Dear Palash,

First of all Congratulations on thinking about giving CAT 2019 and that too self study. I think I would be the right person to answer your query because I had appeared for CAT 2018 and I also did self study. Due to my rigourous planning and practice I managed to get 98.5 percentile CAT , 98 percentil in NMAT (221 marks) , 98.5 percentile in SNAP and 97 percentile in IIFT. I already converted the calls from NMIMS, SIBM Pune and waiting for the result of some IIMs and IIFT. Let's talk about the self study and how should you approach. I started my preperation in July 2018 but you are in April 2018. I definitely say that you can do wonders in the exam because you have plenty of time with you. Just stick to the schedule ,never give up after taking mocks where you can get low marks but that is not the measure and do practice very well.

We will first talk aboout the materials that you need.

1. TIME Material (Arrange it from some of your friends) - Complete it in 3 months (June - 2018)

2. If you do not have TIME Material then go for Following books

VA-RC:

1. For Vocabulary: Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis
2. For enhancing the reading speed, any novel and newspaper and anything you can read will be good enough.
3. For Grammar: Normal Grammar Rules from Wren and Martin. (Not useful for CAT point of view but for other exams such as XAT/IIFT/SNAP/CET it is useful.)
4. Pearson book for Practice of Verbal Questions
   

LR-DI:

Books by Arun Sharma (TMH) and by Nishant Sinha (Pearson)

Quant:

Quantum CAT by Sarvesh K Verma

Quantitative Aptitude by Arun Sharma

Complete you Study from Book part by July 2018.

Now , We will tal about the Mock Test Series

1. Join AIMCAT by TIME Test Series

2. Join SIMCAT by IMS Test Series

Give around 30 to 35 mocks as you are doing self study. Also you give sectional test of every section on daily basis after June 2018 because it is helpful to be on the track and it will be kind of revision to you.

CAT is a smart game. Do not get disheartened by getting low marks in some Mock test. Always keep faith in yourself and prepare well.

Hope I answered your question in detail. Please upvote the answer if you liked it.

All the best for your future.

If you will have any queries, please comment over here I will try to reply as soon as possible.

You can consider the following steps for self preparation for CAT 2019:

• Get Arihant's book for past papers of CAT
• Get reading materials from any of the coaching institutes, this will give you the idea of the current syllabus and solving materials will help in building your foundations strong
• Ensure that you take only one institute's test series because taking multiple institute's test series will only exhaust you. You should rather focus on post analysis of the tests instead of concentrating on just writing them. Post analysis always helps in boosting your scores.
• Lastly develop a weekly plan, set targets with regards to which topics you should finish each week. Take sufficient breaks so as to keep yourself relaxed.

Hii,

CAT is an entrance exam to enter into the IIM's to pursue MBA course.Many people say CAT exam is the toughest Entrance exam.It may, but it won't If you  go with a proper strategy and plan.Many people fail due to lack of proper strategy in attempting questions.CAT exam consists of three sections Quantitative Aptitude,Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension,Data Interpretation and logical Reasoning.

If you are clear about the basics about the topics in the three sections you don't need any Coaching for sure.But if you are not that much good about the topics it is better to take Coaching and then prepare on your own.However there are few people who cracked CAT with a Decent percentile without Coaching.It is all about how you go with a right strategy.It all depends on What to attempt,what to leave,How much time to spend on a question.If you are clear about this half of your job is done.

I suggest you Some Books which help you to prepare well from home.

• How to prepare for Quantitative Aptitude for CAT  by Arun sharma
• How to prepare for Data interpretation for CAT by Arun sharma and meenakshi Upadhyoya
• Word power Made easy by Norman Lewis
• How to prepare for Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension for CAT by Nishit.K Sinha

Always Read Hindhu Newspaper Editorials to develop English.

Thank you.