Crack Cat Without Coaching: Make It A Possibility!

It may be peer pressure that pushes management aspirants to go for coaching to ace CAT. In fact, there are toppers who did the near impossible without coaching. If they can, why can’t you?

- Prabha Dhavala

Meenal Jain is a worried person. She has a job on hand and she aspires to crack CAT. Her dream is to pursue postgraduate studies in management at one of the IIMs. But there is a catch. She can achieve her dream only if she cracks Common Admission Test (CAT) 2019. Jain is stressed out as she has no time for coaching which most CAT aspirants pursue. In a sense she is hoping to win a race with her hands tied.

Shreya is another student like Jain who wishes to try her hand at cracking CAT without any coaching. The big question we are trying to find an answer to is: – Whether it is possible to crack CAT without any coaching?

CAT is reputedly a tough exam to crack. At stake are seats at the 20 IIMs and other reputed B-Schools in the country. The first approach to crack the exam in most cases starts with a beeline to one of the coaching centres. With Internet access and availability of studying options online, there has also been a shift to online coaching, especially when time is a constraint or students wish to prepare in the comfort of their own homes.

On the other side, a good number of students are moving away from the traditional coaching system and setting out to prepare for CAT on their own through self-study. Giving hope to students like Shreya and Meenal, many students have cracked CAT without any formal coaching over the last few years. If they can, so can you. So, how should you go about achieving it?

Start with self-belief