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How to improve your QA percentile – I

Unlike the other two sections, QA is a section that has a direct link to what you have done in school and college. Most of the topics that are tested on the CAT have also been a part of the school curriculum. This I feel is the biggest roadblock in front of test-takers wanting to achieve higher scores on the CAT Quant because high Math scores during X and XII exams do not automatically imply doing well on CAT Quant.

This has to do with the simple fact that test-takers never fully grasp the difference between the two formats since they are as different from each other as chalk and cheese. So high is my resentment for the way they taught Math in school that I can write an entire blog post on that!

But I will try to condense my grouse to this — they never taught us to solve they taught us solutions; we never learned to solve, we memorized solutions.

If you want to get better at CAT Quant you should stop memorising solutions and start solving problems.

When I mean start solving problems I mean literally start solving a problem the way a mechanic will fix a bike.

– Do mechanics memorize the way they repaired each and every bike?
– Do mechanics start fixing a bike or car before they understand the problem?
– Do mechanics need to constantly revise the basics of how an automobile works before they begin to fix every new vehicle?

The answer to all the above questions is a resounding NO! So the first step is to make this perceptual shift in your mind before you can think about increasing your scores on CAT QA.


Leave no concept unturned

While the QA section of the CAT might seem like one big block of Math, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Each of the topics on CAT QA is a different ballgame altogether and one can’t club it all under a big Math umbrella. This is the reason why test-takers have such varying degrees of expertise across the areas within CAT QA —

– some are exceptional at Numbers but poor at Arithmetic
– some are great at Arithmetic and Geometry but really bad at P&C
– some find P&C and Probability solvable but find functions a problem

This in itself indicates how each topic on Math ends up testing a different kind of mental skill set, making the QA section similar to a Heptathlon or Decathlon, which requires you to be good at 7 and 10 different events.

To compete in such an event you need to first know how to perform in each individual event. You cannot know how to perform only 5 out of 7 events in a heptathlon (100 meters hurdles, High jump, Shot put, 200 meters, Long jump, Javelin throw, 800 meters) and then try to compete.

It goes without saying that to succeed at such an event you need to be above average in all events and great at a few, success on the CAT requires something very similar — you need to know the basics of all the topics and be competent enough to solve Easy and Medium questions from all of them.

So I hope after this no one will ask what the important topics for CAT QA are (that indicates the mindset of Board Exam preparation and not CAT prep).

Once the basics are in place, the three building blocks to get better at CAT QA are AccuracySelection & Speed.


Why accuracy is the first thing you need to work on

The first thing you need to do is to fix the machine or rather ensure that the machine churns out a very high percentage of items within the quality standards. While achieving 6-sigma levels of accuracy is a very high benchmark to set, you should strive to have an accuracy rate of at least 80 per cent.

Irrespective of the how many concepts you know, if your machine has an error rate of 35% then you are always going to be performing below par.

  • 20 Attempts at 65% accuracy will fetch you 32 marks
  • 30 Attempts at 65% accuracy will fetch you 46 marks
  • 20 Attempts at 80% accuracy will fetch you 44 marks
  • 20 Attempts at 85% accuracy will fetch you 49 marks

What should you focus — attempts or accuracy — given that you are taking the CAT to enter the world of business?

Obviously, accuracy since you will always look to squeeze the maximum out of every dollar invested (unless you run an e-commerce business and have investors to watch your back, albeit not for perpetuity).

What do you think is easier to achieve?

  • an increase in attempts from 20 to 30 or
  • an increase in accuracy from 65% to 85%

If you accuracy is low then trying to dramatically increase attempts will only further bring down your accuracy. If at your current speed you are prone to crashing 3-4 out of 10 times then at a higher speed you will only crash more often.

So, fix the machine to get the most out of it. The table below will give you more than enough reasons to do so.

CAT QA Score Improvement.jpg

Use the above table to see where you are right now and then try to move rightward first only then try to move downward.


