CAT is not tough. It’s definitely not the toughest exam in the world at least at an intellectual level. So I found it quite humorous when Harsha Bhogle said so in his talk on ’12 truths beyond CAT’. But then, after his talk came to an end and I started analysing my past one year at IIM-A, I somehow got convinced that CAT is indeed one of the toughest exams in the world if not the one and so is surviving here at IIM-A. This is not because it has got a handful of IMO level problems in the Quant section, not because it has one of the toughest tests on DI that I have ever witnessed and neither because it requires an extraordinary vocabulary to clear its section on English. In fact, none of these things holds true for CAT.
According to me, CAT requires primarily three things; Common sense, Commitment and a Capability of time management (and of course the right attitude and morals to get into an IIM). I wish to call this the 3C-funda for cracking CAT (After courses on HR and marketing, I have developed a kind of fetish to manufacture and apply frameworks to most of the things I do except to matters of heart. I wish to write something on the latter as well but am not quite sure of the idea as I have been an eternal loser in this field).
Well, coming back to CAT, the quant section just requires you to retain the very basic fundamentals of simple mathematics that we have learnt at school level (not even high school!!!); DI requires common sense and some bit of practice; English just requires the habit of reading newspapers/novels (not like a GK maniac; rather just for fun and to be informed) and of course developing an ability to manage your time well (believe me, there’s nothing in life for which you will have infinite time). So basically, it is about doing the simple things well rather than doing extraordinary stuff which normal people leading a normal life cannot and then combining ability with the right attitude.
Most of the time it is the toughest to do the simple things well because many of us are occupied enough in doing things which others can’t do though the fact is in most of the cases, winning requires you to do the former right rather than the latter and that is what makes CAT one of the ‘toughest exams in the world to crack’. You need not be an abnormal person to clear CAT.
Disclaimer: I would be more than happy if someone takes out something out of this article but in no way is this article a guide to clear CAT
Warning: This article has been written after having one peg each of whisky and vodka and considering that I am not a drinker, this is high enough for me to get high
