The race to CAT (Common Admission Test) 2015 is on. For the year 2015 (admission through CAT 2014), there are 19 IIMs functioning and accepting CAT scores. The total number of seats at these IIMs is approximately 3,850 (3,335 seats at 13 old IIMs plus approximately 500 seats at six new IIMs). The institutes have sent around 15,000 GD/PI/WAT calls for these seats. For the year 2016 (admission through CAT 2015), the total number of seats at all IIMs is expected to increase.
Strategy The first step while preparing for any exam is to gain knowledge about what you don’t know — such as the structure of the paper or its contents which includes types of questions, important topics and so on.
Questions in Quantitative Aptitude (QA) and English Usage are concept and practice-oriented. On the other hand, to do well in Data Interpretation, Logical reasoning (LR) and Reading Comprehension (RC) questions, exposure to different types / genres of sets and techniques of solving these questions is required.
Here are some suggestions that can help you perform well.
Time Management Do an area-wise SWOT analysis and chalk out a short-term (daily or weekly) and long-term (till CAT) plan. An easy way of doing this is to divide the number of chapters (or concepts) by the number of days in which you want to cover them.
Optimised learning To get atleast one IIM call, you need not be excellent in all areas. Choose your natural strength, that may be verbal or QA, and work hard on LR and Data Interpretation. Start with the fundamentals and practise problems at different levels of difficulty. Ensure that you are not solving repetitive questions. Make a small group of four to five people who have similar aspirations and who complement each other. Solve the questions individually and then discuss in group. You may not interact on a daily basis; even once a week is fine. Keep working on general awareness.
Read newspapers on a daily basis, even if it is just for half an hour. There are exams like SNAP, IIFT and XAT that focus on testing the general awareness level of students.
Gap Analysis Join any national-level test series and analyse your performance. Make a table containing two columns — questions that you got right, and questions that you could have got right. This way, you can analyse the gap between your potential and performance in every test. In every subsequent test, this gap should decrease.
Error Detection Apropos the previous point, the second column should be distributed into three parts — Conceptual Errors (where you were not aware of the concept), Practice Errors (where you know the concept but have not practised a variety of problems based upon this concept) and Calculation Errors (or silly mistakes). Once you receive the self-assessment report, ensure that you have worked upon the feedback before taking the next mock test. In the end, timing and consistency are the two most important factors. I have seen CAT aspirants thinking of starting preparation early, but ending up beginning quite late (sometime, just the night before CAT). In most of the cases, people who say that one month is sufficient for CAT preparation are the ones who have solid fundamentals and are avid readers. This quote by Arsene Wenger sums up my thoughts well: “When you look at people who are successful, you will find that they aren't the people who are motivated, but have consistency in their motivation.”
The writer is alumnus of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow, and has authored CAT books.
