In CAT 2016 high overall percentile will not come to my rescue, if I repeat the same sectional score mismanagement as I did in last year CAT. I am one of those 1814 candidates who scored 99 percentile but many of them were not shortlisted by any IIM. On the contrary there were candidates who scored lower percentile of 93 or 95 but were shortlisted for PI round by many IIMs.
The 3rd newly created section on DILR could have been attempted by me with better practice and time management instead of mismanaging it. As a result, I could not score the minimum qualifying percentile in one section despite scoring 99 percentile overall. My line of preparation for CAT 2016 now aims to score high sectional balanced percentile irrespective of the fact whether CAT 2016 has 3 or even more sections.
This is the shocking but true story of M. Suresh (name changed to protect the identity of the candidate) who despite scoring a high percentile of 99.2 in CAT was not able to get shortlisted by any IIM. Suresh was happy on scoring such a high percentile but was then quite upset with the sectional percentile which deprived him of getting call for final admission round from IIMs.
MBAUniverse.com presents the first person account right from Suresh detailing what went wrong in last year CAT and the steps he is taking now not to repeat the same mistake of sectional mismanagement in CAT 2016.
I am M. Suresh. I am considered to possess a very pleasant sporting tall and smart personality. I belong to a middle class family and hail from a small town of TamilNadu but now living in Delhi for past many years after my father retired from semi-government job. I have a consistently good academic record to my credit. I am an Engineering graduate from a good institute. I have a work experience of 1 year with an IT company.
It has been my cherished dream to pursue MBA from IIM A,B,C,L,K,I,S or from SPJIMR, MDI, NITIE, FMS, DMS-IIT Delhi. The gateway to get admission in any of them is to get through CAT with high percentile. Knowing that high score in CAT could offer admission opportunity to me in IIMs, I prepared hard.
Quit my job but lagged behind in test room
I quit my job to prepare for CAT. Following the past CAT pattern I prepared well with variety of practice questions. I devised number of tricks and short cuts on Quant, VARC and devoted time to practice on DILR questions. Probably I did not take the 3rd newly introduced section as seriously as I should have taken.
I also never knew that IIM Ahmedabad would reintroduce the sectional time limit which was removed in 2014. Besides, IIM Ahmedabad increased the number of sections from 2 to 3. As a result the compensatory effect from questions on Quant and Verbal Ability was missing in CAT exam.
Another issue was the introduction of Non-MCQs which I found quite tricky and probably were one of the factors in percentile ranking at high scores.
Couldn’t manage sectional time limit
3 sections in CAT had to be attempted in 1 hour each. All the sections had at least 8 to 10 non-MCQs along with MCQs. Beginning with first section, which had 70% questions on RC passages, I was almost drained out by the time clock automatically switched me to next section of DILR with 32 questions.
Reading and understanding of the DILR question sets was itself a challenge. I looked for something that I could solve more quickly in either part i.e. Data Interpretation or Logical Reasoning. But the given to its reputation, CAT had all the questions that needed ample time to solve. I tried to go to Non-MCQs as they had no penalty for wrong answers and began solving them. But it appears I spent more time on them than required and did not get them correct.
By the time I tried to come back to MCQs, I found clock ticking fast with only a few minutes left to complete the second section. In fact I was nowhere at that time and simply prayed to award me with more time or remove the sectional time constraint. But nothing of the sort happened, and CAT pushed me to last section on Quant. I did not expect even a marginal score in second section.
There was no overshadowing the Data Interpretation questions by Quantitative Aptitude questions nor could my best preparation on Verbal Ability cover the Logical Reasoning questions. Earlier CAT aspirants did not pay much heed to DILR questions and probably I also became a victim of this thought process.
Aim to crack CAT 2016 with high sectional scores
For CAT 2016 I need to prepare well on DILR questions as there is no saviour like Quant or verbal questions, if you find DI or LR questions a bit lengthy or time consuming. My preparation plan needs quick and well devised modification to award equal weightage to all the 3 sections.
My target in CAT 2016
I will target not less than 20 correct in all the 3 sections. This will be possible when I am able to attempt 22 to 24 questions our of 32/34 questions in each section with 80% accuracy as CAT 2016 will also have 1/3 negative marking.
Building the basics and more Practice
CAT 2016 has less than 4 months to go before the examination. It is a boon for me that CAT 2016 is proposed to be conducted in November 2016 instead of in the month of October. I can have more focused practice sessions and more mocks on the new pattern dividing the weightage equally among 3 sections.
Will keep watch on time
Time is most important to manage in CAT 2016. I won’t waste it. I will divide the preparation equally now as none of the sections has higher weightage than other section and all the questions carry equal marks, a well devised preparation plan covering all the 3 sections is the need of the hour.
In case Non-MCQs are there…
If CAT 2016 again presents Non-MCQs in the exam, I will attempt them first to ensure better score. I have started framing on my own different type of questions with the help of CAT 2016 preparation expert and mentor Prof S K Agarwal and am leaving no stone unturned to get quick question cracking tips.
Speed & Accuracy
In case time constraint also continues in CAT 2016, we are not allowed to move to and fro among the sections till the time limit of 1 hour assigned for each section is over. So while preparing, I will make sure that I am doing justice to the speed and accuracy.
I am supposed to attempt maximum questions with accuracy within time limit of 1 hour in each section. But that does not imply that I should take difficult questions as challenge as it will be a disaster.
Will practice longer sitting
CAT 2016 may again be of 3 hours duration with 100 questions. It will also require additional 2 hours to report at the test venue. And to reach the test venue, I may have to start 1 hour before the reporting time. So I need about 6 hours on the D-day. Out of these 6 hours not less than 3 hours will need continuous sitting which I am not used to now.
I need the practice sitting for more than 3-4 hours now without break. I have started the practice sessions, have joined some yoga and meditation classes to improve the duration of my sitting hours to remain focused on CAT 2016.
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