[vahgar]

Excellent Thread thecky.. more or less conforms my findings..the avg of percentiles in mocks(i swear by time), when compared to the real CAT would be just 2 percent less(CAT u get 2 %ile more). happened to me both the years..*sigh* whats the use anyways..still a shame. The only deviant can happen in a bad sectional ie, what happened to Exp Hor/Srikanth

[yossarian84]

Joined TIME classes and CL-test series for CAT. Used to alternate between the two. In addition to this, I must have taken about 30-35 full length tests in my dorm room. And at the end of the day, all that experience surely helped

Mock %ile Rnk Date
AIMCAT1 99.45 58 19-Jun
AIMCAT2 99.33 83 10-Jul (Missed QA)
AIMCAT3 94.81 1422 31-Jul (Missed VA)
AIMCAT5 98.45 263 14-Aug
CL MOCK1 99.67 49 21-Aug
AIMCAT8 97.7 425 28-Aug
CL MOCK2 99.57 69 4-Sep
CL MOCK3 98.64 216 11-Sep (Missed DI)
CL MOCK4 98.26 280 18-Sep
AIMCAT10 88.53 1925 19-Sep (Missed DI)
AIMCAT11 94.6 994 25-Sep
CL MOCK6 98.93 154 9-Oct (Missed DI)
AIMCAT14 88.69 1947 16-Oct
CL MOCK7 98 275 17-Oct
AIMCAT15 98.35 276 23-Oct
AIMCAT16 97.68 373 30-Oct (Missed DI)
CL MOCK8 99.13 108 2-Nov
AIMCAT17 97.48 374 6-Nov (Missed DI)
CL MOCK10 96 493 8-Nov
AIMCAT18 97.83 324 13-Nov

CAT 99.45 (QA 99, DI 97.5, VA 96)
Calls LACKI
Converts: C(PGDCM+PGDM),L,I

My tips:

1. DONT EVER GIVE UP. Even if you have to go an entire month without clearing cut-offs ( I did). Or even when ur All India Rank looks like the year you were born in (I did that too). Just keep moving. Remember mocks at the end of the day are just that, mocks.

2. GIVE AS MANY MOCKS AS POSSIBLE. It might seem to be in conflict with the first tip, but it's not. Despite their shortcomings, mocks help you fine-tune your strategy. So take loads of them. I personally took around 20 mocks at the center and 30-35 at home. Also, think about joining two test series. Sometimes, the same type of mocks straitjacket your approach. Another thing, try to take all your mocks during the 10-12 slot. It helps.

3. LOOK OUT FOR THAT *WIERD* MOCK. Every year, some institute would be offering that wierd mock. A sudden 2-section paper, or a three section three-tier-marks paper. Like CL gave a mock that had 1-mark, 2-mark and 3-mark questions. Do attempt that particular mock. If u are lucky enough to take it at the centre nothing like it. Otherwise do take it at ur dorm room/home. If the pattern changes at CAT, having given one *wierd* mock would be a confidence booster.

4. KNOW YOUR STRENGTHS. Experiment in the first few mocks that you write. Experiment with all kinds of attempt strategies, attempt orders etc. And identify ur strengths and weaknesses to decide the final strategy. I used to go weakest-> Strongest->Medium. Don't leave the weakest/strongest for the end cos if for some reason you end up 5 minutes fewer than you planned to in ur weakest, you won't clear cutoffs. And if you end up 5 minutes less in ur strength, you won't score as much as you could have .

5. MANAGE TIME EFFECTIVELY. If you decide to give 37 minutes to a particular section, give it exactly 37 minutes. One has the tendency to stretch time limits when it comes to his/her strongest section. Avoid it. I crashed out of XAT because of this and had commited (though not paid for) the same mistake in CAT.

6. TRUST THE PROCESS. Remember, the IIM-profs are there to spot the talent and pick the best managers . If you have it in you, you would sail thru. Those guys sitting there, setting CAT, interviewing people are really good at their job (I'm sure DG would disagree..but WTH :P). So just stay focussed.

