Strategies for CBT-CAT

The other day a student remarked, “All these years I’ve taken so many different exams— subjective and multiple choice, with negative marking and without, in familiar or unfamiliar surroundings— but they were always paper based. We all were made to sit on separate benches in a school or college classroom and there were one or two supervisors to help us and monitor us. As long as I knew the subject, I was always sure I could crack the exam. But, this time it is different. The CAT is going online! I am not sure how I will fare.” This seems to be a fear in the minds of many students this year. The CAT this year may be your first experience of a real online test; with CAT already being a tough test, it's natural that you are anxious. Let's see what you can expect in the CBT-CAT and try to alleviate this anxiety. The Test Taking Interface The test-taking interface will have the questions and their alternatives and you will have to choose an answer by clicking on the correct alternative. Make sure that you practice as many computer based mock CATs as you can. Sectional time limits have not been seen in the CAT for some time now but the CAT is known for its ability to surprise students -- it's best to be prepared for all eventualities. In case there are sectional time limits, you may not get to jump between sections while attempting the paper. A timer is a common feature on all computer based tests. Use the timer, but avoid looking at it every now and then, lest it unnerves you. The Questions Conceptual clarity and application skill is required just as much for an online test. But there are a few functional things that can adversely affect your performance in the CBT, if you do not have sufficient practice. Let us take a look at each of the three sections of the CAT, and the impact that a computer-based format can have. Quantitative Ability The questions in the QA section are typically short. So there will be no major difference in the way in which these questions should be attempted. However, instead of doing your rough work on the question paper itself, you need have to practice doing your rough work on separate sheets of paper. For geometry-based questions you may be used to making notes and marking values on the diagram provided in the question paper itself. But now, you may have to sketch out these diagrams on your rough paper and then work on them. This may take a while if there are a lot of geometry questions – practice making quick sketches of figures in geometry questions. Your ability to solve questions mentally, rather than by putting pen to paper, will help you a lot. Learn multiplication tables, squares and cubes to 30, all relevant formulae and reciprocal percentages well. Data Interpretation If the tables, charts and caselets are very long, you might spend a lot of time scrolling back and forth. You can work these questions out faster by following these steps: 1.      Read the data and understand it well. Summarise the heads in the data in the rough sheet so that you have a list of what is available for ready reference. 2.      Read all the questions related to the table, chart or caselet to get a clear idea of how the common data is to be processed. 3.      Then go back to the data and extract whatever information is needed. If the data table or chart is small enough, you might even consider copying it on paper. Consider the following example from CAT 2008. The bar chart below shows the revenue received, in million US Dollars (USD), from subscribers to a particular Internet service. The data covers the period 2003 to 2007 for the United States (US) and Europe. The bar chart also shows the estimated revenues from subscription to this service for the period 2008 to 2010. 1. While the subscription in Europe has been growing steadily towards that of the US, the growth rate in Europe seems to be declining. Which of the following is closest to the percent change in growth rate of 2007 (over 2006) relative to the growth rate of 2005 (over 2004)? (1) 17                               (2) 20                          (3) 35                           (4) 60                           (5) 100 2.  The difference between the estimated subscription in Europe in 2008 and what it would have been if it were computed using the percentage growth rate of 2007 (over 2006), is closest to : (1) 50                               (2) 80                          (3) 20                             (4) 10                          (5) 0    3. In 2003, sixty percent of subscribers in Europe were men. Given that woman subscribers increase at the rate of 10 percent per annum and men at the rate of 5 percent per annum, what is the approximate percentage growth of subscribers between 2003 and 2010 in Europe? The subscription prices are volatile and may change each year. (1) 62                               (2) 15                           (3) 78                          (4) 84                (5) 50 4. Consider the annual percent change in the gap between subscription revenues in the US and Europe. What is the year in which the absolute value of this change is the highest? (1) 03-04             (2) 05-06                                (3) 06-07                      (4) 08-09                    (5) 09-10 Step 1: The data gives the subscription revenues for some service in US and Europe for all the years from 2003 to 2010. Step 2: All the questions pertain to the growth and decline of revenues. Step 3: All the data that you require is there in the question. You can put the values in a table on your rough sheet for ready reference and then process it. You will need a lot of practice solving DILR questions in the computer based format to tackle this section successfully. Verbal Ability Reading comprehension forms a large part of the Verbal Ability (VA) section of CAT—in the last few years, nearly half the section! It is important to practice reading comprehension, as often as possible, on a computer; many people read slower on a computer monitor than on paper. Regularly read the news and articles online to improve your reading speed. Scanning a long passage to find that “answer” or that “keyword” that you need for the correct answer option is more difficult on a computer. Practice and work out techniques that help you find information as soon as possible. For example, since you can’t underline text online, try noting down one or two key words for each paragraph on rough paper. Though other VA questions are generally short, in a CBT it is not as easy to keep track of answer options you have eliminated. Practise questions that require elimination strategy on a computer, while keeping track of answer options on paper.