I too had the same question and was under constant fear. But all my doubts regarding the exam were given the right answers by Balsu’s Success academy where I went for coaching in order to take my CAT Exam. Now, I would give my answer to the question whether the CAT is tough or not, so that you guys would also be relieved of your doubts regarding the exam. I am Sri Hari Haran. I am doing my final year UG in English at Thiagarajar College. I have cracked my CAT 2023. I cleared the exam with a good percentile and cracked into IIMs and other top B – Schools such as BIM and TAPMI. So, I had the same doubts that you all might have but still cleared the exam. How come? Whoa… Whoa… Whoa… I could hear your anticipation. Let me fill you all with answers to some of the most common doubts one might have while taking up CAT.
Is CAT easy or difficult?
The shocking revelation here is that the CAT is neither easy nor tough. The easiness or the toughness of the exam is all about our mindset. Isn’t it quite shocking? But that’s one hell of a truth. It all depends on our preparedness. Like, how well we have learned the concepts, how many mocks we have taken to nurture our understanding of the concepts and how strongly we have developed our ability to solve the questions. To put it in a nutshell, CAT cannot be determined whether it is easy or tough because it is easy for those who are prepared well and tough for those who are not. Here, the concepts I point to are the foundational level knowledge that we receive in our schools.
Can people from non - engineer backgrounds excel in MBA?
CAT or MBA can be taken up by students from any stream. Be it engineering, arts, science or management. Even, I am a student of English Literature like I have mentioned earlier. If I, a non-engineer, can do it, so does all.
How much time does it take to cover the syllabus?
Is there actually a syllabus? From the previous paragraph, you guys would have known that there is not an exact thing as syllabus in CAT. The questions are from what we have learned in our SSLC. So, your preparation must be focused on your foundation knowledge in or till SSLC.
As for the time taken to cover the syllabus, it also depends on the person. Look, I can feel your agitation towards hearing the same answer, ‘it depends’, again and again. But that is the truth; I don’t want to lie to you guys as others do by telling you some fixed time, which is absolute crap.
Take a chill pill, because I am going to tell you something which you guys would love. Remember how I told you that it all depends on the person for the time it takes in order to get ready for CAT. One of the Balsu’s Success academy’s alumni prepared for CAT 2022 for only three months but with a consistent six hours of study time every day. You know what; she cleared her CAT and is now a student at IIM Sambalpur. Another student of the academy prepared for 1 year and cracked IIM Bangalore and FMS Delhi. So, the happy thing here is that if you are consistent and determined in your preparation, you will be ready for CAT within months. I took six months to get ready for CAT and some of my friends took a year and some even more than that. So, the same answer again. It all depends, HAHA…
I guess you all would have arrived at a conclusion of whether or not CAT is tough. I hear all your minds agreeing to my same, repetitive and annoying answer, ‘IT DEPENDS’. I hope your doubts are cleared and I wish everyone to do their best in CAT.