Starting with CAT Preparation-Recommended Guidelines for Beginners

Before jump starting your CAT preparation you must analyze, understand and plan the preparation in such a way that it enables you to sail through all the hurdles. Below post is recommended to all aspirants who are looking forward to crack CAT in coming years.


The number of hours a candidate needs to put in for CAT or other MBA exam preparation depends on their current level of expertise across following sections:

-Quantitative Aptitude
-Verbal Ability
-Logical Reasoning
-Data Interpretation
A person who is very good in mathematics and has good verbal ability would surely need to spend lesser time in preparation when compared to a person who is not good in math’s and verbal. Below are the recommended guidelines to anyone who is planning to start preparing for MBA exams like CAT.

Step-1 Learn all about CAT (First 7 days) 
Devote one hour daily for next few days and try to learn as much as possible about CAT. Below links must be useful for you:
All About CAT 2011
Initial Analysis before MBA Preparation for beginers
Must have Skills for Cracking CAT Exam
Tips for Online CAT
Tips to do well in CAT Exam
Tips & Strategy while attempting CAT paper
IIMs Selection Criteria
Cut-off percentile for MBA colleges 


Step-2 Do Self Analysis for CAT (For 15 days)
The next thing which you should do is analyze yourself so as to find your strength & weaknesses(Spend 2 hours per day). How to find your strength & weaknesses
1.Simply pick up a past years CAT exam papers: 
Past Year Papers
Download Past Year Papers for MBA Exams
2. Attempt as many questions as you can without putting the time limit in one go (say you sit for 4 hours read all the questions & attempt which ever you are confident of.....don't make any blind guess for any of the questions.....feel free to make calculated guess in verbal section :) ).

3. Check your answers and attempts.
4. Write down your overall score, along with sectional score
5. Repeat step 1-4 for 4 more Past Year CAT Papers

With your consolidated scores for 4-5 attempts of different Mock CAT tests, you would be able find which section is your strength and which one is your weakness.
Please Remember: Initially when you write any mock tests with same time limit as actual CAT, your scores would be quite low as you are yet to master the time 
management. So don't panic, slowly with time & with your preparation in progress your score will rise progressively.

Step-3 Execution: Mastering your strengths and improving on your Weaknesses 

Once you have finished analyzing yourself, you need to start working on weaknesses & mastering your strengths. 
List of Novels and Books for MBA Students

You should start with self preparation and stick to it for *few months. Join for Mock CATs after few months of self preparation. Based on your performance in Mock tests and your self- preparation, you must decide if you really require joining for classroom coaching or not.
There are plenty of tips, tricks & shortcuts shared across this site, just browse and download whatever you feel would be useful for you. Also there are lot of free ebooks, past papers and study material for MBA preparation. 

Below are some of the links:
Quantitative Aptitude Study Materials for MBA + Free Download 

Verbal Aptitude & English Study Materials for MBA + Free Download 

Data Interpretation & Logic Reasoning Study Materials for MBA + Free Download

*Note: The duration of *few months mentioned above varies from candidate to candidate. A student who is in 1^st year engineering has lot more time for preparation than some on who is in final year. Few months for 1^st year student could be 9-12 months whereas it could be just 1.5-2 months for someone who is in final year.

Step-4 Work on Personality Development 
We also recommend you to focus on spoken English, please form a group within your friend circle and have mock Extempore/ GDs/ Interviews/ Debates. This will not only help you in your MBA preparation but also for job interviews & will surely help in your overall personality development.
I hope you should be able to organize such a session for half an hour everyday within your college campus or hostel.
Different Tests after CAT at each B-School 

Step-5 Set your Goals

After spending considerable time in preparation it would also be advisable for you to set a clear cut target about your aspirations, whether your are planning to take admission only in top 10 colleges or top 20 colleges or top 30 colleges. The target must be realistic based on your self-analysis your preparation and your confidence on yourself. In general spending 1 hour on week days & 2-3 hours during weekends/holidays is suggested for a normal & average CAT aspirant.

Note:

For candidates who are doing their graduation and also preparing for CAT & other MBA exams must remember that their graduation marks plays a major role in selection process. Not only that, it also plays a major role in their whole career as well. The advice to them is not to be complacent about their graduation studies due to the CAT preparation; graduation performance is something which reflects a candidate’s sincerity, dedication & hard work towards their career. A candidate spending 4 years without putting effort would not be considered as mature enough and would have to face lot of difficulties later.

So please do your graduation with the same zeal with which you are aspiring for MBA.


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