Those of you who have begun your CAT coaching recently and are having regular classes, can ignore the first part of the write-up, as this issue is taken care of as long as you are attending your sessions and completing your homework on a regular basis. You have momentum with you. Make use of it.
Part-1: For those who have (almost) completed their course:
Some of you would feel lost, having done everything but feeling as if you haven’t really begun. The earliest classes would seem like distant memories and the regular schedule would have ceased. Some doubt, then, is natural. And some of you have written to me about it.
Remember that a lot of students are just starting their preparations now, and many among these will also make it to the Top B-Schools. 115 days of well-managed preparation can accomplish a lot more than 500 days of wayward preparation. And for you, now the preparation is about embellishing what you have worked upon.
Don’t try and do too many things. Let’s try and keep it simple:
1. Revise one Topic ie one previous Class/Home Sheet every two-three days. Solve every question yourself, especially Level-1, before taking a look at the solutions. Make notes about the mistakes you made in a single place for all topics so that you don’t make them again.
2. Attend every single class/revision session/workshop/mock analysis session that happens.
Part 2: For all of you
A weekly plan for best use of AIRCATs:
1. Day-1: You should be writing about 1 AIRCAT (Per week).
2. Day-2: You should be attempting the unattempted questions (during regular time) of the Mock as another Mock the next day.
3. Day 3: Through 1 and 2, you should see your question selection and time management. (More on this shortly in some other write-ups)
4. Day 3/4: The analysis of the Mock would take 1-2 days, a total of 4-6 hours, if done well.
5. Day 5/6: You should then identify areas where you are unable to get easy questions right and work on those specific topics.
6. Day 7: You should take a breakÂ
7. Additionally, if you are performing below par consistently in any one section, you should practice the online ADAPTIVE Skill-wise tests in that area and make use of the additional material provided to you.
Remember that everyone is feeling the pressure, so the moment you stay calm, you get ahead of most! The above solution has been tried and tested by many in a similar situation, with minor adaptation as per individual needs and situation. Make the effort to do that.
115 days is a lot of time – it is nearly 1 semester. And what you have learnt so far is just beneath the surface. Nothing you have put in to your CAT Preparation would be wasted. Now is the time to make it work for you.
About the author: Deekshant has sleep-walked through several 100 and 99.9 %iles in practically every section of the CAT. That he is a cricket fan and he writes okay is evident from most of his posts. 1000s of our students swear that he can motivate almost anyone to double his/her percentile through very simple yet powerful inputs. And that’s why every MBAGuru student has direct access to him via mail and Telegram. Oddly, he somehow also finds the time to write songs professionally. And yes … almost missed this … he is an alumnus of IIT Delhi & IIM Cal 
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