[Jok3r]

Originally Posted by chandu_romeo

I am very good at QA. even in the toughest papers i have managed a 40. I'm working on doing more practice in DI and am ok with DI.

My main problem is VA. In VA, i have not crossed the cut off even in one AIMCAT/Mocks. I hardly get 10-15 marks in VA. Am a gone case when it comes to Vocab and am ok with RCs . Please suggest some strategy to get atleast the cutoff in VA. I'm tensed. I am starting to have a phobia of sort to attempt VA though i am having a good 45+ minutes after completing my QA/DI.

Right now RC's are my aim and am working on increasing my reading speed.

I'm a working guy and am hardly finding any time. Can you please suggest any specific book/dialy routine to improve my vocab(correction of sentenses, picking up the right word, completing the paragraphs etc).

Also Any suggestions to be cool in the exam would help.

Hi Chandu,

There are no specific books to recommend. My personal advice always is to read whatever you like, even if its Archie comics . Since you are finding difficulty in finding time to prepare, maybe you can stop working on vocab for the time being, and slowly take it from there. IF at all you find a free strech of time, try giving the VA section for all india mocks from previous years as practice by setting time limits.

Finally, dont worry about pressure, you will be seeing a lot of people posting on this thread saying they are facing problems remaining cool in exams. What helps is knowing that others are as much under pressure as you(atleast this worked for me)

Originally Posted by visionIIM-ACL

Hii seniors,

Thanks to all of you for taking out time for us ....despite the rigorous schedules, you all have !!

Let me give a brief intro...i secured 96.08 %yl in 2008.... with QA : 98.XX , DI : 95.XX and VA : 79.xx.......am currently in infy !!

As far as this year preparation is concerned , i started off the season with some good percentiles..... followed by a dip in my scores ...........however, i have started recovering from last mock and have re-entered 90 + range..

Quant is my strong area along with DI .. i score well in RCs but screw up vocab portion again and again ( apart from RC, I have good accuracy in FIJs, Para completions, Critical Reasoning) , but, PJs , Fill in the blanks with words , grammar etc type are creating problems..

2 Problems I have
1. Before mock, i plan that i will not attempt these type of questions, but when i see them in mock, i feel tempted to do such questions and always end up loosing the marks scored in other type of questions....

2. I have never score above 99 %yl... though i have reached upper 97/98 ...but not able to stretch ma scores , a little more!!..and for reaching IIMs, I need to go above that 99 mark...

Can you please suggest me somethin to maximize my score in VA and overall score too??

My current paper taking strategy is : I start with VA , then QA and then DI.... i give equal time to all 3 sections...( 50 min each)

Thanks in advance

Varun

Hi Varun,

1) I personally believed when I was preparing that it is more of a test of how well you can leave than how many you can solve...since everyone usually leaves a lot more questions that they solve. It boils down to self control in your case. In the next paper try & keep such questions for the end at least if you feel like giving them a shot

2) Unfortunately, you are wrong
I got over 99 %ile only once in an aimcat...& over 97 approximately 3 times. If you want I can provide a lot more examples from most IIMs. Try and maintain the scores, & review the paper to find out the parts where you're making mistakes currently.

Regarding VA, try to ensure your accuracy is as good as it can get in the parts you are good at, & after that start working on the weak vocab part.

Originally Posted by praboo

A brief intro about me.. CAT '08 : QA: 16marks DI: 35marks VA: 15marks
My problem is RC... I attempted only one RC (5questions).... One correct and four wrong.... How can I improve my RC ability? I have the habit of reading "The Hindu" Editorial page... What are all new techniques I should use ? Please help me...

Please mention percentiles, a lot of us dont remember what score fetched which percentile in cat08

"The Hindu Editorial" is one of the greatest myths of cat preparation in my opinion. If you are making so many mistakes in RC. read simpler stuff first to improve your reading speed. Once that part is done, try practicing RCs at home.

Originally Posted by rohit_d_09

hi m rohit
my mock score are b/w 70-80% is there any chance got cleared qa cuttoff all the time but failed in va if there chance then how should i proceed.

Hi Rohit,

Its tough to understand your problem if you write in such a hurry
if your mocks are between 70-80(from what I understand), yes you can clear cat. & yes there is a chance, just keep working at it. If there was a simple 1-2-3 step solution to clearing VA then world would be a far better place .Please let us know what exactly are the problems you face in va.

Originally Posted by Neo007

Hi Sir
Thanks for such a great initiatives..

I have been good at QA and above average in DI except few times.
English Section has been a cause of worry for a long time.

