CAT is an exam that is being taken by lakhs and lakhs of students but only few hundred are lucky enough to get into the Top Ranking Institutes. This is not because they are made up of some different skin and different blood flows into their vessel, it’s just that they have that extra edge in them.
Anyone can have or develop that extra edge in them. What’s needed is just a little sincerity and dedication.
Here are the answers to a few basic questions most of you have in mind before you start your prep.
Hope this clears at least a few of your doubts.
For any other doubts please feel free to email me anytime.
When should I start preparing for CAT?
As i have always suggested, there is no right time to start preparing for any exam. Once you have decided to have a go for CAT, there is no point in waiting for an auspicious moment for the preparation to begin. Start NOW.
Don’t worry if there is little time left or you started your preparation late. You have to start somewhere. Just take the first step, work as hard as you can, give it your best shot and nothing can stop you. There are students like you who start 1 month before the exam, a few start 2-3 months before the exam. They are successful because they put all their effort into their prep. it doesn't matter when you start, for how long you study the only thing that matters is how well you understand what you study. Quantity or time doesn't matter in CAT prep. Only quality matters.
You can study for 10 hours but learn only 2 concepts or you can study for 1 hour and understand 10 concepts. It all depends on you.
What is the Pre-requisites/eligibility for CAT and admission to IIMs and other B-Schools?
Anyone who has completed or is in the final year of his/her bachelor's degree (Any stream: Engineering, medicine, humanities, sciences etc) can take the exam.
Is CAT a tough exam?Any exam is tough if you do not prepare. The CAT exam tests the caliber of a person to handle and juggle things by throwing at him/her difficulties that only the best minds can handle. The whole buzz that it is one of the toughest exams in India is just a MYTH.
This buzz was created by coaching classes to scare students so that you join classes and they make profits. CAT exam tests the overall aptitude of a student, Same as the other exams like SNAP, XAT, MAT, GRE, GMAT ETC.
If CAT was the toughest exam out there guaranteeing that only the smartest students can crack it, then even other top colleges would have accepted their scores. Obviously, every college wants the smartest students in order to attain the top position.
Through CAT, candidate’s conceptualized knowledge, analytical skills and decision making capabilities are judged because this is what is expected by a manager of a company to do, and all CAT aspirants are future managers.
What is the pattern of the CAT exam?
Since the inception of this computer – based CAT, there are only two sections in CAT paper now. Quant & DI and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning.
What are the other exams I can sit for if I prepare for CAT?You can sit for almost all the management entrance exams that test the aptitude of the candidate like XAT, MAT, SNAP, CET, SRCC GBO, IIFT, JMET, NMIMS, etc.
The aptitude test consists of English (verbal ability and reading comprehension), Quantitative Ability (mostly Class X level math, except in some exams like XAT and JMET where pure math, which is taught at the higher secondary level, questions are asked), Data Interpretation, Data Sufficiency and Reasoning.
In some exams such as MAT (Management Aptitude Test, another all-India common entrance exam), SNAP (Symbiosis National Aptitude Test, for the institute in Pune), IIFT (entrance test for the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade), IRMA (entrance test for the Institute of Rural Management at Anand) and ATMA (the Association of Indian Management Schools' Test for Management Admissions, another all-India exam), there will also be an additional section of General Awareness.
As can be seen, once you prepare for CAT, you can attempt almost all the management entrance exams.
In addition, the preparation will also be helpful in cracking the campus recruitment related exams. However, the patterns of different exams have to be studied and attempted individually to get maximum results.
How do I prepare for the various sections in the CAT paper?
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension: The basic requirement for both these sections is a good vocabulary and a strong sense of grammar.
Ability to read fast would be an added advantage. In the first three months of preparation, you should spend a lot of time on improving your vocabulary and reading speed.
As the questions can be from any general topic -- economics, psychology, philosophy, sociology, politics, medicine, science, culture, arts, etc -- it is important to inculcate good reading habits.
Quantitative ability: You have to be very good at numbers and geometry. The best way to prepare for this section is to pick up a guide on Quantitative Ability and start working on the basics.
Make it a goal that in the next three months, you have to complete the basics of all topics CAT covers.
The typical CAT Quantitative Ability questions are based on simple equations, ratio proportion and variation, percentage, profit and loss, numbers, indices, logs and surds, averages, mixtures and allegations, quadratic equations, progressions, time and work, time and distance, geometry and mensuration, permutations and combinations, probability, special equations, inequalities, number systems, functions and graphs, coordinate geometry and miscellaneous math logic.
Data Interpretation: In the last three years, DI is becoming more and more reasoning and logic oriented rather than pure mathematical calculation oriented as many think it to be. However, to start your DI preparations, it is important to improve your speed-calculation techniques. You should be thorough with tables up to 20, fractions, squares and cubes of numbers. In addition, learn the techniques of speed-multiplication and division. Once you are thorough with these areas, then taking up the different types of DI sets and working on them would be a simple and effective way of starting your preparations.
Is it important to join a coaching class?
NO, Coaching classes cannot guarantee you an IIM seat.
NO, Coaching classes cannot guarantee you an IIM seat.
Coaching classes have a fixed schedule and require time
Working professionals, college students cannot afford to waste precious time in just traveling. on residential students or students without vehicles cannot manage to travel far for classes.
Fee of a coaching class can cost you approx rs.1000-40000, mock series can cost around rs.5000-20000 which cannot be afforded by many.
