CAT season is around the corner and preparations are going into overdrive. Here are a few things to keep in mind while preparing.
Have a clear strategy before your Mock CATs -
Fine tune your strategy and use it on the day of the exam. Most wars are won not on the power of the ammunition and armor a country possesses but on the power of its think tank. The same is true when it comes to CAT. Before you take any CAT comprehensive test put down on paper the strategy that you want to adopt for that test. Typically, students spend about 30 minutes in the verbal section, 40 minutes in the DI section and 50 minutes in the Quant section. This split could vary from individual to individual. Having set this limit, shave off 5 minutes from each of the sections and keep those 5 minute blocks as reserve.
Keep track of your time -
Having set time limits for each of the sections that appear in CAT, you need to ensure that your progress is keeping pace in the set time limit. Attempting 85 to 90 questions in CAT and getting over 65 as net score is a definite recipe to get calls from couple or more of the IIMs. With 120 minutes at your disposal, the arithmetic essentially translates to about 7 to 8 questions every 10 minutes. Therefore, divide your 2 hours mentally into 12 slots of 10 minutes and at the end of each 10 minutes do a status check. In reality, you should be doing better in the first half of the time allotted to each section in terms of the number of questions attempted (over 10 questions every 10 minutes) than the second half. The reason for this assumption is that you are expected to attempt the easier questions that consume less time in the first half than in the second half. If you find yourself slipping in any one slot, you need to buck up in the next couple of ones to maintain your average. If you are in the habit of using a stop watch, make sure that you start it as soon as you get the signal from the invigilator to start the test. There have been instances of students getting tensed on account of not starting their stop watches.
Have a clear strategy before your Mock CATs -
Fine tune your strategy and use it on the day of the exam. Most wars are won not on the power of the ammunition and armor a country possesses but on the power of its think tank. The same is true when it comes to CAT. Before you take any CAT comprehensive test put down on paper the strategy that you want to adopt for that test. Typically, students spend about 30 minutes in the verbal section, 40 minutes in the DI section and 50 minutes in the Quant section. This split could vary from individual to individual. Having set this limit, shave off 5 minutes from each of the sections and keep those 5 minute blocks as reserve.
Keep track of your time -
Having set time limits for each of the sections that appear in CAT, you need to ensure that your progress is keeping pace in the set time limit. Attempting 85 to 90 questions in CAT and getting over 65 as net score is a definite recipe to get calls from couple or more of the IIMs. With 120 minutes at your disposal, the arithmetic essentially translates to about 7 to 8 questions every 10 minutes. Therefore, divide your 2 hours mentally into 12 slots of 10 minutes and at the end of each 10 minutes do a status check. In reality, you should be doing better in the first half of the time allotted to each section in terms of the number of questions attempted (over 10 questions every 10 minutes) than the second half. The reason for this assumption is that you are expected to attempt the easier questions that consume less time in the first half than in the second half. If you find yourself slipping in any one slot, you need to buck up in the next couple of ones to maintain your average. If you are in the habit of using a stop watch, make sure that you start it as soon as you get the signal from the invigilator to start the test. There have been instances of students getting tensed on account of not starting their stop watches.
Striking a right balance - Accuracy vs Speed -
The usual dilemma that one faces while preparing for CAT is the trade off between accuracy and speed. There is no need to trade off one for the other. In fact these two are not mutually exclusive events. Accuracy is important. But that doesn’t mean that you should not hesitate to approximate whenever needed and proceed. One important thing to keep in mind as you proceed with each step of solving a question, is to take a quick glance at the answer choices. This way, in many instances, you will find that you do not have to go to the last step and find the answer. Even if it is only one or two steps saved for each problem, that will give you enough time to crack another 3 or 4 more problems in CAT. That is a huge difference when it comes to getting calls from the IIMs.
Skipping tough questions is the key to success -
Do not get unduly concerned if you seem to skipping questions. In the first attempt only answer those questions that are really really easy (that will take around a minute or less to answer). Though this is generally true across all three sections, it gains greater importance in the quant section. As you go through each question if you encounter a question that you do not know or happens to be difficult, put an X mark next to it, skip it and forget it. If you find a question that you know, but will take 2 or more minutes, put an A next to it, skip it and proceed. Attempt in the 1st round only those that will take about a minute. After exhausting all these easy questions, if you still have time, come back for the questions that you have marked as A. This way, your selection of questions follows the rule of attempting the easiest ones first and then the tougher ones. Putting X and A marks next to the question eliminates the necessity to re select questions when you revisit the section. On an average, students who crack CAT need to get about 50% or lesser of the number of questions in the quant and DI section as their net score. That essentially translates to skipping every other question, provided you can maintain very high levels of accuracy. So, go ahead and skip questions that are difficult. It will be more detrimental to get stuck in a question and spending a lot of time on it than skipping a question that is easy by mistake.
The usual dilemma that one faces while preparing for CAT is the trade off between accuracy and speed. There is no need to trade off one for the other. In fact these two are not mutually exclusive events. Accuracy is important. But that doesn’t mean that you should not hesitate to approximate whenever needed and proceed. One important thing to keep in mind as you proceed with each step of solving a question, is to take a quick glance at the answer choices. This way, in many instances, you will find that you do not have to go to the last step and find the answer. Even if it is only one or two steps saved for each problem, that will give you enough time to crack another 3 or 4 more problems in CAT. That is a huge difference when it comes to getting calls from the IIMs.
Skipping tough questions is the key to success -
Do not get unduly concerned if you seem to skipping questions. In the first attempt only answer those questions that are really really easy (that will take around a minute or less to answer). Though this is generally true across all three sections, it gains greater importance in the quant section. As you go through each question if you encounter a question that you do not know or happens to be difficult, put an X mark next to it, skip it and forget it. If you find a question that you know, but will take 2 or more minutes, put an A next to it, skip it and proceed. Attempt in the 1st round only those that will take about a minute. After exhausting all these easy questions, if you still have time, come back for the questions that you have marked as A. This way, your selection of questions follows the rule of attempting the easiest ones first and then the tougher ones. Putting X and A marks next to the question eliminates the necessity to re select questions when you revisit the section. On an average, students who crack CAT need to get about 50% or lesser of the number of questions in the quant and DI section as their net score. That essentially translates to skipping every other question, provided you can maintain very high levels of accuracy. So, go ahead and skip questions that are difficult. It will be more detrimental to get stuck in a question and spending a lot of time on it than skipping a question that is easy by mistake.
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