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The difference between those who crack the CAT exam and those who don’t

Praqtise — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 13:02:54 +0000

Sanoj and Pranav are very good friends who are in the last year of their engineering. Both are planning and discussing what to do after graduating. Pranav suggests that they should take the MBA entrance exam and try to get into a good college. Sanoj says that he has heard that the CAT exam is very difficult and that not many can crack it to get into a good college. Pranav, however, convinces Sanoj that studying MBA will open many new opportunities in life and Sanoj agrees, though reluctantly. Both start preparing for the entrance exam for MBA.

Sanoj and Pranav prepare together for the exam, but Sanoj is skeptical that scoring good marks in CAT exam is not an easy task. Both study very hard for the examination, Pranav, with a positive attitude, and Sanoj, with a skeptical attitude. When the results come out, Pranav scores higher than Sanoj and get into a very good college, whereas, Sanoj barely gets into a decent college even after so much hard work. What could have been the reason?

Praqtice Fact File: MBA entrance examinations are designed to challenge the smartest of individuals and to create such a level of pressure that would reveal their weaknesses.

Mindset makes a lot of difference when preparing for the CAT exam

The pressure created by MBA entrance examinations like CAT may demotivate a lot of people, but cracking the CAT is all about taking it up as a challenge. When you are preparing for MBA entrance exams, your mindset certainly makes a lot of difference. You may think all that is required to crack the CAT is to thoroughly prepare the CAT syllabus. However, your mindset plays an important role in helping you crack the CAT successfully. A positive mindset which accepts it as a challenge goes a long way in helping you get into one of the top MBA colleges in India. If you prepare with a negative attitude then it affects not only your preparation for the entrance examinations, but also your performance in the entrance examinations.

Lack of confidence can have a negative effect on not just your performance in the examinations, but also the group discussions and personal interviews that follow.

How does mindset make a difference?

If you think that the CAT toppers are only successfully because of their high IQ, think again. If you think that only students who devote 18-hours a day to prepare for CAT exam, can ace the examination, think again. It is not just IQ or Hard work that makes all the difference in how you score in MBA entrance examinations. MBA entrance exams force you to delve into areas that you might not enjoy. For example, some people may not enjoy reading long passages or solving questions with a lot of mental calculation involved. However, if you develop a mindset that allows you to accept these areas as a challenge, then you can easily crack the CAT.

How to create a positive mindset when preparing for CAT exam?

A lot of students often wonder how to prepare for CAT. Every student, at one point, has wondered what he is doing differently from those students who ace the entrance examinations.

Here are a few insights that can help you change your approach to CAT preparation

Aim for small improvements

Improvement will be incremental and will require time and dedication. Setting small targets and achieving them will help in developing a sense of accomplishment. It will give you the courage to take up tougher aspects of the exam without feeling overwhelmed.

Do not underestimate the effort

Sometimes, despite ongoing efforts and continuous practice, the students might not get the expected results. This will surely to deter their will to continue. However, it takes more effort, perseverance, and a positive attitude to see positive results. It might simply be the case that you were less prepared than you thought. Treat it as an opportunity to learn rather than feeling intimidated by the effort needed.

See how far you’ve come, not just how far you’ve to go

It is necessary to overlook the results and focus on the efforts to build a positive attitude. MBA entrance exams force many individuals to move beyond their comfort zone. Aspirants have to read novels or perform arithmetic calculation mentally, things they would possibly never have done otherwise. You can appreciate the changes that the process of preparing for the MBA entrance examinations has brought into your lives.

Conclusion: A Praqtical Look

CAT exam is supposed to be one of the toughest competitive exams out there. There are those who start preparing in advance, yet appear for the exam with very little confidence. Then there are those who just walk into the CAT exam confidently, despite not preparing for it, and still ace it.

While one may not consider such instances to be meaningful examples, we can definitely see how a different mindset leads to a great difference in results.

How important do you consider mindset to be for performance? Please tell us in the comments.

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preparing for CAT exam

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Ideal time versus accuracy ratio in MBA entrance exams

Praqtise — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 15:47:10 +0000

How to decide how much time to dedicate to each question in MBA entrance exams?

Anisha and Sagar, who are very good friends, are preparing for different MBA entrance exams. When taking a break from studies, they like to play a game where they are supposed to burst maximum balloons in minimum time but with a limited number of darts. Sagar usually loses this game. He uses all his darts in the given time but is unable to burst more than ten balloons. However, Anisha is an expert at this game. She plays the game with concentration and patience. She takes sufficient time to decide which balloon to target and when. This is the reason her success rate is always higher than Sagar.

Similarly, in the entrance exams, you should know which question to attempt and how much time to devote to each question.

In MBA entrance exams, time versus accuracy is the classic dilemma faced by many students. Students don’t know how much time to devote to any given question. Hence, the students find themselves confused about the number of questions to attempt within the given time-frame to get the best score. This article we will try to shed light on the practical methods and ideas to help you decide the ideal time versus accuracy ratio that you should maintain while attempting any entrance examination.

Preparing for the Common Admission Test (CAT)

CAT is one of the most difficult entrance exams in India for admission to top B-schools. The CAT exam pattern usually changes each year. According to experts, CAT is no longer a speed-based exam. Earlier, the CAT exam had 160-180 questions which were to be attempted within 2 hours. However, now the CAT question paper has 100 questions which are to be attempted within 3 hours. Despite the sectional restrictions, you have more time per question. Hence, when you are focusing on CAT preparations, focus more on accuracy than trying to attempt all questions. We’ll look the approach to reach your personal ideal time versus accuracy ratio in a while.

