Belling The CAT.

-Khushboo Hanjura

PGDM- IMI New Delhi

CAT. One word which is enough to cause jitters down the spine of many of the
under-graduates, paved the way for one of the most exciting and life-changing
experiences of my life – successfully getting through one of the most reputed
colleges in India :-International Management Institute, New Delhi. From
solving the first practise test module to reading the admission confirmation
mail of the college, the journey has been a rollercoaster one, which left me
exhilarated and satisfied at the same time.

I did my graduation in economics from Jesus and Mary College, and I engaged a
lot with my under-graduation curriculum. The engagement was a combination
of my personal interest in the subject as well as the method of instruction. I am
a voracious reader and I started diversifying my reading to finance and
economics which I found intellectually, very stimulating. I wanted to learn
more and more about business.

I decided to go for CAT 2017. It did not seem so deterring because I had ample
time to prepare and therefore made sure to devise my strategy in order to
cater to my weaknesses and at the same time, not become over-confident
regarding my strengths. While practising modules and online tests, I figured
out that I need to put in more efforts in DI-LR section if I want to ace CAT.

I started solving more and more sets of Logical Reasoning and Data
Interpretation, my scores were not improving in proportion to the efforts I was
putting. On the other hand, due to my slight negligence towards VA-RC
section, which was my strength, my scores started falling in them. That is when
I learnt an important lesson, which was to not go overboard with expectations
from your strong section. The key to crack CAT is to do reasonably well in all
the sections and regular practise is the key to boost confidence and trust in
yourself so that you do not fall prey to exam jitters and anxiety because of lack
of practise and end up ruining the exam.

Also what people generally do is, that during their preparation time, if they
find an approach to solve a problem or a set, they stick to that particular
notion and become reluctant in finding ways to solve problems more
efficiently and in lesser amount of time. Getting too comfortable with a
particular approach can distort chances to perform to our full potential
during the exam. So it comes handy to start preparing early for the exam, so
that there is ample time to go through all the possible routes and means to
approach a particular problem and get eventually get sufficiently comfortable
in your own style.

Also during my CAT preparation journey, I made sure that I stayed healthy, and
surrounded myself with positive vibes. In a crucial time as such, where
negative thoughts can severely boggle down your expectations and energy, it
becomes even more important to create strong support systems and spending
more time with your loved ones, who can help you become more productive
by understanding your exam preferences and sincerity.

Because of all these strategies, coupled with my hard work and confidence in
myself, I came out of my CAT exam centre, with a gleaming smile on my face,
pertaining to my achievement of belling the CAT successfully.