This CAT preparation strategy is the golden ticket to success

Soumya Ranjan Tripathy

Every year thousands of MBA aspirants prepare for the CAT with a hope of clearing the exam with great scores and securing a seat in a top B-School. One of the biggest mantras of clearing the exam is following the right preparation strategy. One needs to identify what works in his/her favor, and follow the same. 

Also, mock tests play an important role in assessing an individual. Attempting and analysing mocks tests plays an extremely important role in the exam preparation strategy. Soumya Ranjan Tripathy followed the right preparation strategy and scored 99.41 percentile in the exam. Here is how he prepared for the exam:

CAT can be cracked with self-study but with the level of difficulty showing a positive slope in the last few years, it is good to have someone to guide you through and to streamline your preparation. Now, with the surfacing of online coaching you have the luxury of having a flexible coaching schedule also.

It is a subjective question. Preparation time depends upon how clear your basics are. If you are going to start from the basics then the sooner the better. In this case you should start your preparation from January itself (since generally the exam is conducted in the month of November/December.)

During weekdays devote some time to each of the sections, daily. Solve each type of Verbal Ability questions everyday .Take sectional tests and take topic wise tests. During weekends, take full length mocks and analyse it properly. Analysing the mock is one of the most important aspects of CAT preparation. As the D-day nears by, increase the frequency of full length mocks.

For QA one can use Sarvesh K Verma. For LRDI pick any coaching material to clear the basics and focus more on solving past year mock papers. Same goes for VARC – solve any of the coaching materials and focus more on reading and even more on comprehending. Along with that there are plenty of online materials available for Reading Comprehension. Solving critical reasoning questions from GMAT club will be a cherry on the cake.

QA- First one needs to be clear about the basic concepts of Maths. Get hold of any book, go through the formulae and solve questions. It is a good practice to note down all the tricks in a notebook for future reference. Next, move on to topic wise tests and sectional tests.

LRDI- This is the trickiest section of the CAT. Start with any of the coaching materials to get a grasp of all the chapters present. Move on to solve the past years’ mocks. Side by side, solve as much sectionals from variety of sources (I recommend one to buy the LRDI sectional tests of various institute for this). Along with this, one can make a note of various topics in LRDI and a digital note of any good questions.

VA- Read as much as you can and try to comprehend. Reading newspaper opinions and editorials will help you improve your speed of reading and ability to comprehend. Solve at least four passages and few questions of Critical Reasoning, Para Completion, Para jumbles daily.

To identify which questions to leave and which ones to attempt, one needs to determine his strong and weak areas. Along with that one needs to follow these approaches in mocks and sectionals to get acquainted to his strategy when one faces the exam on the D-day.

Firstly I would suggest everyone to use a timer while solving questions from books or any materials that do not have a pre-installed timer. Secondly when solving passages and logical reasoning or data interpretation try to solve few sets at one stretch and then take a break. While taking mocks it is not advisable to waste more than two minutes on a problem.

It is advisable to determine the strong and the weak areas during the early phase of the preparation so that there will be ample amount of time available to work on your weak areas. While covering the basics, chapter wise, take few topic tests of that particular chapter and also take mix sectionals. By doing this it can be judged in which areas you need to improve and to what extent. Also, make lists and sub lists of your weak and strong area. For example, games and tournament is my weakest area and in this category, questions related to football and goals troubled me the most.

Then for QA, work upon those areas by revising your basics, analyse why that is the weakest (is it because of lack of practice or is it because you just memorised the shortcuts and have no idea about why that happens) then devote more hours to that particular section. For Logical Reasoning and Verbal Ability, only practice can help you come over your weaknesses. While taking tests move from your strongest area to the weakest area.

There are few other good exams. It is up to the aspirants whether to appear for them or not. XAT, IIFT and SNAP are a few of them.

Do’s-

• Make notes of shortcuts, formulae and revise them from time to time
• Take a lot of sectional and full length mocks
• Mock analysis is a must
• Use a timer while solving from books and materials
• Try to take mocks at the proctored centre

Don’ts-

• Do not take a break in between the mocks
• Leave your ego aside when you are appearing for a test
• Do not get disheartened by your mock score
• The most important one: Do not make calculation mistakes. Use a calculator if you have to

CAT scores are used for admission to 20 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.