In the previous post, we discussed the mindset with which one should approach a CAT retake; in this post, we shall look at a few more aspects with respect to a successful CAT retake. Since each one of you readers will have a different back story with respect to your first attempt and there will also be some non-IMS students among you as well, the focus of this post will be a bit wider.
Most of the institutes have given out their calls (or at least most of you know your chances) and many of you might be planning to retake the CAT. For some of you, it might be a case of almost getting there but missing out because of one poor section or just missing out on the overall percentile. For others, the CAT-day might have been a bad day at the office and you knew straight away that nothing much was going to happen. On my first attempt, I fell into the latter group — I knew I was out of my depth when I saw the Quant paper, there was no way I was going to clear the cut-offs. This despite consistently doing very well in the Sims leading up to the test. I decided to take another shot since I was very clear that it was not out of my league.
This post, in three parts, is for all those re-takers who are NOT hoping to get lucky next time around but want to ensure that they leave no stone unturned to make the cut in their next shot at CAT. Read More
Every year a lot of young men and women toil away at this thing called CAT preparation. The most sincere and determined ones, come in full of energy and enthusiasm to do whatever it takes to ace this test and get into the hallowed portals of an IIM.
But do they come in with a blank mind ready to understand what this test is all about and attune themselves to it? The answer as we all know is, NO.
A CAT aspirant beginning his prep will be at the least 20 years old, long enough to start the test with a sizeable psychological baggage — a mental make up that stems from one’s experiences and successes with education & tests throughout school & college. Read More
The response to the first SIMCAT was great and it was nice to see so many students jump into the fray from the word go. But the plunge as most of you would know is similar to jumping off a diving board for the first time — the moment of impact, the bewilderment when you are under the water, and most importantly the desperation towards the end to somehow get back to the ground again. (I have never jumped off a diving board but was once caught under the waves on the beach when I was quite little, thankfully my dad managed to rescue me).
Just like you would not bother too much about the score given to your first ever dive, do not think too much about the score you got. This is neither an engineering exam nor a blood test. So what is it and how should you evaluate your performance?
We are on the eve of SimCAT 1 and a lot of students (mostly first-time CAT-takers) are apprehensive and understandably so, about taking it. Over the years we have found the self-same reasons that induce this fear, and this post is geared towards addressing them. Read More
This is not surprising since in India our strategy is simple — first crack the test, then see what is the best college your percentiles can get you and then finally start thinking about specializations! The funny part is that we do not seem to learn from our mistakes since this is the same policy we followed for our graduation as well and now want to do an MBA so that we can undo the mistakes of our graduation but without having changed our standard operating procedure!
As soon as the lockdown began, the idea that I should do a piece on how to use the lockdown entered my mind and I began writing it as well but somehow I lost interest mid-way. Something inside me told me that I will be doing a post just for the sake of doing a post, I will not be solving any problem since as far as CAT Prep goes there is no problem.
If anything most CAT aspirants should have it better since you have at the least been saving the time it takes to commute. I can only hope the real problem — the loss of livelihood — which affects unorganized workers (who constitute 80% of our workforce of 470 million) — is something the readers of this blog and other CAT aspirants have not had to face.
So I thought the best thing to do would be to stay silent and let everyone, including myself, respond to these ten days and in the process learn a bit about themselves.
Some of you might be working in firms or fields where you have been inundated with work since the lockdown (the tech team that worked on the launch of our live portal barely slept for the last ten days and so has my team) so the post does not apply to you.
The lockdown (for the fortunate few) is no different from being offered a suitcase full of money, how have you spent it the first third of that money?
You have a goal — to get into IIM-A — how did you respond during the lockdown so far towards achieving that goal?
I do not need to list out all the things that you might have done, suffice to say that by now you should know the distance between your stated goals and your actions and more importantly the futility of those actions in the face of your dreams for your life.
There is nothing to be gained from watching more videos of Federer and worshipping him, he has made the most out of his life.
The TV shows make the careers of those who work on them, not yours.
The food shows just keep putting the cart before the horse.
All of us tell ourselves we want to do XYZ but we do not have the time to do it, the problem is with the world not with you. The lockdown really asks you to face up to the truth — is the problem the world or is the problem you?
Deep down inside each of one us knows what we need to do, even how we need to do it, and how much leeway we are allowed to have some fun and relaxation.
If you cannot make a plan for your day and manage the same then you can forget managing firms in the future.
Those who have asked their maids to also stay at home to practice social distancing will by now know that running a house is also a question of non-stop end-to-end optimisation and your mom never needed YouTube videos to figure that out.
You have wasted a third does not mean that the next two weeks need to be wasted.
You have used the first week reasonably well, it does not mean that you have found the optimal solution, see if you want to reverse your schedule and see if that works.
If you have found your best schedule then stick to it, it takes 21 days for a habit to get fully formed and it takes longer for you to see any tangible change.
The first target is simple — be ready to take SimCAT 1 scheduled to be conducted from 24-29 April.
Being ready for SimCAT 1 means knowing all the concepts and approaches to well enough to solve all the easy problems across all areas.
You can do this just by watching all the videos on the LEARN Module of myIMS. Spending just 2 hours every day from today will be more than enough for you to finish being concept-ready.
If you have finished the concept videos, then there enough and more practice problems to get ready for SimCAT 1.
If you have more time on your hands then there is no better time than this to read the books outlined in this post — https://thecatwriter.com/2017/04/22/preparing-for-an-mba-and-not-just-the-cat/
You can either use these upcoming weeks to the fullest or find yourself exactly in the same spot one year from now and with less time on your hands and more guilt on your mind.
Do not forget — practice is theory.
One of the questions that I am often asked and is most relevant at this point in time given that some of you might be looking at re-taking the CAT after an underwhelming CAT last year and others might be desperate to crack this year’s CAT.
The CAT Writer 