Praqtical Fact file: CAT 2016 exam structure

Section	Number of Questions
Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC)	34
Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DI & LR)	32
Quantitative Ability	34

Preparing for other MBA entrance exams

Many top Business Schools conduct their own entrance examinations which have a different format than CAT. Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) conducts the SNAP, Xavier’s School of Management (XLRI) conducts the XAT, All India Management Aptitude Testing Service conducts the MAT, All India Council for Technical Education conducts the CMAT. Many of the top management schools across India accept scores of these exams. Exams like SNAP, IIFT, and MAT, have more questions to be solved in a shorter period. Thus, here the focus of the students must be more on speed than accuracy. Whereas, in CAT and CMAT, there are a lesser number of questions to be attempted in a longer period. Hence, here the focus of the student can be on accuracy more than speed.

Praqtical fact file: Number of questions and time in different entrance exams

Exam	Number of questions	Duration of exam
CAT	100	3 hours
SNAP	150	2 hours
IIFT	115-135	2 hours
CMAT	100	3 hours
MAT	200	2.5 hours

The ideal time versus accuracy ratio

Stage 1

Understand the MBA entrance exam for which you are going to appear. For example, if you are taking the CAT, understand the CAT syllabus, the pattern and the type of questions the examination. Every exam is different in the way it tests the student. Some exams test your conceptual clarity, while others test your ability to perform well under time constraints. So, get a clear idea about the exam and its pattern.

Stage 2

Prepare thoroughly and revise the syllabus for before taking the exam. Make sure that you are clear about all the concepts in the syllabus.

Stage 3

Test yourself on a regular basis. Appear for mock tests for all the MBA entrance exams. Solve previous year’s papers. When you are solving previous years’ examination papers, take a note of questions you can attempt in the given period. Then verify the number of correct answers. Analyse the ratio of the number of correct answers versus the number of questions attempted.

For example, in CAT, suppose you attempted 70 questions out of 100 in 3 hours. This means you took, on an average, 2.5 minute per question. However, only 50 answers out the 70 attempted, are right. The ratio of your accuracy versus attempted question would come to 0.7 as opposed to 1 if all questions were correct. Had you attempted only the 50 questions which were right, the time per question would have been 3.6 minutes. With an increment of 1.1 minutes (44%), you can increase the possibility of answering more questions correctly. This would also mean losing lesser marks in negative marking schemes.

Stage 4

Give multiple mock exams and test this ratio to see if there is an improvement in scores.

Praqtical Look

The approach mentioned above is just one way of improving performance in the MBA entrance exams. There might be other better ways too. We cannot generalise the ratio for all. Each person has different strategies for different entrance examinations. By analysing the time taken to attempt each question correctly and by trying to reduce the time while maintaining the accuracy, you can perform great in any entrance examination. Try different approaches, and find the one that works best for you.

What are your thoughts on speed and accuracy? Do you have a strategy worked out? Please share with us in the comments.

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[1] [2] [3]

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3 CAT preparation tricks that will help you crack the Verbal section

Praqtise — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 12:10:01 +0000

Sumedha is a CAT exam candidate. She is in the final year of her engineering course. Her CAT preparation has been very quant oriented because she likes mathematics as a subject. Hence, she has been scoring well in the quant section, but is unsatisfied with her performance in the verbal section. She speaks about this to her mentor.

Her mentor, like the senseis of yore, takes out a dusty box from the top shelf. As he wipes the dust off the box, the words “Scrabble” come into picture. Sumedha looks at the box in bewildered confusion and exclaims, “How do I master one of the top examinations in the country by playing a game of Scrabble?”

“The problem, my child,” says the teacher in a tone that borders between light-hearted fun and intense focus, “is that you are not looking at the bigger picture. To truly master something like the CAT question paper, especially the verbal section, it is important that you pay more attention to how much more interesting and fun you can make the process.”

“So, let’s play!”

CAT Preparation- Having the right approach for Verbal Ability

Verbal Ability is the section that can really boost your result. This can also be a differentiating factor in getting a higher percentile than your peers. But the problem with verbal section is that it is very unpredictable. You can practice a lot for quant and be sure that the questions would be solvable due to similarity in pattern. But in verbal section you can never be sure, even after practice. The reading comprehensions are different each time. Other questions are equally different. So, now the questions are how to crack such a section?

We have a list of 3 CAT preparation tricks that can help you achieve higher percentile by scoring good in verbal section.

Praqtice Fact file: The CAT Verbal Ability section usually has 5 types of question – Critical Reasoning, Paragraph Forming (Para Jumbled Questions), Grammar, Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension.

Here are the 3 tricks for verbal section which need to be a part of your CAT preparation:

Measure time taken for each question

It is important to increase the reading speed, but it is also equally important to also focus on the average speed to answer RCs. The trick is in being speedy yet accurate. Just rushing and skimming would not help. While you practice for the verbal section and RCs in particular, you should always challenge yourself against the clock. Try to improve with each phase of your CAT preparation.

Not just practice, but PRAQTISE

Verbal section requires a lot of practice undoubtedly. However, the approach that you take towards practicing is what makes the difference. Why practice using traditional pen and paper methods when you can record and measure your speed, accuracy, and historical performances. Instead of studying the verbal section, you can actually play it out with your friends and challenge them to earn points and awards.

