Should I quit my job to prepare for CAT?
Every year in the March-May period, a lot of CAT aspirants contemplate quitting their jobs to prepare for the CAT, this post is outlines the things that you need to consider before taking that call.
All posts tagged: CAT Preparation
Are you ready for a real test?
From very early on in our lives we are exposed (or subjected) to this word called TEST. As we enter the higher grades the importance that TESTS play or are supposed to play in our lives steadily increases. If we look back, for most of us, tests have always been part of a trinity, they have always been concomitant with two other things — fear and prayer. At some point of time all of us when faced with a test (including yours truly) have felt at the least a sliver of fear running through our bodies prior to a test and even most unbelieving of us have muttered a tiny little prayer under our breaths.
How to take your SimCAT scores to the next level
We have just finished SimCAT 9 and if the scores & percentile charts are any indication, test-takers are beginning to find their footing. But here is the catch — for every set of people hitting the 100s for the first time, there will be a set hitting 120s, a set hitting 135s and a set hitting 150s as well for the first time. So some of you while feeling happy to see high scores will also be feeling a bit of a bother when you see your percentiles. Well firstly, the happiness is warranted so don’t let the percentiles bog you down. What you need to now do is to see your scores, percentiles and the task ahead in the next 60 days in the right perspective.
Where can I get tough CAT questions to practice?
This is a question that we get asked frequently, more so this year given last year’s tough DI-LR section. One place where you can get more SimCAT-level questions whose level of difficulty is quantified is in a book called CAT 500. This is a book that we publish every year with new questions across all areas and classifed topic-wise. The USP of this book is that the questions are selected based on actual SimCAT data.
How many SimCATs should I take to score a 99 percentile on the CAT?
Now that the notification is out and the CAT is out of the bag, a lot of test-takers have begun their preparation in all earnestness. It is a huge relief to know that the pattern is going to remain the same. For test-takers taking the CAT for the first or second time it might not seem like a big deal but for those such as yours truly it is in fact a really big deal. If I am not wrong this is only the second or third time that the CAT pattern has remained absolutely unchanged (the two or three times being since the test went computer-based in 2009). One of the reasons for me taking the CAT every year has been the novelty factor — what’s new this time, what new question types have they come up with, how does the relative difficulty level of this year compare with the previous one etc. Now that test-takers have gone into the serious-prep mode, the big question that I get asked or not asked is — …
Analyzing India’s WT20 Loss — Lessons to learn for a CAT re-take
Exceptionally good at cricket analysis — this is the phrase that can go into most Indian resumes (football fans though burgeoning are still a minority) and so it is not a surprise that in the aftermath of India’s loss in the WT20 semi-final to the Windies, we have seen a wide range of explanations being offered for the same, the most commonplace ones being the two no-balls and the dew factor. While it is not important to come up with right answer to this question, taking a look at the way we analyze a failure can have a huge impact on our chances for future success. This is where the relevance kicks in for those looking at a CAT retake in 2016.
CAT 2015 Analysis: Same wine in three bottles
It’s finally done and I am sure many of you would agree that it was pretty much smooth sailing for the better part of the test. In fact compared to the workout you would have had in the SimCATs, CAT 2015 like CAT 2014 would have been a jog in the park. I know, I know, DI-LR was tough but if even that was easy then we should not call it CAT!
The CAT 2015 Mock Test – An Analysis
It has been a while since the new CAT 2015 software was put up on the IIM-CAT site (I have to admit I have always found the name a bit cheesy :)). I wanted to wait a while to see how test-takers react to the new pattern in the SimCATs before doling out any sort of advice. [space size=”” line=”yes” style=”solid”] [title text=”Running out of steam by the Quant section”] Most of the students I have met have said that by the time they reach the Quant section they are mentally tired. The same would have applied to the Verbal section in the earlier pattern but the Quant section demands more mental energy since you are not entirely choosing between answer options as is the case on Verbal. The best indicators are of course the cut-offs — the Quant cut-off has dropped (marginally) whereas the VA-RC and DI-LR cut-offs have not changed. It is only going to get tougher on test-day. On test day you will need to report an hour or so before your …
CAT Quantitative: How to approach a problem
One of the things that weighs constantly on CAT test-takers is how they can increase their speed and accuracy. More often than not test-takers discover the right way to solve a problem mid-way through the problem – after they have spent about 2 minutes following one approach. So what is the best way to increase speed and accuracy? Identify the right way to approach a problem before you start solving it. Let us examine how to do this by taking an old SimCAT problem. Given that f(x) = sec x – tan x. If f(x) = k, then what is the value of cosec x? 1-k/1+k 1+k2/1-k2 1-k2/1+k2 k2/1+k2 Rule # 1: Do not leave this problem thinking — “It is Functions + Trigonometry!“ As we discussed in a previous post, CAT problems are deliberately designed to be seemingly tough or unapproachable! This problem has nothing to do with functions, it is just a fancy way of saying if sec x – tan x = k then cosec x = ? Rule # …
CAT Quantitative – Identifying the topic of the question
One of the reasons why the CAT seems tough to test-takers is that the questions are deceptively framed. Test-takers tend to expect questions to be neatly classified — areas, topics, concepts — so that the moment they see the problem they know what to do. But the objective of the test is to not to make things so obvious, not to make a question a matter of plugging numbers into to formulas. There are many questions that on the face of it seem to belong to one area but on closer inspection reveal their origins to be in a different area.
The CAT Writer 