Arun Sharma CAT Preparation Tips: How to Set Your Target and Succeed with Desired Score

Common Admission Test (CAT), the mandatory MBA entrance exam for admission to 20 IIMs and 100+ other top B-schools in India, will be held on November 26, 2023. With just a few months to go, MBA aspirants are looking for sound strategies to improve their CAT Scores. MBAUniverse.com, India’s No 1 MBA Portal, interviewed CAT Mentor Arun Sharma, who is the Author of Best-Selling CAT Preparation books that is referred by a lot of CAT toppers. Arun Sharma completed his MBA from IIM Bangalore and continues to take CAT exam almost every year with 100% or 99.99% result. This article with Arun Sharma CAT Preparation Tips shares insights on Arun Sharma CAT Prep Strategy and Timelines

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Table of Contents  

1. How to Prepare for CAT Exam by Arun Sharma: “CAT preparation is all about Problem Solving” 
2. Arun Sharma CAT Preparation Strategy - Set Clear CAT Goal: “What is the problem you are trying to solve!”
3. CAT Section wise Preparation Strategy by Arun Sharma: “Decide your mini-goals well”
4. CAT Previous Year Question Paper: “Past Papers are vital part of CAT Prep”
5. CAT Mock Tests: “Mock Test is the core of CAT Preparation”
6. Arun Sharma CAT Preparation Books and CAT Courses: “My books & courses are designed to simulate CAT”

If you are preparing for CAT, aren’t these topics exciting! So, lets dive in…You can also watch Exclusive MBAUniverse.com Interview Videos, given as links below.

How to Prepare for CAT Exam by Arun Sharma: “CAT preparation is all about Problem Solving”
Arun Sharma believes that CAT Preparation is very different from conventional academic studies. CAT Preparation Strategy by Arun Sharma as shared by him while speaking to MBAUniverse.com, is “Students should not treat CAT preparation in the same way as preparation for any academic course. CAT preparation has to be a Problem-Solving approach.”

What is Problem-Solving approach, we asked Arun. Explaining the same, Arun Sharm said, “Problem Solving approach to CAT preparation simply means that students have to see CAT exam as a problem they are trying to solve. They should have a clear idea of what their CAT percentile and score goals are. Once they know this, they can have the right strategy and approach to solving it.”

That sound so logical…Doesn’t it. To take this approach forward, we asked Arun -- how does one define the problem?

2. Set Clear CAT Goal: “What is the problem you are trying to solve!”
Arun Sharma CAT Prep Strategy and Timelines gets a bit different approach if you have 300-400 days of CAT preparation time. However, the 120 or 150 days Preparation plan for CAT 2023 needs a bit more speed to achieve the goal. In both the cases, you need to start with a target score for CAT exam and then prepare to achieve that score, said Arun.

Arun Sharma explains how to set your Score Target for CAT 2023

• CAT Exam is Score Oriented Exam. You should know that you need to score a certain number of marks to get a good percentile
• Arun Sharma has advised that right at the start of your preparation, within the first week of your preparation, you should know what number of Marks you are aiming for in each of the three sections.

CAT Score Target You need for 80 to 99 Percentile..
Now you need to know as below what target you should aim for, how to begin and plan 150 days preparation strategy for CAT 2023 or 120 days preparation strategy as the preparation time is short

• To score 99%tile in CAT, the current marks you need vary between 85 -100. To get 100 marks, the sectional breakdown is that you need to score 14 in verbal, 13 in DILR and 13 in QA.
• If you set a target of 80 to 85%tile in CAT, the score target is much lower. Your preparation strategy will also be different for each section, if you are planning to score 80 or 85%tile in CAT than your target of 99%ile.
• Similarly, your strategy of preparation of the three sections will be different from, if you have a target of 13 Verbal, 25 in DILR and 45 in QA because preparing for 45 in Quant has a different track process, than if you're trying to score 30 in that section.

3. CAT Section wise Strategy by Arun Sharma: “Decide your mini-goals well”
With this introduction, let us learn about the section-wise CAT Preparation Tips by Arun Sharma. Let’s briefly understand Arun Sharma CAT preparation tips and CAT preparation strategy for each section – VARC, DILR, QA

3.1 Arun Sharma on Quantitative Ability Preparation for CAT 2023
To prepare for QA section in CAT 2023, the Arun Sharma Quantitative Aptitude for CAT 2023 Preparation tips and strategy depends upon your Target and your Understanding of key topics from this section.

• Total no of questions in this section: 22
• Marks for getting a question right: +3
• Total Marks Available in this section: 66
• Your Target Marks for getting 99%tile: 40+
• No of questions attempts: 18-19 (Allow for 10-15% errors)
• Required Accuracy Level: 85-90%
• Time taken per question: 2 Minutes
• Topics required to cover to get 99% marks: Arithmetic, (Choose from 8-10 Questions), Algebra (5-8 questions), Geometry (3-5 Questions)
• To cover CAT Quant Syllabus with replica CAT questions, Read thoroughly CAT Quat Preparation Book by Arun Sharma: How to Prepare for Quantitative Aptitude

Advising with the pace of Quant preparation for CAT, Arun Sharma said, “Remember that people make the mistake of trying to improve speed in the beginning itself but you should learn how to walk first before you learn to run. So, learn and practice first and then improve speed.”

3.2 Arun Sharma on DILR Preparation for CAT 2023
Important tips from Arun Sharma Data Interpretation for CAT 2023 Preparation and the tips by Arun Sharma Logical Reasoning for CAT 2023 Preparation carry a systematic approach with what to prepare and where to prepare from. The DILR preparation for CAT, according to Arun Sharma is built on problem solving skills as there is no theory in this section nor there are any chapters. The more you practice the more skilled you will become.

