MBA Admission: How to plan it right?

Are you planning to take CAT 2014? There are a few details you need to keep in mind. Your preparation may depend on your field study during under graduation. It often said that candidates from engineering and commerce stream require slightly less time than humanities stream. It will also depend if you are a working professional or are retaking the exam.

This year, 3335 seats were offered among the 13 IIMs. Apart from CAT, candidates can also opt for XAT, NMAT, IIFT and various other good examinations.

While chalking out a preparation plan, you need to keep the following questions in mind:

1. Self study or coaching centre
   “Many of us feel that some guidance is needed. Coaching institutes provide a competitive environment apart from good preparation materials. It motivated me to join coaching centre,” says Abhinav Jain who scored 99.99 in CAT 2013. However Jainik Dedhia who scored 100 percentile thinks otherwise, “Self study is good enough. There are no hard and fast rules on how one should prepare. It varies from person to person. I don’t think coaching should make that much of a difference in CAT. You should know which section you are weak in and prepare it, instead of wasting time equally on all sections.”
2. How much time do you need to dedicate for CAT prep?
   Some take more than six months, while others require less than a month. Understand your skills and improvement areas and decide on the total time to devote time for CAT prep.
3. Study Plan
4. Draw a monthly, weekly and daily plan till September-October (CAT generally happens in October- November every year). Then stick to that plan.
5. Identify your strong and weak areas
   It is essential to know your plus and negative points. Your entire study preparation plan is dependent on this. Focus more on areas of improvement.