The Common Admissions Test (CAT) is a challenging exam to clear. Following another student's "successful" strategy is a big mistake as what works for them, wouldn’t necessarily work for you. They’ve tailored every corner to make it work for themselves, and now it’s your turn. There are certain strengths and challenges that you possess which would be extremely helpful to you whilst preparing for CAT. Your exam strategy must cater to those. Do not consider it a waste of time as it can help you turn it highly beneficial.
Listed below are a few last-minute preparation tips for CAT exams –
Remain stress-free:
First and foremost, try not to overwhelm yourself with the idea of taking the CAT exam. Treat the CATs like any other normal exam. Stressing about the exam will only induce fear and paranoia which happens to take away the focus from the main game. Take plenty of mini breaks, say 5-10 mins each. They are regulators of stress and act as an incentive while studying.
Shortcuts:
Try finding an easy route or a shortcut for your solution. Having a couple of shortcuts ready is essential to examine time management. For instance, read the questions first before your comprehension. You’d have an idea of what exactly to look for.
Go for the mocks:
Attempt as many mock papers as you can. This will help you get familiar with all the questions that can be framed and asked. It’ll also help in navigating through the paper to reach the sections you’re most strong in. This saves a lot of time. It is typically preferable to give mock exams daily, but due to the lengthy CAT syllabus, many students will be unable to do so.
Nevertheless, during the final five days of the test, candidates should take those mock exams and keep track of their time. One should imagine being in an exam room while taking the final mocks. To do this, the person should put their phone away, lock the room, have a rough sheet and a pen, and set the timer.
Majorly these will help you in time management perfecting your strategies like omitting tough questions which are time-consuming and not worth doing. Anyway, all questions have the same weightage, and you need hardly a few questions right to get to your 99-percentile score.
Avoid the unfamiliar by sticking to what you know:
Five days before the CAT exam are more important than your preparation plan in the earlier days. Students should focus on the essential parts of their CAT preparation and refrain from wasting time on learning new topics as it will only cause confusion and fear.
Additionally, it will become more challenging to retain previously mastered concepts. Instead, sharpen the concepts you've acquired to get control. To manage your time effectively, take 3 minutes to scan a section to determine which question you should attempt first.
Sticky notes and Handouts:
It is wise to finish up your CAT preparation using the created sticky notes and avoid touching the books you used at the beginning of your preparation. Revision through handouts will help you brush up on subjects with which you are already acquainted. Practicing using handouts in the last days of preparation will increase your confidence in addition to saving time.
Speed and Timeliness:
Developing speed in performing mental calculations is a boon as time gets saved. The satisfaction of being able to finish a question way beforehand will pump an individual to focus on other challenging questions as it builds interest in the same.
Time management is of the need always. One must always follow a strict time regimen to understand how the CAT functions. The test is time-bound making it hard to spend extra minutes on a certain question.
Have an understanding of the sections:
There should be a section-wise understanding of the topics to be covered. The quantitative aptitude section is regarded as the most challenging. Concept-based questions make up the bulk of this section. Therefore, it's crucial for students to first understand their concepts thoroughly, particularly mathematics.
Candidates should review the previous year's question papers in the last few weeks of their CAT preparation to identify the topics that will dominate the Quantitative Aptitude section and attempt those problems first on the actual test.
A positive state of mind, motivation, and determination throughout the process will aid you to clear the exam with flying colours.
Note: Author Arjun Mohan is CEO-India at upGrad.
