Six steps for CAT 2011 - 2012 Exam Preparation
- Know
what the test consists of: To score well, you need to know what
sections the test paper consists of. CAT consists of
Quantitative Ability or mathematical aptitude, Verbal Ability or your English
language skills and Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning. The
Quantitative Ability section consists of the topics of Arithmetic,
Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Mensuration and all those topics which
you have studied till class X. The topics covered in Verbal Ability are
reading, grammar, comprehension and vocabulary. The questions on Data
Interpretation and Logical Reasoning are on Graphs, Charts etc. It is very
important to know the content of the test, to ace it.
- Know
your strengths, work on your weaknesses: Plan your
preparation after knowing your strengths and weaknesses. For this you
should take a diagnostic test as it will tell you where you stand.
Speaking on the importance o working on your weakness, Abhishek Jha,
a IIM alumnus says, “You should identify your strengths and
weakness and work out a strategy based on your strengths.
Cracking CAT is all about time management. You don’t need to
answer all the questions, but have to ensure that you crack the maximum
questions in what your are confident about and ensure that you crack the
minimum required in your weak sections to clear cutoffs and thus division
of time so as to get the maximum out of the paper is very important.”
- Work on
your weaknesses: Start your preparation after gauging your
weaknesses. Experts say the first step is to start with class X
level CBSE/ICSE books on Math and English grammar. One should
also read newspapers, business dailies and magazines as this exercise will
help you to understand different topics and increase your hold over
English, general knowledge and various other topics. Speaking about
importance of reading newspapers, an expert on CAT said,
“English is always the key in CAT. You should try to figure out if
you are weak in comprehension or is it with questions in verbal ability
and work out a strategy based on your strong points. Ideal case
preparation for English is reading editorial of a paper like Hindu with
full comprehension and underlining those words which you don’t understand
and then find out those words meaning next day. This will help improve
your vocabulary.”
Many institutes like T.I.M.E., IMS Learning, Career Launcher and
PT Education also prepare you for CAT, and are especially useful if
your fundamentals are weak,
- Prepare
a time table: To excel, one has to be very organised. You
should make a time table and follow it. Manish Saraf, COO, PT
Education, in an interview to a news portal, has divided the time table as
allocate 45 days to get all fundamentals of Quant, Verbal and DI/Logic in place.
Slot one hour per area, i.e., three hours of study every day."
- Practice
makes you perfect When you get a grip over the basic
syllabus of the CAT exam, you should start taking regular mock
tests to know your preparation status. Also you must see if you are
improving after taking the tests and analyse your performance.
- Plan
your answering strategy: These are few points you must
plan out before taking the CAT-:
- Which
section, whether it is English, Quantitative Ability or Data
Interpretation, you are going to attempt in the beginning, followed by
which section and which in the end. Within these sections, what will be
your order of attempting the various types of questions? For example,
within the English section, will you do Reading Comprehension first or begin
with the Verbal Ability part?
- What
is your time allocation strategy? How much time do you plan to spend on
each of the sections? In particular, do you plan to devote equal time to
each section or slightly more time to the section that you are the strongest
at?
- How
will you respond to a differential marking scheme if that is specified?
For example, if there are 2 mark and 1mark questions, do you plan to
attempt the 2 mark questions first?
- Do you
plan to spend some time at the completion of the exam, cross-checking or
verifying some of the answers, especially of those questions that you are
not really sure of and have just estimated or guessed the answer?
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