• Total no of questions in this section: 20
• Marks for getting a question right: +3
• Total Marks Available in this section: 60
• Your Target Marks for getting 99%tile: 30+
• No of questions attempts: 13-14 (Allow for 10-15% mistakes)
• Required Accuracy Level: 85-90%
• Time taken per problem set: 12-14 Minutes
• Topics required to cover to get 99% marks: DI Table sets, Pie Chart Problem sets, Data calculation sets, Graph related problems, Blood relations, Team formation, seating arrangements etc.
• Where to Practice on DILR Problem Sets: Read how to approach and solve DILR problems from DILR Preparation Books by Arun Sharma: How to Prepare for Logical Reasoning for CAT and How to Prepare for Data Interpretation for CAT

Sharing the DILR preparation strategy, Arun Sharma said, “Start cutting down time once you start reaching a 12 to 15 minute timeline, and become a 10 minute solver on the problem set. Keep raising efficiencies after that just like a sportsman.”

3.3 Arun Sharma on VARC Preparation for CAT 2023
Key tips from Arun Sharma Verbal Ability for CAT 2023 Preparation and tips by Arun Sharma Reading Comprehension for CAT 2023 preparation share simple approach to prepare and solve the questions. To prepare for VARC section in CAT 2023, Arun Sharma has recommended to work on building your skills to be able to understand complex passages, complex articles on complex topics and you have to learn how to catch hold of the idea even if it's slightly above the level.

• Total no of questions in this section: 24
• Marks for getting a question right: +3
• Total Marks Available in this section: 72
• Your Target Marks for getting 99%tile: 45-50
• No of questions attempts:  18-20 (Allow for 10-15% errors)
• Required Accuracy Level: 85-90%
• Time taken per RC Passage: 5-6 minutes
• Time taken per VA question:  2-3 minutes
• Topics required to cover to get 99%ile: RC, Jumbled paragraphs, Out of Context sentence, Last sentence for para completion, para summary
• To cover complete CAT VARC syllabus and practice on questions, Read - How to Prepare for Verbal Ability & Reading Comprehension for CAT by Arun Sharma & Meenakshi Upadhyay

Sharing key VARC preparation tips for CAT, Arun Sharma said, “Remember one good thing about CAT prep in Verbal that you're going to be challenged with only 800-word RC passages. Your ability to understand the meaning of a large sentence is key. Paras are nothing but sentences, and RC is simply a few paras!”

4. CAT Previous Year Question Paper: How to use them by Arun Sharma 
CAT previous year question papers are most important guide to check and go through actual type of CAT questions and exam composition. These previous CAT question papers are available for limited years. Arun Sharma recommends to use these papers as CAT question banks and the diagnostic tests during CAT preparation journey

• CAT Previous Year Question Papers 1999 to 2008: Use these 10 Previous year papers as your CAT question banks on Quant, DILR, VARC
• CAT Previous Year Question Papers 2017 to 2022: From 2017 to 2019, CAT was held in two slots and from 2020 to 2022 CAT was held in 3 slots. In total there are 15 previous CAT papers. These are available with official answer key. You should use these papers as your CAT replica tests
• How to use CAT Previous Papers: Previous CAT papers are of great help and serve as guide for you as now you know the exact type of CAT questions, their difficulty level, the time that you need to solve required number of questions and where you are making mistakes.  

5. CAT Mock Tests: “Mock Test is the core of CAT Preparation”
Mock Tests infuse confidence and strengthen your skills. Sharing with MBAUniverse.com, Arun Sharma said, “You should start taking Mocks with a target score, although it is only Mock test score.”

• How to use Mock Test: Along with Mock test also include one actual previous CAT Paper to assess your performance in Mock as well as in Actual CAT exam
• Mock helps in Diagnosis of Weakness:  CAT Mocks are not only for practice but  they are also diagnostic in nature to assess your CAT preparation.
• More Mocks More Practice: When you attempt more mocks, they serve as great practice of more questions on every topic. For example, if you attempt 40 mocks, you have around 800 new questions.
• Analyse Each Mock: Mock is of no use unless analyzed for mistakes. It will help you improve your score by eliminating the errors.

Highlighting the importance of Mocks in CAT preparation Arun Sharma said, “As far as mock tests are concerned, it's the most important component as this actually makes you qualify the CAT test taking.”

6. Arun Sharma CAT Preparation Books and CAT Courses: “My books & courses are designed to simulate CAT”
Arun Sharma CAT preparation books are used by almost all the CAT aspirants for all the three sections. Arun Sharma has authored following CAT books that help in building concepts, clear doubts, offer practice questions, CAT Mocks and actual CAT test papers chapter wise and section wise.

Highlighting the key features of his CAT books, Arun Sharma said “My books are basically built to replicate CAT without actually using CAT questions and are to be used as a companion during CAT preparation Journey.” Read More -  Arun Sharma CAT Books

6.1 CAT Courses by Arun Sharma
Arun Sharma’s Mindwokzz offers following courses for CAT preparation. The courses are built to help them become independent in preparing and solving CAT questions. Mindworkzz coaching in Delhi is available as Comprehensive class room programme as well as online distance learning programme.

Sharing about the courses offered at Mindwokzz, Arun Sharma sai, “The whole course at mindworkzz is split into with the students’ problem-solving experiences. Our role as trainers or teachers is in providing assisted problem-solving experiences to students but ultimately the student has to complete his due diligence of covering to 5300 questions in a self-solved mode.”

Stay tuned to MBAUniverse.com for More CAT Preparation Tips by Arun Sharma