Well, we enter the last few months of the CAT-2024 season and effectively, the interest and energy this time period generates equates to the one generated by your television series. So, what is in store for this season’s finale? Will it be your dream ending or will it end in heartbreak? Will you take it to the next level or you will have to wait for another year?

Well, with a mix of positive attitude, hard work, and the right advice, you surely can take things to the next level, and this is where we are going to help you refine your test-preparation strategy. What do you need to do to gain the most from this initiative? You just need to spare 5-10 minutes of your time and go through the content we post here.

Let’s get started with the tips for the day. Today we focus on one simple aspect of preparation: what to do study at this stage?

Discussion for today: What to study at this time?

In the ideal world, you should have been done with the first round of concept building by this stage. If that is the case, then you simply need to prepare a comprehensive list of topics and arrange them in the sequence that you wish to revise them in.

If you are not through with all the concepts at this stage, then you need to be really smart with your preparation. You need to a select a list of topics that you will target in the next 30 to 40 days and complete the concepts for these topics. Some key caveats are:

1. Do not try to cover the concepts for all the topics in an in-depth manner. You will not be able to explore every topic in depth.
2. Make sure you take a cursory glance at the basics of most topics.

How do you combine the above two pieces of advice? Let’s take an example. Let’s assume that student A is weak in geometry and struggles to grasp its concepts. What should he do at this stage, with two months to go and when he has not studied the topic in detail? Well, he needs to sit down for a moment and think rationally what he gains and what he loses by taking up this topic in detail. Can he attain mastery over it? Will coverage of the basic concepts for this topic be sufficient? Should he use the same time to strengthen Number System and Algebra, two of his strong topics?

Think for a moment, and some of you might be facing similar challenges. The best approach, in this case, is to maximise your potential in your strong areas. These are the ones you can count upon in the examination, and these are the ones that will help you sail through the examination. So your action plan should be based on one simple principle: maximise score from your strength areas?

There is one question that comes to mind when I write the above: what if you have covered only a minimum amount of syllabus at this stage? Well, I am afraid that I have to break your heart here: you will have to burn the midnight oil and make sure you cover at least seventy percent of the syllabus. There is no way out for you in the given situation.

Prepare a roadmap and stick to it.

The next important point I am going to touch upon is sticking to a plan. It is extremely vital that you develop a holistic CAT strategy encompassing all aspects of the exam. Make one plan and then stick to it. It is basic human tendency to keep changing plans. Mostly, we change these plans because of two reasons:

1. We set our targets in the wrong way (try to over-achieve or under-achieve)
2. We do not follow through on our goals and keep procrastinating our work to the next day.

If you are a victim of either of the two tendencies, you need to get out of this rut. The first essential hallmark of good managers is how they manage their preparation and the same is expected out of you here.

Have to work on Reading Comprehensions.

What I said above does not apply to one topic: Reading Comprehensions. There is only one way to improve here: brute force practice. This is what you need to do and there is no other way. There are no shortcuts or no strategy to escape the hours you need to put in for Reading Comprehensions.

Key Learnings from this piece:

• Do remember: you cannot cover all topics with the same level of proficiency. At this stage, you need to pick the topics that deserve extra attention from your side.
• Make a plan and stick to it.
• Working on RCs is a must.

With this, I complete the first article for this series. Remember, another 59 articles to follow in this series. Hope you tune in for the full series.

Happy Learning..:)