Now I felt in previous mocks that accuracy in RC is better than that of VA. I get few marks by attemting 2 RCs in each mock.

But VA has always let me down mostly it gave me 0 to -6 , which is why when ever RCs are tough i have no fallback option in this section .

I expect few areas of VA to improve and also ways to improve it.

In last 7 AIMCATS i have give 5 times i got 98.09 to 98.92 (thrice each cut offs cleared). 2 times around 96%ile and once 89 %ile as well.

When ever it comes to less score it is due to zero or negative marks in VA.

Please guide me to crack CAT especially VA /RC .
Also how and what to practise and revise DI/LR to get a decent mark and Quant to maximize .

Will wait for ur response

DI/LR - Personal opinion : get hold of previous years' All India mocks & give them as practise tests by setting a time limit. Nothing matches the quality of what coaching centers give in those mocks.

VA/RC - try and improve your RC a bit more, maybe attempting all RCs if there are more than 2. Try and find out specific areas in VA in which you falter. In case its everything apart from RC, my advice for this too is read read read.

Cheers
Himanshu

[adityankb]

I am a student of BITS-Pilani. I am having a cgpa of 6.21/10 by hte end of 3-2. What are my chances in getting a call from IIM-K. I have heard that IIMs are pretty strict in placing calls, that is, they look into your academics strictly.

[Massy]

Many guys had missed the fields - SSC and HSC - percentage fields .. There is no provision for modification of details like in xat/ snap .And there were no warning messages displayed by the system. Prometric people says that they needs to buy a new voucher and re register again, wasting another 1400 Rs. Can any IIM K seniors inform about this problem directly to IIM officials ...

[Smiya13]

Dear All,

About me, this is my first attempt to CAT, and I seriously wanna crack it. About myself, i used to work in a Bank, but left it 2 months back, cause I was not able to devote enough time to study. I am a chem engineer with 22 months exp .
Now, i started preparing for CAT, in the month of april, left job in July. Now, in initial Mocks I used to score ok, as in with giving it first time, and scoring like 70-70-80 percentiles. Then I don't know what happened, when i started experimenting, my scores dropped to 50-40-60-50. Last couple of mocks i could not give as I landed up in hospital after meeting an accident, lost about 1.5 month. Now, I have fully recovered as in to sit and prepare ,but am scared if I can make it to.

Now my queries are...
1. I have taken up Times classes, but they are yet to finish the portion, and what ever has been finished , I could not clear out the basics practise yet, so what should i do. I wanna know that can I compelete the basics by the Sep end, and then devote time to AIM CATS.

2. About AIMCAT analysis, I know few questions which I attempted and can review them, but what about the topics pertaining to areas which I have not yet done and will be doing. How can I review them

3. Is it ok to leave certain topics like probability, cause I really cant understand it as I have left it for option during my college days.

4. Does my low mocks give any indication like what will be my likely fate in CAT.

Thanks in advance.

[kaustubhnsit248]

Dear IIMK seniors,

i had applied for iimk pgp program while registering for cat today.but when i received the confirmation mail all the iims except iimk were present.i am afraid whether i'll miss out on iimk.i am pretty sure that i had checked the button corresponding to iimk pgp.there is no option to edit the form or see what you had filled in the form.i dont believe in the confirmation mail sent by prometric as many guys had opted for non iim institutes option and yet that was not visible in the confirmation mail.
Please help

[amreshcg]

Great Initiative ... Thanks to PG, Apurv and IIMK guys (Senior to few of us)...

My queries:

1.How can some one like me who is neither week nor strong in any section can maximise his score?
2. How many mocks some one should write?
3. How do you analyze a mock?
4.Role of Vocab in preperation?
5.How to tackle D-Day pressure?

My Mock Strategy: equal time to all the sections
Score: getting early nineties


Thanks...............

[caterock]

Hi seniors,
I dont know what it is a problem or something else, my main strength is VA even in the toughest mocks i came out wid flying colors at least in VA my doubt is that whenever i attempt questions like sentence correction, parajumbles etc., most of the time i can not reason out the exact reason for marking a particular answer i just feel that it shuld be correct bcoz other options sounds me awkward or something else happens u can say that it is a guess, also some say that i pick up the tune of the sentence and therefore answer easily becoz i am a avid reader. But the thing is that more than most of the time my choices r correct.
What would u suggest, is this a very wrong approach and it is the luck which is wid me till now? What should b my strategy? I am very confused plz help

[Jok3r]

Originally Posted by adityankb

I am a student of BITS-Pilani.....they look into your academics strictly.

