Mantras for the remaining CAT 2011 takers for the last week

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MBAUniverse.com News Desk |
March 21, 2014
This article of MBAUniverse.com is meant for those who are going to take the CAT 2011 in the remaining six days

This article of MBAUniverse.com is meant for those who are going to take the CAT 2011 in the remaining six days.
Don’t take any mock test now: If your test is tomorrow, then do not take any mock test today. The last day is not meant for testing and analyzing. If you have still few days to go for the test then you can take a couple of mock tests. “You could take your last mock test two days before the exam,” says Arun Sharma, CAT expert and author. But if you still have about five to six days for the test, you can still take a couple of mock tests in the remaining days. It will help you build up the momentum.

Revisit the treaded path: It is time to go through the known formula, methods of solving the questions, vocabulary etc. again.
Don’t go for any new lesson now: If you are following the analysis of the previous slots of CAT, and seen that there are several areas from which the questions have been asked but your preparation did not include those areas and those are your weak areas, then do not worry about it and let it go.
What you can expect: Based on the first 13 days, you can expect a moderate to tough set of questions. Gautam Puri, Vice Chairman, Career Launcher gives a summary of the exam that has been held so far. “The paper is of moderate to tough difficulty level. The exam is on the expected pattern. The questions are distributed amongst easy, moderate and tough questions. You have to be careful about selecting the questions so that you can choose the easy questions over the tough ones. The QA & DI questions are calculation intensive. An attempt of around 45 questions in total and 20 to 22 in each of the sections can fetch you 95 percentile.”

Always be ready for surprises but be ready to accept that without panicking. Even if your friend who took CAT 2011 in earlier slot got easy questions and attempted more than 40 of them and if you get a difficult set of questions and attempt lesser, it would certainly make a balance. Remember, no one would be in a disadvantageous position as far as difficulty level of the questions is concerned. But the silver lining is, the exam pattern has been stabilized and there are much lesser chances of it to undergo any major change.

Choosing the question: You should be extra cautious while choosing your questions. Make sure that you choose the right ones otherwise you will have to face the penalty in form of negative marking. At first, skim through all the questions and select amongst them.
Hence you can decide your strategy on the basis of this. For example, if in the first section your weak area is QA, then you can certainly attempt lesser questions from that area and try to gather the requisite cut off by attempting maximum questions from the Data Interpretation area.

Don’t go by the rumors: By now you might have heard several feedbacks from your friends, in your MBA coaching institute or blogs and websites about test centers facing glitches, error in the question. But the lesson for you is to don’t pay heed to them and rather focus on your preparation.
Stay as cool as possible: The most important thing is to maintain your composure on the last day. A day before the exam, you should not stress yourself. You can go for a good movie, spend time with friends and family. Visit your test center and make an idea of how much time it can take. Eat light and healthy meal. And before calling it a day go through the formulae and word list once. And most importantly, arrange the important documents that you need to carry in the test center, which are CAT 2011 Voucher, CAT Admit Card, Photo Identity Card and SC/ST Certificate if applicable. You should also check the CAT website, www.catiim.in for any important announcement.

Before writing the exam you should not let your mind divert. Maintain concentration and focus. Last but not the least, always remember that CAT is not the end of life.