How much time one need to devote for VA on daily or weekly basis? How do I plan my Verbal Ability preparation for CAT beginning now? What are the most difficult areas in Logical Reasoning?
These are some of the questions that MBA Aspirants ask to MBAUniverse.com as they seriously take plunge into their CAT journey which can lead them to dream IIMs and other top B-schools like FMS, JBIMS, SPJIMR, IMT etc.
At this stage of your CAT preparation when CAT 2013 is just 120 days away, MBAUniverse.com brings you guidance through expert live chat for your CAT preparation strategy and related CAT preparation queries. In the latest weekly Live Expert Chat, Mr S K Agarwal is a seasoned CAT trainer with over 25 years of experience in guiding MBA Aspirants, & author of many CAT books shared success tips with the CAT Aspirants. He also guides Verbal Ability Section to CAT Aspirants through MBAUniverse.com online coaching classes.
In the first Live Chat session on May 24, Mr Abhishek Gupta, National Product Head, MBA Test-Prep, Career Launcher India had guided CAT Aspirants on their CAT preparation related queries. The second Live Chat on May 31 hosted Mr Sandeep Manudhane, Founder Chairman, PT Education to answer queries from CAT Aspirants. In another Live Caht Mr Sandeep Manudhane, Founder Chairman, PT Education guided MBA Aspirants on their preparation queries and shared success tips for CAT.
This article brings you some questions asked by MBA Aspirants and answer shared by Mr S K Agarwal during the Live Chat session on June 7, 2013.
Anurag Raj: What is question distribution in verbal section? What were the important topics in last year CAT?
Mr S K Agarwal: Verbal Ability in CAT 2012 had – 2 questions on error corrections, 4 questions on Vocabulary usage, 4 questions on jumbled paragraphs (including one surprise element –picking out the out of context sentence from a jumbled paragraph), 10 questions on Reading comprehension passages (3 passages were there). This distribution could vary from one question added or deleted from/to a particular part but more or less this composition continues. It is evident here that RC is the most important part.
Rohit: How much time one need to devote for CAT on daily basis? what should be the preparation plan for VA section in CAT? Which are some of the most important topics in VA section?
Mr S K Agarwal: If you can devote 5-6 hours a day for four months, it will give you a good confidence level. Remember that all the topics are important and interlinked to one another. Divide your preparation for the VA section broadly in four parts 1. Error correction module; 2. Vocabulary contextual usage module; 3. Jumbled paragraphs; & 4. Reading Comprehension. The reasoning comprehension (RC) part however is most important as it commands 45-50 percent of Verbal Ability. Go for versatile reading - books, newspapers, periodicals- more practice on application part like RC, parajumbles etc. Attempt as many mocks as possible, assess your weaknesses and hit the CAT with yet more vigour.
Ragini: What is the best way to conquer vocabulary? How do I work on Analogies?
Mr S K Agarwal: CAT no longer frames questions asking synonyms and antonyms of the words. Now the questions are based on contextual usage of different Vocabulary words. Understand the correct usage and usage restrictions must also be duly taken care of, when trying out synonyms given in dictionaries and thesauruses.
The synonyms may have roughly the similar meaning as the word you originally looked up but the context in which they can be correctly used may be quite different. Go for such authors who give you rich but clear vocabularies like Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Burgess, James Thurbar, George Bernard Shaw, Graham Greene and so on. Words once left you flummoxed will soon become familiar friends.
To get expertise in Analogy – more practice is the key to success. More you practice, the better will be your expertise. Gradually you will develop your own skill sets to solve them.
Fiza: What should be the optimum time for solving RC questions?
Mr S K Agarwal: One passage in RC is followed by 3-4 questions, going by the available time you may spend 10-12 minutes on one RC passage including answering the questions. More than that might call for skipping more questions. If you find any question difficult you may come to it later. In my view the accuracy percentage has to be 95% Minimum.
Virendra: Sir, I find it difficult to solve para-jumbles & para-completion. How to overcome? Please guide.
Mr S K Agarwal: Mark the idea and tone of the sentences. This will enable you to identify the opening and closing sentence making the task easier. You may opt for elimination method. Search for connectors to sentences e.g. conjunctions, personal (He/she/it/they/their etc), relative (Who, whose, that, which etc.), Demonstrative (These, those, this, that etc.) pronouns as they indicate that they must have been used in place of some noun-proper/common etc. So find the link between the sentences. A few paragraphs have time factors in it, indicating that the events mentioned for the earlier time should come first and could help you to put them in chronological order
Reema Gaur: I am from engineering background. Please suggest me some good reading stuff which can be helpful to get a better score. My last year score in VA was 92 percentile?
Mr S K Agarwal: Good reading stuff has already been suggested in my earlier replies. Now I am giving you section wise suggested reading stuff - For improvement of fundamentals – 1. English Grammar & Composition by Wren & Martin; 2. Practical English Grammar-by Thomson & Martinet; 3. Practical English Grammar Exercises by Thomson & Martinet ( Vol.1 & 2); 4. A Practical English grammar structure Drills (1 & 2); 5. Living English Structure; 6. The Oxford English Grammar (Oxford University Press);
Vocabulary Usage – 1. Word power made easy-Lewis Norman; 2. MBAUniverse.com – on line- daily word power; 3. MBA Universe.com – on line dictionary; 4. On-line word power games-readers Digest 5. Regular reading of Newspapers and periodicals to search out the difficult words;
Jumbled paragraphs and RC – 1. Past CAT/XAT papers; 2. Reading newspapers and periodicals - editorials and articles on different topics; 3. CAT Reading study material on MBA Universe site; 4. Good books available in market- You can opt for such authors who give you rich but clear vocabularies like Evelyn Waugh, Anthony Burgess, James Thurbar, George Bernard Shaw, Graham Greene and so on.
Kumar Kohli: what is the good WPM (Word per minute) for solving RC rapidly and with accuracy?
Mr S K Agarwal: As much as 200 WPM should be developed to go for RC to solve questions within time.
Basant Maheshwari: I started my preparation two months back. How do I judge my preparation level?
Mr S K Agarwal: Good. You started at the appropriate time. Out of 30 questions in each section in CAT, you should solve 22-24 in each (without any penalty). This can fetch you a very good percentile say above 95. In my view you should go with open mind without limiting yourself to the number of questions you would like to attempt. In mocks you give your optimum. If you are able to do 55 questions in mock, you may expect doing 50 questions in your CAT.
MBA Aspirants seeking guidance and advice from renowned CAT Experts can login toMBAUniverse.com Chat page and post their query to the expert who shall revert on real time basis and guide them with their CAT insights. The Aspirants can also post their pre-chat queries on [email protected] to seek information and guidance on preparation for CAT 2013.
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more CAT Prep features and Expert tips from Live Chat sessions.
