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With CAT about one month away, it would be wise not to waste time working on anything new. In the next few weeks, just revise your fundamentals. Also, the basic process of revision should not be one where you check yourself on whether you remember the solution to questions or not.

While revising, see if there is a better way of doing a question. At this stage, your study hours should be towards keeping a clear head and improving your concentration.

Don't Experiment

There should be no fiddling with your strategy at this stage. The time for experimentation is over now. As long as you know that the strategy you are using is giving you rewards, don't change it...

For example, you would know if your best bet is to scan a passage and then move onto to the questions, while another person could be more at ease scanning questions before going onto the passage. So just stick to whatever works best for you.

Taking the Tests

Test-taking is the most important aspect of your preparation now. Take two, or at the most, three tests a week. Test-taking should be followed by a complete and thorough analysis of the paper.

Analyse

A thorough analysis into mistakes you have committed and how you will rectify them is very much required. You should not take the test as an end in itself, rather it should be a means to an end. Remember, CAT is not about last minute cramming and revising. It's about being alive and mentally alert, here and now!

Gauge Yourself

The most objective analysis of your performance is to judge your performance with respect to that of other students. There cannot be any method more objective than that. The second step is to go by the benchmarks you are expected to get in that test. Ideally, if you retain your old scores even if the test is getting tougher, it means that you are improving. At this stage, improvement can come not by knowing new things but by fine-tuning what you already know.

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* Contributed by -
Gautam Puri,
An Alumnus of IIM Bangalore,
Vice Chairman, Career Launcher India Ltd.,
Article posted on November 6, 2008.