Tonight and tomorrow are left to appear in CAT 2014. This is the time to maintain your cool, remain relaxed, utilize the night to revise whatever you have studied and learned but not begin anything new.
MBAUniverse.com brings forth the last minute tips shared by Prof. S K Agarwal, author and expert in Verbal Ability and mentor on CAT preparation for the benefit of CAT 2014 aspirants how they could score high in the modified new exam pattern. With an insight and focus on different type of questions, Prof S K Agarwal shares below important tips on how to arrive at a high percentile in CAT and be a winner. We suggest you to thoroughly go through the other published articles on MBAUniverse.com site in regard to CAT 2014 on types and tricks to solve CAT questions.
These published articles will not only be of great help to the aspirants on Testing room strategy while navigating through the questions but also will serve as the last minute guidelines on various points which you may not recall at present.
IIMS have totally changed the CAT 2014 test paper and now instead of 30 questions aspirants are going to face 50 questions in each of the 2 sections namely Quant & DI and Verbal Ability & LR on a reduced time allotted per question. The practice test reveals that questions on number of topics may go missing while many questions on other topics that have not made their presence in last few years may surface again in actual CAT 2014 exam.
Despite the fluctuation in number of test takers, competition in CAT remains tough. Those who study too much during the last few days may not sometimes get a high percentile than the aspirants who work steadily on certain tips and tricks along with the meticulous study pattern. The time for concept building is over and the time for action has begun.
Everyone is anxious to find where he or she stands in CAT and this you must have judged through the analysis of various Mocks that you have already attempted. If one is low on percentile, the thought how to improve spontaneously comes to mind as everyone wants to be a winner in CAT. You may not need any more mocks now as time is short, just understand the next 2 days strategy for your CAT 2014 which is going to be held on November 16, 2014 in 2 sessions.
Take a few hours to revisit today: Nothing new please!
It is recommended that you should revisit the topics that you have strongly prepared. But remember don’t fall into the trap of beginning anything new as it may bring more confusion than clarity. Refresh whatever you have learnt and find out whether it synchronizes with the newly announced CAT 2014 exam pattern.
Since more changes and modifications have been brought to Verbal Ability section apart from increase in number of questions, the suggestion is to assess your strengths segmentwise in this section. For example, while revisiting the preparation in Verbal Ability section segmentalise it in different parts like- Questions on Error correction, Questions on paragraphs of various types, Questions on Reading Comprehension, Questions on Logical Reasoning like Team Formation, Blood Relations, Seating Arrangements, Binary Logic and so on. While the CAT 2014 practice test shows there are no questions on Vocabulary usage, CAT hold the reputation of throwing more surprises in its exam. So if you have prepared well on Vocabulary also, don’t think it will be a waste. On the contrary you will get an edge if you have good vocabulary especially in Reading comprehension, FIJ questions, questions on summary of paragraphs and jumbled paragraphs. Besides a good vocabulary will help you in case you get questions on usage of vocabulary words.
Your preparation and performance level in some of the above areas may or may not be very good. You must find out what your strong holds are and which are the areas that will have more questions as they will give you more answer opportunities than the ones, where you find lesser number of questions. For example- if you have better skill to solve questions on Error correction and not such a good understanding on jumbled paragraphs, there is no need to go into the intricacies of how to solve these confusing problems. It will be better to practice a little on your strong areas. No time is left to study, understand and practice the unknown or confusing topics however important they may be. So do not cram your head in solving the jumbled paragraphs if you are not comfortable with them but if you have strong fundamentals and enjoy solving jumbled paragraphs, you can work on both.
Reading comprehension is another area where aspirants tend to lose track. It will have more than 15 questions based on passages. If you can crack even 8-9 questions out of 15, you stand a very good chance to get through. One passage is followed by at least, 3-4 questions; you may solve it in 10-12 minutes as the passages are not very long. Three questions in ten minutes is not a big deal that too, when their answers directly or indirectly, are lying in the passage.
Again, Logical Reasoning in Verbal Ability will have 15-16 questions. They are based on natural human instincts, displaying logic. Go for those ones, where you are little more comfortable, for example some aspirants are good at questions on Team Formation, seating arrangements while other are skilled enough to understand blood relations, binary logic, arguments. It does not require as much calculation as Quant and DI but with a little systematic and to the point approach, may raise your percentile substantially. If you can practice 5-6 types of questions in this area and can solve 7-8 problems in the examination, you are the winner.
