Common Admission Test or CAT is the door which you have to pass through to get admitted to MBA. lakhs and thousands of student get appeared every year.
To crack CAT you require hard work and smart study. Smart study means you have to study with a proper plan and proper strategy to pass CAT exam in the first attempt.
You can prepare for CAT exam by doing self-study or by taking coaching. If your basic is excellent and you can do hard work then it is better to do self-study for CAT.
If your basic is not so strong and you need proper guidance then it is always better to take coaching for CAT preparation.
Preparing for an exam like CAT can easily set you back by tens of thousands of rupees, specifically if you invest in coaching classes, mock test series and study material. However, with excellent learning resources available at the tip of your fingers at no cost, is spending so much money prudent? While classroom learning through traditional and expensive methods is always an option, we've compiled this list of the best free resources you can explore to minimize your costs of preparing for CAT 2020!
1. Rodha Education YouTube Channel - Rodha is the go-to YouTube channel for CAT aspirants for concept videos. You can learn all VA-RC, DI-LR and QA concepts for free on the Rodha YouTube channel. The channel promises to begin with basics and take the difficulty level of practice questions to 30% above that of CAT.
2. Khan Academy YouTube Channel - Khan Academy is one of the world's most popular free learning platforms offering courses on their official website and YouTube channel. Their YouTube channel, founded by HBS and MIT graduate Sal Khan, comprises innumerable concept videos for a plethora of subjects, including core mathematics concepts. These are immensely helpful and teach concepts from beginner to advanced level, for free! If you're looking to clarify important QA concepts, this is a must-visit channel for you.
3. 2iim YouTube Channel - 2iim is a CAT-coaching platform founded by Rajesh Balasubramanian, a 4-time CAT 100 percentiler, an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, and a popular Quoran. The channel produces videos ranging from detailed solutions for previous years' CAT papers to FAQs related to preparing for the exam. The channel also provides longer-term CAT preparation strategies.
4. TIME YouTube Channel - TIME is one of the leading CAT-coaching organizations in India, and has made their concept videos available on their official YouTube channel. These concept videos cover all three sections of CAT are taught by TIME faculty.
5. Takshzila's Free FundaBooks - Takshzila, one of the most popular and loved learning forums for CAT aspirants, has made available downloadable PDFs of important CAT QA concepts, segmented by major topics like Arithmetic, Algebra, Number Systems etc. These are free of cost and include practice questions as well.
Takshzila also provides fantastic and reasonably priced (earlier freely available on their YouTube channel) concept videos on the Takshzila Learnyst website. These also include topic-wise practice tests, and their courses are highly revered in the CAT-preparation universe. They also take online classes for all three sections of CAT.
6. Study Material By TathaGat, Wordpandit - Tathagat and Wordpandit are online learning platforms for CAT aspirants, and both provide downloadable concept lessons for all three sections of CAT, with a greater focus on Quantitative Ability lessons. This study material can be found on the respective websites of these platforms.
7. Best Downloads of GMATClub - GMATClub is one of the world's biggest forums that brings together GMAT aspirants looking to make it to the world's top business schools. There is a significant overlap in the syllabus of and the type of questions asked on the GMAT and the CAT, and aspirants of the latter exam can download free study material and question banks provided by the forum.
8. Bodhee Prep-CAT Online Preparation - If you are new to CAT preparation, and are looking for a full-fledged CAT online coaching, then this is the page that you must completely explore. Apart from paid online CAT courses, they have designed a good amount of free content which you can access.
1. CAT-Holic - The CAT-Holic blog is the brain child of two IIM graduates, one of whom is a 10-time CAT 100 percentiler. The blog mainly focuses on the QA section of CAT, providing an excellent sub-topic-wise question bank for CAT aspirants to practice. Some of their posts also cover the VA-RC section. This is highly recommended if you're looking for a fresh question bank beyond Arun Sharma and TIME, IMS material.
2. 2iim CAT Question Bank - Rajesh Balasubramanian of 2iim has created spectacular CAT-level questions for various QA sub-topics. The question bank has 1600 questions and 300 video solutions, where Rajesh himself explains concepts and tricks to solve even the most complex questions. This question bank is recommended once you've finished a significant chunk of your QA syllabus and want to challenge yourself with CAT-level questions.
3. Best Downloads of GMATClub - Apart from study material, GMATClub also provides downloadable question banks for practice. For CAT aspirants, solving 600-700 (beginner) and 700-800 level (advanced) questions is recommended. If you're looking for excellent questions posted daily on the forum, follow the author Bunuel on GMATClub, and you'll be provided a daily list of questions in your inbox! Additionally, you can also sign up for the GMATClub tests which can be challenging and good practice for CAT.
4. MBAtious - MBAtious is a forum for CAT-related discussions and problem-solving. The forum has a extensive question bank, especially for the QA section including the best of the best questions from the likes of CAT 100 percentilers. This question bank is updated by the community on a regular basis, so you can visit the website regularly to receive fresh questions sets for you to practice.
