Want to score 99.5+ percentile in CAT’s QA section? Here’s a strategy for you

Solve neatly and avoid silly mistakes. Remember each mistake costs you and can drop your score by two-three percentile in the QA section.

Talking about top MBA colleges, it’s a dream of every MBA aspirant to get admission to an Indian Institute of Management (IIM). A majority of newcomers in this domain are not aware that most IIMs consider sectional cut-off for admission along with the overall CAT cut-off. But what strategy should be followed to score well in every section of the CAT exam is the question of every aspirant. So, here’s a strategy to score 99.5+ percentile in the QA section of CAT.

Quant section of CAT comprises of 34 questions which are to be solved in 60 minutes. For any entrance test, time management plays a vital role. So, to score more marks in the QA section, one thing that matters a lot is learning the art of leaving a question.

Here are the two strategies that you can apply while attempting the QA section:

Strategy 1: Follow 40-20 rule

This rule means that students need to attempt this section of CAT in two rounds. In the first round, solve only those questions which can be solved in less than or equal to two minutes, i.e. questions on the topics you are strong at.

By doing this, one can easily solve 18-20 questions or let’s say 15 (minimum) in 40 minutes. Every QA exam contains of 15 easy questions. What they do is, they present first five-eight questions difficult so that students get stuck in those questions and end up wasting their precious time.

So, the first lesson, don’t get stuck with any question. This way, in 40 minutes, one can score 45 marks (Or let’s say 41 marks with 14 correct, 1 wrong answer). Now, in the rest 20 minutes, six questions can be solved easily thereby helping you score 18 more marks.

Further to this, you will end up scoring 60/102 which is 99+ percentile of CAT (QA) for a moderate paper.

Strategy 2: Answer what you know first

In this, we will solve questions in a single round keeping in mind that one does not get stuck with any question for more than three minutes at any cost. If questions in the beginning seem difficult, start solving from the last question because questions at the end are generally easy.

By following this, you can easily attempt over 27 questions thereby scoring over 60. This strategy is followed by a number of students but they cannot maintain their time limits and end up losing their time. In fact, more than 80 per cent of the students cannot see all the 34 questions. So, avoid sticking to any question and do see all the questions.

Try both these strategies in your mocks and stick with the one you are comfortable at. By applying these, you will definitely see a change in your scores.

Also read:

CAT 2019 preparation strategy, tips and tricks

List of CAT books recommended by MBA experts

How to prepare for CAT in 3 months?

Points to Remember:

• Do not invest more than three minutes in any question at any cost.
• Don’t take any question at your ego. For instance, if you have practiced ‘Remainders’ a lot but in the exam, your answer is different from the options available. Students repeatedly solve such questions thereby wasting their time. On the contrary, we need to leave such questions immediately and try solving them once we are done solving the entire question paper.
• Solve neatly and avoid silly mistakes. Remember each mistake costs you and can drop your score by two-three percentile in the QA section.
• Take sectional tests of QA regularly, make it a habit of taking sectional tests at least one in two days. Or, you can do it alternatively. Give at least 2.5 hours to it daily (1 hour of test and 1.5 hours of analysis)
• Maintain a habit of revising your notes, before each mock. This will make you an expert.
• Write every new concept you come across from any source (mocks, sectionals, class, WhatsApp groups, etc.) and revise daily.

After some time, you will see that more than 95 per cent of the questions are from your notes.

Recommended Study Material:

• Time/IMS/Cl study Material (Time-1st priority)

• Quantum Cat/Arun Sharma (any one for reference)

About the author:

Shivam Gupta, at present, is studying MBA at NMIMS - Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies. He is also running an online 3-D learning academy for MBA preparation.