Error checking

While many other blogs will advise you with tricks like ‘read more’, ‘practice as much as possible’ and ‘stay calm’; we would advise you with a more practical approach. While you keep reading and practicing, you must invest proper time in checking the errors you made, the answers you got incorrect and the repeat mistakes. Forums like PRAQTISE help you out with fully worked solutions for each question. If you proactively keep checking for the errors you make, you are less likely to be bothered even by the trick questions in the exam.

A PRAQTICAL APPROACH: With the quantitative aptitude section, you can learn a few finite rules that will help you solve questions correctly and quickly. However, with the verbal reasoning section, there are no formal set of rules. There are just customized tricks and techniques. Your approach to learning and answering makes a major difference here.

A Praqtical Look:

As already mentioned the VA section can be a game changer. But it is unpredictable at times. So the best way to crack the verbal ability section is to read a lot, practice, solve the doubts, identify strengths and weakness. You need to monitor your performance closely during the entire preparation period. Then devise a strategy for tackling the verbal part of the CAT syllabus. Choose the questions wisely and attempt accordingly. Remember, that great strategy is not only about opening the right doors, but also about closing the wrong ones.

Do you agree?

Let us know your opinion.

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Can you really not compete with someone who has taken CAT exam multiple times?

Praqtise — Sat, 05 Nov 2016 08:59:40 +0000

Mehek is preparing for the 2016 CAT exam. She goes to a coaching centre where she has enrolled for a mock test series. Mehek has made friends with some of her fellow test takers. This is what they were discussing one day after a mock test.

Shubham: “I appeared for CAT last year. I got a decent percentile of 97 but could not make it to any of the IIMs.”

Mehek: “But with such a score you could have got into any other good college”

Shubham: “Yes, but my dream is to study in an IIM.”

Reema: “Shubham, you scored well last year. I got 89%ile last year and 77%ile the year before that. I also want to get into top B-school; and am therefore sitting for the CAT again this year”.

Ayush: “Wow, you guys seem to have a lot of experience in taking CAT exam. I will be giving the exam for the first time this year. What chance do I have against you experienced CAT takers?”

This got Mehek wondering. She is also going to appear for the CAT for the first time. She has many questions in her mind about competing with someone who has taken CAT multiple times.

Over the years, CAT has seen many toppers from different backgrounds. All of them had different preparation styles. Many of them were first time CAT takers, and many were CAT repeaters. What made them win? How much does prior experience in taking CAT matter? Let’s find out.

Facts and figures about the CAT exam

CAT allows students to sit for the exam multiple times without counting the number of attempts. So, every year there are many first time CAT takers and many who have taken it before.

PRAQTISE Fact File

Year	No. of candidates applying for the test	No. of candidates actually taking the test
2016	232,434	–
2015	218,664	1,79,602
2014	196,988	1,67,829
2013	194,516	1,73,714

CAT is an exam that enjoys large number of test takers because the score is valid for many colleges. Not just the IIMs, but many top b-schools in India use the test for selecting students for their business administration programs. The test is conducted every year by one of the IIMs based on a policy of rotation.

PRAQTISE Fact File

CAT Testing Year	CAT Conducting IIM	CAT Testing Agency
2012	IIM Kozhikode	Prometric
2013	IIM Indore	Prometric
2014	IIM Indore	Tata Consultancy Services
2015	IIM Ahmedabad	Tata Consultancy Services

Each year a different IIM sets the CAT question paper and the pattern keeps changing. Last year IIM-A had set the paper, and they introduced a lot of changes in the exam. According to the latest press release, this year IIM-B will be conducting the exam. They have announced that the CAT exam pattern will not change from last year, but the number of presentation of questions may vary.

Would that mean that people taking CAT again this year will have a better chance of cracking it? The answer is they may or may not. It depends on their preparation and practice. But can you beat them? The answer is a big yes!

First attempt: Winners

Despite the pattern change every year there is at least one first time CAT taker who is among the top 20. Last year in CAT 2015, Prateek Bajpai scored 100%ile. This was his first attempt at CAT. He prepared for CAT without coaching but gave lot of mock tests. Similarly, Rajeev Reddy scored 100%ile who was also a first time CAT taker. Amit Warrier was another person from same category who scored 99.94%ile. He says it was all his hard work that helped him in making a mark for himself.

The aspirants need to notice that, CAT exam has always been about testing your concepts and understanding. It all comes down to the effort and confidence of the student. It does not matter if people have taken CAT before or are taking it for the first time. If you have worked on improving yourself, you can win against anyone. Even after CAT during GDPI phase, it’s your practice; confidence and knowledge about current happenings that will help you succeed.

A Praqtical Look

CAT exam has always had a lot to do with competition. The scores and results are relative. So, it’s natural for students to worry about competing against the experienced test takers. However, being a repeat test taker does not necessarily confer you with absolute advantage. You can compete and win against anyone.

Start by calming yourself down. Look at the CAT syllabus and prepare accordingly. Have a CAT preparation strategy. Work out a timetable based on your convenience so that you can cover the course thoroughly. Once done with the syllabus, take up a CAT mock test series. It is important to take these tests because you will get used to taking the test online, your concepts will be refreshed, and you will know where you stand in the competition. Use the enhanced online facilities available for preparation.

So buck up, because as Alexander Graham Bell says, Preparation is the key to success.

Do you agree? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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5 Unique Tricks for CAT Exam from Toppers

Praqtise — Sat, 05 Nov 2016 07:36:32 +0000

Rahul and his father are sitting together for dinner for the first time in 3 months. Rahul usually came late from MBA coaching and ate alone. He is preparing for CAT exam and aspires to get into a top management college. His father is a government officer, working in a different city. He gets a chance to come home once in a few months.

