CAT 2014 Exam Alert: Are you going in right direction? Check Yourself!

Columnist & Author, MBAUniverse.com

Updated on June 12, 2014

This article will help you to analyze yourself and make you ready for the tough task of MBA exam preparation. The following article asks you questions that you must answer to get a better idea of what exactly you must do to pursue your dream of MBA degree

You need to know which your strong section is and which one is your weak section. This will help you in fixing a time table for your exam preparation

With just around 100 days to go for CAT 2014 exam, its time you do a self check on yourself.

CAT exam is one of the most difficult and important exam for management aspirants in India. You can’t fulfill your dreams of scoring high marks in CAT 2014 with guess works, selective study or a one night study philosophy before exams.

There are many students who just fill the CAT registration form for the sake of it but don’t really analyze their chances, the requirements to excel in Common Admission Test.

If you are still confused on what to do, how to do it or what is good for you, then this article is meant for you. This article will help you to analyze yourself and make you ready for the tough task ahead.

Following are some points and questions that you must answer to get a better idea of what exactly you must do to pursue your dream of MBA degree:

1. First and foremost- You Want MBA degree?

This has to be the first question. Although this might seem a obvious question but there are many students who are still not sure whether they want to pursue MBA or not. Hence, ask yourself, consult your parents and teachers on whether you want to spend your next two years for a management degree or not.

Source of finance is another point to be discussed with your parents. How will you manage the tuition fees, hostel fees, etc? Will it be an education loan or cash payment or other methods? Pre-analysis of all these aspects will help you to take better decision in the future and will also reduce the chances of taking wrong decisions during crucial time.

2. Which exam are you focusing?

Now that you have decided to go ahead with your decision of pursuing MBA programme, the next question is which exam are you targeting?

There are numerous MBA exams in India that cater to different set of B-schools like CAT for 13 IIMs, XAT for XLRI Jamshedpur, IIFT for IIFT Delhi and Kolkata, CMAT, MAT, SNAP for Symbiosis International University, NMAT for NMIMS, MAHCET for MM/MBA programme in Maharashtra state only, IBSAT for IBS and various state level entrance exams like TANCET, etc.

With so many exam options for different type of B-schools, you must decide which one you are focusing too and this depends on the type of B-school that you want to take admission into.

Usually, CAT is the most preferred MBA exams among Indian MBA Aspirants due to its long list of institutes accepting the score. But other MBA exams also cater to some of the Top B-schools in the country. Hence, think and decide your move.

3. What is your level of Preparation?

This step is very important to analyze and you must not take it lightly as this will decide your level of marks in your entrance exams.

As we all know that all aptitude tests that have been designed to test your ability to solve problems using the concepts you’ve learnt throughout your preparation. Therefore, you must check as to whether you remember all the basic concepts of mathematics of class 9th-12th standard or not. How much time will you take to complete the course of CAT 2014 exam or other exams?

You have to ask these questions to yourself as this will decide the answer to your next step of which mode of coaching you must choose for your MBA exam preparation.

4. How to Prepare?

Now that you have decided the exam which you will be focusing to, its time you decide how will you prepare for it?

There are many ways through which an aspirant can prepare for MBA exams.

- Join Coaching institutes for regular classes

- Join Online coaching

- Self Study

Depending on your suitability and time limit, you can choose any one of the above. Many aspirants also tend to choose the combination of two types. For example they get enrolled in regular coaching classes and on the other hand also attend Online classes. As no two coaching classes have the same method or the faculty for MBA exam preparation, hence having different variety helps you to get different study material and also gives you the chance to analyze yourself on different levels of difficulty through tests and mock tests.

If you are confident on your preparations and past knowledge of Mathematics and verbal language, then you can also probably choose to go with self study. All depends on how confident you are with your level of preparation for the MBA exam.

The course content for all the MBA exams is more or less similar. The advantage of preparing for CAT is that it largely prepares you for most other MBA entrance tests in India. However, if preparing for CAT 2014 gets boring for you, you can always work on your general knowledge which will be helpful when you take exams like XAT and IIFT.

5. What’s your weak link?

Everyone can’t be master of all the subjects. Some are good in quantitative aptitude while some are excellent in Verbal and reading comprehension and some love logical reasoning questions. It differs from individual to individual.

You need to know which your strong section is and which one is your weak section. This will help you in fixing a time table for your preparations. Focus more on weak areas in the starting to get hold of the topics and try to brush up your strong sections.

Remember, in exams you don’t have to solve each and every question, hence, you must depend on increasing your speed and accuracy rather than quantity of questions.

6. Every exam is different

The pattern of the different MBA exams is different from each other. For instance, the level of XAT in terms of Verbal Ability is slightly higher than that of CAT. XAT has a general awareness section also. Similarly, IIFT has a general awareness section. CAT exam is more inclined towards quantitative aptitude. Candidates need to understand that each paper is designed differently. Moreover, the negative marking in all these papers is different.

Hence, one strategy will not suit for every exam. You need to tweak your time table for each and every MBA exam.

7. Working professionals have their task cut out

Working professionals have their task cut out and they have a dual task in their hand. They have to manage their office work and then spare time to prepare for MAB exam on a daily basis.

Working professionals should clearly set out their goals i.e. which institutions they want to join. On the basis of their goal, they should decide which exam to take and make a preparation plan accordingly. Doing mental calculations, reading informative magazines like India Today or Business Today, solving puzzles during office breaks and reading newspaper editorials are some ‘on the go’ tips for working CAT aspirants. Besides this, they should devote at least an hour everyday to practice math questions and take weekend coaching classes if possible. Online Coaching classes are the best for working professionals.

8. Join Groups and connect with aspirants

You tend to spend an awful lot of time on internet surfing, chatting on Facebook, Twitter or any other social sites. It’s time to utilize the same time to prepare for your exams. There are many MBA exam preparation groups active on FB wherein you can join to get daily updates or question on Quant and verbal. You can discuss and solve questions and problems together. This will give you a lot of exposure and you will get to know a lot different ways and tricks to solve quant questions.

Also, you will not miss any updates regarding Exam dates or schedules or any other information pertaining to your MBA exam. There are many groups or websites which help you for GD PI WAT preparation too which will come handy in later stage after you have given you entrance exams. You can also join them to prepare for the next round of admissions.

MBAUniverse.com offers a comprehensive preparation package coupled with over 200 online interactive classes with Top CAT experts including from IIMs for CAT 2014 preparation. Visit the link below for more information and new batch schedules: http://www.mbauniverse.com/cat_preparation_online.html

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