In this article, we bring you expert advice on how you can fine-tune your prep strategy for last 47 days of CAT to boost your percentile.
With just 47 days remaining for Common Admission Test which is scheduled to be held in a 20 days window beginning 16 October, 2013, you must re-think your prep strategy based on some crucial factors which can influence your CAT percentile.
While you must be in the midst of your preparation, CAT experts suggest that the last 50 days of serious preparation can bring you an edge over others. In this article, we bring you expert advice on how you can fine-tune your prep strategy for last 50 days of CAT to boost your percentile.
Schedule your CAT date:
It you are yet to register for CAT, plan your test date after evaluating your preparation level now.
Arks Srinivas, CEO, VistaMind Education, and former director, T.I.M.E says that the date should be selected depending on your preparation level and also your personal convenience. “You should evaluate your preparation and if you feel that 15-20 days of extra preparation can make you more confident, you should definitely go for the last week for the test. But if your preparation is good, make it in the first week of the testing window and save more time for the next big exam which is XAT,” he says.
If you are confident with your preparation, you can go for early dates as it will save your time for preparation of other major MBA exams like XAT, NMAT, IIFT Entrance which can bring you many more admission opportunities to top B-schools in India.
Mr Sandeep Manudhane, Founder Chairman, PT Education also says that if a candidate is well-prepared, he should not schedule the CAT test in the latter half of the window as feedback emerging from the first half of the test window may unnecessarily stress and confuse you. “Once the CAT begins, you start getting lots of information on each testing areas and sections. You also start receiving daily feedback from your peers. It puts unnecessary stress on you which may adversely affect your performance on D-Day,” he says.
Take as many mock CAT as possible:
Toppers and Experts suggest that you should practice a lot and take as many mock CAT as possible in last few weeks. Ms Sumedha Deogharia, a student of 2013-15 PGDIM batch of NITIE, Mumbai, who scored 99.35%ile in CAT 2012, says, “You should practice a lot; only practice can make you perfect and improve your accuracy. Take as many mock tests as you can. Come out with a proper analysis of your performance after each mock test and try to find out weaknesses and strengths.
Arks Srinivas says that the Mock CAT helps you improve on your weak areas. “At the end of each Mock CAT, you can check your scores in each area/section and find out where you are lacking expertise in, and concentrate on those topics more before the next Mock CAT. This way, you would ensure that whatever the weak areas you have you can work on them before the next Mock CAT.”
While mock is must at this stage, Mr Rajesh Balasubramanian, an IIT, IIM alumnus, & 2011, 2012 CAT Topper and the author of CAT books, cautions that you should not try to attempt more questions in Mock CAT at the cost of your accuracy.
“The most important negative factor with taking lot of mock exams is this tendency to give too much importance to percentile scores, he says, adding, the desire to increase attempts leads to two key errors- first, a very high score volatility; and second, a reluctance to resolve between the last two available choices.
“A student may scores 98th percentile in one exam and in the very next exam he might fall at 76th. If score volatility is this high, this will hurt confidence in the last lap of your preparation and panicky decisions will creep into the system on D-Day,” he said.
Plan your calendar:
As you approach nearer to your CAT date, you should devote more time to study. Suggesting the time you need to devote in a 100 days framework for CAT prep, Mr Rajesh Balasubram says, “For the first 6-8 weeks, 10-14 hours per week would be sufficient. The next 6-8 weeks, one should do 16-18 hours. The final few weeks, one should shoot for 25-30 hours.”
Working executives should plan leave in the last 2-3 weeks so that they can completely concentrate on their preparation.
Mr Arks Srinivas says that you should have finished learning all concepts by October 1. “You should have solved as many possible exercises in each of the areas/topics as possible and get the ability to solve every possible question. By this time you should have solved all books/study material that you have at least once, preferable twice,” he says.
He advises that the last month of preparation should be less of preparation and more of practicing through Mock CATs. “Since CAT is a Computer Based Exam, it is useful to get comfortable with the mouse. Reading on a Computer instead of on a paper should become a habit. In addition, the most important part of any competitive exam is the strategy you adopt. Given enough time, you will realize that you can always solve almost all the problems. But the fact that the same has to be done within a time limit makes the task onerous and challenging,” he says.
Work more on strong areas and identify doable weak areas:
With 6-8 weeks remaining for your D-day, you should clearly identify your strong areas and weak areas. Once you identify the same, you should build on your strength now and pick a few weak areas which you can work afresh from a concept level.
Experts suggest that an equal command on all areas may not be necessary as you can always reduce the number of attempts and instead go for more accuracy in your strong sections.
Forget other exams, focus on CAT:
As you must have worked on the basic concepts for your MBA exams in last few weeks, it is time to focus completely on CAT now.
While basics for almost all the MBA exams remain the same, you can focus on specific nature of different exams like XAT, NMIMS, IIFT Entrance after your CAT.
The MBA entrance exam season will begin with Common Admission Test (CAT) starting October 16, 2013, and other exams will follow in the month of November-January. This will give you some time for specific preparation for other exams.
The dates for all major MBA entrance exam has already been announced. NMAT 2014 Exam is scheduled in a two and half month window beginning October 5 and ending 18 December. While XAT 2014 exam will be held on 5 January, 2014, IIFT 2014 Exam is scheduled on 24 November, 2013. SNAP 2013 Exam will be conducted on 15 Dec, 2013.