How to start preparing for CAT? CAT (Common Admission Test) is one of the toughest exam to crack. It is the gateway to getting into prestigious IIMs and other top B-schools of India. A lot of CAT aspirants ask me how to prepare for CAT. Here I am sharing a few tips which I feel helped me in cracking this exam and score 99.41 percentile.
Understand the syllabus
This is a useful tip for almost any exam. Understand the syllabus by going through past year’s papers and official guidelines. CAT can be segmented into four broad parts-
- Quantitative Ability
- Data Interpretation
- Logical Reasoning
- Verbal Ability
The concepts used in this examination are broadly of class 10 level. However, the questions are little bit tricky to solve and require good amount of logical thinking. But it can be developed by practice.
Begin with the end in mind
Start your preparation with sheer determination. Whenever you feel demotivated, you can dream about the day when you will crack the exam and it will definitely motivate you. March-April is a good time to start preparation for the exam which will be held in October-November. However, if you are starting late, say 3 months before the exam, you still have a decent time to prepare and crack this exam. It all depends on how efficiently you can utilize your time.
Should you join coaching?
This is based on a lot of things. If you have a lot of time, you can go for coaching. However, if you are into a hectic job and get very little time to study, you can prepare on your own without wasting that time in going to coaching. Coaching will only give you guidance. Rest depends on how sincerely you practice.
Also, the syllabus of this exam does not require any special training. Most of the things we already study in our school. There are few concepts which can be revised from books and other material. Rest is a lot of practice.
Books and material
I have prepared complete list of books and material you will need for your CAT preparation which can be found here: List of Important CAT Preparation Books
First of all, get CAT preparation material of some good coaching institute.
For Quant, there are two good books- Arun Sharma & Sarvesh Varma. You can refer to any of these. I referred the latter one as suggested by one of my friends. However, I think the former is more popular with the students. Both the books are good. But don’t buy both. No need to unnecessary collect a lot of books & material. If you have limited time, solving one book is enough. Go for the second book only when you have finished the entire syllabus.
No special book for concepts of Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning and Verbal Ability. You can rely on the coaching material for all the concepts and can solve all the practice questions. However, you should refer to more books on these topics only after you finish the entire syllabus.
For verbal, you also need to read “Word Power made Easy” by Norman Lewis. It is a very good book which helps in increasing vocabulary not by memorizing stuff, but by understanding the ideas behind the words. It is distributed into 45-47 sessions meant to be read one at a time. It is a must-read book and should be completed within two months of starting your preparation.
You also need to read a few good story books as explained in the next point.
That’s it. Yes, you do not need any other book for concepts. This much is enough.
Reading, reading & reading
Many students, specially engineers are already good at quant but perform badly in verbal. Earlier, CAT was heavily based on vocab and grammar concepts. But these days, it is more of a general English exam which tests one’s command over English in common usage. You should be very much familiar with English.
The only way to improve your verbal score is to read a lot of good books written in standard English. These can be fiction, non-fiction or anything, just written in good English.
I have already written a detailed article to help you develop your reading habit. You can find it here: How to develop the habit of reading.
In the article, I have also mentioned the example books. Reading 4-6 books during your preparation would increase your familiarity with English and you can easily score good.
Test Series
This is like the Holy Grail of CAT preparation. Subscribe to one good Test Series and write all the tests very sincerely in simulated environment. Fix a day, say Sunday, fix a time, say 9 AM, and give the test every week at the same time. Sit in proper position while attempting the test and tell all your roommates or family members not to disturb you at that time.
Once you write 15-20 such tests, CAT will no longer be a stranger to you. When you will sit for actual CAT, you will feel as if you have done this a lot of times and it will help you to remain confident during the exam.
Most coaching institutes try to set the Mock Question paper to be as near to the real exam as possible. Subscribe to a test series which is more difficult than actual CAT. You may find it difficult to score good in the mock tests. But it will boost your confidence when you will find the actual CAT to be easier than the mock tests. Many good test series are available.
News coverage for post-CAT preparation
Once you clear CAT, you need to qualify the Personality Test rounds of various colleges which include Group Discussions, Written Tests and Personal Interviews. Qualifying CAT makes you eligible to attend this stage and its your performance in these rounds which finally help you getting selected. Preparing for this stage immediately after CAT result can be difficult. Try to follow the basic news in your daily life from today itself. This will ease down the load of preparation for Personality Test rounds and boost up your confidence as well.