Diagnose the reasons behind your low accuracy

Good accuracy is a function of two things — your solving technique and your choice of questions. Since we will take up selection in the next section of this post, here we will deal with just solving technique.

Since we have undergone the induction process of learning solutions during the long formative years of our education, we don’t really know the technique of problem solving as such. So we usually attribute our mistakes to that worn-out phrase — silly mistake. If we continue to use that phrase then neither can I nor can anyone can else help you out since the only solution is to stop being silly!

Even if you tell yourself that you will be serious, that you will concentrate hard, it is not going to work since there are just words or attitudes and not process changes.

To improve your accuracy on CAT QA, you need to first stop viewing your mistakes through the silly-mistake lens, view it through the process-mistake lens. 

These are the big process mistakes to which most errors can be attributed.

Missing crucial information in the question – MISREADING

We are always in a tearing hurry to read the question, so it is not a surprise that we tend to misread the parts of the question, usually the first parts (if n is an integer) or the last part (if they work on alternate days).

Since we are always trying to map a question to a pattern we have previously learned or to a formula, we tend to ignore the unique aspects of the question in front of us and tend selectively pick out information that either matches a pattern or can be put into a formula.

Taking your eye off the ball while calculating – MISCALCULATION

Keen followers of cricket will know how Sunil Gavaskar always gets agitated when a batsman gets run-out because of not grounding the bat. For him it is unpardonable since to ground the bat is part of the process of batsmanship and more importantly, it is a case of throwing away one’s wicket. He is known to have been such a stickler for correctness — he always took an extra run before celebrating after reaching a 100 since the manual scorer could have made a mistake — no wonder he gets so incensed!

Just like running between the wickets is the hard (or donkey) work in cricket, the calculation part is the hard (or donkey) work in the CAT QA. You can either choose to just run without really being alert and present or be vigilant & fast at the same time a la Dhoni & Virat.

If you watch those two they don’t just run blindly, they have their eye on where the ball has gone and on the fielder, that is what makes them exceptional. They are as alert during the running phase as they are when they are facing up to the ball and playing a shot.

I am sure some of you with the number of miscalculations you make would give Inzamam a run for his money 🙂

Missing the complexity of the question – MISJUDGEMENT

Sometimes you make a mistake, not because of the above two reasons but because you have underestimated the complexity of a question.

This underestimation can happen at two stages:

  • One during the initial stages when you have unknowingly simplified the problem. The reason for this though is again related to mapping a question while reading itself to a previous pattern in your head and thus missing the extra knot that makes the specific question a tad tougher.
  • The other during the execution stage in the rush to solve the question and move forward to the next question.

Such errors tend to occur in questions involving permutations & combinations or probability.

So firstly, do a diagnosis of the process mistakes you commit. Make a list of all the mistakes you have made in the preceding SimCATs in an excel sheet and next to each mistake write down the process mistake you made for the questions that you could have solved but ended up messing up.

You will come to know which process mistake is contributing how much to your errors, for example, Misreading (40%), Miscalculation (25%) & Misjudgement (35%)


How to eliminate errors due to misreading

If you are making quite a few errors because of misreading the question and if these questions are not towards the end of a section, which means that the misreading was not due to time constraints then you should:

Drop your pace of reading

It might seem as if you will solve far fewer questions by doing this but dropping the pace does not mean that you should read at a snail’s pace. It just means that you will read without rushing. While you might see a marginal dip in the number of attempts, it will be more than offset by the increase in score.

Read the question in front of you

Do not always map the question in front of you to a pattern or a formula as you read it. This is a big reason why even though you read at the right pace you skip information — you selectively pick and exclude information.


How to eliminate errors due to miscalculation

Different questions will require you to concentrate at different levels, some might take up 20% of your mind space some 80% but the key is that within the solving time of the problem, the same level of concentration has to be maintained throughout the solving of the problem without viewing the execution of a solution as a burden or taking your eye off the ball during the calculation phase.

Even when you are approximating, which means that you are cutting open something with say three slashes of your sword and not ten, each of the three slashes has to be made with concentration and precision.

