While attempting CAT 2016, How it was difficult to manage individually timed sections in CAT, I came to know only after analyzing my big mistakes on losing my cool right after the 1st section which further aggravated in mismanagement of sectional time allotted to solve questions in CAT last year.
“The opportunity is not lost forever and I am going to crack CAT 2016 with high and balanced sectional percentile. I will remain committed not to repeat the mistakes that I made in last year CAT” says Sudhanshu who could not make it to IIMs due to mismanagement of testing room strategy and losing his cool during the 3 hours long test.
In fact it is not only 3 hours but additional 2 hours also which the aspirant has to put in while appearing in CAT and any deviation from focused attention can damage the chances to get shortlisted by IIMs – old or new. This is exactly what happened with Sudhanshu as he puts ‘The 2 more hours required before the beginning of CAT exam to report at the centre added to my woes. I could not find the proper place to keep the small articles which I carried to the test centre and added to my problem.”
Couldn’t utilize 10 additional minutes
My peers told me that the number of questions were same in 2014 CAT exam and the total time allotted was 170 minutes. This year it was 180 minutes. I was happy that additional 10 minutes to attempt CAT exam without any addition of questions might prove to be a bonanza.
Although, CAT was divided into 3 sections instead of earlier 2 but the overall time limit was increased without any increase in number of questions. Moreover 28% questions were in Non-MCQ format and were without any penalty of negative marking for wrong answer. I could have done much better but it is no good to cry over the spilt milk and now I intend to utilize every fraction of a minute without losing my cool.
Lost my cool after 1st section
The first section in CAT was VARC with 34 questions out of which 24 were on Reading Comprehension and only 10 were on Verbal Ability which included only 3 topics - Jumbled paragraphs; sentence completion and para summary. There was nothing on vocabulary, grammar, sentence correction among others. Incidentally all the 10 questions on Verbal Ability were of Non-MCQ type. I had to solve them and had to type the answer in the given space on computer screen.
I however, chose to begin with RC as I found more scope to choose the correct answer option in MCQs. This consumed my lot of time out of 60 minutes and even after the lapse of 30 minutes I was not able to go beyond 2 RC passages and 3-4 questions. I started getting restless which in turn adversely affected my reading speed and accuracy to understand the question. I began hitting the wrong answer options.
To avoid the situation, I switched to Non-MCQs, began to solve them. By the time I could manage 2-3 questions, 60 minutes were over. Despite looking at the timer ticking, I felt helpless.
After the very first section, I began losing my patience which was much need for next section.
2nd section: I drew flak
The 2nd section on Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning (DILR) needed more concentration, correct reading of problem set and a slightest misunderstanding could render the entire process useless, this I knew. The section had 32 questions evenly divided between DI and LR. Besides, the 8 non-MCQs were also equally divided between DI and LR.
I began with LR so that I could retain my concentration as DI needed reading of data trends where I planned to come after 20 minutes. But my 20 minutes were spent on the first problem set on LR and I could answer only 2 questions which I think I correctly responded. I hurriedly switched to DI part, went through the otherwise easier looking problem set. After going through the problem, I found it a little more tricky than I expected and instead of solving it fast, as the time was flying I clicked on another problem and started going through it. After reading it, I looked at the timer which showed only 5 minutes remaining. I got panicky as I thought that this entire section will give me a slip, if I didn’t crack a few more questions. I tried to pick some easier question that followed the DI set, but ended up answering only 2 and am not aware whether I cracked them right.
In fact I should have concentrated on the earlier DI problem where I could have answered more questions and probably with higher accuracy. But losing my cool was one of the key factors that affected my exam room strategy for time management.
When the result was out, I found I scored good in VARC, better in Quant but miserably low in DILR where I practiced a lot but lost.
The 3rd section: Restored cool
Quant as 3rd section could restore my cool but the damage was already done. However, I tried to cling on whatever was left. Out of 34 total questions there were 10 Non-MCQs. I attempted them first and out of 10 I cracked 8 correct. I attempted MCQs fairly well also, but due to negative marking lost a good percentile. Still I could score very good score in Quant but did bad in VARC and worse in DILR.
The 3 mistakes I must not repeat in CAT 2016
After analysing my mistakes in CAT last year, I have identified 3 key mistakes that I must not repeat in CAT 2016
-- Will remain time focused in each section – whether there is sectional time constraint or no sectional time limit exists in CAT 2016
-- Will keep my cool throughout with the practiced strategy to sit longer as required in CAT 2016. So far long sitting continuously for more than 3 hours would cause some unrest to me.
-- Will not take any question as a challenge. Will move from easier to difficult part in the section.
Expert comment
CAT 2016 preparation expert Prof S K Agarwal suggests the aspirants not to be swayed by any sudden impulse and follow a predetermined strategy which you have been devising during your preparation journey.
The key points which a CAT 2016 aspirant should remember while preparing and going to take the exam are-
-- You can no longer depend upon DI part in Quant and LR part in Verbal as they form another section now. So more preparation and practice on core topics on Quant and Verbal is needed.
-- Similar situation exists for those who used to depend on DI&LR as percentile booster for each of the 2 sections as the additional section will need high score separately now.
-- There will be the facility of onscreen calculator that will be available throughout the exam in CAT 2016. It can be used to solve good number of questions with accuracy. The time available after attempting calculation intensive questions can be utilized to review the answers.
-- It will be better to improve your speed while keeping the time deadlines for the question topics in those sections where you feel you are still weak.
-- Instead of 2 now the high balanced percentile is to be scored in 3 sections. Earlier, separate DILR scores were not required but you need to score a minimum of 80-85 percentile in this section in CAT 2016 else you will not be shortlisted.
There are still 100 days to CAT 2016, so there is sufficient time to build your concepts, fundamentals and go for frequent revision of basics. Learn the time management skill as it will help in your preparation and practice sessions how to crack CAT 2016.
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