And that is all. I followed these things and I feel it helped me to get through this exam. I hope these tips will help you in preparing well for CAT. All the best for getting into an IIM!
I want to ask that which institute is better for the cat exam tathgat or time
and should i start the coaching right for the cat 18 or not and one more thing that we are required to get 80% in class 10 and 12 then the institute will take us
Dear Abhineet, thanks for your guidance. I think it will helps me a lot for my CAT 2017 preparation. I hope it will be the best guidance for crack CAT exam.
Thank you very much.
Hi Lokesh,
Glad to know that this article is helpful to you. 🙂
All the best!
Thanks for providing valuable tips for CAT Preparation.
Thank you for reading. 🙂
Hello Sir,
I’m a student of IT,first year,BIT Mesra. I’ve scored 8.8 CGPA in 10th std from CBSE Board and 74.46% in 12th from Maharashtra Board. I want to do MBA from IIM after my B.E. Please do guide.
Thank You.
Sir, is there same syllabus all the year for CAT exam??
Thankyou Sir for your valuable advice…..it’s really useful and relevant…..
hello sir ,
i m in a dilemma what to do after my bachelors in mechanical
should i go for MBA or M.S ???
hi sir my name is abhireddy iam studing at svdc kadapa.i hava scored90% in tenth and 80% scored in intermediate.plse how to learn cat preparation sir
hi sir ,
i wanted to know how the selection process works in iim’s.
iam a final year B.tech student. i have a scored 77% in my 10th and i have scored just 57% in my 12th both from CBSE school. and i have a score of about 8.2CGPA till ma 7th sem in my B.tech.
i come under OBC cast and i have heard their is a little compensation for them.!!!
is it possible for me to get into top B schools.
or my 12 th low marks are gona hunt me down no matter what
even if i score good in my CAT exam.!!
Do you think their is fair chance for me to get into any of the top b schools so that i can give my best for the comming exam without any hesitation.!!
Thank you.
Kishoth Geethan
Hi Abhineet,
You write very well :):)
I have been working in Infosys from the last two years.I tried hard to prepare for CAT this year, joined coaching,gave the exam too, but I know what the results are going to be. I was not able to make time for studies along with job this year.But I really want to crack CAT in 2017.(My biggest problem is that I am not good at Maths and so, I loose my interest in it.)Can you guide me that how to manage both job and preparation together?Please help…
Hi Nidhi,
Thank you! 🙂
Managing preparation with job can be difficult. I had a tough time doing the same. I will definitely write an article about it on my blog shortly.
All the best!
hello sir im studying 1st year BBM please guide , how to start preparing for CAT exams ..
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Hello sir
I went through your words above and they surely helped me to get motivated enough to hit CAT 2017-18 . I m a final year undergrad economics student and have appeared for CAT this year which took place on 6Th Dec 2016. Though i enrolled myself at TIME, Gurgaon in June but went there only for a month and a half as coping with college was getting difficult. Honestly I did not enjoy their teaching mechanism much specially the quant part. I have the study material with me now but cant avail the classroom learning now. My ultimate stress as off now is that I have always been an average mediocre student getting decent marks but never a topper or something. So how hard will it be for me to crack it because I badly need to get through this exam , not just for a good salary package or brand name college but for sense of pride and confidence within. Looking forward for your reply.
Thanks.
Tanishq Raizada.
Hi Tanishq,
Glad to know that this article helped you.
Regarding your query, all you need is sheer determination and hard work. Regular study is must. Even 2-3 hours a day may be enough if you study daily with full concentration.
All the best!
Hello sir I m a first year at IHM pusa new Delhi , and want to be in one of top B schools after my graduation . I have scored 80.16% in 10th from ICSE and 75.4 % in 12th from ISC. PLZZ guide and tell me how good are my chances to make it happen
Hi,
I have completed my graduation three years ago and then i did a job for two and a half years and now want to pursue my post graduation from TOP B – School
For that i am preparing for CAT 2017 , I have scored average marks in my 10th , 12th and graduation, Kindly tell the chances of my selection in Best IIM colleges.
i have a same doubt. please anybody help
sir i cleared myCA Final exam now in last week and now i am aiming to give CAT ang get into top four IIM. Two questions i want to ask, the first i want to ask is whether it is too late to prepare for CAT? and the second,since i have done articleship in a med size firm i dont have much corporate work experience and my articleship got over now and i cleared CA in second attempt so both finished simultaneously whether they need work experience?
