Last-minute guide to ace CAT
By Prashant Gupta
The CAT 2013 starts Oct 16! For the uninitiated, the CAT exam is jointly conducted by the IIMs for admission to their post-graduate programs (PGPs) in management.
In my interactions with umpteen number of students appearing for the CAT exam, one thing has remained common over the last decade - ‘the uncertainty’. The uncertainty is not for the exam, but for its preparation. Students are never sure about their preparation, they are unsure if their efforts will help them get into that magical 95+ percentile bracket.
Well, this piece is not about any magical recipe for a last minute percentile jump, instead it’s a checklist of things you must have done over the last couple of months. Take a quick read, figure out the ones completed and the ones not touched. If the former outnumber the latter, go on to try completing the list. However, in case it is the other way round then go in the exam like you’ve got nothing to lose. Remember, when in an exam do anything but DO NOT PANIC.
So here goes the gyan!
Verbal Ability: Studying verbal is possibly the most difficult part - not because it's difficult but because it's indefinite. Moreover, you always tend to be unsure about the accuracy in this section. So, I divide this section into 3 broad areas only and never study grammar. It’s more important to know that the error exists rather than being able to classify and name it.
a) Vocabulary: You can’t do much about it now, however, in case you have time for a last minute revision, do only six alphabets A-S-P-I-C-E. Observationally speaking, 60-70% words would be from these six.
b) Reading Comprehension (RC): Don’t waste time doing stand-alone passages. You cannot build diversity of reading last minute. Instead spend time on CR.
c) Critical Reasoning (CR): This is the most important sub-section of verbal, not only for the questions that belong to this category but also for RC. Since, going online, the length of RC passages has gone down which means that the only way to increase the level of difficulty (LOD) of questions is to make them more indirect and inference based. So do the chapter on fallacies properly as also the one on Fact, inferences and judgements.
Quantitative Aptitude: A good math section does not help, however, a bad math section hurts. The simple reason being that unlike verbal, in quant you can be sure about your accuracy. So students normally spend more time on this. Modern Maths, Numbers, Equations are possibly the more important areas. Do not undermine the importance of other topics but then remember we are talking of a last minute checklist only for the bare minimum.
a) Data Interpretation/ Data Sufficiency (DI/DS): There are no concepts here truly speaking. Moreover, this is the area that would make the exam lengthy or easy. So in case you want to practice, this is the section you should be spending time to get comfortable with it. Try some approximations and working-back-from-the-options techniques and see how much accuracy you are getting from intelligent guessing.
All in all, in case you are looking at some last minute preparation, please do not refer books, instead try solving as many papers as possible and map your accuracy-attempt charts. The following may be able to help:
| No. of sample papers attempted |
No of questions attempted |
Correct questions |
| 0-3 |
40-45 |
30-35 |
| 4-6 |
50-52 |
40+ |
| 6-10 |
55-60 |
50-55 |
And of course, remember the mahamantra: “YOU have 13 IIMs, They have just ONE you!"
All the best!
(The author trains CAT aspirants at IMS, Delhi)
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