Anisha has done MBA in Marketing from NMIMS And Executive Management(PMNO) from Harvard Business School. She has been instrumental in growing CATKing Digital with her experience with Marico and Henkel in the past.
Why is April the perfect Month to start your Preparation?
If you are someone who has started your preparation or is thinking to start it in April, then you bumped into an article highly relevant to your interest. April has been a crucial month in MBA exams journey as this is the month when all the MBA entrance exams except a few of them gets over and the phase of GD-PI results of top b-schools is declared or the calls have been out. Recently, we saw FMS, KJ Somaiya calls and results have been declared simultaneously.
This is the month when many aspirants turn into repeaters and buckle themselves up for another CAT exam attempt. Thus, this is the perfect time of you to start your journey of CAT. Don’t worry or get FOMO for have been starting late just focus that atleast now that you have decided to start, pledge not to give up on it.
Two things you need to do to start in full throttle in this journey is, firstly, believe in yourself and trust that you are under mentorship of those mentors who are considered to be Mozart in their respective domain and in corporate environment.
So have faith in your abilities and then make a mindset of a warrior. A warrior who is not seeking help from others for his own answers but himself and his mentor. Once you are done with your inner conditioning then pick up your fundamentals and start brushing them up. Remember this is the foundation of your pinnacle so make it as strong as possible with practice and consistency.
Now that you have a blueprint of your steps further let us hack the whole process in small, realistic & achievable goals so it becomes easier and gripping for you to stick to the goal. Studying can be fun too, let’s explore how!!
Step 1- Understand the start and end of your journey. This is highly recommended for you to know where have you started and where do you have to go so that you track your progress being in the process of witnessing your path. There are scarce chances this way to get lost, distracted and overwhelmed. You are no longer a noob but better than the crowd.
Step 2- Always start with your Fundamentals. Dedicate one week to VPAR only i.e. Vedic Math, Percentage, Averages, Ratio & Proportion. Considering previous years CAT papers these topics are like your weapons, chisel it, sharpen it and make your stepping stones firm. How? By repetitive practice of Vedic Math for brushing up skills in time and improve short-cuts effectively for you.
Step 3- Now that you are familiar with some topics and have found your rhythm and pace, draw your attention towards VARC i.e. Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension. Yes, this section is easy, doable and interesting too. Just follow Rahul Sir’s lead, he is known as “God of Verbal”. We are making a schedule so we shall keep aside this section for Wednesday and Friday only. Divide this section into topics i.e. RC and Verbal then Para jumbles & Para summary (PS).
Step 4- Coming to Quantitive Ability Section or Quants, so, analyzing previous CAT papers this section is primarily Arithmetic right now. We have sorted the whole syllabus into 5 major parts for easy reference and aspirants are suggested to follow the lead chronologically for best desired results. These are:
- Arithmetic
- Algebra
- Geometry
- Number System
- Modern Math
- Special Topics (includes Set Theory, trigonometry etc.)
Step 5 - Now swiftly moving towards another important section which is DILR or Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. You have to dedicate one whole week to this section to understand the basics here.
Once done, keep in mind you can easily get overwhelmed with the questions so try studying according to module by module as given by the CATKing to ensure you are tracking each concept clearly along with keeping your sanity check. As per the module you will go through Tables, graphs and then Caselets.
Conclusion-
In daily schedule we insist you to dedicate minimum 2 hours daily. 1hour for studying and 1 hour for revision. Self-study is a necessity here. One cannot pursue excellence with learning things on his/her own. Altogether, the Secret Sauce for your entire journey is to ensure you have done minimum of 500 hours of study, gave atleast 20 minimum mocks and put on sincere efforts in the right direction following your mentor’s lead. Remember it is not just a year of preparation but a turning point of your life. Aspirants, it’s never too late to start so pull up your socks and get ready for the kill.
Buckle up Warriors! All the best!
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