[buck_was]

Originally Posted by rakhihere

great scores and great stratagies...

probably mine is the least score so far posted on PG ..

lots will rofl...:( :( :(

QA - 8
VA- 21
DI - 16
OA- 45

any chances for me to clear on D- Day....:(:(
any suggestions,,,...????

First n foremost, hats-off to ur spirit.. I personally know many who religiously take all mocks, with all seriousness, and are regular visitors of PG, but who dont prefer to post their scores.. all the thanks tht u see beneath this post of yours are meant to encourage you, and indirectly others, who dont post their scores.. BBLT dekho (Bol Bachan Losers Team! - 07)http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-an...team-07-a.html (Bol Bachan Losers Team! - 07), aur bindaas scores post karo!

Shall come to ur query later.. through this post of mine, I also wanna make a point (even for others who shy away frm posting scores, and who happen to read this) tht on PG.com, there is no distinction between a 99+ scorer or a 95+ scorer or a sub-70 scorer.. one wud find, most of those who score in the upper echelons of mock toppers charts, are willing to help/guide/share experience.. in fact, it duznt have to do with mock performance at all! Most PG.com regulars are approachable, the onus is on the help-seeker to take the initiative (as u took)..

Coming to ur query, as Greenspan said, it wud help if u get to specifics.. but in general, there are several things u shud think of simultaneously.. viz.
1. How desperate are you for an MBA in 2008-10 batch?
2. Which section do u think is ur strength/weakness?
3. What are your problem areas/strengths in each section?

Once u r thru with this, get to the drawing board.. Here, i m assuming the worst case scenario, tht u haven't cleared sectional cutoff of any section in any of the mocks held till date (as this post addresses not jus u, but all those down-in-the-dumps souls).. with 8 mocks (and some more take-home tests) to go, u have ur task cut out.. try clearing one sectional cut off at a time over next 3 mocks, even if it means tht u have to spend 1 hr for it.. so by 806, u shud have cleared all the 3 cut-offs at least once.. then in 804-802, try clearing the 3 combinations of 2 sections (QA-DI, QA-Eng, DI-Eng) at a time, with a time distribution tht suits u (55-55-40 can be a good idea, givin 40 mins to the section u 'dont wanna clear'!).. finally, go for clearing all 3 simultaneously in 801 (with ideal time distribution of 50-50-50), and then carpe diem :smile:

As regards preps go, see to it tht despite job, u r studyin something or the other daily.. shud feel the 'guilt' wen u go to bed without adding something new to ur arsenal on a daily basis.. its a case of cut-throat competition out there.. 10th-12th ka exam nahi hai
You can considering leveraging on ur existing strength for the time being, to hone some skills and capture some basics of things you are weak at..

Analysing mocks helps more than taking them.. u get to know where u r faltering.. u also get to know where (which type of ques) ppl are scoring relatively heavily, and u r lacking.. u can easily catch hold of any Puy to get some gyaan/guidance/online material for the same..

Last but not the least, if money is not too much of a concern, see to it tht u apply for all the major tests, and to B schools of different rungs in case you are truly desperate for an MBA this year..

Bahut gyaan ho gaya.. aadhe log to abb tak aage badh gaye honge ya so gaye honge

HTH

PS: In a war situation, soldiers on both sides are equally devoted, loyal, brave, and committed.. but victory sides with those who are more resilient
Nothing's lost till you start imagining so..
For more invigorating one-liners, read my signature..

PPS: Disclaimer - These are my independent views/suggestions, may or may not help on a case-to-case basis.. but the bottomline (true for all) is BE ACTIVE, WORK HARD n SMART, no point shying in acceptin tht u work hard (rather, it can also be a matter of pride if u realise ur dreams at the end of it all) - not all of us are 'blessed' + element of uncertainty lurks in best of brains.. trust me, the journey will be a memorable one, irrespective of the destination u reach..

[felinenexus]

Thanks a lot for all the encouragement yaar...
I guess i'm one of those whom you mentioned....
i rush in here once the mock is over , but i never post anything...

My scores...

QA - 21
VA- 17
DI - 27


OA- 65



all the way till now i've always cleared the VA cut off
and i clear either DI or QA never all the three together.....
and every time i give atleast 45 min to each section

but all this while i was pretty confident abt VA
now i lose that firm ground too...
feeling pretty bad now....

i need some suggestion on how to tackle all the three together....
and pls give me some advice regarding how to go abt analyzing the paper....i've nvr done that till now.....

[themainman]

Wish this one changes coz it takes me 4 marks further.... and into the 120s!!!

Originally Posted by anir-iim2005

Well, this is new info (This discrepancy between solution and key). Anyways, this was one of the few dubious questions in VA this time around. I think both options 1 & 2 mean the same in essence. Stand to lose 4 marks if it's changed though..

Anirban

[themainman]

Dude I cant agree with you more here!!!

THough I am a regular defaulter with a 98.xx and a 78.xx in VA over the last two CATs...but guys believe me what he says makes sense....

Manish
P.S. OA:99.81 CAT06(ABC not converted:(); 99.91 CAT07(no calls:()

Originally Posted by anir-iim2005

Although this question is not directed at me, I will try to put my 2 cents here..

