Whether a fresher or a candidate with 2-3 years of work experience, your target is admission in the top rated IIM in 2024 if you are appearing and preparing for CAT 2023. Nothing can match the hard, intelligent and well managed self-study leading to success by scoring high percentile in CAT 2023. You will need to score high overall as well as sectional percentile to get shortlisted by the top IIMs namely IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow or IIM Kozhikode. On the top of it, IIM Lucknow has been assigned to convene CAT 2023, so you may expect a different CAT this year.
Now the crux of the issue is that if you are yet to find the correct methodology that can improve your reading habits and enable you to know more in less time giving you an edge over peers in CAT 2023, you need to think on the following questions and try to get their answers from yourself-
- What happens when you go on reading your study material?
- How much you are able to retain after studying for 5-6 hours?
- Do you really need so many hours of study?
- Wouldn’t it be better to spend 2-3 hours a day to prepare for CAT 2023 and get focused to retain more?
In view of experts, the aspirants are supposed to improve their pace of reading and should start working on it right from now. A good reading speed with accuracy can save your time while you would be able to choose the most appropriate answer option in shorter time after finishing the reading of any question, paragraph, data set or Reading Comprehension passage. What do you have to do to get a better pace of reading which may also help you to bring conceptual clarity and more retention? CAT preparation experts help you to sort out this problem with 10 simple tips to improve your reading habits.
1. Pick Convenient Reading Time
If you make reading a regular habit before going to sleep, or can develop the habit of early morning reading, both ways you will enjoy the reading. If you have to work till late night and get up late in the morning-you could also have a great reading day. In the late evening also, you could have a reading time after dinner. The importance of reading is not when you read but how much do you enjoy the reading.
2. Make Reading a stress relieving exercise
According to Rene Descartes “The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries.” In fact, reading habits are the manifestation of your personality– the stuff that you love to read will bring out the best of yourself in your expression of thoughts.
One who has inculcated the habit of reading will definitely find the time for reading the study material of his interest, however busy he is. For a CAT/XAT aspirant, Reading must be an enjoying saga with less burden and more a stress relieving exercise. Reading is considered as stress relieving pill, according to Charles de Montesquieu “I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve.”
The choice of good reading habits will depend upon your way of living. It may differ from person to person, working and non-working, person with access to technology or no access. But the reading stuff should be good else all that you have read might get wasted instead of improving your reading habit.
3. Your books; your friends
If you really want to score a high percentile in CAT 2023 you cannot escape and run away from improving your reading habits. The goal of getting the desired B-school calls for spending less time on unproductive things and social media. Initially it may be a problem, but will bring forth desired fruits. The time you reduce on Internet/TV, you could use for reading. This could create hours of reading time. Prateek Kumar Rai, CAT 2022 topper with 99.80 percentile and SPJIMR Mumbai student of 203-25 batch, uninstalled the social media platforms from his mobile. This helped him overcome his weakness and he cracked CAT 2022 with such a high score. Read How Prateek prepared for CAT exam
4. Reading environment
Find a calm and quiet place where you would like to study. Sit in a comfortable chair and freshen yourself up with a good book without interruptions. There should be no television or computer near the chair to minimize distractions.
5. Correct source of Light
Make sure you have good lighting. If it is dusk and the light appears dim, it will place unnecessary strain on your eyes and language processing modules in your brain. If you are reading in Sunlight during the day, it is very good. But when you read in the night (as most of us do) ensure very good light source that should come either from your left or from the back.
6. Your book-your companion
Wherever you go, take a book with you. If there is a time when you have to wait (like at a doctor’s place, at some office or Bus stop etc.) take out your book and read to give you the desired satisfaction. Many CAT toppers who were working professionals, prepared for CAT while travelling in local trains from their home to work place and vice versa. For example, Anushree Naik, a Chartered Accountant and working professional, a student of IIM Ahmedabad 2020-22 batch, utilised her travel time by reading books, building a vocabulary and solving math quizzes
7. Prepare list of books
The books that you will read for the examination are required to be listed. Whatever addition you want to make, do that when the thought comes to you for the first time. Keep a running list and start reading them according to your interest. The object is to cover the full syllabus. Make a schedule and move on, as if embarking on a pleasurable journey.
8. Public Library: Good source
Library is the nice place with excellent environment for study and concentration. Many students find trouble in concentrating in their rooms/apartments. For them also library is the excellent place to concentrate. Make it a matter of discipline and training to stay focused on your book. Don't let yourself carried away by other not so serious readers.
9. Target consistent Improvement in Vocabulary
While reading any stuff, don’t forget to note down unfamiliar words and their usage in particular contexts. Find out their meaning and other usage in the dictionary. Use the words in conversation, writing. It will fetch you good reading results and build up your confidence level.
10. Used books: Good Source
Make your trip to used book store off and on. It will have twin advantages. You may find less expensive good books to read and sometimes these books become a part of treasure with some important marks and underlines that you might not notice otherwise.
How Much Time You Need to Solve One RC Passage? Not more than 12 minutes
You must know how much time you should spend in completing the reading RC passage of 700-800 words including answering the questions. Please note that IIMs are gradually increasing number of RC passages with twisted questions. Accordingly, if you spend too much time only on one passage, you may lose on your score.
CAT experts are of the view that a CAT 2023 aspirant should aim and practice to improve his/her reading speed in such a way so that he/she is able to complete the reading of 800 worded passage and answer the 4 questions following it, in not more than 12 minutes. If you have this goal in mind and work towards it, you will end up with 15-16 minutes per passage. A CAT 2023 aspirant should read a lot of good stuff to achieve this goal and practice more to reduce the reading and answering time further.
At present there are 21 IIMs plus other top rated B-schools like FMS, IIFT, SPJIMR, MDI, IMI, IMT, TAPMI, management departments of IITs and many more who will accept CAT 2023 scores for admission to MBA/PGDM programmes in 2024. If you target a high percentile and begin your preparation journey now, you would succeed and would be able to convert your dream into reality.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more updates on CAT 2023
