In order to help you deal with some of the stress of taking the CAT, we're publishing previous student experiences. Remember, you're not alone!
Here, Fahad Anwar who scored in the 99.88 percentile in CAT and is a student of IIM Lucknow's Batch of 2008, shares his CAT advice:
We're into November, which means it's time for CAT, the most competitive test in the world. It would be taken by close to 2 lakh aspirants this year, and all of them would be fine-tuning their final strategies by now. How do you ensure that you come out tops despite the overwhelming odds? Well, here are a few things you should remember for the next two weeks. I call them the 4Ps of cracking CAT.
~ Practice your steps: The old cliche never dies. Yes, practice makes perfect. You would have taken mock CATs over the last few months. Take some more, at least till one week before CAT. Time yourself honestly. If possible, ask a friend or family-member to keep time. As far as possible, give the mocks at the same time of the day as CAT itself is scheduled so that your body clock can adjust itself. Don't use a method or approach in these mocks unless you have tried it out before. In the last week, it is advisable to practice section-wise rather than going the full distance each time.
~ Plan your approach: For your preparation, and for the big day. By now, you would have realised your strengths and weaknesses, the time you take for different types of questions and the order in which you are comfortable answering them. Put these together to finalise your plan. Other elements of the plan should include the time you want to allocate to each section and whether you want to answer the higher-marked questions first or the lighter ones. Once you have your plan finalised, put it to practice in the mocks, and stick to it as far as possible during CAT too.
~ Play to your strengths: In these last few days, it is critical that you spend time on stuff you are good at, and continuously improve yourself at it. If reading comprehension (RC) is your scoring area, practice as many RC passages as you can lay your hands on. If logical reasoning (LR) is your strength, try going through LR questions slightly faster at each attempt.
During CAT, there will always be the temptation to be able to do everything well, but remember that if you play to your strengths first, it will boost your confidence for the rest of the test, and also give you the comfort of assured marks.
~ Perform without pressure: It's easy to fall prey to the hype around CAT, and put yourself under undue pressure. Cut out the noise and concentrate on your preparation. At the same time, don't push yourself too much. Get regular sleep, talk to friends, catch up on your favourite TV shows and keep yourself relaxed. Avoid last-minute preparation on the day of CAT. A light revision of concepts the day before should do the trick. Keep a cool head, reach your test centre in time, and do your best!
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