CAT 2007: The biggest surprise could be no surprise

With just two weeks to go for CAT 2007, I can understand the tension that all the aspirants must be going through at this point of time. After all, I was in a similar situation just a year ago. But do remember that this is a very crucial stage in your preparation and you must have a definite plan over the next two weeks.

• Share you CAT experience and advice!

To crack CAT, you need to have a perfect mix of strategy and concepts. Merely dominating one aspect would not be enough to make you clear one of the most competitive exams in this world.

When you enter the examination hall, you must have a clear strategy in your mind about the sequence in which you will attempt the sections, approximate time that you will devote to each and the topics within each of the sections that you will attempt first. All these decisions will come from an analysis of your strengths and weaknesses, which you must have analysed by now through the various Mock CATs. (If you have not, do it now!)

The strategy that I followed was to work on my areas of strength first. So, in my case, I attempted DI and Quant first and left the Verbal section for last. This strategy helped me to attempt my strongest sections without any time constraints and that in fact helped me to complete these sections in lesser time.

Thus, by the time I reached the last hour, I had already built up my score and after that it was all about clearing the cut-off in the Verbal section. This strategy helped me to keep enough time for the Verbal section and allowed me to carry the confidence of my stronger sections to my weaker link.

However, CAT has always had a tendency to surprise the candidates by a change in the pattern and this demands a little bit of flexibility in your strategy. After all, as managers, you will be required to make quick decisions. But, a general framework about your strategy can always provide you an edge over others.

Also, do remember that the biggest surprise in store in this year's CAT could well be no change in the pattern!

For the next two weeks -- do things that come to you naturally. Do what you have been doing all your life during the last few days while preparing for exams. I am a person whom you will always find with a book in his hand till the last minute before an exam starts. I believe that this is my natural tendency and this is what I did when I took CAT.

I took around 15 Mock CATs in the two weeks preceding CAT and that helped me to be in the right frame of my mind on D-day. I seemed to have a familiarity with the exam, which would not have been possible had I stayed away from the preparations during the last few days. Just remember to adopt the strategy that suits you best; if you have always believed that relaxation is the best approach before an exam, go and chill out over the next few days; but if you have always been a last minute slogger (like me!), give your best efforts over the next two weeks. Believe me, it will make you feel much more confident.

However, avoid taking any new topics at this point of time and just concentrate on your areas of strength. After all, CAT is a test about how strong you are in your areas of strength and not about how weak you are in your areas of weakness.

So, good luck to all of you. My advice for those of you who have scored well in the Mock CATs so far -- just try and build up on your performance on D-day; and for those of you who haven't been lucky in this regard -- have faith in your abilities and just try and surprise everyone with your performance  (just like I did!).