25 Jul 2014

Know the CMAT exam pattern and importance

CMAT for PGDM/MBA admission 2015 is proposed to be held in September 2014. The CMAT first test 2015 will provide a good opportunity before CAT 2014 for the aspirants to test themselves and explore admission opportunities in AICTE approved B schools. Although more than 2 months are still at aspirants’ disposal and the topics according to CMAT exam pattern are more or less same, preparation for General Awareness along with other subject topics is a necessity.  
CMAT is a computer based test (CBT) conducted twice a year. Each candidate is eligible to appear in both the exams and the better of the two scores will be used for the admission for each academic year. The registration window for CMAT Sep 2014 is open and will close on August 25, 2014.  It’s better to apply well in time to get the preferred examination centre.

One of the most sought after exam
CMAT is one of the most preferred exams after CAT with more than 1 lakh registrations expected for CMAT Sep 2014. Since the scores of first CMAT 2015 will remain valid during the admission 2015 aspirants also prefer the first test to second test. The reason is by the time results of second CMAT are announced number of good B schools close their registration process. CMAT is widely accepted among the students’ community.

Importance of First CMAT 2015
Apart from B schools that accept CAT/XAT scores, there are other leading B schools who accept CMAT scores. Good marks in CMAT Sep 2014 exam will offer participants ample scope to get admitted into some of the highly ranked university and private B schools in the country.
 
CMAT has been designed to rank all the candidates who appear in the test, based on their aptitude towards the management education in order of merit. The objective of the test is not to eliminate the candidates from the process of seeking admission in the AICTE approved management programmes, rather to facilitate the institutions to select the suitable candidates as per their merit.
In 2012, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the government appointed regulator for technical education in India started conducting Combined Management Admission Test ( CMAT).  AICTE recommends all institutes offering MBA and PGDM courses to use CMAT for their admissions.

Other important exams  
There are more than 10 prominent management entrance exams in India like CAT, XAT,  NMAT, SNAP, MAT, ATMA. CMAT can be ranked as the second most important management entrance test.
 
The biggest beneficiaries of CMAT currently are those students who intend to take admissions into MBA programs falling under State Universities as they don’t need to take any other test to apply to MBA programs in these states. 

Admission Process:
Thirteen states have been accepting CMAT scores as the only gateway to MBA admissions under the government quota, instead of the State-administered Post graduate Common Entrance Test (PGCET). The states which are likely to accept CMAT Sep 2014 scores are: Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh

B schools likely to accept CMAT Sep 2014 scores:
Instead of the state-administered Post Graduate Common Entrance Test (PGCET), many private universities also accept CMAT. Below is the list of some of the B schools who are expected to accept CMAT scores for admissions 2015-17.
List of leading B Schools accepting CMAT- 2014 scores
Institutes                                                                         Location
JBIMS                                                                                Mumbai
SIMSREE
                                                                           Mumbai
Balaji Institute of Modern Management (BIMM) 
                     Pune
MITSOB
                                                                             Pune
Asia Pacific Institute of Management
                                     New Delhi
AIMS 
                                                                                 Bangalore
IFIM Business School
                                                          Bangalore
Alliance School of Business (Alliance University)
                    Bangalore
IPE
                                                                                     Hyderabad
KIIT School of Rural Management
                                          Bhubaneswar
VIT University
                                                                       Vellore
UPES
                                                                                   Dehradun
Jaipuria Institute of Management
                                             Noida

CMAT Sep 2014: Test Duration and Exam Pattern
Like CAT, CMAT is on line computer based test (CBT). Talking about the computer based pattern of the test, AICTE mentions, “Each candidate will be seated at a desk with a computer terminal and scratch paper for rough work. After the test, candidates must leave the scratch paper at the desk.” The test comprises multiple choice questions.
According to AICTE, the test is divided in 4 sections. There will be 25 questions in each section. The total duration is 3 hrs (180 mins).

CMAT Sep 2014 Exam Pattern
 
 
Type of Questions  
       Maximum marks
Number of Questions
Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation     
100
25
Logical Reasoning
100
25
  Language Comprehension     
100
25
General Awareness
100
25
 
While 4 marks would be awarded for each correct answer, there shall be negative marking for wrong answers. For each wrong answer 1 mark shall be deducted.
As per the AICTE notification graduates in any discipline or final year students of graduate courses (10+2+3) whose result will be declared before commencement of admission for 2015, can apply for the CMAT online.

