CAT 2014: Preparation strategy for working executives reappearing for the exam

 

By Ankur Agarwal

If you aren’t satisfied by your last year’s performance and thinking to appear for CAT 2014 once again but aren’t sure of how to manage work along with studies, then  here are a few tips that may come in handy for designing a schedule.

Before starting any kind of preparation you need to stop for a moment and take a reality check. Analyse your last performance that is check up to which level you reached and where do you want to land the next time. This will give you an idea about your strong as well as weak areas.

With that clear in mind now is the time to make a study plan. If your long office hours do not permit you to go back to a classroom culture again perhaps an online coaching module will be a more appropriate choice for you. The study plan should include details on how are you going to polish those weak areas along with revising your strong suites too.

Since you already have an idea of where you went wrong the first time, and are clear about the basics, you can directly start with the sectionals. But remember that your strengths need a regular practice too for them to remain as strengths. Revise the basic concepts of each chapter. Also keep working on all your weaker areas through constant tests and practice exercises. For this you can take the help of various online tutorials/videos or tests and if you feeling particularly stuck at any concept re-watching an online video repeatedly might come in handy.

Now that you finally have figured out what to study, sit down to make a schedule to follow each day. During regular office days when you are swamped with work, tired from all the travelling and have a little time left at hand after a 10-12 hour day at office then dedicating more than an hour is stretching yourself beyond the limit. But you need to discipline yourself by dedicating that one hour daily no matter what happens. Here the will to stick to the schedule becomes more crucial than the schedule itself.

On weekends give a good four-five hours for studying to compensate for week days where you couldn’t put in too much effort. Moreover measure your progress in terms of how much you completed and how thorough you are with the concepts. Merely finishing off the work will not be of a great help in obtaining high scores in the exam. There is a major difference in preparing and preparing well. Quality will win over quantity any day.

Hence a proper schedule and hard core will to adhere to it, make sure that you reach up to the level you have always wanted to.

 

About the author:

Ankur Agarwal heads the IT and Publishing verticals of Endeavor Careers and Catgurus - a leading online Testing portal for CAT Aspirants.