5. HitBullsEye's Study Material & Question Bank - HitBullsEye is a CAT-coaching organisations set-up by a team of IIM and XLRI alumni. They provide free study material, formulae lists, and question banks for all three sections of CAT.
MBA Guru is one of the well-known coaching in Delhi for the preparation of Cat entrance. They provide well organized method for learning.
All the faculties are well trained and have a lot of experience. They provide homework sheets in every class for and organize problem session weekly. Every individual get personalized attention in the class.
Features:
Fees Details:
For Weekday/Weekend batch: Rs.27,900
Discount: Celebration discount of Rs.5,000 during May; Rs.1,000 on the down payment
Correspondence course is not applicable
The institute offers online mock CAT tests for students, which is compatible with the online format.
Contact Details:
Address : 9 & 10 Ground Floor, 23 Narain Manzil Adjoining Barakhamba Metro Station Gate, Number 5, Barakhamba Rd, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Delhi 110001
Phone No. : +91-11-43528138
Mobile No. : +91-9311067486
About Coaching:
EDUSHASTRA as the word itself suggest that giving all the “Astra and Shastra” to the students to go ahead and hit the target that is to crack CAT.
EduShastra is an educational group that offers solutions related to education in field of test preparation, Business Courses, Business Training, special education and moral education space.
Its philosophy is to provide “Quality Education at Affordable Price”. Its basic ideology is “For People, not for Profits”.
EduShastra believes that education should be provided to every individual. It provide value based education at minimal cost.
Features:
Fees Details:
The Classroom Course of minimum 60 hours is Rs.28999/- and for Live Online Course of minimum 60 hours is Rs.18999/-
Contact Details:
Core Team Member: Prof Nagesh Raghunath Rane
Address: 101-A, Ashoka Estate Building, New BaraKhamba Road, Fire Brigade Lane,
BaraKhamba, Delhi, 110001
Phone No.: 011-23359967, 23356768
About coaching:
IMS is one the best institute for CAT preparation. It has excellent faculty and mentors. They keep monitoring students’ performance and provide them proper guidance.
Faculty at IMS is very supportive as they are ready to solve queries whenever asked. IMS provides competitive environment students which induces them to work even harder.
Features:
Fees Details:
For Weekday/Weekend batches: Rs.24,900.
Discount: Rs.2,325; 20% waiver for those who scored over 80% in Class 10 and 12.
Correspondence course is not applicable.
The institute offers more class hours per week in both the programs; fee discount for those who scored high in the previous year’s CAT.
Contact Details:
Address: 101-A, Ashoka Estate Building, Barakhamba Road, Connaught Place,
New Delhi: 110001
Phone No.: 011 – 23359967/68/70/87
Email: delhi@imsindia.com
About coaching:
TIME is the most famous institute for CAT. The way of teaching of their faculties are enough for CAT preparation. They teach from to basic level and then move ahead to greater level.
They provide study material and practice question which are of good level, however its fee is little high but its worth to go there.
Their administration are also good as they help to provide every information to students and management is also good.
Most important thing is they think that all student comes to different field they need to more support of the faculty so they teach accordingly.
Features:
Fees Details
Weekday batch: Rs.23,950
Weekend batch: Rs.28,950
Correspondence course: Rs.6,950 and Rs.8,450 (Offers 8-10 mock CATs compared to 3-5 in the regular correspondence course).
Discount is available for those who scored high in the previous year’s CAT.
Contact Details:
Address: 12, Floor, Scindia House, Connaught Place, New Delhi-110 001
Phone No.: 011- 43626300
Email: cp.delhi@time4education.com
And my answer always will be, It totally depends upon you friends. If your base is not good or weak then it is always better to join CAT coaching.
You may do self-study for CAT preparation but coaching will guide through while process and help you to crack CAT exam in the first attempt.
Here are the few points we have pointed out which will help you to choose best coaching for CAT.
Record matters. While selecting best coaching for your CAT preparation, first you have to check the recent years passing record of the CAT institute you want to join.
There may be a case institute show along years record but you recent years passing record matter only.
I have seen various big institute had made goodwill on the long back past record and claims to be the best CAT institute.
Before choosing to coach for CAT preparation you have to know, how is the study material provided by particular CAT coaching.
Is the study material provided by Coaching is in easy language?
Is the study material is sufficient TO crack CAT exam? And like that questions.
Study material play very crucial role in your overall chance to crack CAT Exam In very first attempt.
Feedback also matters. So never hesitate to take feedback from ex-student or person related to CAT field.
Feedback helps you to enhance the real situation about the coaching and help you to decide correctly wether you should choose the particular CAT coaching or not.
MBA Guru, Edushashtra, TIME and Career Launcher are the best coaching institutes for the preparation of CAT entrance exam as it has well accomplished faculty that provide best education to the students. Also they conduct online classes, classrooms coaching as well as one-to-one teaching methodology.
They have small batches which provide personalized attention to everyone. They also facilitates study materials and test series to the students for best preparation.