CAT Takers - Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously

There are a million ways to excel and be happy in life. Taking CAT is just one of those million ways. If it works out - great. If it doesn't - you still have another million ways (minus one).

There are some great people I know who cracked the CAT. But there are many more really great people I know who have failed at CAT or have never even attempted it. Less than 0.017% of India takes the test. What is the big deal?

I know someone who 'failed' the CAT 4 times. He scored 99%ile+ 2 out of 4 times. He did not get a call for various reasons - sectional cutoff once, acads one other time. He ended up going to one of the world's top business schools through GMAT and then got into the world's most famous consulting firm.

There is someone else who couldn't score even 80%ile in CAT but has bootstrapped his venture to 10 crores of revenue with a 50 member team.

So, the world is not going to end if the D-Day doesn't go as per plan. Relax. Don't make the test or your performance in it as the centre of your life.

I am not saying stop preparing. I am not saying you should lose focus. I am not saying you should break your routine. You got to do what you got to do.

Do not throttle yourself by giving the test too much importance. Don't let it bog you down. Don't complicate.

Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.

Be free. Attempt the test fearlessly. Give it only as much respect as it deserves.

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About the Author:

Ankit Doshi - IIM Indore alumnus - Class of 2011 and Creator of InsideIIM.com & Konversations.com. Ankit scored 99.7 percentile in CAT 2008 after not cracking it in 2007. He is a commerce graduate and not an engineer.