CMAT - Scoring & Ranking
The result of candidates appearing for computer based test CMAT Sep 14 will be displayed with Raw Scores and Rank secured in the All India merit list.
Raw Score:
• The raw score will be calculated by assigning:
1.  + 4 points for the correct answer
2. - 1 point for incorrect answer
3. 0 point for no answer
• Candidates will be provided with raw scores for each section.
Ranking:
• A national merit ranking will be prepared based on the raw scores. In case raw scores are identical for more than one candidate, the ranking will be based on sectional scores considered in the order of Quantitative Techniques & Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning, Language Comprehension and General Awareness
• In case more than one candidate secures same ranking as per the above criteria, the same Rank will be assigned to all of them but will be displayed by sorting their names alphabetically.
• Admission authorities and institutions, however, will be free to take their own decision at the time of admission as to what weightage they wish to give to a particular section.
• The National merit list will be prepared and displayed in the public domain indicating Roll Number, Rank and the Raw Scores.

CMAT Sep 2014 Results:
CMAT Sep 2014 results are expected to be declared on October 30, 2014. According to AICTE, CMAT results have been designed to rank all the candidates who appear in the test based on their aptitude towards the management education in the order of their merit.
The CMAT Sep 2014 exam score will be valid for the admissions to academic year 2015-16.

AICTE CMAT: Ups and downs- finally settled
The controversy on AICTE conducted CMAT first arose when on December 29, 2010 AICTE issued a press notification that CMAT will be the only and exclusive test for MBA admissions across the country. Education Promotion Society of India (EPSI), and many other bodies and B-schools, objected to this notification. EPSI and Jaipuria Group of B-schools took the matter to Delhi High Court where the Court struck down AICTE’s claim that CMAT will be the only test. Court allowed B-schools to use any of the six national tests: CAT, XAT, MAT, ATMA, GMAT and CMAT.
On April 25, 2013 the Honorable Supreme Court of India ordered that management education is no longer a part of AICTE’s domain. Subsequently, on December 3, UGC issued a notification which attempted to bring PGDM B-schools into its ambit.
In the back drop of the UGC’s announcement of a new “draft guidelines” to regulate thousands of technical colleges including engineering and management schools, on December 28, 2013, EPSI, with support from MBAUniverse.com, organized a National Meet in New Delhi, which was attended by nearly 100 Chairmen, Directors & Deans from leading B-schools. Based on the discussions in the meeting EPSI had written a letter to the then Union HRD Minister Pallam Raju on December 31, 2013 asking his ministry’s intervention on this matter. On persuasion from EPSI and PGDM institutions, PGDM was excluded by UGC from its ambit.
Given the regulatory vacuum, EPSI moved Honorable Supreme Court in January 2014 to seek advice who will regulate PGDM. Honorable Court asked AICTE if it had any objections to regulating PGDM. Upon AICTE’s consent, Court ruled that AICTE be the regulator for Admissions 2014-15 academic year.  
The development came after a Supreme Court of India order dated January 16, 2014, that stated that AICTE will be regulating the PGDM institutions for the year 2014-15. Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI) had filed an interim application in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India requesting it to direct AICTE to take necessary steps to initiate the process of granting extension of approval for the year 2014-15 in compliance of the order dated 28/08/2013 passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India. 
It has now been made clear by the Apex court of India that University Grants’ Commission has no role in technical education and All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) will be the regulatory authority for technical education.
 
Quickly moving forward upon the honorable Supreme Court Order dated May 9, 2014 on SLP(Civil) no. 7277/2014  restoring the regulatory powers to AICTE for MBA/PGDM and other technical as well as Engineering programmes, AICTE  has already initiated the process of approvals and invited applications from the prospective institutes a day after the judgment.
Getting the regulatory powers back AICTE has decided to continue conducting its widely accepted management exam CMAT for admission 2015.

