Hurdles You Face While Preparing for CAT

The bells of CAT are ringing and the students are neck deep in preparations for it. It is only once the preparation mode begins that the students realize that they are surrounded by an ocean of problems that come with it.  It is time to switch off the panic mode as these problems are never big enough to act as a hindrance to your performance.

Every student has his own set of hurdles but there are a few things which prove to be the obstacles for majority of CAT aspirants. Few of the barriers that are common to all are listed below.

Lack of guidance

Why MBA? Most students going gaga about MBA have no response to this question. They are just blindly following the herd as they don’t know what else do to. It is very important to dig out the details about the programme before you get the show on road. Once you figure out that MBA is the plank you want your career to sail on, try listing down the course and colleges most suitable for you. The college and course listing would actually define the path you need to take for CAT preparation and which areas to focus on.

MBA Coaching

MBA coaching proves to the biggest problem that’s comes in the way of the CAT aspirants. Students continue the struggle to find out whether coaching is necessary or not. While it is a personal pick but it does depend on the level of preparation and the kind of student that you are. If you need constant monitoring and guidance then joining these classes would be the only wise option for you. If you are the dedicated ones who are focussed enough to smell success, then you are safe without enrolling into the numerous options available today.

The second difficult task is to zero down on one coaching centre for the MBA tuitions. The institute should be cherry picked in order to accomplish the goals you have set for yourselves.   With a dish full of options available for students, it is tough to decide which one to go ahead with. Students must take demo classes and get a feedback from the students who have enrolled in those centres and then make a pick.   

When to start?

So when should one start preparing for CAT? This is the most common question that resides in the minds of students preparing for CAT. Majority of the CAT aspirants often end up wasting a lot of time as they fail to identify the apt time to start preparing. There is no definite answer to this question as the preparation time varies from student to student.

The ones with a strong hold on the basic concepts would ideally take 3-4 months to prepare for the big exam. The focus should also be on giving a number of mock tests on a regular basis.

Students who feel that their basics need a little clarity should start prepping for the exam about 6-8 months prior to the exam date. The working professionals need to pump in extra efforts to make up for the lack of time due to their work.

This is just an over view, everyone has their own capabilities, strengths and weaknesses so the preparation time might just turn out to be different for different people.

What to start with?

Next in queue is of course, ‘the What to Start With’. Most of the times, students find it hard to identify the approach they should follow for their preparation. To spot the area that one needs to begin with, often is a tedious task. One must get their hands on the right study material to begin with.

Those of you who have enrolled yourself in the MBA coaching classes would easily have access to the right material to study. The rest should get in touch with the friends or the ones who can provide the correct guidance to know where they should start preparing from.

The next step would be to identify your strengths and weaknesses and focus on the areas that demand your attention. Students who feel they are not yet clear about the basics should start with that and then go ahead with mastering the complex topics.

How to manage time?

Time management in CAT is important both in terms of managing time for its preparation, as well as while appearing for the exam. Managing time to prepare would hold more importance in the lives of working professionals. This is because taking out time to prepare from the busy hectic schedule of the corporate world is a tough task. There are two ways this problem is dealt with, one being the easier one which involves you to give up your job. The second option would be to work hard and take out the smallest possible amount of time and spend that in preparing. The takers for the former option are relatively few, with a job comes responsibilities and independence which people are not ready to let go off.

Time management is vital in preparation for any examination. Everyone should know how to manage time. It becomes all the more important for CAT aspirants to know how to rule the clock in an examination. The changes brought about in CAT 2014 has removed the sectional time limit in the paper, which actually would mean that candidates should be able to manage their paper well failing which they might miss out on a lot of sections.  

Where do you stand?

It is essential for you to realize where you stand today. This is important to understand the amount of hard work one needs to put in to climb the ladder of success. The only way to figure this out is by taking a number of mock tests. This just makes you face the reality and tells you where exactly you stand.

A common practise that has been observed over the years is that students who don’t fare well in the mock tests get demotivated and give up on their dreams. Students should on the contrary take it up as a challenge and work hard realizing their mistakes. The whole purpose of these tests is to make you aware of your drawbacks and help you master those loop wholes. The common error that students make these days is to inhale the negative aspect of these tests and filter out the positive lessons that should be learnt from it.

The Fear of Failure

We are living in a competitive world. The competition that we are facing today is much more than what we would have faced yesterday and will be much less than that what we will face tomorrow. Students with a 95 percentile and above are the only ones making it to their dream college. It is due to this competition that the fear of failure is taking students down by attacking their determination to perform well. The performance in the mock tests and phobia of a few topics also leads to this fear of failure in the minds of students. It is essential for everyone to realize that every fear can be over powered by the correct method of preparation.

Basic concepts

At times, it is the lack of clarity in the basic concepts that acts as a hindrance in student’s progress. The roots need to be strong to bear the fruits of success. After spending some good time preparing for CAT, students realize that they need to brush up their basic concepts. MBA Industry in India is mushrooming and with the amount of competition students face today, it is essential to overcome all your weaknesses and outperform everyone.

The Juggle

The CAT aspirants often have to juggle between the preparations and the jobs or the other degree they are enrolled in for.  The majority of the CAT aspirants are the ones pursuing their graduation or post-graduation, it often becomes a huge struggle for the candidates to take time out from the college routine for the preparation of CAT. The university exams keep cropping up side-lining the MBA preparations. Such students need to pay a lot of attention in managing time and balancing out the preparations of both.

This applies to the working professionals preparing for CAT as well. They have only a limited few hours at their disposal, which have to be utilized in MBA preparations and a zillion other things. Such people should ideally utilize every break that they take in office, make use of the journey from their home to the work place and giving up those extra hours of sleep to come at par with the others. These steps are difficult to follow but the determination to bell the CAT usually sails such people through the examination.

Social Life

CAT or no CAT, every exam has this hurdle which proves to be the most difficult one to cross. To prepare well one needs to be devoted to books but the social life keeps calling out to us in such situations. This is most evident in the case of CAT aspirants because if someone is aiming for CAT then there is a high probability that his/her friends might not be preparing for the same. In such cases the friends and the social outings cause a huge problem for the goals of students.

Students who have enrolled themselves in classes often find a group of friends in those tuition centres that end up bunking classes together. Lots of students miss out of their classes just because of the newly found friends. Peer pressure is a huge deterrent in the success of candidates today. Students must learn to prioritize things in life, friends are important but not as much to let go off your life goals.

These are few of the issues students preparing for CAT face today. These problems are not as big that students let go of their dreams because of it. All these hurdles can be taken care off if one is focussed and determined towards his/her goals.