To keep it simple look at the ball and the fielder before taking off and always ground the bat.


How to eliminate errors due to misjudgment

Firstly, these are higher-order errors where you are not entirely to blame. The test-setter might have managed to cleverly slip in a trap but that cleverness sometimes relies on you making a process mistake.

So to start off with do not start solving as you start reading. By starting to solve as you read you are setting yourself up for a host of errors:

  • taking the wrong thing as X only to calculate it and find it in the answer options, move on to the next question thinking you are right and being shocked when you see the score
  • assuming the question to be simple and setting up a simplistic structure to solve and not accounting for the build-up in complexity as you are reading the question leading to having to reformulate the problem with different variables and equations

While reading only evaluate how the solution will unfold, what you have what you do not have etc.

Before you jump to the solving just pause for a moment to think about

  • the complexity of the problem or possible cases if it is a P&C problem
  • what will be convenient — taking X or taking a 100
  • what will be convenient taking 100 or taking a number that is a multiple of the ratios (if two things are in the ratio 7:8, and you need to assume the total as some value, it is better to take the total as 15 or 150 and get the two values as 7, 8 or 70, 80 instead taking 100 and getting 700/15 and 800/15)

Improve your solving process

If you see most of our inefficiencies occur  because

  • we are always in a rush, operating all of the time out of a fear of time running out
  • we do not read the question properly, so without figuring out the problem we want to deliver a solution
  • we do not think about how to solve the problem, we just jump into solving; aren’t we supposed to think, isn’t this supposed to be a test of reasoning in different contexts?

It is not possible to make these processes changes just like that, you need to program your brain to slip out of its current grooves and create new pathways. To do this talk to yourself before every practice session about the changes you need to make — all the great sportsmen do it.

So before every practice session tell yourself to

  • read the question properly till the end without panicking
  • concentrate hard and never take your eyes off the ball
  • think, think and think and not just regurgitate old solutions.

Setting the right target scores

The biggest thing about improving scores is to set the right targets. Most test-taker do not have a target but a vision — I want to do the best I can. Unfortunately, all that ends up in is a you-versus-timer shootout.

A good target to set from one test to the next is a jump of ten marks over your average score.

So, if on average you are scoring 40 then set a target of 50 and so on.

 

The simplest way to convert this score into attempts at an 80 percent accuracy is to divide it by 2.2. To do this calculation, I simplified things and excluded TITA and taken a negative for every incorrect, stricter rule but works. Rounding off, it works out to:

  • 60 marks, ~ 28 questions
  • 50 marks, ~ 23 questions
  • 40 marks, ~ 18 questions

Basically, at an 80% percent accuacy, 10 marks more  it means 5 more attempts.

I believe that this is the most realistic way to go forward.  Go with a fixed number target — the average of you last three or four SimCAT scores in the section plus 10

Obviously, it goes without saying that on an easy paper, you can relax and take your foot of the pedal when you see that you are reaching your target comfortably; you should push, attempt more questions, and score higher than the target score for the same percentile.

Bear in mind that the converse will also hold true. If it is a difficult paper you might find yourself behind the target and but remember that as long as you select the right questions you might end up with a higher percentile.

Taking the average of the last 3 to 4 SimCATs and then adding ten to arrive at your target, will thus take care of the variability in difficulty as well as your recent form.

The key though is to select the right 28, 23, or 18 questions.

In the next posts we will take up the other two building blocks — selection & speed; before that please do the diagnosis to improve your accuracy and start ringing in the changes.


You cannot do the same thing and expect different results

If the reading of this post has to benefit then you should understand the importance of making these process changes.

When cricketers are a bit out of form and getting out in a particular fashion

  • Ricky Ponting getting caught LBW
  • Brian Lara getting caught in the slips
  • Sachin Tendulkar getting caught driving

what do you think their coaches told them? Did they just say — you are making these silly mistakes just stop making them — they did not?