Dad: Rahul, how is your preparation going on? I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to you about it.

Rahul: CAT exam is approaching, dad. I am giving my best by preparing and giving mock tests regularly. But honestly, I am really nervous.

Dad: Why so?

Rahul: I score well, but some people are performing far better than me.

Dad: Why don’t you try to speak to such people and know what they are doing differently than you? Then maybe you can work on your strategy for the exam.

The people who have been there, done that!

Many times, CAT aspirants do all in their capability to prepare for the exam but get a low percentile. They don’t know why some people score better than them. What is it in their exam preparation method that gets them higher scores? It was a mystery. But not anymore.

To help you here’s a compilation of 5 unique tips and tricks from CAT toppers.

PRAQTISE Fact File:

Name	CAT year	Percentile
Sneha Mittal	CAT 2013	97.91%ile
Pranjal Agarwal	CAT 2015	100%ile
Nishchay Budhiraja	CAT 2015	100%ile
Tanya Gupta	CAT 2013	99.47%ile

1) Group preparation

Sneha Mittal, CAT exam topper 2013, says, with a group of fellow CAT aspirants, brainstorming and trying to solve each other’s doubts can be of great help. It lets you think differently. When in a group you also get to learn new ways of solving a problem. For this purpose, she had a particular WhatsApp group where she and her friends posted questions. This method was easier and less time consuming.

2) From the beginning? No!

On asking a question about CAT preparation, Pranjal Agarwal says “Don’t study everything from the beginning, because some topics are too basic to spend time on”. Pranjal has joined IIM-A for the batch 2016-18. CAT has topics from 10^th class Math and English which is elementary level. So, instead of studying them again why not spend time on building on those basics.

3) Don’t practice topics in isolation

Nishchay Budhiraja, CAT exam topper 2015, says “Take sectional tests which cover questions from all topics”. This will help you solve questions which are cross-sectional covering 2-3 topics in one question. It will allow you to get better understanding of the applications of concepts.

4) Shortcuts

“Try skimming through the passage instead of understanding each and every word”, say Budhiraja. But he also mentions that this trick only works with the right type of passage. He talks about how the ability to use other shortcuts to save time can come in handy during the actual exams.

5) Strategize wisely

When Tanya Gupta, CAT topper 2013, was asked how to prepare for CAT, her reply was simple. “Start preparing for CAT five months in advance.” According to her, the strategy is “to first solidify the basics for all the sections and then deep-dive into each one of them. It is important to go for an exhaustive numerical practice and tests for each section. ”

A PRAQTICAL Look

Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. With the CAT exam approaching, it is imperative for students to prepare as much as they can because that is the key to success. But along with this, you also have to work smartly.

By using the tips mentioned above, you can enhance your strategy for the main exams. But the ultimate war is yours to fight. So, gear up soldier because those who have prepared have half won the battle.

Did you find this article helpful? Do let us know in the comments below.

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Should you practice only the tough questions for CAT exam?

Praqtise — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 11:19:48 +0000

CAT exam doesn’t have easy questions. Should I even practise them?

Natasha and Pratik were two students from Kolkata, preparing for their CAT exam. They were both engineering students. Pratik used CAT preparation books, and Natasha had got herself enrolled into online CAT coaching classes. They had practised a fair amount of Maths during their engineering and so didn’t find the preparation to be tough.

The strategy that Natasha and Pratik applied to crack CAT preparation was different. Pratik always thought that CAT was a tough exam and to prepare, one had to start by practising tough questions. He thought that if one knew how to answer tough questions, solving easier questions wouldn’t be difficult. Natasha, on the contrary, believed that to gain clarity about a topic, it was necessary to address easy questions first.

Whose strategy is more practical? Should you solve only tough questions or should you also answer easy questions to get your fundamentals right? Let’s find out.

TRENDS…

Before we start discussing which strategy is the better one, let’s look at the trends in the type of questions asked in the CAT question papers.

Year of Examination	Easy	Moderate	Difficult
CAT 2004	23%	39%	38%
CAT 2005	23%	23%	53%
CAT 2006	23%	44%	33%
CAT 2007	21%	56%	23%
CAT 2008	28%	40%	32%

CAT became computerised 2009 onwards, wherein the difficulty level varied with each slot and hence we have not discussed papers since then.

Why is this data helpful for us?

The trends mentioned in the above table clearly show that the percentage of easy questions has remained almost the same over the years. The paper setters play around with the number of moderate and challenging questions.

This data can help us form a strategy for the CAT exam.

What’s the strategy of solving a CAT exam to maximise the CAT score?

The CAT exam pattern is all about refining yourself in every section and having the fortitude to adapt to the exam.

The best methodology to follow is to solve the easy ones on the first go. Address the questions which according to you takes around a minute or so while skipping the other questions. Do remember to mark the questions for review later. Questions set for reviewing should include those which one is confident of cracking but would demand more time to solve. This way, the paper will get divided into three types of questions which are EASY, MODERATE and DIFFICULT. Another benefit of this strategy is that you would have gone through all the questions at least once.

The EASY & MEDIUM would roughly constitute around 25 questions which can be solved with 90% accuracy if you manage time properly.

CAT is an exam which not only tests your intelligence but also your decision-making power. It makes you focus on not only the type of questions you want to attempt but also on the ones that you should not. CAT is not just about choosing which questions to solve, it is also about choosing which questions to leave out.

