Do's & Don'ts 2 weeks before CAT Exam - Part 1

With less than 3 weeks to go for the first of the CAT examinations to be taken by students across the country its time to shift some focus back onto what many believe is the mother of all management entrance examinations. We have already gone into great depth in terms of analyzing each section of the paper and the preparation and the techniques to be adopted for each one of the sections. We also had an article detailing what should be done and what not to be done on the day leading up to the D day. This week we focus on what to do in the upcoming and the most critical weeks in terms of preparation for the CAT.

First: I would like to start with a rather weird statement : Break any superstition. It is only natural that when we prepared for CAT and gave those numerous practice tests somewhere we start to believe that certain things help us to do better in the examinations. Maybe not all of us have but a certain percentage of people sure have fallen prey to the above line of thinking. Use the next three weeks to challenge each of these little superstitions. This is especially critical because on the morning of the examination you never know which of these so called superstitions might be in your favor or not. So its best to go in to the examination hall thinking nothing else can determine your performance apart from your preparation levels.

Second : Match the test timings. This is something which you can do if you have the flexibility to. If you are taking the examination in the afternoon slot try take at least a few mock examinations in the afternoon in the same time slot as your CAT. This is because subconsciously your mind learns to function at its peak levels during these times of the day if you put in a considerable amount of practice towards this. If however you are not able to achieve this, one other strategy you can try is to vary your practice test timings around. By doing well in these tests, you will feel confident about tackling the monster whenever it appears.

Third : Avoid eating out. Okay, this appears to be more of a caring mothersinglequotes advice than one coming from a coaching institute, but the truth is this is possibly the worst time for you to experiment with food. Agreed you may have a great liking a a good taste for all kinds of food, but all that can wait for the CAT to get over. After the examination you can head to that interesting new hang out you discovered in that niche locality of your town.

Fourth : Complete your office work on time. For all those of you who are working, you do understand that you will have certain deadlines which are very close to the CAT. So ensure that you start working on those as soon as possible. If your organization is kind enough, you might want to have a small chat with your manager to try and explain to him why the last week of November or the first week of December is not exactly the best time for him to put you on that multi-crore project which your company just bid for, and that you would be more than glad to work overtime on the same after your CAT. However, since most organizations do not take kindly to their employees looking for exit options through CAT, the ideal thing to do would be to maximize your office working efficiency.