Hi Aditya,

Don't go by hearsay, I don't think there was anything mentioned regarding the past acads being considered in final evaluation.
Anyways, the final criteria for IIMs changes every year, IIMA being a case in point this year. So don't worry about this right now & give it your best shot.

Originally Posted by Massy

Many guys had missed the fields.....Can any IIM K seniors inform about this problem directly to IIM officials ...

Hi Massy,

There is already an article on this on the home page : Glitch in CAT 2009 online registration may lay your voucher waste | PaGaLGuY.com - India's biggest CAT 2009, MBA website
with the line " However, there is no need to panic; according to Prof Satish Deodhar from IIM-Ahmedabad, the IIMs are in talks with Prometric and a final solution to the problem will be declared by tomorrow evening."

So don't worry, I'm sure there will be a solution for this soon.

Originally Posted by Smiya13

Dear All,
Now my queries are...
1. .......Thanks in advance.

Hi Smiya,

1) It depends on the amount of portion left. Do the basics properly, & you can focus on aimcats later. There will probably be little use of focusing on aimcats without clearing up basics
2) Finishing up the course first is the solution to this problem too
3)Yes, in fact its one of those topics a lot of people leave.
4) Simply put, No there is still a lot of time to go between now & the cat exam. & as I have posted before there are a lot of examples of ppl clearing cat who had low mock scores

Originally Posted by kaustubhnsit248

Dear IIMK seniors,............ sent by prometric as many guys had opted for non iim institutes option and yet that was not visible in the confirmation mail..............Please help

Hi Kaustubh,

As I have posted above, this problem is being looked into & there will probably a solution out soon.

Originally Posted by amreshcg

My queries:.......................................... .............................
My Mock Strategy: equal time to all the sections
Score: getting early nineties..............Thanks.

Hi Amresh,

1) Focus on all sections equally, & find out your weak areas in each section
2) It depends totally on the individual. There's no hard & fast rule.
3) Everyone has different methodologies. I used to first see if there were questions I could solve easily & missed out on. Then tried to solve the questions I had left without any time limit. & Finally tried to find out weak areas based on the previous steps.
4) My personal opinion is not a lot, VA sections recently haven't been vocab heavy. Though there could be a surprise on D-Day
5) By knowing that everyone else is feeling the same pressure, and by enjoying seeing people study sitting outside the test center on D-Day . Your mock scores are good enough, there's no cause to worry

Originally Posted by caterock

Hi seniors,.........................What would u suggest, is this a very wrong approach and it is the luck which is wid me till now? What should b my strategy? I am very confused plz help

Hi,

This is how many people including me do/did VA. Don't think about it too much doing VA sometimes involves a lot of gut feel due to its ambiguity.

All the Best,
Himanshu

[donvitocorelone]

Hello sir
dis is my 1st post on dis thread. & i was really impressed by ur meticulous efforts for solving d problems of us aspirants. Itz really admirable. I hve few queries
1 i m a veterinary doctor currently pursuing my pg. I want 2 know if a diff background will help or hamper my prospects if i clear d cutoff
2 i wanted 2 know wt shud b d frequency of attempting d mocks i a week & how many mocks shud i b doing till d-day. I m finished wid fundas & keep revising them also
3 my preps problem is regarding qa. I m good at va & get more than 98 in each of mock. While in qa my performance is LOW ATTMPT wid GUD acc. Bt i miss out cutoffs for being slow. How can i improve speed in qa.

[Jok3r]

Originally Posted by donvitocorelone

Hello sir
dis is my 1st post on dis thread. & i was really impressed by ur meticulous efforts for solving d problems of us aspirants. Itz really admirable. I hve few queries
1 i m a veterinary doctor currently pursuing my pg. I want 2 know if a diff background will help or hamper my prospects if i clear d cutoff
2 i wanted 2 know wt shud b d frequency of attempting d mocks i a week & how many mocks shud i b doing till d-day. I m finished wid fundas & keep revising them also
3 my preps problem is regarding qa. I m good at va & get more than 98 in each of mock. While in qa my performance is LOW ATTMPT wid GUD acc. Bt i miss out cutoffs for being slow. How can i improve speed in qa.

Hi,

1) There will be no problem whatsoever because of your background, there are a few doctors here in both the batches. In fact, this will be an advantage for you since the IIMs are looking for diversity in the batches.

2) There is no hard and fast rule regarding the same. Try as many as you feel comfortable in, and also if you feel that there is a value addition due this process or not

3) This was exactly the same problem with me in QA too, so there might be others here who can help better in this aspect. Perhaps you can look at giving QA sections of mocks by setting a time limit & trying to increase your attempts.

Cheers
Himanshu