CAT Exam Strategy For Repeater

1. CAT Strategy for Repeat Students Live One-to-One Online CAT Classes by IIM Alumni

2. CAT Strategy – Second/ Repeat Attempt • Second/ Repeat Attempt to CAT is important to most students as it might be the last attempt. • Also another failed attempt on the CAT will result in the loss of one more year • CAT and other similar exams like XAT,FMS etc are known for changing patterns and differing levels of difficulty every year. • CAT Preparation requires hard work, meticulous planning and systematic implementation • A correct mix of theory and concepts, practice, simulated testing and detailed analysis • Two Sins while CAT Preparation • A lot of people jump straight into problem solving and finding shortcuts to do “commonly occurring” problems. • Jump into exercise based preparation without getting the fundamentals right • Before starting preparations for writing CAT for the nth time, make sure that you get your fundamentals right

3. What I Did Wrong? • I Did not read any philosophy books, novels for “Reading Comprehension” practice. • I Did not prepare any dictionary / list for vocabulary. • I Did not try any method for ‘speed-reading’. • Had totally bogus Moc - CAT scores 6, 9 etc, never did ‘post-analysis’ of questions and later stopped giving them altogether, as they were wasting my time and hurting my confidence. • Skipped trigonometry, coordinate geometry, games and tournaments and any topic that I couldn’t grasp on the first two tries or anything that would not go in my long term memory. • Did not do much arithmetic series and logarithm. Because most of them would require the application of some special ‘magic-move’, which won’t go my long term memory. • Skipped most of quant/LR threads & discussions on online forums (Well most of their sums go above my head anyways.) • Can’t do much speed-maths or mental calculation of percentages for DI/Quant. • Don’t know squares upto 50. • Can remember multiplication table upto 25, but 13,14,17,18,19,23 still give nightmares.

4. Count your Sins • Low Mental ability –Brain has lost that ability to grasp, analyze or calculate things quickly without calculator • Weak Fundamentals –Brain has lost hold of basic fundamentals used in CAT Verbal & Quant Sections; it is accustomed to analyze complex problems • Time Management – Solving questions within the time limit to get maximum percentile. • Practice –Not able to do much practice on sample Questions Especially student is not able to practice on & score at highest level of difficulty within 3 min. • Screening of errors - Understanding why the answer choice was wrong, making list of all the errors & doing practice so that this errors are not repeated again

5. Few Questions to ask • Do I have mental stamina to work efficiency during strenuous 140 mins (2.5 hours)? • Do I have approach/strategy for solving any type of question in less than 2 min (whatever the level of difficulty)? • Are math fundamentals, grammar basics & vocabulary list up to the mark to score 99+percentile in CAT?

6. The Secret – Key • The challenge is not to master all concepts, or to do all problems rightly; the challenge is to maximize the score • Most important - knowing when to let go. • You have to quit and move if you are not able to answer a question within the upper time limit. • Remember to take each question by itself. Don't worry about the grand scheme, just one question at a time • Do not give up: CAT is a very logical exam and if you are good with logic you should be able to do reasonably well. • Focus on the basics if you are not improving. Define your weak areas and work on them.

7. For an average IQ student , the path is not easy, but who said anything is impossible - it just takes that little much longer. MAD over CAT • The CAT is a tough test. The CAT will humble you and bring you down to your knees. • With enough practice and right guidance, you can beat it!  • The key to success is training your mind to think differently and act differently  • Get acquainted with both the content and the length of the test. • CAT is not rocket science, it just requires a lot of discipline… • There are no shortcuts— • Identify your weaknesses and then reviewing materials/doing practice problems to fill those gaps • Focus on the problem types you're having issues with • TRUST YOURSELF. You are smarter than you think. • All of the knowledge is inside of you. You just need to discover how to pull it out and apply it on test day!

