7 day countdown to CAT 2015 has already begun and the aspirants now need to remain more motivated and confident than ever before. To help and guide the prospective CAT 2015 takers on MBAUniverse.com platform, Swapnil Agarwal CAT topper with 99.79 percentile & IIM Ahmedabad student interacted, motivated and guided the CAT 2015 aspirants and suggested the ways & means to crack the exam with high percentile.
Strategy to crack CAT with 99+
MBAUniverse.com: What was your last 1 week strategy to crack CAT with 99+ percentile
Swapnil (CAT topper & IIMA student): Since there were 2 sections in CAT 2014, my strategy was to clear cut-off in both the sections. My quant part was strong. So I practised quantitative a lot, and for verbal, I focused on those topics where I thought I was lacking a bit and those could create a problem for me in the final results. This was the strategy in the last 1 week to CAT exam
Last 1 week prep strategy
MBAUniverse.com: How should CAT 2015 aspirant divide last 1 week preparation schedule for the exam?
Swapnil (CAT topper & IIMA student): Take it point wise -
-- Divide your time between 3 sections
-- Focus on your strong part, don't leave it for the last moment
-- For a relatively weaker topic, try to practice more and focus on your consistent mistakes
-- Try to allot more time to two types of topics: one, which are already strong and you feel confident about those and other, where things you feel are going right but not that strong. Practice them!
1 week to improve percentile in CAT 2015
MBAUniverse.com: How can aspirants scoring a bit low in mocks, can increase their percentile in a week’s time?
Swapnil (CAT topper & IIMA student): First of all, there is no need to panic. Now, schedule your things properly and divide the workload into two parts, strong areas and weaker ones. Focus on your strong areas. Keep solving questions and practicing them. For the areas where you are making constant mistakes, try to find out a pattern; with one week remaining it would be better to focus on those ones, where you think you are able to understand the questions but the problem usually occurs at last step or you have been little inconsistent but can understand the topic properly.
There must be something where you are constantly faltering. Problem can be with speed, accuracy or even you be might be getting complacent after getting higher percentile. There can also be one particular topic giving you pain!
How many attempts suffice in testing room
MBAUniverse.com: What should be the ideal attempts in testing room to score beyond 90+ in CAT 2015?
Swapnil (CAT topper & IIMA student): I solved nearly 85-87 questions out of 100. But I would suggest don't go by this number, as mine was 16th Nov evening slot when paper turned out to be very easy. Typically, people solve 60-70%. But do solve these many accurately and move on to further questions.
Mistakes to avoid in exam
MBAUniverse.com: Please suggest the mistakes which should be avoided during exam?
Swapnil (CAT topper & IIMA student): CAT takers should avoid following mistakes in the testing room-
-- Don't panic.
-- Don't try to solve all the questions, solve most of the questions correctly
-- Don't get stuck on one question for too long, even if you love that topic!
-- Plan your time as soon as the exam begins and keep some buffer for the end.
-- Don't try to think how others are doing or start calculating the final percentile/cut-offs in your mind based on our 'perceived' difficulty of the exam. Such things do happen! You might feel that solving 2/3 paper is enough seeing the difficulty level but that might not turn out to be true at the end.
Tips to solve RC in CAT 2015
MBAUniverse.com: What should be the strategy to solve questions on Reading comprehension?
Swapnil (CAT topper & IIMA student): For solving RC, read the passage once, then try to attempt the questions. Some of the questions will get solved in the first go. Some might be a little confusing. Go for a second read. Sometimes, none of the question is very clear but, all the questions together might make sense. What I mean to say is that if you select probable answers for each questions asked, you'll make some sense out of the questions. So, there might be some RC where questions won't get solved 100% individually, but definitely when you try to relate it to other 2 questions. It usually happens when passage is extremely confusing.
Tips to solve DI questions in CAT 2015
MBAUniverse.com: Please share the strategy to solve questions on Data Interpretation?
Swapnil (CAT topper & IIMA student): Read the question properly-extremely important. Be quick and accurate, try to be very good with numbers, typing on on-screen calculators will consume time so rely only for big calculations. Establish links between different questions and try to see incremental changes, instead of solving from scratch.
Swapnil also advises CAT 2015 aspirants to attempt Non-MCQs without fear. These questions do not carry negative marking penalty. CAT 2015 takers should attempt them with accuracy as there are no answer options to be picked out.
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