[CAT 2009 Helpline] By IIM Kozhikode students - The Road to CAT 2009 - PaGaLGuY.com - The Everything of MBA in India and Abroad, CAT 2009, GMAT, XAT, MAT

Apurv

Dear all,

The IIM Kozhikode CAT helpline is back!

Continuing with our tradition, we are bringing on board a motley team of Students of IIM Kozhikode, who have been there and done that as far as the CAT is concerned, to help you all out with:

Forming a test-taking strategy
How to deal with weaknesses in preparation
How to be prepared for the D-Day
Tips for each section

So if you have any questions on the above topics, post them here and get them answered by multiple IIM Kozhikode students to get rich perspective.

PS - it would be nice if you first went through the thread and see if your question has already been asked by someone. Why ask again something that has already been answered?

Cheers,
Apurv

harshadk · 07:59 PM

Thank you, Apurv!

To add to what Apurv has said...

Last year, we had started this initiative at the end of October. However, we got a feeling that it was too close to CAT to make the kind of impact that we wanted to, and wanted to start off earlier this time. We hope that with the 3 months we have in hand this time, we can contribute in a much larger way to the community.

The aim of this thread is not to discuss individual problems and caselets. We intend to focus more on the macro aspects of it, rather than specific problems.

Also, we already have a helpline about the online format of the test this year, where a commendable job is being done. Please direct your queries about that on that thread (http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-an...regarding.html (CAT Query Center- FAQs regarding CAT 2009 online and other Exams)). If you have any queries which cannot be answered there, or something which you still believe belongs here, then do go ahead and post

In case any specific queries about the online format come up which we are unable to resolve, we will attempt to sort them out in consultation with the appropriate authorities at IIMK.

Please be specific in your queries, and back them up with what you have been doing. For example, merely asking 'What should be the strategy for CAT?' is not very useful, as strategies will depend a lot on your state of preparedness, your strong and weak areas, etc. Ideally, include the following when you ask something :

- Your strong and weak areas
- Your overall mock scores
- Whether there has been any dip or rise in these scores in the last month or so
- Your current paper strategy

Include as much details as you can.

Cheers,
Harshad

Roger Federer

First of all i would like to thank you ppl for taking time despite the hectic schedule you ppl have there, also its good that this has been started a bit early this time

My problem is rather a unique one, My strongest area is supposed to be Quant, and its because of this i plunged into CAT , I was extremely good at Math all through my schooling/college, Verbal was my weakness and i wasnt exceptional in DI either, didnt prepare for CAT 2008 , and got 99.3 in DI , 97 in VA only 47 in Quant , though i was shocked at this, didnt bother much as i gave less time to Quant.

But this time the problem has become more serious, I ve been consistently getting between 97-99 and a couple of 99+, but I ve rarely cleared Quant cutoff(unless the Quant section is easy) , I ve cleared DI and VA cutoff all but once, and i am scoring decent enough to clear IIM cutoffs.

To blame it on lack of preparation wouldnt be correct as watever little prep I ve done till now is in Quant only.

Coming to my strategy, i give the maximum time to Quant ( 60- 70 minutes), and the rest between DI and VA, yet score above 90-95 in these 2 sections despite giving them less time

I would be thankful if u can tell what is going wrong with me and suggest a good strategy

nikhilarora · 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harshadk

Please be specific in your queries, and back them up with what you have been doing. For example, merely asking 'What should be the strategy for CAT?' is not very useful, as strategies will depend a lot on your state of preparedness, your strong and weak areas, etc. Ideally, include the following when you ask something :

- Your strong and weak areas
- Your overall mock scores
- Whether there has been any dip or rise in these scores in the last month or so
- Your current paper strategy

Include as much details as you can.

Cheers,
Harshad

Hii Harshad da and all mentors from iim k...I have a question regarding the section data interpretation...

my strong and weak areas are qa and va/rc...so far oa mock scores have been in the range 95-98 %tile and there has been a dip in the scores...currently i do qa first,give 50-55 mins to it and try to max,then di,give 45-50 mins to it and the rest to va/rc...the problem i am facing is that i am not being able to adjust to the online format of the data interpretation section...i do a lot of calculations(lots of paperwork) and di is particularly my weak sections...in the online format,drawing the necessary tables or accumulating the points from the sets have been difficult for me...intially i was reaching the cutoffs in di but in the last 2 mocks(cl and time),the scores have hit rock bottom and i would miss the cutoffs...in the last time mock,i had difficulty getting the logics in place and for the sets i could,i ended up doing errors(donno how since paper is yet to come)...in terms of preparation,i have finished the last year aimcats(reviewing and analysing all the di caselets),last year had done the cl series also,this year started them...in cat'08 though di was the weakest but with confidence could clear the cutoff(or maybe go near it)...it might seem like a specific problem but there are a few(actually many) unlucky souls like me who are facing the same problem and are pressing the panic button...

so my question is
1. how do i go on about the online data interpretation section(specially how to go on selecting the sets since jumping across questions is difficult,in pp format i used to go through the di caselets once in the first 5 mins,haven't manage to do it here)???
2.what should be the ideal preparation regime be for the di section for the coming 3 months so that i clear the cutoffs by a decent margin and also for decent performance in the mocks???
3.how do i increase the familiarity and acclimatisation with the sets???also do i leave a set if a difficult question chips in or be stubborn and solve the set and then move on???

