The month of June has started and the serious CAT aspirants are on a roll with their preparation. In the path of this preparation they face many hurdles and questions, to which they are looking for a perfect solution. MBAUniverse.com, in its special series AskMBAUniverse.com Live Expert Chat series has provided them the opportunity to ask their questions directly to the CAT experts.
On Saturday, June 4, 2011, Arun Sharma, CAT guru and author of best selling preparation books for CAT 2011participated in the Live Expert Chat and answered to all the queries of the CAT 2011 aspirants, be it on section wise preparation or overall preparation or queries related to the criteria on fetching calls from the top B-schools.
Excerpts from the Live Expert Chat:
Q: Rashikh: Sir, please advise me on how to manage time according to different sections? I am preparing for CAT 2011.
A: Rashikh, you first need to define at what level you are currently in each area - that would define the amount of work you would need to do in order to get to the requisite percentile levels. Thus, for instance, in Quantitative Ability if you are weak in all areas, you would need to solve and learn from around 5000 questions in order to match your skills with the best. Over a 150 day period this means 30 to 35 questions per day. Of course you can apply selective studying by focusing on some of the more important topics to take to the highest skill level - while others you can just solve the basic level of questions. The philosophy is that when you are in a battle, you do not try to hold back your resources - but you give it "Whatever it takes".
Q: Rashikh: Sir any study material or teaching required to crack the CAT exam?
A: Depends entirely on your ability to learn on your own. Study material and resource of course you cannot do without but a lot of people qualify only by practicing tests and learning from them. Teaching - only required if the teacher is good enough to teach you.
Q: Ravish: Dear sir, I think my language is pretty much up to the mark, still I lack that extra spark required to crack the Verbal Ability section in CAT. Kindly give me tips on how I can improve.
A: Dear Ravish, I would advise you to focus on the sources of the errors you make. You need to realize that any error is basically a weakness of your mind's intelligence. In other words it shows a chink in your mental armor. If your English is good, but your scores in Verbal do not reflect the same your focus should be on ironing out these flaws in your mind.
Q: Arjun: Sir, please guide me on the method to solve Quantitative Ability questions. Shall I use formula or solve it by taking value, seeing the given answer or guessing the answer?
A: Solving quantitatively rather than mathematically is always better.
Q: Vikky: Hi sir! I am preparing for CAT 2011. My profile is, Xth – 72 per cent, XIIth – 67 per cent. I am doing B. Tech - 6.8/10 CGPA. Am I eligible for CAT? I also have a year gap during schooling. If I get more than 99 percentile, will IIM A, B, C consider me?
A: Remember the philosophy - If they do not open the door, break it down. The key advice for you is – Two to three year work experience for taking CAT. In the meantime improve your profile and you can make it to IIM Ahmadabad, Bangalore, Calcutta etc. This is not to say that they would not call you on your current profile.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more on AskMBAUniverse.com Live Expert Chats.
