Why starting CAT preparation earlier is a fulfilling decision?
CAT (Common Admission Test) is an application based entrance test, for students dreaming to get into the most prestigious management colleges in India. It is one tricky and crucial competitive exam in India that tests the candidates mental comprehensibility. The success rate of aspirants in CAT exam is nearly 2%, making it 2 students out of 100. Almost more than 3 lakhs students appear for CAT exam according to the last exam conducted and this number continues to grow, making it tougher. Often, according to the record, aspiring candidates who start preparing earlier for CAT have a higher success ratio than the ones starting later.
Considering the challenging level of the exam and the number of students, a crippling fear of uncertainty grows among students. Hence, it is extremely difficult to keep oneself motivated and focused on career goals. A famous quote by Abraham Lincoln “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe” rightfully captures the essence of a student’s struggle for achieving success in the CAT exam. To know how to utilize the time in hand secures your grade for an esteemed management institute acceptance. Candidates need to be aware of the fact that there are more students like them suffering from the same dilemma. Therefore, not a single minute is for letting it slip out of hand. Starting right now is the key to your management career’s door.
Time Required to Prepare for CAT for Fresh Graduates
If you are a fresh graduate, you have the advantage of time. You can start preparing early and give yourself at least 6-8 months to prepare for CAT. This will give you enough time to go through all the material, do practice questions and mock tests, and improve your weak areas.
You should focus on building a strong foundation first. Once you have mastered the basics, you can start working on time management and accuracy.
Time Required to Prepare for CAT for Working Professionals
Working professionals usually have less time to prepare for CAT. They need to balance their work and study time. In some cases, they may even have to take a leave of absence to prepare for CAT.
Candidates who are working full-time should give themselves at least 4-5 months of time to prepare for CAT while studying for 3-4 hours daily. This way, they will have enough time to go through all the material, do practice questions and mock tests, and improve their weak areas.
So these were some general guidelines on how much time you need to prepare for CAT depending on your current level of preparation. Next, let’s talk about various sections and how much time they take.
Understanding the CAT pattern
When it comes to utilizing the time in right way, it is of utmost importance that you do a detailed study of the CAT exam pattern. It will familiarize with time duration, number of questions in each section, tentative dates for registration and form filling, etc.
Course evaluation
Planning and strategy formulation is the second most important step in your CAT preparation journey. A thorough analysis of the study material that you need to cover in around six months gives you an idea about the number of hours you need to allocate for CAT preparation.
Assessment of one’s weak and strong academic areas
Many students fail to realize the importance of this exercise as they think it is a waste of time. We can vouch for the fact that assessment of core strengths and weaknesses in various subjects helps you prepare better. It has been observed students who score well in the verbal ability section face difficulty in the quantitative aptitude section.
Scheduling and a well-formulated time table
Discipline and persistence are two key traits that will help you crack CAT exam. Many past CAT toppers have laid emphasis on the importance of a well-formulated time table. It helps a student to study systematically and in a structured manner. Allocating more hours for difficult concepts and less hours for easier ones will ensure proper planning of the time table.
Addressing challenging areas through online counseling
The right study environment facilitates understanding and anything hampering the learning process should be addressed. Cloistered in a room and surrounded by books could be a disheartening sight but making the most of this distraction-free time could lead you to achieve your aim. Students should clear their doubts through online doubt sessions held by various coaching institutions.
Mock tests and analysis
The one thing you need to do right throughout your preparation is to constantly evaluate your learning and ensure that you are achieving your learning milestones. This can be done by regularly taking CAT mock tests as it will help you gauge which are the areas where you are lagging behind.
Follow a routine
It is crucially important for students to follow a routine so that they devote a fixed number of hours for CAT preparation and not deviate from it.
Remain calm, stay focused and keep practicing
Remember that the time that you are spending on grasping the fundamentals of each subject area will boost your confidence. This preparation will help you have an edge over other CAT aspirants and moreover these initial months of hard work will enhance your knowledge of different sections.
Time Required to Prepare for CAT Sectionwise
Time Required to Prepare for CAT VARC
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) is one of the most important sections on the CAT. A strong performance in this section can make up for a weaker performance in other sections.
You need to focus on improving your reading speed and understanding. This can be done by reading a lot of books, newspapers, and magazines. You should also focus on building a strong vocabulary by learning new words every day.
As far as the time required goes, you should give yourself at least 3-4 months to prepare for this section if you’re starting from scratch.
Here is a schedule you can follow –
- Reading Comprehension: 2 weeks
- Para Summary: 1-2 weeks
- Para Completion: 1-2 weeks
- Para Jumbles: 1 week
- Odd sentence out: 1 week
If you already have a good hold on English, you can give yourself 1-2 months of time to prepare for this section.
Time Required to Prepare for CAT DILR
The Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) section is one of the most time-consuming sections on the CAT. This is because it requires a lot of practice to get comfortable with all the question types.
You need to focus on understanding the data sets and finding patterns quickly. This can be done by solving as many questions as possible. You should also focus on time management so that you can finish all the questions within the time limit. You should finish the fundamental concepts and start solving the past 5 years’ CAT papers thoroughly and take as many mocks as possible.
As far as the time required goes, you should give yourself at least 4-6 months to prepare for this section if you’re starting from scratch. If you already have a good hold on mathematics, you can give yourself 2 months of time
You should be able to cover ~1 topic per week in DILR if you are dedicating 1-2 hours every day to this section.
Time Required to Prepare for CAT QA
To do good in QA, you need to focus on understanding the data sets and finding patterns quickly. This can be done by solving as many questions as possible. The quant syllabus is vast and it would take a minimum of 3 months to cover all the fundamental concepts. The time allocated for each topic will vary depending on whether a topic is your strength or weakness, so decide accordingly.
Conclusion
To summarize, the question “How much time is required to prepare for the CAT exam?” is a subjective one with no definitive answer. It’s not so much about the amount of time as it is about the quality of your preparation. What counts is how well you use this time, whether you prepare over three months or a year. You may maximize your potential and achieve CAT exam success with the appropriate strategies, dedicated effort, and a personalized study plan.