CAT preparation strategy advice

[Umax]

Hey Monkee

Can you also throw some light on the technique for QA prep that you used...... also can an entrepreneur claim work ex for the work he has put into his venture... Do the IIM's treat that as work Ex.........

Thanks

[dinesh_psgtech]

Originally Posted by monkee

I aint the devil but may I take the liberty of replying to some of your queries.

1. There really isnt any better strategy apart from reading a lot. Read a lot, and in diverse areas/subjects.I dont believe in Speed reading courses.
2. Go thru the questions first, get a brief idea of what the passage is about, then read the passage.
3. Read the questions, and look for the answers in the passage. If you can find the answers without reading the whole passage, nothing like it.
4. Thats dependant on you. I always spent the last half hour on RC's. As to what order you want to attempt the questions, use whatever strategy suits you best (Spend the 1st few mock CAT's experimenting to find that right strategy).
5. The CAT doesnt test your vocab per se, but if you do want to work on your vocab, Norman Lewis and Barron's GRE are good options.

thanks a lot man

[hanoz]

Originally Posted by bonkers

R ! E! A! D! I! N! G! speed of 850-900 wpm ???@#$#%#$%
how did you manage to do that ????? i have a reading speed of around 270-280 or say atmost 300 in cool areas. how to pick up speed like that or atleast take the count to 450-500 . Speed is a major concern to me . Please help ..........

450-500 is cool enuff, don't go by the numbers yaar, if you can finish the readin in a glance and answer them questions aaraam se, u have nothing to worry at this speed
practice ur stuff well, that's all
...Hanoz

[Alfred E Neumann]

Hi,
There have been many questions abt the VA section so i'l tell you my strategy for it...Hope it's useful...
First decide on whether your english ( in general and not from the CAT point of view) is strong...As in usage...
If you think so, then i think you can save a lot of time by going for the non-RC part...That's wat i did in CAT-04 n although i didn't get an exceptional percentile in VA, i knew i'd clear the cut-offs...I attempted VA for exactly 20 mins ( was actually gonna come back to it after doin the other 2 secs but DI required more attention)
If you are not so confident about your english as to bank entirely on non-RC part, you shud do the RC...For that, here's wat i wud suggest...
Check out all the RC's...Finding the fact based ones, once you do a few tests b'coms pretty simple...Attempt these first...DON'T go for the inferential ones...
Then see the ques at the end of the other RC's even if u don't hav the time to read the RC..If there is a vocab ques, then u can go back to the word (which is highlighted most of the time) and see the usage context and ans the ques...

Any other ques, regarding anything, are welcome....

Shiv.

[abhishekshanker]

What about quant. for preparation, what are the most importand sections I should not miss. Is it algebra, Arithmetic and geometry?

[devilbemyguide]

Originally Posted by dinesh_psgtech

hi devil,
i've got a few queries

1.i've got a reading speed of 300 words.p.m(i do a lot of reading but i dont think its improving).what should i do?

2.In Rc should i go thro the questions 1st or read the passage?

3.which is better - reading the whole passage and answering the questions or reading each paragraph and answering the questions (or any other stratergy)?

4.what time should i allocate for RCs and is it advisable to start the test with RC?

5.what did you do to improve ur vocab?(and any tips to improve vocab)

thats it for now

pls reply

dinesh

hmmm....

1. well ... how do u improve... well iguess read more.... i have been reading like a maniac since childhood.... that explains the reading speed i guess...

2. well... i read the passage first.... u can use the breaking the passage method... used by quite a few guys i know... they read half of the passage...go and answer all the questions they can... then come back...read the rest of the passage... answer the remaining questions...

But in this case.. u can answer the inferential type questions only in the end.... after reading the full passage....


each method of answering rc has its merits... the problem is in finding the best fit for urself....

3.refer to 2.

4. NEVER START WITH RC.

REASON: At the beginning of every test.. be it a mock or an actual CAT(in fact more in the actual cat)... we are bound to be jitterry.. nervous....

so we r bound to start off slowly.... & if u start reading slowly... it may take 5-6 minutes for u just to read the passage... & then if u go to the questions & find out that most of them are inferential ones with close answer options... u may not want to answer them...

& then b4 u know... 8 minutes have gone by & not many questions answered... Panic sets in... so my suggestion is NEVER START WITH RC.
For that matter... unless u have an excellent reading speed under pressure.. dont do rc at the last too....

keep it somewhere in the middle....

5. To improve vocab... u dont need to know clauses & past participles & gerunds & all that kinda stuff.... cat tests just basic vocab skills... read newspapers, readers digest etc... that shoul do.... If u read books... nothing like it....

Hope I answered most of ur queries... feel free to ask in case u need any more clarifications.....

_______________


Hey Hanoz... glad to know that u got into IIMA man.... guys... if i remember properly... HANOZ was the first person in the country to check his CAT percentile(atleast he opened that thread .....


Cheers

Puneet

[dinesh_psgtech]

hi guys,

got one more question

is there any stratergy in doing the "passage re-ordering" questions?

dinesh

[thatsnick001]

Well do u know the thread around here where i can get the material for cat prep online....
also i think that i should join a class for the prep but cant yet decide as towhich...c if u can reply....

[badshahkhan]

devilbemyguide : dude u r doing well, offering the aspirants advice in one single thread. gud show man, u r rocking

[harpreet.ssc]

Originally Posted by devilbemyguide

What was ur previous strategy & whats ur current strategy???

when i start to do mock paper,first thing i do,i browse da paper.......i find da easiest section of da paper.....since i always target to clear an individual cut-offs,i start with tha easiest section....

let me have an instance.......in mock-1,i started of with eng......then i switched of to DI.....and finally QT......i scored highest in DI.....and then in quants and the least in Eng......

in mock-2,i again started with eng...coz i found dat sec da easiest sec of da paper......and then i cracked maths and finally DI......I gt highest in maths and then in eng and least in DI.......

dat were my strategies in last two mocks......

plz,u also respond on my g.k queries which i raised in my first posting......

thanx.....

al da best........