All posts tagged: CAT Strategy

CAT 2018: How to improve your QA percentile – I

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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 irrespective of their relationship with Quant, with high Math scores during X and XII exams not having any direct correlation with ability on the CAT QA.

CAT 2018: Setting the right targets on your way to a 99 percentile

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A few years back, I attended the Chennai convocation function for aspirants who cleared the Company Secretary (CS) exam (a relative of mine had cleared the exam). The Chief Guest was Padmishri awardee T.N.Manoharan, who is a pre-eminent figure in the Banking and Accounting sector in the country with his book being a must-read for all CA aspirants. He was part of the government-appointed team that cleaned up the Satyam mess and paved the way for the transition to Tech Mahindra. His keynote address was leavened with wisdom and had too many punchlines for me to recount here but one of the things he said is spot on when it comes to the way we should deal with success and failure. He said…

How to prepare for CAT – II

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In the first part of the post on to how to prepare for CAT , we discussed what your practice routines should be like. In this part, we look at how you should approach your practice, how you can get most out of your practice sessions and how you can maximize your potential in fewer iterations.

How to prepare for CAT – I

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We are slowly getting closer to the business end of the CAT 2018 season. Some of you would have joined for classroom programs as early as last June, a lot of you in Jan and I am sure a few are yet to start but all of you know that you have to start your prep with all seriousness. All of you know that it is time to do more than just attend classes, meet your CAT prep mates and go back home. So it is not a surprise that I am getting a lot of queries – how many hours of prep should I be putting in daily to crack CAT 2018? – what should I be doing on a daily basis to crack CAT 2018? – how should I plan my prep for CAT 2018? This post is going to be dedicated to all things related to a prep plan for CAT 2018.

How to improve your Verbal Ability for CAT?

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As discussed in the previous post, the Verbal Ability sections on the CAT and other tests end up testing aspirants’ general command over the language as much as the test-specific practice they have put in. So how does one improve one’s command over the language? How does one improve one’s reading speed? How does one widen the range of one’s vocabulary?

How to prepare for a CAT retake – Part II

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    In the previous post, we discussed the mindset with which one should approach a CAT retake; in this post we shall look at a few more aspects with respect to a successful CAT retake. Since each one of you readers will have a different back story with respect to your first attempt and there will also be some non-IMS students among you as well, the focus of this post will be a bit wider.

How to prepare for a CAT retake – Part I

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Most of the institutes have given out their calls and many of you might be planning to retake the CAT. For some of you, it might be a case of almost getting there but missing out because of one poor section or just missing out on the overall percentile. For others, the CAT-day might have been a bad day at the office and you knew straight away that nothing much was going to happen.On my first attempt, I fell into the latter group — I knew I was out of my depth when I saw the Quant paper, there was no way I was going to clear the cut-offs. This despite consistently doing very well in the Sims leading up to the test. I decided to take another shot since I was very clear that it was not out of my league. This post, in three parts, is for all those re-takers who are NOT hoping to get lucky next time around but want to ensure that they leave no stone unturned to make the cut in …

10 Things To Execute On CAT Day

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Unlike international tests like the GMAT or the GRE, the CAT is not a standardized test, there can be — new question types, fluctuation in difficulty levels, more questions than expected from a particular area. Given this, it is imperative that you go into the test with a few pointers both to manage the uncertainty as well as to ensure that you optimise your performance during 180 minutes.