CAT exam study schedule for professionals who are working
Are you a committed CAT candidate? Do you find it difficult to balance your job with CAT preparation? Do your workplace duties exhaust you completely despite your desire to get a 99%ile on the CAT? Don’t worry if you answered yes to any of the aforementioned questions. For years, we have dealt with and observed candidates just like you. You know what else we’ve seen, right? Even with a physically demanding work, many tenacious hopefuls succeed in passing the CAT and getting accepted into their selected B-schools. A good CAT study strategy for working professionals is provided in this instructive article, which we have created based on our years of expertise.
Most of working professionals have this question,
Should I resign from my position to study for the CAT exam? Let us answer this.
Well, it all depends on the individual. Quitting your work and studying for the CAT may be an option if you feel you can only fit in 1 to 2 hours of preparation each day. However, take caution since quitting a job might induce anxiety and pressure to score well on the CAT, which could alter how you perform on the last day. Additionally, the tedious nature of learning may cause you to become frustrated. So, simply give everything some thought before making your “big decision.”
An excellent alternative, though, is to study for the CAT while working if you feel that your job is not very demanding. Don’t let the rumors that “it is difficult to prepare for CAT while working a job” get you depressed. You may easily attain your goal percentile and get into your favorite business school once you are committed and manage your time well.
Before creating a sound strategy, it is usually preferable to take a few factors into account. After all, successful managers do that, don’t they? In order to properly arrange your study schedule before beginning your CAT preparation, you should bear the following factors in mind.
Your Strengths & weaknesses
Knowing where you stand or your present degree of readiness is always preferable. We advise you to take a practice exam. After that, use their in-depth analytics to closely assess your results. Knowing your talents and shortcomings will assist. The earliest you should finish is July. You may make a study plan based on your strengths and shortcomings, with a clear emphasis on strengthening your weak areas. Don’t forget to set up time to practice your strong points as well. You don’t want your strong points to deteriorate into weaknesses, after all.
Your Goal Percentage
You should determine your goal percentile based on your profile and the B-school of your choice. According to a psychology study, the objective score you set will increase your chances of achieving it. Set your target percentiles, whether they be 98% or 99.5%, and begin your preparations to reach them.
The CAT Study Plan for Working Professionals has three phases.
Your CAT preparation strategy may be divided into three stages:
Make sure you understand the fundamentals.
The CAT previous year’s papers show that the questions mostly assess the ideas. In certain CAT questions, two or three ideas are examined in one question, in fact. Learn all the principles and formulas for Quants, commit to memory the definitions of words for Verbal, and practice your math abilities DI. Additionally, review all the CAT exam question types and learn how to approach each one. Making notes is also a good idea so you may edit them later.
It is nothing new for patterns to alter or for the difficulty level to vary. Therefore, one needs strong principles to be able to adjust to these sorts of changes. We are all aware of how crucial time management strategies are for the D-day, but skipping over the essentials in favor of a shortcut would be a complete waste of time and effort.
Your concept application abilities
It’s time to start practicing when you finish reviewing the fundamentals. Taking a tonne of sections tests huge practice applying the knowledge you have gained. Full-length mocks must be taken after sectional or topical tests. They also aid in giving you a general notion of how to answer questions within a reasonable amount of time. This stage specifically calls for constancy. Once consistency is lost, it is challenging to get back on track. Always put in as much practice as you can.
Perform in mocks and evaluate your results.
You must take mock exams after finishing your acquisition of idea application skills. Mock exams are an excellent way to study. You can evaluate your performance during the three-hour tests with the aid of this stage. In one-hour sectional examinations, it is simpler to perform well. However, it gets more challenging to do effectively in the lengthy mocks. Additionally, it aids in increasing your stamina for the three-hour exam. Once you establish the practice of taking mock exams, you should review your results. Once more, you must be aware of your strengths and flaws. Work on these and then retake the mock to gauge your progress.
One can never be prepared for the big day if they don’t take the mock and sectional exams. The most significant portion of a working professional’s preparation should preferably focus on sectional tests.
If you are working, you must make a rigid study schedule and adhere to it. You must make the most of every available minute for preparation. You can use the time spent driving between your home and business. Assuming that flying may take nearly two hours every day, you can use that time to read books, practise calculations, review quant formulas, or go over difficult questions. Make the most of that time.
In addition, you should set aside 2 to 3 hours every day to prepare for the CAT. Allocate around 30 minutes to an hour for each CAT section.
You only need to concentrate on your preparation and give it your all on the actual day. During the last stages of CAT preparation, nervousness and worry might seep in, but you need to maintain as much calm as you can. You must keep your composure no matter what occurs. You will undoubtedly attain your desired percentile if you have faith in yourself and your preparedness.
It’s not a good idea to leave your job and work longer hours than necessary. Similarly, continuing to work while not taking time off to put in the extra effort necessary to pass the CAT exam might prove to be a mistake. Therefore, every choice you make should take into account how many hours or how much work you will need to put in to pass the CAT and get into the B school of your choice.