How does practising easy questions benefit us?

The major advantage of practising easy questions is that it helps in building a strong foundation for the topic. If the foundation of a subject is strong, any type of question can be tackled with ease. It will eventually help a person score well in exams.

As discussed above, around 20 to 25 percent of questions in CAT are of easy to moderate level. A student feels confident once they solve a chunk of the examination paper. It helps reduce anxiety while giving the exam.

Also, some MBA entrance exams like CMAT and SNAP have questions that are fairly easy and do not take long to solve. Practising short and easy questions is thus beneficial for exams which test one’s speed.

How to prepare for CAT?

If your aim is to do very well in CAT, you need to start studying in advance. Also, you need to form and follow a strategy to be able to achieve your objective.

So, how should you go about preparing for CAT?

These are a few pointers that might help you in shaping your preparation for CAT exam.

Spend 1 hour on reading every day. It can either be novels, newspapers, editorials, news, magazines, etc. Reading not only increases your vocabulary but also expands your knowledge.
QA is a critical part, and one needs to reach a standard level of expertise for clearing cut-offs. Practice QA for an hour or two every day and start from topics like average, percentage, time and speed, etc. Slowly progress to more complex topics like numbers, set theory, permutation and combination. While practising QA, your focus should be on being able to solve questions faster, and trying to reach the same answer using 2-3 different approaches.
Spare an hour or so on topics like Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation.
Devote around an hour for the preparation of verbal.
Dedicate around half an hour to memorise multiplication facts, conversion of percentage to numbers and vice versa and formulas.

What according to you is the best way to crack CAT and score well in the exam? If you have strategies of your own which have worked for you, or for anyone else, then let us know in the comments section below. Spread your ideas and help the community.

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Image sources:

Image Source

[1]: http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2016/01/15/financial-goals-when-the-going-gets-tough/

[2]: http://digitalmarketingphilippines.com/top-6-content-marketing-trends-to-watch-out-this-2014-infographic/

[3]: http://www.techtimehub.com/cat-exam-preparation-tips/

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Tips for people with non-math background

Praqtise — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 13:48:36 +0000

“CAT Syllabus – Does it provide an edge to students with a Mathematics background?”

Ashish goes to a career counselling seminar. The following conversation takes place between Ashish and the counsellor which may be helpful for many MBA aspirants.

Ashish – “Sir, I am a commerce student, can I prepare for CAT exam?”

Counsellor – “Yes, of course, graduates from any stream can appear for CAT.”

Ashish – “But I am not an engineer and do not have a mathematics background.”

Counsellor – “Mathematics education does not guarantee success in your career. Non-math students have to plan their preparation differently according to the CAT Syllabus; that’s it!”

Numerical Aptitude is given utmost importance in the CAT syllabus. It is not baseless at all as two major sections of the CAT namely Quantitative Aptitude and Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation test mathematical knowledge. So, it is considered that CAT exam is more difficult for students with non-mathematics background than it is for engineers. In this article, we have given a few tips for students with a non-math background to succeed in CAT.

PRAQTISE Fact File: Nishant Gupta, a student with a non-maths background who scored more than 99 %le in CAT

NAME YEAR Q.A %le VA %le LR & DI %le CAT %le

Nishant Gupta 2016 95.8 99.7 99.6 99.97

Quantitative Aptitude

Quantitative Aptitude is the most feared section of the CAT syllabus for students with a non-math background. Students should plan their preparation topic wise. Those students who are not so comfortable with mathematics should spend more time on the core chapters and practice as many questions as possible. The titles mentioned below are considered to be among the easier ones:

Percentage
Profit and loss
Ratio, Variation and Proportion
Time, Speed and Distance
Work and time.

Once students are comfortable with basic chapters, they can move on to tougher sections. Students should first try to identify the difficulty level of questions based on such topics. Attempt them only if you are comfortable with the question to avoid negative marking. The topics listed below are considered relatively difficult:

Permutation and Combination
Probability
Numbers
Higher Mathematics.

Logical Reasoning and DI

These are the sections where the non-math students can score to get a high percentile overall. This section has almost 1/3 the weight of the overall CAT syllabus every year. It has two sub-sections called Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation. Students with a non-math background can focus more on logical reasoning questions as it does not involve complex calculations. On becoming comfortable with analytical reasoning, one can try to increase his/her speed using short-cut tricks and Vedic Math methods. Students can start solving Data Interpretation sets once they are comfortable with calculations.

Verbal Ability

It is crucial to get a good grip on the Quantitative Aptitude questions and Logical Reasoning & Data Interpretation for CAT. At the same time, one should not ignore the Verbal Ability section as IIMs, and other top B-schools, have sectional cut offs. Verbal Ability is a crucial part of the CAT Syllabus. So, Verbal Ability section should be given due importance in preparation. If Q.A. is the weakness, a student can focus on the Verbal Ability section to get the desired percentile. Verbal Ability has two subsections:

Grammar: Students can concentrate on the fundamental concepts of grammar such as tenses, articles, conjunctions, voices, degrees, verb, noun, adjectives to get closer to cut off. Also, para jumbles are an easy target as one can master them with little practise.

Reading Comprehension: RCs are considered as relatively tough questions. Students should make a habit of reading on different subjects from news-papers and magazines. Magazines such as Readers Digest and India Today are usually the source for RC questions. Attempt RC sets from familiar topics first and then abstract and unfamiliar subjects if time permits.

