Here Is How To Prepare For CAT 2023 In 4 Months!

For any MBA aspirant, CAT or Common Admission Test is a critical exam to get into the top MBA institutes in the country. This entrance exam is the gateway to enrolling in a management programme in IIMs and other B-schools in India. This year, the exam is scheduled to be held on 26th November 2023. With about four months remaining for the exam, it is time for candidates to pump up their preparation for the final boost. But wait. What if you haven't started preparing for this exam? Your busy schedule didn't allow you enough time to prepare or maybe you just didn't see the time flying. Whatever the reason may be, the clock is ticking faster than ever and so are your heartbeats.

With only 4 months in hand, should you then drop the plan to take the CAT exam this year if you haven't already started your preparation? Can you practically prepare for CAT in 3 to 4 months? The answer is yes, you can. Here is how you should plan your preparation for the last lap. But first, let us give you a round-up of the CAT exam pattern.

A brief overview of the CAT pattern 2023

CAT is a computer-based test (CBT) with a time limit of 2 hours. Following are the details of the exam pattern of CAT.

CAT Sections	Number of Questions	Marks Allotted	Section Syllabus
VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension)	24	72	Reading skills Verbal Ability Para Jumbles Para Summary Odd Sentence Out
DILR (Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning)	20	60	Set Theory (Variables) Set Theory + Puzzles Puzzles with Additional Data Coding-Decoding Series
Quantitative Ability	22	66	Number System Algebra Arithmetic Geometry Mensuration

Preparing for CAT in 4 months

CAT is considered a highly competitive exam. Each year, lakhs of candidates belonging to different educational backgrounds appear for the exam. The preparation for CAT starts months before the exam date with many candidates even taking CAT coaching to amp their preparation levels. Hence, winding up the vast syllabus of CAT in 3-4 months may seem like a daunting task. However, a good strategy can help you get a good percentile in CAT with only 3 to 4 months of preparation!

Unlike many other exams such as UPSC CSE, GATE, and UGC-NET which are knowledge-based exams, CAT is an aptitude test. Hence, one doesn't need to memorize plenty of topics in order to score well or boost one's level of preparation. CAT requires practice more than anything else. The questions in CAT need an analytical bent of mind rather than deep knowledge of various subjects. The exam tests a candidate's grasp of the rudimentary concepts learned till class 10 rather than knowledge of the complex topics. Keeping this in view, one can prepare for CAT within 3-4 months and get a good percentile score, considering they put in organized efforts. Hence, if you haven't started yet, now is the time for preparation. The following points will help you chalk out a good strategy for this crucial time.

Focus on time management

Apart from knowledge and reasoning, what can help you score well in this exam is the art of managing time. Good time management skills will not only help you frame an exhaustive strategy but will also help you manage your time well during the exam.

Considering the value of time management, one of the ways to utilize your time well is through study plans. Since you are left with 3 months for the exam, creating a 3-month study plan will help you stay focused and maximize your efforts. For this one can start by dividing the syllabus into sections and covering each section within a stipulated period of time. A monthly plan can then be broken down into a daily schedule designed in a way that most of your free time is devoted to CAT preparation. So whether you are a college student or a working professional, framing a timetable with your daily schedule in view, will help you take time out for covering the exam syllabus despite your engagements. This will certainly keep your preparation on track.

Prioritizing the key topics

For any CAT aspirant, covering the vast syllabus is the main motive. However, due to paucity of time, it may not be practically possible. Hence, prioritizing the important topics is absolutely important. The objective should be to cover the major chunk of the syllabus rather than focus on covering everything.

For prioritizing the topics, understanding the weightage of the topics is critical in preparation for CAT examination. Apart from this, understanding one's strengths and weaknesses will help you create a proper strategy with minimum wastage of time. This would also help you to sort the topics and devote time accordingly. The following points would be helpful in prioritizing the topics:

Analyzing the previous years' papers to get to know the trend of the exam.
Assigning more time to tough topics and regularly practicing the ones where you have a good grasp. This way you will further strengthen your stronger points while giving enough time to the weaker ones.
Marking the least important topics based on marks weightage and difficulty level. If time doesn't permit, these topics could be skipped.

Practice, practice, and practice

As you frame a focused preparation plan, the one thing that must be given utmost priority is practicing the questions. It is important to note that preparation for CAT exam will not mean anything without sufficient practice. Regular practice is the key to success in CAT exam. Focus on regular practice becomes even more important for candidates who are not taking coaching classes and preparing on their own because they may tend to miss out on it. Many a time, candidates end up reading and analyzing everything but do not solve enough questions, rendering their preparation futile. Hence, different types of questions will help you get exposed to various ways of solving a problem, thus helping to build your aptitude.

For practicing, mock tests are the most effective means. They help to sharpen the skills required for the CAT entrance exam. Mock exams not only brush up your knowledge by exposing you to tricky and difficult questions but also help you to learn time management during the actual CAT exam. The more mock tests you solve, the more confident you get. Solving 100-150 questions in a day will give a good boost to your preparation. Apart from full-length mock tests, one can also solve sectional tests or topic-wise additional questions to strengthen their hold on some particular sections. As you analyze the CAT mocks, you may learn various tricks to solve difficult as well as simple questions quickly saving you a lot of time during the actual examination.

Gathering the right study material

There is no dearth of study material for CAT exam in the market. You have plenty of books for CAT making it a bit difficult to select the right ones. While candidates taking coaching classes rely on coaching institute; material, for those in the self-preparation mode, it may be a difficult task to shortlist the books that need to be read. Hence, it becomes a major point while planning the 3 months of preparation plan.

Also Read: 8 Best Books For CAT Preparation: Know How You Can Ace CAT

So if you are going to buy books for CAT, selecting the ones by the most popular writers is the safest option. With 3 months remaining for your exam, experimenting with something new and not so popular in the market may not turn out to be fruitful. Popular CAT preparation books are written keeping the candidate's needs in mind and can be relied upon. At times, the study material of coaching centers is also available in the market which can be really helpful for CAT aspirants. This study material is well-framed and put across in a simplistic manner so as to make complex topics seem easy to understand.

Tips for cracking CAT exam in 4 months

CAT exam preparation needs a meticulous strategy and a perfect study plan. Once you have such a strategy in place, here are some tips that will boost your preparation.

Stick to your study plan for CAT. Deviating from your timetable very often would mess up your preparation strategy.
Solve CAT question papers in an exam-simulating environment. This would boost your confidence levels apart from exposing you to peculiar questions.
Solve one advance level question and some conceptual questions every day to build your aptitude.
Keep some notes/list of formulae ready to be revised in the final phase of preparation.
Devote ample time for revision.
Even though you have less time in hand, don't forget to include some cool-off time in your 3 months study plan to avoid CAT preparation pressure.
preparation chapter
Set your benchmark for CAT preparation and work accordingly.
You may face days where you feel demotivated during preparation. But the key is to be confident and bounce back.

So buck up MBA aspirants. With some smart work and consistency, your dream of studying at an Indian Institute of Management won't be far-fetched.

Shreeya Thakur

Sr. Associate Content Writer at Unstop

I am a biotechnologist-turned-content writer and try to add an element of science in my writings wherever possible. Apart from writing, I like to cook, read and travel.