In two of the cases, they identified a clear process mistake

  • Ponting, during that phase, was leaning forward too much and tending to fall over and hence getting trapped in front when the ball was pitching and swinging in
  • Lara’s bat was coming down from third slip instead of first slip and given his backlift was resulting in him slashing across the line instead of getting behind it

In other cases, they identified tendencies and just avoided them

After a disastrous tour of England, Virat Kohli with the help of Sanjay Bangar identified that the reason for him getting out so frequently to Anderson was that his right toe was pointing towards cover and the left one towards mid-off, making his stance very straight on — this resulted in Anderson squaring him up. So before the first test in Australia, they changed the stance to a more side-on one — right toe pointing towards point and the left towards cover — that helped him play beside the line and leave the ball.

If the best batsmen in the past and current generations can identify process changes and adopt a different approach to get better results, so can you.

Be it in life, in sport, or in business, the mantra is always simple — change or perish!

And for the change to happen do not wait for Newton’s Second Law to kick in; the external force — the need to crack the CAT this year — is already there do not wait for the force to increase — failing to crack it this year — before you make changes.

 

44 Comments

  1. lakshmi says

    Hello sir , found your article very useful. I am an arts student and am wishing to appear for cat this year My scores in the current simcats are between 30-40. So please can you advise any tips to improve on the scores.Thanking you

    Like

  2. Pratishwar Bhartiya says

    Off the topic..but what’s your opinion about XLRI Delhi NCR campus? Shall I go for XLRI Delhi campus or New/baby IIMs?I am really confused..Kindly help..

    Like

    • My guess is as good as yours, Pratishwar.

      If the final placements are common (they have only said that summers are common) then you can close your eyes and join. If the finals are separate then, treat it like a new IIM and then the new IIM should win out.

      Liked by 1 person

    • Rishabh Bhatia says

      Do some research about new XLRI campus as there is not much data about the same.But I’ll give preference to New IIMs(not baby) over XLRI Delhi, coz just starting, it’s first ever placements will not attract significant number of quality of companies . Even the professors will be new/unexperienced and of that good grade,whereas New IIMs fare much better in these regards with an established reputation,better companies for placements and pedagogy.

      Like

  3. Tanmay says

    Hello sir. I have a problem of performing in the tests whether it is a SIMCAT or a sectional test. Usually, I am able to solve Quant/ LRDI problems without the pressure of time in my head but when facing similar problems in a test, I tend to panic and miss out on simple questions. Please suggest me some way so I can overcome this problem.

    Like

    • Hi Tanmay,

      The thing you have to do is start with a target score in mind. The reason this is important is those who are good at Math and do well in non-test situations approach a test more or less with an – I will solve as many questions as I can — approach and this usually means a you-versus-timer shoot-out.

      So step one change the goal from doing your best to I want a score of and this score for the next test has to be your average score so far plus 10. Your potential might be 75 in your eyes but that cannot possibly be achieved in the next test itself with some magic words from me 🙂

      For that score, do a simple conversion to calculate how many questions you need to attempt with an 80% accuracy — Score/2.2 (this assumes no TITA for the sake of simplicity).

      Your job when the section starts is to identify the easiest questions 15 or 20 or 25 whatever is your number and solve.

      So when you first look at a question your task is to identify — now, later, or never. Usually, all great test-takers end up doing two rounds, sitters first the sitters and then the moderate ones.

      How to identify the questions as a now, later or never will be handled in the next post.

      All the best!

      Like

      • Tanmay says

        Thank you for answering sir. I shall definitely try to implement this in the upcoming SIMCATs.

        Like

      • Ankit Debnath says

        Hi Sir .
        How should I set my score target for LRDI and VARC section ? After two consecutive relatively easy LRDI section in SIMCAT 4 and 5 , I set a target of 15 questions in SIMCAT 6. But felt that LRDI to be tough and couldn’t solve many questions .
        And what if I fail to achieve my target in a section ? should I compensate for that by setting a higher target in the next section ?

