Working Guys who made it to MBA : tips for studying while working

Hi everybody I have posted a similar link on GMAT and related discussion forum. http://www.pagalguy.com/cat/showthread.php?t=8966 Thought of sharing the post with CAT prep guys also … I am almost a one year in IT insustry right …

Hi everybody

I have posted a similar link on GMAT and related discussion forum.
http://www.pagalguy.com/discussions/working-guys-how-do-u-manage-to-study-after-coming-to-office-25008966
Thought of sharing the post with CAT prep guys also ....
I am almost a one year in IT insustry right now and palnning to take GMAT by Aug and then spend rest of time for CAT . As a college student my performance was quite good but am finding it difficult to study for GMAT/ CAT while working .
My percentile for CAT 04 ws 90.73
For CAT I somehow used to leve the office by 6 and go to bed by 7:30 -8 , get up at 2-3 and study till morning . Hwever the efficiency of my preparation was not that good as I used to be half asleep and sometimes sleep in between .

So , people who have made it to MBA while working , please let me know
1) AT what time did you used to study ( and for how many hours per day)?
2) How many hours per day u used to sleep ?
3 )Any methods u used to avoid sleep ? ( like drinking cofee etc ?)

4) and did ya go for any coaching classes , how regular were u to atttend those ?
Please reply to me no matter how silly this may seem to u .
I know I have the talent to make it to MBA in a good college but somehow no able to harness my potentilal.


So , people who have made it to MBA while working , please let me know
1) AT what time did you used to study ( and for how many hours per day)?
2) How many hours per day u used to sleep ?
3 )Any methods u used to avoid sleep ? ( like drinking cofee etc ?)
4) and did ya go for any coaching classes , how regular were u to atttend those ?
Please reply to me no matter how silly this may seem to u .
I know I have the talent to make it to MBA in a good college but somehow no able to harness my potentilal.


1 use spell check.
2 people will ask you to search for old threads with similar info, it is not a bad thing to do.

regarding you queries, note this varies hugely.

1 Weekends for 2 hrs in ims classes, 1 mock cat every sunday without fail.
2 8-9 hrs, doesn't matter
3 DON'T AVOID SLEEP
4 coaching classes i went to were junk(IMS weekend batch, b'lore)
more often that not i just bunked them to sit in a pub.

Focus is very important,
know what you're good at, for eg, i never studied english after august. time spent was on increasing accuracy in maths, di.
don't worry too much abt your simcat scores , they might vary hugely.

you can easily take cat without preparing geometry at all, but it might be risky 😃

My idea is that if you could really concentrate and study for an hour a day and a couple of hours extra on the weekend you should be able to crack CAT. Make a schedule stick to it no matter what. If you sit and study from 9 to 10 pm you should do it everyday without fail even if it is your birthday even if it is your best friends marraige....

Disclaimer:- One man's meat is another man's poison i.e. my method may not suit you and vice versa.

Gally!!

For working guys, consistency is the name of the game. The actual figure may vary from person to person, but 3-4 hours of work from weekdays and another 5 hours from weekends for a good enough duration will help a lot. As cicahn1 pointed out, a mock every week is a must. But don't read too much in the scores.

In addition to this. a good newspaper daily and one magazine should be fine.

Last, but the most important factor - Be lucky ;-)..CAT is all about luck.

So , people who have made it to MBA while working , please let me know
1) AT what time did you used to study ( and for how many hours per day)?
2) How many hours per day u used to sleep ?
3 )Any methods u used to avoid sleep ? ( like drinking cofee etc ?)
4) and did ya go for any coaching classes , how regular were u to atttend those ?


I prep'd for CAT while working (was my 1st year & in the IT industry; somewhat similar to your profile).
1. About 10 hours per week. basically 4 odd mocks per week. If I did a mock on a weekday, it would be 8-10 odd. Else 2 mocks on Saturday/Sunday as far as possible.
2. As much as usual. Didnt compromise there.
3. None
4. No. Personally I think coaching classes aren't too useful. I went for IMS mock cats & Mock GD/PI classes in Time.

try getting up early in the morning and studying...

