I am currently in second year of my engineering and I really wish to do my MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. How can I start now to ensure a good rank in CAT?

A friend of mine attended IIM Ahmedabad. Based on his experience, here are a few points you should take into account for your preparation. 

• Score more than 4.5 GPA
• Get two years of work experience
• Crack CAT with 99.9+%ile
• Perform well in WAT PI.

Apart from the basics, here are a few suggestions that should help you in preparing. 

• Online CAT coaching: There are many institutes that offer online coaching classes on weekends. Just follow their guidelines on every subject. This option helps you to handle both engineering and CAT parallelly and saves a lot of your time and effort.
• 100 minutes of CAT: A daily session for 100 minutes of CAT practice questions at home or college will boost your confidence. Some practice after college hours will boost your problem-solving skills.
• Enjoyment on holidays: On festive occasions, allot most of your time for CAT practice. Maximum time should be allocated to CAT practice questions. You can even make it 6 hours on special holidays.
• If you are still an engineering student, and in the third year, allot 120 minutes daily to CAT practice. Similar has to be done in the fourth year.
• Once you are done with your graduation, you would get a lot of time. Now, you need to increase the practice hours to 9 hours per day.
• If you aren’t satisfied with the online classes, you can even join any renowned coaching center for a 90 days fast track coaching. This could even increase your confidence level.
• Your only target should be to secure a very good percentage in Engineering. Graduation percentage also plays a major role at the time of selection into the IIMs.
• You must balance both CAT and Engineering at the same time. Graduation should always be your first priority. Complete the engineering tasks, and then move on to CAT practice.

These exams are very challenging. Failures are a very common thing here. Just don’t feel discouraged if you fail. Keep trying and keep your confidence levels up.