Hey,
As you have suggested its not good to leave an IT job for preparing CAT,So how much time should i dedicate each day if start preparing for CAT from march 2017 to give 2017 CAT exam.As you would be knowing that office covers 9 hours in a day excluding the travelling part,so should i be studying only on weekends or daily ?And i work for an MNC,so if have 1 year experience will that be good ?
Thank you
It may sound cliche but number of hours really depend on individual. I have seen people dedicating as little as 1 hour per day to as many as 6-7 hours per day, still getting into IIMs. So, it all depends on you.
Personally, I feel you should dedicate your weekends completely and devote at least 1 hour daily on working days.
1-3 years of work experience is generally good for regular MBA.
Thank you
i am in 1st year b.tech. should i prepare from these days for mba?
You can start building your foundation by reading a lot of books and reading newspaper regularly. Final preparation can be started in third year of B.Tech.
Hi Abhijeet,
Thanks for sharing this. It helped me clear my doubts about the coaching thing. On thing i want to ask is how important are your graduation marks while seeking admission in B-Schools?
I Have not scored 60% in B.Tech, can i still hope for a good college?
I am currently doing B.tech Biotechnology and I wish to pursue MBA in healthcare management and I was thinking about preparing for CAT exams. Your article was very helpful. The problem with me is that I get demotivated very easily plus I am lazy af. Can you give me some suggestions I would really appreciate that.
It’s very subjective & depends on individual. The way I motivated myself was to dream of the day if I get selected into an IIM.
hi , i have designing background completed masters in that want to pursue iim ,am i eligible for that ? is it helpful people who are from different background?
Yes.
Hi Abhineet,
Myself Renjith,completed B.E Mechanical engg, now working as an engineer(Project Management ) in a private organization.I want to purse MBA in Sales and Marketing.Appearing for CAT Exam in December 2016 , need to prepare for CAT Exams. Kindly suggest me some suitable books and study material for preparation.
I have suggested the books/material in the above article.
I am doing my final year in engineering. I planned to write M.B.A. in 2017. I have a year completely. How to prepare from now ?. Shall I make a try in the upcoming 2016 cat exam?
Same tips which I have written in the article. All the best.
currently i am doing bsc hons physics , and i wish to do mba from top prestigious colleges , is it better to do preperations for cat from first year by joining TIME institute ? does zero work experience affects ?
and out of 100 question in cat exam how much question we need to attempt in order to get 90+ percentile ? does cat exam have reservations for sc or obc candidates ? how much time should i divote per day for cat preperations ?
Coaching helps for maintaining regularity in studies. However, self-study can also do fine in case one is sincere.
Hi Abhineet,
I really like the way you have explained how to prepare for CAT. Currently I am working as a software engineer and planning for CAT. But my academic scores are not really good which caused me lot trouble to get into IT industry. I just wanted know whether that affects my IIM admission as well or once I crack it won’t matter.
Yes. Scores matter, but mainly in older IIMs. If you are fulfilling the eligibility criteria, you can work hard on your CAT score to compensate for your marks.
hello sir, i m now doing engineering in extc and m in third year. should i give CAT 17 or CAT 18? i have seen on the site of iima that they also take into consideration % scored on an aggregate till date.My avg. pointer is 8.15 what should i do?
also i want to prepare for CAT on my own. Is it ok? U suggested TIME series for preparation so can i get that5 series in stationary stores?
You can get that series in TIME’s office.
Hello sir, I am pursuing btech in etc. I am second year student sir my question was that will my 10,12 marks matter or graduation marks for admissions to various collages for MBA…. sir please suggest me some ideas for preparation also…
Yes. Marks matter as per the current criteria of IIMs.
sir i have just passed graduation with 70.5 % in BBA . And now i have decided to go for MBA . i have started prepairing for cat june is it possible that if practice a lot i can clear cat of NOV 2016?
Yes.