Regularity and discipline play a key role in how well your CAT preparation builds up. Whether you are engaged in a mainly offline CAT coaching or an online CAT coaching, some online tools can really add massive power to your preparation levels. There is much more to CAT preparation than just covering the course for CAT!
At MBAGuru, we ADAPT, we pivot, we evolve. And we do so to ensure that you gain the maximum from the twin tenets of regularity and discipline. When COVID-19 presented a big challenge and brought a screeching halt to offline classes, we saw Telegram as a powerful platform for adding extra impetus to the CAT Preparation of our students.
We were willing to change quickly, experiment, even risk failure, and come out stronger. That’s never smooth, but it is progress – and that’s almost always better than stagnation, and decay.
How Others Reacted:
When you look at traditional or even online CAT coaching, you see that change is an issue for most of them because it challenges existing systems. So, for example, when COVID-19 caused a shutdown in March 2020, the self-proclaimed leader in CAT coaching only provided non-interactive, recorded sessions delivered from one location to its students across India. No interaction, no doubts, and no change of pace to suit the needs of the students – just a one-size-fits-all, rigid delivery.
Even right now, the delivery mode for online and offline CAT coaching institutes remains similar to their earlier avatars –
(i) providing the basic minimum in terms of classes and material and (ii) covering the course for CAT
But there is so much more that is possible today than say 3 years ago.
How We Reacted:
In contrast to most others, we had our regular online live CAT classes from the very next week and our students had a smooth transition. Importantly, we did not stop there.
Taking advantage of technology, we initiated regular (several times a week) extra class for specific needs of different students. These typically happen late night and every student will perhaps find 2-3 of these sessions every week as relevant to her/his needs. This is beyond what’s committed on the ADAPTIVE Card or as part of the ADAPTIVE English/QA sessions.
Improving without compulsion is the real deal
Here’s the thing … MBAGuru students cracked the CAT even when these sessions weren’t being held. No one ever raised a request for these sessions. These weren’t a need or a compulsion. We just decided to experiment, to push ourselves because we felt this regular extra-engagement (over and above everything that you were promised, and will receive) would encourage and enable even more of our students to improve. And it would make their more regular and more disciplined.
No backups, no recordings, no compulsion to even attend – and yes, you would be totally fine even if you miss these sessions because everything else is in place. These extra classes are not instead of something else, they are in addition to everything else.
What began as a simple experiment (with the right intent) a few years ago has now evolved into one of the best online CAT coaching tools. We keep on improving these sessions regularly and we will repeat these for future students. So, if you have missed out something, you will get a chance to cover that.
Lesson for us:
That’s the beauty of ADAPTING and improving – when you succeed, you move ahead; and even when you fail, you still learn and progress.
If you are an MBAGuru student, all I ask of you is to be a part of this collaborative effort and experiment. Try and make the most of these extra sessions. I hope you do appreciate that this is your institute, trying to change and evolve, so that you have an even better shot at realizing your dream! So, let’s rock it together 🙂
If you are at any other CAT Coaching, I hope your coaching is also making efforts beyond the promise. And you have my best wishes for your success.
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 