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Cracking CAT can be a cakewalk if these tips shared by IIM students are borne in mind. So, check out this catalogue of strategies. CAT — A three-letter word that catches the fancy of most of the students in the midst of their graduation. While some of us have a definite reason to jump on to the bandwagon, others just follow out of herd mentality. Better job prospects and mind-boggling salaries seem to be the most important reasons that make people prepare for CAT. While the presence of these factors cannot be denied, there are other things that are much more important for cracking CAT. Those are dedication, hard work and a passion to excel. Clearing CAT is not the end of all your hard work, just the beginning. All it does is open the doors to those hallowed institutions called the IIMs. What comes next is something that is hard to express in words and can be known only through experience. Now, coming on to the main issue—the preparation for CAT. Coaching concerns Let’s proceed in order. A focused preparation time of one year is more than enough for CAT. So, preparations should ideally start around December or January. But sooner the habit of reading novels, magazines, newspapers (especially the editorials) is formed, the better it aids in improving the comprehension skills. Next comes the coaching. Now, there is no fixed rule that says that coaching is essential for clearing CAT. It can be cleared even without coaching. But when the stakes are pretty high and competition so tough, any kind of edge over the other students helps and coaching just provides that: a proper path to walk in and not go astray. Next come more specific areas in CAT. A simple method to improve vocabulary is to learn new words each day and write them down somewhere. Next day, along with the new words don’t forget to revise the complete set of old words collected till date. On the weekends, take a break from new words and instead spend more time revising the words learnt so far. This is just one technique that I found extremely useful but it is not to be taken as a gospel truth. Comprehension clues Another area that most of the engineers face difficulty in is comprehension. A good vocabulary is a prerequisite for good comprehension along with a good speed of reading. Now, these are the abilities that take some time to develop. Reading a lot of stuff is inevitable, so the sooner you get started the better for you. There are no alternatives or shortcuts to this aspect and reading is the only way out. The sections don’t need any special treatment and can be cracked easily once all the basics are clear. Different people have different opinions and perspectives. Some say that CAT is all about luck and that there is no need to
slog. Others expect you to work as hard as you can. In my opinion, CAT is a mix of both. It’s not only about working hard but also working smart. CAT is a just like any other gamble. The difference being that in this case, what can be lost are all your effort and hard work of the past one year of preparation, but if you win you get a one-way ticket to the ladder of corporate success. In simple terms, have faith in yourself and your abilities. Put in continuous and sincere efforts and leave the rest to fate. (The writer is a student of IIM-Lucknow)
Practice makes perfect Accuracy over speed
Of late, the focus of the CAT papers has shifted from speed to accuracy, as evinced by the progressive reduction in the number of questions, from 150 to 90, and the
Watch your time A few guidelines for the aspirants: Remember that you are not expected to answer ALL the questions. There is no point in spending a disproportionate amount of time on a single question. Time management is the key differentiator to determine success in this examination. Set your ego aside, and accept that there will always be questions whose answers elude you. It is essential that you concentrate on a particular question without being diverted by the questions you failed to answer. This simple strategy protects your most valuable resources from being wasted —Time and Focus. Prioritise Differential marking demands that you pay special attention to the marks allocated to each question, and allocate time accordingly. This is to ensure that you prioritise when under pressure, a skill necessary when you enter the hallowed portals of the IIMs. At the onset, focus on clearing the sectional cutoffs. It would not be of much help if you score 100 percentile in one section, but fail to clear the sectional cutoffs. Usually, the overall cutoff is not much higher than the sum of the individual cutoffs. If you clear all the individual cutoffs and do well in just one of the three sections, you can expect to sail past the overall cutoff. And once again, practice. Remember, Rome was not built in a day. The writer is a student of IIM-L.
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Reams have been written about the competitive nature of CAT.
With less than the top three percentile clearing the elimination round, this is as exclusive as it gets. However, the questions asked do not require an in-depth knowledge of any particular undergraduate field, which is partly the cause for the lure of the exam in the first place. Logic, time management skills, language skills and data interpretation abilities are the primary tools the candidate needs to possess to shine through. The questions can be answered with techniques learnt in high school. What differentiates the successful candidates is their ability to solve these questions with great speed and accuracy, thanks to proficiency in the underlying concepts that are being tested.
