[raghav507]

Originally Posted by diva_nehakapoor

No man, you certainly didn't piss me off! In fact it was good to know your opinion.

thanx for that...
and same here too...

[catgotmytongue]

hey puys
getting really dejected over quant... I'm just wondering,HOW on earth do you improve quant? Practice, i understand. But even when i practice i don't get the answer and that gets me completely upset so i stop practicing. Its this HORRIBLY vicious cycle :( :(

ANY suggestions at all?

[diva_nehakapoor]

Originally Posted by catgotmytongue

hey puys
getting really dejected over quant... I'm just wondering,HOW on earth do you improve quant? Practice, i understand. But even when i practice i don't get the answer and that gets me completely upset so i stop practicing. Its this HORRIBLY vicious cycle :( :(

ANY suggestions at all?

I can completely identify with what ur saying :neutral:

[diablorulez]

Originally Posted by catgotmytongue

hey puys
getting really dejected over quant... I'm just wondering,HOW on earth do you improve quant? Practice, i understand. But even when i practice i don't get the answer and that gets me completely upset so i stop practicing. Its this HORRIBLY vicious cycle :( :(

ANY suggestions at all?

Originally Posted by diva_nehakapoor

I can completely identify with what ur saying :neutral:

hi guys

I guess i can help u a bit in that as my nemesis was quants too..only on thing is now that can really help u thats instead of attempting everything ..go by the funda of selectivity . jst focus on ur strength areas and b very selective in that.

also do go thru this
CAT Blog

this is pretty sueful and will help u how to go about quants

cheers

[agrawalabhishek]

hi every1.only 112 days to go for mother of all exams.hope every1 is going fine with their preparation.all the best for mock tests

[raghav507]

hi all,
continuing in the Monday series...a good article by Arun Sharma...may be it can help many...

