With less than 90 days to go for CAT, your anxiety levels must be reaching a new zenith every day. And trust me, it is completely normal. It is okay to feel the way you are feeling, but what is important is to channelize this into something productive.
During this tumultuous stage of your preparation, there are bound to be ups and downs. One must remember to stay focused despite the ups and motivated through the downs. That is the mark of a true champion. A common low through the preparation phase is a Bad Mock. It leaves the aspirant highly demotivated and the aspirant starts asking questions like ‘Am I ever going to make it?’, ‘What if all this preparation is for nothing?’ If you are asking yourself such questions, then know one thing, it is okay and is completely humane! But what you do after asking those questions is the most important part of your preparation
Also read: CAT Mock
#1 Break the Psychological Barrier
Train your mind to not exhibit any sort of emotion after seeing the score that appears at the end of the mock. It may be low, it may be high. Just absorb the score and know that there is more to a mock than just numbers.
Training the mind is an art, and it is important to learn this art. The more you say things like ‘QA is very difficult, there is no way I can do this’, the more your mind feels the same and the loop will continue. Without realizing, you have installed a barrier in front of yourself. Fighting this psychological barrier is very important.
#2 Refresh and Relax
How is it that, everytime our mobile or laptop heats up, we immediately shut it down but fail to replicate the same practice when it comes to our mind and body? The more you invest in your mind and body, the better results it will give you. Post mock refreshing is as important as pre-mock revision. Because, if your mind isn’t refreshed, your mock analysis is going to take a hit and hence beating the whole point of an analysis.
What you need to do is something that will refresh your mind. It could be watching an episode of your favorite series, going for a run, sleeping, talking to a friend over the phone, cooking, etc. What this does is calms your mind and creates space for new content. You need to learn to maintain the right balance in terms of the amount of time you spend relaxing. This practice will ultimately culminate into a habit that will serve you for a lifetime
#3 Mock Analysis
You have seen your score, relaxed and refreshed your mind. Now it is time for the big gun – Mock Analysis. Attempting a mock, without analyzing the previous one is like digging a hole with a spoon. You will get there, but that is not the fastest or the smartest way to do it.
summarizes mock analysis perfectly in this article – https://iquanta.in/blog/mock-analysis-by-iquanta/
Finally, do not be disheartened. A bad mock does not define you in any way Instead of being upset with a bad mock, always be thankful because this wasn’t the actual CAT exam, and now you can improve. It’s okay to have a bad mock, as it will give you points of improvement and that way you can better you performance for the actual exam. So, next time you have a bad mock, take it in your stride and ensure that the next one goes better
All the best!