IIM has released the CAT notification in August 2024, the CAT registration will begun in August 2024 . We urge our students to finish up their CAT registration process at the earliest in order to fully concentrate on the preparation for the ‘exam of their life’.
Time is literally of essence when it comes to the CAT exam as candidates need to stick to sectional time limits. A student should not only focus on managing his/her time while writing the exam, but also while preparing for it. And time management can only be your forte if you dedicate yourself to studying the course thoroughly and practicing well.
An important aspect of preparing for the CAT exam and mastering the time is by writing mock tests. This exercise will help you get a good exposure of the kind of questions that would be asked along with giving you a feel of ‘those hours’.
The big question is – How to manage time and improve your speed and accuracy?
The answer is – If you manage time and practice profusely, you can get both speed and accuracy.
To understand it better, you need to master the time management in 2 ways - first while preparing for CAT exam and second while writing the CAT exam.
How to manage time while preparing for CAT exam?
Starting today you have 3 months until November 2024, i.e. CAT exam day. Here is how you can manage your time daily:
- If today is the day you start, write a mock test to see where you stand. List down all the areas that you did well and those that need improvement.
- Give a month’s time to study the syllabus and clear all your doubts. It is important to clarify all the basics of Quant and DILR topics.
- Give at least 12-14 hours a day for studies, if CAT preparation is the only thing that you are doing.
- If you are studying or working along with preparing for CAT exam, make sure you allocate almost 2-3 hours on studying CAT syllabus. Give extra time on the weekends.
- Once your course is brushed up, start with giving sectional mocks to get a complete idea of the type of questions being asked.
- Amidst all this, dedicate 1-2 hour daily on reading the newspaper and magazines to know about the current affairs.
How to manage time while writing the CAT exam?
When you sit to write down your CAT exam in November it will be the most crucial 3 hours of your life. It is very important you keep your cool and not let anxiety take over you. Here is how you should be planning your exam:
- Each of the 3 section needs to be completed in 60 minutes. You cannot skip sections or choose which to attempt when. Mostly the sequence is VARC, DILR and QA.
- Every time you start with a section take 2-5 minutes to glance through the questions and mark which ones will you be attempting first. They could be on the basis of the difficulty level of the question or based on your strength or interest level.
- It is always good to read the questions first in case of RC or DILR sets to get an idea of what the passage/set holds in it.
- In case while solving you realize a particular question is taking more than 6-7 minutes, it is better to skip and come back to it if time permits.
- In DILR sets, it may be that all the questions are not solvable. Even if you are able to solve 2 questions in a set, leave the rest and move to the next.
- Always keep the last 1-2 minute for revision.
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