Hi guys and welcome back to the channel. This is a video that I make every year. Every year, many students use this resource through which they prepare for the CAT exam, absolutely free of cost. Anyone can use this resource. Whether you cannot afford coaching or if you have joined a coaching institute that is not helping you, or if your coaching is good but you want some extra material for practice, or if you need more videos to learn concepts. In every single case, this resource can certainly help you. Now let's start with the resources that you'll need to use in your preparation. There are a total of 4 types of resources: conceptual videos, question banks, past year papers, and mock tests. For all these topics, I'll show you this resource. This is an Excel sheet that I started creating two years ago for the 2022 CAT exam. Then, last year in 2023, many students also used it. There are a total of 4 sheets in it, if you check below. The first sheet is for videos, the second sheet is for question banks, the third is for doubt-solving, and the fourth is for sectional and mock tests. If you notice, the four topics I mentioned earlier correspond to the four sheets. Only the 3rd is different, which is for doubt solving. I mentioned past year papers but I will tell you its alternate source ahead in this video. So these are the 4 sheets that you can refer to. Every time I have shared this sheet on my channel, a lot of people have given very positive feedback. In fact, in last year's reviews, many students have cleared the CAT exam only by using this sheet. So if you're a student who thinks that preparing for the exam is a very expensive affair, and you have to spend a lot of money on coaching, that is not true. You can use this sheet along with a mock test series. By using these two resources, you can prepare for the CAT exam or any other MBA exam. Now, I will walk you through each sheet one by one, so that you get an idea of what is included in them. First is conceptual videos. Inside it, you'll find videos for every chapter, whether it's the quant section, DILR, or verbal. You'll get conceptual videos for all chapters of all three. Conceptual videos mean if I show you any one video, if you click on any link, you will be redirected to a channel where this particular chapter is freely explained on YouTube. It's a free video made by different teachers. I have written these in a sequential order, meaning that for each chapter, you can see the video followed by a number. For example, if it's about time, speed, and distance, it will be TSD 1, and then the next would be 2, 3, 4. All the videos for that particular chapter are given in a sequential order. Now let's move on to the second sheet. On the second sheet, you will find question banks. There are many online portals that have uploaded free questions so as you cover chapters, there will be questions in their videos, and you can also practice from here. In third sheet, you will find groups for doubt solving. In your preparation, you will have many doubts, such as when a question is not being solved. Where can you ask those doubts? All of their links are here. Let's move on to the 4th sheet where you will find sectional and mock tests. There will be many past year question banks but these mock tests have already been conducted. These are not live mock tests. That's why I mentioned at the beginning that if you buy just one mock test along with this sheet, if you buy one series, then your entire preparation will be sorted because that mock test series will show you your live rank. Now let's talk about the resource that will help you access past year papers. These past year's papers are freely available online. But the problem will arise when you watch conceptual videos for each chapter, practice questions, and then you'll have to search through the entire past year paper to find which questions were related to time, speed, and distance. So that will take up a lot of your time. Instead, you can use this book from Oswal Books. It's called '25 Year Solved Past Year Papers'. They've given year-wise questions for each chapter. For example, for 'time, speed, and distance', they have listed which questions appeared each year starting from 1999 up to the present. Questions along with detailed solutions are mentioned. I have been partnered with Oswal Books for two years now, and every year people have recommended it, or I have received positive feedback. The reason is that it will save your time. You can also use online resources if you want, but in those, you will have to search for yourself. In this book, they have detailed out everything. You can do one chapter at a time, then you can solve the past year papers for that chapter here. They've other books for CAT and other MBA exams. If you want to refer to them, I will add their links in the description and pinned comment. You can check them out from there. We have covered which free resource you will use, meaning what to use. But how to use, we have not covered yet meaning this is the resource, but how will you prepare? For this, I have created a free timetable for you. If you are watching this video before April, the timetable I will share will give you a proper 6-month plan. If you are watching this after April, you can still use that resource to create your own timetable. This timetable and reporting sheet that you see on your screen, I've created using free tool called