tough task

New Delhi, Nov. 16: At a boot camp on the Delhi-Jaipur highway, away from the bustle of the capital, 50 warriors are fine-tuning their skills through psychological games.

The battle is two days away, on November 18. On that day, each of these warriors will have to fight alone, against an army of over two lakh and whose numbers keep growing.

The intensely competitive Common Admission Test (CAT), which paves the way to the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM), is now an open — though undeclared — war.

Coaching centres are shifting focus from knowledge and speed to the psychological aspects of students’ preparation.

For the first time, CAT coaching classes are testing students’ strengths and weaknesses in “boot camps”.

Career Launcher, which has centres across the country, introduced the concept this year for students from Delhi. It will be extended elsewhere in the years to come.

“As CAT was approaching, we selected the top students. We then organised the boot camp in batches for them. The main idea was to make the best, who may have become complacent, test themselves against each other,” Arindam Lahiri, academics director, Career Launcher, said.

The term “boot camp” refers to warfare training facilities for the US Marine Corps.

“The point is that here, too, they need to be as tough as nails mentally,” Lahiri said.

Career Launcher had held a trial boot camp last year for students who had cleared CAT and were preparing for the interviews and group discussions that follow before the final list of successful candidates is announced.

“We realised that boot camp training was needed before CAT. After all, CAT is a battle now,” Lahiri said.

At TIME, another popular name in India’s booming coaching class industry, trainers have realised that math, logic and English are no longer enough to crack CAT.

“I would say the crucial factor that separates the best from the rest is their mind. There is no space for emotions, unfortunately,” Ulhas Vairagkar, director, TIME, said.

“Doesn’t their mental strength make the Aussies the best cricket team in the world?” he laughed.

Older students — often attempting CAT for a second or third time — and working professionals stand a better chance of clearing the test because of their “mental strength”, he said.

For the past two months, TIME has been holding “motivation” classes. “There are no academics in these classes. We help students motivate themselves for the big day. We have never before laid so much emphasis on mental strength,” Vairagkar said.

The coaching centres point out that several “bright” students with excellent records during practice tests buckle under pressure on the day of the exam.

“The boot camps should help this year,” Lahiri said.

As in war and in cricket, the centres say, a student’s focus should remain on “now”.

“The students, at the end of the day, need to focus on the next question, nothing else,” Vairagkar said.