7. THE TWO WEEK MAGIC. The last two weeks,( barring D-Day -1) are the most crucial. Utilize every minute of them. My strategy during those two weeks was to take back2back sectional tests of my weakest section, 2 normal Section tests and loads of analysis of the FLTs that you took. If you can go through all the mocks that you took during your preparation, a cool percentile awaits you

8. DON'T DROP TOPICS IN QA. Don't Don't Don't do that. Ever. Atleast be sure of the extremely basic concepts. With the number of questions on a decrease, it's a luxury no-one can afford. Even the constant nemesis P&C. What if they ask you a 2-marker on simple arrangements?

That's it for now. Stay calm. Stay collected. Draw inspiration from me. If I could do it, so can your doodh-walla

P.S. Watch out on "All I want to say about CAT" for the full story

Chao
Nipun

[dkm_007]

This is my 99th post.
Here goes my saga:
SimCat 1 : 93%
SimCat 2 : 89%
SimCat 3 : 90%
SimCat 4 : 88%
SimCat 5 : 70%
SimCat 6 : 86%
SimCat 7 : 90%
SimCat 8 : 89%
the above %tiles are

And as on the D-Day : CAT : 99.23 %
EU: 98.45%
QA: 97.45%
DI : 92.08%

for CAT went with a strategy , that worked

Went for SimCats , just bcoz they were the toughest ones and it certainly helped.

As for final calls : c,l,i,k
and converts : IIMI will come out with list on 1 st May , and then the fat lady will sing for first time.

[krishsuraj]

My AIMCAT Scores

AIMCAT %ile
605 -------96.05
607--------98.50
608------- 90.71
609------- 90.43
610------- 97.67
611 ------ 88.59
612------- 96.47
613 -------- 87.87
614 -------- 97.86
615 -------- 91.82
616 -------- 99.11
617 -------- 98.78
618 -------- 92.36



Final CAT Score
VA ------99.25
DI -------89.65
MATH ----95.14
Overall Percentile ---99.18

MY AIMCAT and CAT Scores bear a stark contrast. My Math and VA scores were always around 99 percentile. All these low scores was caused by DI, my weakest section.
My Actual CAT was better than my AIMCATs. Two Reasons -

(i) I wasnt great at DI and thankfully CAT no longer asks classic DI questions. I was good at LR and I was able to do decently in DI Section.Infact in actual CAT I shaded one 2 mark question wrongly and consequently got 2.66 marks lesser than what I expected:(
Anyways I have no regrets. I got L,I and K calls and I'm joining IIM Lucknow finally.

(ii) VA was my strong point. But this year's VA was full of confusing questions. Even now I'm not able to accept some of the answers. But since I had lot of time on hand I nearly attended 40+ VA questions. I was expecting around 31-32 seeing TIME's key though I ended up getting only 24.xx (acc to TIME calculator). Since many people lost marks in VA because of ambiguous choices, I still managed a very decent 99.25. One thing I feel I did right was attempting many questions in VA after realising that some of the answers were too close to call thereby increasing my probablity of success

Preparation wise, I didnt give much time to VA. I prepared well for Math( in CAT 2004,Math caused my downfall). I used Arun Sharma. I had worked out the whole book and noted down the important sums in a seperate note book.I also noted down all the important sums of AIMCATs in the same note book. I used to glance through it before every Mock CAT. It made sure I was able to implement what ever I had learnt in the previous Test. Unless you do this, there is no use of giving Mock CATs. You need to ensure that there are some 'Take Aways' after each test.

Don't overburden yourself with Mock CATs from different institutes. I would recommend one a week until about 1 month before CAT when you can increase it to 2.Not more than that.

And one more thing, u need not read the word list , tables from 1 to 30, short cuts for multiplying 3 digit numbers, vedic mathematics etc...
CAT exams used to test your speed, not anymore. Having given CAT 2004 and CAT 2005, I can confidently say that the emphasis has shifted away from speed. If you are good enough with concepts you can attempt questions worth 70-80 marks easily.

All the best for CAT 2006 takers........

[keviv]

Hi all,

My actual CAT performance:
%ile-99.97 (VA-99.86, DI-98.58,QA-99.57)
Calls: BLACKI
converts: BLCKI

My AIMCAT performance is as follows:

Mock score %ile rank
03 49.66 99.81 52
04 60 99.84 26
05 67 99.93 12
06 56.33 99.71 49
07 62 99.97 7
08 64.67 99.37 113
09 54.83 98.71 243
10 48.17 98.71 216
11 61.66 48
12 77.33 99.91 12
13 64.66 99.93 13
14 53 41
15 41 94.2 971
16 61.66 99.23 123
17 49
18 70 99.67 50

I did well most of the time. But as you can see there were some mocks where I touched bottom. Di was usually my nemesis and VA the saviour.

