How to prepare for CAT in 3 months?

Many students must be wondering on whether they can prepare for CAT in 3 months or not. With the CAT notification released now and it is somehow confirmed that the Cat will be held in November(which many were hoping for it to get delayed). So with approximately 3 months in hand, many are struggling with the strategy that they should follow in order to score good in CAT 2020.

So, first of all to prepare for CAT 2020, what you need to do is first analyze the syllabus of CAT. See what all are the sections and what all are the topics that come in the CAT exam. You can refer to Full CAT 2020 Syllabus and so many other details here.

Now, once you are cleared on the syllabus part, so now is the time to make strategy for every section.

Edushastra provides crash course for CAT 2020 if you need us guiding you through the maze.

Moving ahead means lots of study, lots of analyzing your performance, so move ahead if you are willing to do the hard work. Because at last, it is going to make your life easier and more successful.

Now some common things which you have to do daily is :-

1. Make a routine. Yes. Making a routine is very important. It will help you in covering the sections faster and with more focus. Divide the time between all the sections and stick on that. 
2. Prioritize. It is very important to prioritize topics based on the weightage.
3. Read daily in the morning. Newspapers are the best.
4. Try dividing the time for the sections according to your preference. The one which you find less interesting, keep it for morning as you will be fresh and will be able to solve. The one you find most interesting, keep that for the last because that will prevent you to sleep.
5. Concept, Practice and Application. Do not leave these 3 things for any day. Repeat it for 3 months
6. Analyze every mock test you take. Analyze in which sections you are lacking and move accordingly.

For the Time Management, consider on how many hours you need to cover up the things.

1. Quant- 25 chapters + Practice ( 25*2 + 40= 90 hours)
2. LR/DI:- Minimum 200 sets ( 30-40 hours)
3. VARC :- VA-20 hours + RC-20 hours:- 40 hours, Total:- 150 hours

Now , lets talk about how to prepare for particular sections.

Now, what we have to keep in mind is that we have to understand what will all the topics be when it comes to the particular sections. Now, we have to prioritize accordingly on how to move forward with the topics. Priorities according to weightage should be:-

1. Arithmetic
2. Geometry
3. Algebra
4. Word problems

Now some things which you should take care about in Quant is:-

1. Prioritize:- Do prioritize each and every section. As arithmetic and Geometry sections have more weightage as compared to others, try covering that first. The main thing is to get maximum questions correct and that could be done if the topics with more weightage are covered.
2. Concepts:- It is very important to get concepts cleared in Quant. Basics should always be cleared and as the time is less, do not dwell in depth for the concepts.
3. Strategy making:- It is good to have conceptual clarity, but only having conceptual clarity is not good. Make strategies on how to solve the particular sections.  For some topics, do not waste time on solving very difficult questions like number system because easy questions are asked and difficult ones are very rare so invest time in the areas which will increase your score.
4. Practice:- It goes without saying that practicing the questions is of utmost importance. Do not skip practicing questions at any point of time. Make it a habit of solving the questions regularly and analyze the time taken in every question to solve. If any question takes more than 2 minutes, analyze and find a shorter way to do that.

So, following all these methods, you can excel in Quant. Divide the number of hours accordingly. Do not invest more time in any conceptual part, if you feel some topic is taking more time, leave it for end. Take the less weightage sections to cover in the end. Cover the sections with more weightage in the starting so that you will gain some confidence over it. Attempt sectional mocks everyday and try finding your weaker points and in the meantime cover them.

So, following all these methods, you will be able to score well in Quant in just 3months.

3 – VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading comprehension):- For VARC, Reading comprehension is very important. Getting the passages right is what will improve your score in VARC section. The first thing which needs to be done in VARC is to practice a lot. Improve on your reading skills. Instead of moving on to newspapers or magazines, move directly to passages to improve. Try solving the passages and start building your speed.

As you can see, Reading comprehension dominates the VARC section in verbal. So it is really important to excel in this. It is mandatory to solve passages every day for the next 3 months only then you will be able to excel in this.

• Take note that reading fast is important, but reading and understanding at the same time is very important. If you have to give the passage a second go, then you will waste a lot of time. So read and understand at the same time.
• Eliminating the options is very important. If you are able to eliminate 2-3 options, your half work is done. This you can develop only by practicing. 
• Practice daily. Get the concepts cleared and then practice daily. Analyze each and every question. The main thing is eliminating options. Focus on that. 
• The level of questions of verbal is increasing in CAT. So it is important that you move one step ahead. Only practice can make you score good in VARC. If you excel in VARC, then a good percentile is no big deal.

Mocks:-

Now, this is the part which will ensure your success to a great percentile in CAT. Do not, I repeat, do not skip solving mocks at any point of time. Solve mocks every week and after 1.5 months, everyday. Yes. It is really really important that you solve the mocks. Mocks is the key to get you to score a great percentile.

• Analyze each and every mock. If you do not analyze your mocks, then you will never know which sections you need to improve on or which questions are taking more time to solve. It will give you clarity on how you are solving the questions. 
• Note down the questions which you feel are taking more time. Find a shorter way to do that because time management is everything.
• One thing which students do is that sometimes they solve a question and they are not confident in it like whether they used the right method to solve it or not, or sometimes luck also plays a factor. But in mocks, you should not leave them. You should always analyze that questions and be clear on how to solve the question particularly. 
• If you feel some questions which are rarely asked in CAT exam are wasting a lot of time of you, skip them. Save them for later stages. It is important to understand your priorities at this stage and this means, no wasting time on rarely asked questions. The only motive should be to score a lot of questions correctly.
• Make sure to solve mocks regularly. Your schedule should have time to solve the mocks and also to analyze each one of them
• Try taking mocks from different sources instead of one. This will make you ready to tackle difficult questions from different sources.

So, following these steps, you will be able to score great in CAT. It will require an extra effort for sure and you have to put your best foot down, but once you get a great percentile, you will be able to cherish that for the rest of your life. So the next 3 months can really change your life into something brilliant and it obviously will help you in the coming future. There will be many downfalls during your preparation but do not get demotivated. Always try to figure out how to solve the questions particularly.