CAT exam is taken by a huge number of working professionals every year. CAT 2010 was taken by 2.06 lakh candidates, out of which 7063 candidates were working professionals. But compared to the freshers or the students, it is much tougher for them to prepare. While many contemplate of leaving their jobs, but the others balance the preparation and job at the same go. If you are a working professional and it’s getting difficult for you to prepare, relax and don’t fret. If so many candidates could crack CAT in spite of retaining their jobs and getting through IIMs and the other top B-schools, even you can. This article of MBAUniverse.com is meant for the working professionals who are planning to take CAT 2011.
Following are the suggestions for you, which you should follow before or while preparing for CAT 2011.
Judge your preparation level
Taking a diagnostic test is the best strategy to start for any category of CAT aspirants. If you are a working professional, you will not only know which section is your strength and which one is your weakness, but will also know how much more preparation you need to do for getting through one of the top B Schools and hence plan for the timing. “You can take one of previous year’s CAT papers which are available on the net. Based on the score that you get you will know exactly the gap that you need top fill area-wise,” says Gejo Sreenivasan, Principal Consultant, Career Launcher for the working professionals.
Prepare a schedule
Here you should strike a balance between your work and preparation hours. If you are not planning to quit your job for CAT preparation, then you should equally serve the responsibilities of your organization, for which you are working.
You can prepare the schedule on the basis of your work timings. If you spend the day in office, you have to devote the evening and part of the night preparing for CAT 2011. “I used to keep the evenings for my preparation. If sometimes I got late from work, I made it a point to wake up early in the morning to make up my preparation. If you are determined enough, you should never compromise on your daily preparation,” says Tanu Singh, an IIM Ahmedabad alumnus who was a working professional. “Create a schedule and then take a 30-day challenge where you will stick to the plan for the first 30 days. Once you do that, it will become a habit,” Sreenivasan mentions.
Divide time between preparation and mock tests
As you know, preparing for CAT is not only about studying the theories hard, but also to take regular mock tests and analyze your preparation. If you have kept six to four months for your preparation, then divide the time equally between the basic preparation of the three sections namely Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning. After which you should take mock tests and analyze them. “Prepare a schedule in such a way that you spend three months for building all the concepts and fundamentals of the areas tested in the CAT viz., Quant, Verbal and DI. The last three months can be used to take mock tests. Ideally you will need to put in around two to three hours every day for the preparation,” suggests Sreenivasan.
Enroll in an MBA coaching institute through correspondence
While treading a long and tough path, guidance always helps. To add boost to your preparation, as well as to check your preparation level, you can always seek help of an MBA coaching institute. Being a working professional, it will not be convenient for you to join the full time class room program. So the best way is to enroll in the MBA coaching institutes through correspondence. “Enroll for a distance learning course of CAT, ideally one which also has good online support,” Sreenivasan advises. The MBA coaching institutes also offer test series. You can go for the mock tests and test series that are held during weekends, without hampering your work schedule. Moreover, owing to the fact that CAT is now a computer based test, many of the MBA coaching institutes offer computer based tests which can be taken from anywhere.
Utilize the idle moments at work place for CAT 2011 preparation
It is not possible that you spend your entire hours of a day in office working. You do find out a moment of two for relaxing and chilling out. If you are a serious CAT aspirant, you can utilize these moments for some preparation which does not toil your brain much. For example, you can browse through online dictionary learning new words and their meanings, synonyms etc. You can also glance at the online study materials, solve a question or two, and solve some puzzles on Sudoku, Crossword etc which will eventually help you in Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning sections.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on CAT 2011 preparation.