Classes are distracting. you will end up spending more time with your friends than you spend with your preparation
Working professionals, college students cannot afford to waste precious time in just traveling. on residential students or students without vehicles cannot manage to travel far for classes.
Fee of a coaching class can cost you approx rs.1000-40000, mock series can cost around rs.5000-20000 which cannot be afforded by many.
Classes are distracting. you will end up spending more time with your friends than you spend with your preparation
Tutors in most classes are inexperienced or lack good teaching skills. Tutors cannot give attention to every student individually because the numbers of students in most classes are 10-50.
If you want a specific class’s Study material it can be easily taken from ex students. A lot of study material and books are available in the markets which are more than sufficient for your prep.
In the end you will end up wasting more time than gaining knowledge.
How many hours every day must I study?
There is no one single ideal number of hours that one should prepare. It all depends on your ability and the state of your preparedness. If you start your preparation early, about an hour a day would give you a good start. Similarly, when you start say in May/June, then about two hours per day may be required. And if you start in August, then around four hours a day.
Are there any books to help me prepare for CAT?
Though there are enough books written on CAT, there is no one -- or even two -- book that can give you an overall idea about CAT or the preparation for it. This is the reason why i made the CAT PREP GUIDE so students can have everything they need in the comfort of their own home and be able to access it through their computers/laptops and phones.
For those who don't have the guide,Some books in the market give the CAT papers of the last 10 years, which may be useful to browse and understand the level of difficulty of the exam.there are few books available for practice but sadly so far,i have not seen any good books that explain concepts or give shortcuts,tricks or strategies to solve questions.I am not very fond of books by A. Sharma,R.Handa,C.Agrawal etc,they are OK for practice but they do not explain how the sum can be solved and how to solve it in the quickest and most accurate way possible.I always ask students to refer to GRE and GMAT books, especially for verbal prep.
Make sure you buy a book which has clear and simple explanations of all concepts. a lot of practice material is available in general book stores but good concepts cannot be found easily. Also try to find books that have shortcuts, tricks and tips given. It will be an added advantage.
However, reading newspapers daily, and going through weekly magazines like India Today, Outlook, Frontline, and business magazines such as Business Today, Business World or Business India will help you improve your general awareness. It will also improve reading speed and vocabulary.
How do I prepare for individual sections?
I have covered each and every section divided into single topics.
Everything you need for your preparation is given in the guide including tips, strategies, e-books, shortcuts, gd-pi, gk etc.
But before starting to draw any strategy, you need to familiarize yourself with all CAT sections and sub-sections, as well as the variety of questions that feature in each of them.
The objective behind this is very clear – to learn various methods to solve each type of question in the shortest possible time. Get the best results from your preparation
Importance of Solving Previous Years Papers in CATThe aspirants apply various techniques to prepare for this exam. The best technique out of all is by solving the previous year’s questions papers. By doing so, you can get an idea of the questions that might appear in the paper. This will simply make your CAT preparation better and effective.I have provided papers from 1990-2012 for your practice.
You can also go for various online mock tests, that will not only provide you idea and feel of the actual CAT paper, but will build confidence in you that you can also do it.
One more thing to remember is that CAT IIM papers do not stay the same each year; hence the students must be careful while solving the previous papers. Computer – based CAT has made a few changes in the paper pattern which will not be found in the previous year’s question papers. Aspirants should go through such minor details in order to be on a safer side. Online CAT exams are different from the CAT exams which were earlier given on paper. It is difficult to find the online papers over the internet.
All students aiming for IIM should always solve the previous year’s papers as it will make their doubts clear regarding the questions during the exam.
GOOD LUCK!!
Make sure you buy a book which has clear and simple explanations of all concepts. a lot of practice material is available in general book stores but good concepts cannot be found easily. Also try to find books that have shortcuts, tricks and tips given. It will be an added advantage.
However, reading newspapers daily, and going through weekly magazines like India Today, Outlook, Frontline, and business magazines such as Business Today, Business World or Business India will help you improve your general awareness. It will also improve reading speed and vocabulary.
How do I prepare for individual sections?
I have covered each and every section divided into single topics.
Everything you need for your preparation is given in the guide including tips, strategies, e-books, shortcuts, gd-pi, gk etc.
But before starting to draw any strategy, you need to familiarize yourself with all CAT sections and sub-sections, as well as the variety of questions that feature in each of them.
The objective behind this is very clear – to learn various methods to solve each type of question in the shortest possible time. Get the best results from your preparation
Importance of Solving Previous Years Papers in CATThe aspirants apply various techniques to prepare for this exam. The best technique out of all is by solving the previous year’s questions papers. By doing so, you can get an idea of the questions that might appear in the paper. This will simply make your CAT preparation better and effective.I have provided papers from 1990-2012 for your practice.
You can also go for various online mock tests, that will not only provide you idea and feel of the actual CAT paper, but will build confidence in you that you can also do it.
One more thing to remember is that CAT IIM papers do not stay the same each year; hence the students must be careful while solving the previous papers. Computer – based CAT has made a few changes in the paper pattern which will not be found in the previous year’s question papers. Aspirants should go through such minor details in order to be on a safer side. Online CAT exams are different from the CAT exams which were earlier given on paper. It is difficult to find the online papers over the internet.
All students aiming for IIM should always solve the previous year’s papers as it will make their doubts clear regarding the questions during the exam.
GOOD LUCK!!
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