Quitting the job that fetches you lakhs of Rupees per annum to prepare for CAT 2023 may not be a very good idea as you may not prepare that well if you are idle. In view of CAT experts and mentors, if you are busy, you can plan better and can spare a good volume of required time for CAT 2023 preparation instead of thinking that you can make full use of time by giving up your job.
You need 3 to 4 hours a day for next 4-5 months to prepare well for CAT 2023. If you have already started your preparation to improve your weak areas, you need to go for planned strategy for available 3-4 months which will need around 3-4 hours a day that you can very well spare out of your busy schedule.
Earning a handsome amount after graduation and taking leave from the job for a month or two to finalize your CAT 2023 preparation may be a good decision but giving up the job to prepare for CAT 2023 may not be the wise action by an IIM aspirant says experts and CAT toppers.
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How to do Smart Preparation for CAT 2023? Wkg executives to adopt different strategy
Many think of leaving their jobs but most of the working executives who aspire for the management degree from IIMs to achieve their career goals devise 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 2023 classes and attend off-line classes at weekends. You need to set your goal with two things in mind:
- What is your Target Score?
- How much time you can spare from now on for CAT preparation?
Both these things are important. If you are targeting 99+ percentile and plan to get into one of the top 3-4 IIMs or other top B-schools like FMS, IIFT, you need to assess your preparation and should spare more time to prepare and practice with Mocks. If you have gone half way already, the CAT preparation journey may be a little easier for you
CAT coach and expert Arun Sharma is of the view that you can prepare well for CAT in a few months provided you are devoted to CAT preparation and have a dedicated preparation schedule. Sharing key tips and Strategy for CAT preparation, he said, “As CAT is a score based exam, you need to start with the score target, rather than doing generic preparation for CAT when you have only 120 -150 days left.” CAT toppers and experts describe CAT preparation strategy in two words – ‘Smart Preparation’ and avoid the hard meaningless preparation that consumes lot of your time with lesser gain.
Plan CAT preparation according to time
The CAT preparation plan 2023 for next 4-5 months, include your judiciously divided preparation hours and everything related to CAT preparation like CAT 2023 Preparation Through Coaching; CAT 2023 Preparation Through Self-Study with at least 30 minutes of daily reading of newspapers, attending expert sessions on CAT 2023 exam preparation, your practice sessions, doubt solving sessions and all other preparation related steps.
- Prepare your CAT preparation schedule according to your working hours. After spending the day in office, you should devote a few hours in the night preparing for CAT 2023.
- Prepare a schedule first and then follow it for next 30 days
- Update the preparation strategy after 30 days, make amendments according to the need and again follow the same without any laxity
- Devoting 3-4 hours a day for next 3-4 months is sure not a bad deal to get the best for your career
- Once you start the preparation according to the schedule, it will become a routine for you.
Divide Your CAT Prep Plan in Days & Hours
In next 3-4 months, you have close to 2400 hours available with you and according to CAT experts, you are expected to spend 25 to 30% of available hours out of 24 hours per day on CAT preparation. In last 2 months obviously, you will have more speed, will go for more practice sessions and so will spend more time on CAT exam 2023 preparation. Accordingly, you have to spend 800 hours on CAT preparation and divide the same on Scanning the CAT Syllabus and divide it into sections for study; Choose Time Lines to complete the task one after another. It includes your CAT 2023 Preparation through all modes - Coaching, self study, Mocks etc.:
- First 60 Days: Clear the Concepts & their Applications, Go for Tests. By the end of 50 days, you will know the topics, type of questions, that are asked in CAT VARC, LR, QA sections, their key concepts, how to answer
- Next 30 Days: Devise Strategy and Take Mocks, Sectional tests
- Last 20 Days: Go for revision and frame final strategy
Out of your 24 hours, if you spend 8-10 hours at your work place and supposing that your 10 hours are spent to a cozy sleep, time in bathroom, dining, travelling, entertainment, among others you are still left with 4 hours. If you extract these hours out of your busy schedule, you can score a very high percentile in CAT 2023.
