A tete-e-tete with CAT exam toppers
During a regular interview session after CAT, the interviewer had 5 toppers before him and the question put forward was: “Please tell us about the one thing that you did to achieve this galloping success.”
Topper 1 – “I woke up early in the morning and studied for CAT exam in the absence of daily chaos of routine life.”
Topper 2 – “I started preparing for the CAT exam from mid last year itself. It gave me enough amount of preparation time.”
Topper 3 – “I took the gap from my job to prepare for the MBA exams.”
Topper 4 – “Starting early is a key to success.”
Topper 5 – “I did none of these. I did not join any classes, I studied online. I did not quit my job, but managed studies after office hours. I did not wake up early as I used to study till late at night. And I did not start much in advance.”
Stereotyping doesn’t work when we talk about CAT preparations. Every one of those toppers chose to take their own path to fight the battle. It is not necessary to follow exactly what the earlier topper had done. It is more important to understand your strength and capabilities while keeping in mind the resources around you.
The story in numbers
Most CAT aspirants who aim to top the exam wish to secure admission in IIM Ahmedabad. If we take a look at the figures, the total number of seats allotted through CAT comes to 10,000. In 2015, 1.79 lac people took the CAT exam. Now, to further draw a clearer picture of where the actual competition lies, let’s take a look at the number of seats in the most aspired MBA institute in the nation:
IIM-A only offers 422 seats.
Even if all the IIMs of the country are to be put together the total comes to around 4010 seats. In all probability, we are then looking at 1.79 lac people, a majority of whom vied for roughly 40% of the total number of seats.
This 40% is where all the competition lies.
Cracking CAT is not just about clearing the exam, it is a raging battle for preferably a place in the 32 which requires clear strategizing. We look at whether there is indeed an ideal strategy to follow for your MBA dream.
PRAQTISE Factfile- only about 2% and 5% of the total number of students who appeared for the test could get through IIMs and CAT allied MBA institutes respectively.
The beginnings of the CAT exam journey
The very idea of appearing for CAT exam is not always yours alone. It also does not appear just when you are in the last year of your career. It evolves, just like we do. Getting into that dream institute becomes the goal of our lives. While a lot of us dream of walking through the heavenly gates of IIM, 0thers pray to overcome the mammoth syllabus, just in time. Either way, CAT preparations is not just about perseverance, but it is the technique that you follow that defines your success.
From the instance at the beginning of the article, we are introduced to 5 CAT toppers who employed 5 different preparation strategies. It is in fact true that CAT preparations require great dedication, but does dedication have to follow a certain pattern? The example cited in beginning, of the 5th topper who did not quit his job, was Prateek Bajpai. Bajpai scored 100 percentile in CAT 2015 in his first attempt itself. While working in Africa, he did not have a CAT Coaching centre to attend. He spent fixed number of hours every day studying from the internet, regularly. Apart from this, the mock tests played a crucial role in his success. Prateek did not start early but he assigned a number of hours per day and followed it diligently.
While a lot of aspirants quit their jobs, and take a sabbatical year to go prepare for the CAT exam, Bajpai juggled both efficiently. Are we saying that Bajpai’s way is better than the others? No. Bajpai stands out as an example in this article because he did not follow the conventional method of preparing for CAT. His understanding of his capabilities coupled with hard work and dedication awarded him the success he deserved.
Plan of Action
Let’s assume that you are a final year student who aspires to secure a seat in IIM Ahmedabad. The only thing standing between you and the gates of IIM-A is the syllabus. It is widely acknowledged that without practice, there remains nothing worthwhile in CAT preparation. Even if you are not a student, but aiming for the top notch B-Schools in the country, the paradigm of the success mantra for CAT still revolves around practice.
To start preparing we need to draw a study schedule. Your study schedule would depend on the number of hours that you can give to preparing for the exam. It is important to note here that there is no ideal number of hours to be given each day, however, self-discipline and commitment is the key.
Once you start preparing for the CAT exam, you automatically get a clear picture of what your strengths and weaknesses are. A lot of aspirants keep journals to make note of their mistakes and weak areas. Solving Mock Test Papers will get you to build on your skill set.
Focus on the resources available around you. We live in a world that is widely functional on technology. The Internet has all the answers that you have been looking for. And one such is Adaptive Learning. Another facet of this technological blessing, adaptive learning makes studying into a process driven by your pace and competency. It is the one solution for individual needs and better understanding of concepts, something that is extremely important for CAT.
Importance of the right approach
PRAQTISE Fact File: Students applying for CAT VS Students appearing for the exam
From the figure above, it is clear that the difference between the applicants and the test takers has grown over the years. While there could be a multitude of reasons, a primary reason for applicants dropping out is the overwhelming syllabus. Hence, understanding which formula works best for you is the key to success.
Since each individual has varying capabilities, drawing a typical way of going about CAT preparation will not work wonders for everyone.
At Praqtise, we cater to today’s competitive generation with online customizable study modules and practice tests. Praqtise provides detailed analyses for a better understanding of areas that you need to work on.
At the end of the day, the success of any project depends on one’s self actualisation. The better you understand your own strengths and limitations, the higher are your chances of finding success.
As Thomas Edison puts it, “The three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are: Hardwork, Stick-to-itiveness and common sense.”
What road would you follow to become a CAT topper? Let us know in the comments.
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