preparation style Archives - PRAQTISE - India's most fun, adaptive and personalized online preparation platform for MBA entrance tests like CAT, XAT, SNAP, NMAT, IIFT, etc.

MBA Entrance Exams – The need for variety in your preparation to get success.

Praqtise — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 11:08:54 +0000

Let’s take a look at what students think is the best way to tackle MBA entrance exams.

“Guys, I think constant preparation for 6 hours a day, 2 hours for each section for a year will take me to the desired percentile,” Ashish said.

“True, but I think only practice would not be enough. We have to add variety in our preparation such as different approaches to paper solving, balancing between speed and accuracy, etc.” Bhaskar replied.

“According to me, we have to plan our preparation for each section, but if we can maximise our score in our focus area, we can expect the desired result. We should try to identify our strengths and weaknesses and allocate weight accordingly.” Chandresh remarked.

From the above conversation, we can make out that no particular strategy suits all the students for every MBA Exam.

PRAQTISE Fact File:

Exam	General Awareness Weightage
IIFT	23%
SNAP	29%
CMAT	25%
MAT	25%

Preparation for CAT

CAT is one of the most significant MBA exams. You have to plan very systematically for CAT. You have to identify the strongest and the weakest section as difficulty levels may vary from section to section. It may happen that your most substantial section may be the toughest one and the most vulnerable may be the easiest. So, there is a constant need to add variety to your preparation style for success. We have provided a few examples below to add variety to your training.

First, you may fix a weekly schedule. You may provide a fixed number of hours to each section. On the last day of the week, you can revise the topics you prepared throughout the week.

Second, you can prepare one section for a week and another section in the next week. You should not study only one section for a long duration. CAT tests your ability to apply knowledge. The syllabus has interlinked concepts across sections. Something you learn in DI may help you in solving a QA based question. Hence, one should try to have a balanced preparation plan.

You can prepare a chapter or a few number of chapters at a time and take a sectional test to scale your progress. It is necessary to revisit the test once it is over and reattempt the questions that you did not solve.

Third, you can prepare all the topics from all the three sections. Once you have covered the entire CAT syllabus, you can start taking mock tests. You can use various approaches such starting off with a different part of the paper (QA/VA/DI) each time. Please keep in mind that in CAT 2016 you will get only 60 minutes for each section.

Preparation for non-CAT MBA entrance exams

There are many MBA entrance exams other than CAT. These tests differ from CAT in many ways. So, you need to change your preparation style if you are targeting b-schools other than IIMs. Here also, variety in training plays a vital role in success.

First, many MBA entrance exams such as IIFT, MICAT, SNAP, MAT, CMAT have an additional section for General Awareness. It has an average weight of 1/4^th of the total marks which cannot be ignored. G.A. cannot be learned overnight so you have to read every day to be comfortable with it. Hence, you can study the other three subjects, but you must cultivate the habit of reading a daily or a magazine every day. You can take regular sectional tests when you start reading static and business G.A.

Second, as these MBA entrance exams have a different exam pattern, you can take a few mock SNAP, mock MAT, mock IIFT, mock MICAT, etc. Few of these are still pen and paper format tests and so taking such mock tests every month will be helpful.

Third, the difficulty level of the questions of these MBA entrance exams may also vary from CAT. Hence, you can solve the questions from other competitive exams such as IBPS, RRB, RBI, SBI, UPSC, etc. to become comfortable with more diverse types of questions.

Fourth, there are few exams which have specific requirements. For example, XAT has essay writing so students can practice writing an essay every week. Social issues, political issues and any current affairs are ideal points to start practice.

A PRAQTICAL Look: How reading can transform your life?

MBA entrance exams are a great opportunity for one to get into the habit of reading. One does not have to read things from the syllabus, rather it is necessary to relax and do some casual reading.

Reading newspapers, magazines and books enriches your thought process. It is the best way to develop a seasoned and matured perspective. Reading not only enhances your vocabulary but also magnifies your chances of sailing through the RC section.

The only challenge here is to read the right things. While popular novels and mainstream newspapers seem to be an obvious choice, the true objective is to go beyond your comfort zone. Pick out publications that use sophisticated English and provide dense amounts of information. Read novels that talk about serious or abstract topics, subjects that you would generally not read about. Treat it as an opportunity to enhance your understanding of the world.

Have you included reading and general awareness in your preparation plan? Do you think that it helps improve the overall performance? Please let us know in the comments.

—

Image sources:

The post MBA Entrance Exams – The need for variety in your preparation to get success. appeared first on PRAQTISE - India's most fun, adaptive and personalized online preparation platform for MBA entrance tests like CAT, XAT, SNAP, NMAT, IIFT, etc..

Acing CAT exam – Do you need to walk in the footsteps of previous toppers?

Praqtise — Sun, 18 Sep 2016 08:23:31 +0000

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 5^th 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.

—

Image Source

Featured image

CAT study book

Cat Application over the years

The post Acing CAT exam – Do you need to walk in the footsteps of previous toppers? appeared first on PRAQTISE - India's most fun, adaptive and personalized online preparation platform for MBA entrance tests like CAT, XAT, SNAP, NMAT, IIFT, etc..