Why did I score low in CAT even after preparing hard for it?

Recently, we came across a post on Quora which caught our attention.

“Why did I score less in the Common Admission Test (CAT) even after religiously preparing for it?”

We realised, this is probably the most common question asked by an MBA aspirant. Despite preparing well for CAT and other entrance exams, candidates fail to get a good score.

What follows, is the feeling of ‘Where did I go wrong?’.

While there are some brilliant answers posted on the forum for it (including answers from two CAT 100 percentilers), we decided to talk to two experts and dig out our own answers.

According to Parasharan Chari, COO of Endeavour Careers, “Students tend to get carried away with preparation. Once the course preparation is over, candidates tend to jump into mocks. In some mocks, Quant is easier and in others, Verbal is easy. In some mocks overall difficulty level is easy and accidentally, they end up getting good scores. Such students are unable to pinpoint and identify the problem areas.”

He gave us a four step solution:

Step 1: Course Preparation

Candidates should look at finishing the entire course by August. Do not stretch the course till the very end.

Step 2: Speed-building

Focus on speed building separately after you finish the course. Work on reduced difficulty level material and ensure you solve a lot of questions.

A candidate can progress in speed building only after developing the art of selecting questions properly. To practice question selection, one should not work on difficult questions all the time. One should focus on easy questions and figure out how to solve them quickly. This helps students understand when to leave the marginally difficult question and when to solve the easy question. Preparation is more to do with:

• Selection
• Prioritisation of questions

These two points can give a good direction to speed building. Candidates will know the topics on which they have a better control.

Step 3: Accuracy building & sectional timed tests

The next step is accuracy building or subject-wise efficiency building. Take sectional timed-tests to develop control on each section.  Pick up Quant or Verbal or Data Interpretation. Allot a sectional timing to each subject and practice. This will help develop expertise in the subject. Attempt any standard online test to work on this.

Step 4: Full-length mock test

Only after mastering Step 3, take full-length mock tests. Often, students taking full-length tests do not diagnose their problems properly. It’s essential to analyse the test properly.

Elaborating further on mock tests, Tarun Malik of Career Launcher, said, “Working hard and scoring well in CAT are two completely different things. If a candidate takes a full length three-hour mock test, they need to take off the rest of the day to analyse the test properly. Candidates generally don’t analyse mock tests properly and limit themselves to finding the correct answers. Analysing mock tests properly includes understanding selection of question. It also involves focusing on time management. How long did you take to complete the paper? Compare your time with topper’s time.”

Indeed, question selection, time management and correct attempts are a crucial part of mock test analysis. A complete and thorough analysis will lead towards improvement.

“Candidates should keep manipulate their own exam strategy well before the exam. For instance, in CAT 2014, there was no time limit for a section. One could attempt Quant first, followed by other sections (or vice versa). Candidates need to build their strategy with practice and analysis. So take mock tests, analyse it and figure out the drawbacks. Don’t end up making similar mistakes both at the beginning and end of preparation. Also, if a candidate is focusing on maths but ends up getting difficult maths section, it becomes demoralising for them. And as a result they mess up their good section,” says Mallik.

Studying and completing CAT course is just 50 per cent of preparation. The rest is sectional and mocks tests and analysis.

“CAT preparation is all about tests. And tests cannot be taught. It has to be taken on their own,” says Malik.