        Like

      • Hi Ankit,

        Your targets should not be based on your performance during the test but on your capability and the difficulty level of the paper.

        For example, if your current capability on QA is only 20, just because you could not meet the DI-LR targets you can raise it to 25, because you if you have the capability to raise your level from 20 to 25 maintaining the same accuracy, then your target should be 25 in the first place.

        Raising it based on the previous section’s poor performance is exactly like a war situation when you know you are losing so you go out all guns blazing and get killed!

        If DI-LR in a particular section was difficult for everyone then even if you attempted fewer but maintained the same accuracy, your percentile will not get affected.

        The same applies for QA as well, if your normal level is 20 but the paper is difficult then you would not be able to solve 20 and that does not mean that you have done poorly.

        As far as DI-LR is concerned 36 marks has correlated with 95 percentile in the last three years and 48 marks with 99 percentile.

        And there have always been 3-4 solvable sets. The key is to select them right at the beginning and solve them in 45-50 minutes while rejecting the other 4-5 sets in 10-15 minutes. You cannot spend 5 minutes on each set to first try solving and then decide because that itself will mean 40 minutes spent!

        Hope this helps,

        All the best!

        Like

    • Hi Dhruv,

      I am not an NMAT expert because I have never taken it. I deal with CAT, XAT, GMAT, GRE since these are tests that I have taken, made content for and taught as well.

      There will be videos put up by my colleagues on the IMS India YouTube Channel.

      All the best!

      Like

  4. Mishpreet Kaur says

    Hello sir. I have a lot of problem in doing RCs, parajumbles, etc. Sir please suggest some tips and tricks to improve accuracy. Also sir I can’t read lengthy articles or passages and forget the previous information while reading further. “RC is main problem” please me with this sir.

    Like

  5. Rishabh Bhatia says

    Thank you for the post Sir.I would like your help on how I can boost my score from 60-70 range to 80-90 range.There are still 4 months and I’m ready to work hard for the same. Any good strategy for the same will be really appreciated.

    Like

    • Hi Rishabh,

      The next two posts in this series will be on selection and speed. Once you are through with them you need to figure out of you are executing everything that is outlined in the posts.

      Two of the big things required crossing more than 80 are comprehensiveness and speed.

      Comprehensiveness means that there is no topic or sub-topic that you are not aware of and are averse to solving, right from Partionining to Tangent-Secant Theorem.

      Speed is very obvious on the surface of it but I have dealt with it in the third post of the series.

      And hope you are not making the mistake of aiming for 80-90 in QA and being stuck below 50 in the other two sections.

      All the best!

      Like

  6. Rishabh Bhatia says

    Sir I’m currently scoring around 60-70 in Quants. Kindly suggest strat to lift it to 80-90 range.
    There are 4 months left and I’m ready to work hard to achieve the same.

    Like

  7. pashu says

    sir can we have a VARC analysis done by you for any upcoming Simcat ?
    I know you must be busy but if you could take some time out it would be really helpful to some of us who have been following your posts and your strategies since last year.

    Like

  8. Vaibhav Agrawal says

    Hello Sir,
    I average 50+ in mocks
    While doing mock analysis, I have made an observation that in almost all the questions that I get right, I take less than the average time taken by people who got it right. And most times, it is much less. So I am able to attempt at solving most of the question (~30) , but only manage to successfully solve about 18-22.
    But sadly, my time taken is also very less for the questions that I get wrong.
    Do you suggest I try to slow down a bit and my speed might be hampering my ability in some way, or keep up my speed and focus on more solving ability?

    Like

    • Hi Vaibhav,

      As I wrote in the post, you need to find the precise reasons for the mistakes — misreading, miscalculation or misjudgement — in all of these cases dropping the pace by 10%, not much, but just enough to ensure can result in much higher accuracy.

      Ideally, you should get 50 with around 22 attempts and 60 with around 28. So dropping your pace for more control will not hurt you at all.

      All the best!

