A year’s drop while doing nothing after graduation or quitting the well paid job to prepare for CAT 2016 may not be a very good decision as a well planned preparation strategy utilizing the available time may serve the purpose of getting above 99 percentile.
You may not be sure how many times you wish to appear in CAT since there are number of 99+ percentilers who are still striving for an IIM. They dropped a year or quit their jobs, prepared for CAT, scored a decent percentile but did not get call from any IIM. These aspirants fought again with the same fate. They lost 2 years after graduation, gave-up their jobs and again remained at the same ground. As a matter of fact, despite scoring high overall percentile, all these candidates lagged behind in scoring high sectional percentile in one or other section.
The other side of the coin is that, there are number of candidates who were working and worked till one or two months prior to the CAT exam, scored fairly high overall and sectional percentile and got not one IIM but more than 3-4 IIMs of their choice.
What happened?
Those who dropped the year or quit the job could not manage the plenty of available time with them apart from deviating every now and then from their preparation schedule. Instead of realizing what other components would be important as CAT score is only one of the many shortlisting and selection parameters, they did not look-up to work upon the other components.
Last year CAT increased number of sections from 2 to 3 with many content level changes. Many candidates stuck to old preparation pattern and lost in newly created section.
Success strategy without drops or job-quit
On the other hand the candidates, who continued working, didn’t go for a drop-year and scored between 92 and 97 percentile with balanced and high sectional scores and excellent academic profile, were shortlisted by top rated IIMs.
These candidates broadly adopted following strategy-
-- Chalked out their preparation plan 8-10 months in advance knowing that they had limited time available with them for preparation
-- Instead of barging into any coaching institute, began their self-preparation
-- Studied 2-3 hours a day
-- Made it a practice to read one good article, editorial, feature in the newspaper or reputed magazine to improve reading speed, vocabulary
-- Week-ends were utilized to get the guidance in a good coaching institute
-- Meticulously followed their study schedule and 4 months before the CAT exam, they increased their study period from 3 hours to 4 hours, cutting on other daily activities
-- 1 or 2 months prior to CAT exam, candidates took needed leave without quitting the job
-- Study/mock practice time was increased to 8-10 hours a day
-- Remained cool & calm throughout, utilized time well and felt no stress
-- Had a clear vision to appear in CAT without drop or quitting the job
Taking risk for CAT: No need
Highly competitive CAT 2016 may not be tough but it has inherent risk. You cannot be sure of getting into an IIM despite scoring 99 and above percentile in CAT 2016. The admission to batch 2016-18 in IIMs reveal the painful story of many such toppers who could not get a call from any IIM although they scored a percentile above 99.
Out of 1814 candidates who scored 99 percentile in CAT, hundreds of them did not receive call from any IIM due to the sectional dip. Candidates like Ankit, Prerna, Archana who scored 99, 93, 84 scored very well in 2 sections but were not able to score high enough in one of the 3 sections. This not only created a gap among sectional percentiles but also reduced their overall percentile which could have soared up, if they had scored well in the third section also.
Therefore, quitting the job that fetches you lakhs of Rupees per annum and prepare for CAT 2016 may not be a very good idea as you may not prepare that well if you are idle. In view of expert and mentor on CAT preparation, Prof S K Agarwal, ‘if you are busy, you can plan better and can spare a good volume of required time for CAT 2016 preparation instead of thinking that you can make full use of time by giving up your job or go for a drop year.’
Do you need full day study? No
You need about 3 hours a day for next 4 months to prepare well for CAT 2016. If you have already started your preparation to improve your weak areas, you need to go for planned strategy for next 120 days which will need around 3-4 hours a day that you can very well spare out of your busy schedule.
Take leave, if needed
Earning a handsome amount after graduation and taking leave from the job for a month or two to finalize your CAT 2016 preparation may be a good decision but giving up the job to prepare for CAT 2016 may not be the wise action by an IIM aspirant.
Follow a different preparation plan
To achieve your career goal of getting into IIM-A, IIM-B or IIM-C, devise a preparation strategy which can balance between the study and job very well. The preferred preparation strategy is to go for self study, join some good late evening online CAT 2016 classes and attend off-line classes at weekends.
With the enhanced intake in IIMs and other top B-schools, CAT 2016 will be the gateway to 40000 MBA/PGDM seats in 20 IIMs and other top rated B-schools like FMS, SPJIMR, NITIE, MDI, IMI, IMT, BIMTECH, TAPMI among others. More than 1.75 lakh MBA aspirants are expected to appear in CAT 2016. The number also includes a good number of working professionals.
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