The best sports coaching or the best CAT coaching classes (or the best online CAT coaching) may not be the ones that provide you the best equipment or have the most impressive looking infrastructure.
They may not even be the ones that explain to you the rules of the sport or detail the course for CAT as the case may be. Because when you think about how to prepare for CAT, you must think differently from how you’ve prepared for most exams in your life so far.
For a moment, let’s say that your sports or CAT coaching gives you a decent enough infra to take care of your basic needs well. Let’s also assume that your coaches/faculty at the sports or the classroom CAT coaching/online CAT coaching are remarkable and comparable with the best. And let’s also say, as is necessary, that you are motivated enough to put in your best efforts!
Would all this suffice to ensure your success? Or could an old habit still stop you from succeeding?
Knowledge versus Knowhow
Throughout our academic lives, from primary school onwards, we gather tons of information, often labelled as knowledge. We cram, we learn, we appear for exams, we get our scores, and we forget most of what we had learnt once this purpose is served. The knowledge finally disappears quickly because it has usually been force-fed in a very short period.
That’s why our days and weeks just prior to our exams are the most productive ones. That’s when we study and memorize the most. And invariably, that knowledge is enough to get us past the post.
How skills build
Skills, however, differ from knowledge in 2 important ways:
- Unlike this knowledge for exams, we can’t master skills over a short period of time. If you want to excel at a sport, or master a style of painting or music or dance, you will need to put in regular, almost daily, effort over a long period of time. You don’t play a long practice match, just before the actual match – do you?
- You won’t lose your skills just because/after you’ve been tested. Riding a bicycle or performing a dance – once you learn, it stays with you at some level. Usually, forever.
You should approach your CAT preparation as you would approach developing and mastering a skill. If you can progress a little bit daily, chances are that you will be a master by the end! The best CAT coaching can surely give you a platform to help you do that, just like the best sports coaching can.
But remember the mantra: it is to make some, howsoever small, progress (almost) daily!
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 