      Like

  9. Swagata Singh says

    Hi Sir,
    I have recently started having very serious problems in my QA section and there are a few problems that I have mainly noticed-
    1) My performance is linked to how well does my LRDI go.
    There are sometimes when my brain is completely shut and I literally spend around 5 mins on just the first question in QA that too just staring at it.
    2) My attempts are very less
    At present they stand at 15 with a 66% accuracy
    3) My calculations are slow
    I really have no idea how to make them better

    How do I deal with this problem?

    On the other hand, as per your preparation video, I have started doing a Sudoku and reading an article and summarizing it too. RC has competitively become better but LRDI has gone worse.

    In short, I need SERIOUS HELP! All my sections are almost in the drain!

    Like

    • Hi Swagata,

      Since LRDI seems to the main problem I do not know how you approach it.

      The first thing is to set a realistic goal and aim to solve only 3-4 sets in 60 minutes. 3 Sets will give you 80 percentile and 4 around 95.

      And each set should take you around 12-15 minutes.

      But all of this is possible only if you read all the sets first and select the 4 easiest sets. How to do this selection is explained in all the posts under DI-LR.

      A bigger problem that I can see is that your mental stamina is on the lower side, brain shutting down, calculations getting slow are all signs that the battery is basically drained by the time you reach the end of the DI-LR section.

      You have a finite amount of mental energy, the brain also works on glucose by the way, so unless you are able to have reserve energy to last you for three hours before you take a test or prep, it is going to be an uphill climb. I do not know whether you are a working professional or not but there are things in this post that will surely help in terms of energy management — https://thecatwriter.com/2019/06/03/cat-2019-how-to-manage-work-and-prepare-for-the-cat/

      First, fix these issues, speed comes much later.

      All the best!

      Like

      • Swagata Singh says

        Thank you so much sir
        As you correctly mentioned, I am a working professional that too in a research based job (do not wish to make a career in it for sure) in which I have to work extra hours and my brain is completely drained by the evening. The article that you provided was just apt for me and additionally I re-read the “Should I quit my job to prepare for CAT?”
        But I have just become more confused in the biggest dilemma (and I have been thinking of it since a month) I have ever faced, should I quit my job or not? It is my third attempt at CAT and I have a work-ex of 7 months now. At max, I am only able to study for CAT in the weekends and at max for 2 hrs on a weekday, which I feel is not enough as the weekends just pass by in giving mocks or analyzing them. Additionally, the times are uncertain, people are loosing their jobs and I was just made permanent (the reason my parents think I shouldn’t quit) plus I need to devote a share amount of time in cooking due to the lack of house helps and mom not being well.
        On the other hand, I know myself and the fact that I can’t study for 8 hrs a day (effectively it will be 4 only). But I need to focus on improving reading speed, calculations, solving more quant questions and regular practice of LRDI.
        Please suggest what should I do.

        P.s- I am B.Com (Hons) graduate, with academics -85.5/94/73.7 and mainly looking forward to pursuing Marketing.

        Like

      • Hi Swagata,

        If I am doing the Math right, you graduated in 2019 and took the CAT in ’18 and ’19.

        Quitting your job will not affect your profile adversely since you want to get into Marketing.

        So, if quitting your job will not place any strain on your finances then you can go ahead and quit and prepare for the CAT.

        Else, take this year relatively easy, prep but do not strain too much, and focus on CAT 21 for which hopefully conditions will be more conducive for prep.

        All the best!

        Like

  10. sam says

    Hello sir, im facing an issue in selecting the questions in Quant section of SIMCAT,i have done all the basics and slove thoroughly, but under the pressure of time ticking im not able to maximize my attempts, during the analysis, i easily solve most of those problems that I stucked during the test.
    I’m don’t know what’s the problem, is it my concepts or just practice? if you have any suggestion for me kindly help me with it

    Like

    • Hi Sam,

      Your first task before solve is to decide when to solve — Now, Later, or Never.

      To score a 50 you need to attempt only 22 questions at 80 per cent accuracy this means that for every 2 questions you will be leaving 1 question.