MBAuniverse

How important is General Awareness in CMAT

There will be 25 questions based on General Awareness in CMAT in the form of MCQs (Multiple Choice questions). Every correct answer will award you 4 marks improving your score and awarding you higher place in merit. Since there is no sectional cut off in CMAT and all the 4 sections have equal number of questions, General Awareness will play the same role in pushing up your merit position in CMAT as other sections can do. 
The importance becomes more prominent when there are certain confusing names, events and the aspirants tend to forget the exact description which means you may not be so good to manage the future affairs with this weakness. For example difference among the abbreviations like G-8, D-8, G-15, G-20, NATO, OAS,  OPEC,  OAPEC, OECD, OIC, APEC, ADB, ASEAN, EEC, EU, EFTA, SAARC, WCC, WTO, should be well understood and remembered in context so that you may not forget the same in the testing room.
Corporate top brasses like Mr Ratan Tata, a house hold name, who is known for his sharp memory in remembering and recalling the names of thousands of employees of his company and his natural instinct to call the each employee by his name filled the heart of his subordinates with pride which always worked as a booster for more dedicated working.
How to prepare for CMAT General Awareness
All the Candidates, in one or the other way, are enriching their General Knowledge on the topics they like and are inclined to. The need is to understand the basics “How and what to prepare to improve the General Awareness”.   
In fact, study of any subject is not as vast as the study of General Knowledge or as you put it General Awareness. But on the other hand, the best part on preparation for this section is that you do not need any special skill set as required for Quant and Verbal. What you need is your inclination and interest in regular reading of books and periodicals.
You might remember there are certain events that leave some bitter-sweet memories and leave a permanent mark in your memory. Similarly if you read the stuff with interest you will surely remember it.
You are still left with 2 months to CMAT Sep 2014. Rest assured you can prepare, revise and groom the General Awareness very well during this period, if you could attend and follow the below given preparation tips.
-The time for crawling preparation is over and the need is to shed the human nature of waking up at the eleventh hour.
-Two months are sufficient to prepare, revise, refresh well in this area. The tips to various areas of preparation are appended.  You are required to meticulously follow the guided path and rest assured- if you do it, you will succeed.     
-The Division – Before beginning to go for preparing the General Knowledge, you may divide the General Knowledge section in four parts  - A. Conventional   B. Business, Finance & Economy based   C. Current Affairs India (Political, Social, Sports, Films, awards etc.)  D. International (personalities-past & Present, global events etc.)
-Each part has to be given due weightage.  Conventional GK-available in books; Current GK- based on current reading of newspapers and periodicals;  Business & Economics GK -for example changes in Fiscal and monetary policy, CRR, Repo Rate, Devaluation and up valuation of Rupee.   Please remember current GK-whether Business, national and international has an on-going preparation method and thorough reading of the newspaper only can keep you updated. 
 Stuff to read
1.Conventional –Good books on GK are available in the market and may be considered the best to prepare in a short time like Manorama Year Book, General Knowledge refresher, General Knowledge by S. Chand & Co. and so on. Devote a few minutes every day and try to learn this type of GK as much as possible. You may even mug it up-if you can but better way will be to relate one event to the personality, it will help you to prepare more than one question in a single reading. You may have questions based on the topics like Authors of the books, Historical facts & events, Personalities, places, questions  based on inventions, discoveries and Geography, Physics, Chemistry, Biology etc

2. Business, Finance & Economy –This is one of the most favorite sections of GK that appear in the CMAT entrance examinations. Business and finance oriented General Knowledge improves your understanding of economic environment, strengthening your IQ and making you better equipped to face the Group discussions and Personal Interviews.  Try to cover hot topics in Business, Finance and Economy. Going through them will help you to prepare better for your forthcoming CMAT examination. Following tips will be a great help to you-
i) Please read whatever stuff is available on such topics as you may confront these questions in different manner like ‘ What is the current CRR’,  ‘Difference between CRR & SLR’ ‘ Instruments for money control’, “The authority that can change the Bank Rate of the Country” , ‘Which is the petroleum product from which subsidy has been fully withdrawn’, ‘Budget speech of the President marks the beginning or the conclusion of budget session’ ‘ Where the budget is presented first in Loksabha or RajyaSabha’, ‘Which company is not included in the NAVRATNA companies of India’ and so on.
ii) Regularly read the business, economy page of newspapers like The Times of India, The Economic Times periodicals like The week, India Today, The Economist – mark the striking events, read editorials and other articles analyzing various national and international events. Year books, purchased by you, will also be a good help in the preparation.

