Last-minute exam tips for CAT

About 10,000 students will be taking the CAT 2009 once again on Saturday and Sunday! If you are amongst these students, then following advice may be of help!

First of all, while it is natural to be unhappy about this unfortunate development, you should follow the dictum let bygones be bygones. Most of you would have taken many mock tests, some on paper and some that were computer-based. Take the re-test with this mindset that the cancelled CAT was the last mock CAT test taken by you. Since the objective of taking mock tests is to understand one's strengths and weaknesses and fine-tune the time distribution and sequencing of sections, the cancelled CAT would also help each of you to further understand dos and don'ts. Further, you will do well to keep on reminding yourself that your chances of selection have not gone down due to re-test and you can do better in this one!

Think positive! This is the lesson number one! So, what inferences can be drawn from the details known about the CAT test papers held in 20+ slots earlier? In each slot, the difficulty level of the paper was not the same. Chances are that you will get a paper with 20-20-20 distribution but if you get a different pattern, don't get devastated! Don't go with a pre-conceived notion about the difficulty level of any section or paper as a whole that creates any minimum number of attempts as a target for the re-test.

Keep an open mindQuite a few students got distracted by the noise/disturbance last time. Hopefully, your test should go through smoothly this time. Another issue that bothered a lot of students is that the paper wasn't that difficult provided you saw all the questions properly and did not get stuck on any questions.

See all questionsEnsure that you see all the questions properly and don't leave any questions unseen. A test is like a one-day match. If something went wrong last time, it may not happen again. Similarly, if something went well last time, it may not recur. Treat CAT re-test as another test where your performance does not depend upon what happened in the last test. It is another opportunity to score well hit a century!

Finally, for most of the students taking the re-test, wishing that it should have been a pencil-and-paper test is of no use. CAT is being held in a CBT format and you should believe that you are fully geared up to tackle it. The last lesson is: Believe in yourself till the last of the 135 minutes!  

How to tackle the online CAT-2013

The most pressing question on the minds of the students is 'How do I tackle the Online CAT?' However, the most obvious thing that one notices in the question is the emphasis on the 'Online' aspect more than the one on 'CAT'. Well the answer to this question is to keep it simple and not to worry about the 'Online' format as much as the 'content' of the paper.

One can get familiar with the Online format through the "CAT 2010 Practice Test" on http://catiim.in/ and through online mock tests.

The key to doing well on CAT has always been 1) Sound preparation

2) Getting the Basics right

3) Plenty of practice on Sectional Tests

4) Taking a good number of Full Length Mock CATs (Online) simulating all possibilities

5) Self-belief

'Sound preparation' encompasses looking at questions from previous years' CATs and understanding the 'syllabus' of CAT. First, one should make a list of all topics/areas on which questions have been asked in Quantitative, Logic & Data Interpretation and the Verbal section.

Then, one should assess whether one is 'proficient', 'average' or 'needs improvement' in each of those areas. The areas that fall in the third category is what one should look at quickly addressing rather than hoping that questions from that area do not come in CAT2010!

The IIMs, through CAT, test the students on their understanding of basic concepts and this is where 'Getting the basics right' plays a vital role. Often students look for the toughest material to practice without realising that their understanding of concepts as simple as LCM & HCF is not as good as they think it is.

CAT has often trapped students with simple and elegant questions that probe into their understanding of the basics. A quick recap of all the chapters in Quantitative and the concepts involved in each of them would go a long way in rectifying this.

One key aspect of CAT has been its unpredictability in terms of the pattern, the question types, areas emphasised and the difficulty level. However, CAT 2010 has eased the unpredictability to an extent by mentioning the pattern beforehand (3 sections with a total of 60 questions).

Students should try to strengthen their performance in each section in terms of speed and accuracy by practicing on a good number of sectional tests. Students should also ensure that they get enough practice of all kinds of full length papers through a comprehensive Mock series program.

This ensures that one is exposed to relevant and plausible question types which increases one's capacity to deal with any surprise in CAT2010. However taking lots of mocks is not the only preparation strategy - analysing the mocks after the test is over and learning from ones mistakes is, in fact, a key step, which students often overlook.

Finally, the most important ingredient in tackling CAT 2010 successfully is self-belief - the conviction that the effort that one has put in over the past months will yield positive results.

Constant worrying about the end result only makes the task much more difficult to accomplish.

So keep your spirits high and elevate your level of preparation in the next one month leading upto CAT. Success will belong to those who can follow this advice religiously and keep up their belief quotient.