How to prepare for CAT in one month or less? -By Praneeth Allada, 99.78 percentile, IIM Calcutta

I attempted CAT just once and was able to score an overall percentile of 99.78 with a 99.9 percentile in Quantitative Aptitude. So, here is my experience of CAT preparation which can be insightful for many out there. And yes, it can guide and motivate you to prepare for the CAT in just one month or less!

Like most of the students out there, my CAT journey is unique and special to me. I graduated from IIT Bombay in 2017 and went on preparing for UPSC skipping my internship and placement process altogether. In 2018 November, I had to make a huge decision, and there was no time to introspect about that decision as it would have left me with very little time to make a strategy for CAT preparation. So I made the call and dived deep into the CAT journey. 

Myth or fact: Is it possible to prepare for CAT in one month?

Like many others, I couldn’t spend months on my CAT preparation. So I decided to give CAT with less than a month in hand. I was working for 16 hours a day during this time and it was tough. There was too much to take in or improve within a very short time. Because of this, I took things day after day, and it felt like a huge mountain to climb in a very short span. 

In addition, I did not take any coaching. I began my preparation by taking 2 mock attempts which gave me a fair analysis of where I stood and what is needed of me. Based on the mocks, the biggest hurdle for me was VARC followed by DILR. My Quant scores were good and I was never too worried about it. So, it was important to balance my strengths and weakness as leaving either of them would hurt my chance of getting into a good MBA college. 

A crisp game plan

I solved and analysed papers continuously every other day. I did not have enough time to postpone the mocks or the analysis. Analysis of the paper consumes a lot more time than solving it and at times, I used to think “Is the analysis really worth it?”. 

But looking back now, I am glad I never stopped it, that was the most important key to all my challenges. These mocks ensured a good revision of my strengths and always kept me in touch with them, and at the same time reminded me of my weaknesses which I worked on parallelly. 

My VARC scores used constantly fluctuated which was the most worrying part for me. I solved a huge number of RC’s in a very short time. I used to sit all day reading comprehensions as fast as I could, to get the speed and maintain my accuracy. Regarding the DILR, I was always looking for different varieties and models of questions that are possible and challenging. I kept solving them and looked for easier ways. It is very tough to solve an entire DILR paper in the given time, so it is furthermore important and helpful to cover the entire model at least once before the exam. 

On the D-day, my goal and strategy was to cover all the questions in the Quant and VARC section. Although I achieved that for the VARC section, there were 3-4 questions that I couldn’t go through in the Quant section. DILR is an entirely different game and it is always important to identify the paragraphs/questions which are easy, and which are not. Without this process, it would be a futile exercise of solving every question as it wouldn’t yield any results. 

Verdict: I received calls from IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Indore, out of which I have been waitlisted in IIM Ahmedabad and cleared the rest. I joined IIM Calcutta and am presently in my 2nd year. 

So, if you are an MBA aspirant, it is not impossible to prepare for CAT in one month or less. All you need is dedication and consistency in your approach.