MBA aspirants may be fully prepared for the exam, but if they fail to keep calm on the D-day, chances are, they may fail to ace the test. In part two of the interview, Sanuj shares with PaGaLGuY his exam taking strategy and the importance of being calm on the examination day.
What was your exam taking strategy, as in which section did you (or would you recommend students to) attempt first?
As the order of the sections was fixed, we didn’t have much choice there. Thus, we had to attempt Verbal Ability, then Data Interpretation (DI) / Logical Reasoning (LR) and finally Quantitative Aptitude (QA). As for each section, my basic strategy was to skim through the questions initially and identify a few easy ones that could get me going. After doing those questions, I started from the beginning and solved the remaining questions one by one.
What was your sectional percentile in CAT 2015?
QA – 99.84
LR/DI – 100
VA – 99.16
How much time did you allot per question?
I tried not to spend more than 3 minutes on a single question and not more than an hour per section.
How were you able to attempt more questions accurately within a short span of time?
By practising speed improving exercises. I developed my own paper solving technique / strategy by solving a lot of mock tests before the exam day – trying different permutations and combinations. That helped me in solving the problems accurately within a short span of time on the day of the exam.
Were there any technical glitches during the exam last year? If so, how would you recommend students to go about it?
I didn’t face any technical glitches during the entire course of the exam. Those students who faced small glitches didn’t lose any precious time as a technical team was always present to help them out. Thus, in case of any glitches, the trick is to not lose focus, and remain calm.
How did you handle the stress on exam day?
I was calm and composed, and did not panic on the exam day. I did not enter the exam hall with a preconceived notion in mind about how many questions to attempt or how much to score as this usually plays on the candidate’s mind and doesn’t let him/her score up to the full potential. CAT is an exam which involves more of nerves than any other thing, so it’s very important to stay calm.
Click here to read “Recreate the actual exam atmosphere with mock tests,” says CAT ’15 topper, Sanuj Mittal (Part 1)