      The second part of this is on selection please go through that first.

      Also, it is not just you but everyone feels the same. The reason is not the timer but the fact that you have internalised the question and also know what will not work and this leads you to the answer in two minutes but in essence, you have spent 4 minutes on the question.

      So first set your target score and number of questions as per what I have outlined in the post, read the next post and start the process of selecting the questions, and then you will start seeing better results.

      All the best!

      Like

  11. Sristi says

    Hello Sir. I have tried following the Now, later and never technique and my scores have shown a great improvement. I used to struggle in quant and score in 20s and 30s but now I score 42+.
    Thank you 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Ankur dubey says

    Hii sir
    i am facing difficulty in DI-LR section and scores are too low what I
    can do for improving scores in this section.

    Like

  13. Pingback: How to improve your QA percentile – Part II | The CAT Writer

  14. shashank singh says

    hello sir,
    i am unable to focus on the qa questions in the simcats which results in bad scores, i get demotivated often….and i tend to forget all the concepts and solutions , i have been doing lazy work lately, need help sir 😦

    Like

    • Hi Shashank,

      I think a big reason can be the drop in energy levels by the time you reach the QA section. I have covered energy management in the latest webinar, the recording will be up on the blog by Wednesday.

      All the best!

      Like

  15. Pingback: How to improve your QA percentile – Part III | The CAT Writer

  16. Pingback: How to improve your QA percentile – Part III >> IMS Gujarat

  17. Hi Sir,
    I had written CAT Last year and barely managed to get 40 in Quant. This post is really an eye opener which has knocked the root of the problem. Knowing the process as you have explained, and would be explaining in your further posts, definitely I can reach 60-70 marks this year. Although thanking wouldn’t be enough for this but can’t help. Thanks for writing this!!!!!!

    Like

    • Hi Madan,

      Really happy to hear that post has hit home, the other two parts of the post will crucial as well, hope you read them.

      All the best!

      Like

  18. Gunjan says

    Hello Sir,

    I am working for about 3 years now. The dream of making it to the dream B-School has been there since last year. I appeared for CAT 2019 and scored about 91 percentile. Quants took me down. Now that CAT notification is out, I am getting jitters. This feels like the last chance of making a career change. I am unable to keep myself calm and focus.
    What should be my overall strategy this year? Shall I do basics or shall I jump into mocks?

    I am currently working from home and work isn’t very hectic, but do you think it’d be a good idea to quit, because I feel my laxity is because of the safety net of my job.

    Please advise on how to proceed.

    Like

    • Hi Gunjan,

      That is quite a few queries you have packed in.

      1. As far as motivation goes, almost everyone waits till there is no other option but to act (unless it is something they are good at and like). So if you feel that quitting your job will be the push needed to do it, you already have three years of work-ex, but ensure that you read my post on the same — https://thecatwriter.com/2017/03/10/should-i-my-job-to-prepare-for-cat/

      2. Start with a mock just to know where you are and use the analysis to start preparing form your weakest area. The videos in the LEARN Module by Amit Sir are the best way to learn and revise Math. If you quit and have the whole day, then take one Mock a week and divide your everyday prep into three of the sections — 3 RC sets, 3 DI-LR sets, 10 VA questions, and the rest for QA. Do this for a month with focus without fail. You can then move to section tests and stuff.

      3. If you do this every day, you will become calm and focussed.

      All the best!

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  19. Pingback: How to improve your QA percentile – Part II | The CAT Writer

  20. Mohit Bohra says

    Hi sir,

    On a lighter note, Virat’s right toe is again pointing towards cover, we really need his toe again pointing towards point to win the current series :p

    PS: Being a die hard cricket fan, always love your cricketing analogies. Thank you.

    Like

    • Haha, yeah. I read about it too.

      Going to England is always a big thing for a cricketer, especially the first tour, and when he failed miserably I was very clear that there was some fundamental problem with his technique.

      But have to admit, peak Anderson is something to behold almost like a cross between McGrath and Dale Steyn!

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