How to plan your preparation right for CAT 2014?

by Ankur Agarwal

Ankur Agarwal

CAT is an exam which not only tests the skills and abilities of the aspirant in the various sections namely Quantitative aptitude, Verbal Ability, Logical and Analytical Reasoning and Data Interpretation but also the ability of the person to make the maximum out of the time allotted. Hence, the ideal way ahead would be to polish your skills in the various sections first, in a way so as to attain a good level of understanding and application by the month of August and thereafter looking ahead at the score maximisation.

First things first, let us shed all inhibitions of ourselves being good in one area and not so good in another. Let us take an aptitude test at catgurus.com in order to understand our current situation. Hence, we have a starting point. Moving ahead we must have a clear mindset that we have to perform across sections in order to get a call from any good school. Almost every B-school worth its money has put a sectional cutoff hence good score in one section and average in another would not get us anywhere.

Preparing for Quantitative section:

1. Mental Calculations is the key to fast calculations and easy understanding. We have to perfect it under all circumstances. Seldom do we see someone without sound mental calculation making the cut.
2. Basics of every Chapter/Topic: Since we have ample time to prepare we need to focus on the basics and get it right. Let us get out of the by rote methodology if we have been following the same as this will not work here at all. Getting the concepts right is important as practically everything from the 10^th boards syllabus would be covered here.
3. Application is the key in all Aptitude tests hence we should focus on applying whatever we know. For eg. It is not at all necessary to learn more than one formula in Time Speed and Distance as all are derivations and application of the one basic formula i.e. Distance = Speed * Time 

Preparation for Verbal Section:

1. Basically entire verbal or English section begins by Grammar and Vocabulary. The challenge here is not to memorize what are the parts of speech in grammar but the application of the same to judge whether it is right or not? The Vocabulary section has a very simple straight objective know-as-much-as-we-can. Again by rote method will not suffice the same hence an etymological approach will prove to be a lot faster way to knowing majority of the words used.
2. Application of the above is what is tested in the aptitude tests in the form of Reading Comprehension, Verbal Logic, Critical Reasoning etc. This can be perfected only by practice hence a lot of material would be required to practice this part. A structured approach would help in mastering this part of the paper. But those who pick this section before mastering the basics of Grammar and Vocabulary would be in for a rude shock as bridges can only be built on strong foundations.

Preparation for Logical and Analytical Reasoning:

1. AR as we call it is a test of Reasoning or simply common sense. Here the objective is to adapt oneself to the different types of questions. Opening the mind to think in a manner to solve the problem in the shortest possible time. Hence a lot of books will have completely different ways of doing so. The best way is to try everything out atleast once and see which one is best suited to us.
2. Practice, Practice and Practice, this is the only way to master this. Moving from simple questions to tougher ones is good but coming back to the same thing after a gap of a month will also help us give a fresh look at the problem. Hence, Practice.

Preparation for Data Interpretation:

1. DI as this section is called does have a lot of things common with the basics of Quant, hence at this moment nothing much is required apart from having a strong mental calculation.
2. Once majority of the quant section is covered (Numbers, Percentage and Ratios) then it would be good time to start with DI. The first important thing to do here would be to read and understand the data fast. Data can be in various formats such as Tables, Bar/Pie/Line charts and Caselets. Then, the understanding of the question is the second step. Now comes application of basics of Quant to the scenario in front of you.
3. Data Sufficiency: This section consists of understanding the requirements for solving a question and assessing if we have the requirements. Hence it should be ideally taken post the entire quant section is over so that we are in a better position to assess the same.

At this moment all we need to do it fortify the basics.

All the Best!!

About the author:

Ankur Agarwal heads the IT and Publishing verticals of Endeavor Careers and Catgurus - a leading online Testing portal for CAT Aspirants.