How much time to spend on RC in a full length paper?

[couger]

hi all.
it is right that we can finish off the VA part in 10-12 min... but the most important point there is to maintain ones accuracy...
belive me the options that we are given in cat for these VA are such that 2or 3 of the options look to be the answer.....
but compare that with RC... those who have a habit of reading a lot do not have any prob in this because the answer is given in the passage itself...
there is nothing more we need to do....

so definetely in a cat paper i will give 22-26 min for RC and 14-18 minutes to VA...

[maniac]

33-34 cut off
u must be kidding....
plz some one give me the approximate cut off of english and other sections
ciao.

[THUSSU]

Originally Posted by maniac

33-34 cut off
u must be kidding....
plz some one give me the approximate cut off of english and other sections
ciao.

i'd say atleast over 25; a good score would be 30+

[MOONSTRUCK]

Hello

My suggsetion:
Never attempt RC in tha last unless u r one of those exceptional cases.

Start with RC. 35-40 mins for a normal guy...
Time again depends on how good u r at RC...

Ciao

[neha_k]

I took 2 CAT papers last week - CAT 99 and CAT 2000, just to get a warm up. These have been my observations.
CAT 99 paper had 55 * 3 = 165 questions. Section 1 was 28 RC and 27 verbal. No vocab based stuff. I took 45 minutes to attemp 40 questions and have got 27 correct. Net score = 24. Now, as the paper mentioned that the cut-off for CAT 99 was approx 28, i should by CAT be able to clear the cut-off. But then i need to save 5 minutes, as i will go by the rule of thumb to spend equal time on all sections.

\The third section was Logical reasoning and DI. I got 30 correct in 30 minutes as it was really easy. May not be so in CAT 2004. So i was saved as another section was easy. if it was not then i would have really suffered.

In CAT 2000, it was 50*3 = 150 questions. VA + RC = 25 + 25. Took 30 minutes, and attempted 35 questions. All vocab and 2 RCs. Got 24 correct, net score = 21. Again, missed cut-off by 5 marks. THe math and DI was really tough, but managed to come close to cut-off in math atleast as it is my strongest area.

so i feel that only based upon how difficult the section is and how difficult are other sections, should one decide to spend time.

I have leanrt one lesson. Not to plan full 2 hours before starting test and not to overshoot planned time at any cost. OK that was two lessons.

bye

neha

[RahulSharma]

Originally Posted by neha_k

I took 2 CAT papers last week - CAT 99 and CAT 2000, just to get a warm up. These have been my observations.
CAT 99 paper had 55 * 3 = 165 questions. Section 1 was 28 RC and 27 verbal. No vocab based stuff. I took 45 minutes to attemp 40 questions and have got 27 correct. Net score = 24. Now, as the paper mentioned that the cut-off for CAT 99 was approx 28, i should by CAT be able to clear the cut-off. But then i need to save 5 minutes, as i will go by the rule of thumb to spend equal time on all sections.

\The third section was Logical reasoning and DI. I got 30 correct in 30 minutes as it was really easy. May not be so in CAT 2004. So i was saved as another section was easy. if it was not then i would have really suffered.

In CAT 2000, it was 50*3 = 150 questions. VA + RC = 25 + 25. Took 30 minutes, and attempted 35 questions. All vocab and 2 RCs. Got 24 correct, net score = 21. Again, missed cut-off by 5 marks. THe math and DI was really tough, but managed to come close to cut-off in math atleast as it is my strongest area.

so i feel that only based upon how difficult the section is and how difficult are other sections, should one decide to spend time.

I have leanrt one lesson. Not to plan full 2 hours before starting test and not to overshoot planned time at any cost. OK that was two lessons.

bye

neha

Flexibility is the key to success...

[neha_k]

is ghuam cricketer-commentator sidhu in disguise, as your philospohies on CAT remind me of sidhu's on cricket

[ashwini_shenoy79]

Hi Harry Potter,
gr8 analysis man!!!
Regards,
Ashwini

[vikasyd]

hi,
what i think is it is always good to decide what are the strong points within the given section. if one is very good in vocab one can try analogy questions. if one is good with jumbled paragraph they can master that. there is a very a high probability that there will be not more than a maximum of 8 questions of a particular type. so one can safely decide as to what type of questions to attend beforehand.
about rcs the passages in the cat paper are to the full breadth of the sheet. hence reading newspapers doesnt help much for the actual rcs though it would increase the reading skills. it is more advisable to read books or articles which run to the full breadth of the sheet i.e., two eye spans.


p.s.: stop assuming anything about number of sections and who will set the paper etc. every year every iim sets up a committee to set up the questions in each section. the members of this committee are relieved of all other duties and the final quetion paper is decided by a review committee. it is not a hit it or miss it operation. just do the best u can in the preparations.

[RahulSharma]

Originally Posted by neha_k

is ghuam cricketer-commentator sidhu in disguise, as your philospohies on CAT remind me of sidhu's on cricket

my dear friend...i wish i were like him.
but i feel happy that u can see traces of an MP in me.

BTW, how do you like Sidhu's commentary on cricket???