Cracking CAT 2016 made easy

Abhay Agarwal

With less than a month left for CAT 2016, MBA aspirants are putting in all their efforts to make the best use of the time left. Using the right preparation strategy and putting in hard work can certainly help in achieving excellent results. 

CAT 2015 99.99%iler, Abhay Agarwal shares his secret of cracking CAT 2015. Here is what he has to say:

Question: Does coaching play an important role in CAT 2016 preparation or is self-study sufficient?

Answer: Coaching only sets a path that needs to be travelled by the student himself/herself. Often, Students are too much dependent on coaching. It is important to note that there is no replacement for self-study. Coaching is not mandatory, as many candidates who do not take coaching are able to score very good %ile. Yes, Coaching will certainly equip you with certain techniques, but self-study is definitely needed to implement those techniques. 

Question: When is the right time to start preparing for CAT 2016?

Answer: There are no defined rules regarding this. It depends on the candidate. Ideally, a duration of one year is more than sufficient to complete your preparation. I started preparing for CAT in Jan’15 when my exam was in Nov’15. 

Question:  What should be the routine study strategy of CAT 2016 aspirants?

Answer: Routine study should be highly customized. If you feel that you need 4 hours, then study for 4 hours. If you feel that 2 hours are sufficient then study for that duration only. It is important to firstly know yourself and then plan the schedule accordingly. 

Question: Which books/study material should CAT 2016 aspirants use?

Answer: There are a lot of books in the market. Arun Sharma’s are said to be a good set of books. Also, a lot of material is available on the Internet. Look out for mock tests that are offered by many sites. Mock tests are the best way to prepare for CAT as they gives you real time analysis of what can be expected in the exam. 

Question: What should be the sectional preparation strategy?

Answer: Practice is the key. There are many sectional tests available. Prepare your content by reading and learning. Implement your learning in the sectional or full-length mock tests. Only solving the questions is not important – solving them in minimum time is imperative. So, prefer time-bound practice.

Question: When appearing for CAT 2016, how should the aspirants decide which questions to attempt from different sections: Quantitative Ability & DI, Verbal Ability & LR?

Answer: With the new CAT format, it is not really the candidate’s choice as to which questions to attempt and which to leave. The important thing in each section is to look for easy questions. Every question carries equal marks so solve the questions that require minimum time. Make sure you go through all the 100 questions – this will ensure that you do not leave an easy question. 

Question: Time management plays an important role. Any tips for CAT 2016 aspirants on time management?

Answer: As I said, there are no extra marks for attempting hard questions. Attempt maximum number of questions. My strategy for DI/LR section was to spend first 5 mins in categorising the sets as easy, medium, and hard. For the rest 55 minutes, I could solve them efficiently in the increasing order of their difficulty. This helped me attempt all easy questions and make proper use of the time. 

Question: How can an aspirant judge his/her weak areas, and how should one work towards improving the same?

Answer: The best way to judge weaknesses is by giving mock tests. They are a true measure of your weakness. I had a habit of analysing my mocks. I made silly mistakes like reading the question wrong or sometime interpreting it wrongly. I made sure that I did not repeat those mistakes. It was also clear that English was my area of concern. I started reading lot of content to improve my English, gave more sectional tests and practiced hard. This was my way of improving my weak areas. 

Question: Should candidates also appear for other management exams? If yes, which exams?

Answer: Yes! There are many good colleges which are not covered under CAT. IIFT, XAT etc. are some of the examples. It also takes off the pressure which the candidates feel while appearing for CAT. Depending solely on CAT might add to the pressure and just because it was not your day, you might miss on getting a great college. A lot depends on luck too. So, it is better to hedge your risk and sit for other management exams as well.

Question: Share some do’s and don’ts that CAT 2016 aspirants might find useful.

Answer: CAT phobia is psychological. Do not be scared of the exam’s name. CAT is easy if you are able to maintain your calm for those 3 hours. Just because a question is appearing in CAT exam, it doesn’t mean that it will be a hard question. Be confident. In those 3 hours, you might feel that paper is too difficult. Just keep this confidence that if it is hard for you then it will be hard for others as well. Do not panic. Read the question paper properly and try to use as many options as possible.

CAT scores are used for admission to 19 Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and various other top B-Schools. Are you eligible for the IIMs? To know more, click on the image beside.