7-month preparation plan of CAT for non – working professionals
A lot of people aspire to crack CAT and get admission into the top B-schools in India including the 20 IIMs. A lot of aspirants are working while some are not. Though working professionals have an edge over others in getting admission into IIMs as they give preference to a three-year working experience, non-working candidates too can crack the exam with a lot of hard work and the right strategy. So the following 7-month preparation plan of CAT for Non-Working Professionals who wish to prepare for CAT 2021 and crack it with 99+%ile in CAT 2021.
There are three types of non- working aspirants:
- People who are at home, mostly in a containment zone
- College- going students who have no classes going on in college
- People who have lost their jobs because of Corona or are working at home.
There are two ways to score 99+ percentile in CAT 2021:
1) Two of the sections are your strong areas, for example, QA & VA, QA & LRDI, or VA & LRDI, while the third is average
One example of the CAT score of a candidate:
QA : 99.7
LRDi : 99.9
VA : 88
Overall : 99.68 (IIM C)
2) You are equally good at all three sections QA, LRDI, and VA. (Balanced Prep)
With a percentile of more than 97% in each section would give atleast 99% overall while with a percentage of 99% in each section would give more than 99% as overall percentage.
Starting from April till the day of the CAT exam, there are approximately 210 days or 7 months. It is possible to crack CAT with 7 months’ preparation too. All that is required is the right strategy and consistency and strong will power.
You have to put in a lot more efforts than your working counterparts as they already have an edge over you. So you need to work harder and you have got more time than working people to compensate. You need to put at least 6-7 hours /day.
Following are the Important areas from each subject:
Approx number of Questions asked: (For 3 hours CAT exam, with 34 Questions in Quant)
1. Quant chapters:
Numbers: 4-5 (including indirect concepts in other topic questions)
Geometry and mensuration: 6-7
Modern maths: PNC, Probability & Set Theories: 3-4
Algebra: 7-8
Arithmetic: 10
TSD: 2-3
Functions, Logs and inequalities: 4-5
2. Verbal Ability:
Reading Comprehension Passages: 16-24
Para Jumbles: 2-4
Para Summary: 2-3
Sentence Completion and Correction: 2-3
Sentence Elimination/ Odd One Out: 1-2
Fill in the Blanks: 1-2
Word Usage & Vocabulary: 1-2
3. Logical Reasoning/ Data Interpretation:
Graphs: 6-8
Arrangement: 5-6
Data Sufficiency: 3-5
Tables and Case-lets: 2-5
Blood Relations: 1-3
Puzzles: 1-2
Clocks & Calendars: 1-2
Assumption and Binary Logic: 1-2
Syllogisms and Venn Diagrams: 1-2
Follow this 7-month preparation plan of CAT for Non – Working Professionals for each section
Chapter Wise Plan for Quantitative Aptitude Section for CAT 2021: (Starting from 15th May)
Numbers [15th May – 31st May]
- (3-4 hours per day for 2-3 weeks (16 days) learning concepts and solving sums from past papers as well)
[1st June to 8th July]
- Arithmetic (3- 4 hours per day) for 38 days. You can also start taking mock tests here on.
[9th to 20th July]
- Modern Maths (3- 4 hours per day) for 11 days.
[21st July to 15th August]
- Algebra (3- 4 hours per day) for 25 days
[16th August to 2nd September]
- Geometry and Mensuration (3- 4 hours per day) for the next 16 days
[3rd September to 30th September]
- Leftover topics (3 -4 hours per day) for 27 days. Revise leftover topics and practice.
[1st October till CAT]
- A fast paced revision of all the concepts learnt with new shortcuts and techniques for 2 months prior to the exam.
Chapter Wise Plan for Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC) Section for CAT 2021: (Starting from 15th May)
Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension section for CAT 2021 can give you nightmares if you are not habitual of the following things. We being the experts in the CAT industry have come up with the tips and study plan that you can follow to score 99+%ile in the VARC section of CAT. Follow this 7-month preparation plan of CAT for Non – Working Professionals
- Practice reading editorials, newspapers or any other reading material daily for at least 30 mins and try to summarize it.
- Reading comprehension (2 hours daily). Start with at least 3 passages per day then increase to 4-5 passages once you gain Accuracy. Likewise, till November you will be able to complete almost 300+ passages.
- Critical Reasoning, Para jumbles, Odd One Out & Para summary (you should keep 2 days for one topic and time it according to you).
Chapter Wise Plan for Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation (LRDI) Section of CAT 2021:
Many aspirants consider Logical Reasoning as the toughest part in the CAT examination. Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation questions usually come with 3/4 bits. A paragraph is given full of information followed by 4 questions. You have to read the information thoroughly and apply your logic for answering these questions. The first and most important step in solving an LR problem is to write down all of the information given in a box, table, or diagram. All you need for cracking LRDI is familiarity over CAT Type LRDI Sets. It means if you have solved 300-400 CAT Type LRDI sets till CAT you will be able to solve at least 4 out of 8 sets (considering 3 hour CAT Pattern) in CAT 2021.
- This area generally needs lots of practice to get hands onto a variety of sums.
- Keep practicing one day LRDI for 2 hours/Day daily [till 20th November]
Sectional Mocks (All the 3 Areas): From June till November 28
Daily take one sectional mock either of QA, LRDI or VARC, which can be from any standard source because you need to test yourself on topic wise as well once you are done with your study to get little confident and to ensure you have covered all the areas. You may increase the number if you are free any day, at least one sectional is a must per day. (if that day isn’t your Mock day)
Full Mocks: (Starting from July)
Take at least 1 mock per week until August 31st. From September, take 2 mocks per week.
Once you are done with syllabus, start giving 3 Mocks each week. Take as many mocks as you can.
Following Mock, analyse the paper to find your weak areas and then focus on your weak areas accordingly.
How FundaMakers will help you?
If you are an enrolled student, then you just need to follow the class schedule, attend all the classes regularly without fail & take mocks as soon as they are released. Believe us, we have already devised a well-structured plan for your preparation.
Well, if you are not a Fundamakers Student, then you can rely on us for the Mock Tests & Practise Sessions for all the Topics that are asked in CAT.
We offer Free Live Practise Sessions from Monday to Saturday at 8:30 AM on our YouTube Channel. In these sessions, we cover High-Level Question practice for CAT 2021 on QA, VARC & DILR.
For Free 24×7 Doubt Clearing, you can join FB Groups. Along with doubt discussion, you will also get important notifications related to B- School forms and what all colleges are good, based on return on investment (ROI).
Fundamakers- CAT Prep: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FundaMakers/
To know more about CAT and Other Management Entrance Tests, register here: http://bit.ly/CAT21Demo
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7-month preparation plan of CAT for Non – Working Professionals
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