By doing it well! But before that,

Shed this persecution complex

You have started prep by laying the ground for two excuses -1) About Engineers and 2) About relevance. I am an engineer who thinks this exam is frightfully relevant, so “Hi”. This exam tests math of class VIII, IX and X level. This exam gives Engineers absolutely no advantage. At every stage, the discrimination is against Engineers. This exam tests basic intelligence tested in a standardized format. Why should one assume that non-Engineers (or girls, or students from commerce background) carry a disadvantage? A good class X student can ace this exam and get 99th percentile. So, completely bin this “the game is rigged against me” gig. That is just convenient, not true.

On relevance, basic quantitative ability, and the ability to comprehend and critically read passages have been taken as a proxy for smarts. In a standardized framework, these two skill sets are the best ones to test for. The IIMs have studied correlation of college performance with CAT scores, and correlation of management performance with CAT scores - both seem to be ok. Based on anecdotal evidence, I can tell you that CAT scores and general intelligence carry a high correlation.

Will there be students who are very smart but have not cracked CAT? Ofcourse, yes. Can we say with reasonable certainty that someone who scores 99th percentile will be reasonably intelligent? Yes, of course. The second question is more relevant as far as the IIMs are concerned.

You seem to want to establish that this is a rigged exam testing irrelevant skill sets even before you have started preparing. Unfortunately for me, I am sitting here late in the night with no mood to partake in festivities and dish out convenient untruths :-)

Let me see if I can redeem myself and improve from being the cantankerous elderly-sounding gentleman who is overly keen to berate the youth of today for their indiscreet lamentations about perceived game-rigging. In layman-speak, is there a useful part to this answer? Brevity may be the soul of wit, but it aint the currency when it comes to late night Quora answers.

Learn math with a sense of joy

Learn from the basics and retain a sense of wonder about math. I will elaborate on this after a short story -

According to legend, Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier after the capture of the city of Syracuse. He was contemplating a mathematical diagram in the sand and enraged the soldier by refusing to go to meet the Roman general until he had finished working on the problem. His last words are supposed to have been “Do not disturb my circles!”

The story is perhaps apocryphal, but conveys the point beautifully. If learnt well, math is endlessly fascinating.

Try the following question (This is an old famous puzzle). Fill the cells given below with natural numbers from 1 to 8 such that no two adjacent cells have consecutive numbers. Note that two cells are considered adjacent if they have even one point in common.

Now, say you are learning the topic on Averages. Think about this, a teacher says every student in the class should score above-average. What is wrong with that statement?

Let your mind rest on numbers and number patterns a little bit. Guys who love numbers love the numbers 243, 343, 729, 1729, 73 etc. For different reasons. See what draws them to these numbers. Think of Quant as a wonderful way to exercise the grey cells, fret less about marks and percentiles.

Not for nothing is Mathematics considered the queen of the Sciences. It provides a fabulous brain-exercise tool kit and is endlessly fascinating.

Enjoy reading

Reading is one of the most joyful activities one can find. If you find the right set of books, you can lose yourself for days. You will realize that reading can get you out of a funk, prevent you from going into a funk, recharge you, inspire you and do many more wonderful things to the way you think.

For a glorious reading list, click here - Definitive reading list for CAT Preparation (RC) - Books - IIM - CAT Coaching: Experts' Insights .

So, add a dollop of fun maths, read away to glory. Even if CAT does not go well, these two habits will take you far. Best wishes friend.