3. Current Affairs – India - Put more emphasis on last few years’ events in the country – Important changes, Events like Cricket World Cup, Victory at Lords after 28 years, Recent announcements by Government, Commonwealth games, creations of additional states, appointments – Private and Public sector, awards etc.   Global happenings that mark their impacts in the country must be well read.  Although there is no syllabus for GK, you must brush up whatever you have read. Draw a quick plan to revise and learn.
Regular reading of the national events in the newspapers like The Hindu and the above mentioned ones will be quite advantageous. You need to spend around 15 minutes a day to it and one event will link you to another. Read the associated events as they are also the probable questions.

4. International -   Answers to Questions based on International affairs sometimes are difficult to distinguish due to the close similarity in names, cities, figures etc. So the important part is to find out some key word in the articles wherefrom you learn and prepare the GK.
Put more emphasis on last decade events and global happenings like global depression, mutiny in certain countries, economic swings that made impact on Indian Economy, Appointments – like the second term of Obama as the President of America- his core international policies that may impact our Country, All about Malaysian Planes who were Lost and Shot in one year, their names, air route, what happened.  

Probable Questions
Following are a few indicative GK questions for CMAT Sep 2014.  Aspirants are advised to move on to prepare more and more questions on all the topics  

Set of Questions
1. Monetary policy of the country is decided by the
1. Ministry of Finance – Government of India
2. Group of Nationalized and commercial banks of the country
3. Reserve Bank of India
4. Government of India in consultation with leading corporate groups

2. Increasing the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) will –
1. Expand the money supply in the country
2. Contract the money supply in the economy
3. Neither expand nor contract the supply of money
4. The term is not related to Money supply but the demand of cash

3. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is-
1. Direct credit provider to Individuals in Rural areas
2. Rural Bulk credit provider and functions as a refinancing institution
3. Provides seasonal credit to farmers only
4. Provides credit to Rural housing only
                               4. Special Drawing Rights (SDR) defined and maintained by
a) World Bank
b) IMF
c) Federal Reserve
d) European Central Bank              
5. Gilt edged market refers to
a) Government securities
b) FII
c) Bullion market
d) None of these                 
6. Where is the headquarter of Green peace
a) Paris
b) New York
c) Madrid
d) Amsterdam                
7. Regional Rural Banks were given freedom to fix rate of interest from which year
a) 1996
b) 1999
c) 2003
d) 2007  
               
8. Anil Kakodkar committee is related to...
a) Airlines safety
b) Nuclear reactors
c) Sugar pricing
d) Railway modernization                                 
9. Which of the following regulates the commodities trading market?
a) SEBI
b) Forward Markets Commission
c) RBI
d) IRDA                      
 10. Softbank is a mobile operator of which country
a) China
b) Norway
c) Japan
d) Singapore                                       

Important note
No doubt the pressure becomes more when the examination is at hand; so have a balanced approach.  Too much of mugging or burning mid-night oil may not be so effective  as you may get confused or may forget whatever you learnt last night.  It is better to revise the items that you have already studied and keep pace to keep you up-to-date.
Since examination paper must have been prepared, at least a fortnight before the examination date, you may eliminate such events which take place a fortnight or so prior to examination date. 

 Answers
1. (c)  Reserve Bank of India  
2. (b) Contract the money supply in the economy
3. ( b) Rural Bulk credit provider and functions as a refinancing institution
4. (b) IMF
5. (a) Government securities
6. (d) Amsterdam
7. (a) 1996
8. (d) Railway modernization
9.  (b) Forward markets commission 
10. (c) Japan

Late for MBA-It’s never late to start!


It appears true at least for MBA Aspirants who have woken up late for admission to B-schools in the academic session 2013-15.

“I want to apply for MBA programme in 2013-15. What is the admission procedure? Can I apply now for the course?”

MBA Aspirants are generally in doubt on the admission options, especially when they decide late. While still waiting for their final graduation results, some of the aspirants even drop their plan of pursuing MBA/PGDM course just because they think that the management institute must have closed down their admission process by March-April.

But as a matter of fact most of the B-schools keep their admission open till as late as August-September.

The reason for this could be many: less number of students applications, urge to lure top students from various other entrance exams, search for the right mix of candidates or even to have a plan B in case students enrolled didn’t joined or deposited their 1st installment of fees.

