Being Consistent in CAT Preparation

Around 2 Lakh people prepare for the CAT every year, and a tiny part of this aspirant pool gets calls from the TOP IIMs. The criteria for being among the top 1 per cent is different for different exams. For CAT, it’s all about consistency. For people who have taken the challenge of preparing for CAT for a year, “Being consistent” is vital. Let’s Build on the things that help maintain consistency. Following are the things needed to be consistent.

1. Goals:

It’s easy to create an abstract but making it happen and being efficient at it is the hardest part. Let’s get deeper into structuring goals in order to be consistent during your CAT preparation. 

Our mind stops working or works less efficiently when we think of ideas that we have not formed a perfect picture of. In other words, when you think of how your CAT 2023 will go, you can’t say whether it will go in a good or bad way. But you can always tell how your preparation is going today and the plan for tomorrow. Your brain can comprehend the things that are in reach but not the things that are far fetched. We will take this idea and brief it to stay consistent during our CAT preparation.

Goals give directions. For example, If I’m planning to travel, then it’s a no-brainer that I need to know where my destination is. Similarly, knowing why you are writing the CAT exam and what you expect from it will help you orient your long-term goal.

Essential things required for achieving a long-term goal are

1. Short-term goals
2. Mid-term goals

Short-term goals to be consistent:

“Rome was not built in a day”. Everyone knows this quote, and it is relatable to why short-term goals are needed. What we are trying to establish here is not how to become a billionaire in one day or how to learn Japanese overnight but a process that is achievable, doable and can run without any disturbances.

Time is going to be a constraint for the college and work goers. It is tough to be active after completing your academic work or your job. That is why it’s essential to have your short-term goals as short as possible. Figure out your leisure time and make your short-term goals around it. If your capacity for the day is to do only five problems, then do those five problems with maximum concentration. But do not make it a strict rule that you won’t do more than five problems. If you have the bandwidth to do extra problems then merrily do them. But make sure you cross the bare minimum you set every single day. 

Keeping tabs on your short-term goals is crucial. These short-term goals will slip away easily. We wouldn’t even notice where we make mistakes. So at the end of the day, check if you have completed your goals. If you haven’t done your daily task, get up, drink coffee and complete it. We are not machines to be perfect on all days. We always improvise. If you had situations that made you not get your tasks completed, try figuring out the cause and be stringent on yourself in not making the same mistakes in the upcoming days.

Mid-term goals to be consistent:

“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today”. It is a famous quote by Jordan Peterson, a popular clinical psychologist. A sportive comparison could hit your ego and would help you increase your preparation levels. If comparisons demotivate you stop doing it. We do not have information on the quantum of hours and efforts others had put into their preparation. The information we have is the amount of effort we have put in the past. Compare yourself to see if there is a gradual increase on a day-to-day basis. These small and unnoticeable improvements will take you to the long-term goal gradually and make you consistent.

Mid-term goals are your long-term goal cut into pizza slices. Without them, there is no long-term goal.  

For example, there can be three Mid-term goals:

1. Completing the CAT syllabus ( within three to four months)
2. Revision plus taking Topic/Sectional tests ( During the mid-months)
3. Mocks plus revision (last three months)

If you don’t meet your Mid-term goal, it is a “Triple caution Samir” ( Check out the video, it’s fun and funnier to all motorsport fans). Screwing the Mid-term goals puts you in troubled situations. If you meet your short-term goals religiously, the process itslef takes care of completing the Mid-term goals.

2. Routine and Discipline:

If Tom exists, Jerry must also exist. Similarly, Routine should exist, If Discipline exists. Commitment is the key to bringing Discipline into your life. Being truthful to oneself helps in completing commitments. “Habits are formed if you do the same thing for 21 days”. I don’t believe in this bogus statement. You cannot form any habits unless you are happy doing those things. Do not push yourself into doing things that don’t bring happiness.

 If you were never a problem solver or an avid reader, start doing it at a slow pace. Solve one problem and think about what concepts I’m covering while doing the problem. See if you could bring that problem into a day-to-day situation. Read a paragraph and delve into what the author is trying to say. Contemplating helps you enjoy the CAT preparation, which in turn helps to build a routine. 

Routine and Discipline give meaning to the things you are doing. It engages you and helps in not to lose focus on the tasks. 

3. Breaks:

Even a 3-hour Avatar movie has a 20 mins break. We CAT aspirants who are to do a year-long preparation need breaks as well. Your Breaks can be short-term but cannot be mid-term or long-term. Inculcating a reward system into your CAT preparation is helpful. If you are done with a week’s goal, reward yourself by going to a movie, catching up with friends or doing something that makes you happy. 

Have a clear answer for when and why you are giving yourself a break. These are the questions that you need to address. Sometimes we give ourselves excuses and take more breaks which often leads us to lose focus and get us into the act of procrastination. 

We have curated a beautiful Schedule for CAT 2023 preparation based on your strengths and weaknesses in Math and Verbal. It’s not a hard rule that you need to follow as it is mentioned. You can tweak the schedule to your comfortability and timings and get on with it. The whole point is that you create a schedule and stick to it.

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Let’s end this now!

I have talked as if I’m a person who does all the things mentioned above without any deviations. I’m a human, and so is everyone who can read this. The iterative process of making mistakes and correcting them makes humans successful. This iterative system helped us invent or build things that are helpful in our day-to-day life. It will be the same case for creations that will happen in the future.

So start creating a plan for your CAT 2023 journey. Follow the plan. Sometimes it won’t suit you the way you had imagined. Do not fret about it and start making adjustments to it. You have almost a year to prepare, So believe in yourself and trust the process you have created for yourself. BE CONSISTENT.

Shreeram works at 2IIM. He Loves to read books and admires about the wonders of nature.

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