Apart from this, I wrtoe mocks of all other coaching classes (CL,PT,IMS) in my room and would stand usually among top 50 there, with even ranks 1,2 and 3 in IMS simcats. However, take this with a pinch of salt because you tend to score higher at your room than at the examination centre.

All the best to all.

Cheers,
Vivek

[tp]

this thread has brought back all the mock cat scores and ranks. all the hardwork or rather smart work put in

and in the end, not a just reward. i maybe the only case who got less in cat compared to mocks

i dun thk i shd put my mock scores here as i din get final call frm an IIM. but sure this thread will help a lot of people here

[denish]

Not a Cracker ... but ... here's my performance :(
SIMCAT 1 - 69.97 %ile --- AIR 7596
SIMCAT 2 - 94.35 %ile --- AIR 1369
SIMCAT 3 - 76.23 %ile --- AIR 5637
SIMCAT 4 - 97.79 %ile --- AIR 485
SIMCAT 5 - 99.08 %ile --- AIR 209
SIMCAT 6 - 96.72 %ile --- AIR 682
SIMCAT 7 - 97.84 %ile --- AIR 453
SIMCAT 8 - 95.10 %ile --- AIR 1085
============================
CAT - 98.85 %ile --- AIR

Calls: L, NITIE, MDI
converts: none

Gyaan: SimCAT scores dont matter as long as you keep learning froom your mistakes and dont simply bask under the glory of consistency in any 1 section. I suggest taking mock tests of at least 2 different coaching classes to get a better feel of your standing.

[anupam will return]

This innovative approach to compare the successful junta's mock CAT performances vis-a-vis their actual CAT performance.. may help the future aspirants to a certain extent but having said that... I strongly believe what really matters in CAT is those 2 hours.
A candidate may be an excellent performer in MOCKs but I won't give him credit if he fails to clear the last hurdle.It just proves how serious he is with Mocks but when it comes to the real test, he crumbles...
Giving some respect to the purpose of this thread, if any candidate can consistently hover around the 97+ percentile range with 94+ in each of the sections he/she should assume that his/her preparation (course work wise) is up to the mark.
However there's one more preparation left : mental preparation which comes only if you are strong inside. Make sure you spend some quality time for this as well.

-Vengeance

[anubhav_kaul]

AIMCATs 601-604: Did not appear
605: AIR 9, 99.95
606: AIR 2, 99.99
607: AIR 2, 99.99
608: AIR 1, 100
609: AIR 3, 99.98
610 & 611: Did not appear
612: AIR 40, 99.81
613: AIR 164,99.07
614: AIR 268, 98.4
615: AIR 53, 99.67
616: AIR 3, 99.98
617: AIR 113, 99.24
--------------------------------------------
CL Mocks:
mock1: 98.91
mock2: 99.75
mock3: 99.81
mock4: 99.91
mock5: 99.66
mock6: 99.80
mock7: 99.60
mock8: 99.92
mock 9: 99.89
---------------------------------------------
AIMCAT avg. %ile: 99.65
CL Mock avg. %ile: 99.69
CAT %ile: 99.89
---------------------------------------------
I fould TIME mocks slightly better than their CL counterparts. Also, a lot of fake scores pop up in CL, so you're rank/%ile does take a beating. Missed out on QA cutoff once in an AIMCAT

For the guys preparing, don't lose heart after a bad mock. Don't bother if you screw up a sectional once/twice, but do work on it if you'r consistently screwing it up. Give equal importance to each section, irrespective of whether you are good or bad in it. Giving less time to your fav section & more to a weak one works for some ppl, but I'd advice every1 to go with a 40-40-40 min. strategy.

Finally, it's more abt what you do that day, than anything else. Whatever happens, do stay calm during the paper (easier said than done)

Cheers,
Kaul

[thecky]

Originally Posted by anubhav_kaul

---------------------------------------------
AIMCAT avg. %ile: 99.65
CL Mock avg. %ile: 99.69
CAT %ile: 99.89
---------------------------------------------

A very well deserved IIMA admit and mock CAT scores that served as inspiration to many lesser souls (me ).
Congrats and Hats off, Sir.