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…
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
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/discussions/cat-query-center-faqs-regarding-cat-2009-online-and-other-exams-25041045). 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
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:-P
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
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...
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.
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
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...
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.
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
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.
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
First of all thanks for such a wonderful initiative...just wanted to know from u junta who have been there done that kinda thing...what actually should we infer from our mocks or rather i should rephrase it as what should be our mocks scores ideally be like to have a realistic chances of getting a gud score(99.xx)....i know i am asking a pretty subjective qs but i want to remove that luck quotient and offcourse hope factor out of equation.....
this will help us realize a certain benchmark....
cheers
hey apurv...thanx for this initiative..
1) I am facing a strategy-related problem..
however i am not sure whether its the speed of solving or the pressure of time crunch...I am pretty fine with VA and that is the 1st section that i attempt...but my DI and QA are equally weak and I alternately allot them the second place while attempting the mocks....the one which i solve the first is always the better off (that too by a cool margin). Please suggest a solution as it is taking a toll on my preparation..
2) A prep-related prob..
The second one is the Puzzle-based questions...I am scared of them in the 1st place and prefer solving the analysis-based DI sets only...but depending on the uncertainity in the weightage of these questions i need to prepare for them...please lend me a way out!!
Thanx in advance!
Hello!
A long one, this :)
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:-P
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
There are 2 ways to look at this:
The isolated section approach:
In this, you look at a section in isolation and try to see what is going wrong. Paper analysis is of paramount importance here.
Rudraksh has taken care of this bit.
The overall approach:
CAT is a 2.5 hour test which tests more than anything, on-the-feet thinking. Do you have a tested and tweaked test-taking strategy? Have you tried different variations to see what do you do best when? I'll explain with a personal example.
I used to really mess up my QA section for a long time, although even I knew that I was not bad at it. I used to start off with QA because I wanted to do it when I was fresh. What was happening, however, was that my brain took around 10-15 mins to warm up, during which I could not think fast. If I started with QA, these first 15 mins were almost useless, and I ended up solving nothing and feeling enormous stress just 15 mins into the test due to the lack of output.
What I tried out - and worked wonders - was to give my brain some time to warm up, by doing VA for 15 mins, then switching to QA for an hour, and then going back to VA for 15 mins. Sounds complicated, but worked like a dream for me.
If your QA is fundamentally strong, try different strategies. Do it first, do it in the middle, do it in the end. Split it up, do whatever you want. Mocks are for you to experiment.
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...
1. Try doing the same 5 minute thing in this format. Might be more time-consuming, but it might be ok after some practice. Copy the selected tables / charts on rough papers, and solve like before. Try to get as much on paper as you can. Would be worth the time, I guess. Tough to really suggest anything else :|
2. There's very little you can do in DI other than practice. Go through as many sectional tests as you can, preferably in the online format.
3. Again, practice, About difficult questions, leave them. Most sets will typically have 1 very tough question which is worth leaving. Don't get egoistic about solving entire sets.
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.
It is, admittedly, a bit tricky to keep going through all questions to reach a particular question, but there is little that can be done about it, especially since the IIMs have already decided to keep it this way. It is possible that things might change according to feedback, but for the moment, this is the way it is :|
Suitable date.... whatever is convenient for you... I doubt that knowing how it is from the first few slot candidates would make a real difference. In the end, its you against yourself.
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
Increasing Overall attempts & Identifying sitters:
QA :
Strategy 1: Go through the entire paper in the first 10 mins and identify 3 categories of problems : must-attempt (sitters), should try, and leave alone. Do NOT solve the paper sequentially.
Strategy 2: Divide the QA section into 5-6 parts. Divide your time into 5-6 parts. Stick to alloted time limit for each sub-part. Usually works well because the easy and tough questions are well spread out, and this strategy ensures that you attempt the entire section systematically.
DI :
Go through the entire section in 5 mins without solving individual questions. Identify 2-3 caselets where you feel you can think of ways to proceed. Solve these first. In the remaining ones, see if there are sitters (usually atleast 1 per caselet) which you can crack without cracking the entire case.
VA :
There are 2 basic ways to approach VA.
1: High accuracy, low attempts: You try to achieve 80-90% accuracy, and attempt 50-60 percent of the paper. Tough to pull off, even for people with excellent english, but does work for some.
2: High attempts, low accuracy: 50-60% accuracy with 90-100% attempts in 30-35 mins. Basically blitzkrieging through the paper and selecting the first option that comes to mind. Worked like a charm for me in 2 consecutive years, got 99.09 in 07 with an accuracy of under 60%.
Experiment with the strategy. Why do you have to finish off a section at a go? Break it into 2-3 parts and keep switching. Elaborated in the reply to Federer's query.
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
Work hard on the fundamentals. Do you have good material? Do you use non-conventional methods like solving through options?
Is your problem weak maths or an inability to perform well in the QA section due to unknown reasons (like Federer)? Analyze your sections and introspect.
First of all thanks for such a wonderful initiative...just wanted to know from u junta who have been there done that kinda thing...what actually should we infer from our mocks or rather i should rephrase it as what should be our mocks scores ideally be like to have a realistic chances of getting a gud score(99.xx)....i know i am asking a pretty subjective qs but i want to remove that luck quotient and offcourse hope factor out of equation.....
this will help us realize a certain benchmark....
cheers
What good mock scores tell you is that you are already there in terms of ability, and give you the confidence required to do well on the D-day.
I would say that it is tough to predict it either way. There are so many brilliant people here who never cleared a single mock cut-off, but believed in themselves and landed up here. On the other hand, there are so many others who cracked all mocks but failed on d-day. Its all up to you, how you respond to pressure.
hey apurv...thanx for this initiative..
1) I am facing a strategy-related problem..
however i am not sure whether its the speed of solving or the pressure of time crunch...I am pretty fine with VA and that is the 1st section that i attempt...but my DI and QA are equally weak and I alternately allot them the second place while attempting the mocks....the one which i solve the first is always the better off (that too by a cool margin). Please suggest a solution as it is taking a toll on my preparation..
2) A prep-related prob..
The second one is the Puzzle-based questions...I am scared of them in the 1st place and prefer solving the analysis-based DI sets only...but depending on the uncertainity in the weightage of these questions i need to prepare for them...please lend me a way out!!
Thanx in advance!
1. Have you tried putting VA between QA and VA? I had a similar problem. QA and DI require a high degree of analytical thinking as opposed to VA which is more intuitive. Putting VA between the 2 kinda gives your brain a bit of rest. It worked really well for me. Experiment and try different strategies.
2. Practice practice practice 😃 No other way dude....
Cheers,
Harshad
Wow! I am already late on the thread :)
Anyways, all the best firstly to everyone preparing for cat this year, a lot of close friends on PG included :thumbsup:
Please keep in mind that whatever advice you get on this thread, is from a personal perspective. Everyone has different ways to prepare, and thus different advice on the same topic. The final choice is upto you on how to customize your preparation to suit your strenghts and weaknesses.
Also, please be a little patient if we delay a bit in answering queries, or if some queries get missed due to a lot of posts on the thread.
Cheers
Himanshu
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
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...
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...
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.
sorry i forget to telll that i have given four mocks only
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