try to be grateful for the little things whenever you can. We’re all extremely lucky to be in whatever modest position we are in, in these incredibly testing times.

8) De-emphasize CAT and results. Re-emphasize the process

When you start CAT preparation, or anywhere during the course of it, do not start focusing on things like “I will score 99.xx %ile in CAT 2020”. This is an example of an output-driven metric. Your scores, percentiles, calls, converts will be there for you to see once CAT 2021 results are out, anyway. Instead, focus on input-driven metrics, and enjoy the process of learning. Things like “I will read for 6 hours, solve Quant for 8-10 hours, do 10 DILR puzzles this week” are more tangible and manageable goals. If you do this, you will be able to track your progress easily and you won’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself.

9) The phenomenon of stress

Sometimes, when we’ve vested too much into something emotionally, and the data points go against us, it can feel very constricting. It happens to everybody. It happens to happy-looking and sad-looking people, unsuccessful people, and successful people. Everyone feels the bite of falling and missing the mark (vis-à-vis their own expectations). Sometimes it’s communal, sometimes it is personal. Talk to people. Get some form of physical exercise and do tons of work.

In the end, If you can look at yourself in the mirror on the day of your exam and feel that you’ve tried your best, then at least you won’t feel bad about yourself or feel stressed. Always remember, the greatest solution to combating CAT prep stress is to actually turn up and study!

Abhishek works for 2IIM, and is a keen writer.