If you’re planning to appear for CAT 2018, you’ve come to the right place! As you’re probably aware, the CAT entrance exam is the most competitive management entrance exam in the country. It is conducted for admission to the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) and it will be held this year on November 25, 2018 (Sunday). Whether or not you’ve started CAT preparation, you don’t have much time to study for CAT 2018! However, don’t let fear of performance and stress get in the way of your preparation. If you want to ace the CAT entrance exam, here’s how you can stay ahead of your competition!
Take online mock tests and analyse them
The CAT exam date is nearing. Before the CAT entrance exam, you need to gain an idea about the exam pattern, types of questions and how much time you can spend while solving the questions. You must also know about your capabilities and keep a check on your progress. You can do all this and more by solving mock tests. Try to attempt at least 30-40 mocks before appearing for CAT 2018. Examine your performance after every mock test and assess your scores. Focus on all 3 sections and take into account the correct as well as the wrong answers. Note where all you went wrong. Doing this will give you an idea about which areas to focus on while studying.
Manage your time
Let’s look at this realistically – You have 3 hours to complete 100 questions. Instead of panicking, ask yourself how you plan to not only complete the exam, but also ace it. Time management will make or break CAT 2018 for you. After each mock test, evaluate which sections took more time to complete. When you give your next mock, allocate more time to those sections from the beginning. The thumb rule to acing the CAT entrance exam is to attempt the questions which are easier and quicker to solve first!
Know your strengths and weaknesses
The key to successfully evaluating a mock test is to be able to pinpoint your own weaknesses. Spend more time studying topics and sections which you’re weak in so you can make those parts your strength too. Divide topics from each section based on their difficulty level – easy, medium, hard. Make a daily study plan where you pick one hard and one easy topic or two medium topics from all 3 sections. This way, you’ll divide your focus equally to all 3 sections.
Pay attention to accuracy
Acing the CAT 2018 is not going to be a piece of cake, but paying attention to accuracy during your CAT preparation will help you perform better at the CAT entrance exam. Your focus shouldn’t just be on solving the 100 questions, but also on the accuracy level you achieve. Owing to the negative marking pattern, you need to be cautious while marking the answers. For each correct answer, three marks will be awarded and for every wrong answer, one mark will be deducted. No negative marking scheme is attached to the subjective questions. For the questions that are intense on calculation, cross-check the calculation and revise the answer more than once to attain accuracy. If you attain 100% accuracy level in the mock tests, chances that you might get more than 99 percentile even if you don’t attempt all questions!
Create a section-wise strategy to study for CAT 2018
The CAT entrance exam has 3 sections – Verbal ability and reading comprehension, Data interpretation and logical reasoning, and quantitative abilities. To ace verbal ability, you need to read. A lot. No matter how many mock tests you attempt, you can’t speed up verbal ability. This is because every question is fundamentally different from the other. Read books on all topics. Don’t stick to one kind. Select topics like Politics, Economics, Psychology so that even if the question is about Economics you will not feel like you’re reading French.
For the data interpretation section, you need to improve your calculation skills and the ability to interpret and analyze data. For logical reasoning, it’s best to solve some puzzles.
Quantitative Aptitude needs a lot of practice. Start revising your fundamentals to make your foundation strong.
With CAT 2018 just around the block, you need to put in double the amount of time and effort if you want to ace this exam. Use the above-mentioned 5 tips to beat your competition and get into the business school of your choice!
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