There are many B schools across region i.e. East, West, North and South that keep their admission open without specified last date. For example, Myra School of Business, IFIM, ISB&M Bangalore, M S Ramaiah Institute of Management, Alliance School of Business, IMI & BIMTECH Bhubaneswar, ITM Business School, MITSOB, Universal Business School etc.


Another candidate Pooja Chawda from Vadodara asks, “how to take admission without CMAT?”

Many aspirants think that a written exam is a pre-requisite to get into a B-school. It might sound bizarre, but some B-schools offer admissions on the basis of academic background and personal interview. This way, these B-schools fill their seats with desired mix of batch. These B-schools, however, asks the aspirants to take an entrance exam at a nearest possible opportunity and submit the scores to the admission committee as a formality.  The most favorable entrance test in such a scenario is Management Aptitude Test (MAT), which is conducted 4 times a year.

A number of B-schools including a few run by Private Universities like Alliance University, KIIT University, Symbiosis International University, UPES, etc conduct their own entrance exams and also accept scores of other management entrance tests.

Some Aspirants also fail to appear for GD/PI assuming their low score in written MBA exam score would not be enough to secure admission in any good B-school. Sample this: “I have scored very low marks in CMAT, as I was preparing for my final exams. Is the percentage of marks for entrance exam is a very important factor in getting admission?” asks Hindusha Chellappa, another MBA Aspirant.

So, is it really necessary to score very high in MBA written exam to secure admission in good B-schools?

In fact, many B-schools give very limited weightage to CMAT scores. As ITM University Vice Chancellor Dr Prem Vrat says, “Eligibility criteria for our MBA programme is at least 50% marks in Bachelor’s Degree and qualifying CAT/CMAT/MAT. The scores are given a 30% weightage apart from academic percentage in bachelor’s programme, experience, GD & PI in a multi-criteria evaluation Framework. However, written exam scores are not used to screen out candidates using a cut-off. This helps in overall profile evaluation.”

B-schools also evaluate aspirants’ ability to grasp, their understanding for business environment, and their willingness and positive attitude towards MBA education. They also consider the spirit of an individual and their background in their final selection procedure. Dr. Stefano Caselli, Academic Director, MISB Bocconi, Mumbai endorses this view, as he says, “At MISB Bocconi, the selection is based as well on merit, combining both CAT and GMAT with challenging interviews and a deep analysis of the CV.”

IIFT 2015 test pattern

Entrance test to MBA programme in IIFT session 2015 will be held in a single day across the country on November 23, 2014. It will be a (MCQ) multiple choice question type examination. The test is supposed to have 4 parts - English comprehension in two sections; Quantitative Ability; Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation and General Awareness.
Any section can be clubbed with other section but the aspirants are required to qualify each one of them. Number of questions in IIFT are not fixed and may vary anywhere between 120 to 130. IIFT 2015 will have a unique feature of varying marking system in the range of 0.5 to 1. Penalty of one fourth negative marking is also very important to remember before going to finalise your answer option.

5 Key areas to prepare
What could be the expected types and number of questions on each topic in English Comprehension in IIFT entrance test is definitely a tricky question answer to which is difficult to anticipate.  However, going by the past pattern we can anticipate following number of questions on 5 important topics. Out of total 128 questions English Comprehension in IIFT 2013 had 36 questions based on various topics in English Grammar and comprehension.

1. Questions based on grammatical errors
Conceptual clarity on fundamentals of grammar and tenses in IIFT 2015 entrance exam is very important. There may be questions on error corrections like rewriting of sentences and/or paragraphs as per the correct sequence; identifying the grammatically correct sentences with right sequence of words. These questions could be based on core grammar usage like Articles, Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives and Adverbs, Tenses, Subject verb agreement, Usage on conditionals, Reported speech, Active passive, modifiers.
Types of questions could be- fill in the blanks; correction in wrong usage in sentences; Incorrect usage of phrasal verbs; misplaced modifiers. You should first understand the concept and then practice more such questions to get a high score in IIFT.
There were 4-6 questions based on fundamentals in English comprehension section in IIFT 2013 Entrance test.

2. Jumbled sentences
Jumbled paragraphs also form the part of English comprehension and 2-4 questions may be found in the examination.  The aspirants should practice more on random type of sentences. When you proceed to practice them, please remember to find out the connectors among the sentences like ‘It’ ‘those’, ‘these’, ‘this’, ‘who’, ‘as’ – giving the clue to connect them with other sentences.  Such words as connectors to the earlier sentences make the task of forming a coherent paragraph easy as they are used in place of certain nouns which form the beginning of paragraph and sentences.
There were 2 questions in IIFT 2013 on this topic and in 2014 the number is expected to be more than this.

