The Common Admission Test (CAT) is one of the most competitive entrance exams in India for the students wishing to get admission in the top tier management institutes like IIMs. The question is: What is the best age to study for the CAT exam?
Interestingly, there is no ‘perfect’ to study for the CAT exam. Selection of the best time to prepare for CAT depends on your own personal goals, academic background and ultimately your career aspirations. But knowing the broad ranges of time and age brackets will aid you in making good plans.
Undergraduate Years: A Smart Starting Point
It is one of the best times to start CAT preparation when you are an undergraduate, particularly if you’re taking up courses like B.Com, BBA, or Engineering. In case you start early, ideally from the second year of college, you will get sufficient time to cover all sections of the CAT like Verbal Ability, Data Interpretation, Quantitative Aptitude for the CAT and CAT Logical Reasoning Mock Test practice.
At this stage students will be more interested to learn new concepts and can also manage their graduation studies and CAT preparation together. Often, math and logical reasoning is fresh in from school and helps to solve problems faster.
Further, CAT previous year papers book is also a good source to go through during college to understand the exam pattern and have a fair idea of what to prepare and how to prepare better.
Read More: How many Attempts in CAT?
After Graduation: Focused Preparation
After graduation, many candidates prefer to prepare for CAT exam. The age group for this usually is between 21 to 24 years. Here the benefit is of having a dedicated focus without the distractions of college assignments or other exams.
This is the time when aspirants can seriously commit 8–12 months for CAT preparation. A structured study plan followed by the candidates along with CAT logical reasoning mock test series and solving a variety of problems on quantitative aptitude can help candidates to prepare for CAT.
However, during this phase, revising the CAT previous year papers book many times can be extremely helpful as well. Not only it helps in feeling the actual exam but also it helps in learning time management.
Working Professionals: A Strategic Choice
Mid to late 20s is when many CAT aspirants are working professionals. Most of them are preparing along with their job to switch in the long run into a new career or a management role. The time is less relatively due to job commitments but the motivation level is high.
The most important thing for this group is to be smart in utilising their time, as they mainly spend it on high quality resources like CAT logical reasoning mock test papers and quantitative aptitude for the CAT on weekends. Most often the CAT previous year papers book is relied upon by them to make the best of the little time they have for preparation.
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Conclusion
Thus, what is the best age to prepare for CAT? The truth of the matter truly depends upon if you really are willing to embark upon going on a focused and disciplined preparation journey. Age is not a constraint for success in CAT. Whether you are in college, fresh graduate or a working professional, success in CAT depends more on your strategy and consistency than your age.