I did that for around 2 hrs every day...from 6:30 to 8:30 AM...primarily because i did not know what time i would get back from the office...it varied between 9:30 to 10:30...then its reading something and dozing off...
if you concentrate beter in the evenings...then make sure you reach home early...

try and join a weekend batch if you can...if not for anything it will give you a feel of the competetion as weekend batches are full of serious work-ex guys...
keep it regular and NEVER LOSE FAITH...keep motivating yourself...you can do it...
just look at the statistics...year after year work-ex guys are getting into the IIMs...it difficult but not impossible.
ALL THE BEST to you...
Krupa.


1) AT what time did you used to study ( and for how many hours per day)?
2) How many hours per day u used to sleep ?
3 )Any methods u used to avoid sleep ? ( like drinking cofee etc ?)

4) and did ya go for any coaching classes , how regular were u to atttend those ?
Please reply to me no matter how silly this may seem to u .
I know I have the talent to make it to MBA in a good college but somehow no able to harness my potentilal.

Hi
I am also working and studying for CAT. Though the difference is I am working in BPO sector. So I do get time during the day. To answer your questions
1. My shift timings are from 6:30 pm to 3:30am. I get back home by 4-4:30
Sleep for 6 -6.5 hrs. Study for 2.5 to 3 hrs daily in the afternoon.
2. As I said 6-6.5 hrs. I think this much amount is necessary. I have tried to cut it down to 5hrs and beleive me it does not help. Either I ended up sleeping while studying or I was not able to concentrate much.
3. None
4. I have not joined any coaching classes. I am preparing from the CL correspondence material. Firstly because I have an experince of studying for CAT from coaching clases. I personnaly think that it does not help much. Secondly it would be good if u spend the time on your known trying to improve ur weaker areas. I would say 1 thing , even if u r prepairing for 2 hrs a day also , just concentrate only on the study. Even if u do 20 questions make sure that you just check the answer key if u find any better method there. Consistency is the key and just try not to skip those 2 hrs any day.

Hope that helps

Cheers
Hitesh
For working guys, consistency is the name of the game. The actual figure may vary from person to person, but 3-4 hours of work from weekdays and another 5 hours from weekends for a good enough duration will help a lot. As cicahn1 pointed out, a mock every week is a must. But don't read too much in the scores.
In addition to this. a good newspaper daily and one magazine should be fine.
Last, but the most important factor - Be lucky ;-)..CAT is all about luck.


yup u r rit buddy!

Disclaimer:- One man's meat is another man's poison i.e. my method may not suit you and vice versa.

Gally!!


Its all @ what suits u the best!!!

Try out various options of studying ..various hours over a period of time..ppl might say all sorts of things..but in the end it has to be ur comfort level!!! Be consistent with a schedule once it suits u, be sincere, take the occassional breaks to get refreshed from ur schedule so that u dont get worked up and r in mood for the D-Day!!Remember it ultimately boils down to those 2 hrs on that Sunday u take the exam man!! Nothing more, nothing less!!

ATB
Cheers!!
~Shankx~

Hello resumevseth,

Well for working professional, what we require is a lot of motivaiton to concentrate. We are slow but the problem is that we r not steady. Bole to, roz apun log kidhar CAT ka kaam roz karta hai..?? We need to get the things in order and religiously sit to study at least an hour a day.

I work for close to 13 hours daily and taking out more than an hour for me is not possible. So from today onwards i will be starting on full steam for at least an hour daily.

Also, u shud keep ur reading habitss intact. u don't have to read the entire newspaper in an hour. u can practice speed reading. Finish the newspaper in not more than 15-20 minutes. (Keep in mind not to sopend these 15-20 minutes in the loo...!! BAD HABIT )
That's what I do..!! Also, try to read at least one book in a week. that way, even if u r not practising english conciously, u end up studying for it. And yes, while reading, do concentrate on the sentence formation and the grammatical use of adjectives and nouns..!! it helps a lot in English section..!!

And all said and done, it does not matter how many hours u studsy but how many minutes of concentrated study, that matters..!!

All the best to you all..!!

Thanks Lakshya and others for ur valuable suggestions,

Thinking of putting forward one more question to all of u guys specially the one working and preparing for CAT/GMAT this year .
Do u by any case happen to get free time to study at office hours ? sounds crazy isnt it , but believe me many a times I have some work which I can easily do at a slow pace , so why not to use some spare time at office for study rather than sipping coffee ?

