But before I talk about them, I want to tell you a shocking lie which you have probably believed and agreed to which is responsible for more failure stories than success stories.
The Lie is
“The More Mock Tests I give , the better I become.”
I call it “Mind Crime". It’s a lie which has been propagated by Experts or Authority Figures to lead you astray for their Personal benefits and blind you from the Truth (so they can sell you on more test series, books, coaching classes)
If you are planning to appear for CAT, you must have believed and followed this advice to the tee.
As CAT starts approaching, everybody starts coming out with some generic plans telling you to revise this , revise that and most prominent of it’s “Start giving more Mock Tests.”
If you have started following this advice, ask yourself this question,
Is giving more and more mocks really making any consistent difference in my score and percentile or am I doing the same mistakes over and over ?
If your answer is “NO” then why you are still doing the same thing. Just because it’s a popular advice.
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is called “INSANITY".
Ugly Truth #1
1. Most people think they have given 30 mocks but in reality they have just given 3 mocks 10 times.
That’s the real truth.
Just giving mock is not going to solve all your problem. It’s just a band-aid solution to a bigger problem.
There is exact strategy you should use when you want to scale no of mocks, just giving more of them whenever you feel like it is not going to work.
There are so many blogs, videos , test series and classes out there then why so many students are struggling to score good percentile.
If the books, test series was the solution then everyone would have solved their problems very easily.
Ugly truth #2
2. You don’t need more books, coaching classes, test series to start scoring more Percentile.
The problem doesn’t lie in the amount of information. Most students have enough information. The problem lies in implementation. I mean implementation of right things at right time. You don’t need 50 tactics, you need only few. What you really need is solid strategy.
Those who score consistently high percentile are not necessarily smarter than you but they have solid strategy in place.
Do they know something that you don’t ?
YES
Ugly truth #3
3. You need to focus on doing few right things and instead of doing many things right.
You might be wondering, I am not getting success because
1. I am not working hard enough.
2. I am not giving enough section tests.
3. I am not giving enough mock tests.
4. I am not analyzing enough.
I am not doing this. I am not doing that.
Maybe, all of its true. Maybe some of it is. Maybe none of it’s.
Those who are consistently scoring well are not necessarily genius, they have mastered certain principles. They do only few right things. (80/20 Principle) instead of doing 100 things right.
This is the classic mistake done by most students to avoid solving the real issue.
You are never going to solve all your issues so cease trying. It’s not necessary to score more percentile.
Successful student learn to strategically manage their weaknesses.
Days of slow and steady (Kaizen) are over.
Ugly truth #4
4. You don’t just need a slow and steady change, you need quantum leaps if you want results fast.
Nothing against hard work and persistence but this is not going to save your butt. It would have worked 5-6 years ago.I remember giving my CAT with least amount of strategies and still scored 99%ile + in Quant and 98%ile + in CAT. But these days are over now.
Those times are gone when those who solved more mocks usually scored more.
If your only way to increase your percentile is solving more mocks and analyzing more mocks in 2015, then chances of your survival are almost zero because almost everyone is doing it.
If that’s only your competitive advantage then only GOD can save you.
These are the days of mastering “Leapfrogging Principle"
How to achieve super fast results using Growth Levers ?
If you don’t use these levers effectively, you will go through a lot of challenges and won’t be able to overcome any of them. Some of the challenges are these
1. I am clear with the concepts but that’s not reflected in my scores
2. I can’t accurately pinpoint on my weak areas let along improve on them
3. I have done all these topics before, I used to solve questions in my class every time then why I am not able to solve them in actual mock tests.
4. I am stuck at 60-70s or 90-95%ile.
5. I am not able to break into the coveted 95%ile.
6. What to do if you don’t want to revise everything and don’t have time to do it.
7. I am not able to judge questions.
What’s wrong with me ? Am I doing something wrong ?
Ugly truth #5
5. You need to capitalize on your strengths and learn to strategically manage your weakness.
Every successful student has some weakness and he/she succeeds despite them. The key is not overcoming them, the key is to manage them so that they don’t bother you.
Turn your weaknesses into your biggest allies.
Have you ever got into situation when you were not able to identify right questions in actual mock but could do that once you are back home ? That happens all the time.
Or maybe the questions look difficult just by their length but in reality they are simple. Even you do mistakes in selection of doable problems.
Maybe you thought that increasing no of attempts is going to cut it but once you start doing that your accuracy suffered.
Accuracy at the cost of attempts