I get around 5-6 mails daily asking me “how to prepare for B-School examinations such as CAT, FMS, XAT, etc. “. Well, According to me, the preparation strategy for any B-school examination is same, its only the way you tackle the exam, differs from one exam to another. And, here I will be talking about the preparation strategy for these revered B-School entrance exams.
First thing is to start preparing at such a time that one has enough time to have a solid grounding on all three areas – Quantitative Ability, Verbal Ability and Data Interpretation and Data Sufficiency. But then people often ask this question that how much time is enough time? To get answer to this question, it is important to do a Self Evaluation. One must know one’s competency level in each of the sections of B-School Examination. As everyone has a different level of competence in each of these sections therefore, the best way to find the level of competence is to take the Self-Evaluation test. For an engineer with a strong background in Mathematics, Quantitative Ability might come naturally to him and he’ll need less time to prepare than others. Same goes for a guy with background in English, who will need just a brush up on some grammar before facing the exam.
As far as self evaluation is concerned the best way is to take the previous years CAT paper, and try to solve it in the stipulated time. It’s really important that one should be honest and try to solve as one will in the real test. Once done, compute the score taking into consideration the negative markings if known and then find out the cut-off for that test. To cut a long story short, take the tests as real CAT and nothing else. Here is how one can evaluate one’s performance and decide on his preparation strategy thereafter:
- Cut-off cleared: If the cut off is cleared in one or all sections, then about 3 months of practice should be enough to crack any B-School test. Again its subjective and can differ from person to person.
- Cut-off missed by a small margin: If the cut off is missed by a small margin of 10% or so, one needs some more practice in that section. About 3-4 weeks of grounding on basics and then another 3-4 weeks on mock tests should be enough. 12-14 hours a week should be enough and during initial phase thrust should be given on the sections one is not so comfortable in.
- Cut-off missed by a large margin: If the cut off is missed by a large margin like 25% or more, then one will require more time. A sincere effort of around 5-6 months will be required, with the last few weeks for mock tests only. In this case, one will do good by spending more time in learning the basics and then evaluating himself section-wise. If the cut off is missed by more than 50%, then one will have to spend about 25-30 hours per week, for about 6-7 months, and about 5-6 weeks in the end for mocks tests. One will have to divide the time equally for each section. One should start preparing as early as possible and practice more so that he gets used to the questions more and more.
If this is the first time one is taking a test like this, then one should prepare for a few weeks and then take it. Please understand that it’s a good idea to evaluate properly before coming to a conclusion regarding the time required for preparation or regarding any other decision for that matter.
Self evaluation test helps one to know one’s limits & capabilities. It also helps in estimating an approximate time required for preparation. In order to prepare systematically, one should divide one’s time into phases.
- First phase: - 40% of the total time should be spent in getting basics right. At this stage, don’t focus too much on tests. Start from the scratch and specially focus on your weak sections. If you are weak in verbal, then start reading novels and newspapers. In this manner, over time you can improve and build a good vocabulary. Also create notes of things that will require re-visiting like formulae, short-cuts etc.
- Second Phase: - Next 30% of the time should be spent in finding out weak points, and making a list of questions one regularly falter at. Now focus on these select areas, and start taking sectional tests. Measure your performance over time by creating a small mark sheet. This way one would know where one needs to concentrate more, and invest more time.
- Third and last phase: - Last 30% of total time just before the test should be spent in taking mock tests, 2 tests per week on an average. Take tests in a complete test environment, the way one would take the real test. It would be good if one can take the test at the time of the real test, to simulate the actual test. This makes one’s mind tuned to work and think at this time.
So, in this manner, one can start preparing for the B-School examinations. Always remember that cracking a B-School examination is not a big deal, it just require hard work, dedication and systematic, smart preparation. If I could, then so can you.