CAT CONTROL

ARUN SHARMA REVEALS THE FIRST STEP TO CRACKING THE CAT IS TO LEARN TO RECOGNISE AND OVERTURN YOUR ERRORS



It’s July and CAT preparation is at its peak for most 2008 aspirants.
In the last two articles, we focused on questions that appeared in the CAT 2007 quants section and the ways in which we could solve them. It was apparent that simple logical processes would have overcome seemingly very tough processes.
In this article, we focus on a very crucial matter, which if adequately dealt with, can help you improve your test scores.
It is understood that it is extremely important to be dedicatedly taking practice tests at this time. In fact, it is imperative that you realise that the CAT prep is actually divided into two parts. Remember: Each part is as important as the other -
(a) Conceptual development- Through conceptual development, a student can focus on developing a strong theoretical background in each of the three sections of the exam.
(b) Test taking: Any preparation for CAT cannot be complete without a significant number of tests taken by the student. The minimum recommended number would be around 30 to 40 tests. The more, the better.
In fact, while there are a lot of aspirants who are able to crack the CAT and acquire admission to the IIMs or other good management institutes without doing (a), it is extremely rare to come across someone who has cracked the CAT and made it to the IIMs without doing (b). Thus, look at it this way. Ideally, a student’s CAT preparation should be about (a) and (b) mixed in a proper fashion, but if you are only doing one, (b) is compulsory, especially if you are good with the basics.
Obviously, a lot of students out there have already started to take tests. It is also very obvious that many of these students will be very concerned about the range in which they might be scoring in these practice tests. The key question students will be facing at this point of time, would be:
“What do I do in order to develop my test scores?”
Also, if you are scoring, say, 50 percentile in your tests now, does it mean that you are on your way to a third-level B-School? Does it mean that the cherished dream that you have always had of getting into the IIMs is going to remain exactly that - a pipe dream?
Absolutely not. Contrary to popular perception, taking a jump from 50 percentile to 99 percentile need not be related to how much you study. You could easily do it with some smart working on your part.
So what must you focus on?
A critical issue in CAT preparations is the ability to overturn errors. In the current context of the CAT (last two years), where individual questions have carried four marks for a correct answer, and -1 for an incorrect answer, the net result of an error was five marks. As we have already mentioned in our previous articles in this series, just five errors overturned would give you an additional 25 marks, taking you from 60 percentile to 90 percentile levels.
Refer to the article a few weeks ago, where we had defined your score improvement potential - viz by defining three types of questions:
a) How many silly errors did you make in the exam? Let the number of such silly errors be A.
b) How many questions did you read in the exam for which you remembered the answers only after you left the hall? Let the number of such questions be B. c) How many questions did you not read in the exam, but knew the answer when you saw them after the paper? Let the number of such questions be C.
An individual’s total score improvement potential would be given by A×5+ B×4+C×4.
So the obvious question would be: How do I achieve this score improvement?
Let us focus on the first of these categories - taking care of silly errors. The first thing you should realise is that silly errors can further be defined into three broad types:
i) Errors of calculation: One of my students (an IIT alumnus) committed the error of calculating 3x3 = 6 in his CAT. The result? A drop of five marks in net scores, leading to a crucial percentile drop. Obviously, these errors would be committed in the QA and DI sections only.
ii) Process-based silly errors: A single-step error in solving a question. Again, obviously an error that would be committed in the QA and DI sections only. iii) Over reading errors: Questions you get incorrect due to the fact that you did not read it properly. This error might occur in any of the three sections, including English. Your preparation plan should include processes to overturn each of these three categories.
Issue 1: Tackling calculation errors - How do you explain an IITian making an error like 3×3 = 6? Does he not know this? Obviously, there are explanations outside the ordinary, which induce such errors. This is what makes the CAT tough (If you recollect, in the last few articles, we have been concentrating on demonstrating why the CAT paper is actually easy).
When an IIT topper can be induced to make such errors, what would happen to a normal student?
The first and foremost thing you should realise while preparing is that when you are taking the CAT, the entire potential of your brain will not be available to you. Your mind will be in such a state that you might be forced to even check 2+2.
So remember, the basic principle is that if in your normal day to day preparation, you can do something by using an excess of 80 to 90% of your mind’s capacity, you would not be able to execute that thinking in the CAT paper.
What you need to realise is that unless you train yourself to be able to execute your thought processes under intense unrelenting pressure, any preparation for the CAT, by and large, makes no sense.
In our next article in this series, we will throw more light on this issue.
(The writer is a corporate trainer, an author of a series of bestselling books from Tata McGraw Hill and a popular CAT trainer)

[anuj316]

hi there..
i have given some papers for cat
i have a good quant and LR but i'm getting a bit slow in that..i've to pick up speed..i know that for that tests are necesary...but i want to ask that should i also do arun sharma other than tests.i've not done arun sharma b4.just over with the ims material..so shouls i do it?and if so, would i be able to complete it at this point of time?
plz help...

[AMIT_007_001]

Originally Posted by anuj316

hi there..
i have given some papers for cat
i have a good quant and LR but i'm getting a bit slow in that..i've to pick up speed..i know that for that tests are necesary...but i want to ask that should i also do arun sharma other than tests.i've not done arun sharma b4.just over with the ims material..so shouls i do it?and if so, would i be able to complete it at this point of time?
plz help...

Buddy ...
Please dont worry too much ... There are ups & downs in one's CAT preperation ..
GO thru all the Posts on this thread , i m sure u wud be able to get answers to all ur queries ..

If u still have some doubts , shoot ...

All The Best !!!

[anuj316]

Originally Posted by AMIT_007_001

Buddy ...
Please dont worry too much ... There are ups & downs in one's CAT preperation ..
GO thru all the Posts on this thread , i m sure u wud be able to get answers to all ur queries ..

If u still have some doubts , shoot ...

All The Best !!!

ya i agree with what you said dude..my question refers to current situtuation as of today..starting arun sharma at this point of time will be a good decision or shall i go for taking regular tests only..?plz reply

[sb29]

Originally Posted by anuj316

ya i agree with what you said dude..my question refers to current situtuation as of today..starting arun sharma at this point of time will be a good decision or shall i go for taking regular tests only..?plz reply

i think i will be able to help on this. I had prepared from Arun Sharma last yr.

Don't do the DI book of sharma. It is not upto the standard of CAT. For QA, u can solve LOD2 problems. Try LOD 3 only if u have lots of free time. But doing LOD 2 may be a good idea. U may try working on one theme per week starting this week alongside your tests.