A PRAQTICAL Look

As per the new paper pattern, students can only spend 60 minutes per section in CAT. Each section should be individually completed within 60 minutes. Hence, it is crucial to have a plan in place for tackling the quants section.

A non-math background should not hinder an aspiring MBA student to get into his dream college. The right approach is to leverage your strengths and acquire a basic level of comfort in areas of weakness.

Was this article helpful? Please, tell us in comments.

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Image sources:

http://www.feminiya.com/8-tips-to-remove-maths-phobia/

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Daily Prescription Pills for CAT Exam 2016

Praqtise — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 11:37:00 +0000

For a brief moment, I looked up from my paper. Hardly a second, maybe even less. I knew I had already made a mistake when I looked around me. Hands moving feverishly, the rattle of the AC, and 35 people unanimously struggling to do better than the one seated next to them. This was just another CAT mock test in class but I couldn’t help imagining the magnitude of the competition in the actual CAT exam. The singular ‘I’ against the brightest hundred thousand of this country. The moment of clarity had hit me. I had to do more than just practice. It was time.

It is true that preparing for CAT exam exposes you to tumultuous pressure. The number one reason for concern according to most aspirants is the intimidating CAT syllabus. While there is very little to be done except to overcome it, there are certain hacks that will help you keep calm and focused in the final few months of your preparation.

Prescription for Your CAT Well-being

Time Yourself:

Every bit of your CAT exam depends on how well you manage time. Time yourself in each category. You can begin by solving CAT question papers and mock tests with a set time limit on each section. This will give you a clear and concise idea as to which areas you need to work on.

Create A List:

Based on your performance in the mock tests, make a note of the areas where you need to put in efforts. Use this list as a reference regularly to touch up on your weaknesses.

Read Newspapers and tabloids:

It is extremely important to stay up to date with the current affairs of the world, not just for the CAT exam but in the best interests of our daily lives. Cultivate a habit of reading newspapers that will not only enhance your general knowledge but also help with your verbal and written communication skills. Reading Comprehension is one of the most scoring sections on a CAT paper. Daily reading will better your chances of scoring in this particular section by heaps.

Revise Your Fundamental Concepts:

Every CAT topper emphasises on the importance of a clear understanding of concepts. A thorough revision of every topic will definitely add to your confidence level. In fact, some CAT toppers even go on to say that CAT can be a relatively easy paper to crack with clear concepts.

Give Time to Yourself:

Even though it is known that CAT exam preparation will take up a lot of your time, it is still absolutely necessary to delegate some time for yourself. A happy and calm mind ensures mental and physical well-being before and during exams. Exercising, sports or simple meditation can bring about a positive change before CAT.

Practiqal Approach: In 2013, Gavin D’Souza from Goa scored an impressive 99.49 percentile in the CAT exam. In an interview with Rediff.com, D’Souza mentioned how it is extremely important to unwind while also preparing for CAT.

In the final few months before CAT, it is no longer important to know how to prepare for CAT. It is however of greater significance to know what exactly to prepare during this time. In reality, the preparation over the last 3-3.5 months is what makes the ultimate difference. That is to say that a significant change in your CAT performance can be made with the right attitude during these crucial few months.

Practice Fact File: In a batch of students of a CAT Coaching center who enrol themselves 12 to 18 months prior to CAT exam, only 5% students remain regular with their attendance. Most students lose focus and remain under the impression that they have a significant amount of time in hand to prepare, which ultimately leads to a loss of impetus required in the final moments before the exam. Thus debunking the myth that all those who start early win the race. Preparation strategies in the final months make a much larger impact than starting preparations early.

Are you targeting CAT 2016? What strategy are you following in the final phase of preparation? Can you share some wisdom? Please do so in the comments.

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Reading Comprehension – 4 tips to ace this section

Praqtise — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 13:09:29 +0000

This is how one student described her struggle with reading comprehension:

I gazed at the still pages of the book in silence. The slow whizzing of the fan and the clamour of the insects in their night orchestra together accentuated the static in the room. I read the line once more, most likely for the fifth time! I think I had lost count, yet despite everything I had absolutely no clue of what I had perused in the last half hour. Was I dreaming? Or was I in some kind of trance-like pit, where words were just sounds and had neither rhyme nor reason? But that couldn’t have been true, because every word made perfect sense by themselves. Yet, when put together in a thread complete with a complex sentence structure, all meaning associated with the words would not come together to make any sense at all.

Strangely, I went back to my picture book days. As children, just when we begin to comprehend minuscule bits of a dialect, hardly able to form sentences of our own, we correlate vibrant pictures of miscellaneous things with their names. We know what an apple or a ball or a cat looks like well before we begin to read independently. Because we read and comprehend simultaneously, we follow everything that is going on in the book. While I could no longer use picture references for my CAT syllabus, I couldn’t help but think about the ascending complexity of sentence structures that never fails to catch up with us.

WHAT IS READING COMPREHENSION?

Basically, reading comprehension is the ability to understand and process what you read. It is a purposeful, dynamic and intelligent technique that we start developing along with our habit of reading.

Reading Comprehension (RC) is one of the mainstays of the demonstration of reading. When we read certain content, we unknowingly partake in an exhibition of psychological processes. We are at the same time utilizing our mindfulness and understanding phonemes (individual sound “pieces” in dialect) & phonics (association amongst letters & sounds and the relationship between sounds, letters & words). The capacity to grasp or develop meaning form content determines one’s adeptness in reading comprehension.