The main question is though how can one study in front of others . So what I used to do was to take those English Flash Cards and slip out say 15 mins in morning and lunch session of the day . Believe me , I managed to finish the wordlist (TIME) in 3 months of time .(Although a fact to be noted is that it was my first year of work , so not that much of pressure )

I am sure that many of u would at some point or the other would be getting some spare time in office , any idea how to use those precious moments?:wow: .Believe me even if one can spare 10 mins a day , it would definetly add a lot by the time CAT comes.

Waiting for reply( goodies as well as the badies )......

Vivek


Do u by any case happen to get free time to study at office hours ? sounds crazy isnt it , but believe me many a times I have some work which I can easily do at a slow pace , so why not to use some spare time at office for study rather than sipping coffee ?
The main question is though how can one study in front of others .


I also had a pretty non-hectic 1st year at work, with lots of scope for studying in office hours, but I chose not to do so. Its just that I didnt want people at work to know that I was taking up CAT, and till the day I resigned, it was my best kept secret.

But if you dont have a problem with other people at your workplace knowing that you're prerparing for CAT; or if you can pull it off without other people finding out, nothing ike it. A lot of my people in my company used to openly study for CAT in office. And this is the case in many IT companies.
Thanks Lakshya and others for ur valuable suggestions,

Thinking of putting forward one more question to all of u guys specially the one working and preparing for CAT/GMAT this year .
Do u by any case happen to get free time to study at office hours ?
The main question is though how can one study in front of others .
I am sure that many of u would at some point or the other would be getting some spare time in office , any idea how to use those precious moments?:wow: .Believe me even if one can spare 10 mins a day , it would definetly add a lot by the time CAT comes.

Waiting for reply( goodies as well as the badies )......

Vivek


flash cards are good for mugging up words, some free programs also give you lists of words that you can use in place of paper flash cards.
unless you've no problems in office, i'd say that you should avoid preparing there. Leave early if you can.

Some idiotic bosses try to drag you down if you prepare for cat in office, and fellow project mates will also get pissed off, if you study while they're working.
so be aware of the project dynamics before attempting such stunts.

If you -absolutely- cant study at work because your boss/peers might object, you could try preparing in a non-obvious/indirect way. e.g. you might spend an hour at home reading the paper (ET/TOI/whatever). You could reassign this time at home for studying, and read the online editions of these papers at work (for RC/GD/PI)....on a daily basis, you will save time.....and i doubt others would object (as much) to you reading the news at work..

Hi everybody

So , people who have made it to MBA while working , please let me know
1) AT what time did you used to study ( and for how many hours per day)?
2) How many hours per day u used to sleep ?
3 )Any methods u used to avoid sleep ? ( like drinking cofee etc ?)
4) and did ya go for any coaching classes , how regular were u to atttend those ?
Please reply to me no matter how silly this may seem to u .
I know I have the talent to make it to MBA in a good college but somehow no able to harness my potentilal.


Well dude,

Here is my take on this
1. If you are working , sticking to specific timelines in the evening is not going to work since more times than not one is not sure as to what time he will be back (until unless u working in shifts). However some commitment in termes of no. of hours to be invested daily is surely needed to bell the CAT. If u are keen on a study plan i guess early morning slots like 5am - 7am etc. shud be okay. Waking up in the middle of the night doesn't look like the best of the ideas.
2. Enough not to make me feel sleepy in office/ or affect my health. Even if it did, i do not really know. I think u are smart enough to know how many hrs is okay for u.
3. coffee does help.
4. Managing coaching classes is going to be a bit tough since u cannot adjust their timings as per ur convenience. The utility of coaching classes is sure debatable. Infact it varies from person to person but they do bring some regularity in schedule and give direction to preps. I did go for coaching classes (weekend batch). not really sure if it helped me in terms of knowledge but did prevent me from losing sight of the bird's eye.

Last but not least , "i dont get enough time since i am working " is the lamest excuse. Sorry for being a bit harsh with that one but this is my personal take on this. Dont forget that u r trying to sail in two boats at the same time which obviously would require extra efforts.

Here is what i call the success mantra for people with workex :
Work just enough to keep ur job. That is it. and do not lose sight of the final aim.


PS : Standard disclaimer applies.

