Experts believe after building the basics, taking mock tests regularly sharpens test-taking abilities. All MBA coaching institutes offer various types of test as part of their test series in written course material and also hold open CAT like exams on Sundays. As a run up to CAT, MBAUniverse.com spoke to leading experts for their advice to aspirants.
Advocating test-taking, Ms Sujata Khanna, Chairperson and Director of Pune based Career Forum says, "Take a Mock CAT every Sunday, either from your coaching institute or on your own and take it under exam conditions and exam time." She adds, "As you keep taking Mock CATs, your judgments about choice of question types will become refined and your ability to balance score across types and sections will improve."
Mr Gejo Srinivasan, Head MBA Product, IMS Learning Center recommends, "I believe that the emphasis should be on testing because before 3-4 months of CAT, all CAT takers focuses on improving their test score. To excel at the CAT you should be able to perform in the test taking situation and handle the stress that comes with it."
According to New Delhi based Roots Education, “Apart from the other preparation like solving previous years CAT papers, there is a lot that students can draw out from the Mock CATs that you write at your institute as a part of the Test Series."
While institutes offer series of CAT like tests in their course packs, coaching institutes also offer special open CAT tests. Open SimCAT by IMS, All India Mock CAT (AIMCAT) by TIME, All-India Open Mock CAT by Career Launcher are some such initiatives. These tests are generally conducted on Sundays in two modes i.e. whether you can attempt them by going the institutes study centers or online. Students can get their results of these tests on internet.
Several open mock tests are scheduled in next few weeks. Roots Education is conducting All India Real CAT (AIRCAT 2007) on September 30. Career Forum is also conducting its PreCAT 7 on 30 September. To register students can logon to (http://www.careerforum.in/forms/seminarreg.aspx) for Career Forum’s PreCAT and (http://www.rootseducation.com/gurugyaan.html#aircat2007n) for Roots Education’s AIRCAT 2007.
So if you are serious about belling the CAT, we know what you will be doing this Sunday – taking a mock-cat!
