In the last article of this series you have learnt how to choose the right test prep institute. But enrollment to a good test prep institute alone is not enough. Personal preparation is the key. MBAUniverse.com spoke to CAT 2008 toppers on ‘How to prepare for cracking CAT 2009’. In the second part of the series, MBAUniverse.com discusses ways to master ‘fundamentals’ and how to manage preparation time in run up to CAT entrance exam.
Getting ‘Basics’ Right:
As far as MBA aspirant’s preparation for CAT 2009 is concerned, the first thing is to get the basics right. The basics include understanding the sections namely Quant, Data Interpretation and English. For Amit Tandon (99.49 percentile), if you have only these six months left for CAT 2009, the month of May should be spent in doing the preparations for the basics and move to the higher problems in the sections gradually. “First focus on the weak areas and once you attain reasonable confidence in those, you can divide your time equally for different section from the point of view of preparation,” said Amit.
For Vipul Goyal (99.87 percentile), “I think everybody has a different aptitude for different sections.” Thus practice should be done accordingly. For Glen D’Silva (99.83 percentile), everyone has their own strong and weak sections but awareness of the same is necessary. “IIMs select people with balanced sectionals, so scoring really high in two sections while faltering in the third will not work,” he said.
For Sahil Bansal (99.91 percentile), it’s very important to practice in order to get comfortable with the basics. “Try to concentrate on speed without compromising too much on accuracy,” said Sahil. For Sitaram Agarwal (99.53 percentile), “It’s important to develop one strong point- the section which will be the score maximising section for the candidate. More time should be devoted to the weaker section.”
Prashant Kumar (97.67 percentile) suggested the students to “Start with the section that is most comfortable to you.” Amey Mashilkar (99.14 percentile) on the other hand suggested “Start with the weakest section first and then move on to the strongest section for preparation.” But no matter from which section you start preparing, the main aim should be to get strong in the weaker sections for the CAT entrance exam. As Pawan Jain (99.97 percentile) said, “Spend more time on your weak sections and starve to make your stronger sections even stronger.”
Managing time for CAT entrance exam preparation:
In the run up CAT 2009, which is likely to be held in November and December this year, MBA aspirants will do well to plan their preparation strategy for the entrance exam, and then go for the kill!
Amit Tandon believes that all sections need equal attention. Says Amit, “Divide your time equally for different section from the point of view of preparation. I feel 3-4 hours per day is sufficient for preparation.”
But what if you are weak in a particular section? Anurag Goyal recommends that, “The best way to remove your fear of any particular topic or section is to intensively prepare that topic/section over a small period of time, may be a week or 10 days.” As far as allocating time to different sections is concerned, Pawan Jain said, “Spend more time on your weak sections and starve to make your stronger sections even stronger.”
Thus, for every topper, mastering basics and managing preparation time is a very crucial part. Depending on how comfortable you are with various CAT entrance exam sections, you will have to decide how much time to allocate in the same. But the crux of the matter is to plan the preparation timing and sticking to it. Hope you ready with your study-plan now!
Next: Road to CAT 2009 (Part 3): Talking Mock Tests
