CAT preparation strategies

1. 2IIM
Preparation Strategies
for
CAT
By Rajesh Balasubramanian
Director 2IIM. Alumnus of IIMB;
100th percentile scorer in CAT 2011 and CAT 2012

2. 2IIM
From here on, keep it simple
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3. 2IIM
Test-taking rules
• DO NOT wait to complete ALL topics before taking mock CAT
– All topics will get completed thoroughly sometime in 2015 (or
beyond).
– A critical driver for this exam is the ability to skip questions. What do
you think is the best way to learn that?
• You should take AT LEAST 15 mock CATs prior to CAT.
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–
–
–
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And these should be taken seriously
No test-taking over two days
No breaks between sessions
No taking tests in the middle of the night
No trying only ‘quant’ or only ‘verbal’
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4. 2IIM
There is no such thing as too many tests
• Take many tests
• Take from many providers
• Forget the percentiles
• Try different strategies
– RC first
– DI before quant
– LR and RC alternately
• Analyze to death
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5. 2IIM
What should one get from test analysis?
Knowledge gaps – Question-by-question analysis
•What are the subject gaps that I need to fill?
•Which topics work for me? Which ones do I need to dump?
•Why did I not remember than formula?
Strategy changes – Overall view
•At what time are my errors coming?
•Do I start well or finish well?
•How much time am I spending on the questions I am getting wrong?
•Silly errors are partly due to fatigue. How do I build intensity?
•Why did I walk into that nightmare LR?
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6. 2IIM
CAT
Simplify the Targets

7. 2IIM
What should you shoot for?
Target Level III
Target Level III
Target Level II
Target Level II
Target Level I I
Target Level
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8. 2IIM
CAT Targets & Caveats
• Target setting HAS to be dynamic
– Do not go in with fixed targets
• Target setting does not mean questions have to be done in
that order.
– If paper is going well, and you can attempt one more RC, get the RC
done and out of the way before hand
• In an ideal world, you should realize where you are headed
early enough and re-jig the order of attempts to get there.
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9. 2IIM
10 Golden Rules
Of
Test Taking

10. 2IIM
1. Don’t trade accuracy for speed
Score = Baseline + Noise.
If Noise is too high, no point
in assessing score. If you
attempt 25 and get 12
wrong, don’t even bother
analyzing the paper. This is
pure noise. Would you go to
a Doctor who has this hit
rate?
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11. 2IIM
2. Do NOT Chase attempts
If your preparation is
good, attempts will
increase. Higher attempts
is a RESULT of better
preparation. It is not the
‘CAUSE’ of better scores.
Better
Better
Score
Score
Whenever your score
does not match with your
‘dream/ambition’ , the
default response is to try
to attempt more. That is
NOT a solution.
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12. 2IIM
3. When in doubt, leave
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Attempting a problem
that you should not
have tried hurts way
more than missing an
easy one
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13. 2IIM
4. Take Chances, but carefully
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Once you start
‘chasing’ a magic
number, decisionmaking progressively
becomes worse.
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14. 2IIM
5. Prioritization is key
If you have to put rocks,
pebbles and sand into a
bottle, start with the rocks.
At any rate, do not end with
the rocks. RC, DI, LR are
‘group’ questions. These are
kind of questions where one
takes 7 minutes for the first
one, then one minute each
for the next two.
Do not be the
genius who starts
an RC or LR (or DI)
group with 8
minutes to go.
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15. 2IIM
6. “Plans are nothing;
Planning is everything “
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
Go in with a clear plan. But
keep two things in mind.
1)Your original plan should not
be fool hardy.
2)Be ready to change your plan
if facts ask you to.
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16. 2IIM
7. Quit chasing that one question
The exam-setters are (very)
smart. Odds are you will get
conned by 1-2 questions.
This is natural. The key is to
not let this upset the
subsequent 3 questions.
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17. 2IIM
8. Fly off the blocks
Very often, the best
way to remove the
pre-exam jitters is to
‘jump’ into the paper
and solve away.
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18. 2IIM
9. Respect the devil
If you get an answer
‘just’ wrong, you get
-1 instead of +3. Far
worse than not
knowing anything.
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19. 2IIM
10. Have a plan B
If you cannot stay on as
BCCI President
Get re-elected as BCCI
President
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20. 2IIM
Don’t be the person telling anyone this
• Sir, Quant was going very well. But the last 10 questions were all DI
– Or, the equivalent “The buggers had given all 10 RC questions in the
end ”
• I read an RC passage fully. Did not have the time to answer the
questions
• Had taken the bike to the exam. By the time I reached there at 2:00
pm I was damn tired.
• One LR puzzle was particularly tough. I spent nearly 25 minutes on
it, but had to still leave it.
• I tanked the first section so badly that I started the second section
poorly. Ended with a better percentile in quant than in verbal.
Ascent Education – Classes for CAT, GMAT, GRE and TANCET,
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21. 2IIM
Don’t be the person telling anyone this
• Sir, Quant was going very well. But the last 10 questions were all DI
– Or, the equivalent “The buggers had given all 10 RC questions in the
end ”
• I read an RC passage fully. Did not have the time to answer the
questions
• Had taken the bike to the exam. By the time I reached there at 2:00
pm I was damn tired.
• One LR puzzle was particularly tough. I spent nearly 25 minutes on
it, but had to still leave it.
• I tanked the first section so badly that I started the second section
poorly. Ended with a better percentile in quant than in verbal.
All of this can be answered with “What were you smoking?”
Ascent Education – Classes for CAT, GMAT, GRE and TANCET,
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22. 2IIM
Everyone makes these mistakes
• I took my 5th CAT last year. I got stuck with an LR. Did not want
to let it go. Believed it was easy. Decided to chase it. Spent an
extra 4 minutes because of an Ego problem.
– Got it right, so escaped to tell this tale. But it is very silly
• Baskar, my colleague and alumnus from IIM Kolkatta took his
13th CAT in 2012. He wrestled with a question for 7-8 minutes
before dumping it.
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23. 2IIM
And Remember
The glass is
always half
full!
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24. 2IIM