You will find plenty of content when you Google: "how to start preparing for CAT?" The problem is that very few in India have been able to decode the CAT. Most websites and books focus on building pure Mathematics & English skills whereas CAT tests managerial common sense or, in other words, problem solving skills. In this article, we will show how one should approach CAT prep.

A world of platitudes

A little after the liberalization of industrial licensing was ushered into our system, someone asked a bureaucrat as to what would be the impact of this on their fraternity that had so much say in matters of licensing and allocation of quotas and so on. "The market is full of suckers," was the reply. At that point of time, this reply seemed sarcastic but now, in retrospect, seems to be bordering on the stoic. People have asked us many times as to why we stay clear of generalizations and prefer the illustrative mode. How many episodes of platitudes like "Keep your cool", "Remember to brush up all the mathematical formulae that you learnt till Class XII" and "Get proper sleep the night before the CAT" can one sustain? And, what purpose would one attain through such platitudes? Why should one indulge in general propositions rather than go into specifics just because the market is full of suckers?

Practicing past CAT papers

Getting into specifics is the only way one can derive a scientific and accurate estimate of the general. Based on the testimony of students who wrote CAT 2021 (wherein TCM students have scarcely been able to contain the squeals of delight at seeing as many as ten questions from past CAT papers), it is safe to say that questions from past 15 years of official CAT papers are pure gold. Solving past CAT papers is the spinal cord of all CAT prep programs at TCM.

 

Why isn't there enough CAT prep material involving actual CAT problems?

The market abounds in literature aiming to prepare students for the CAT. But few, if any, have touched actual CAT questions. There is a reason: if one were to assume the responsibility of training someone meaningfully for the CAT, one would have to start with giving the aspirant a reasonably accurate assessment, derived from past actual CAT papers of course, of what the CAT really tests.

 

Early Bird Catches the Worm

This time one shall have to write a word aiming at the general: If you want to crack the CAT, start preparing early. Start from the day you enter college. Do nothing other than solving past fifteen actual CAT papers; five of them without time constraints take as long as two weeks per paper to understand exactly what skills the CAT tests and what skills should one develop.

 

One CAT to rule them all!

(You can be pardoned for not understanding the title if you're not a fan of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy)

 

Understand at the very outset of your CAT preparations that the CAT is meant for aspirants from all streams: science, commerce, and arts. Sometime back, it was in the papers that 7% of the final selections at the IIMS were from medical graduates. Would these young souls have been administered questions about Hashimoto's Disease or about Cardiovascular Surgery? Do engineering students get questions about induction motors? Do history graduates get questions about Attila the Hun? No way! IIMS have designed CAT to test whatever that students from all streams have learned till the time that they branch out in different streams. That is why the CAT tests only what you learn till Class IX or X. Take a dekko at any past CAT question paper. You will find the proof from this assertion staring at you from its pages.

 

Practicing past CAT papers (Once more!)

Get a fair estimate of what skills the CAT is really designed to test from past actual CAT papers. And then keep honing these skills. Also, if time permits, solve actual GMAT papers under time constraint. Actual CAT questions are available from past CAT Bulletins. Hence one must not rely on any source other than the official questions

 

Want to enroll with us?

At TCM, we believe that the formula for success in CAT is simple: right tools combined with high preparation intensity. Well, the taste of pudding lies in eating and we might just have the right CAT prep program for you. Since you are here, you can take a moment to look at our CAT prep programs.