WHEN AND HOW TO PREPARE FOR CAT & OMETS
Preparation for CAT and OMETs does not come with any prescribed time duration. Some people take 3 months to do what others may take up to 2 years to prepare. The whole point of deciding when to start depends on how much ready you already are, how much time you can devote daily towards preparation and your commitment in that time.
Give yourself a strong start:
Start with a Diagnostic MOCK test. This will give you a reflection of your readiness towards CAT. Remember not all B-School aspirants are same. Your friend or known might have done a crash course and might be sitting in an IIM. You may also have come across those who have been struggling for many months or perhaps years and still haven’t figured out the whole “CAT thing”. Do not follow anyone’s study path. And the first step is to know how much ready you are for CAT. A Diagnostic test will bring out the real picture.
EXPERT’s TIP: The more calmly you take the test, the better are you can score.
The mock will give you a performance report which you need to analyze and find what you are good at and what you are bad at. After that, you need to see the other parameters: the time you can afford daily and the amount of work you can accomplish in that time. The best way to figure all this out is to reach out to experts and chalk out a strategy which will vary on whether you are working or non-working aspirant.
The biggest determinant towards your dream B-School is your mental model. If CAT preparation is not rocket science it is not a cake-walk either. There is one factor that matters more than CGPA, Vocabulary, formulae, calculation speed. You need to have the right mindset towards your CAT journey.
So don’t hesitate, take the test and start your journey, because beginning well is battle half done.
How to Prepare for CAT
While the “when” is relatively simpler, the “how” is a lot more complicated. Today’s technological advancements have brought about disruptive changes in CAT preparation. The good side is you can prepare through a plethora of platforms and channels. The not so good side is most students are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of preparatory material and channels. I would not be surprised if you already have PDFs on Quantitative Ability, LRDI and VARC. But if it were that easy, there would be lot more success stories today.
Students fare better when they take guided learning and prepare systematically. This is because a systematically designed course, developed by experts takes care of any oversight or under sight, you might have. Such a course coupled with regular mock analysis with the faculty member, regular motivation, and extensive practice will increase your chances of success by at least 40%.
Since CAT is the one exam which holds immense potential for you to change your career path, you need to evaluate and decide your preparation strategy very carefully. Remember, Arjuna became a warrior under Guru Dronacharya. Imagine if he hadn’t joined his “gurukul”. Who knows how he would have fared. This may not be an exactly accurate analogy, but I am sure you get the point.
Now before we end this article, here are some general tips for you:
Do not spoil your books–CAT is computer-based, thus writing on or highlighting in the books will cultivate unproductive habits. In your exam, you will get a conference notepad for all your rough work. Use a notebook to do all your rough work while studying. This will also help keep books clean for your revision mode.
Take sufficient mocks – The best players in the country do not go straight to matches and tournaments. They do net-practice daily and analyze them. Net practice allows them to learn and experiment with new tricks, tools and strategies so that they become more ready to face the match. Mocks are your net practice. Religiously do them and keep increasing your readiness.
Quality over quantity – Make your concepts straight, learn time-saving techniques, and follow strategies to score higher. There is no point in solving 200 RCs at 50% accuracy.
Don’t forget to check out our Facebook group which actively provides practice sessions and questions for CAT and Omets. Alternatively, you can join our tried and tested Online Course that has produced 100s of CAT achievers. Last year alone we produced 45 99%ilers.
Happy Learning
