Having trained more than 10000 students for CAT over 18 years, I believe I have seen a broad spectrum of students. Between the ones who crack CAT and the ones who don’t, the difference is just ONE reason.
Just resolving this one reason helped my son who is a BA in English move from 70 percentile in CAT 2018 to 98 percentile in 2019 and get calls from top colleges including IIMA. To reiterate, he’s not an engineer from IIT. A BA in English. And he got just 4 months to prepare. (Read his CAT story here)
Let me give you a low down on CAT before I give you that ONE reason!
CAT is actually only an aptitude test with 8th, 9th, 10th std Math, Logic and English. There are enough easy questions to easily get to the 90 percentile. Another way to look at it is that 90 percent of the people fail to solve the easy questions. And the easy questions are as simple as they can get. My son who was out of touch with Maths for the last four years, got a 96 percentile in quants.
It is not like an IIT JEE or an IAS entrance exam, which need depth knowledge and need two or three years of serious preparation. CAT is actually only an aptitude test like a bank test, but certainly more difficult.
With this background let me give you the ONE reason! It’s simple. Any person who puts in around 500 hours of quality preparation can crack CAT. To reiterate, the critical word is quality 500 hours!
In my 18 years I have asked many CAT aspirants ‘Why didn’t you do the quality 500 hours?”, they give many reasons
Reason 1: I joined coaching classes. But the classes were too fast and they were giving attention only to the toppers. If I had struggled on my own and reached 90 percentile, then they would have given me lots of attention. I wish there was someone who could take me first to 90 percentile. 95 and 99 percentile is much later, right?
Reason 2: After starting classes I realised that I’m not good at Math. I could not solve most problems from the materials.
Insight: This is probably the most important insight for your CAT preparation. Personally I have not yet understood the reason why most coaching centres have more than half the questions well above CAT level. It is no wonder why you find Math difficult. You are working on problems that you don’t need to. You could actually dump more than 50% of the materials most coaching centres give you and still get 95 percentile. But you need to choose the 50% intelligently!
Reason 3: I started my preparation with enthusiasm, but after a few weeks, something came up. Pressure at work, family function, a weekend trip with friends and I got diverted. If only I didn’t get diverted or someone pushed me back quickly and I started working with the same level of commitment.
Reason 4: Low Mock CAT scores. My confidence took a hit. Doubts kept coming up very often! Am I working on the right questions? Is my strategy correct? Am I making mistakes in my preparation? If only a CAT expert had spent multiple one-on-one sessions with me to find solutions to each of my problems.
Reason 5: I had prepared well but panicked on the D-Day. I don’t know what happened!
Insight: People who panic on the D-day are those who are not confident of their strategy. An initial setback can cause panic for those who have not spent enough time building a water-tight personal CAT strategy.
All these reasons have to be resolved because finally the quality 500 hours should happen. If an aspirant can ensure the 500 quality hours, or get external support to ensure it, he is sure to dramatically jump his CAT percentile.
At catmentorship.com, it is all about ensuring this quality 500 hours. Through active mentoring and not through passive mentoring. (Difference between active and passive mentoring)