How to Crack CAT in 3 months?

Essential Tips to Crack CAT in 3 Months

If you plan on acing CAT in 3 months, you know you require a rigorous study plan and an effective exam strategy. So to reach the top percentiles, here are some measures you must take diligently during your CAT preparation:

Understand the Syllabus & Exam Pattern

As the IIMs do not release any set syllabus for CAT, it is essential to identify and understand the syllabus before beginning your CAT preparation. Alongside this, the exam pattern highlights the division of questions and popular topics to study.

Create a Study Plan

A study plan will help you focus on your preparations sincerely and allow you to give enough time to all the sections and concepts in the required time. Devote individual time to each topic and ensure that you follow the plan dedicatedly.

Attempt Mock Exams

Giving mock exams will familiarize you with an actual CAT paper and the exam pattern while also keep track of your preparation and progress. It will also help you identify weak areas that require more focus along with your strengths.

Practise Previous Papers

Previous year papers will make you accustomed to what you can expect in the exam and also prepare you for the most frequently asked concepts. Simultaneously, you will be able to check your preparedness and test your exam strategy.

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The Strategy to Crack CAT in 3 Months

Let us first start by dispelling a few myths about the exam. CAT is an aptitude exam and not a knowledge exam. It means that you don’t have to memorize a ton of things to score well and ace CAT. Simply put, having more knowledge does not ensure that you’ll get a higher score in CAT.

As mentioned before, CAT is an aptitude exam, which implies that you need to be good at solving questions purely on the basis of the most rudimentary concepts. These are usually whatever you have learned in English and Maths till class 10th.

Now, let us share with you a study plan that will help you make the most of these three months that you have for your CAT preparation.

12 Weeks to CAT

Just starting out with your CAT preparation means you need to get all the basic concepts under the belly.

• The conceptual understanding is required more in the case of quant which contains mathematical formulae and equations. In the case of VARC and DILR, the focus must be on exam practice right from day 1.
• As you begin the CAT preparation with a three-month timeline, ensure that you give a mock test at the start. This will give you an idea of your current standing and the effort required to propel you toward the ideal percentile. Analyzing the mock will also enable you to identify your weak and strong concepts, ultimately propelling your preparation in the right direction.
• Further, take a target of 2 weeks and cover all the basics of Quantitative Aptitude. You could take the help of a good Quantitative Aptitude book or enroll with a reputed coaching institute to access their books and materials. The solved examples in that book will help grasp the concepts quicker while practice questions will help retain them.

10 Weeks to CAT

Now that you have established the foundation for Quantitative Aptitude, you can move to the next step, i.e. give mock tests.

• For the next two weeks, you should aim for one mock per week. This mock-taking exercise should be followed up with an in-depth mock analysis to observe the process.
• You should also start solving all the previous years’ CAT questions. This means all the CAT papers from the year 1990 up to the latest edition of CAT. The reason is simple, all the questions will be similar and once you have covered this corpus of questions, there is hardly anything that you will not be able to do in Quant.
• For VARC, in the mocks that you will be taking, ensure that you attempt all the questions. That is the eventual goal for you in CAT. To be able to solve all the questions of VARC with around 80% accuracy.
• In the DILR section, the fractions and the basic Vedic maths questions that you would have studied in the first week should help. While practising mocks, the focus for DILR should be on quickly identifying the easiest sets.

To practise free CAT mocks, click here.

8 Weeks to CAT

By this week, you should have completed a considerable chunk of the previous years’ questions.

• From this week onwards, all your preparation has to be through the mocks. Your mock frequency should increase to 2 per week for the next two weeks. Each mock should be followed up by an in-depth analysis.
• In the analysis, you should reattempt the questions that you were not able to solve to see if you would have been able to solve the question if you had more time. This will tell you where you need to revise your concepts.
• Further, you must also solve the questions which you were able to do correctly again to identify any faster method to solving the questions. For the VARC section, do go back to the mock solution and try to understand the author’s way of solving that particular RC or that particular VA question.

6 Weeks to CAT

As mentioned before, the focus in the last few weeks has to be on learning entirely from the mock experiences.

• By this time, your CAT admit card should be out already. Therefore, it is important for you to take all your mocks in exactly the same time slot as the time slot of your actual CAT.
• For the next four weeks, your mock frequency should increase to 3 mocks per week. After 3-4 mocks you will be able to solidify a strategy for yourself and it is advisable for you to follow it.
• It goes without saying that your mock-taking should be followed up with a deep analysis of each mock and going back to the drawing board, if required, to revise the concepts that are your weakest.

2 Weeks to CAT

This is the time when you need to take a break from your other daily tasks if you are currently working or studying and sit back at home to prepare.

• Decrease your mocks to about 2 per week but do a full revision of the concepts that you have studied. The revision of the concepts should not take you more than one day once you are at home.
• On the other days, take up all the mocks that you had attempted earlier and go through them.
• Resolving 2-3 of your worst mocks is a good idea as it will refresh all the mistakes that you made and remind you to avoid them.

The CAT Week

Take your last mock here, which should also be the only mock that you take this week.

• Do not take any mock exams in the last 4 days.
• Light revision and glancing through some previous mocks could be helpful.
• Let go of any kind of studies in the last 3 days.
• Your mind needs rest before you take CAT.

You can still prepare well for the exam and ace it with the right preparation, guidance, and study plan. Enroll in our MBA 2023 Express Online and get the support of top mentors, GP, Shivku, and Raviteja.