4 TIPS TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION

1) Include different varieties of subjects in daily reading:

The first step is to expand the horizons of daily reading.

Common subjects for RC passages

Set a target of reading 3 comprehension passages from each category per week during the initial months of study. This will be challenging as one’s natural reading preferences are likely to be restricted to a few domains. But it will ensure that you are not caught off guard by an unexpected subject in the MBA entrance exams.

2) Gain familiarity with diverse styles of writing:

Identifying the writing style used by the author helps greatly in understanding the overall meaning/intent of the passage. The tone of writing is a subtle but essential aspect of the passage. It indicates the attitude or point of view that the author possesses towards the topic.

PRAQTISE Factfile- The prominent types of writing styles adopted by authors are as follows

Descriptive style- A descriptive passage will focus on a particular subject (event, person, or place) and provide in depth information about the same.

Analytical style- Analytical passages will evaluate an idea, issue or a state of affairs by bringing out different perspectives such as pros and cons, advantages/disadvantages so as to reach upon a conclusion.

Narrative style- In simple words, narrative passages follow the structure of a story. One can expect creativity and individuality in the style of expression. The passage will, however, ultimately be a narration with a start, middle and end.

Argumentative style- Argumentative passages are written with the objective of conveying a stand/opinion on a particular issue/phenomenon. Arguments would be provided along with the thought process that led the author to develop this stance, with the intention of persuading the reader.

Some examples of tones used in writing

Start by picking passages thats ask questions about the writing style directly. A better way to develop this skill would be to try and identify what tone the author is using every time you read something.

3) Expose and test yourself against different types of questions:

MBA entrance exams will test your reading skills with a variety of questions. Some directly seek out details from the passage. Certain questions test your understanding of the main theme/idea of the passage, it’s tone, the author’s viewpoint. Questions also pertain to the inferences that you can draw from the passage or even the application of the proposed idea in other domains.

It is important to identify how comfortable one is with these different types of questions. One needs to develop the skill of picking the right question during CAT preparation. This exercise can go a long way in honing this skill.

4) Following a time based and goal oriented game plan:

It is important to keep in mind that we are improving our reading skills not as a general ambition in life but with a specific intent. It is necessary to create a numbers based game plan to achieve a measurable improvement in scores. A plan could be as simple as solving 5 comprehension passages daily along with 1 hour dedicated to reading general news and information articles online from multiple sources. Measure improvements in speed and identify the types of passages/questions that you find particularly challenging. Following this plan for 60 days will definitely improve your reading scores in a big way.

Log on to your PRAQTISE dashboard and you will have access to an assortment of infinite RC passages. You will also get a lot of statistics related to your performance in RCs.

A Praqtical look: Reading comprehension is perhaps the most important component of verbal ability. If you believe that verbal ability is your area of weakness, tackling the RC section is your best bet. Grammar and logic based questions are too technical and require extensive knowledge. Moreover, the reading comprehensions always account for a significant portion of the total score in almost all MBA entrance exams.

How good are your reading skills? Are you an avid reader or do you read rarely? Do you think that developing the reading habit for CAT and other MBA entrance exams will also help you on the personal front?

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How to complete your CAT preparation in 3 months?

Praqtise — Fri, 19 Aug 2016 15:46:21 +0000

“CAT preparation & luck: Do they go hand it hand?”

“People say that along with intelligence & hard work, CAT is also about luck. Is it so?”, asked my younger brother.

Having cracked CAT with 98.3 percentile the previous year, I remarked, “People might say that but I beg to differ. It is more about being organized and being fastidious with your approach.”

“So how do you think I can crack it in three months without any luck?”

“The difference, my brother, is not created by luck but by your approach and other personality traits like decision-making, calmness, memory power & analytical capabilities. And you can surely develop all this with disciplined practice.”

While I asked my brother to be organized, I also did the same and charted out the following strategy for him. The below mentioned 9 points might just help you gain that much required confidence and edge for the CAT exam.

1. Keep practicing a lot of questions

Don’t stop practicing once you get it right; keep practicing until you can’t get it wrong anymore. Apply this approach in all sections. Also don’t just work on harder sections, keep practicing your favorite sections too and have some fun. Relentless practice is what separates champions from the crowd.

2. Thoroughly analyze your mock CAT results and wrong answers

Appear for a lot of mock CATs. This will help you become familiar with the CAT exam pattern.

Make a timetable and try to take at least one sectional test every day for the three months. In the last 45 days, take 15-20 mock tests in addition to the daily sectional tests. This could be quite a decent timeline to follow but you can surely customize it as per your own needs.

Try different approaches in different mock CATs so that on the day of the real exam, you just know which approach works the best for you. Always keep some buffer time for each section during mock CATs to cross check and to try to answer the ones you’ve flagged for later. In the flagged questions, try working the other way round and see if you can start with eliminating from the answers and reach to the correct answer this way. It just works brilliantly at times in the quant section especially.

The forum at PRAQTISE will help you compete with the whole of India in mock CATs and compare your scores accordingly. There can be many more tricks that we can learn for giving mock CATs but we shall dedicate another blog post to that later.

3. Have a live access to your strong & weak sections at any time

Better if it is in a chart format and better if an online portal does that for you.

This strategy will allow you to use time wisely and will help you build your daily plans, weekly plans and monthly plans. Dedicate yourself to weaker sections for days on stretch if required. However, do not ignore your strong areas.

