7 Month Preparation Plan of CAT for Working Professionals

7 Month Preparation Plan of CAT for Working Professionals

Getting into IIMs is a goal that many graduates aim for. For that, you have to crack the CAT exam which is a tough nut to crack but not impossible. Studying in IIMs for any management course paves the way for a solid career path by getting placed in big corporations and companies. If you are interested in giving CAT but are also a working professional and are worried about how to handle your job and your preparation together then the following plan would be of great help to you.

Starting from May till the day of the CAT exam, there are approximately 200 days or 7 months. It is possible to crack CAT with 7 months’ preparation too. All that is required is the right strategy, consistency and strong will power.

There are two ways to score 99+ percentile in CAT 2021:

1) Master of 2 Sections:

If 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- 2019 score of a candidate:

QA: 99.7

LRDI: 99.9

VA: 88

Overall: 99.68 (IIM C)

2) Equally Good in 3 Sections:  

With a percentile of more than 97% in each section would give at least 99% overall while a percentage of 99% in each section would give more than 99% as an overall percentage.

Taking standard working conditions into account, your work duration is about 9 hours a day, for example 9 am- 6 pm, and additional 2 hours of travelling, 5 days a week, then this plan should suit you. (Plan can be  moderated according to the office timings).

You need to study for at least 3-5 hours/Day on weekdays and 8 hours/day on weekend. This duration can also be adjusted according to your need and requirement. The plan is divided into 137 days of Study and 63 days of practicing mocks. (137+63=200)

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:

Reading Comprehension Passages: 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

7 Month Preparation Plan of CAT for Working Professionals

Having understood the important topics and areas that needs to be covered in CAT, let’s devise a smooth & simple plan for your CAT 2021 Prep.

Note: This strategy will only be useful if you follow it properly. You can improvise the given strategy according to your convenience. In case, one does not know from where or how to start their CAT 2021 preparation, start off with this strategy and then make necessary changes accordingly.

Chapter Wise Plan for Quantitative Aptitude: (Starting from 10^th May)

[10^th May – 31^st May]

Number System (1.5 hours/day on weekdays and 5 hours/day on weekends or holidays) for 3-4 weeks (20 days) learning concepts and solving sums from past papers as well.

[1th June to 10th July]

• Arithmetic (1.5 hours/day on weekdays and 5 hours/day on weekends or holidays) for 40 days. You can also start taking mock tests here on.

[11^th July to 27^th July]

• Modern Maths (1.5 hours/day on weekdays and 5 hours/day on weekends or holidays) for 16 days.

[28^th July to 28^th August]

• Algebra (1.5 hours/day on weekdays and 5 hours/day on weekends or holidays) for 30 days

[29th August to 20^th September] 

• Geometry and Mensuration (1.5 hours/day on weekdays and 5 hours/day on weekends or holidays) for the next 21 days

 [21^st September to 30^th September]

• Leftover topics (1.5 hours/day on weekdays and 5 hours/day on weekends or holidays) for 10 days. Revise leftover topics and practice.

[1st October till CAT]

• A fast paced revision of all the concepts learnt with new shortcuts and techniques (1.5 hours/day on weekdays and 5 hours/day on weekends or holidays) for 2 months.

Chapter Wise Plan for Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension (VARC): (Starting from 10^th May)

There is no shortcut for scoring well in the VARC Section of CAT 2021. You need to dedicate time to reading, and Solving RCs. You can adhere to the below strategy for scoring well in CAT 2021.

• Practice reading editorials, newspapers or any other reading material daily for at least 30 mins and try to summarize it. We provide daily reading articles from different genres to improve your understanding and critical thinking.
• Reading comprehension (1 hour/day on weekdays and 2.5 hours/day on weekends or holidays) till November 28, 2021. Start with at least 2 passages per day then increase to 4-5 passages once you gain Accuracy. Until November you will be able to complete almost 600+ passages.
• Critical Reasoning, Para jumbles, Odd One Out & Para summary (you should keep 2 days for one topic (45 mins/day on weekdays and 2 hours/day on weekends or holidays).

Chapter Wise Plan for Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation (LRDI):

Many aspirants consider Logical Reasoning as the toughest part of the CAT examination. Logical Reasoning 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 a DILR 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 LR and another day DI for (45 mins/Day on weekdays and 2 hours/Day on weekends or holidays) [till 20th November]

Full Mocks: (Starting from July)

During your preparation, you must have started taking Topic Wise Tests once the topic is complete. What you need to do next is to start taking at least 1 mock per week from July onwards till August 31st. From September onwards, take 2 mocks per week.
Once you are done with the syllabus, start giving 3 Mocks each week. Take as many mocks as you can.
With the help of Mocks, you will be able to learn new concepts & tricks while analyzing the mocks. Always analyze your performance after every mock test and review them for genuine feedback about your performance. Focus on improving your weak areas and try to master your strong areas.

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 2 classes on QA, 2 on VARC & 2 on 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/

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