Kick start for CAT preparation

Yesterday, I took a Mock CAT test to start my preparation for the Nov'08 CAT exam. As everyone knows, this is probably the most competitive exam (if not in quality at least in the number of people appearing for few thousand seats) in India. I got a lot of suggestions that I should have started the preparation a lot earlier (in Feb itself) and some told me to join coaching classes. But I didn't find both of these advices useful because I have seen people who start preparation very early, lose steam when they near the D-Day. I am also of the feeling that, for such exams, one has to put all the efforts by himself. No use attending a class where they might concentrate on section that we are strong at, and completely waste our time! And also they are pretty expensive for a 4 month training (that too only on weekends). I know people who "waste" 20 precious hours of their weekends listening to some listless lectures. Quite sad! Coming back to my Mock test. It didn't go as expected, but I was not completely off mark either. I definitely have to improve on my verbal and quant skills.