Students’ Speak: Use these 5 Tips to Bolster Last Minute CAT Preparation

Keep track of the time and try to simulate the test by sitting in an isolated room without your phone and other gadgets. This will help you to stay relaxed on the day of the test and improve time-management.

As the CAT 2019 exam preparation enters the final lap, students are busy brushing up their learnings and concepts that they accumulated from various books and other sources. You might have started CAT preparation for past one year or maybe just two months back. Well, that is not very important at this point of time. What matters is how well prepared you are on the exam day and how well you apply the concepts you learnt multiple times at the most crucial moment. Here are five tips that you can use during the last-minute preparation and during the test to get the desired scores.

Avoid studying new concepts

Do not take the risk of learning entirely new concepts however important it is. Memorizing new concepts at the last moment will not only reduce the quality of understanding of the concept but also can hinder your pre-learned concepts. Never make the mistake of taking up new topics or concepts to study at the last juncture.

Run through your notes or handouts

One great tip that you can use at the last moment is to brush through your notes and handouts. It is even better if you can see the questions and figure out the answer in your mind without looking at the notes. This will boost your confidence level and can help better performance. Avoid reading long sentences from textbooks and other materials at this stage of preparation.

Take a Final Mock

It is always better to give a mock test one day before the CAT exam. Keep track of the time and try to simulate the test by sitting in an isolated room without your phone and other gadgets. This will help you to stay relaxed on the day of the test and improve time-management. Try to make this mock test environment as similar as possible to the actual test by distributing time to each section, working out in a rough sheet, etc.

Choose quality over quantity

Yes. Don’t ever do the mistake of attempting questions that you are not sure of. Even if the total number of questions you attempted is only 60 percent but are sure shots, it can still help you score better than simply marking 20 percent more questions just to increase the overall number of questions attempted. Remember, for each question you are marking without surety is like bidding your right answer.

Manage time efficiently and effectively

Try to classify your questions into three categories as you move from one question to another. The first category questions are those that you know the answers for sure and can attempt immediately. The second category questions are those that you think that you can get the answer but require some additional time. These questions need to be flagged and move on. The third category questions are those that you are sure that you do not know the answer. You simply ignore these questions and jump to the next question. Therefore, you should be in the hunt for searching first category questions in the first round and then come back to the second category and so on.

About the Author:

Arun S., an MBA - Healthcare Management student at Manipal Institute of Management, interested in Marketing & Business Strategy predominantly in Healthcare sector.