BBA - Bachelors in Business Administration is a very good staring step for one's career in the business field. In order to pursue MBA, this degree will definitely help.  A lot of students appear for the CAT entrance exam for MBA. Therefore, it is highly important that you have a very strong foundation and grip of the concept and adequate practice to be in the top 0.1% of the lot an get admission into IIM Ahmedabad or the likes.

How much duration is good enough for CAT preparation?

Well, there is no specific answer to this question. Some people are unable to crack the exam and get a good percentile even after 3 attempts while some get 99+ percentile in the first attempt itself. Even as they get 99+ percentile, some students prepare only for 3-6 months and reach the top while some other prepare for 2 years. However on average 1 year is considered a good duration for preparation.

How much time does it take to complete the syllabus?

CAT exam tests a student on the basic concepts of Quant, LRDI and Verbal. These are at 12th class level. Therefore, anyone who has a Bachelor's degree would already have some idea about these concepts from the school days. One needs to revisit the topics and brush up all the basics. At the same time, one should focus more on the tips and tricks to solve questions easily.

The time duration to cover the concepts completely depends on your ability to grasp the ideas. Ideally 6 months would be enough to understand the topics. After that it is all about practicing and strengthening your exam strategy.

Now the main question,

When should I start my coaching?

Not everyone takes a coaching for CAT. If you want to join, most of the institutes offer a 1 year course or a crash course for CAT preparation. Apart from this they also have Mock test series separately which can be subscribed to.

If BYJU's is providing CAT coaching from now till the date of your exam + interviews, you can undoubtedly take a shot at it and join coaching. However, if it is just a one year course, I would suggest that you should wait till next year and then join.

The last leg of one's journey in preparation is very important and having a coaching will definitely help you in channelizing your energies in the right direction.

What to do in the next 1 year if I do not join coaching?

If you are opting for coaching from next year, I would suggest that this year start reading magazines and newspapers. Also, try to work on building your profile by participating in co-cirricular activities and taking up positions of responsibilities in clubs and committees in college. These will help a lot during your interview. Also never loose focus on academic percentage in BBA as that will also boost your final merit score for admissions. Try to get 80%+ in BBA aggregate.

From preparation point of view you can start self preparation by looking at videos online or taking material from your seniors who are/were preparing for CAT.

All the best

Dear Aspirant ,

You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.

If you want to give CAT exams in future , you can start preparing for it anytime, It hardly takes ten to twelve months to complete the syllabus of CAT so if possible try to join BYJU in last year , as whatever you will read will be fresh and easy for you to score good , But if you want to start it from now then you can surely go for it.