4. Avoid slack during CAT preparation

If you are anyway giving just three months to CAT preparation, you need to be regular & disciplined in your approach. Ideally, you should not let even a day pass without practicing. And after a lag, it might be difficult to get on track again. Let the engine be oiled every single day so that it can perform at its best on the day of the race. And you can surely take out a few hours every day to relax but skipping complete days should be avoided.

5. Work on your decision-making skills

CAT exam is a lot about the decisions you make, the questions you choose to answer and the questions you choose to leave. There might be some unexpected questions in the exam but if you panic, you lose the game. However, if you are strong headed enough to think through and reach the right decisions, you will excel.

6. Turn time to your favor

Keep a check on the time you take to solve different types of questions. Try reducing the time taken as much as possible for the sections you are strong at. This strategy will help you dedicate more time to difficult questions during CAT exam. Time plays a major differentiating role in the final score.

7. Work on accuracy

Another major differentiating factor among CAT toppers is the aspect of accuracy. If the complexity of the exam is on a higher side, normalization would benefit all those who had better accuracy and thereby minimized negative marking. Make better use of your PRAQTISE dashboard to keep a tab on your accuracy v/s time ratio for individual sections as well as for mock CATs.

8. Try multiple approaches for the same question

You might be able to solve a question in a particular way. But questions in quant sections specially can be solved with multiple approaches. Try to find different ways and you never know you could end up saving a lot of time solving the questions in an alternative way.

9. Take it like a game and play with your friends

This is where a forum like PRAQTISE helps you gain an advantage. We very well know how human psyche works on games.

You get so involved and habituated that you will play it perfectly & accurately even if someone wakes you from deep sleep. At PRAQTISE, we are redefining the whole MBA entrance exams preparation sector with our gamified version of CAT preparation. You can actually play it as a game, challenge your friends, collect medals, customize the experience and access reports showcasing your historical performance & weak areas.

While others spend their time on those onerous lectures & study books with limited questions, you can have an access to unlimited questions & analysis on just one click. The answer-bank in the portal is designed in such a way that it is capable of being a personalized tutor for you.

Gone is the era of classrooms, chalkboards and paper based exams. Welcome the era of eclectic, hybrid and custom-made online CAT preparation with PRAQTISE.

Gamified version of MBA entrance test preparation

How long did it take you to complete your CAT syllabus? Share your case study with us in the comments section and our panel of experts will reach out to you with a customized plan. And if you have an interesting case study to share, we might even feature it in one of our upcoming articles.

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Image Sources:

[1]: Self-generated

[2]: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140721143934-3332762-very-few-decisions-are-permanent

[3]: https://www.docebo.com/2014/03/31/gamification-corporate-learning/

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NAME	YEAR	Q.A %le	VA %le	LR & DI %le	CAT %le
Nishant Gupta	2016	95.8	99.7	99.6	99.97

CAT tips Archives - PRAQTISE - India's most fun, adaptive and personalized online preparation platform for MBA entrance tests like CAT, XAT, SNAP, NMAT, IIFT, etc.

The difference between those who crack the CAT exam and those who don’t

Mindset makes a lot of difference when preparing for the CAT exam

How does mindset make a difference?

How to create a positive mindset when preparing for CAT exam?

Aim for small improvements

Do not underestimate the effort

See how far you’ve come, not just how far you’ve to go

Conclusion: A Praqtical Look

Ideal time versus accuracy ratio in MBA entrance exams

How to decide how much time to dedicate to each question in MBA entrance exams?

Preparing for the Common Admission Test (CAT)

Praqtical Fact file: CAT 2016 exam structure

Preparing for other MBA entrance exams

Praqtical fact file: Number of questions and time in different entrance exams

The ideal time versus accuracy ratio

Stage 1

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Praqtical Look

3 CAT preparation tricks that will help you crack the Verbal section

CAT Preparation- Having the right approach for Verbal Ability

Measure time taken for each question

Not just practice, but PRAQTISE

Error checking

A Praqtical Look:

Can you really not compete with someone who has taken CAT exam multiple times?

Facts and figures about the CAT exam

PRAQTISE Fact File

PRAQTISE Fact File

First attempt: Winners

A Praqtical Look

5 Unique Tricks for CAT Exam from Toppers

The people who have been there, done that!

1) Group preparation

2) From the beginning? No!

3) Don’t practice topics in isolation

4) Shortcuts

5) Strategize wisely

Should you practice only the tough questions for CAT exam?

TRENDS…

Why is this data helpful for us?

What’s the strategy of solving a CAT exam to maximise the CAT score?

How does practising easy questions benefit us?

How to prepare for CAT?

Tips for people with non-math background

Quantitative Aptitude

Logical Reasoning and DI

Verbal Ability

A PRAQTICAL Look

Daily Prescription Pills for CAT Exam 2016

Prescription for Your CAT Well-being

Time Yourself:

Create A List:

Read Newspapers and tabloids:

Revise Your Fundamental Concepts:

Give Time to Yourself:

Reading Comprehension – 4 tips to ace this section

WHAT IS READING COMPREHENSION?

4 TIPS TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION

How to complete your CAT preparation in 3 months?

“CAT preparation & luck: Do they go hand it hand?”

1. Keep practicing a lot of questions

2. Thoroughly analyze your mock CAT results and wrong answers

3. Have a live access to your strong & weak sections at any time

4. Avoid slack during CAT preparation

5. Work on your decision-making skills

6. Turn time to your favor

7. Work on accuracy

8. Try multiple approaches for the same question

9. Take it like a game and play with your friends