8.   7 Point Strategy • Mental Ability – Improve mental ability, improve mental responses, practice mental exercises and calculations daily.  • Clear Basic fundamentals – Through understanding of principles through different books • Time Management – Solving Practice problems with timer, not more than 3 min for any question regardless of difficulty level ( 4 questions – 12 mins) • SWOT Analysis – Know different type of questions in & do SWOT on those types. More practice on weak areas. • Error Log - Error log will help you to know weak areas. Strategy to solve each type of question within 3 min • Process of Elimination – Understand & Practice Process of Elimination on different question types • Practice – No alternative to practice. it is very important to practice higher difficulty level questions for time management; try to solve every question within 3 min

9. Start Fresh @ CAT

10. Analyze, Understand & Plan the preparation • Preparing for the exam • 3 levels of preparation required to crack the CAT. • Knowledge • Exam Strategy • Confidence and Performance under pressure • 3 Steps to ACE CAT • Step-1 Learn all about CAT • Step-2 Do Self Analysis for CAT • Step-3 Execution: Mastering your strengths and improving on your Weaknesses  • Study Plan • Never Prioritize topics – study all • What is prepared & what needs to be learned • Time Management   • Set accomplishable goals • Stick to your plan 

11. 8 important steps for CAT Prep • Identify where you stand • Build the Foundation - build the basics | Revise the fundamentals • Study Plan and Time Management • Sectional Tests and Exercises • Start acing mocks • Evaluation and analysis • Know your strengths, work on your weaknesses • Accuracy and speed: the perfect mixture • Shortcuts and strategies

12. Identify where you stand • Where to start? • The ideal way to start preparing for any exam is by taking a diagnostic test • Diagnostic test should ideally be of similar type as the previous CAT exam. • You may take the test online/offline. • Detailed analysis on the results

13. Build the Foundation - Revise the fundamentals • Understand and Develop basic concepts tested in the CAT • Understand different types of questions asked in each section • Gauge your understanding by solving questions for each Concept • Attempt extra practice problems on each concept to go to Pro Level. • Finally, move on to actual past CAT questions – to develop the CAT mindset

14. Study Plan and Time Management • Time is precious, while everyone has the same amount of time, only those who manage it well crack the CAT. • Budget your time – Create a study plan to manage the time effectively and efficiently. • Give plenty of time for each task and concept • Use a calendar to set specific deadlines. • Don’t get nervous over deadlines; stay calm and keep on track.

15. Sectional Tests and exercises • Start taking sectional tests and time based exercises. • At least 2-3 concept or sectional tests a week • See where you stand and measure improvement.  • Analyze the tests in detail to check: • Where have you gone wrong? • Why have you gone wrong? • Solutions to questions that you did not attempt to identify the ones that you could have attempted. • Analyze your performance after every test you take.

16. Start acing mocks • Start taking mocks once every week to frame a full proof strategy. • Gauge your performance – weakness and strengths • Mock scores will also help you identify your aim and strategy for the last few months before CAT • Start your mocks even if you have not completed the chapters

17. Evaluation and analysis • All the tests taken must be evaluated properly and analysed. • Have a record on a spreadsheet of all the tests that you take • Track your performance section wise and concept wise • Create a flowchart which will help you know where you stand and how much improvement you need in every section.  • Analysis should include your attempted, non-attempted questions.  Silly mistakes and guess work attempts. • Such analysis will shed light on your strengths and weaknesses. • Concentrate on where you need to improve

18. Know your strengths, work on your weaknesses • Discover the areas, where you are strong and where there is a room for improvement • Capitalize on your strengths and get rid of your weaknesses. • Challenge yourself by re-practicing problems in weak areas • Make stronger area into the strongest and work towards improving the weaker sections. • Always keep yourself motivated; do not stress yourself, by studying all the time. • Over dosage often, as they say – kills. • How to find your strength & weaknesses – Simply pickup a past years CAT exam papers • Attempt as many questions as you can without putting the time limit in one • Attempt which ever you are confident of, don't make any blind guess for any of the questions and make calculated guess • Check your answers and attempts. • Write down your overall score, along with sectional score • Repeat step 1-4 for 4 more past year CAT paper

19. Accuracy and speed: the perfect mixture • CAT is not about solving 60 questions in 140 minutes. • It is about solving 40 to 45 questions with 85 to 90 percent accuracy. • Attempting all the questions is not the mark of your achievement in CAT • Accuracy is a distinguishing factor among 99+ percentile • Focusing on accuracy may lead to spending more than average time on the questions • Spending more time on one problem could cause panic towards the end of the exam. • An optimum mix of both accuracy and speed is desired.

