CAT 2016 Preparation for Last 100 Days

Common Admission Test (CAT) 2016 is going to be held on 4th December and with about 100 days remaining, aspirants must form a strategic preparation plan to ace the most sought after exam.

When chalking out the study plan aspirants must not only think about studying more. Devoting more number of hours to prepare comes with a condition – to be able to grasp and concentrate. Studying without developing an understanding of concepts is simply a waste of time. One must concentrate and be able to learn.

It is always recommended that students who prepare for competitive exams should not study for long hours at a stretch rather they should take breaks in between and relax themselves for better concentration. Candidates who are not working or do not have a packed schedule throughout the day should study for at least 6-8 hours a day.

To be able to study in a relaxed as well as focused manner aspirants are advised to study in slots of two to three hours and take breaks for 10-15 minutes after each slot. Moreover, they should try studying different sections in a day, it proves helpful in better concentration. For example, if one plans to study 8 hours a day in 4 slots, he/she may cover QA, RC, DI and LR for two hours each. However, this pattern of studying should cover all the topics and sub-topics that comprise the syllabus.

The best approach to study for an exam like CAT is that one must devote more time to prepare the weaker areas, but ironically most candidates spend more time in preparing the sections they have a good command on. Working on the  weak areas can help to achieve sectional cut offs.

The most important aspect of cracking CAT 2016is time management, therefore candidates should always prepare or solve questions with a time deadline. Studying with a check on time creates a habit of performing under time pressure. One can set up alarms during mock tests or solving any sample paper. The time set should be sufficient to tackle around 75-80% of the questions.

In the last three months, taking 1-2 mock tests in a week is most recommended and it should always be followed by an analysis. While analyzing one must re-visit the questions where too much time was spent, the ones skipped and could have been solved. This would help in setting up targets for each section.