Can I start preparing for CAT exam after my 12th?

Yes, as far as PREPARING for the exam is concerned, you may start right after 12th too but to take admission in a B-School, you need a 3 year UG degree at the time of admission. Also, it is better than you gain some clarity about management career and the list of institutions before embarking on this journey. There are a lot of b-schools but only the top 10% are worthy in my opinion. Hence, more maturity and consulting people will help you make a more informed decision about CAT and the career afterwards.

0 Upvotes 0 Upvotes 0 Downvotes

• • Report Abuse
• Comment

CAT is a very competitive examination and only a few good candidates are able to make it to the legacy IIMs by scoring a near perfect CAT score. It is a good strategy to plan and prepare well for CAT examination to score above 98 percentile. CAT test does not have a predefined syllabus. CAT tests candidates in general aptitude including Verbal Ability (English), Quantitative Ability (Mathematics), Logical Reasoning (LR) and Data Interpretation (DI) skills. All these components of CAT examination are developed and sharpened by overall good education from school to UG, analytical intelligence and social environment in which you live. Ideally, if you start concentrated preparation by seeking coaching support after class 12th then it will be an overkill of efforts and will disturb your UG studies and personality development. An informal CAT preparation in the first and second year of graduation is a good option with dedicated CAT self-preparation or joining a coaching institute a year prior to CAT examination will help you to crack CAT.

0 Upvotes 0 Upvotes 0 Downvotes

• • Report Abuse
• Comment

You can start preparing but mostly don't need to. Most of the students start preparing in 3rd or 4th year of college. But I would recommend to start building a solid foundation for CAT right after 12th. You can work on fundamentals like improving your English, getting good at logical questions and stuff like that. So what can you do in the start. I would say develop habits which will help you in the long run. Start reading a lot of books as it will help you improve your english and also help you develop new views and see things differently. Apart from that start developing the habit of reading newspapers. It will help to stay updated with current affairs which is important aspect during interviews and What. Start solving puzzles and other logical games. You should focus on developing you analytical skills. Many people say playing Chess regularly is also a great way for doing the same. If you are not so good at maths keep solving maths puzzles. Once you reach 2nd semester of 2nd year or 3rd year you can start proper preparation using study material and tests. So, I would suggest start building the foundation right after 12th.

0 Upvotes 0 Upvotes 0 Downvotes

• • Report Abuse
• Comment

Why not? You can start the preparations. It is best to start early so that you don't need to be awake till 1-2 AM everyday for the preparation of CAT. CAT exam is considered to be one of toughest exams for MBA and if you have goals to study in IIMs then I would say that this is the time to set your path with objectives. Start reading books and newspapers like ET and TOI which will make your general awareness strong. That will also help you to increase your vocabulary and speed for reading comprehension. Start with the collection of syllabus and old papers if you could find it and analyze the paper. After analyzing, you will understand the level of questions which will provide you with a feedback of from where you have to start and what level you are at and then identify your weak spots and make it your strength. I appreciate your keen interest and this will help you to get very good marks provided you do what you plan. Very nice. Best of luck.

0 Upvotes 0 Upvotes 0 Downvotes

• • Report Abuse
• Comment

For sure, you can. The question is- Should you? The answer depends upon your educational background, abilities to grasp concepts, attention span, etc. Usually, everyone will tell you that you can crack CAT in 3-6 months preparation. But I would say that's wrong to generalize. If you have Maths as a subject till 12th standard, chances are that you will be very good at Quant section of CAT. You will have an edge there. English, being a common subject throughout, will be the same for all school pass outs. Therefore, a science or commerce student may require a lesser time span to prepare than a humanities student. Now, if your grasping power is good and you can retain and apply concepts well, then even a humanities student can be at par with the others. Coming to attention span, prolonged preparation of anything leads to a monotonous schedule and hence people tend to get bored and leave preparation in the middle. If you attention span is good you can start preparing 2-3 years before the test time. If not, 1 year is the ideal time to do it. All the best.

0 Upvotes 0 Upvotes 0 Downvotes

• • Report Abuse
• Comment