Your Study Volume May Go Down, If you Quit the job
It is human tendency to find an easy way out and thinking of quitting the job is an example of it. When you have nothing to do all day, you do not study for 16 hours. Even if you make up your mind to study, you find excuses for not studying and go on dangling with uncertainties between now and afterwards.
It is a good idea to take leave for 1 or 2 months before the exam to keep you focused and in high spirits to implement your plan to go for vigorous practice of exercises, taking mocks and analyzing them more frequently than earlier. Leave the job when you get admission offer from your dream IIM Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta or other preferred B school.
Your Work Ex: Added Advantage
The fact is contrary to the belief that you can prepare better by giving up the job. No one studies for all the 24 hours nor can anyone do it. On the top of it, IIMs award bonus marks for Work Experience. The range of weightage to your work experience can go from 3 points to 15 points depending upon your work experience. The ideal period of work experience is between 2 years to 3 years.
Common Entrance Test (CAT) is the gateway to MBA.PGDM programmes in 21 IIMs and other top rated B-schools like FMS, IIFT, SPJIMR, MDI, IMI, IMT, BIMTECH, TAPMI among others. CAT is taken by more than 2 lakh MBA aspirants every year, including a good number of working professionals. CAT 2023 exam date is November 26, 2023 and the exam will be conducted in 3 slots of 2 hour duration each in 155 cities. Last date to apply for CAT 2023 is September 13, 2023. Make sure that you register and apply for CAT exam before the last date.
Learn and Read How to Prepare for CAT from Toppers:
CAT Toppers, out of whom many were working professionals when they cracked CAT exam with high score and have joined top B-schools including IIM Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Kozhikode, SPJIMR, MDI, share below their CAT Preparation journey and how they overcame their weakness with extra efforts which resulted in success
- How Soumik Banerjee, an Engineer Working with Public Sector, Cracked CAT 2022 with 99.95%ile and Got into IIM Calcutta – MBAUniverse.com Interview
- How Bhanu Pratap, A Small Town Boy from Farmer Family and a Fresher, Cracked CAT 2022 with 99.67%ile and got into IIM Calcutta – MBAUniverse.com Interview
- How Jay Bosamia, A Chartered Accountant with Work Experience at PwC & Reliance overcame his weakness to crack CAT 2022 with 98.79%ile, and got into IIM Kozhikode
- How Patna's Prateek Rai secured 99.80%ile in CAT 2022 and joined SPJIMR Mumbai by sacrificing Social Media, uninstalling YouTube, and overcoming his Weaknesses
- How K. Sashank, Software Developer at JIO from Coimbatore overcame his weakness to crack CAT 2022 with 99.90%ile, and got into IIM Kozhikode
- Gurgaon Girl & NIFT Graduate Kirti Goyal Cracks CAT with 99.1%ile, Secures admission at IIM Kozhikode! Shares her success strategies with MBAUniverse.com
- How Mumbai Girl and VJTI Engineer Srishti Yadav overcame her weakness to crack CAT with 99.69%ile, and got into IIM Kozhikode
- How Mehak Rathi, a Psychologist & Graphologist, cracked CAT 2022 with 98.08 % to get into MDI Gurgaon - MBAUniverse.com Interview
- Why CAT 2022 Topper from Agriculture Family, Kunal declined IIMs, IIFT to join MDI Gurgaon; How he cracked Exams – MBAUniverse.com Interview
- Why CAT 2022 & IIFT Topper Pushti Shah declined 11 IIMs to join IIFT Delhi; How She cracked Exams – MBAUniverse.com Interview
- How a Software Tester Shreyasee Sarkar cracked CAT 2022 with 99.68%ile and got into IIM Calcutta
- How Miss India Finalist and Law Graduate Adya Niraj cracked CAT 2019 to get into IIM Ahmedabad
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2023
