how to crack CAT
Interest and Energy are cyclical.
If I guarantee you 99.99%ile in CAT if you study for 18 hours everyday for next 3-4 months , would you do it ? Of course not—you wouldn’t.
It’s unsustainable.
You can’t increase your score by studying for so long, in fact if you really try this exercise you will actually score less marks.
Alternating periods of activity and rest is necessary to survive, let along thrive. Capacity, interest and mental endurance all wax and wane. Learn more about how to use activity and rest cycle alternatively here
Less is not laziness.
Doing less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is not laziness.
This is hard for most to accept, because our culture tends to reward personal sacrifice instead of personal productivity.
Your focus should not be studying more but focus on outcomes. Don’t focus on time spent while studying, focus on the final result. This will dramatically change the way you study.
Do you really want to follow all those people who tell you to study more hours in order to get more done ?
Obviously not.
Then get over this concept.
timing is never rightThe timing is never right.
Many people ask me, are 6 months enough for preparation for CAT, are 3 months enough to prepare for CAT.
The answer to this question is “I don’t have any answer for this question” and nobody who is sensible enough is going to answer the same question for you as this question is personal and it depends upon your mindset , amount of preparation you have done in the past and your learning abilities.
The answer is there is no good time to prepare for CAT.
Are you still waiting good time to start your CAT prep ?
Conditions are never perfect and never will.
Ask for forgiveness and not permission.
If it’s not going to devastate those around you, try it and then justify it. When you are preparing for CAT, tell your parents, best friends or even bosses that they shouldn’t disturb you unless it’s very important. You don’t need to please everybody, don’t waste your valuable time unless your presence or you are required to carry out certain task.
Emphasize strengths and don’t fix weaknesses.
If you are miserable at Quants (Download this great resource here ) and phenomenal at verbal. Then don’t worry.
I was the exact opposite a few years back but you should learn to leverage your strengths instead of becoming extremely good at everything.
You can ask any CAT topper this question, were they expert in every subject ?
Obviously not.
They learnt the tactics in order to get more marks particularly in the topic where they were not very good at.
And CAT is not about being a Guru in every topic.
Right ?
I would like to give my personal example. I was not very good at Verbal but still I managed to get over 90%ile in VA & LR and overall 98.47%ile.
How ?
Because I solved each of the LR questions correctly and I didn’t attempt the questions in VA where I was not very sure of.
You can do the same.
So if you are not very good at Quants, become extremely good at DI and learn all smart tactics to solve many if not the most Quant problems.
Percentile is relative.
If you are getting 99%ile by working day and night , attending every class, joining every test series and solving tests every day. Then you are a real jerk but if you still manage to get 96-99%ile by working 2-3 hours a day by working smart then you are really a wise person. I want to be in your category.
Because person in the later category can easily outwit, outsmart the person in the first category by using some more smarter methods.
Interest and Energy are cyclical.
If I guarantee you 99.99%ile in CAT if you study for 18 hours everyday for next 3-4 months , would you do it ? Of course not—you wouldn’t.
It’s unsustainable.
You can’t increase your score by studying for so long, in fact if you really try this exercise you will actually score less marks.
Alternating periods of activity and rest is necessary to survive, let along thrive. Capacity, interest and mental endurance all wax and wane. Learn more about how to use activity and rest cycle alternatively here
Less is not laziness.
Doing less meaningless work, so that you can focus on things of greater personal importance, is not laziness.
This is hard for most to accept, because our culture tends to reward personal sacrifice instead of personal productivity.
Your focus should not be studying more but focus on outcomes. Don’t focus on time spent while studying, focus on the final result. This will dramatically change the way you study.
Do you really want to follow all those people who tell you to study more hours in order to get more done ?
Obviously not.
Then get over this concept.
timing is never rightThe timing is never right.
Many people ask me, are 6 months enough for preparation for CAT, are 3 months enough to prepare for CAT.
The answer to this question is “I don’t have any answer for this question” and nobody who is sensible enough is going to answer the same question for you as this question is personal and it depends upon your mindset , amount of preparation you have done in the past and your learning abilities.
The answer is there is no good time to prepare for CAT.
Are you still waiting good time to start your CAT prep ?
Conditions are never perfect and never will.
Ask for forgiveness and not permission.
If it’s not going to devastate those around you, try it and then justify it. When you are preparing for CAT, tell your parents, best friends or even bosses that they shouldn’t disturb you unless it’s very important. You don’t need to please everybody, don’t waste your valuable time unless your presence or you are required to carry out certain task.
Emphasize strengths and don’t fix weaknesses.
If you are miserable at Quants (Download this great resource here ) and phenomenal at verbal. Then don’t worry.
I was the exact opposite a few years back but you should learn to leverage your strengths instead of becoming extremely good at everything.
You can ask any CAT topper this question, were they expert in every subject ?
Obviously not.
They learnt the tactics in order to get more marks particularly in the topic where they were not very good at.
And CAT is not about being a Guru in every topic.
Right ?
I would like to give my personal example. I was not very good at Verbal but still I managed to get over 90%ile in VA & LR and overall 98.47%ile.
How ?
Because I solved each of the LR questions correctly and I didn’t attempt the questions in VA where I was not very sure of.
You can do the same.
So if you are not very good at Quants, become extremely good at DI and learn all smart tactics to solve many if not the most Quant problems.
Percentile is relative.
If you are getting 99%ile by working day and night , attending every class, joining every test series and solving tests every day. Then you are a real jerk but if you still manage to get 96-99%ile by working 2-3 hours a day by working smart then you are really a wise person. I want to be in your category.
Because person in the later category can easily outwit, outsmart the person in the first category by using some more smarter methods.
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