It would be very helpful if u can throw some light on it...and sorry to ask in a general way but i thought that would be more helpful for others too...

thanks and regards...

mile_stone

Hi
A gr8 initiative.
I wud like to clarify about the cbt format of cat.It seems frm the tutorial tht we wont be able to jump to a prticular question if desired directly ,it is going to be a sequential journey.How to handle this scenario nd if possible how to get voices heard for the same as it seems tht most of the cat takers r uncomfortable with this part.
Also wat cud be a suitable date for taking cat this year.

sachy24 · 09:01 PM

Great initiative guys...

I don't have a strong section but I'm fairly comfortable with quants and DI.

Overall mock scores...
I'm consistently getting around 70% overall in mocks.

Whether there has been any dip or rise in these scores in the last month or so
There isn't a notable dip or rise in my mock scores

Your current paper strategy
qa-Di-va with time split of 45-45-45-15

I need help on
How to increase my overall attempts in the mocks.
Increasing attempts and marks in verbal (my verbal score is fluctuating like hell)
How to select easy sitters in the mock papers.

I'm not able to score good marks in the section which I'm attempting last. (I tried 2 strategies here qa-di-va and va-di-qa)

I'm studying hard but still not able to cross the 90% barrier in mocks...

PLZ HELP

P.S.I have the will to work hard but I need to follow a correct approach

nikhilarora · 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mile_stone

Hi
A gr8 initiative.
I wud like to clarify about the cbt format of cat.It seems frm the tutorial tht we wont be able to jump to a prticular question if desired directly ,it is going to be a sequential journey.How to handle this scenario nd if possible how to get voices heard for the same as it seems tht most of the cat takers r uncomfortable with this part.
Also wat cud be a suitable date for taking cat this year.

Please pardon my spamming here...but i think you can jump to any question you desire from the review window...double-clicking on any question takes you to that question...

as quoted from cat demo...

Quote:

At the end of the test, you will see a scrollable listing of all the question numbers. This list displays each question number and indicates if the question has been marked for review, completed or skipped.

To review questions Click on the Review All button. You will be moved to the first question. Clicking on the Next button will cause you to move to the next question. You can also double-click on the question number in the list to move to a particular question.

Here I come

hi puyz
gr8 initiative from u guyz.....
i m comfortable with DI n verbal but my main concern is abt QA......i m unable to attempt even 10 questions in it therefore i m not able to do well in it
i want to clear QA as well so how should i go abt this?
plz reply
thanks in advance

Miles1210

hi,
Many of the questions in QA could be attempted correctly by working through options. So instead of trying to solve d entire question just take a reverse path working from options.
You can apply this strategy for questions you think are time consuming or you dont know the approach for the question
This will surely help you increase your attempts in QA.

I had suggested it to some of my friends last year and it worked well for them. Let me know if it works.

rudraksh_777 · 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Federer

But this time the problem has become more serious, I ve been consistently getting between 97-99 and a couple of 99+, but I ve rarely cleared Quant cutoff(unless the Quant section is easy) , I ve cleared DI and VA cutoff all but once, and i am scoring decent enough to clear IIM cutoffs.

To blame it on lack of preparation wouldnt be correct as watever little prep I ve done till now is in Quant only.

Coming to my strategy, i give the maximum time to Quant ( 60- 70 minutes), and the rest between DI and VA, yet score above 90-95 in these 2 sections despite giving them less time

Hey Roger,

Needless to say the obvious, that there is no sure shot strategy which would work for you. However, I can very well relate to you in this matter. It happened to me in the first few mocks I took back in 2007. I was pretty confident and strong in QA still I screwed the same in the first 2 mocks. All I did after that was analysis of my QA sections again and again. What I found out was ,that I performed badly due to the sheer pressure on me to perform in QA. I used to allocate maximum time to it ,still managed to screw it because I never realized that it is just important to score and nothing else. You have to let go of your ego and at the same time attempt the section very smartly. I may be sounding a little bit cliched here, when I say that pick the questions carefully and follow the process of elimination wherever possible. I always follow this in QA - ' Either be very good at it or rather be a SMART ATTEMPTER'. What I would recommend is :

1. Analyse your QA section at least 3 times, Give it 2-3 hours.
2. Look for questions which you screwed due to lack of presence of mind ( silly mistakes

). Look for the ones which you solved at home , but were not able to solve during the exam. Then comes type 3 , the ones which you ignored and did not even look at. Out of those, some of them you'd be able to solve , rest all are meant to be left.

This is a general post for all of you. I know quite a lot of you must be facing this issue.

Regards,

Anshul Khandelwal