You can make your dream of studying at one of the top 20 IIMs or at one of the top management institutes like FMS, MDI, NITIE, SPJIMR among others come true in next 150 days by preparing well for CAT 2016. Common Admission Test (CAT) 2016 is the gateway to top MBA programmes in India including IIMs. High score in CAT 2016 exam can transform your career prospects by awarding a different and promising life after completion of your MBA.
The experts, mentors and toppers of CAT are unanimous with the view that 4-5 months of planned preparation for CAT 2016 can yield desired result and will clear the path to top MBA programmes in 2017.
Next 5 months: Plan well your preparation
CAT 2016 is proposed to be held in November 2016. The exam is hardly 5 months away. If you are in a slumber, wake-up. You will need a hard and meticulous preparation plan during next 150 days to score high in the exam and turn your dream of converting dream IIM call, into a reality.
A promising life awaits you
Whether a common graduate in Arts, Commerce, Science, Law or an engineering or medicine graduate, your life after studying in IIM will get a different dimension and will be full of enthusiasm, promising career, leadership, innovation. All this will be reflected in your decision taking power at crucial moments. You will become a brand in your own way and will be much sought after a personality.
All this will happen and will depend upon how serious you are in your preparation for CAT 2016.
Is your CAT preparation focused?
Although the aspirants are preparing hard with the solo aim to get into the flagship MBA/PGP 2017-19 batch of IIM A, B, C, L or the top B schools like FMS & SPJIMR where not only the learning experience is great but an excellent career opportunity is also assured after completion of the course, what they lack is the proper strategy and determination to bell the CAT 2016.
Take it from Experts & Toppers
How important is to achieve the 99 and 100 percentile in CAT 2016 and more importantly how you should prepare and remain focused on your goal is shared by the CAT toppers and 100 percentilers with expert comments from Prof S K Agarwal, Verbal Ability expert and mentor on CAT 2016 preparation.
According to Prof S K Agarwal, although all the CAT aspirants who are in the serious mode of CAT 2015 preparation adopt different preparation strategy as their preparation plan is prioritized in accordance with their routine and availability of time, one thing is very much same in preparation plan of 100 percentilers at the ground level and it is that they all remain motivated, inspired, unbiased and focused throughout their preparation journey.
CAT toppers like Pranjal Agarwal (100 percentiler); Sanuj Mittal (100 percentiler); Neha Manglick (100 Percentiler); Pranjul Gupta (100 percentiler); Vishesh Patni (100 percentiler); Anuraag Reddy Padigepati (100 percentiler); Harshveer Jain (100 percentiler); Aashish Chiller (100 percentiler); Soumyadeep Chakraborty(100 percentiler); Kartik Raj Rewar (99.93 percentiler) devised a bit different preparation but had one thing in common that all of them had regular and tough study schedule.
The busy schedule at their institutes made them conversant with their abilities which helped them to develop their respective preparation strategy to crack CAT with high sectional as well as overall percentile.
Pranjal Agarwal, 100 percentiler in CAT 2015 did not take any coaching to prepare for the exam. The next 5 months preparation tips he shares are-
-- Even before you start preparing, solve practice questions of Mathematics and Statistics on a website called Brilliant.org. This is what he did.
-- To prepare for English, begin reading newspapers and magazines.
-- Start taking mock tests and analyze them to find weak spots. According to Pranjal ‘I find that the best preparation comes from giving a full length mock test, because it also makes us accustomed to the time limitations and prepare accordingly. I would advise future CAT aspirants to delve straight into the full length mock tests.
-- If you find that you are weak in a particular section, then take sectional mock tests. You should strictly adhere to the sectional time limits. If a specific topic is troublesome, then only should you go and study it from the basics.
