Acing GDPI-WAT round is one of the most pivotal steps towards securing admission to your dream college. The GD, PI and WAT round measures the ability of the student’s communication skills, strong analytical skills, proficiency in the language, knowledge, confidence, and unique perspective.
It is important to keep in mind that GDPI-WAT round carries almost 30% to 40% of your overall composite scores and therefore after CAT exam, students should focus on preparing GDPI-WAT to excel this selection process. Keep a note of the 12 must do things to crack GDPI and WAT.
Balancing a job with CAT preparation can be challenging, as it requires focus for 6-12 months. However, no worries- Here are some valuable tips for CAT 2025 preparation strategy tailored for working professionals without quitting job.
What makes CAT Preparation Tough for Working Professionals?
There are certain factors that make CAT 2025 preparation challenging and tough for working professionals:
1. Limited time availability
- The primary challenge is to allocate and dedicate time for CAT preparation amidst a busy schedule
- Long travel time and schedules can reduce the available hours for study
- An efficient time management is needed to balance work and study
- Long shifts and extended working hours leave limited time for preparation
2. Work commitments
- Weekend duties/shifts, assignments, meetings can disturb the study schedule
- Sometimes immediate work tasks can disrupt the planned study routine
- Unavoidable work situations make it harder to stick on the regular study time table
3. Exhaustion from work
- Busy working schedules/ extra shifts or extended hours can drain both energy and time
- Exhaustion leads to inconsistent study habits and makes it challenging to stay motivated for studying
CAT 2025 preparation strategy for working professionals
Here are some effective strategies for working professionals to prepare study plan for CAT 2025:
1. Set attainable goals
- It will be a good strategy to create short- term and long-term goals
- Avoid making overambitious targets
- Start from small steps and eventually increase them
- Evaluate current standing in each section of DILR, VARC and QA
- Access the areas of improvement and the one that need more focus
2. Create and follow a study plan
- It is advised to dedicate 2-3 hours effectively for CAT preparation.
- Spend weekends to cover more topics and mocks
- Analyse your current stand in each section and dedicate time accordingly to each subject and topic
- Utilize free time in reading. Consistent newspaper reading will help to improve speed, vocabulary, and comprehension ability.
3. Maximise your productive time
- Identify your productive time either morning or night hours and utilise these time periods for dedicated study. Study new topics, do revision, practise questions etc.
4. Use available resources effectively
- Watch videos related to quants and DILR tricks, speed maths
- Listen to VARC session and strategy to improve reading
- Rely on some good sources for formula and conceptual revision
5. Practice more
- Even if you have 30 minutes of free time, spend in solving good conceptual questions or utilise time in reading articles.
- Consistent practice of questions will keep you on track
6. Quality over quantity
- Choose coaching study materials wisely and avoid to cover available material or topics with extremely less weightage
- Focus on sectional mocks, and full-length mocks and analyse mistakes
7. Analyse your progress
- Review your work daily, revise key concepts every next day
- Practice mock and analyse your performance
- Dedicate more hours to the areas you are lacking in
8. Maintain balance
- Engage in some extracurricular activities to keep yourself fresh and motivated
- Engage in reading habits, or sports to help to reduce stress
CAT 2025 Preparation Strategy Section-Wise for Working Professionals
As we know, CAT 2025 includes 3 main sections:
- Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension
- Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning
- Quantitative Aptitude
Here we have outlined few important points to keep in mind while preparing for each section:
VARC (Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension) Strategy for working professionals
- Nurture a reading habit
- Develop a habit of reading newspapers daily on various themes to expand knowledge and improve vocabulary
- Focus on newspaper editorials to develop good comprehension skills
- Consistent reading habit will improve speed, and boost up your
- RC Practice
- To enhance speed and efficiency, it is important to solve 2-3 RCs daily.
- Try doing easy and difficult level of RCs to train yourself to tackle the situation daily
- Daily practice will increase your speed and eventually helps in time management too.
- Improve Vocabulary
- To boost up your vocabulary, solve 6-10 questions of VA to increase accuracy and comprehension.
- Maintain a note of new words encountered during reading and revise them daily
DILR (Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning) Strategy for Working Professionals
- Practice diverse LR sets
- Practice most observed pattern like Venn diagrams and seating arrangements etc.
- Start practicing from easier LR problems and gradually build up familiarity and practice for difficult ones.
- Focus on speed maths
- Develop speed maths and do not rely much on on-screen calculator.
- Use basic maths approximation and practice mental maths to reduce time on calculations.
- Analyse and identify mistakes thoroughly
- Completely avoid guess works.
- Identify the areas that you are repeatedly making mistakes and improve them.
QA (Quantitative Aptitude) Strategy for working professionals
- Understand and complete the QA syllabus
- First, it is important to understand the CAT QA syllabus
- Focus on your strengths and weaknesses simultaneously while completing the syllabus
- Create a formula book to revisit the them every alternate day
- Improve speed and accuracy
- Focus on solving questions with great accuracy.
- Practice this approach while solving mocks as it will decrease chances of committing mistakes.
- Appear topic-wise/sectional tests
- QA has a wide variety of topics
- To clear concepts, it is advisable to solve questions topic wise to grasp each topic well.
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CAT Preparation Strategy for Working Professionals FAQs
Working professionals are advised to make a timbe table and stick onto it, dedicate weekends for study, allocate either morning or night time for study and stay consistent.
Yes, a working professional can crack CAT exam with quality time preparation. They should focus on quality of study rather than quantity. Even if they are spending 3 to 4 hoirs daily with full focus, it’s a good to go approach.
Candidates should set short-term goals and join some study groups to be on track with the syllabus and must watch recorded lessons in free time. Take breaks in between and do not stress.
You can start preparing for CAT roughly by devoting 8 to 12 months for good level of preparation and time to build up the foundation then gradually moving towards advance level of preparation.
