Should I Take CAT Exam Again?
CAT is one of the most competitive exams in the country. Almost 2 lakh aspirants appear for the exam every year and less than 2% of them are able to convert the top colleges. Because of this, analysing every aspect of this exam as well as your own preparedness for it is very essential. Are you motivated enough? Did you give your best? If not, will you be able to give your best? Can you guarantee that the next time is going to be better? These are the questions that should be answered before you move on to the main.
Factors Affecting Taking CAT Again
The answer to re-attempting the CAT exam depends on three things:
1. Your Goals
Which company are you aiming for after you graduate? If you’re aiming for companies like Bain & Co., McKinsey, etc. then you should aim for Tier 1 B-schools. Only certain B-schools can take you there. If that is the case, you’ll have to take CAT again. However if you are aiming to work for a decent company that pays you well, you can take up the college you are getting with your current percentile. Entering into the markets early has it’s own benefits. Your goals are a major deciding factor on whether you should appear for the CAT exam again.
2. Available Options
Assess the options you currently have. If you have 50 percentile in CAT then obviously do not go for an MBA. Colleges selecting you for that percentile are not worth the tuition fee and the ROI will be poor as well. In another case, let us assume that you have IIM-K in hand but you only want IIM-A. Now, what is the guarantee that you’ll get into IIM-A next year? Here, not attempting CAT again and taking IIM-K would be the correct decision. This again depends on your goals. If your goal is to join a top notch firm where only IIM ABC and ISB pass outs are placed, then you can attempt the CAT exam again.
3. Time and Money
Time and money are two very important aspects of this question. Some people do not have enough time. They need to start working early because of some financial constraints or any other reason. The resources need to be kept in mind especially when you get an admission offer from a B-school with poor ROI. These colleges charging a hefty amount in the name of college fees and then not providing enough returns on your investment are purely wastage of resources.
When Should You Think of Taking CAT Again?
I am listing down the following situations where in you should think of appearing again for CAT :
- Assuming you are employed and In case you give CAT and understand that the colleges that you would convert at this percentile would not justify the ROI that you would receive from the college then according to me you should think of reappearing for CAT.
- Assuming you are a fresher and you have done your undergrad from IITs/BITS Pilani and colleges in that league and post CAT you realise that BLACKI is out of sight. Then you should think of reappearing for CAT next year and should focus on getting a job to not have a gap year.
- Assuming you are a fresher and you have done your undergrad from NITs and colleges in that league and post CAT you realise that new and old IIMs are out of league then you should think of taking CAT next year and should focus on getting a job to fill the void of gap year.
Also, a mix of the above conditions can be considered while you make your decision for reappearing for CAT or not. Once you are clear on the part that you want to reappear or not, then you should completely focus on that part and also by thinking on these lines, you would be able to very well understand your “WHY” for doing MBA and believe me once you figure out the WHY, the “HOW” would be easy to figure out.
Now that you are clear with your choice regarding weather you want to pursue MBA this year or push it to the next year so that you can come back with better preparation and in case you have decided to give it a fair shot in the next attempt, it is vital that you begin your preparation as soon as possible with a structured plan and start the things from the scratch.
Also Read : How & Where to Prepare for CAT 2023
Focus On Your Weaknesses
Now that you have appeared for CAT once, you would have a fair idea about your weaknesses. Everyone takes their own time and it is great that you know your shortcomings so that in the coming months you can work upon them and ace your CAT preparation. Looking at the previous year’s trends it can be easily concluded that one needs to solve just 50% of the questions correctly in the exam to get through the topmost B-schools of India. So even though you know that you would take a lot of time to grasp the concepts, you should be happy to know that you have enough time for your preparation. Starting now, you have approximately 10 months for your CAT preparation. The only thing that I would suggest you have is structured coaching for CAT.
To cover the vast syllabus of CAT in such a short period, one requires a very good understanding of the things that one should do in this preparation time. A major factor in the preparation of CAT is the kind of guidance that a student receives. There should be no compromise in the quality of guidance that one receives and this is why I would recommend iQuanta.
iQuanta is one such place that has got it all. It would take care of your daily needs of practice questions, time management, motivational sessions, etc. iQuanta is a one-stop solution when it comes to CAT preparation. In today’s world iQuanta is doing everything possible to make the student’s life easy. I was a student of iQuanta and iQuanta changed the way of approaching a question and these small changes helped me on the D-day. iQuanta always teaches you the importance of knowing your strong and weak zones because that would help you save a lot of time and energy during preparation. We were properly trained to make our strong zones stronger and improve on our weak zones so that we could deal with some easy questions from the weak zones.
How To Work On Your Weaker Areas?
After deciding if you should attempt CAT again, it is essential that you start working on your weaker areas post analysis. Now, how to ensure betterment in your next mock? You can go for IIM ABC practice batch by iQuanta where you’ll be getting 7500+ CAT level practice questions from all the three sections.
The students enrolling in the course will be added to this secret group. A few pointers that I want you to keep in mind before you buy this :
- You have to dedicate two to three hours everyday for you to get to a 99 Percentile. If you cannot take the time out, this exercise is not going to make any sense.
- This course is supposed to be rigorous practice, practice and practice. It is supposed to fill the gap for people who cannot get to a 99.5 %ile.
IIM ABC Batch Details
Click Here to check out the IIM ABC Course details.
In the end it is all about how well you are able to sync your frequency with the subject’s frequency. Evaluate all of these points and take your decision. Hope this article helped.
For a structured CAT preparation and one-on one counselling, visit the link below.
To join India’s largest CAT preparation community and for free 24*7 doubt clarification, join the group linked below.
