To excel in the country’s premier Aptitude Test CAT and come up with flying colours, a student must have conceptual knowledge in each and every test area and also develop a strategy to face the exam. So here are some tips to crack CAT exam.
It is the right combination of knowledge, attitude and skills that can help a candidate to prepare for the exam.
Quantitative Aptitude (QA): QA is the most challenging section to crack in CAT, which is a common apprehension among most of the aspirants. There are different reasons as to why Quant can be the toughest section to crack. Most of the students have a good understanding of the fundamentals but when it comes to any application based question they are all in sea. Most of the students also have the problem of time management. Some don’t have the raw speed of formulation and calculation. Whatever be your sad story, remember that your percentile score is completely dependent on your ability to segregate the doable questions according to your strength along with optimizing speed and accuracy.
The test makers of CAT are very experienced. He is an expert in the art of combining easy and difficult questions. When you appear for CAT, you will find that there are some really easy questions which can be solved by even 8th or 9th standard students. You will also find questions that are extremely difficult in a time bound scenario. This is not done to identify and select math majors!! The reason why there is a mix of questions of varying difficulty level is because it reflects real life situations. But, given that you have a time limit, you should pick and target the lowest hanging fruits (easy question).
CAT does not focus on theoretical knowledge but on application of basic concepts. This essentially means that your knowledge of basic arithmetic skills, proportionality tools, numbers, elementary combinations, algebra and geometry is more than enough to help you crack the test. Most problems present a common ground for all, so ‘math guys’ don’t have that much leverage. Most of the students get carried away and focus on the ‘glamorous’ concepts, neglecting the simpler ones.
Basic Mathematical Skills is just one dimension of the QA section and other dimensions are more important. These are ability to perform under pressure, observation skills, decision making ability, adaptability/flexibility and finally the ability to understand questions. Usually the questions are cleverly framed so as to test the conceptual clarity and cleverness in approach. Solving the problem of CAT Quant is a step by step process and the basic algorithm is Step-I: Understanding of the question, Step-II: Interpretation i.e. what is given and what is required etc. Step-III: Problem Solving (if required). Before moving on to Step-III, all possibilities of exhausting the answer option should be explored through various approaches like observation or after analyzing the extreme cases to find out the range of predicted values. To develop the above set of skills, one needs to practice hard.
Timed exercises will help students understand which concepts they need to revisit. Prepare a collection of topic-wise formulas and concept maps so that one can revise it on a regular basis.
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) Section: The DILR section is less knowledge-oriented and more skill-oriented, so this section is an equalizer in the true sense. The latest pattern reveals that most of the question sets are an amalgamation of both DI and LR. There is no subsection named DI and LR in the DILR section. These areas involve fewer concepts and require regular practice. It is important to practice under time pressure. Finding the right strategy to navigate the LRDI section is the key to success and test takers are suggested to solve as many quality sets as possible in a time bound manner.
DILR ability is closely related to general intelligence. However, getting familiar with the latest pattern mock test types of questions and practice and some strategies to solve the questions will definitely help you perform better.
DILR sets are usually tough and time consuming but a step by step approach can help the candidate to crack it in less time. Step-I: Understand each statement carefully and patiently. Step-II: Correct explanation of each of the statements and conditions. Step-III: Analyze the case and try to refute maximum possibilities to reach the final conclusion. Some of them can be quite difficult to understand because of the depth of the logic. Students who keep their balance and know the techniques to separate the possible will certainly excel. Remember, the puzzles test your stamina and thinking performance in the time limit.
Look at one rule at a time. There may be extraneous data in question, designed to confuse you. Focusing on one aspect “what is given” and “what is required” can help you identify what is important and what is not.
The recommended strategy for attempting the DI/LR section is in two rounds of equal time remaining after the time spent in scanning the entire section. We must first scan the section and identify the sets which seem to be the first choice to be included in round one. In the first round, all relatively easy and doable sets should be targeted, and then the second round should target moderately difficult sets. The time limit for scanning after the time allotted for each round may vary from one mock to another depending on the difficulty level of the set, and hence the student should be flexible for the same, although it is mandatory that the student is able to meet the approximate time limit. does. Once for each set he is done with the scanning of the section.
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension: Questions from RC and VA should be practiced regularly for the English section. Passing, Para Jumble, Para Completion, Summary, Critical Reasoning, Filling in the blanks should be the basis of preparation. Basic grammar and vocabulary building with little attention to idioms and phrases can help you increase your reading speed and comprehension level.
There is no fixed distribution of RC topics, so no subject/area cannot be neglected during preparation. The passage and para can be from the fields of Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, History, Biology, Economics, Literature etc. You may have a good number of questions from the neglected subject/area in your CAT slot. Therefore, the strategy of selective preparation is very risky.
Develop the habit of writing short summaries, titles, important points, etc., while writing a passage. Understand different styles of passages and try to work on your comfort level and reading speed. Collect the words picked up during normal reading and note it down with meaning. and use. A good vocabulary is definitely the key to better reading. However in the next two months more attention should be paid to RC exercises than just reading articles and novels.
Please note that RC requires more precision than speed. If you achieve that reading speed but don’t understand the passage, it’s no use. Even the top performers do not attempt all the questions. If you are still struggling, try to do a thorough analysis and find out how to choose the easy route and skip the difficult route during the exam.
Taking mocks regularly can definitely take the load off your head and help you get used to the time pressure and stress that aspirants feel during the actual exam. To increase the score and percentile, a lot of work has to be done on increasing the efforts and accuracy. Regular practice will also help in avoiding silly errors, which usually result in being under pressure while taking the exam.
Written, Pradeep Pandey, Academic Head, TIME
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