7days to CAT
With just 7 days more to go before CAT 2021, the exam is both literally and psychologically nearer to
you than ever. With the calendar turning into a countdown timer, we have compiled a list of Do’s and
don’ts so that you are ready for the D-day.
The Do’s
1. Set up your physiological clock. We cannot over emphasize on the need of preparing your body
for the exam. While you have been training your mind for the last few months, now is the time
to set the glance on yourself. In simple terms, follow the routine that you will have to follow on
the day of the exam. This includes, sleeping early at night and getting up when you are expected
to get up on the day of the exam. If your exam is in the morning shift, you have to keep early
hours. If it’s in the late shift, you can afford to keep slightly late hours. Bottom-line is that on the
day and time of the exam you should be fresh as a daisy and at your efficiency should peak
during the examination hours. Try taking a mock test everyday at a fixed time corresponding to
your exam shift. Not only your mind will get in the groove of thinking during those hours, your
body will acclimatize to sitting for extended duration during that period. No one will say this, but
also try to train your body and regulate your bathroom breaks. So that during the examination
the call of nature doesn’t distract you. Believe us, all it takes is practice and following a pattern.
2. Solve previous year’s CAT papers. There is no point attempting fresh mocks if you are still not
thorough with previous year question papers. The actual CAT exam becomes tough for majority
of test-takers because of the psychological pressure that they are attempting CAT, after all. Year
after year, we have seen students succumbing and awed by the fact that they are writing CAT,
which is notorious for being a tough exam. So please get that out of the way. If you are writing
In other words, if you are dealing with CAT-level everyday, the actual exam will just feel like any
other day. Write a previous paper everyday, analyze the paper academically, work on your
strategy and keep adapting.
3. Keep attempting Mock-tests, if you are done with previous year’s papers. Take them during a
set time, take a break and then spend the rest of the day analyzing the questions.
4. Keep revising. While honestly this will not be much important for Verbal Ability questions, for
Quants and DI & LR revising the shortcuts and tricks that were mastered initially could do
wonders to your score. Even for English, revising certain key areas like the list of tones and
concepts of Critical Reasoning is paramount. Also, if you have maintained a list of ‘oft-asked
words in CAT’ do go through them and their meanings once again.
5. Needless to say, please maintain a healthy diet-exercise and sleep pattern. Eat food that
energizes you for your test-sessions. Take breaks and just walk around between your studies
and sleep as much as you can. Think of ‘sleep’ to be an as important component of your
preparation as ‘Revision’.
The Don’ts
1. Don’t overdo anything. Not exercise, not even your studies. Remember, now is not the time to
exert yourself and being a burn-out on the day of the exam. Be Zen! It will improve your scores
considerably.
2. Don’t start anything new. No new concepts, no new vocab lists, no new tutorial on grammar and
certainly no new tricks in quants and DI&LR. Remember CAT is not a memory test. It’s more a
test of habit than anything else. If you read well otherwise, you will read well in CAT. If you’re
logical otherwise, you will be logical in CAT. So mostly these are matters of habit and nothing
that could be taken up as a ‘last-minute-rush’ before CAT.
3. Don’t emotionally stress yourself. Trust us, we al have been there. So don’t pick a fight with your
boyfriends, girlfriends, siblings and parents for the next 10 days. We want you to be emotionally
and psychologically robust for the exam. Also, if your boyfriends, girlfriends or siblings are
writing this exam, extend the same courtesy and support to them. No kidding guys! Emotional
health is as important for intelligence, as is regular studies.
5. Sorry to be a wet blanket! But NO PARTY before the exam. Ace it and we all shall party together.
6 Also don’t stress too much just for this one exam. You will be writing plenty of exams after this
as well. And CAT is wonderful in the sense that nobody ‘fails’ this exam. For every percentile
bracket, you have plenty of b-schools that will offer you admission. It’s just a lap that needs to
be covered in your race to victory.
Also, remember the entire team is here, cheering you from the stands and just a call away in case you need any guidance and support. So Ace, go and ace this exam! Best of everything!!