1. For VA, I don't think Accuracy is that important. This is true especially for CAT 2006 type of VA. If u r normally getting good accuracy, then go for it, otherwise I would say go for maximising ur attempts. Simple logic - if ur accuracy is 50% even when u r doing 50% of the total questions, then go for 100% attempts. Even with a 40% accuracy, u will score better then. Of course, don't go for blind guesses. Improve ur speed so that u can be through the VA section in 50 minutes. With number of questions coming down always, that should be possible.

2. Don't need to spend hours for English, it's not worth that. In fact no section in CAT needs hours of study. What u need is some smart study. Try to utilise whatever free time u get. Like doing some practice tests (like 10 minute sectional tests from Home ), reading magazines or newspapers while having some free time. Reading is the most important aspect of English preparation. And I am not referring to some serious material like editorials here. Anything will do, be it the sports page or anything. Just read extensively. You will form an idea abt ideal sentence construction. helps a lot in Grammar questions. Also, try speed reading in these cases. If u r not comfortable with RC, try reading different types of reports during free time.

3. While point 2 is the best way according to me, it may take some time. So, for short duration training, u may refer to GMAT guides for verbal. Will be immensely helpful. Go for the Sentence Correction, RC and Critical reasoning portions.

4. Don't worry too much abt CAT. But DREAM - that's the biggest driving force. If u love ur preparation, then you will certainly find out time for it also..

All The Best...


Anirban

[made_for_iims]

Originally Posted by themainman

Wish this one changes coz it takes me 4 marks further.... and into the 120s!!!

no....according to Time's moderator... the answer is correct and it shud be option 1 only...
btw just read ur comments for me... thanks for the encouragement

[themainman]

Tere mooh mein mirchi MIrchi Karela...anyways dude...hardly matters wat time says about VA they got just abt 16 answers right last time around at CAT...before the results were out...so ALL THE BEST!!!
Waise my query was where is North mentioned in the RC anyways in the context fer q. 88?

Originally Posted by made_for_iims

no....according to Time's moderator... the answer is correct and it shud be option 1 only...
btw just read ur comments for me... thanks for the encouragement

[made_for_iims]

Originally Posted by themainman

Tere mooh mein mirchi MIrchi Karela...anyways dude...hardly matters wat time says about VA they got just abt 16 answers right last time around at CAT...before the results were out...so ALL THE BEST!!!
Waise my query was where is North mentioned in the RC anyways in the context fer q. 88?

lol.... yeah karela sehat ke liye accha hota hai

North is nowhere mentioned...
but when we say north... It means development.....

[ravisekharan]

Hey,

can anyone tip me as to how must i go abt preparing for CATs and how to go abt attempting MOCK CATs. ie time split up etc.. T's quiet difficult to cope up wid college studies n CAT prep.. So, i spend very very very less time on CAT.. can anyone suggest a way out for all these plz????!!!

[ravisekharan]

Aint there anybody here in the forum? ??????

[writetotanveer]

Originally Posted by rakhihere

thanks mate....
the very problem with me is VA...where my accuracy is very low and reading speed as well is slow...can u suggest a way i can improve..i'm working so cant spend hours together...only weekends and few hours a day...:(:(

With two months left to CAT you cannot afford to have a very VA-centric approach.

But here are some quick strategies for a 2 month period which could help you raise your VA percentiles and your confidence as well as boost your GDPI prep

Buy last ten year's CAT papers.
Solve the VA section of each year.

Get hold of the Mocks of at least one more insti. Make sure that you are solving at least two VA mocks per week.


(a)While doing the above you will come across words you have not heard.
Though these words are unlikely to be repeated there is a high probability that similar words or synonyms for these words will be used by the CAT
Punch these words into Dictionary.com.
It will throw up up words with similar meanings.
Glance through those words.
If you are even more dedicated you can note some of them down to revise just before the CAT

(b) While doing the RC's you will get a hang of the topics being given. For every RC select a significant sentence . Go to Google Scholar . Punch that sentence in! It will throw up some very erudite articles on that topic. Read them. It will give you a headache!!
But you will get a hang of the level of RC's of the CAT

(c) Go to my signature. there is a link CAT - THE SOURCE. I have posted the sources of recent VA questions. go through those websites. Guardian, BBC..etc..

(d) Religiously follow the following magazines

(1) Businessworld (weekly)
(2) India Today (fortnightly)
(3) Competition Success Review (monthly)
(4) Reader's Digest (monthly)

Apart from this scan a newspaper daily.

(e)Buy Arun Sharma's .. book for CAT -VA. It helps to some extent since it gives you a bunch of question on the same topic in one place

(f) Keep a dictionary on your study table. Scan it once in a while especially for words that have big entries. You need to know these words having multiple meanings. they may help in the Vocab questions

(g) Refer to a Grammar book. When you are doing Sentence correction exercises -try to identify the grammar area the sentence correction hits e.g. Agreement of verb with subject. Then go to the grammar book and look up the topic and study it more extensively



I know the above is a tough task .....but believe me if you can even do 40-50% of the above esp. the Mocks and past year's CAT papers.. you will see your VA percentiles go up!!!

Trust me!!

Regards
Tanveer