20. Shortcuts and strategies • Try to find strategies and shortcuts for different sections and concepts. • Increase your speed, improve your accuracy and reduce time per question. • Collective studies with your friends and exchange ideas and shortcuts with each other. • A common pitfall is learning the tricks without understanding them. • Best solution is to derive and develop tricks yourself from the basic principles.

21. FACT -double the time given to a candidate in exams, most of the candidates will score 90%+ marks. Time Management during exam • Practice the element of “TIME” in problem solving  • Most problems in management institute exams do not require knowledge of rocket science. • These exams are about • Skill and knowledge • Ability to manage time in the most efficient manner. • How to solve problems in minimum time • Focus on 2 more questions and get proficient in them -: • a) How much time will it take me to solve this problem? • b) Compared to the problems that I have seen what level of difficulty do I think this problem lies in? • Important for candidate to decide • Which questions to attempt and which questions to leave • In which order - which might very well end up being the most important thing esp. in exams where time is the crunch.

22. Plan your answering strategy • These are few points you must plan out before taking the CAT-: • What is your time allocation strategy? • How much time do you plan to spend on each of the sections? • In particular, do you plan to devote equal time to each section or slightly more time to the section that you are the strongest at? • How will you respond to a differential marking scheme if that is specified? For example, if there are 2 mark and 1mark questions, do you plan to attempt the 2 mark questions first? • Do you plan to spend some time at the completion of the exam, cross-checking or verifying some of the answers, especially of those questions that you are not really sure of and have just estimated or guessed the answer?

23. Find your strategy - Experiment: • Till you have found a rhythm/strategy keep changing things • The target number of questions you want to attempt, • The time you spend on each section etc. • This kind of experimentation will prepare you for any surprise that you may find on D-Day • Perfect the optimum CAT-solving strategy • Strikes the right balance between speed and accuracy, • Ensure that you clear all cut-offs and as well as get 99+ percentile

24. Attention : Interviews and GD/WAT • Start preparing for the interviews and GD’s from beginning • Candidate needs to show that he/she has a well rounded personality in complete admission process • Start orienting on this aspect six months before even applying to the b-schools. • Know and Understand different question asked in interviews • Pick up a hobby, • Project something to be your hobby in an interview, • Good understanding of history, personal association, ground details, rules, current news items related to it and finally your views on its future etc • For GD/WAT preparation, • Keep updated on General Knowledge/ General Affairs • Get a taste of the real thing • Preparing in groups of friends for GD/Essays is a good idea

25. Current Affairs – General Knowledge • Interview/GD/WAT Essays requires that you be aware of your surrounding and current affairs. • Read at least one good newspaper daily and a weekly magazine on current affairs (and 1 business magazine preferably) regularly. • Most publications from same media houses would be a bit biased in some respect • A variety of views from different media houses would strengthen your knowledge of the subject and help you especially in GD/WAT Essay

26. Train Your brain • Entire CAT evaluation (including GD/WAT/PI) is designed for people who can work for longer periods of time without breaks • Train your brain for working effectively and efficiently for longer periods of time • Build Mental stamina • Mental fatigue is real and it tends to snowball • At end of a exam, mental fatigue will cause him/her to think more slowly, it will force you to re-read or re-calculate, • Spending longer on each question will only serve to fatigue you even more. • Mental stamina is required to perform efficiently and to get a good score • If you need to warm-up for an hour before beginning to be able to concentrate and study productively, now is the time to break that habit. • You need to be able to start concentrating almost immediately, and need to do the same thing for more than 140 minutes.

27. Work life balance • Keep yourselves distressed • Balance your work/study with preparation. • Be genuine to yourself and spend time every day regularly in a systematic manner • Take it slow and do not garble all the information. • Work your way through different types of problems and keep track of your performance in every possible area • It’s about ‘You’ and you know better about yourself; device a strategy that works for you • Keep fine tuning the strategy, until you get better results

28. Final Words • CAT is a tough exam and you need to train your brain for it. • The key to success is training your mind to think differently. • Get acquainted with both the content and the length of the test. • CAT is not rocket science; it just requires a lot of discipline. • CAT is a very logical exam and if you are good with logic you should be able to do reasonably well. • The challenge is not to master all concepts, or to do all problems rightly; the challenge is to maximize the score • You don’t need to reinvent the wheel; all you have to do is follow a plan which the high CAT scorers use and customize it to suit your needs. • NGUFO = (Never Give Up - Fight On)

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