3. Reading Comprehension
IIFT 2013 had 16 questions based on 4 passages of 800 words each. When you practice the RC do read the passage/article fairly quickly to get the general idea. Read again, if possible, a little slowly so as to understand the details.
Write a summary in your own words neatly and precisely. Make a chart on time consumed in reading and writing the summary of the passage. Check whether the time is getting reduced day by day. Go for versatile reading on different topics since you may or may not get the passages of your interest in the examination. Regular reading of important articles by eminent writers, editorials in news papers and periodicals definitely is a great help in preparation for this module.

4. Core Vocabulary usage
Aspirants should remember that IIFT entrance test is a mix of CAT and XAT. There can be more than 5 questions on  core vocabulary usage like similar relationship of words (analogy); one word substitution; fill in the blanks in 4-5 sentences with correct words/phrasal verbs/vocabulary words;  synonyms / antonyms. While CAT places questions on contextual usage, IIFT may ask you the questions in basic language form.  The need therefore is to learn, recall the words and practice them, read more and write correctly spelt words.  Fill in the blanks are based on rich vocabulary words, more practice on such type of questions will definitely help.
There were 4-6 questions based on Vocabulary usage in IIFT 2013

5. Figures of speech
IIFT never forgets to ask questions on usage of Figures of speech like simile, metaphor, personification, oxymoron, onomatopoeia, hyperbole and apostrophe. Question types, most likely to appear in the forthcoming IIFT entrance test are expected to contain the Figures of speech in sentences and aspirants have to pick them out.  It is advisable to practice around 20-25 important figures of speech, understand their key words that help to identify them.

Besides, the aspirants are expected to have fair knowledge of phrasal verbs, idioms, similar sounding and confusing words. Aspirants must pronounce them and write them to have the practice beforehand. Ten minutes a day from now on will empower you with good amount of learning on them.

Time management in IIFT; the most important part
You may have less than one minute per question as against in CAT where you have approximately 3 minutes per question so you should carry forward your preparation and practice keeping in view of this factor. Numbers of questions in IIFT are more than 125 where the time allotted to solve the entire question paper is 120 minutes. You have to solve, choose the right answer option and mark the same on OMR sheet by darkening the circle.  Any slip in selecting the circle or losing on time may be disastrous to your score, please remember. Another suggestion is to get over your weaknesses as soon as possible and improve your strong areas further.

24 Jul 2014

CAT Toppers on How to Prepare for Quantitative Section of CAT Exam:-

1. Ankur Khanna: I started my Preparation in July when I used to devote 15 hours a day to CAT preparation. My Strategy was to improve my accuracy and then capitalize on my strong part i.e. Quant. I used to study nearly 18-19 hours a day during the last few days. Solve all the questions that you come across. Join at least 2 mock series and practice lots of online stuff available free of cost. You can never be sure of being 100% prepared at any point of time and there is always some scope for improvement.
My strategy was to attempt only those questions for which I am 110% sure. Slightest of doubt, and I will leave that question unmarked. This strategy worked for me and I managed to score 98.90%ile in Quant with 21 attempts.

2. Arshpreet Singh: I cracked CAT 2012 with an overall 99.97 percentile and secured admission to IIM Ahmedabad. I scored 99.05 percentile in Quant & DI section. The toughest section for me was the QA+DI section. I started my self-preparation for CAT 3 months before the actual date. So, I devoted around 3 hours a day on studying the concepts and solving exercises related to them. The ideal duration for study should be around 2 hours a day if you start early with around 3-4 hours on weekends for the online mock tests and their analysis. So, around 15 hours a week for the preparation is ideal. I practiced a lot of question sets in DI to improve my speed as well as to gain much needed confidence. I made sure that every set I attempted was time bound. I devoted ample time in analyzing my mistakes after the mocks.

