How to Improve Accuracy in CAT DILR in the Final Month
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CAT DILR if not handled well can play the spoilsport in your plan. The final month of CAT preparation is crucial for DILR. In the last month, you need to be careful of not only how much you practice but also what you practice. Check here a few tips on how to improve accuracy in CAT DILR.
CAT DILR: Tips to improve accuracy in last month
For improving accuracy in CAT DILR in the final month before CAT 2025, focus on accuracy over attempt. Make a weekly plan and chart out what to do in every week. CAT DILR is one section where you cannot rely on theorems or formulae. Whether it is DI or LR, the questions require you to understand the details to be able to arrive at the correct answer.
In the last one month before CAT 2025, go through the DI topics from which the questions are asked mostly. You can go through last 5 years’ CAT question papers for this. Do the same for LR and analyse which are your strong areas and which are your weak areas. This will help you to devise the last month plan to crack DILR section of CAT exam.
DILR is the second section of CAT and has 20-22 questions. The good news is that you don’t have to attempt all the questions. But, at the same time, you must know that most of the CAT Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning questions are in sets. So, you should be able to choose the DI or LR set. Here are a few tips so that you can do all of the above discussed.
How to Improve Accuracy in CAT DILR in the Final Month
Analyse your strengths and weaknesses: By November 2025, you would be aware of your preparation level. Now, is the time to start working on whatever you’ve learnt so far. In DI and LR both, practice matters the most. But you need to know what to practice and how much. Analyse which topics of DL and LR are still your pain point. Practice them more. However, do not ignore your strength areas for weak one.
Focus on Accuracy: CAT is an exam in which 90-95 percent accuracy can get you high scores. In the last month of CAT 2025 preparation, focus on high level practice sets of DILR and try to achieve 90 percent accuracy. That should be your goal in the exam too. Do not guess the answer. CAT has negative marking so do not rely on guess work.
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Develop Time Management: CAT DI and LR sets can be time taking or calculation intensive. It has been seen in the past years, that atleast one DI set and on LR set is time consuming. If you wish to attempt that particular set, keep in mind the time limit. You should not spend more than 2-5 minutes on any question (this keeping in mind, you won’t be touching 1-2 sets at all).
Also Read: Strategy to Improve VARC accuracy
Learn to Select DILR Questions: As mentioned earlier, there is no need to attempt all questions. So, choose the questions you can attempt with maximum accuracy. You should be able to answer 2-3 questions correctly in a 5-question set to get a decent score.
Focus areas:
- DI: Bar graphs, line graphs, data comparison, tables
- LR: Syllogism, arrangements, distributions, networks, puzzles, games & tournaments
Practice sectional mocks: Managing 22 set based questions in 40 minutes can be challenging. In the final month before CAT 2025, practice DILR mocks to get the grip on time. Note the errors and margin of error. Keep a log of what works for you and what doesn’t.
In the last one month, your strategy should be:
- 2-3 mock per week
- Daily practice sessions of 2-3 hours
- Practice questions from main topics
- Analyse gaps and work on them
Also Read: CAT mock tests: When to start and how many mocks to practice
Weekly Plan: Make a weekly plan for the last month. In the last 30-days you’ll have to essentially focus on practice and problem solving.
Week 1:
- Practice DILR sets of previous years’ CAT question papers
- Attempt 2 mocks with in-depth analysis
- Work on problem areas
Week 2:
- Attempt 1 CAT mock test and analyse progress
- Practice 2-3 DI and LR sets daily to improve/maintain accuracy
- Work on speed and time management
Also Read: CAT DILR questions for practice with solutions: Free PDFs
Week 3:
- Attempt 2-4 mocks
- Practice DI and LR sets from CAT question papers of previous years
- Review problem areas and revise key methods of solving tricky questions
Week 4:
- In the last week before CAT 2025 exam, let your mind relax.
- Do not start a new topic or work on the topic you haven’t been able to crack yet.
- Spend time in revision and strategizing how to handle the CAT DILR section.
- Spend 2 hours daily in revising short cuts and tips that you may have discovered in your CAT preparation journey.
It is difficult but not impossible. If you give yourself a good enough time to improve English comprehension, grammar and vocabulary, you will be able to do it. Yes, a non- English medium student will require longer time for CAT preparation as they will have to start reading and improving English comprehension. So, may be they need to start English preparation for CAT in the second year of graduation, instead of final year (much earlier than English medium students). They may also need two attempts to crack CAT with high percentile. But that's not true for all. If you work hard and study smartly, you will be able to crack it.
The best way to prepare for DILR section is through practice. Before starting the preparation, aspirants should check previous years’ question papers. Since there is not much conceptual understanding required in this section, practice is important.
Some of the most popular books on DILR section that you can refer are How to Prepare for Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning for CAT by Arun Sharma, Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation for the CAT by Nishit Sinha, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning for CAT by Pearson, to name a few.
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CAT is a speed-based test of analytical aptitude, logical reasoning skills, data interpretation and English comprehension. Now, it may sound tough, but these are the skills which we are taught in school so there is nothing new to learn. What is required is to learn these subjects at advanced level. If you are an average student but have studied Science or Commerce in Class-12 and graduation, you will find a lot of familiar topics in Data Interpretation, Quantitative Aptitude and Logical Reasoning. All you will need is brush up the basics and practice the concepts on advanced-level problems.
However, since the competition is so high in CAT and less than 95 percentile can break your dream of joining a top college like IIM, the preparation for CAT requires a lot of focus, dedication, discipline and diligence. If you can do that, despite being an average student, you can crack the CAT exam.
Hope it was helpful!!!
IIM shortlist is the list of CAT test takers who make it to the second phase of IIM admission process, which is Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI). The IIM shortlist is the list of candidates who are eligible to participate in the WAT-PI rounds of IIMs for MBA admission.
CAT syllabus is vast. It has numerous topics from Verbal Ability, Reading Comprehension, Quantitative Aptitude, Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation. Covering the CAT syllabus also includes practicing a variety of sample questions on the topics included. Thus, it requires a lot of time. Candidates must given themselves atleast 3-4 months to cover CAT syllabus and keep in mind the following:
· Check the previous years' CAT papers to know topics which carry more weightage so that you can focus on those topics more.
· List down topicsin order of easy, moderate and tough and allot time to them accordingly.
· Make sure to study about 6-8 hours per day to complete the syllabus 2-3 months before the exam.
· After studying every topic, practice sample questions. Balance theory with practical.
Vipra Shrivastava is MA in English Literature from Delhi University with extensive experience in content writing of over 14 years. She has been handling content for Management, Accounting and Commerce streams for 8
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