Sanuj Mittal, 100 percentiler in CAT 2015 joined an institute for the preparation of CAT in January. His piece of advice is
-- To begin with, start-off with the few basic concepts you need to be familiar with for taking CAT
-- As time passes start taking mocks provided on various websites and the coaching institutes
Neha Manglick, 100 percentiler in CAT started her CAT 2014 preparation journey seriously around May/June. Although Neha took some help from offline and online coaching in her preparation for CAT, her major focus was on self study instead of running here and there to prepare for the exam. The preparation tips from Neha are-
-- Do away with weakness on relevant topics and improve speed and accuracy by attempting as many mocks as possible
-- Search for more than one way to attempt and solve the questions with accuracy.
-- Analyse the mocks well and ensure not to repeat the mistakes.
-- Consider all the parts in sections equally important.
-- Your habits and hobbies can help you crack CAT. Neha has been solving puzzles since child hood and this practice has helped her also in cracking CAT with such a high sectional as well as overall percentile. CAT 2016 aspirants can also find the ways and means to put their hobbies as part of preparation strategy.
-- Neha emphasizes less on procuring too much of study material but more on taking greater number of mocks, analyzing them and not to repeat the mistakes.
Pranjul Gupta and Vishesh Patni are also 100 percentilers in CAT. Both were freshers although had job offers and after scoring 100 percentile in CAT had made up their mind to join top rated IIMs. The next 5 months plan in view of them is-
-- Both of them made sure to go for serious self-study apart from joining need based coaching classes. The message is to go for a mix of study plan
-- Focus on more mocks and analyse them well to eliminate the weak points. CAT 2014 was the maiden attempt for both Pranjul and Vishesh.
Vishesh focused more on his strengths and attempted the types of questions in VA on which he could further improve his accuracy level. According to Vishesh he was not very strong in Verbal Ability but in a few months improved it significantly to crack the section with high score.
-- Go for self study although coaching can help save your time on topics and questions where you are stuck.
-- CAT aspirants should remain unbiased and must aim to crack around 85+ questions with accuracy in CAT 2016.
Well devised study schedule; success mantra from Toppers
The success mantra for CAT 2016 aspirants from toppers is not to get bogged down by a very complex topic/concept. According to Kartik Raj Rewar currently enrolled in the PGP programme at IIM Ahmedabad, “CAT only tests Class 10 level maths. CAT aspirants are advised not to study in a haphazard manner but should structure a daily/weekly schedule and follow it in a disciplined manner.’
Another key to success shared by Kartik is to try to balance sectional scores. Focus more on weaker sections/topics during the first half of CAT preparation. During the second-half, CAT aspirants should try to refine their strong subjects/topics.
Expert Advisory
CAT 2016 aspirants should be aware of this surprising fact that IIMs need a high balanced sectional percentile instead of only high overall percentile. All the IIMs fix a minimum sectional cut off. Usually, the minimum sectional cut off is above 90 for IIMs especially IIM A, B, C, L.
A candidate scoring 98 overall percentile might have scored 100 percentile in quant and 83 in Verbal. Despite such a high score, his sectional percentile may not be to the minimum prescribed standard. In such a case, he would not be shortlisted by any IIM unless his sectional percentile is above the minimum prescribed qualifying percentile fixed by the respective IIM.
No IIM prefers to offer any grace percentile option and therefore even if you are short of one percentile in scoring the minimum cut off percentile, you wouldn’t be shortlisted nor any generosity from any IIM must be expected in this regard.
On the other hand candidates with good sectional percentile of 85 in each section or 90 in each section, despite having lesser overall percentile say 95 to 97 not only receive the calls from older IIMs but also would stand fair opportunity to convert them.
CAT 2016 Preparation expert on Verbal Ability Prof S K Agarwal is of the strong view that ‘candidates should target a high percentile in all the 3 sections of CAT 2016 exam else it will be difficult to even get shortlisted by any IIM’.
There are two most important angles that would be instrumental to help you achieve the high sectional percentile in CAT 2016 and get you shortlisted for final admission round. The first one is CAT 2016 score and the second one is your Profile.
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