IDEAL PREPARATION FOR IIM-CAT

Ideal preparation for IIM-CAT

An ideal IIM-CAT preparation should entail the following:

1. As a first step, you need to take a Simulated / Mock Test of IIM-CAT to benchmark your performance. This should be followed by an objective critical analysis from an expert teacher to comment on issues which may not be in public domain. This helps in giving a realistic idea about the level of hard-work needed and time lines to be maintained during preparation.
2. Find the right set of books and a teacher who can make your learning challenging, comprehensive, engaging and fun.
3. Learning and mastering the specific strategies and procedures to handle each type of question appearing on the IIM-CAT. This also entails identifying each type of question that appears on the IIM-CAT and knowing how to crack it by using its specific strategy and procedure.
4. Understanding all concepts and rules tested on the IIM-CAT and applying them on a certain number of real IIM-CAT questions until you become perfect.
5. Clearing the concepts with your teacher on each and every question, in which you make a mistake and cannot realize what went wrong.
6. Identifying concepts that you tend to forget.
7. Identifying questions where you tend not to use the right procedure.
8. Practice questions under a time constraint to decrease your response time to handle questions. Your accuracy dips down as you work faster so work on it.
9. Take progressive tests having multiple topics.
10. After you have attained a certain level of expertise, start taking Mock IIM-CAT exams to identify test dynamics and how a complete exam affects your accuracy and performance. Issues such as lower accuracy when you attempt a multiple-subject and multiple-topic test, shorter attention span, low stamina to use brain actively for four hours, test anxiety and nervousness, etc should be identified. Take more tests and address whatever problems you have. Keep doing mid-course corrections in your preparation based on Mock Test performance and analysis.
11. Be clear about the dynamics of the test day and be completely prepared for it, in terms of mandatory breaks during the test and how you can use them to your advantage, what to eat or drink during the break, test centre procedures, proctoring procedures, Business School list to which IIM-CAT scores have to officially sent, documents to carry to the test centre, what to wear, what to do if you suffer a test irregularity, etc.
12. IIM-CAT mock tests can have a toll on your nerves. Keep yourself cool, upbeat and objective. Visualize yourself responding to case studies at your dream B.School, when you get bugged or tired. 

We have designed Class-Room based programs and 1-on-1 Personalized Attention programs which address these issues faced by students:

1. We start with a Diagnostic Test ( Mock IIM-CAT ) to benchmark a student’s performance and present position. The student receives a detailed analysis of his performance (IIM-CAT Test Performance Analysis) to a subject, topic and question level.
2. We follow a closed-feedback-loop mechanism to train you. We wouldn’t just be happy that we have taught you the right stuff, but we will ensure that you have understood and learnt it well. We would like to be a bit strict here and we will also check what you have learnt and why are you not getting a 100% score. So, the program has a lot of written homework, which is monitored by teachers.
3. Student attempts a Pre-Work assignment to increase familiarity with a topic and understand the challenges involved.
4. Teacher teaches the topic in class and teaches every concept that has been tested on the IIM-CAT. Students are encouraged to take extensive notes during the class. Then teacher shows how to apply each concept through questions that test that concept. Now students attempt a certain number of questions in front of the teacher to identify any problems that still remain. The class ends with detailed written assigned homework of two types – questions to test knowledge of concepts tested on IIM-CAT, which have been taught in class and questions to test application of concepts (real IIM-CAT questions from the Official Guide to the IIM-CAT)
5. Back from the class, at home, a student revises class notes and has to attempt stuff from a practice work book. The work book has three parts – reiterated important concepts (to be revised and learnt), Concept Tests (to identify whether you have learnt all the concepts) and Concept Application Tests (to test whether you know how to apply concepts on questions) on each topic to identify whether a certain concept is not clear or application of the concept is not perfect.
6. The workbook is submitted to the teacher, who minutely checks the home work and provides remedial actions – teaching the concept again, more class work in front of the teacher or/and more homework.
7. Your teacher clears the concepts on each and every question, in which you make a mistake but you are unable to realize what went wrong.
8. In this manner each topic, each concept and question type gets perfected. The next stage is working under time constraints to hone time management and decrease reaction time to each question.
9. Now a student has to attempt practice questions under time constraints and has to decrease the average time taken per question. Attempting questions faster results in more silly mistakes also, so a greater focus under time-constraints is the learning of this stage of preparation.
10. As more and more topics are taught, a student gets ready for the next level of learning – multiple topic tests or progressive tests. A student needs to develop the ability to attempt a jumbled bunch of questions, random in terms of subjects, topics, concepts and difficulty levels – the way it appears on the real exam, IIM-CAT.
11. The last level of learning happens by seriously taking a series of mock IIM-CAT tests. The mock IIM-CATs will point out the new test dynamics at play:

Under test conditions, you make a greater number of silly mistakes because of test anxiety.

1. Attention span – you have an attention span of 1 hour, but this is a 2-hour exam, so after the first hour, you feel like taking a break to perform better later, but you are not permitted to do this.
2. Stamina – After an hour or two of testing, your brain gets tired so questions seem more difficult to understand and solve, leading to more mistakes.
3. Taking an online exam on the computer monitor is uncomfortable to a lot of students. You have always done Paper and Pencil kind of tests so reading from the screen works against your scores.

The solution is a greater number of Mock IIM-CAT exams, 15 to be precise. This gives you a grip on online testing and makes you immune to the pitfalls. Moreover, analysis of each test by the student followed by analysis by the teacher helps to identify the grey areas that need focus.

12.  We would even like to hand-hold you during the real exam, but that would be unethical and is not permitted. Luckily, you would be so prepared for the IIM-CAT that you won’t need us during the real exam.

Based on specific requirements of our students, we have designed two programs to help them effectively :

Please feel free to discuss with our teachers about which program suits your requirement. We will readily find ways to help you out, if your specific needs require us to customize our program.  Take the first step, call or mail us at mail@ivyleague.online