My 2 cents on juggling btwn work n CAT prep goes as follows..
get ur priorities right.. atleast i didnt really involve myself fully into my office work(am talkin abt last 2 months b4 CAT).. depending on hw ur colleauges might react u may/maynt inform them tht u r preparin fro CAT.. in my case i had a very understanding set of colleauegs who wud help me with whtever help i went to them reg work.. strtin month of aug make it a habit to take atleast one MOCK/SIM CAT a week.. I had joined TIME n the levels of difficulty were manageable as in they werent too tough to bogg me down.. they r a good indicator of ur progress at the same time dnt read too much into ur mock cat scores..(for one i was never consistent with my scores) as already pointed out identify ur strength areas n become really strong in those areas at the same time becom good enuf to clear cut offs in other areas... abt studyin at office depends on ur office culture n spavce u get.. my office had a terrace wher i cud araam se sit n work papers.. nobody used to bother me.. U cud try barron,s GRE wordlist.. helps u retain the words better as each word is given with a sentence.. i had toe pages of wl alone for that book n used to carry atleast 2 of em whereevr ui went..

n most importatntly never overwork urself.. if anythin it only hurts... dnt work out quamt or DI or LR the day b4 ur mock cat.. the days whn i had workd till the last coupla hours to my mock cat i had screwd them up big time.. also whn i had jus been relaxin for a while(read 2 days) b4 a mock cat i had rocked them(whn i got a rank of 97 i was jus back frm a 2 day trip to pune ).. so jus relax.. plan up properly n do a very neat job of it yaar.. wishing u all the very best..
cheers..
Rajesh

P.S: All contents(read gyaan ) of this post r strictly personal experience and doesnt claim legal validity of any sorts

Hi Guys ...

Let me put my case across ...

I am working professional , 2 year experience in IT industry.

I joined TIME classes last year ... and attempted the first few MOCKs, I was getting varied percentile in MOCKs from 75 percentile to 91 percentile ...

Kind of lost hope .. and enthusiasm.

But from October, disaster struck .. my grandmother who stays with me , became terribly unwell and was admitted to Hospital .. It was perilous. I stopped preparing for CAT .
Beleive you me ... I actually forgot to apply to any other institute as I was in so much tension. Getting Blood Bags and arranging money ..for my grandma

I went for CAT , seeing blood coming out of her mouth, a sure sign that she was abut to leave us, forever.

My Grandma have been the most inspiring person in my life ... and I was heartbroken,she finally passed away on 22nd Nov 2004, the day after CAT.

And I got 94 percentile ... which was way above what I could manage in the MOCKs when I was preparing . But after I was out of touch from preparation my marks really improved.

This is my story... and will be around for CAT 2005. This time I will be really trying harder....

Thanks

Anirban

some background before i start. i am an mbbs with three years of work ex. and for the past two years have been working in a hospital, doing 12 hour night shifts every four days and getting the next day off (which in effect, is useless). no saturdays or sundays off either. so, when i went for the mock test over the weekend, i had either returned from a night duty, was heading for one or had just come back from my day shift. here is how i did it -

1. do not try and study more than 2 hours a day; but make sure you put in that two hours every day, day after day. remain focussed, test yourself after every chapter and identify your weaknesses
2. sleep your regular 8 hours a day. if you get back home at 6, start by 7 and go on till 9. maybe do some english after dinner for an hour, watch tv and go to sleep.
3. avoiding sleep is not a good idea.
4. coaching classes suck. get lots of material and tests and practice as much as you can. make sure that you are ready for the mock test series by the end of august. do not miss any mock test - for any reason whatsoever, hangovers included. success in adversity is the sweetest. dont bunk a test because you are not prepared. be prepared for the worst and learn to test under pressure even if that means having to sit through one on a full bladder or rectum.

do not put your hand in too many pies. you must decide on your priority - gmat or cat. dont end up screwing up both!
passion and commitment (at the cost of sounding cliched) - when you understand the meaning of these terms, you are on your way to iim.

ciao


So , people who have made it to MBA while working , please let me know
1) AT what time did you used to study ( and for how many hours per day)?
2) How many hours per day u used to sleep ?
3 )Any methods u used to avoid sleep ? ( like drinking cofee etc ?)

4) and did ya go for any coaching classes , how regular were u to atttend those ?

Its about ur eggs and ur basket.....


i put all of mine in one...and it paid off....

i studied an hour or two in the evening daily...after getting bak from work

as D-Day drew closer...i wud run away from work early...sometimes really messing thigs at work....cos everybody knew i was givin the cat

..

I never thot about wat wud happen if i didnt get thru...u know...hopw awkward it wud be at work...

i think thats important....u wanna crak the CAT...put all ur eggs in the basket

and besta luk