The Common Admission Test (CAT) is one of the toughest exams to crack in the country, but having a good command over your key strategies to CAT Preparation can give you an edge over people who simply work hard. The Time-span usually recommended for CAT Preparation is 6-8 months depending upon individual ability in academics. It is also important to keep in accordance with yourself CAT Preparation Tips and CAT Previous Year Question Papers.
CAT exam usually comprises 3 sections namely Quantitative Ability, Data Interpretation Logical Reasoning (LIDR) and Verbal Ability Reading Comprehension(VARC). Each of the three different sections requires different preparation strategies in a time bound period for CAT, therefore CAT Preparation Tips are Mentioned below:
How to Prepare for CAT – March – May
CAT Preparation Tips: Get your basics cleared. Get conceptual clarity on every topic by solving as many questions as you can regardless of the time being taken. For CAT Preparation this is not the time to be taking full length Mocks and test series because without conceptual clarity, you are bound to mess up and feel demotivated.
Quants : Practice Practice and practice. Solve in depth Quants Questions from your study material practice as much as you can. Quant requires candidates to get into an order of thinking which is developed only through constant practice and developing shortcuts.
VARC : The most haunting section for Engineers and people with a Hindi medium background, in the CAT Preparation this section judges your vocabulary and word power. Develop a 2-hour reading habit everyday and increase your vocabulary as much as possible. Editorials of popular newspapers (The telegraph, Economic times) are recommended. The key here is to make mental checkpoints of different passages that you’re reading In order to answer the questions effectively and efficiently. VA section is based largely on Para Jumbles, Para Order sorting, sentence completion, fill in the blanks in the CAT Exam .
LIDR : LIDR strategy for march to May is similar to that of quants’ which is rigorous practice. The key to acing in CAT LIDR is to have a grasp the concept of the question and prepare a mental process as quickly as possible to be efficient. Another good tip for LIDR is to not use the calculator for every miniscule calculation, instead use it for complex ones.
How to Prepare for CAT June – August
CAT exam preparation Tips : This is the time to be assessing yourself over CAT Preparation Mocks and other test series. Epaulement of exams will help let you know your strong areas and preferred section so you can act accordingly upon which section needs improvement. You would want to get your accuracy really high during this time. Practicing CAT previous Year Question Papers can be a major contributor in this area.
VARC / LIDR : Start solving as many test problems as you can for the CAT Exam. If you have finished a series of your own institution, take up ones that are from other coaching centres.
Quants: Get even more practice from this section. Arun Sharma Quants (LOD -I, LOD -II) are heavily recommended on preparing for CAT
How to Prepare for CAT September – November
CAT Preparation Tip: This is the strategy formation time on which you will decide on how to attempt the CAT paper and what will be your order of solving the paper. Strategies play an important role in impacting your percentile and result. A good common strategy to attempt the paper is solving questions based on difficulty level. You should be able to solve about 20 Questions per section (if difficulty is hard) and 30 questions (if difficulty is easy) in the CAT Exam
Tips preparation tips for a day before the exam
CAT Preparation Preparation: Be calm. Relax and get ample sleep on this day to avoid any anxiety on the exam day. Surround yourself with people who encourage you. Not much preparation can be done on his day so just stay calm and believe in your efforts throughout the year to ace in the CAT Exam.
Tips and Tricks to ace CAT and CAT Preparation Strategy
- Aim to increase your speed and accuracy of solving questions through Mocks and test series to get yourselves an edge in the exam. Increasing your stamina and resilience to sit through a 2 hour long exam can also help in better performance and avoid mental and physical exhaustion
- Assess yourself after solving a Mock paper. Analyse and reflect upon your mistakes and strong and weak areas where you need improvement. This will contribute majorly towards your strategy formation.
- CAT has a sectional Time limit so preparing a sectional strategy is often recommended.
- If you are a working professional , do not quit your job. You may find it very hard in the beginning to balance between your work and CAT preparation and work but you get used to it eventually. A financial cushion is essential for you to re- attempt CAT in case you don’t qualify in the first attempt.
- Make sure whatever preparation material you have is available 24×7 to you so that you can access it conveniently from anywhere and study anytime you want. This includes CAT Previous year question papers.
- Since there is no well-defined syllabus for CAT, focus on getting a wide concept range to attempt CAT .
