How you can excel your preparations by taking more and more mock tests
Continuing our series of articles preparing serious MBA aspirants for CAT entrance 2009, this third article focuses on Mock-tests. CAT entrance toppers unequivocally told MBAUniverse.com that making the best use of this tool may well be the differentiator between joining a top Business school or not. Says Anurag Goyal (99.56 percentile) “Never skip mocks. They are the most important ingredient in preparations.” The toppers of CAT entrance 2008 unveiled the secret formula for cracking the hard nut named CAT entrance and making it to the doorstep to the most coveted MBA institutes in India to MBAUniverse.com.
While taking the mock tests, CAT entrance toppers say that MBA aspirants should focus on a few critical aspects like: identifying problem areas, analysis of mistakes and rectifying them, developing test strategy, time management and the frequency of taking tests. MBAUniverse.com gives a detailed account on the same.
Identify your problem areas:
While learning from the study material, you just acquire basic knowledge. But while applying them, you get to understand where your problems lie. Your strong and weak areas get better identified during the mock tests. Sahil Bansal (99.91 percentile) said, “Test series are an ideal way to gauge one’s preparation level and find out the problem areas.”
Analyse the tests well:
It is of no use to take a mock test and not analysing it. Until and unless you evaluate and analyse it, you will never find out what your mistakes are and what you need to correct. According to Sayali Kale (99.91 percentile), “Solve different type of questions and every time they get a question wrong carefully note down the correct solution.” Glen D’Silva (99.83), on a similar note said, “Try and analyse the mock tests the reason you are unable to score in your weaker section and improve on that.” It is more important to remember the correct measure and not repeating the same mistake in the next test. Sitaram Agarwal (99.53 percentile) said, “One can effectively learn from mistakes made in these tests, and make sure they are not repeated on the final day.”
Develop your test strategy:
Strategy refers to the special tactics which you apply while taking the test. It involves the method by which you solve a question. Since CAT entrance is all about aptitude. It is not just about writing the correct answer but also the means you apply for solving it. A question can be solved in various ways and whoever solves it in the easiest and fastest way is believed to have the right aptitude. In the sections like Logical Reasoning, Data Interpretation and Quantitative Analysis, using strategies help a lot. These strategies cannot be worked out overnight. They have to be decided, practiced and excelled over time through mock tests. “One should always look at the answers provided in the answer sheet even if the question was very simple. One may always find an easier and less time consuming solution,” said Vipul Goyal (99.87 percentile). After coming up with various strategies, the aspirant must stick to the most suitable one. Sahil Bansal said, “Try different strategies across different mocks to come up with the one that suits you.”
Manage your time:
As discussed earlier, effective time management is the key to success. Allocate time to the sections in such a way that you can finish your paper not only within time but have some spare time also. Vipul Goyal said, “Some buffer time should be kept after fixing time for all the sections so that the section where one is not sure of clearing the cut off or where one thinks can score heavily should be taken up in this buffer time.” Among the three different sections, you have to select answering the one first which you feel will set the right pace for the rest of the test. You can either start with the section that you are most comfortable with and gradually move to tougher sections.
In this context Vipul Goyal said, “One can try different combinations in mocks so as to get an idea of how much time one needs to spend in each section.” Vipul Goyal also shared his section-wise allocating time strategy, “I followed a strategy of 40 minutes for each section and the remaining 30mins for sections where I thought I could expand my score or built up in sections where I was not comfortable with my attempts.” In this regard, Sayali Kale said, “I would advice the aspirants to time themselves with each question. Have certain areas of strength so that you know which questions to tackle first.”
Take more and more mock tests:
The frequency of taking the mock tests has to be decided by you, but the more number of tests you take, the more perfect your preparations become. When the final CAT entrance starts approaching, you should yourself decide whether or not to increase the frequency of the mocks depending upon your comfort level. Prashant Kumar (97.67 percentile) said, “Give tests once every two weeks. Later you start working on your strength areas and increase the tests.” Pawan Jain suggested writing one mock test per week.
Amit Tandon (99.49 percentile) advices the aspirants to first prepare a plan for themselves. He said, “If I had to prepare a plan for myself, it would be something like this: In the months of July, August and September, I would have taken two mocks per week with thorough analysis. In October, I would have increased the frequency of mocks. But for the final month, just relax and take one mock test per week so as to maintain the momentum till the D-day!”
While explaining the importance of the mock tests, Alay Mehta (99.99 percentile) said, “Write the standardised mock tests. You can skip classes if you wish to, but don’t do that with mocks.” Though it’s not possible to score high marks in mock tests, especially in the initial ones, you should never stop taking them. With the number of mocks increasing, the performance will definitely improve. Anurag Goyal said, “You are bound to have bad mocks, but just don't give up. Solve a thousand questions on the topic and next time you take a mock, you'll inadvertently search out the questions from those first and solve them.”
Next: Road to CAT 2009 (Concluding Part 4) – Getting ready for the actual exam, CAT 2009
