Preparing for CAT is not a child’s play. It needs sheer discipline and guidance. The commonest and most popular way to prepare for tough MBA entrance exams like CAT is to enroll in an MBA coaching institute. But not all walk on the conventional route, even if the destination is the same. There are some CAT aspirants who do not enroll in MBA coaching institutes either due to some difficulties, or self confidence. But that cannot deter a serious MBA aspirant from cracking CAT or any other MBA entrance exams. This article of MBAUniverse.com is for those CAT takers who are appearing for the test even without joining a coaching institute.

Make a time table

Since discipline is the keyword here, you need to be honest to yourself and prepare a proper time table which you feel can be maintained by you. First identify your daily activities. If you are a student, then most of the day must be spent by you in college or graduation studies and other activities. So you have to take out a time which you feel is comfortable for you to CAT exam studies.   Then find out the right time to study when you can prepare with full concentration. “Discipline is very important. Plan your preparation, maintain a fixed schedule and stick to it,” says Vinayak Kudva, Product Head, IMS Learning.

Get the right books and preparation material

Since you are studying on your own, you need to get the right books and materials which can help you to prepare for the tough MBA exam like the CAT Exam. “Self study is a good method to study. But when we talk about few of the tough MBA entrance exams, like CAT Exam, it is definitely important to have proper guidance and approach towards studying,” says Manish Saraf, COO, PT Education.

The CAT preparation books which are invariably mentioned by the experts are as follows:

‘High School English Grammar and Composition’ by Wren and Martin, ’Verbal Ability’ by Arun Sharma, ‘How To Prepare For Quantitative Aptitude For The CAT’ by Arun Sharma, ‘Quantitative Aptitude for MBA Entrance Examinations’ by Abhijit Guha, How to prepare for the Data Interpretation for CAT’ by TATA-McGraw Hill publications, ‘How to prepare for the Data Interpretation for CAT’ by Arihant Prakashan, Reasoning and DI for MBA Exam’ by Arun Sharma,  ‘Business English and Communication’ by Clark Grade C.

Enroll into a test series

While you study hard and prepare for CAT exam, it is also very important to know the status of your preparation. In coaching institutes you get experts and mentors, who constantly guide you. But while you are doing self preparation for CAT Exam, it is your responsibility to check your preparation status. For that, the best idea is to join a test series of a good MBA coaching institute. “Join test series so that you get an idea about your current level of preparation,” Kudva says.

You can avail the test series by either enrolling for the test series from the top MBA coaching institutes. Or you can also take tests from the CAT coaching websites. For e.g. IMS Learning provides ‘Test Packs’ for CAT Preparation and the Simulated Tests for the Correspondence students. Websites like Test Funda, TCYonline.com, MBAUniverse.com etc. also provides practice tests for CAT Preparation through which you can not only judge your preparation, but can also learn the correct method to solve as they provide explanatory answers as well.

Keep in touch with the current affairs

You need to constantly update your general knowledge as it is an integral part of your entire CAT preparation. You need to read newspapers, magazines as well as listen or watch one TV and radio bulletin everyday so that you can keep yourself updated on the general knowledge and current affairs quotient.

Apart from current affairs which you can utilize in the Group Discussion and Personal Interview round, you can also boost up your Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning sections for MBA Exam. “In order to improve on your RC and VA section you need to broaden your background knowledge by reading newspapers, magazines and books. Try discussing one topic of the paper with your parents or friends. This will help you to develop interest and will help in comprehension,” suggests Kudva.

“For understanding and cracking the Data Interpretation part, you have to be accustomed to the way data is presented in the newspapers. For that, read a business daily like Economic Times, Business Standard etc.,” advises Gejo Sreenivasan, Principal Consultant, Career Launcher.

Make a study group and be at par with peers

Studying in a group always helps. There is information sharing and you can always know where you stand in comparison of your peers as far as MBA preparation is concerned. If you stand a better position than them, you can help them and hence check how good you have understood the concepts. Or if you see your peers ahead of you, don’t hesitate to take their help as well. “MBA aspirants who are doing self preparation for MBA Exam can learn lots of new things among their study groups. For e.g. somebody who is good in Quantitative Ability can give some tips for solving quant problems and someone good in English can offer some advice for solving Verbal Ability questions,” says Amit Tandon, a second year PGP student of IIM Ahmedabad.

But the most important factor is to maintain the motivation level for cracking CAT. “Keeping oneself motivated is very important and is a challenge for the MBA entrance aspirants. Getting fewer marks in a tough test should not de-motivate you. Aspirants have to be self motivated during the whole preparation time,” mentions Saraf.

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on CAT preparation