Over 1.15 lakh MBA aspirants have registered and are expected to take the exam.
Focusing on MBA Admissions 09, MBAUniverse.com published a series of articles on MAH-CET 09 with advices from CAT toppers and test prep experts. MBAUniverse.com now presents an article by Career Launcher experts Harshal Chandak, faculty at Career Launcher, Mumbai and Tapesh Saxena, at Career Launcher, Mumbai.
How to prepare for MAH – CET 09
By Mr Harshal Chandak, Career Launcher, Mumbai
Strategy, constant practice and patience is all you need to win a battle. Let that battle be with swords or guns or with pen. CET is a battle of might. It is a test of your knowledge and resource management skills. As it is just a day that will decide whether you will be in JBIMS or in Dalmiya. Any great sportsman doesn't play one day and become great. It is the constant practice and efforts that enables him to overcome all odds on the D-day. Likewise if we plan and practice regularly then we would be among few to tell a tale of our success or otherwise we would be among many working over plan B, C, alpha and so on.
The 200 questions of CET are a mix of quantitative ability (30), verbal ability (50), data interpretation (15), critical reasoning (15), visual reasoning (30) and puzzle+reasoning (40) {the values given in bracket are approximate number of questions as you can see the total doesn't add to 200}. There are no sections in CET and hence there is no need to prove your competency in all sections. Idealistic strategy is to crack through the section of your strength and survive in others to clear the final required tally. It is a mind game because here every second counts, as you have just 150 min for 200 questions, i.e. hardly a minute for a question.
One thing I am assuming that, you have fair enough idea about every topic. CET is much practice oriented than knowledge oriented, hence everyday you are supposed to at least practice (approximate number of questions as specified above) every section. Simple rule to be followed while practicing is that no question should take more than one minute to solve. Hence maximum time we can allot to one question is one minute. So if I am solving 10 questions my target time will be 10min. To gauge your speed you should time every question solved. This will help you understand which question you can solve faster and which questions consumes your time. This will take care of your speed factor.
No one can improve if you don't know your mistake. A detailed analysis, after every practice session helps you know your strengths and weakness. This also helps you to keep a tab on your accuracy. Most important thing to remember is that if your accuracy in any section is below 55%, then that means that you don't know that subject well. Also more genuine attempts you do, the greater is the probability of getting a better score.
So if you keep on practicing, better scores are guaranteed. Remember in a game of cricket when you are chasing a high total you are supposed to up your scoring rate in initial overs to reduce the pressure, likewise to reduce your stress you should solve around 90questions in first hour, 70 in the second hour and 30 in the last half an hour. Rest all depends on who can hold his/her nerve on that particular day. All the best for your CET.
How to crack the Logic section – tips and tricks
By Tapesh Saxena, Career Launcher, Mumbai
Logic Section of Maharashtra CET has always been very important not only because the number of questions asked in this section has been very high but also because this section is the only section which a student will definitely feel comfortable in even if he is appearing in such a paper for the first time. This peculiarity of the paper at times is good for those who have not prepared very well as it provides them something to do with in two and half hours. Last year (CET 2008) had more than 100 questions based on logic only. However, the key to success doesn't lie in knowing all of them but in knowing how to solve them effectively.
Logic part of the paper involves various type of questions like coding-decoding, blood relation, direction sense etc. Precisely it is the group of the questions that can be solved only by analyzing the given information. Unlike Math-based, Vocabulary-based or Grammar-based questions these questions do not require any conceptual frame work. In the solving of the questions based on logic following points should be kept in the mind:
1. Is the question based on the answer options?
[E.g. - If MANISH is written as LZMHRG then which of the following is a code for RAMESH?
(a) QZLDRG (b) PZLFRG (c) SZLDRG (d) PZLDRG (e) None of these]
- Look into the answer options carefully and in your first step of the solving try to eleminate as many of them as possible. Like, in the example given above we should see that all the answer options are starting with a different alphabet so just by cracking the code for first alphabet we will be left with only one answer option out of first four and obviously one more i.e. None of these. Further after solving we will come to know that correct anser is option (a). Not all the questions can be solved by using options but making the use of the options changes a normal solving process into an effective one. This way, if not anything else at least solving time can always be reduced.
2. Are the questions following the same set of instructions?
[E.g. - Any caselet where we have to select few things out of a larger set or we have to make six people of a family sitting around a circular table etc.]
- First step will be to shorten the names of the given objects/persons. (Delhi will be written as D, Sita will be written as S and so on)
- Second step will be to to analyze the clues containing the same names together. (All the clues telling something about Delhi should be read together)
- Next would be to link the clues having different names with each other logically.
- Important point is that even in this case sometimes answer options can be useful. (E.g. Suppose in a question A, B, C... J are representing distinct single digit numbers and it is given that A is three more than B. Now one question in the set is "What is the value of A?" and answer options are (a) 0 (b) 1 (c) 2 (d) 3 (e) 4 then logically we can say that A has to be 3 or 4 and then B has to be 0 or 1. This information will definitely be useful while we will be reading the other clues. It again reduces the solving time.
3. Is the question based on a huge volume of data?
[E.g. - Any caselet where a huge table or a diagram is given with some other clues]
- Do not try to solve them unless you have already solved sufficient number of time-saving questions.
If you are not left with any other choice then solve the caselet in which maximum quetions have been asked with equal volume of data.
Use different approximation techniques.
In Maharashtra CET the questions can not be distinguished as difficult or easy but yes they can be distinguished as time-saving or time-consuming. Using the same reason I would like to suggest that instead of applying a speedy solution process and making a lot of errors, we should concentrate on the questions that can be solved with 100 percent accuracy in a comparatively shorter duration. At the end of the day the only thing that matters is Score (i.e number of correct answers) not attempts. More or less it depends on individual's strength that which kind of questions are the time-saving questions for him/her. Mostly everyone finds himself/herself comfortable in solving questions based on logic but a better performer solves more questions in less time with a higher accuracy. So, take a set of 50 new questions everyday and make yourself habitual of solving the set in less than 50 mins with an accuracy of not less than 85%. Rest assured. All the best.
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