It is better to leave the weak areas and work more on strong areas. If you are able to crack 22-24 in Verbal and 8-9 questions in Logical Reasoning, you may get a high percentile and can expect a call from very good B-school
Maximise attempts: Key to improve score
CAT 2014 will have 100 questions to be solved in 170 minutes. No one may be going to solve all of them nor they may do it accurately in the given time frame. You need to focus on maximising your attempts with accuracy.
If you are determined to get your desired B-school, attempt the questions with a clear methodology. The first attempt is supposed to crack those questions which are from your strongest domain of understanding. First choose the preferred section and then the preferred question type.
Out of 50 questions in a section you may be able to solve 10-12 of them in your first attempt. Second attempt with more thoughtful understanding may get you another bunch of 7-8 questions. The third attempt has to be with a little more caution since the remaining questions are the toughest ones for you and you may lose your accuracy on them. So move cautiously on each of the questions- you may crack 5-6 more. But you need a few more questions to solve with accuracy. The strategy is that in three attempts you have already got a fair idea of understanding of these unattempted questions, catch those questions which appear comparatively friendly to you and attempt them with an accuracy level of not less than 90 percent. This will enable you to solve another 6-7 questions. By now, you must have attempted and solved around 28-32 questions. If you have still time, go for more without any preoccupation as this number in one section is good enough to get you a call.
Strategy to solve RC based questions
16 questions on RC are pretty good percentile booster and could play an important role to crack CAT 2014. The 16 RC questions out of 34 questions on Verbal Ability in second section with 50 questions constitute roughly 32% share in the entire section and about 50% of the Verbal Ability questions which will be a major part to push the percentile up in CAT 2014 exam.
Reading Comprehension passages although consume more time in reading, understanding their twisted, figurative and phrasal type of language and then choosing the correct answer option out of the closely placed answer options, it is also true that one passage is followed by multiple questions and if you can decode one RC passage in 10-12 minutes, it may not be considered a loss of time for you as you will be able to answer 3-4 questions in one go after reading one RC passage.
Try to give 2 readings to RC passage. In the first attempt read the passage fairly quickly to get the general idea, it will take your 2-3 minutes. Read again a little slowly so as to understand the details, it will again consume 4-5 minutes. By now you would have understood well the passage.
In the testing room you will be provided with the scratch sheet and the pen to do rough work and calculation. Make use of the scratch sheet provided in the examination hall and write down the keys words, sentences indicating the main idea in each of the paragraph of the passage. Important key words in each sentence can also be jotted down. By the time the passage is over, you will not only have the good understanding of the passage but also will be fairly equipped to answer almost all the questions based on the RC passage.
IIMs’ CAT 2014: Not looking for a Professor
CAT 2014 is not searching for a professor in the area of Quant or English. The need therefore is to have intelligent approach to the examination. They have stopped asking conventional type of questions and CAT 2014 will have further modified questions. Length of the passages has been shortened. Now CAT 2014 requires to test your skill in application of language. Be on your own, and avoid being a copy-cat. You are genius and that’s the reason you are going to take CAT. So be your natural self and attempt the examination. When you are high on morale, you stand greater chance to be a winner.
Go through the practice test: know the navigation tools
Please remember there will not be any pre exam tutorial in the CAT 2014 testing room before the actual test. It is suggested to go through it and practice it well before going to take actual CAT 2014 exam. There are some changes in navigation tools also, so be familiar with them to avoid any last minute confusion in the test.
Candidates should practice the available Mock test on CAT 2014 site. The practice test for CAT 2014 is well composed and is a full length test with 100 questions with full time limit of 170 minutes. In earlier years CAT Practice Tests used to contain only a few sample questions which didn’t reflect much about the actual test. CAT 2014 mock test, in fact was much awaited due to many proposed changes in the exam pattern.
Please remember CAT is one of the most important entrance examinations to the best B-schools in India. It enjoys the reputation of moving ahead of time. What the mentors in various preparation centres do anticipate seldom happens in CAT and it throws unanticipated surprises. So be prepared with the strong level of preparation, tips and tricks to solve more questions in less time.
Related Links
CAT 2014 New Exam Pattern: Live on Oct 28, 2014; familiarize with new pattern and questions
CAT 2014: Know the section wise expected number & type of questions while practice test awaited
CAT 2014 Test Day Guide out; reveals important dos and donts for the exam day
CAT 2014: Aspirants waiting for practice test to best utilize the Diwali Holidays
CAT 2014: 5 big changes revealed on Test day Video; listen and read carefully
CAT 2014 Test day video launched; Examinees to report 2 hours before the test at Exam centre
CAT 2014 Admit Card: All the details available; Check carefully to confirm your candidature
CAT 2014 Admit Card is out: Download now and take the print
Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for more tips on CAT 2014