3. Aayush Agarwal: I being from a commerce background, realized that I am at a slight disadvantage in quants. For candidates who feel that they are weak in QA section, focus on arithmetic, maintain accuracy, try to improve your score in logic driven sections like DI and LR. Also, try to work with options. You can solve at least 3-4 questions by using unconventional methods.
On testing day, I made it a point to be as accurate as possible leaving out random guesses. In Section 1, I did not waste much time on any particular question and moved on to next question whenever I would get stuck. I attempted all the questions of DI since it was my strong area. In QA, if you are not sure of solving a question by conventional methods, try unconventional ones like working with the options.

4. Sumedha Deogharia: As I was a fresher, I used to study for two hours in the morning.  I used to study for another 2 hours after college.  A total of 5-6 hours of effective study per day would do the magic!! I used to take a day off and enjoy myself during the weekends so that I could start the next week with renewed energy.
One good piece of advice for CAT 2014 aspirants from my side is that you should practice a lot; only practice can make you perfect and improve your accuracy. Take as many mock tests as you can. Come out with a proper analysis of your performance after each mock test and try to find out weaknesses and strengths. Work very hard if you want to bell the CAT this year itself!
On the testing day, I knew that there was no individual cut-off for QA & DI separately. So, when I found out that the DI questions were difficult and needed rigorous calculations, I thought of doing them in the last. First, I solved all the questions in the QA section and then started with the DI questions where I was successful in solving one out of them and scored 99.35%ile in my Quant section of CAT 2012.

5. Debjit Nag: I scored 99.97 %ile in CAT 2012 and also secured final admission offers from 10 top B-schools including 9 IIMs and FMS Delhi, presently a student of 2013-15 PGP batch of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. My percentile in QA-DI was 99.82 and the same for VA-LR was 99.79. Focus on accuracy on the D-Day. Lack of accuracy is penalized heavily in CAT. Maintain your composure and you will definitely do well. Initially I used to attach too much value to mock tests. Later, I realized that those were just mocks and started to invest more time in self-improvement by targeting weak areas one after another. I studied regularly for 2-3 hours on weekdays and 5-6 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. This used to include time spent in mock tests and thereafter the analysis of the same.

6. Ishika Ray: I was advised by my teacher to follow a simple rule-Solve, Mark, Skip.
As soon as you see a question take any one of the three actions: solve it-if you are confident, mark it-if you think you can solve but need some time to work on it, skip-when you know that this cannot be solved by you. This strategy really worked for me!
DI, arithmetic and modern maths was my strength so I tried attempting these questions first. I never spent more than 2 mins in any question; if I found difficulty in solving a particular question, I marked it and came back to it later. Accuracy was my strategy in the test room. If I had even 1% doubt with any answer, I skipped it. I attempted only 13 maths questions in QA in CAT 2013 and was confident that all were correct.

7. Siddhant Gupta: I scored 98.67 percentile in CAT 2011 and joined IIM Raipur. I started preparation in the third year of my graduation. Educational websites bridged the gap between me and the CAT syllabi. I consulted my seniors and a few educationalists to guide me. I always preferred systematic study with a rough time table in mind. My primary strategy was to bring accuracy with less number of questions and then to analyze productive questions i.e. questions which take less time and fetch more marks. Consequently, my focus shifted to bringing speed with accuracy.
The overall strategy changed to maximizing sectionals instead of managing time. This required a change in the selection criteria of questions. To deal with such situations, one has to be a smart analyzer, optimistic and of course hard working. Practice is a must for quantitative ability and data interpretation. With practice, confidence and a few tests, the focus should shift to understanding of the pattern of questions. Questions requiring less time should be selected first and others should be attempted later. A thorough knowledge of one’s own strengths and weaknesses can be of great help.

8. Parag Poddar: I scored 99.65 percentile in CAT 2011 and took admission in IIM Indore. I started with brushing up basic concepts and formulae for each chapter and supplemented my preparation by taking chapter-wise mock tests. This was followed by thorough analysis of each section and the mistakes made. The solutions to all the problems helped me find alternate and easier ways of solving problems. The tool of preparation through tests helped me gain speed and structure strategies of taking the test.
Online tests and surfing articles regularly made me adept to the habit of reading from computer and helped me concentrate better during my tests. Regular tests and analysis is the best way to identify one’s weakness and improve on them. Regular practice tests and problem solving were an integral part of my preparations for quantitative ability and data interpretation.  I used to discuss problems with my friends who were enrolled in coaching institutes, solve puzzles and read newspapers regularly

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