Project from Odoo. You can freely access this timetable. I will also add its link in the description. I can also teach you how to create it yourself in case you want to do it on your own in the future. So, go to Odoo website and click on the Project app. This first app will be free forever as it's written here. Fill in your details here, then choose less than 5 employees, and select 'I am a student' under primary interest. Then this page will open. Now you have to create a new project. You can give it any title like 'CAT 24 Preparation.' Now add 5 stages here: 'Yet to begin', 'Concepts', 'Practice', 'Past Years', and 'Done'. Now let's tackle each stage one by one. Under 'Yet to begin', you will start adding tasks, meaning chapters. If you want, you can also set deadlines for each chapter, like the ones given here. Similarly, you can go to settings and add a timesheet where you can mention how many hours you want to allot to each chapter. That is, how much time you want to finish the preparation for that chapter. By using this free tool from Odoo, you can essentially monitor your project, meaning you can track your preparation to see which stage you are at. For example, you can move each chapter to different stages if you want, change their color codes. You can change green to red, red to yellow, etc., to see if it has been started, canceled meaning you have left it in between, or if it's done. In this way, you can keep a proper track of your preparation, and at the same time, you can check your status. The timetable that I have created along with access to this free app. I will add both in the pinned comment & description. You can easily check it anytime. Through this, you will get a plan for your 6 months, including the order in which you should study, along with how many hours to allocate and within how many days you should complete each chapter. So now we have covered what to use, which study material you can use, and how to use it, meaning in which sequential order you can complete it. Now I will tell you some important pointers that I learned from my CAT 2017 journey when I scored in the 99th percentile. Then what unique things did I learn that will help you in your preparation. The first point is about self-discipline. Whether you're taking coaching or preparing on your own, in both cases, you need discipline. But those who are preparing on their own need self-discipline even more. Please make sure that you work in small breaks. Don't study for long stretches. Also, keep rewarding yourself. When I first made a video on this channel, I mentioned that I used to gift myself momos. Basically I really liked momos, so I decided that if I completed a chapter, then I would go and have a plate of momos. So keep small and healthy rewards for yourself that keep you motivated and disciplined in your journey. Second is investing in mock tests. Please remember, many people only rely on past year papers or old mock tests. I will repeat again that your live ranking and percentile will help you significantly. Along with that, it's essential to experience the pattern of a live mock test & stress level at that time. So please invest in a good mock test series. When there will be a proper video on mock tests on this channel, I will also provide you with some recommendations. Third is stress. MBA space is becoming increasingly competitive, and a lot of people face this stress when they see others scoring higher marks in their coaching or during their self-preparation, while their own marks are not improving. And that is the number one reason people give up. A group of four people who keep each other motivated and on track is better than joining a Telegram group where the conversation revolves around how many hours someone studied or why someone else didn't study for so many hours. Don't engage yourself in useless conversations. Number 4 is an accountability partner. So when I was preparing, my father was my accountability partner meaning someone whom you can explain your track to, like how much progress you've made, how many marks you are getting in mock tests, and with whom you can discuss your strategy for the future action plan. The fifth point is FOMO. Many students get worried about this, thinking that everyone else is taking coaching, but I don't have the resources. I am preparing on my own. Will I be able to do it? I can give you countless examples, but today I will share just two. Last year, there was a student preparing who used to watch this channel. He was a marine engineer, meaning he was on a ship where he didn't even have an internet connection. So it is important for you to understand that people study even in very tough circumstances. The second example is of a student who lived in the outskirts of the village, so remote that he didn't even have a network. He had to go very far even to make a phone call. So I would say, remember these inspirations or examples; they will keep you in check. If they can do it, I'm sure you can too. I hope that these resources & all these tips help you. If you've any doubts related to your self-preparation, then put them down in the comments. And whenever a new video is posted on this channel, you can check it out. You can subscribe or you can simply keep coming back to the channel to check if a new video has been posted or not. I'm sure that will help you as well. Thank you so much for watching, guys. And see you the next time!
