Students’s Speak: Chase away your CAT exam fears with these tips

Don’t touch your notes one hour before the exam, that’s a sign of lack of confidence and do not get swayed by the other aspirants who are doing it. Trust me you are ready.

Staying positive and having faith in your preparation is integral to last-minute CAT preparation. Abhishek Gautam shares some simple yet very effective tips to keep your mind relaxed and stay confident on the eve of CAT exam.

CAT, as you must have heard a million times now, is about speed and accuracy, hence won’t be covering that. I’ll talk about what to do before 24 hours of the exam.

• Do not touch any new concepts, what’s done is done. Your preparation watch has ended. The concepts that needed to be learned are learned, all you have to do is to keep those concepts at the brink of your memory. Forget all your mock marks, your stupid mistakes and all other random things that made you question, are you even fit for MBA. Believe me you are ready!
• Study but not what is relevant for CAT. Relax with family, friends, read your favourite book, watch your favourite movie and eat healthy. A healthy body will always be your first and foremost weapon in your artillery for tomorrow. As per my experience, I played light-sport like badminton, read my favourite part of the “Harry Potter” series, watched “Suits” episodes and ate a lot of grapes (seasonal fruit basically).
• Do not try anything new, follow the routine, sleep early and make sure you get a good 8-hour sleep before the exam. If your exam is in the second part of the day, wake up according to your schedule. Do not make any last day changes. A tired and sleep-deprived mind will affect your efficiency and might make you commit some stupid mistakes, and every mistake might make you lose a decimal percentile.

Talking about the D-day, keep yourself as positive as possible. Have confidence in yourself, your preparations, your teachers and mentors who have supported you at every point. Don’t touch your notes one hour before the exam, that’s a sign of lack of confidence and do not get swayed by the other aspirants who are doing it. Trust me you are ready.

“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

All the Best. You’ll do good!

About the Author:

Abhishek Gautam is a postgraduate in Mathematics and Computing (Int. M.Sc) from IIT Kharagpur. He is currently pursuing PGP from IIM Kozhikode. Abhishek has prior work experience in Analytics and Product Development domain. Also, he has worked with 3 growing startups as an intern. Abhishek is passionate about football, startups and traveling.