CAT 2018 is 80 days away. It is time to go all in with your preparation. CAT online crash course will be of great help in preparing for CAT within the limited time available. In this article, let us take a look at how to prepare for CAT in 80 days.
If you have not started your preparation yet, begin your preparation by taking a free CAT online mock test. The results of the mock will help you to figure out the amount of effort you need to put to reach your target. Try to solve previous year papers of CAT in an exam interface to get some idea about the exam.
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How to prepare for CAT in 80 days?
- The first step in preparing for CAT is to have a clear goal in mind. More often than not, students evaluate their chances before even preparing for the exam and get demotivated.
- Worrying about your poor academic record and wasted time is unlikely to add anything of value to your CAT preparation.
- Instead of lamenting the past, try to focus on the actual preparation process.
- The only thing that can compensate for a poor academic record is a stellar CAT score. Start working towards getting one.
- Try to improve consistently. Develop a habit of studying daily and stick to it.
- Be disciplined with your preparation process. Avoid procrastinating as much as possible.
Download CAT Quant formulas PDF
Be selective:
- As the time available is limited, try to prepare for the topics in which you can be sure of the answer you get.
- In geometry and arithmetic questions, the scope for making an error is little if you know your basics well.
- On the other hand, it is hard to be proficient in combinatorics and there will always be a scope for making an error.
- Therefore, focus more on arithmetic, geometry, number systems, and algebra. These 4 topics alone can push you past the 90th percentile easily in the quants section.
- Learn the basic concepts of permutation and combinations and avoid trying to master the modern math topics.
- Do not ignore RCs. RCs account for 24% of the total marks allotted to the exam.
- Practise at least 3 RCs every day.
- Also, try to read books and articles during your free time.
- Having a sustained reading habit helps a great deal in scoring well in the VARC section.
- Most importantly, avoid trying to increase your vocabulary artificially.
- Do not give in to speed math gimmicks.
- Though having a good vocabulary and fast calculation skills help, it is not something to work on with less than 80 days to go for the exam.
- Stick to the basics and try to be clear with the concepts you learn.
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Let us move on to how to prepare for CAT in 80 days.
Daily schedule:
- Allocate at least 3 hours a day to prepare for CAT. Try to prepare for each section for an hour.
- Solve 20 quant questions in an hour and analyze them.
- If you are making the same type of mistake often, note it down.
- Try to solve 3 RCs in an hour and analyze them.
- Check where you deviated from the line of reasoning of the question setter and why his line of reasoning is considered better. Doing this over a long period will have a significant impact on the way you approach the RCs.
- Solve 3 LRDI sets and analyze them thoroughly. Check whether the approach you adopted is the easiest way to arrive at the solution.
- If you could not solve a problem, try to find out the vital clue you missed while solving the set.
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Download LR Questions for CAT PDF
Now, let us move on to the weekly schedule one should adopt to prepare for CAT in 80 days.
Weekly schedule:
- Take at least one mock every weekend and analyze it on weekdays.
- Also, take at least 3 sectional tests to improve your scores in the areas you are weak at.
- Ensure that you put in the required effort to clear the sectional cut offs comfortably.
- Try to get done with the basics before the third week of October.
- Revise the concepts in the last week of October. Spend the month of November fine-tuning your exam strategy.
Preparation timeline:
| September 20
|
Complete arithmetic topics, try to understand the approach to be adopted to solve LRDI questions
|
| First week of October
|
Complete geometry and number systems, take DILR sectional tests, prepare a little for the VA section
|
| Third week of October
|
Take at least 2 mocks every week, complete algebra, functions, and basics of logarithm, try to improve set selection skills in LRDI and try to maintain an accuracy close to 80% in RCs
|
| Last week of October
|
Revise the topics you have learnt so far.
|
| First week of November
|
Analyze mocks and fill knowledge gaps.
Develop a strategy for the exam and test it in mocks.
|
| Second week of November
|
Take mocks in the slot allotted to you in the CAT exam.
|
| Third week of November
|
Take 1 or 2 mocks. Avoid taking mocks in the last 3-4 days. Revise the basics. Make all the necessary arrangements in advance. |
On the last week before the exam, make all the necessary arrangements. Avoid doing any activity that might lower your morale. Try to take the exam with a cool head and rejig your strategy if need be.
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We hope that this article would have helped you know how to prepare for CAT in 80 days. For more useful articles, try reading how to get into IIMs with poor academics and how to prepare logical reasoning for CAT.
