How To Prepare For CAT While Working?

How did this routine help me?
 
1.     I am not an avid reader so employing my morning and evening travel time for reading helped me improve my vocabulary and reading speed a lot. 
2.     I covered the topics of DI/LR and QA going on in my classes after coming back home from the office. I ensured that I solved all the practice problems taught in class and given in the book for all the topics to be well versed with the topics. 
 
Did this improve my score?
 
Sorrowfully, my mock test scores were consistently mediocre.  
I analyzed my mock tests and ascertained that I was spending a lot of time on one question and was therefore unable to go through all the questions. I realized I knew my concepts well but was not acting on my strengths and weaknesses. I had to….
 
Strategize!
 
As soon as I read the question, I decided whether it is something I could solve right now (Category A), later (Category B), or never (Category C).
I decided on time to be given to the questions in each section.
1.     VA/RC: Went through the entire section in the first 45 minutes, marking answers for all Category A questions. The last 15 minutes were reserved for category B questions.
2.     DI/LR: Found two ways of going about this section.
a.     Read one set at a time, categorize (in 1-2 minutes of reading) and solve accordingly.
b.     Go through all the sets in the first 10 minutes and decide on 4-6 Category A sets and then solve all of them together.
I was more comfortable with the first approach.
It is essential to solve a minimum of 4 complete sets in this section.
3.     QA: Same as VA/RC
 
It was August by the time I made this strategy. I was assigned a project which needed me to stay back in the office till 10:30-11:00 PM. My weekdays and Saturdays were consumed by office work. I studied how much ever I could on Sundays but could not appropriately apply my newfound knowledge effectively.
 
I attained my breakthrough when I took a two-week leave from the office right before the CAT exam and could implement my altered strategy. I gave 12 mock tests in this duration and could see that my score was improving. 
Finally, the D-day came, I told myself “Do it once, do it right” and I gave it my best shot. I got 94.6%ile and converted IIM Ranchi in the first list and my first attempt.
 
Key learnings from my experience:
1.     Know your concepts well.
2.     Identify strengths, weaknesses, and act upon them. There is no one size fits all. Build your strategy.
3.     Squeeze out time from your schedule and study dedicatedly. Time management can make or break your case. 
4.     Plan your office leaves well.
5.     Stay motivated! It is important not to feel dejected by low scores in mock tests or time constraints. Repeat to yourself day in and out, “I can, and I will”.
6.     Whenever you reach a roadblock, reach out to your mentors, family, friends. Read blogs and watch YouTube videos about any issues you are issues including motivation, time management, strategy building, etc.
 
I hope this article could be of some use to you. 
All the best!