THE LAST FOUR-MONTH PHASE OF PREPARATION FOR THE CAT EXAM
How man y questions do you plan to do in each area of Quants before you go for the CAT?
How man y passages on reading comprehension do you intend to solve before you take the CAT?
How man y questions on areas like reasoning, data interpretation etc do you intend to solve prior to taking the CAT?
An oft repeated query of CAT aspirants is: "How much time do I need to prepare for the CAT?"A suitable analogy to this query would be the question: "How much time would it take to reach New Delhi railway station?"
The answer is dependant on three things:
a) What is your starting point?
b) At what speed would you be travelling?
and most importantly
c) Would you be taking the straight line approach to the destination or would you be taking a circuitous route?
Experience and past records show that unlike university exams, where there is more clarity about minimum and maximum preparation time, the CAT is an exam which subscribes to neither. One sees students clear the CAT in as less as three to four weeks and then there are students at the other end of the spectrum, who do not clear it even after three or four years.
ISSUE 1: When planning your preparation, be task-oriented and not time-oriented
In simpler terms, focus on defining the quantum of work rather than defining the time schedules for the work. Your focus should be on what work you need to do, rather than focusing on the time dimension of your preparation.
So instead of trying to explore questions like: "How much time should I devote to which subject on a daily basis?," think of how much work you would need to do on a particular subject in order to shift your ability level from your starting level to the desired level.
For instance, if your current ability in the subject of quantitative aptitude is in the below 50 percentile level and you aspire to move your percentile to the range of 95 percentile plus — you would broadly need to do anywhere between 4000 to 6000 questions during your preparations. (Depending on how much you can learn from every question).
Thus, how much time it would take on a per day basis then is immaterial. All that matters is whether you have completed your work or not.
Similarly, you should try to define the outline of work based on the following parameters:
• How many questions do you plan to do in each area of Quants before you go for the CAT?
• How many passages on reading comprehension do you intend to solve before you take the CAT?
• How many questions on areas like reasoning, data interpretation etc do you intend to solve prior to taking the CAT?
• How many tests do you intend to solve prior to taking the CAT?
Once you have drawn outlines for each area, you can easily work out how much work you need to finish by the end of the current week.
ISSUE 2: Do not try to balance your preparations on a daily basis, but balance your work on a weekly basis
Attempts to balance work in areas such as English, verbal ability, reading comprehension, quants and data interpretation and reasoning on a daily basis, would only lead to frustration. Instead, you need to ensure that you maintain equal emphasis on each area of preparation on a weekly basis. In other words, on a weekly basis you could plan days on which you are only doing Quants and other days where you might only be doing reading comprehension.
ISSUE 3: Learn to enjoy your work and do not look at it as a burden
Aristotle had once remarked: "Find a job you love and you will never have to work a single day of your life."
Preparations for aptitude exams especially the CAT, if taken up through the right intelligence development approach, could turn out to be the most entertaining study process you have ever gone through. In fact, the enjoyment of the preparation process is one of the common features observed among successful students.
So,take a reality check on how much you are enjoying quants, data interpretation, language and vocabulary preparation. In case you have started to look at any of this as a burden, there is something seriously wrong in the way you are approaching the exam. Try to change the way you perceive the work you are trying to do. CAT preparation, and all its components, is extremely enjoyable if you approach it in conjunction to improving your thought process, basic intelligences and your exposure.
ISSUE 4: A paradox: Make CAT the most important thing in your life at the same time reduce the importance of CAT in your life
Paradoxical as the above statement may seem, there is a perfectly logical explanation.While you are preparing for the exam, you would be required to make sacrifices and adjustments to your life in such a way that you will have to be mentally prepared to leave everything else in the process of CAT preparation.Thus, while preparing you should be working as if there is nothing more crucial in your life than the CAT.
At the same time, by design, you should try to reduce how important the result of the CAT is for your life. Hence, you should have a back up plan for a situation wherein you would be failing in the CAT. Having this plan ready ironically would help you take the pressure of performance off your shoulders resulting in your best chance of belling the CAT.
Sunil Sharma
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