There is a point at which competition stops being a useful signal and becomes an environment. Aspirants begin to organise their entire lives around a single outcome, often without asking what the outcome is actually worth.
The mathematics changes the psychology
When thousands compete for a handful of places, effort becomes difficult to evaluate. Someone can work extraordinarily hard and still receive a result indistinguishable from someone who barely tried.
A low probability of selection does not make preparation irrational. It makes the opportunity cost impossible to ignore.
Preparation should therefore be designed around a broader portfolio of outcomes: knowledge gained, skills developed, career options preserved and the person one becomes during the process.
Preparation is an allocation problem
Every additional hour spent on an examination is an hour not spent on a job, a degree, a relationship, a business, rest or another path. Good preparation therefore requires the same discipline as good capital allocation.
The question is not “How badly do I want this?” It is “Given what I know today, where does the next hour have the highest expected value?”