CAT 2014 paper solving technique: segregate illative and inferential questions for smooth en handling

Updated on November 8, 2014

The success mantra to achieve the high sectional as well as high over percentile in CAT 2014 lies in your strategy to choose the right question to avoid any negative marking

Test taker should go through the questions and pick the easy questions first as they will be distributed on random basis through the section

None of the CAT toppers have gone berserk while handling their CAT questions in the testing room. They have a clear plan and the strategy to crack CAT in their mind. The strategy is open and nothing requires to be concealed. CAT 2014 has further enhanced the opportunity to carry forward this strategy to ace the exam while choosing the right type of questions out of more questions than earlier.

The success mantra to achieve the high sectional as well as high over percentile in CAT 2014 lies in your strategy to choose the right question to avoid any negative marking and thereby saving your score from going down.

There will be 100 questions in CAT 2014 instead of 60 as used to appear in earlier CAT years. It implies that CAT 2014 will offer an opportunity of more choices among the questions. A candidate used to solve approximately 40-46 questions earlier to score a high percentile. On the same pattern if you attempt accurately around 60-70 questions in CAT 2014 new exam pattern, you can score the same high percentile. The opportunity however in CAT 2014 is that you will have more questions to choose from. It will also be easier to choose the question of your choice while maximizing the attempts in CAT 2014.

Choose the preferred section first

Prof S K Agarwal Verbal Ability expert on CAT preparation suggests that aspirants should choose the section that they wish to attempt first. Test taker should go through the questions and pick the easy questions first as they will be distributed on random basis through the section. Use the navigation tools and select the most preferred questions of your strong areas. You may leave the other questions with ‘Mark & review’ for next attempt. This will ensure that you don't leave any easy question in your strong area.

Next step: Go to the other section

Prof S k Agarwal expert and mentor on CAT preparation shares that you have to score high sectional percentile along with high overall percentile. Else it will be difficult for you to get shortlisted by IIMs or other top B schools, if you score high in one section but low in other section, despite scoring a high overall percentile. If you get stuck and spend more time on one section, you wouldn’t be left with much time for another section. The strategy should be to equally divide the time for both the sections in your initial attempts and solve as many questions from both the sections as possible.

Accordingly, move with the similar strategy and choose the easier questions first, go on marking their answers. You may also choose the navigation tool that gives the facility “You have answered the question, but marked it for review”. Rest of the questions which you wish to attempt in next attempts can be only ‘marked for review’. You may not finalize your answer to such questions till you properly attempt them.

No guesses please!

You need to solve more questions in less time. Improvement in devising the strategy to solve more questions within the allotted time should be the focus of testing room strategy in CAT 2014. Prof S K Agarwal advises not to be driven by the temptation to attempt a question which you find difficult but still want to struggle to solve it. This will only result in guess work as you will waste your time and losing your marks due to the negative marking. Not only this you will invite tension and panic on account of time constraints later. If you leave it outright and mark it for review, you may come back to it if time permits and after attempting other questions of your choice in CAT 2014 new exam pattern.

Speed and accuracy in selecting the question

Speed and accuracy are the bye products of if you are successful in your attempt to select the right kind of question. You may get a high percentile in CAT 2014 if you devise the strategy to make more attempts in the exam instead of trying to struggle with more time consuming questions.

Avoid weak areas

It’s quite unlikely that out of 100 questions you will not get more options in comparison to earlier CAT sessions. CAT aspirants could score a very high percentile to the tune of 95+ when they solved 30-40 questions out of 60. On the same pattern if you are able to crack 60-70 out of 100 questions, a situation which is more likely to happen in CAT 2014, you may get a high sectional as well as overall percentile.

According to Prof S K Agarwal Expert and CAT trainer the advisable approach is to maximise your attempts by solving maximum number of questions from both the sections. This facility is unrestricted in CAT 2014 since sectional time constraints have been removed. It is better to focus more on right kind of questions instead of more number of questions which may attract penalty of 1/3 negative marking.

‘You need to practice more to improve speed’ says CAT preparation expert, Prof S K Agarwal. The challenge to choose the right question with a speedy reading habit solely depends upon the ability of the aspirants. Since no CAT aspirant goes to solve all the questions in both the sections, it’s better to improve the speed within the allotted time by practicing more and more.